Kevin Connor Becomes Sun Radio’s New PD

Kevin Connor in the Sun Radio studio (Photo By Andrew Shapter)

A veteran voice on Austin’s airwaves, Kevin Connor, takes over as programming director for Central Texas’ solar-powered roots, rock, and country frequency: Sun Radio 100.1FM.

Before station president Daryl O’Neal made the appointment official with an on-air announcement last Thursday, the new PD had been manning the booth there for nearly two years with his show A Hill Country Saturday. Like Sun Radio’s patriarch jock Larry Monroe, who died unexpectedly in early 2014, he had most recently held down a similar role at KUT before making the move to the Bee Caves-based frequency.

“He was happy he’d found a home,” said Connor of his late colleague. “That’s how I feel too.”

A Massachusetts native working in the Austin radio market since 1981, Connor began as a grunt at Z102, established himself locally as KGSR’s longtime morning guy, and recently heading up South By Southwest’s online station SXSWfm. He takes over the programming team after not immediately accepting the post and the station opening a national search.

“Then I realized, ‘This is my dream job!’” Connor smiles. “It’s like my friend Kym Warner from the Greencards. He put out an instrumental album this year called Everything that Brought Me Here. I keep thinking about that, because of everything I’ve ever done in Austin – working for South By Southwest, KGSR, Z102. The good things, the bad things, the successes and mistakes, they’ve all brought me to this.

“I feel really lucky right now.”

Connor says Sun Radio, which added a local signal in 2012, can only grow in the market.

“It has tremendous potential. The challenge is, even for a non-commercial station, you still have to sell it. Right now, the sales staff is outperforming the station. They’re more competitive in the market than the ratings of the station,” he allows. “Our job is to be competitive as much as possible in this environment.

“You have these ‘generica’ stations like the BOB and Majic. They’re really good at what they do, but they’re exactly the same as others elsewhere in the country. That’s the reality of what’s out there.

“So there’s opportunity in Austin to reach people who are listening to radio for a different reason. They want to be inspired by the music. We get to try and reach them.”

Connor says Austin and Nashville are the two most important cities for Americana music. As such, he plans to expose more burgeoning local talent as a way to represent the genre both here and beyond the city limits.

“There’s rootsy Austin music from younger generations that we haven’t touched yet,” he says. “We can’t just rely on older artists. People like Carson McHone, who grew up in Austin and is a great songwriter, or Mike & the Moonpies. We have to represent them, because they go really well with the older artists.”

Expect more on-air time for Connor immediately. During the week, he’ll be sitting in with Bo Chase in the mornings. Not too early, though.

“The adjustment back to morning hours is rough,” admits Connor. “I’ll start coming in at 7am and ease in. Then we’ll see."