{"id":21599,"date":"2019-08-02T14:28:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T20:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=21599"},"modified":"2019-08-10T04:09:25","modified_gmt":"2019-08-10T10:09:25","slug":"david-stewart-2019-broadcaster-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/david-stewart-2019-broadcaster-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"DAVID STEWART – 2019 ABA BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"What are you going to be when you grow up? We like to ask kids that question because you never know what you might find out. Ask youngster David Stewart about his career plans and he would have told you he not only wanted<\/em> to work in radio \u2026 he already was working<\/em> in radio!\u00a0 For sticking to his dream for over 50 years, becoming one of the most respected broadcasters in the state, the ABA is proud to honor WMFC\u2019s owner and operator David Stewart with the 2019 Broadcaster of the Year award.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad was born and raised up in Monroeville, and his father had the radio station before he was even born, so it\u2019s been pretty much part of his life from the very beginning,\u201d explains his daughter, Ryanne.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cYes, he got interested in radio really early,\u201d says Nancy, his wife of 36 years. \u201cWhen he was just three years old, he made a little radio station out of a playhouse. He used boxes to make a board and put in some old wires and things.\u201d\u00a0 By the time he was ten, David was hosting his own Saturday morning kid\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cThere was a guy that ran the board and made sure the commercials aired correctly, but David picked out the songs and talked about each one,\u201d explains Nancy. \u201cThen when he was fifteen, he got his license and started working a weekend shift on his own.\u201d David has been \u201cplaying\u201d radio ever since.\u00a0 David, who is a little person, once said, \u201cThere, stature was about how you sounded, what you did, not physical size.\u201d<\/p>\n

When David\u2019s father, William Stewart, died in 1995, he helped his mother, Carolyn Stewart, manage the business and then took over full ownership of the company upon her death in 2014. His longevity at WMFC has made David one of Monroeville\u2019s most well-known residents.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cEverybody knows him and talks to him wherever he goes,\u201d says Ryanne. \u201cSometimes when people want to know about something, they don\u2019t wait to hear it on the radio, they call the station or his cell phone to find out what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the hurricane knocked us off the air, the pulp mill brought in some generators and David had the station up and running in a day and a half,\u201d Nancy says. \u201cWhen people need local information, they turn to our station.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radio Day<\/em> featuring the local Kiwanis Club has become an event the whole community looks forward to each year. \u00a0David\u2019s father started giving up a day of airtime to the club in the 1950s and David, also a Kiwanian, has faithfully continued the tradition. \u00a0Fellow club member, Paul England says, \u201cPeople ask when it\u2019s coming up.\u00a0 It has turned into a really fun event that highlights local businesses and supports different Kiwanis projects.\u201d\u00a0 England added that David has always been good about airing public service announcements, covering local elections and carrying area high school football games. \u00a0He continued, \u201cDavid is community oriented, providing local news when a lot of communities just don\u2019t have that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping WMFC local has been one of David\u2019s most important goals. Over the years, he has been recognized by numerous groups for using WMFC to aid their causes.\u00a0 Groups include the American Red Cross, Hospices South, American Heart Association, Alabama Special Olympics, American Cancer Society, United Way, Monroeville Chamber of Commerce, numerous schools and churches.\u00a0 Alabama Broadcasters Association President Sharon Tinsley commented, \u201cDavid has harnessed the power of his station to help with everything from raising money, driving the local economy, featuring local personalities and even finding peoples\u2019 dogs over the years!\u00a0 He and his family define local radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cYou know, David is a little person, and you have to work hard \u2026 you have to work harder to be accepted,\u201d Nancy continues. \u201cEven though he\u2019s from a small market, large markets listen to what he has to say. He\u2019s not only accepted, he\u2019s respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a family operated business and Monroeville has seen some hard times,\u201d says Nancy. \u201cWe used to have a staff of 10-15 and now David literally runs the station with two full time employees, of which he\u2019s one, and two part time employees.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBut,\u201d says Nancy, \u201c\u2026his goals for the future are what they\u2019ve always been. \u201cThis station is his baby. He feels responsible for keeping it going. He wants it to have a good, good reputation and provide a service to the community. Radio is he all he’s ever wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

When interviewed for a newspaper feature about his long lasting career in the family business, David (now silver haired but still playing at radio) said in his booming baritone voice, \u201cI was fortunate to have this. \u00a0I\u2019m proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are you going to be when you grow up? We like to ask kids that question because you never know what you might find out. Ask youngster David Stewart about his career plans and he would have told you he not only wanted to work in radio \u2026 he already was working in radio!\u00a0 … Continue reading DAVID STEWART – 2019 ABA BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21599","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21685,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21599\/revisions\/21685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}