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How your favorite voices of QC radio survived tough job changes

Radio hosts we’ve known and loved in the Quad Cities have made it work, even as some were forced to leave or rethink the way they do their jobs.

It's been part of our lives for more than 90 years, but radio as we know it may not last much longer.

Dan Kennedy and Dan Deibert are the latest hosts of venerable WOC's morning show.    They occupy a two-room studio, with a producer helping broadcast the show from the other side of a soundproof window.  It's how radio has been done for decades, and it keeps WOC listeners informed.

"If you want to be successful, you have to be local," says Deibert.

But these days, what's local?

How your favorite voices of QC radio survived tough job changes

Each day, every day, Peterson is "on the air."  Not for Quad City radio stations.   She's the voice for stations hundreds of miles away.

"All of a sudden, I'm over here in Nebraska, quantum leap down to Florida, you know, Minnesota, Wisconsin," says Peterson.  "It's very fun."

She's done voice work for other radio stations for more than two decades, a trailblazer in slippers who broadcasts 12 steps away from her bedroom.

Her broadcast booth has mattress pads stapled to the walls, with shower curtain fabric over it all.     It became her radio home after being part of a station-wide radio layoff seven years ago that left 30 broadcast veterans jobless.

"You don't want to sit around and complain, you want to grab change," she says.  "If you love it, you find a way to make it work."

And Peterson isn't the only radio voice finding a new voice.

It's 9:38 in the morning on the oven clock in Dave Levora's kitchen.   Amid family pictures on the fridge, this is the new home of the Dave and Darren radio show.

How your favorite voices of QC radio survived tough job changes

That's why Dave and partner Darren Pitra are no longer broadcasting.  They're podcasting.

Since October 1st, die-hard fans and new listeners have found them on their Nacho Radio website that includes two continuous music channels (Solid and Planet ALT) and their 75-minute podcast you can click on any time.

They say their podcast gets 6,000 downloads per show and more are finding it online.

"And we've discovered we can pull it off," says Pitra.

"Listeners demand to hear the sort of things they want to hear on their own terms," says Levora.  "That's what the future is."

At WOC, Dan Deibert and Dan Kennedy know what they're up against.

"I think it's a little harder to be in music radio right now because, you know, it's easier to go get music from anywhere," says Deibert.

"Anybody can do radio, almost any place and time," says Kennedy.

And for a new generation, forget the dial.   It's now all about the download.

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