Signal Media of Arkansas offered up some new year’s news last week, announcing that decade-long CEO Steve Jonsson is stepping down at the radio station chain, making way for CFO Terri Mahan to take the reins.
Jonsson, the son of company founder Philip Jonsson, called Mahan “an integral part of building Signal Media since 2004” who has “provided a steady hand over sales and accounting and overseen various areas of the company throughout those 16 years.”
In a statement, Jonsson said he expected Mahan to keep up excellence at Signal’s three stations, KABZ-FM, 103.7, known as The Buzz; KKPT-FM, the Point 94.1; and KHLR-FM, 106.7, which on Monday shifted its format from country music to sports and revamped its nickname from The Ride to The Buz2, an ESPN-packed complement to The Buzz, already a destination for sports listeners.
Signal also owns and operates the Buzz Radio Network with 15 affiliates across the state, as well as three websites, 1037thebuzz.com, point941.com and signalmedia.net.
Mahan, a CPA who got her accounting degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and an MBA from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said in a news release that she relishes her new challenge.
“I am honored and excited to be part of a great locally owned company like Signal Media,” she said in the release. “Steve and I have worked together for years and he laid the groundwork for us to continue to grow the company.”
Before joining the company, Mahan was chief financial officer at Recovery Centers of Arkansas. She also has experience as an auditor.
Signal’s news release noted that Philip Jonsson died in April at age 95. Born in 1924 in Englewood, New Jersey, the elder Jonsson moved with his family to Dallas when he was 10, and went on to a physics and business degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A World War II veteran, he delved into the West Texas oil business, founding Great Plains Land Co. and becoming a director of Citizens Bank in Dallas. An investment in Dallas radio station KRLD hooked him on broadcasting, and he split time at homes in Little Rock and Dallas after founding Signal in 1984.
Before taking the reins from his father, Steve Jonsson was a company vice president and general manager of Signal’s stations.
The company heralded The Buz2 for the new year, with the sports programming supplanting The Ride’s country format on Monday morning. Local sports features will supplement the ESPN national feed, mainly in the evenings and on weekends, according to a Dec. 30 news release.
Buzz General Manager Justin Acri, in a statement, said he was thrilled to give central Arkansas sports fans another offering for “sports information, breaking news, opinion and play-by-play.” The switch “also gives us another signal on which to air locally produced sports shows and game broadcasts to entertain our listeners,” he said.
106.7-FM already aired Arkansas State University football, Little Rock Trojans men’s basketball and Benton High School football. (KHLR is licensed to Benton, though it serves the wider central Arkansas listening area.)
Sign up for Daily E-news
