TULSA, OK -- More proof that broadcasting is a small world: two former Clear Channel Syracuse personalities have, by coincidence, started new radio jobs this year (though with different companies) in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
JJ Ryan checks in with CNYRadio.com to report has returned to Clear Channel after spending the last few years in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he programmed two stations and served as ops manager for Cumulus stations Fayetteville and Fort Smith.
In Tulsa, Ryan is programming the newly-launched 106.1 The Twister (KTGX), playing "Oklahoma's Best Country." The transition from top 40 to country won't be a big deal for Ryan -- he got his start jocking both formats in Syracuse, as JJ Ryan on B104.7 (WBBS) and as "Stick" on Hot 107.9 (WWHT). He'll continue to use the name JJ Ryan in Tulsa.
CC Tulsa ops manager Don Cristi said, in an announcement to staffers, "Can't tell you how excited I am to add JJ to our Programming team and continue the process of building The Twister to mega-mondo-humongous F-5 levels!"
There's at least one familiar face in the crowd as Ryan arrives in Tulsa -- across town at Journal Broadcasting, top 40 station 106.9 K-Hits has a morning show hosted by "Austin." Longtime listeners of Hot 107.9 might remember him better as "AJ Hammer," the name he used on-air in Syracuse.
Austin arrived in Tulsa just after the start of 2012, after working at another station named (and we're not making this up) Hot 107.9 -- in Fort Wayne, Indiana.