Internet Radio Reaches Out to Fort Hood Community

In less than two weeks, FortHoodRadio.com will sign on with a new live morning show. Staff Sgt. Julie Wallace-Myles will host the morning show, set to air weekday mornings from 9 a.m.- noon on the installation’s internet-based radio station beginning Feb. 19.

“We’re trying to reach out to our Soldiers and Family members in the Fort Hood community,” John Miller, broadcast operations officer, III Corps and Fort Hood Public Affairs Office, said. “Radio, even through the internet, works because we can reach out through mobile devices like a smartphone or tablets. Internet radio may not be in your car, but it’s in your pocket.”

The Fort Hood Sentinel story reports Miller saw his broadcast section shrink from a high-water mark in the summer of 2009 of nine broadcasters down to three full-time staff members today. Despite staffing challenges, the radio station’s biggest challenge remains building an audience.

That target audience is young troops and their Families in Central Texas.

“Our primary demographic is 30 and under,” Miller said. “We’re playing what’s popular now. We’re not programming for folks like me. I’m 46, and when I listen to the radio, it’s generally talk radio and some old school stuff. That doesn’t resonate, normally, with a younger audience.”

James Tapin

To reach out to a younger crowd, Fort Hood Radio has changed its overall sound since August 2012, when Wallace-Myles and Staff Sgt. James Tapin joined the staff, replacing temporary civilian hires who founded the effort.

Tapin, the station’s noncommissioned officer-in-charge, implemented a shift – and not a subtle one – in music programming.

“We went from playing anything you could imagine to starting to focus on a unique opportunity: bringing the newest music to our listeners first,” Tapin said. “When I say first, I mean that we’re generally a couple of months ahead of mainstream radio stations.”

The shift from a complete music mix – which included pop, urban, country and rock – also paired down the music genres highlighted by the station.

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“Our focus has switched to a more rock and urban playlist,” Tapin said, though he noted that other music genres, like country, are programmed throughout the day in a block format. “With that being said, if you tune in at the top of each hour, you’ll hear the newest music on the market.”

The music is the vehicle to draw listeners, but the goal of the station is to provide timely, accurate command information to the Fort Hood community.

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Tom's Take:  Happy to hear about this..I was section chief of the Fort Hood Radio/TV department 'back in the day'.