As far as full-circle moments go, Steve Davis is about to embark on a pretty great one.
The longtime Green Bay radio personality is returning to the air Dec. 1 to do the noon-to-2 p.m. weekday slot on Y100 (WNCY-FM). It’s a move that gets him back on country music radio, the same format in which he started his career in 1993 on what was then 99 Country (WGEE-FM) and eventually gave way to the arrival of Y100, both owned by Midwest Communications Inc.
The opportunity to put the headphones back on comes nearly a year to the day since his 25-year career at Star 98 (WQLH-FM) came to an abrupt end. The Cumulus Media-owned hot adult contemporary station let Davis and his local morning show partner, Susan Kennedy, go amid layoffs at its stations across the country.
Davis couldn’t be more excited, not just be back on the air, but to get back to his country roots. It’s something that has been pulling at him for a while.
“You talk about full circle, good Lord,” he said. “It is really cool.”
The person who hired him all those years ago, first at 99 Country and then to do nights at Y100, is the same person who invited him back: Randy “Shotgun” Shannon, the station’s morning show host and newly announced brand manager. He’s known Davis since he was just out of Denmark High School.
“It’s just great to have a well familiar face and voice of northeast Wisconsin to be part of the new Shotgun era of Y100,” Shannon said.
Davis didn’t initially think he would miss radio after the way things ended at Star 98.
“I was pretty soured by the whole experience,” he said. “I worked there for 25 years and within a 4- or 5-minute conversation, it was over. … That was really disheartening. That was tough.”
Always a country music fan at heart, he’s eager to be back in the genre and to work again with Shannon. What he’s really looking forward to is connecting with listeners. He missed the interactions on social media and the text line and sharing a slice of daily life with them.
“That was the most difficult part of leaving the business for this year, but I’m super pumped to be part of it again,” he said.
During his 16 years as a morning co-host, listeners grew up with his kids, who are now 17 and 12.
“My fatherhood was on the air, and I’m really looking forward to sharing more of it now that my kids are older, because there’s still plenty of challenges that go along with that,” he said.
Whether being on the radio is like riding a bike, he’s about to find out after a year away.
“Man, I hope so,” he said, laughing. He’s found himself thinking about things like how to go to a break and how to phrase things. “I’ve had some dreams about it, that’s for sure, and they all haven’t been great.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: A year after his radio career abruptly ended, Steve Davis is ‘super pumped’ to join Y100
Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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