UTSA
sophomore joins popular morning radio show
(Oct. 24, 2001)--In the classroom, she's known as Mel Tovar, a 22-year-old sophomore public relations major from San Antonio Churchill High School. But get her in front of a microphone and she is transformed into "Mel T.," one of the three personalities on the new "UltraDrex" morning show on Wild 102.7 KTFM.
Tovar joined the morning show after a recent reshuffling of personnel at
KTFM left a vacancy in their morning drive time slot. After the job opened
up, Tovar was asked if she were interested in trying out for the position.
She decided she was, and after a couple of weeks of auditioning she was named
the new co-host, joining Miss Ree and Drex.
The job was a complete change from her previous jobs as a reporter/weekend
anchor and traffic reporter at their newstalk station, KTSA-AM.
Not only was the format different, but she also had to make a change in her daily routine. As "Mel-T," she has to go to to bed at 9 p.m. so she can get up at 3:45 a.m to head to the station to prepare for the morning show that runs 6-10 a.m. every weekday.
"Mel-T" still fills the role as news person for the morning program, but the format gives her a lot more freedom to choose what news is given a higher priority. She puts the most important news at the top and fills the rest of the newscast with entertainment news and other bits and pieces that may be of interest to their young audience.
"There is no set time when I do the news. It just depends on how the show is going, and it gives me a lot more freedom to shorten or lengthen the newscast," said Tovar. "I have a lot more fun on FM because we have a broader audience and our listeners are younger and closer to my age."
Tovar knows she has a lot to learn from Drex, who has had the top rated morning show in San Antonio for the last 10 years. The musical format has also changed from Top 40 , to a hip-hop and rhythm and blues mix.
"Everyone should work with Drex. I've learned so much from him. He is brilliant, the way his mind works so fast. I just want to latch on. He is so intense and popular, and I am just honored to work with him," said Tovar.
As for the future, Tovar says she has not made any plans, she just wants to enjoy the job as long as she can and continue to attend classes at UTSA so that she can complete her degree.
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