Catching up with… former WSB-AM talker Chris Krok
At last Saturday's talk show boot camp at a Perimeter hotel, I spent a few minutes catching up with former WSB-AM talk show host Chris Krok, now morning host at 940/WMAC-AM in Macon (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) Krok is also program director (that helped bump him to a livable salary.)
You can catch 940 in parts of Atlanta after sunrise.
Krok, who was at WSB from early 2006 to late 2007, seems happy. If he's still disappointed WSB-AM dumped him in favor of Herman Cain nearly two years ago, he's not showing it. ("I'm still [PD] Pete Spriggs' No. 1 fan," he said.) Clearly, he was originally groomed to be a future replacement for anyone planning to leave the daytime lineup but someone high up decided he wasn't ready.
Sure, Macon is market #155 vs. Atlanta (market #7). But he’s now a bigger fish in a smaller pond. “I’m having just as much fun,” he said.
Politicians, he observed, are just as hypocritical and potentially dirty in a smaller town like Macon as Atlanta. He enjoys holding their feet up to the fire. One councilwoman even accused him of harassing her when he took a picture by her car at some public event.
“They’re not used to the type of radio I do here,” he said.
Krok, whose anti-immigration rallies in Atlanta in 2007 attracted hundreds of people, created a Tea Party rally earlier this year that drew more than 600 people. For Macon, that’s huge.
While he may consider a bigger market down the road, he will only take a job from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., not a night job like WSB-AM.
He’s also quit smoking (he used to defend it proudly), though he said it meant he gained a few pounds. His last cigarette, he said, was last Christmas time.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
