Many students cringe when they hear they may have to start their careers at a radio station "up north" and as a city girl moving to Kalkaska, Michigan, Terri Ray was certainly one of them. But despite her reservations, she went ahead with it and 22 years later she's at the top of her game and firmly rooted in Northern Michigan.

Voted Best DJ voice in the 2005 Northern Express Reader's Choice Awards, the program director of 'KLT Double Rock may be heard on the Traverse City rock station every day as far south as Big Rapids, MI, as far north as Sault Ste. Marie, Canada and as far east as Alpena, MI thanks to dual broadcasting signals.

Simply put, Terri Ray rules the airwaves in her neck of the woods and the only question remaining about her stint in Northern Michigan would have to be: Why would she leave?


How long did it take you to adjust and when did the need to go home every weekend stop?

It was tough in the beginning. I didn't know a soul in Northern Michigan when I got the job at WKLT. My intention when I took the job was to get back to the Detroit area as quickly as possible. I figured that I would get a little experience and then head back.

'KLT was a 3000 watt station in Kalkaska. I was hired to do overnights. For one, I swear the building was haunted. Worse yet, sometimes drunks would show up and bang on the outer doors at 3 or 4 in the morning to make requests. The police station was located right next door so I would call them up and ask them to stop by to pick up unwanted visitors.

I absolutely hated everything about Northern Michigan for the first few months. I road tripped home almost every weekend for probably the first 6 months.

But then things began to change. I was moved to the evening shift, I started making new friends and I found a cool place to live.

You're obviously a seasoned professional after 22 years on the air. What has compelled you to stay at the station where you started?

It got easier and easier to stay. For many years we were the only rock station in Northern Michigan. It sounds stupid, but it's like being a "big fish in a little pond." Our pond has gotten bigger over the years, but it's cool to be so well known. No matter how big of a dork that you secretly know you are, people automatically think that you are "cool" because you work at 'KLT.

As a jock, you get to hear new music first and play it for everyone else. You give away stuff that doesn't belong to you, people associate their winnings with not only your station, but with you personally. You go to concerts, take winners backstage to meet bands, interview bands on the air... I love music and I admire musicians. I still think that it's cool to hang with rock stars.

Plus with being here so many years, along with the fact that I became the station's program director many years ago, I get to decide who goes to which shows and who chaperones what. I have had so many unbelievable adventures; I flew with winners to the opening night of U2's last tour in Florida. I chaperoned winners that we flew in for the Grammy's in New York at Madison Square Gardens. I flew to Florida another time to chaperone winners at a Rolling Stones concert. I chaperoned winners on a hot air balloon ride to a Rod Stewart show....wow, I could go on and on...but I think that you get the idea. 

What do you enjoy about living and working in Traverse City?

Many years ago (don't ask me which year it's all a blur) the station's studios moved  into Traverse City. I live where other people come to vacation! It is absolutely beautiful. It is a year round paradise.

Last weekend I was on Mackinac Island emceeing the Lilac Festival Parade, they actually paid me to be there! Very soon we will be escorting winners on weekly trips on the Nauti-cat out on the Grand Traverse Bay. This weekend is our annual beach volleyball tournament on the West end of Grand Traverse Bay. There will be food, live entertainment, a multitude of vendors, like kite companies and water sport exhibitors, and... lots of stuff!

The National Cherry Festival gets underway the first week of July. Something like a half a million people come to town that week... 'KLT sponsors every major event and concert that happens during that week. It is an incredibly crazy busy time for us... and I absolutely love it !

One of your proudest achievements has to be the Northern Michigan Rocks CD and showcase that you and the station have produced every year since 1998 to promote local talent.

I am very proud of our "Northern Michigan Rocks" project. There are so many extremely talented musicians in our area.

As you know, college stations may add unsigned bands to their play lists, but it doesn't work that way in commercial radio. Yet every week we would receive tapes from bands that wanted us to play them on the radio. We were amazed at some of the stuff coming in. That's when we decided to put together a CD compilation of some of the best material.

We actually turned it into a contest. The only rules were that your band has to live in Northern Michigan, and all songs must be original. The first release actually ended up being a double CD.

Fast forward to 2005 -- we just released Northern Michigan Rocks Volume 5. It has become a big deal to be on one of our releases. First off, you get a bit of radio airplay, along with that we have worked out an agreement with almost all the area venues to use bands that appear on our CDs to open for major acts that come through the area. From Collective Soul to Seether, Saliva, Bad Company, Static X, Shinedown, and a laundry list a mile long of other acts, Northern Michigan Rocks bands have opened the shows.

It has been a huge opportunity for area musicians. My goal through this project is to get one of our bands signed and become huge rock stars....get into binge drinking and drugging...lose their wife and kids....go into rehab... stage a big comeback....and....nah! I just want them to get national airplay and live the dream! How cool would that be?!  Our rock and roll claim to fame in Traverse City is Kenny Olson, lead guitarist for Kid Rock's Twisted Brown Trucker Band. He stops into the station every now and again, he's a good guy.