Billboard Broadcaster Of The Week: Donna Valentine Finds Her Heart At Keey Minneapolis

'I'm not exactly your typical female jock," says Donna Valentine, p.m. driver at country KEEY (K102) Minneapolis. "I don't have a feminine presentation. I'm abrasive, outspoken, and unafraid to expose that because that's who I am, and I can't suppress it . . . People give me a hard time, and I give them a hard time. It's fun."
Like most female air personalities, Valentine appreciates having her talent judged on its own merits, rather than on the basis of what a "female jock" is capable of. "I don't ever think of myself as a female jock; in the same way, a [male] PD wouldn't think of himself as a balding PD," she says. "It's not [relevant]. I don't want people to say, 'She's one of the best female jocks I've ever heard.' "
A native of northern New Jersey, Valentine started as a telephone operator at top 40 WHTZ (Z100) New York, where she worked from 1986 to '90 while attending college and simultaneously doing freelance TV production for ABC News and Sports and VH1 and working as an MTV talent coordinator. In the midst of that, she landed a weekend on-air gig at WSBG Scranton, Pa. From there, she moved to full-service AC WRFC Athens, Ga., where she worked during the week while doing weekends at AC WSB-FM Atlanta. That led to a short-lived overnight gig at top 40 KBTS Austin, Texas, then a weekend gig at KCLD St. Cloud, Minn., afternoons at start-up hot AC WTCX Minneapolis, then a weekend gig at top 40 KDWB Minneapolis.
When she joined K102 as midday host in 1994, it was her first country experience. "Country is the one format I never thought I would be able to do," she says. "Now it is the only format I want to do."
She cites both the listeners and the artists as reasons. "The audience is very loyal, down to earth, and accepting, and the artists are very accessible, accommodating, and very real," she says. "They remember their roots, appreciate radio, and always say 'thank you.' "
When afternoons opened up at K102, Valentine asked for and was given a chance to prove herself. Two and a half years later, she apparently has. She has received her first nomination as local air personality of the year in the Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards. She is the only one of the 10 country nominees who doesn't host a morning show.
A former male friend once asked Valentine about her career goals. When she said she wanted to do afternoon drive in a major market before she was 30, the friend said, "Make different plans, because women in radio do middays, late nights, or they're morning-show laugh tracks." Valentine says, "I just wanted to prove it doesn't have to be that way."
Valentine says she is given plenty of creative freedom by PD Gregg Swedberg. "I have a PD who's very aware of what's going on at his radio station, and he has high expectations, but for the