Morning Radio Duo Tony & Kris Head To Knoxville’s WIVK

Cumulus’ Knoxville, Tennessee station WIVK has tapped on-air radio duo Tony & Kris to helm the morning slot at the station following a nationwide search. Tony Randall and Kris Rochester will be waking up Knoxville listeners beginning July 17 as only the fourth morning show in the station’s history. The show will air weekdays from 5:30 a.m.-10 a.m. The duo will also be developing a new music-based weekend show for WIVK with details to be announced at a later date.

The new show fills the opening left by the departure of WIVK’s award-winning 20-year morning team, Andy & Alison, who announced last month that they are signing off from radio.

Tony & Kris have worked in the San Diego and Nashville markets previously and in network syndication with Premiere Radio Networks and United Stations Radio Networks. They met in 1991 after launching their radio careers in 1986 in the Gadsden-Anniston, AL, area. The two joined forces as an on-air team at country station WHMA in Anniston-Oxford, Alabama. “The Tony & Kris Show” ended its syndication run in May, marking over 25 years together as one of country radio’s longest-running success stories.

“The excitement level of the staff at the hiring of Tony & Kris speaks to their track record of success,” said Ken Salyer, Vice President/Market Manager Cumulus Media-Knoxville. WIVK and Tony & Kris are a perfect pairing for the future.”

“Andy & Alison left an indelible mark on Knoxville radio,” said Nikki Thomas, WIVK Program Director. “They will be a hard act to follow. Tony & Kris are excited to be moving to Knoxville and we’re excited to turn them into Big Orange fans, especially Kris. We’re enrolling him in “Roll Tide Rehabilitation” classes as soon as he arrives.”

“When we hung it up in May, we couldn’t have imagined this incredible opportunity would present itself,” said Tony. “Getting the band back together and working with a legendary station like WIVK and their winning team is the most exciting thing to happen to us since our first big break in San Diego 24 years ago.”

“I knew if I was going to come back to radio it would have to be to a proven winner of a station, with an amazing team involved,” added Kris about the new opportunity. “WIVK is the very definition of that. Add the fact that we’ll have the opportunity to feature and break new music on our weekend show and I couldn’t be more excited.”

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at [email protected].

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