RON KIGHT - ASTERISK GROUP GM IN THE EARLY 1990s

[MN Maniac]

Whatever happened to this guy? Ron Kight was the GM for all of the Asterisk properties (saved money by not having to hire individual GMs for each location, I guess.)

I remember he drove a big Lincoln Town Car with Bay Co. tags. Based in Panama City, he shuffled between that location, Ocala, and Venice. He'd usually be in Ocala anywhere from 1-2 weeks per month.

At some point, he either left on his own or was let go by Asterisk president Fred Ingham. Not sure which (?)

Last I heard, he was selling real estate in Ocala. This was 1995-96.

Anyone know where he is today?

 

[jmtillery]

Drew,

I have no idea what happened to Ron Kight, but I do remember him. He got his foot in the door at Asterisk when Fred Ingham acquired WFTP-AM 1330 Fort Pierce, which Ron previously owned. Ron had interviewed me for a Station Manager postion at their newly launched Z-Rock station WWZR-FM 94.5 Panama City. I didn't get the job, most likely because I actually wanted to be paid a station manager's salary. WWZR didn't last very long before Ron flipped it to Southern Gospel, then back to country as, get this, "B 94.5" which was a copy of the Daytona - Orlando WCFB a/k/a B 94.5.

It wasn't long after that when Ron left (I have no idea if that was on his own or if it was corporate's decision) and John Rutledge was brought in. Did you work under JTR? I think JTR came in sometime around 1990. It was also about that time when Asterisk sold its Venice stations WAMR-AM 1320 and WCTQ-FM 92.1 to Jacor Communications. They also sold the Panama City stations to Clear Channel and bought WYGC-FM 100.9 Gainesville and later three other Gainesville stations and Ocala's WMFQ-FM 92.9.

Mark Tillery,
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]

 

[cceng1]

I haven't heard from him in about 4-5 years but last I heard, he was working for Clear Channel as market manager in Pennsylvania....I just looked on the Clear Channel "global" address book and he is not listed so he is no longer at that post.

cw

 

[MN Maniac]

I was at WTRS during 1991. John Rutledge was still at Z-93.

WYGC ("GC-101") was another class act. Nancy Keeney was PD and tried to hire me away from WTRS. I thought GC-101 was a much better sounding radio station than WTRS during those days. But they were only 3kW, so they didn't have signal parity with WTRS.

From a ratings standpoint, it didn't matter since the combined market had not yet been created. But my main goal at that time was to get into Orlando or Tampa, so I figured WTRS being closer to those markets and with 50kW would give me better exposure.

Drew,

I have no idea what happened to Ron Kight, but I do remember him. He got his foot in the door at Asterisk when Fred Ingham acquired WFTP-AM 1330 Fort Pierce, which Ron previously owned. Ron had interviewed me for a Station Manager postion at their newly launched Z-Rock station WWZR-FM 94.5 Panama City. I didn't get the job, most likely because I actually wanted to be paid a station manager's salary. WWZR didn't last very long before Ron flipped it to Southern Gospel, then back to country as, get this, "B 94.5" which was a copy of the Daytona - Orlando WCFB a/k/a B 94.5.

It wasn't long after that when Ron left (I have no idea if that was on his own or if it was corporate's decision) and John Rutledge was brought in. Did you work under JTR? I think JTR came in sometime around 1990. It was also about that time when Asterisk sold its Venice stations WAMR-AM 1320 and WCTQ-FM 92.1 to Jacor Communications. They also sold the Panama City stations to Clear Channel and bought WYGC-FM 100.9 Gainesville and later three other Gainesville stations and Ocala's WMFQ-FM 92.9.

Mark Tillery,
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]