Posted by chicagomedia.org on March 19, 2009 at 11:28:23:
Kiss-FM's DreX gets new 5-year contract
WKSC-FM | New 5-year contract shows DreX is here for a while
March 19, 2009
LEWIS LAZARE | Chicago Sun-Times
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Maybe the simplest way to sum up what "DreX in the Morning" is all about is to say he's an unconventional morning drive radio talent who holds sway at Top 40 WKSC-FM (103.5).
But before we get to what's so happily unconventional about DreX, we can report to his loyal fans -- and to those who didn't believe his unconventional persona would work in Chicago -- that he and WKSC parent Clear Channel Communications have just inked a new five-year contract. Industry sources say DreX is likely pulling in between $300,000 and $450,000 a year.
A five-year contract is a rare vote of confidence in the troubled radio industry. Local legend Jonathon Brandmeier, for instance, just signed a one-year deal at WLUP-FM (97.9). Mancow Muller popped up last fall on WLS-AM (890) with only a two-year deal. And for many others lucky enough to have contracts, three years is the norm.
DreX (whose given name is Kevin Buchar, though he goes only by DreX on and off the air) got his five-year deal at WKSC the best way, by producing a radio show his way. The very fact he's doing an all-talk program on a radio station that is otherwise Top 40 music-formatted shows just how much radio behemoth Clear Channel was willing to bend the conventional rules to bring DreX to Chicago from San Antonio, Texas, where he was at a station that trounced the Clear Channel competition in the market. "Clear Channel saw what I could do in their home base of San Antonio, and that's why they wanted to bring me to Chicago," explains DreX, who first dreamed of being a radio disc jockey when he was a kid growing up in York, Pa.
DreX has been on air at WKSC since 2003. He isn't the city's most famous morning drive talent, but according to the latest quarterly Arbitron ratings, DreX is first in the market among females 18 to 34, and third in the adult 18 to 34 demographic.
So what has endeared DreX to this loyal fan base? Maybe it's because he isn't afraid to be who he really is on air. A lot of his regular listeners seem to know a lot about DreX's life away from the radio studio. "Listeners are always calling in and asking about Sharon," said DreX. Sharon is the woman DreX met during one of four different stints on radio stations in San Antonio. He and Sharon now live together as "soulmates," but are not married.
On air, DreX has described his personal relationship with Sharon as a sort of "Will and Grace" arrangement, a reference to the recent, hugely popular television series. Does that mean DreX is gay? "I'm happy," is how DreX repeatedly characterized himself to us. Which seems to be DreX's way of confirming his sexual orientation, while suggesting he's living life in his uniquely unconventional way. And because his life on radio pretty much consumes him, he isn't actively living a gay lifestyle ("I've been there, done that," he told us), preferring to share what free time he has with Sharon. Whatever DreX's arrangement with Sharon, it's clearly special to him and something listeners can comfortably discuss with him.
When they aren't talking about Sharon, DreX and his fans can be counted on to attack topics from the serious to the frivolous to the truly bizarre. Over the course of 10 minutes listening to DreX on air Wednesday morning, one listener was heard talking about a guy who still sleeps with his Mickey Mouse doll at age of 26, and another woman called in to regale listeners with observations about her genitalia piercing.
So where does DreX see himself when his new contract expires in 2013? "I love radio, and I love Chicago," said DreX, which suggests to us he just may be happy carrying on with his dream job here in his dream market until he's ready to retire. Which, given DreX's obvious passion for radio, probably won't happen anytime soon.