Cumulus Media Rock “99 Rock” 99.5 WKSM Fort Walton Beach has filled its programming vacancy with the hiring of Dave Rossi.
Rossi most recently programmed iHeartMedia Classic Rock “105.9 The Rock” WNRQ Nashville until exiting in last fall’s round of layoffs. He has also programmed AAA’s “Live 100.5” WWMM Birmingham and “Lightning 100” WRLT Nashville, Alternative’s “96 Wave” WAVF Charleston and “107.7 The X” WRAX Birmingham, and Rock 104.7 WIOT Toledo in his career.
Rossi fills the opening created by Woofy Ramone’s jump to JVC Media’s Fort Walton Beach cluster last month.
CUMULUS MEDIA announces that it has appointed veteran Rock radio programmer, Dave Rossi, as Program Director for heritage Rock station, WKSM/99ROCK in Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL. Rossi joins Cumulus from iHeartMedia Nashville, TN, where he was program director for Classic Rock WNRQ-FM/105.9 The Rock and Alternative WNRQ-HD2/ALT983. Prior to that, he was Program Director of Tuned-In Broadcasting’s WRLT-FM/Lightning 100 in Nashville. Rossi was previously Program Director of AAA WWMM-FM/Live 100.5 in Birmingham, AL, and co-owned WRAX-FM in Lake Isabella, MI. Rossi also programmed Alternative WAVF-FM/96 Wave in Charleston, SC, and WIOT-FM/Toledo.
Ashley Allegretto, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, said: “We are elated to have Dave join the Fort Walton Beach team! Dave’s wealth of knowledge, years of experience, and creativity in the Rock format make him a natural fit to lead our heritage Rock station.”
Rossi commented: “There’s spectacular growth in this market and I’m thrilled to work at this incredible radio station. After great conversations with Chris Kellogg, Ashley Allegretto, Troy Hanson and Doug Hamand it became clear that Cumulus was where I needed to be and the opportunity in Fort Walton Beach is a perfect fit. I’m looking forward to leading the team of proven winners at 99ROCK and building on the winning tradition they’ve created!”