photo by steed media service

Chris Forgy’s father’s been involved in the radio industry longer than Chris has been alive. Raised as a child on the Stylistics and Grand Funk Railroad, Forgy would follow his father to work at the legendary WING 1410 in Dayton, Ohio where he met the legendary groups, the Jackson 5 and the Beatles. It was during this time that Forgy decided to pursue a career in broadcasting.

Forgy now calls Cleveland home and has fully embraced his role as the vice president and general manager of Radio One in Cleveland, where he manages two of the most popular urban stations 93.1 on WZAK and 107.9 on WENZ. Having never worked in urban radio prior to his new position, Forgy says he’s blown away by the listeners in the urban market.

“If the word gets out in the urban community, the African American community, it spreads like a brushfire,” says Forgy who also oversees operations at AM favorites WJMO and WERE. “The passion and the commitment and the nature of this audience is second to none — I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Remaining cognizant of the listeners and discussing issues crucial to the community is an aspect of Forgy’s job that means a lot to him. At Radio One, Forgy and his peers make it a point to reach out to their local community. “I think it’s something we need to continue to refocus on — the area of making things locally-oriented,” he says. “I think the local aspect of what we do, being connected to the community, has been and always will be the biggest positive that we can deliver to the consumer.” - gavin philip godfrey

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