Radio's Gottschalk goes to former competitor

Adam Gottschalk's Midnight Barbecue is an Internet hit.
PHOTO BY JAY KUHLMANN

UPDATE 8/25/08: Adam Gottschalk takes to the airwaves at WKAV today from 3 to 5pm on his show, newly dubbed "The 4th Quarter with Adam Gottschalk". Next week, the show moves to the more primo drive-time slot of 4 to 6pm.

Three weeks ago when the Hook spoke with Adam Gottschalk, former UVA play-by-play guy with the Virginia Sports Network, he predicted that his next job would not be in sports. Yesterday, Gottschalk inked a deal with Monticello Media's WKAV Sports Radio 1400, a Fox radio affiliate, and will be on the air up against his former colleagues at WINA.

"For the longest time at WINA, we didn't consider them competition," jokes Gottschalk about his new employer, which is one of six former Clear Channel station purchased in 2007 by Monticello Media (along with WCYK-FM 99.7, WCJZ-FM 107.5, WSUH-FM 94.1 and 102.3, WHTE-FM 101.9 and WCHV 1260 AM). "It's the chance to do something totally starting from the ground up."

"He's been in this market a long time," says his new boss, Dennis Mockler, who also was Gottschalk's old boss when Mockler was Charlottesville Radio Group's general manager. "He's got an understanding of a wide variety of sports and he's good on the air. He's got a lot of experience and he can talk on his feet."

Starting Monday, Gottschalk will host WKAV's afternoon drive show, Sports Wrap, which currently runs from 3 to 5pm, although the time slot could shift, he says. "My show is not going to be all sports," he adds. "I've got to let my personality out."

Gottschalk already shows some personality on his hit public access/Internet show, the Midnight Barbecue, which just started a new season. And along with the drive-time show at WKAV, he also is going to work with Denny King on his web-based WCVL.TV, where he'll be VP of Development.

"I think he'll be instrumental in marketing and in content development because he's so well known and so well liked," enthuses King. "I'll be looking for creative input, and he has a great sports reputation."

At age 24, Gottschalk has more than seven years experience with WINA, where he started as an intern when he was a 16-year-old junior at Albemarle High School. He calls the decision to leave the only station he's ever known "incredibly painful."

"I'm sure he'll be very good because he was very good for us," says Charlottesville Radio Group operations manager Rick Daniels. "Adam has been here so long, I've watched him grow up. I wish him the best."

Daniels doesn't see Gottschalk as directly competing with WINA. "They do something very different," he says. "They're all sports 24-7. We augment our coverage with sports."

And Daniels sees the new gig as a good opportunity for Gottschalk. "He's never really done sports talk," says Daniels. "He's done play-by-play, so this is a good chance to see if he likes it."

Not one to keep merely one or two irons in the fire, Gottschalk also announces that he'll be bartending a couple of nights a week at a new restaurant at the site that was Orbit Billiards, and that he's just started a band– and they need a drummer.

The original version of this post incorrectly stated that Gottschalk will work full time for WKAV.
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