In his 15-year radio career, Dom Casual has been all across the country, working in six states before returning to his roots at KJQN.
He returned to "KJQ" (FM-103.1, 100.7 and 105.1) May 1 as program director and as a disc jockey from 3-7 p.m. on weekdays and 6-10 a.m. Saturdays.
"This is where I belong. . . . This feels good. This is my music," he said, explaining he missed Utah and wanted to return.
"I intend to stay here a while," he said.
Born in Brigham City but raised in Provo, Casual (his radio nickname) had an "awesome" music collection as a teenager. On the strength of that collection he did some DJ work at a Utah County club as a freshman at Brigham Young University. There he met "Mister" (now at KENZ "The End," FM-107.5) who invited him in 1988 to be his sidekick on Ogden's original KJQN.
One of his college professors told Casual he had a natural talent for radio, and Mister saw it, too. At first he worked for free and before long the paying jobs came along.
A few years later, Casual and most of the DJs at KJQN left that station to form KXRK where he was part of the "Project X with Dom and Bill (Allred)" show.
A few years later, Casual began a "radio adventure" in Georgia, Missouri, Colorado, Washington state, Texas and California. He also did a stint at KENZ in the mid-1990s. He also sold firearms for a year at a Salt Lake store.
He met his wife, who is also a DJ, in Spokane, and they have an 8-month-old daughter.
Casual takes his job seriously, but not himself. In fact, if you ever hear him declare he's "the world's most professional DJ," that means he's probably just made an on-air mistake, like talking over music being played on the air.
IMAGINATION IS ALIVE AND WELL — Here are the finalists for KENZ's "Show Us Your End" TV commercial contest, as chosen by a team of judges (including yours truly): "Dance to the End" by Mike Ward and Chad Harris; "Viva La France," by Kelly Branan; "Radio Star," by Marty Patch; "Special Day," by Ian Goodsell; "Bare Necessities," by Greg Duckwitz and Brett Monson; and "Animated Chunga & Mister," by Andy Bailey.
Starting Monday, July 28, these commercials can be viewed at www.1075.com, where you can vote for your top three picks. First place wins $3,000; second place, $2,000; and third place gets $1,000.
RADIO HAPPENINGS — KURR is now "Classic rock and roll 99.5" and has cut back on late '80s and '90s music. It is now striving to play songs you otherwise don't hear on the radio. Bill Betts, Salt Lake Clear Channel operations manager, believes KURR is playing Utah's largest collection of classic rock 'n' roll music.
— Radio Disney (AM-910) is sponsoring two more pre-qualifying events for its "Zours Important Person" contest. Audition are Aug. 9, 2-4 p.m., at Library Square, 210 E. 400 South, or Aug. 18, 5:30-7 p.m., at Thanksgiving Point.
— "Battalion," a new, two-hour KUED-TV documentary on the Mormon Battalion aired July 21. I counted at least three Utah DJs who did voice work in the show — Dan Bammes of KUER,Jon Carter of KRSP and Gene Pack, formerly of KUER.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com