He began his fulltime career in radio at WEIS in Centre as an announcer/salesperson and also held part-time positions at WPID in Piedmont, WETO in Gadsden and WANA in Anniston. He came back to Gadsden in the 1960s as an announcer/sales rep for WGAD.
In the late 1960s, began a longtime career as WAAX morning announcer, sales rep and later assistant manager. He founded WQEN as Q104, which became the number one rated station in Alabama while he was General Manager in the mid 1970s. In 1978, he and business partner Gene Sisk, a consulting engineer in Tupelo, Mississippi began KEA Radio, Inc. in Scottsboro and purchased WROS.
He has served as President and General Manager of KEA Radio, Inc. for over 30 years. The corporation owns and operates WKEA-FM and WMXN-FM in Scottsboro and has owned WFPA in Fort Payne, WYMR in Bridgeport and WLLK in Somerset, KY.
In the early 1980's Ron, along with partners Mike and Don McDougald started Dan River Broadcasting in Danville, Virginia and purchased WYPR changing the call letters to WVOV. The Station was sold in 1985.
Ron has been long active in civic work and one of his most noteworthy recognitions came from his work with the Citizens for Industry project in 1985. He won the prestigious Abe Lincoln Merit Award, one of only six awarded for community public service programming projects in the United States. Ron was honored for initiating a campaign to get new industries to locate in and near Scottsboro. Faced with Alabama's highest unemployment rate (24%), Scottsboro also lacked an industry to promote such an office, and then hosted a 30-hour radiothon that was carried on seven radio stations in the county and raised $35, 000 for industrial development.
Ron was President of the Alabama Broadcasters Association in 1986-87 and received the association's Broadcaster of the Year award in 1997. He has been involved in many civic organizations and activities.
He is past President of the Scottsboro Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow, past President of the Greater Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, Co-Founder of Citizens for industry, past member of the Board of Directors of The Jackson County Economic Development Association and served for eleven years as Chairman of the Jackson County Personnel Board.
Ron is married to the former Jennifer Spangler. They have four grown children and two grandchildren. Ron and Jennifer are members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Scottsboro.