Thrill Hill Radio
Donation protected
Thomas “The Thrill” Hill plans to use 41 years of radio experience, plus online crowd-funding, to start a new radio station. Hill plans to put students to work and provide open-mic forums on local and world issues.
Hill hopes the GoFundMe, do-it-yourself online fundraising campaign he set in motion last month will have met its goal of $25,000 to support his move to “revive authentic and mature radio programming” with Thrill Hill Radio that stars listeners who freely express their views on community issues. The station, which will target ages 25-54, also will serve as a training ground for students to compete in the job market once they graduate from college.
“I am a product of radio during a period when personalities believed in the premise of connecting with their listening audience,” Hill, a Raleigh native, said. “The primary function of radio is to serve the community - not just the local community but the world-community; to share information, promote awareness and address issues. The world is our community, and radio is the voice of our community. Thrill Hill Radio will speak to the world community.”
Hill, 55, followed the footsteps of his godfather, well-known local radio jockey “Sweet Bob Rogers.” Hill landed his first radio job when he was 14 as a board operator at a classical non-profit radio station, WCPE 89.7 FM. He stayed there four years, until he entered then St. Augustine’s College to major in English.
“I loved music, and I also was very captivated by voices,” Hill said. “At one point, I wanted to do commercials and voiceovers, and I found out the only way to get that kind of training was to work in radio and the best way to get my foot in that door was as a board operator.”
When the program director recognized Hill’s baritone as pitch perfect for radio, he allowed the teenager to man his own on-air shift of classical jazz on Sundays. Ever since, Hill has been a mainstay, spinning tunes from gospel to R&B at stations across the Triangle from 1999 to 2009. Hill also made a name for himself during stints at other national radio stations, where he perfected his Quiet Storm Show.
He returned to North Carolina in 1983. By 1986, he was back at his alma mater to launch the school’s radio and television stations. Hill’s next stop was a position as program director at WLLE, where he catapulted the station from 26th to 10th in the market. But it was at WQOK that he became Thomas “The Thrill” Hill, when an inside joke – about his Quiet Storm and deep voice making female listeners swoon – stuck.
For more information, visit http://www.gofundme.com/8titjc.
Hill hopes the GoFundMe, do-it-yourself online fundraising campaign he set in motion last month will have met its goal of $25,000 to support his move to “revive authentic and mature radio programming” with Thrill Hill Radio that stars listeners who freely express their views on community issues. The station, which will target ages 25-54, also will serve as a training ground for students to compete in the job market once they graduate from college.
“I am a product of radio during a period when personalities believed in the premise of connecting with their listening audience,” Hill, a Raleigh native, said. “The primary function of radio is to serve the community - not just the local community but the world-community; to share information, promote awareness and address issues. The world is our community, and radio is the voice of our community. Thrill Hill Radio will speak to the world community.”
Hill, 55, followed the footsteps of his godfather, well-known local radio jockey “Sweet Bob Rogers.” Hill landed his first radio job when he was 14 as a board operator at a classical non-profit radio station, WCPE 89.7 FM. He stayed there four years, until he entered then St. Augustine’s College to major in English.
“I loved music, and I also was very captivated by voices,” Hill said. “At one point, I wanted to do commercials and voiceovers, and I found out the only way to get that kind of training was to work in radio and the best way to get my foot in that door was as a board operator.”
When the program director recognized Hill’s baritone as pitch perfect for radio, he allowed the teenager to man his own on-air shift of classical jazz on Sundays. Ever since, Hill has been a mainstay, spinning tunes from gospel to R&B at stations across the Triangle from 1999 to 2009. Hill also made a name for himself during stints at other national radio stations, where he perfected his Quiet Storm Show.
He returned to North Carolina in 1983. By 1986, he was back at his alma mater to launch the school’s radio and television stations. Hill’s next stop was a position as program director at WLLE, where he catapulted the station from 26th to 10th in the market. But it was at WQOK that he became Thomas “The Thrill” Hill, when an inside joke – about his Quiet Storm and deep voice making female listeners swoon – stuck.
For more information, visit http://www.gofundme.com/8titjc.
Organizer
Thomas Hill
Organizer
Raleigh, NC
