This week Jay Stone, station manager and program director of 102.3 NOW! Radio and 99.3 Up in Edmonton, shares his journey from the Air Force to radio. Jay highlighted the NOW!'s various successes, including winning Major Market Station of the Year and Best Community Service Initiative for the Alberta Day of Caring for Jasper, which raised over $3 million. Jay himself also took home the award for Major Market Program Director of the Year. You can see all the station's awards, as well as a full list of winners, at the Canadian Radio Awards website.

Jay emphasized the importance of emotional connection and unique content, such as the Swiftie-oke contest, which drew 2,000 participants to the River Cree Resort & Casino to sing Taylor Swift songs (in front of a live band) for the chance to win tickets to her next show in Vancouver. He also discussed the station's focus on live, local programming and the community's support, exemplified by a listener donating $5,000 for the Pay It Forward initiative. This year, the station was able to donate $1000 each to 12 deserving nominees from the NOW! Radio community, telling their stories live on air from December 9th to 24th.

A Transcript and video of the show is available on our network page.

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