weekly April 14, 2025, Issue 956
Take A Ride With Justin Franiak
From relative obscurity to national presence almost overnight (pun intended), Justin Franiak was announced as host of Cumulus’ The Overnight Ride late last month (Breaking News 3/26). Airing live from midnight to 5am on 47 of the company’s Country stations, the show is based out of WKDF/Nashville. Franiak previously worked for Beasley, where he did mornings at AC WJBR/Wilmington, DE and swing at WXTU in his native Philadelphia. Prior jobs in Country include stints at KBBL/Santa Rosa, CA; WHWK/Binghamton, NY; and WPIG/Olean, NY. Justin Franiak He also worked for CBS Radio in Philly in a job he colorfully describes as “stunt boy and free t-shirt provider.” Here’s more from Franiak, in his own words: I once kissed a pig on the mouth for St. Jude while at WPIG. I wanted to do something ridiculous to raise money, so we got a pig, put it on the front lawn of the radio station and I put a carrot in my mouth. But the pig was horrified of me. I just kept putting the carrot in my mouth and the pig eventually ate it. When I edited the bit, it was great, but in reality, it was like 30 minutes of trying to get the pig to come to me. As a kid, I got interested in a radio career listening to [WMMR/ Philadelphia air personalities] Preston & Steve and Pierre Robert. I thought it was a cool job. On my parents’ refrigerator there’s a signed picture of me with Pierre Robert right next to a picture of Pope John Paul II. So we have the Pope, and the Pope of Rock. In middle school I did the morning PA announcements and decided I wanted to do it as a career. Three months before I graduated high school, I went into the station to watch the Preston & Play It Again: Luke Steve show and came out sure of my career path. I Bryan (l) with Franiak. don’t know that I could do a desk job. I tried it on a (continued on page 7)
Diamonds Are A Earls’ Best Friend: RCA’s Kane Brown commemorates his second RIAA Diamond certification for “What Ifs,” as well as nine additional certifications, with Neon Coast’s Martha Earls (l) and Sony’s Taylor Lindsey at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
Smokeout Sails South
Now an annual fixture in Chicago with its marriage of country music and barbecue, Windy City Smokeout is getting a sibling May 2-4 in Arlington, TX with the Lonestar Smokeout. The brand expansion has been in the works for almost five years, says organizer Ed Warm. “We had quite a few people over the years saying, ‘What you do is a little bit different and would work Ed Warm in other cities,’” Warm says. “Our research and discussions with people really pointed to Dallas-Ft. Worth as the best market to add. We looked all around the metroplex, but kept coming back (continued on page 3)
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