Who doesn’t want to be first? Numero uno. The top dog. The first pick. Ever since grade school coming in first has been the focus. Wanting to be the first pick to play kickball or being the best speller in the class. Now as an adult, coming in first has a whole new meaning. Companies and employers to be the best and be the consumer’s first pick. Sports teams look at ratings, along with cell phone companies, food chains, radio stations, the spectrum only gets wider from there. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication in order to bring a company into the spotlight and make everyone want to choose them. 

If you listen to a radio in St. Louis, at some point during the day you probably listen to two deejays who are doing just that. They are working their tails off and it is showing.

 

Mason and Remy, deejays on 93.7 The Bull and 103.3 KLOU, have been helping iHeart Media rise their ratings up to number one in St. Louis for the past four years. Since June of 2014, they have been working on raising KLOU’s ratings as they have done for The Bull in the past. Within the past five months, their show on KLOU already is showing massive jumps in their ratings. iHeart Media tracks their ratings using a Portable People Meter rating system (PPM). Where designated people wear these devices, which can track every time someone begins listening to a station, even online.

With the PPM system, the radio station receives weekly updates, instead of the “old school” monthly updates. Mason

says that since working at iHeart Media this was his first interaction with the PPM system, “it’s intense, but I’ve never

been able to monitor ratings like they do here.” This helps them figure out what they are doing wrong and correct it

in a timely manor.

 

What does Mason and Remy’s secret sauce for an interactive, top-notch radio show consist of? During the early years

of their show, Mason said they “made some videos, worked hard on social media, threw some spaghetti at the walls

to see if it stuck and found a good result.” They figured out what made their audience tick and created their show from those results. Remy agrees with Mason and says it is "by offering things that ‘typical’ radio shows wouldn’t normally offer. A fun, social media atmosphere and high quality videos to name a couple.” In the end they want to be talking to their listeners about what everyone else is talking about and if possible bring it to them first. It is this format that awarded Remy with the Top 30 Deejays Under 30 Award in 2014. These 30 deejays are chosen from across the country. Dusty, the program director on The Bull says, “On and off the air they are true professionals, and always giving 110%.” No wonder every station they have come to has their ratings increased.

 

You either laugh at them or with them everyday or may think of them as your best friend you never met. In some way, Mason and Remy make your morning or evening drives worthwhile, bringing you “What’s Awesome” stories, Friday Party Jams, and opportunities to win tickets. It is easy to see they are some of the hardest working deejays out there.