If you don't know Adam and Kelly (Foster) Shapiro's backstory, you might assume it's yet another romance started in the halls of WJPZ. Their story, as you'll hear here, is a much different road than than other Z89 couples.
Both members of the Class of 1992, they were certainly friendly in school, and had mutual friends, but didn't spend a ton of time together outside the station. Kelly joined the promotions department, eventually working her way up to legal director. Adam was a sports guy who became assistant sports director and a talk show host.
We've referenced the late SUNY-Oswego professor John Oldfield on the podcast before, but Kelly really explains what a thorn in WJPZ's side this man was. He was always trying to have a "gotcha" moment in the middle of Z89 renewing its FCC license. This adversary, and the myriad of folks who helped the station through license renewal, would end up teaching Kelly valuable career and life lessons before graduation. In fact, history would repeat itself, in a way. Nearly a decade later, when Kelly was President of the Alumni Association, she would have a hand in getting the station through its Receievership Era, as outlined by Harry and Dena in their episode.
In this podcast, you'll hear about the remarkable careers of this Z89 power couple - with Adam producing newscasts from Syracuse to Vegas to Miami to New York. Kelly started in radio but found her home on the agency side, working for many different firms, before ultimately being recruited to work for Rolex, where she's been since 2014.
But for as successful as Adam and Kelly have been, you'll hear more today about the WJPZ family then their long list of accomplishments. This includes the now-Shapiros reconnecting at the 2000 Banquet, and developing a deep and meaningful friendship that eventually turned into more - even if there were some hilarious speed bumps along the way, including a great airplane story with a WJPZ connection.
One of the benefits of marrying someone you went to school with is that their college friends are your college friends, and Adam and Kelly share that unique perspective.
John Oldfield Obituary: https://news.syr.edu/blog/2009/07/31/college-mourns-passing-of-professor-emeritus-john-oldfield/
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
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Want to be on the show? Email JAG at jag@jagpodcastproductions.com
Connect with the WJPZ Alumni Association: https://wjpzalumniassociation.org/
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