{"id":28600,"date":"2022-01-25T11:33:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T17:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=28600"},"modified":"2022-01-25T11:33:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T17:33:51","slug":"ann-collister","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/ann-collister\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Collister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-28603\" src=\"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/collister-head.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"121\" height=\"149\">Celebrating 63 years in radio broadcasting, Ann Collister started her career as a trailblazer for women working in male-dominated roles. As a high school graduate enjoying summer vacation and the start of college (1951), Collister went to a job interview to satisfy repeated requests by a neighbor. The friend knew of an opening at a local radio station, but Collister had never considered a career in broadcasting. Getting that job at WOOF radio in Dothan, Alabama, rerouted her career path. Within a few weeks, the broadcast novice had begun to move up the ladder of success.<\/p>\n<p>Collister married the love of her life in 1957. While returning from their honeymoon, the couple stopped for a visit with the bride&#8217;s sister in Montgomery, Alabama. Collister was again encouraged to apply for a job, this time at WSFA radio. Armed with experience, Collister was hired. Call letters were changed to WHHY\u2013 AM, and the young woman became president for Holt-Robinson Communication (1957-1995). She was also president when WHHY became the first FM station to sign on in Montgomery.<\/p>\n<p>Collister is also a pioneer in sales. Quickly grasping the world of broadcasting, she advised the men about accounts and how to sell those accounts. In what proved to be a smart decision by management, Collister was asked to go into sales. Being offered the rare opportunity to work in a \u201cman&#8217;s world\u201d in 1963, she agreed to try sales on one condition: If it didn&#8217;t work out she wanted her old job back. As with other successes in her career, Collister quickly outsold the men.<\/p>\n<p>In &#8217;95, a former employee who bought stations in the Montgomery market hired his former boss to serve as president of Stroh Communication (1995-2004). In 2004, Stroh sold four stations to Bluewater Group, where Collister served as national sales manager until 2007, when she returned as president of Stroh Communication: WVRV\u2013 FM, Montgomery&#8217;s contemporary Christian station, and WTXK\u2013 AM\/FM, the city&#8217;s only FM sports talk station. After more than six decades in radio, Collister continues to love her work.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to having a successful career, a 57-year marriage, two children and five grandchildren, another of Collister&#8217;s goals in life is to make a difference in her community by volunteering with a myriad of organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Community Service Highlights<br \/>\n\u00b7 Served on Kiwanis Club of Montgomery Board of Directors (second largest Kiwanis Club in the world); presently serves on the Board<br \/>\n\u00b7 First female to serve on Alabama National Fair Board of Directors (sponsored by Kiwanis Club),<br \/>\nserved as president (2009-2010). Consistently grants up to $400,000 annually throughout the community<br \/>\n\u00b7 Chairman of Retired Senior Volunteer Program; continues to serve as a volunteer member<br \/>\n\u00b7 Board of Directors for Baptist Hospital Foundation and serves on annual fundraiser committee for hospital hospice program<br \/>\n\u00b7 Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce; served as chairman of membership committee<br \/>\n\u00b7 Named Senior of Achievement in 2010 by Montgomery Council on Aging<br \/>\n\u00b7 Served on advisory council for Faith Radio 2003-2004<br \/>\n\u00b7 Served as president of Montgomery Chapter of Women in Communication<br \/>\n\u00b7 Served as president of Montgomery Chapter of Sales and Marketing Executives<br \/>\n\u00b7 Active member of Taylor Road Baptist Church; serves on personnel committee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Celebrating 63 years in radio broadcasting, Ann Collister started her career as a trailblazer for women working in male-dominated roles. As a high school graduate enjoying summer vacation and the start of college (1951), Collister went to a job interview to satisfy repeated requests by a neighbor. The friend knew of an opening at a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/ann-collister\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ann Collister<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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-28600","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28600","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=28600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28604,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28600\/revisions\/28604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}