| Russ' Radio History - Stations |
| Russ Parsley March 1992 |
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| From May of 1990 to May of 1993, Russ maintained the Overnight position, and had gradually made his way into the world of Production & Producing the Morning Show...at the time for Kevin Casey (Cranker) and "Casey in the Morning". Throughout his time at The Fox, Russ had the honor of meeting and introducing from stage some of the rock icons of the 70's and 80's such as: Eddie Money, Peter Frampton, Greg Kihn, Michael McDonald, Three Dog Night, Jefferson Starship, Dave Mason, and many, many more. In fact, prior to joining The Fox, Russ' opportunities of being exposed to the a variety of Rock Legends, as well as new comers to the world of rock took place in Myrtle Beach, SC while on the staff of WKZQ when his station hosted such bands as: Warrant, Bon Jovi, The Tubes, John Kay & Steppenwolf, and many more. In 1992, Russ was volunteered to assist with The Great TV Auction, the annual fund raising effort for KVPT 18/65 - Fresno/Bakersfield. Ever since, Russ has been called on by the General Manager, Paula Castadio & Program Director, Shann Hogue for quarterly pledge drive appearances. In 2000, the station, in an effort to revitalize it's business develop- ment efforts, called on many of the local business professionals known to support the KVPT to breath some new life into its Business AdvisoryCommittee(BAC). Russ was honored to receive that same call and accepted the opportunity to assist in any way possible. In 1993, the hammer came down. The owners of The Fox, Brown Broadcasting, were doing what they could to increase the value of the station prior to selling it off to it's current owners, Mondosphere Broadcasting. Cuts were made to the management and staff which |
| included Russ' positions as Overnight Jock, Assistant Production Director and Morning Show Producer. Just 4 days prior to his last day on the air, Russ secured a new gig. This time in the world of Night Club Entertainment as the Entertainment Director for a local night club, Lucy's, located inside the Holiday Inn - Fresno Airport. (See Russ' Entertainment History) As Russ progressed with this new side to his career, a new station came to the Fresno air waves known as K104-In-A-Row. Because of Russ' background in radio and his position with a Local Nightclub, he was hired on as a part time talent for the weekends and fill in shifts. Through his dual affiliation, Russ coordinated a Halloween 4 Pack promotion between Lucy's & K104-In-Row. It was a complete success. Starting on Thursday the 28th of October going through to Halloween on the 31st, each night held a different theme. This night club, with a 181 person capacity, was sold out and wall to wall people each night, with a line that seemed to go on forever. The room was decorated with a real casket rented from one of the local mortuaries, and turned into a Beer Bar with dry ice smoke rolling over the top. Black curtained walls with the flourescent headstones. You truly had to be there.. Lucy's had never experienced such an event that brought a great deal of follow-on name recognition to the club not to mention Door and Bar profits. The station received quite a bit of attention with this event as well. It was sometime in 1995, when K104-In-A-Row changed formats to what it is today, New Rock 104. Russ' role remained the same as he had shown everyone that he held the flexibility to go from Rock to Classic Rock in radio and switch over to R&B in a night club environment. Russ stayed on with the New Rock crew until he left the night club at the Holiday Inn to take on a new position with Stuart Anderson's - Black Angus located in Fremont, CA. From June of 1995 to March of 1996, Russ was off the air and working fulltime for The Angus. In March of 1996, Russ returned to the Fresno/Clovis areaa and rejoined the New Rock crew. In September of 1996, a new player entered into the area and into the industry...American Radio Systems' (ARS) KVSR - Star 101. It wasn't until November 1996, when Russ realized his time and effort was not being recognized by the New Rock PD that he sought an opportunity to join the Star crew. Mike (Alexander) Yeager, PD for Star 101, through recommendations of many former K104-In-A-Row and New Rock staff, chose to accept Russ into the Star family. His role, since joining the team, has mainly been part time but on occasion would require morning drive, afternoon drive and evening fill-in shifts. Though Russ had to leave Star 101 in July of 1998 for a 5 month Air Force training stint in Maryland, he was welcomed back into the Star family upon his return in November 1998. Since Russ joined the staff, he has had the opportunity to meet up with Star Artists such as: Hootie and the Blowfish, The Wallflowers, Mexico 70, Smashmouth and more, To date, Russ' most memorable event was when he had the honor of interviewing the band Six Pence None The Richer in the Star studio on a Saturday afternoon while they were in town for a concert. They performed two songs live on the air. He was stunned the day he received a post card from the band telling him how much they enjoyed the interview and how they had never come across a DJ that was so up-to-date on their background. Russ' role with Star 101 has included such memorable events as The Star Party Bus, where he hosted a group of Star listeners on a chartered bus to Paramount's Great America to see Duran Duran live and most recently to the Wharfield Theater in San Francisco on July 21st to see Sugar Ray, Uncle Cracker and a new band, The Start. Some Pictures are here with more on the way, in the mean time...check out the Behind The Scenes link for Sugar Ray. On the 14th of July, Russ was honored with the opportunity to throw A First Pitch, representing Star 101, at the Fresno Grizzlies baseball game. Russ can be heard every Saturday afternoon at 3pm - 7pm and Sunday morning from 9am - 2pm on 101.1 FM in the Central Valley. Russ is also scheduled to appear, once again, on KVPT (PBS) 18/65 to present a few new shows in support of the Quarterly Pledge & Membership drive on the evenings of May 2nd and 3rd, 2002, 9pm - 12am. |
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| Contact Information Russell A. Parsley P.O. Box 27211, Fresno, CA 93729 559.281.5491 email: russ@russparsley.com |