Dubuque Radio: Longtime GM Perry Mason Retires From Cluster

Longtime Radio Dubuque General Manager Perry Mason has retired after more than four decades with the Iowa radio group. Co-owner Marty Schibbelhut will assume leadership of the cluster.Mason oversaw Radio Dubuque’s four stations: Hot AC KATF (92.9 KAT FM), KDTH-AM (1370), country WVRE (101.1 The River) and rock KGRR (97.3 The Rock). 

In that role he guided local news, music, sports, public service and community programming for listeners across the Tri-State area. A Dubuque native and Hempstead High School graduate, Mason first worked in radio as a teenage board operator. 

Perry Mason

After a break from the business, he returned in October 1985 at KAT-FM and rose through sales into general management. He followed his father, Bill Mason, a longtime Dubuque broadcaster who joined KDTH in 1958, later worked at WDBQ and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

Beyond the studios, Mason spent nearly 40 years helping organize Dubuque’s annual Fireworks & Airshow Spectacular, which draws more than 50,000 people each July 3. For about 15 years he also served as hub director for Honor Flight of Dubuque and the Tri-States, which flies veterans to Washington, D.C., memorials at no cost. That work earned him the Telegraph Herald’s 2025 First Citizen Award. 

Mason, 66 at the time of the honor, has said gratitude for veterans and the freedoms they protect drove his community efforts.

He married Polly Ann Pusateri two years after returning to KAT-FM; they have a son, Tony. Radio Dubuque said Mason helped keep the stations rooted in local service throughout his tenure, and Schibbelhut now takes the helm of the independently owned group.