After completing his “national service,” Alan tried to find a job with as little responsibility and as much money as possible. If you ask him what his first station was, he’ll say “Texaco,” and he means it! But even that was too much manual labor, so when a friend suggested to him that he had a deep voice and was kind of weird, he applied for and was accepted as a DJ in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. He and the only other DJ split up the day on a station that was all religious in the morning and went “underground rock” in the afternoon, immediately following the Holy Rosary live from the First Church of the Holy Rosary.

After bumming around the country in low paying jobs in garden spots like Great Falls, Montana and Fargo North Dakota, he finally landed a minimum wage job as a DJ at KGW in Portland, Oregon. He stayed with that company, King Broadcasting Company for 18 years as a DJ, program director, group program director, and general manager.

In 1988 it struck him that he wanted to work for someone who truly loves and understands him, so he went into business for himself. In 1999 he partnered with John Frost to leverage the strategic thinking they are both known for, which means they each had half a brain and together could probably figure out how to tie their shoes.

Alan also took on the responsibilities of Executive Vice President of Programming for Paxson Communications, where they made the mistake of giving him an American Express card with no limit. Using that card he was able to take enough people out to lunch and dinner to make them feel good about Paxson Communications, and thereby produce good ratings.

Since then he’s been influential in several formats, including Smooth Jazz and Contemporary Christian, and become a combination consultant, writer, public speaker, clown, mentor, cheerleader, and change agent.  He is currently the Chief Operating Officer for EMF Broadcasting.

Experience as a radio General Manager taught him the importance of balancing forces: creativity and accountability. So he combines original thinking with strategic execution to create highly successful radio stations. He would copy what everyone else does, but he’s old enough now that his memory isn’t great.

Alan is an active contributor to the industry, and has spoken at the NAB, Radio & Records conventions, the Country Radio Seminar, the NRB and the GMA. He’s been published in Radio & Records, Radio Ink, Christian Radio Weekly, All Access, and many other places. He also publishes the successful “Mason Morning Minute” blog.

Chosen by CRW magazine as on of the 50 most influential people in Christian music, Alan is also the 2007 recipient of the Scott Campbell Award, and the GMA Echo Award for impact on Christian music radio.

Alan can be contacted at alan@goodratings.com.