KBKS has officially announced the additions of Amber ‘Alabama’ Cole and ‘English Evan’ Omelia to the Carla Marie & Anthony Show.
The pair were the finalists of the Seattle’s Funniest Person contest the station has been running since its relaunch on Halloween 2018. Cole most recently served as midday host at Country “Big 95.5” WEBG Chicago prior to exiting in December. Cole originally joined WEBG in 2015 as afternoon host prior to moving to mornings alongside Mason & Remy and then middays. She has previously served as MD/afternoon host at “Now 105.3” WNOH Norfolk and worked on-air at “Now 97.5” WJIM-FM Lansing. Omelia previously worked as an account executive at iHeartMedia Seattle in 2017-2018.
INSTANT INSIGHT: We are happy to see we were wrong and it is good to see that KBKS did follow through with its $10,000 referral contest despite the hiring of two professionals from the contest.
106.1 KISS FM, Seattle’s New Hit Music, introduces the winners of Seattle’s Funniest Person Contest. Amber “Alabama” Cole and Evan “English Evan” Omelia have joined the “Carla Marie and Anthony Show” broadcasting weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. In addition, the winner of the $10,000 refer-a-friend contest, the referral portion of the contest where listeners referred their top picks for the Funniest Person Contest for a chance to win a $10,000 grand prize, was also revealed.
In November 2018, Carla Marie and Anthony announced Seattle’s Funniest Person Contest on 106.1 KISS FM. A lively contest that allowed all eligible listeners a chance to compete for a chance to join the morning show by submitting a video of 60 seconds or less to the 106.1 KISS FM website. Each contest participant was tasked with putting together a funny short video, explaining why they deserved to win. In addition, the contest also offered a grand prize of $10,000 to a lucky listener who referred a friend. The winner of the $10,000 refer-a-friend contest was Mikaela from Bothell, Washington.
The “Carla Marie and Anthony Show” features fun banter, top-charting hits and over the top segments, such as “Dirty Little Secret,” and “Let ‘em know or Let ‘em go.” In addition, along with Carla Marie and Anthony, Alabama and English Evan will discuss the latest entertainment headlines and bring excitement, realness and on-air interaction to the Seattle air-waves each weekday morning.
Alabama joins the Seattle market from Big 95.5 in Chicago, Illinois, where she most recently served as the station’s Midday Host. In addition, she has also held several on-air positions, including on-air personality on the “Mason & Remy” show, Afternoon Host and Midday Host for Big 95.5 and Midday/Afternoon Host for WNOH in Norfolk, Virginia. She began her career at WJIM-FM in Lansing, Virginia.
“Being a part of the legendary KISS brand has always been a dream of mine and living in the Pacific Northwest has been on my bucket list as I feel a true connection to the people,” said Alabama. “I’m thrilled to be chosen to join the ‘Carla Marie and Anthony’ show and am truly lucky to be able to have fun with our listeners, advertisers and lively community each morning.”
English Evan previously worked for iHeartMedia Seattle as a Sales Account Executive and worked in security prior to joining the market. He is a graduate of Washington State University where he played two years of Division 1 golf.
“It is surreal to be on air as a part of the ‘Carla Marie and Anthony’ show,” said English Evan. “I’ve been a loyal listener of the legendary 106.1 KISS FM for as long as I have lived here and I can’t wait to be a voice that helps wake up Seattle every morning.”
“This contest was all about attracting and finding the very best radio on-air personalities and providing them a platform to showcase their talent on-air,” said Tim Herbster, Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Pacific Northwest and 106.1 KISS FM Program Director. “After narrowing the field down from over 500 entries to our top seven, we knew it would be very difficult to pick just one winner and so we chose two! Both Alabama and English Evan have dynamic, relatable personalities that completely click with Carla Marie and Anthony. I’m thrilled to hear their instant chemistry on-air and look forward to the impact this show will have in our Seattle community.”
Original Report 3/26: After faking its death in October and relaunching with a contest being “Dead Serious” about finding “Seattle’s Funniest Person” to join their morning show with a contest paying $10,000 to someone who recommended the winner, iHeartMedia CHR “106.1 Kiss-FM” KBKS Tacoma/Seattle has announced its two “winners” who will join the Carla Marie & Anthony Show starting Monday, April 1.
It doesn’t appear as though anyone will be receiving the $10,000 bounty (which was cleverly crafted in the relaunch audio that the bounty would only be paid if the new employee was hired off of that recommendation) as both of the new members of the morning show have existing connections to iHeartMedia.
The first new addition is Amber ‘Alabama’ Cole. Cole most recently served as midday host at Country “Big 95.5” WEBG Chicago prior to exiting in December. Cole originally joined WEBG in 2015 as afternoon host prior to moving to mornings alongside Mason & Remy and then middays. She has previously served as MD/afternoon host at “Now 105.3” WNOH Norfolk and worked on-air at “Now 97.5” WJIM-FM Lansing.
Also joining the Carla Maria & Anthony Show is ‘English Evan’ Omelia. Omelia’s LinkedIn profile shows that he worked in sales at iHeartMedia Seattle from March 2017 to March 2018 and even made appearances on the morning show when it was on “Power 93.3” KPWK.
INSTANT INSIGHT: While it is great that the “contest” did get social media momentum for KBKS, it didn’t do much to help the ratings. KBKS was at a 2.2 share in the October 2018 Nielsen Audio ratings prior to the relaunch and held a 2.3 in the just released February 2019 monthly.
The bigger issue is that iHeartMedia Pacific Northwest Region President Robert Dove took aim at Hubbard’s “Movin 92.5” KQMV and their Brooke & Jubal show for their “fake callers” and actors in the heavily marketed relaunch that led into a fake contest and has done nothing to help KBKS’s performance in the Seattle market. Couldn’t the station have done the same “talent search” without offering the bounty? Just another example of lying to the audience with no payoff.
Steve Varholy
As a radio person, I can tell all of the Brooke and Jubal callers are canned actors. But does it really matter to the average listener? And why draw attention to it if it doesn’t matter?