On-air radio personality Kenny Treece was a farm boy who loved listening to music and radio when he landed his first radio job in Warsaw at Ozark 98 in April of 1984. Although he produced radio programs at other stations in Clinton, Sedalia, Marshall and Lake of the Ozarks, he kept returning to Warsaw and returned here for good, the fifth time, nine years ago. He recently produced his 10,000th radio show that has been aired from a studio.
“I like to wake up in the morning and give listeners something to hear,” said Treece. “Warsaw is home to me and when I worked other places, I learned new things that I brought back to the local station. I plan to be here until I finish.”
The Warsaw radio station first went on the air in 1980 (according to www.bing.com), and Treece said it has always done well. He said early on new country music was played in the morning and midday, but in the evening hours he believes there was some pop music. Treece said that when he worked at a Clinton radio station, rock music was played, and in Sedalia there was country music on the morning show and the top 40 songs were played midday. Country music was played by other stations in the area.
“I have been in the business 40 years, and the biggest change I have seen is the rise of automation and computers,” said Treece. “There used to be someone in the studio every hour. Now programs are automated, and it is not unusual for me to pre-record my programs early in the morning. That includes the Friday night program that includes a lot of music from the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, and big bands. The Friday night program is about nine years old and popular.”
Treece said in the past the radio station was on the air from 6:00 AM until 10:00 PM and later aired until midnight. He says now programs are on 24 hours a day, but he only must be in the building sometime between 4:00 AM and 8:00 AM to prerecord programs.
“I was given the opportunity to interview and record some famous people for radio shows during my career,” said Treece. “The celebrities include Charlie Daniels, The Oak Ridge Boys and Eddie Rabbitt. I was fortunate to have good connections with country stars and TV stars like Bob Eubanks and Billy Dee Williams. Some of these were by chance and sometimes I just made calls.”
Treece said the best radio programs have been those where there was camaraderie between disc jockeys, where they would show up during each other’s programs. He said he likes that type of atmosphere.
“Local radio stations are great. When you hear commercials, it is useful information that lets you make informed decisions.”
Treece and his wife have six grown kids. He said that as he approaches senior age, he tries to stay healthy and works out. He enjoys reading everything and is a huge comic book fan.
