FARMINGTON, Mo. (News First) – News First has teamed up with Show Me Live Radio, based in southeast Missouri, in a long-term content-sharing agreement that will provide the station with news content for the station’s website and over the air. The streaming station signed on July 1st and has since gained tens of thousands of listeners across the southeast Missouri region. You can listen to Show Me Live by going to www.streamingrules.com.
“The station got its start when a group of people that once worked with each other decades ago decided to give things a reboot after all these years,” says Maridee Lawson, General Sales Manager for Show Me Live. “If TV shows get a reboot, then so should these awesome radio voices,” Lawson says. The on-air talent includes voices once heard across southeast Missouri, some for decades, and others that were on the air as recently as earlier this year.
One of those voices, Scott Kubala says, “It’s truly amazing to me that I’m fortunate enough to be back on the air, invited by the peers who I most respected, after all these years. But perhaps even more incredible, is how Show Me Live came together at this moment in time to serve the public need when it was needed most.” Kubala is on the station on weekdays from 6 – 10 am.
From 10 am until 2 pm the station features Scott Cheatham. Lawson says he was the first one to say yes when asked about going back on the air after about 20 years off the air. “I had thought about returning to broadcasting occasionally but had yet to find the right situation,” Cheatam shares. “Picking up the mic again after 23 years…It had to be the right fit at the right time with the right people. Blue Cheetah Media and Show Me Live fit all of this. Great people, great ideas, a passion for serving an audience I loved, and to work again with people I had worked with 35 years ago…It was amazing. It was like we never missed a beat! I’m excited about the future of our enterprise here!”
Meanwhile, Brenda McKay, another recognizable voice in the southern portions of Missouri, says “Being back on the air with Show Me Live was a last-minute decision, meaning I was asked one night and started the next day…” (McKay is on the air weekdays from 2 – 7 pm). “I am really excited to be back on the air…with a chance to come back to radio. I love the fact that we are diligently working together with the local communities, and I hope we will earn the trust of the local businesses to let us get their names heard by our listeners. Our goal is to be as real as possible to work for the communities.”
Luke Turnbough is heading up afternoon news and also on-the-air music-wise as well from 7 pm to midnight. Turnbough says “It’s like getting the old band back together, and it’s feeling good.”
In addition to the local talent, the station in conjunction with News First, also has exclusive reporting from Reporter Matt Bailey in Washington, D.C. Bailey has years of experience in news reporting for multiple national TV networks, and regularly reports from The White House on News First / Show Me Live.
Buddy Iahn is a southeast Missouri native who now lives in the greater Los Angeles area. He owns The Music Universe, which is all about music news from across the nation. Iahn says, “As an area native, I understand the importance of local media. I’m glad to have united (and in most cases reunited) with some of the most recognizable voices in the area. I’ll provide the news daily each morning with my company, The Music Universe, powering the latest country music news around the globe. Show Me Live is truly a station that cares about its community!” Iahn and Bailey will be featured in their capacities regularly on the station, and on News First as well.
The station will be launching Christian music programming on Sunday mornings with two different local on-air talents later this month. The Tom Ennis Gospel Show, locally produced in St. Louis, and exclusive to Show Me Live, will air Sundays from 8 am until 10 am. Scott Cheatham will also serve double duty and have a Christian show from 10 am until Noon each Sunday. Ennis’ show won the SGN SCOOPS MAGAZINE PAUL HEIL AWARD in 2009 when his show was being produced in years past.
Lawson went on to say the station is all about local things, with a big reach. “We cover thirty counties across southeast Missouri and southwest Illinois for news, sports, weather, and much more. We also want listeners to know we are very community-oriented.”
Lawson says the station has plans to continually grow what it is offering to the communities, including a Show Me Live All-Star Team of high school athletes across portions of their coverage area, that will include banquets for the athletes to be recognized for their achievements. In addition, the station says they will be going all out for election coverage this November, working in conjunction with News First to cover local races across the region and national races alike. They are also planning a live video stream of the evening, with reporters and stringers throughout southeast Missouri. All forms of their broadcast will be available on the Show Me Live website, and here on News First’s site.
“A void was created this year, which saddened many of us, since the majority of us have worked together in broadcasting before. We are just wanting to make sure the region can still have reliable local information, and a lot of community involvement,” says Lawson. “We are going to do our best to fill the void that was created and make sure we do our best to serve. Each of us involved knows how to do this. We’ve all been doing it for decades already.”
Show Me Live will also be launching a second station called Show Me Live News-Talk later this month, which will involve even more local information. The format will include morning and afternoon drive news, weather, sports and community involvement segments with the purpose of giving you all you need to know about everything in 15 minutes or less on your way to work. More hybrid longer-form talk shows during the middle of the day and evenings are also being developed. The station says they will announce more on that in the next few weeks, and an office for the stations will be opening in Farmington within the next few weeks as well.
News First is providing news content for Show Me Live’s on-air news anchors to read, along with sports and weather. A sampling of news articles are also available as an RSS feed from News First on the station’s website. Again, you can listen to Show Me Live by going to www.streamingrules.com. Lawson says apps have been submitted to both Google and Apple, along with Amazon’s “Alexa”. She says within the next few weeks, you will be able to hear the station through Android Auto and Apple Car Play as well. Show Me Live sales representatives will also be selling advertising on behalf of News First for our website throughout their coverage area as well as part of the mutual agreement.
