Sandy & Frosty #1 In Just Two Months On SF's KIOI

In June, the "Sandy and Frosty" on KIOI / Star1013 FM show replaced station icon Don Bleu, who moved over to Clear Channel sister KOSF ("Oldies 103.7") in January. He's doing fine, thank you, writes Ben Fong-Torres at sfgate.com; he's helped boost that station's ratings.

The same can be said for Stec and Stilwell. Stec, who arrived in March after nine years working middays in San Jose (at KEZR, "The Mix"), held down the fort (along with station staffer Jon Manuel) while management searched for a partner. Her "Star" co-star turned out to be Stilwell, a talk radio vet from Denver and Los Angeles.

In just two months together, they've charged to No. 1 in the station's target demographic: women ages 25 to 54.

"The best is yet to come," said Stilwell. "The ratings are strong, the audience seems to appreciate the talk and the music, and on we go."

But the going didn't get going until Sandy and Frosty were put together. Here's how it happened:

Stec heard about the job opening and contacted program director Cat Collins, attaching YouTube videos of her comedy (including her sardonic, DIY miniseries, "Leaving Milpitas") and her work as a fill-in morning DJ on "The Mix."

Collins, who was looking to form a male and female team, checked out Stec's material. "I loved it," he said. Stec came into town to meet Collins. "She struck me as incredibly funny, clever, engaging, creative and outspoken," he said. "She's young (31), right in our target demo. I knew there's no way I'll find someone better."

While Stec settled into the morning shift, Collins waded through some 200 applications and discussed top candidates with Don Parker, operations manager of Clear Channel's local cluster. It was Parker who brought up Stilwell, who hadn't even applied. "I was happily semiretired in L.A.," said Stilwell, 53.

Collins knew Stilwell from Denver in the late '90s, when they worked for competing stations. "I loved him," said Collins. Although Stilwell specialized in talk, he said, "I had no concerns about him being able to do shorter (talk) breaks. The only concern was if he wanted to do it."

He did.

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