Smithville native and award-winning DJ Styckman and his cohorts in comedy, Gator and Cowboy Kyle, recently won the ACM (Academy of Country Music) award for On-Air Personality of the Year - Small Market. The award was for the 7-midnight show on WUSY–US101 in Chattanooga.
Gator and Styckman can also be heard in the morning on 106.9 Kicks Country in Cookeville.
The trio took some time from their busy schedules recently to tell the Review how they felt about the win.
Smithville Review: After several years in Cookeville on the Country Giant, you are now on WUSY 101 in Chattanooga?
StyckMan: Yup, Gator left Cookeville for Chattanooga in 2010 and I manned the morning show by myself in the beginning, then added Melanie Marley for a short time, and after she left Mary Mac joined the show. After being at one job for so long it was very difficult to pack up and leave it. When the opportunity came to reunite the ‘Gator & StyckMan Show,’ I had a lot of internal battles with myself and conversations with my family about it.  But in the end I just couldn’t turn it down.
SR: How long were you on the Giant?
StyckMan: Gator and I did the morning show on the Giant for the better part of 14 years.  I continued on for another two years. Now The Gator and StyckMan morning show can be heard on 106.9 Kicks Country in Cookeville so now I’m in a “best of both worlds” situation by getting to grow my career in Chattanooga and “stay at home” with the Cookeville Show.
SR: The show is now Gator, Styckman and Cowboy Kyle?
StyckMan: Yes. Most everybody in these parts knows Gator. He’s from Sparta and one of the most talented radio people that I know. (He now owes me $20 for saying that.) Cowboy Kyle is from Dade County, Georgia and he’s the one that makes us sound funny even when we ain’t. It takes some skill to be able to handle that job. He’s the imaging director at WUSY in Chattanooga. In his words he writes and produces the ‘swooshy things in between songs.’”
Cowboy Kyle: “It was a pleasure to be able to join up with such legendary DJs back last year. I have learned an absolute ton. I’m mostly proud of the friendships that I’ve made with them. Ya can’t find too many lifelong friends. I’ve been at WUSY since December of 2005. I was an intern before that.”
Gator: “The only thing bigger than our 400-pound producer is the size of his heart. He has a passion for the profession and incredible love for country music that is simply infectious. Good dude, great addition.”
SR: “How many CMA/ACM awards? Any others? (4-H public speaking ribbons, pinewood derby, etc.?)”
StyckMan: “This ACM (Academy of Country Music) win makes our second Air Personality Award and Gator and I have two CMA (Country Music Association) Air Personality awards as well. I also picked up a State-Wide ‘Friend of Education’ award from the Tennessee Education Association in 2010. I was nominated by the DeKalb County Education Association for that award, and on top of that I won some sort of citizenship award when I was like seven... for making an Uncle Sam hat. I won 20 bucks. But I don’t think you want to hear that story. Ha ha.”   
Cowboy Kyle: “This is my first ACM Award.”
StyckMan: “A  piece of that that he didn’t tell you is he’s an Eagle Scout. Having been a boy scout myself you have to know how much of an honor that is. For the record, I didn’t even make it close to Eagle.”
Gator: “These guys covered the count. Only thing I could add to the list would be my 2012 St. Jude No Shave November Beard Bash Award for scruff. Very dear to my heart... and uh, face.”                                             
SR: “What time are you on the air?”
StyckMan: “In Chattanooga, we’re on from 7 p.m.-midnight eastern time, and you can listen via your smartphone on iHeartRadio, (Just search US101 or WUSY) or you can log on to www.us101country.com. You knew I had to throw in a cheap plug for the website didn’t ya? In Cookeville, we’re on 106.9 bright n’ early from 5:30-10 a.m.”
SR: “You're a program director as well?”
StyckMan: “Yes, that’s been one of the biggest adjustments for me. I’m now the program director for WLND 98.1 The Lake. It’s a classic hits station. Musically it sounds a lot like ‘Jack’ does in Nashville, but we take the opposite approach than they do. They say, ‘Playing what we want.’ We say, ‘We play anything.’  There’s a feature on our website (www.981thelake.com) where listeners can log in and tell us what songs they want to hear and sometimes they’re even given the opportunity to pick the next song.”
SR: How do you feel about the latest ACM win, Shocked and stunned? Humbled and astonished? Flabbergasted and overwhelmed?”
StyckMan: “I had actually written off any chance of winning this one for a couple of reasons. Our afternoon show here at US101, Dex and Mo was also nominated in the same category.  Dex was just inducted into the Country Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame last week. So I’m super shocked that we picked up this award. How could we possibly win an award over a Hall of Famer? When you throw Philip Gibbons from The Giant, who was also nominated in the same category, into the mix, that made the competition even stiffer, so I guess I can go with shocked! But I do need to say blessed as well. I’m blessed that I get to do a job that I love every single day. The fact that there is an award attached to it is the icing on the cake.”
Cowboy Kyle: “I’m just pretty humbled by all of this. It’s all very surreal to me. I never thought a good ole’ southern boy would be jet setting to Las Vegas to receive an ACM award. I just count my blessings and thank God, Gator and StyckMan for the memories.”
Gator: “I keep telling people ‘Blessed & Blown Away.’ Blessed because I know God has lifted us up so that we may lift Him up. Jesus gets all the credit for any backslap or buttpat we get. Blown away because this kind of national recognition is never expected, but always appreciated. Styckman mentioned the ‘Hall of Fameness’ of Dex and Mo being nominated in the same category, but their show is incredibly honest  with amazing heart. It connects for a very obvious reason, they’re good. Being nominated with them is an honor, getting to work with them on a daily basis is a blessing.”
SR: “Do these awards come with fat checks, and if so can you lend me a twenty?”
StyckMan: “Psh! One could wish, but I will let you take me out to dinner when I’m in for the weekend.”
Cowboy Kyle: “No money. Although I wonder if I could talk them out of a raise.”
Gator: “No paychecks, but priceless appreciation and an ACM experience that money could never buy. There are many things more important than money and this is definitely one of those things.”
SR: “Anything else you would like to say, anybody you want to thank (wife always recommended)?”
StyckMan: “To borrow an idea from funny man Victor Borge, I’d like to thank my mom and dad for making this possible, and I’d also like to thank my kids for making it necessary. Seriously. As I said before, I’m blessed that I get to do a job that I love. The fact that I get to do that is largely due to the listeners actually listening to our show. If they didn’t listen, I’d be sitting in a room talking to no one, and from what I can gather, if you do that for too long, the guys in the white coats come after you.
“Smithville is still home to me, I’m there a lot. In fact, I’m gonna be at Northside Elementary School on May 14 to keep up my fifth-grade musical tradition. The public is invited and it’s free. Yeah, yeah, another cheap plug. Hahaha. So to get the text messages, calls, Facebook messages, Tweets, and emails from home means the world to me.  So I’ll simply say this: Thank you.”
 Gator: “I’ve always said there’s incredible blessing in being able to do what you love, where you love. You guys have made that possible for us. My God and my girls (daughter Roman, six, and Ezra, due June 16 on Father’s Day) and wife Tennille have made it possible for me. For both, I’m eternally humbled and grateful. Thank you.”
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