User:CashConners

This page is about the radio personality. For Cash Conners, see CashConners (disambiguation).

Cash Conners
File:Cash Conners.jpg Cash Conners in September 2009.
Born	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater	Algonquin College
Occupation	Radio personality
Years active	2003–present
Website	www.cashconners.com

Cash Conners is a Canadian Radio personality. He has been successful in some of Canada`s largest media markets; Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, and Kitchener-Waterloo. Conners is a graduate of the Algonquin College Radio Broadcasting program, where he won the Top On-Air Performer award in 2002. Previous stops include Star 96 FM Pembroke, 91.5 The BEAT Kitchener-Waterloo, HOT 89.9 Ottawa, 101.3 The BOUNCE Halifax, and most recently KiSS 92.5 Toronto.

Beginnings

Born and raised in Canada’s Capital, Cash began his broadcasting career as weekend swing announcer at Ottawa’s Number One Hit Music Station, The NEW HOT 89.9 FM in March 2003.

Always looking for more responsibility and creative outlets, Cash launched a weekly CHR chart show, Ottawa’s HOT 30 Countdown. As executive producer Cash scripted the show, designed the clock and produced all audio elements. The show has since attained national syndication as The Canadian Hit 30 with Mauler And Rush.

File:Canadian Hit 30 Countdown Screenshot.jpg

The Canadian Hit 30 Countdown website

First break

In July 2004 Cash loaded up the moving truck for the first time and headed West on the 417 to Pembroke, Ontario where he jumped into Afternoon Drive at Today’s Country, Star 96 FM.

During his tenure in Pembroke Cash also co-hosted the weekly chart show, The Star Country Countdown, with longtime morning show host Brian Burton. He was also involved in the community, participating in local fundraising events such as the Starlite Golf Tournament.

At Star 96 FM Cash was able to utilize his creativity in a new way, creating a custom ratings promotion. He conceptualized and executed “Vacation Roulette”. Hosts from Star 96 FM would make surprise appearances at unsuspecting listeners homes and award them an all expense paid trip to one of five secret destinations. The host held five different envelopes, each containing a different destination.

Mornings

L to R: Sandra Henein, Cash Conners, Mocha Frapp, Adele Newton, Scott Wilkie

In March 2005 Cash moved to Kitchener-Waterloo where he joined Adele Newton as the new co-host of The Beat Breakfast on 91.5 The BEAT. The show was fast-paced, caller driven, and interactive. This is where he honed his VoxPro skills.

Along with existing features like the `Old Skool Connection` and the `Birthday List`, Cash would introduce new features to the show such as the `MTX Male Translator`. Cash would take audio from the web or callers and translate it, in a humorous way, to what the audio actually meant.

While at The BEAT, he once again co-hosted a weekly chart show, The BEAT Top 30 Countdown. Kitchener-Waterloo is also where he first experienced the thrill of hosting live-to-air at Revolution Nightclub in Waterloo. The rush he felt from pumping up a massive crowd was one he wanted to experience again.

Back to Ottawa

Later in 2005, after increasing ratings at 91.5 The BEAT, Cash accepted an offer to head back to his hometown to launch a brand new station, Ottawa’s Alternative Rock, LiVE 88.5. He hosted the Afternoon Drive show with Jen Traplin. Together, they formed the youngest multi-voice show in Ottawa.

The pair would successfully host station promotions such as The Big Money Shot, even broadcasting live from a Canada Day 2006 concert downtown Ottawa featuring finalists of the contest. In a mid 2006 shuffle Cash moved back to his CHR roots and took the reins of HOT 89.9's evening show, reaching new ratings heights.

The evening show soared with Cash as host. He implemented new features like "The Homework Hour" and introduced a premium text message based voting element to the nightly new music feature "The Battle Of The Beats". In addition to hosting the evening show, Cash also wrote and produced much of the show's imaging.

A 12 +	2006	2007	2008
S2	15.7 (1st)	12.8 (1st)	13.9 (1st)
S4	8.9 (1st)	12 (1st)	12.7 (1st)
A 25 - 54
S2	15.7 (4th)	12.8 (5th)	13.9 (2nd)
S4	8.9 (7th)	12 (1st)	12.7 (3rd)
F 25 - 54
S2	11.9 (2nd)	10.1 (2nd)	18.1 (2nd)
S4	5.7 (6th)	14 (1st)	13.2 (2nd)

Pioneering text promotions

In late 2007 Conners spearheaded one of Canadian Radio's first text based promotions, "School Spirit 4 A HOT 89.9 Dance Party". The promotion required researching school populations, setting up short code polls and writing and producing contest imaging. Cash launched the promotion during his show and wrapped it up LIVE at the winning school.

After all was said and done, HOT 89.9 received 30,599 premium SMS messages during the contest's 2 week run. Under Cash's direction the contest generated just over $5,000 in revenue for HOT 89.9.

Launching The BOUNCE

File:CashConnersHalifax2009.jpg

Cash Conners broadcasting with 101.3 The BOUNCE at the Tall Ships Festival in Halifax 2009

In July 2008 Cash accepted an offer to help launch a brand new FM CHR station in Halifax, NS. The new station would be known as 101.3 The BOUNCE and Cash would be the first personality heard on the air. As a new voice in the market facing direct CHR competition from Evanov Radio Group's Z 103.5, Cash realized the battle for afternoon drive ratings would be challenging. But, by the end of The BOUNCE's first ratings period Cash's afternoon drive show was the most popular CHR afternoon drive show in Halifax. Cash and The BOUNCE surpassed former CHR market leader Z 103.5, cutting their ratings by half in the process.

The Big Smoke

In June 2009, Rogers Media's 92.5 Jack FM flipped format from rock to CHR and reverted back to KiSS 92.5. Cash hit the ground running as the new afternoon drive personality. Along with the rest of the team at KiSS 92.5, Cash worked extremely hard to build the station's ratings and generate a loyal following.

Together, Cash and the KiSS team became social media leaders. They grew the station's facebook fan page into the largest in Canada (128,831 likes as of Nov 3, 2013). They nurtured the station's twitter account to 46,295 followers. Despite heritage stations claiming the lion's share of audience, Cash developed a strong following of his own.

File:CashAndWyldeCherLloyd.jpg

Cash & Wylde with Cher Lloyd, September 2013

In March 2013 Cash teamed up with longtime friend Adam Wylde to deliver a multi-voice CHR afternoon drive show, Cash & Wylde. Along with a stellar cast of producers and interns, Cash & Wylde provided a morning show in the afternoon. Ratings began to climb and by Cash's exit stage the audience share grew to it's highest ever.

A 18 - 34	2012	2013
R1	-	5.3 (6th)
R2	-	6.4 (5th)
R3	5.7 (5th)	6.9 (5th)
R4	4.5 (8th)	-
F 18 - 34
R1	-	5.3 (5th)
R2	-	6.1 (5th)
R3	5.1 (4th)	7.5 (4th)
R4	4.2 (6th)	-

Cash is among the Toronto media leaders in social networking. His Twitter currently has 7,427 followers. His Facebook fan page has 1,716 likes. And, he has 4,857 facebook friends on his personal Facebook. (All numbers as of November 2013)

Plus, he has recently embraced newer social media platforms such as Vine, Instagram and Pinterest.

Future

Cash Conners is currently seeking his next big challenge. While he maintains a strong passion for remaining an every day on air broadcaster, he would like to also explore new opportunities within the realm of programming.