The New 97.7 Shows and Personalities

Beesley was born and raised in Kamloops, a place famous for fishing, skiing, hot summer nights and turning the city name backwards and calling it a celebration (Spoolmak Days)! Married to Mrs. Beesley, they boast a daughter: Darcy, and a son: Dylan. Beesley’s many interests include music, movies and memorabilia (known to some as “junk collecting”). Beesley’s first real radio job was at Canadian Armed Forces Base: Baden Baden in West Germany as a volunteer on the all-night shift. Wow! Since then his voice has been a staple of the Calgary airwaves for the past 20 years.

We won’t hold it against her, but Sue grew up in Toronto. There she earned an English Degree from York University and graduated broadcasting school at Seneca College School of Communication Arts. Her first job was in Brockville, Ontario before moving on to Kingston, followed by a short stint in the Maritimes. Before long, Sue decided she’d had enough of Kissing the Cod and Shooting Screech and moved on out to Calgary. Over the past decade, Sue has been a familiar voice on Calgary airwaves with stations like CJAY 92, The Breeze and Q107. Her happy family includes a dreamy partner, a baby girl and a big, dopey dog named Buddy. In her spare time, you’ll likely find Sue skiing, reading, enjoying dinner with friends, consuming copious amounts of chocolate or just plain laughing (mostly at the people she works with).

I was raised a dirt-poor farm boy! And even today, I still have an affection to dirt. Go figure! I have always had a passion for this city and for the people; one in particular that I married right here from Calgary! Radio has been very kind to me. Being able to go to work in your pajamas is a great perk! But I must admit that any success I have is thanks to the people in my life. I have had supporters of my craft from family, to friends, to listeners like you. My two boys on the other hand just love coming into the studio and yelling into the microphones. I still don’t think they really understand what daddy does. Thank you for reading this far because frankly, from this point forward it’s just a bunch of blah, blah, blah. Talk soon!

Despite Jenna’s hatred of being a biographee (it’s a word, we looked it up!), we’ve actually managed to uncover quite a bit. Jenna grew up in Cremona, Alberta (we had to look that up too). There she pretty much hung out at the rink, football field and baseball diamonds every spare minute she had. Jenna’s broadcasting career began in Peace River and Fort McMurray before working for a Rawlco radio station in Saskatoon. She moved back to Alberta in 2006 and served time on the Fan 960 in Calgary before coming to join us here. Jenna’s interests include sports, reading, sports, horses, sports, spending time with family & friends, her three puppies, wedding planning and sports! Jenna asks that you forgive her if she rambles a bit too much about the Flames, Stamps, Hitmen or Roughnecks because, as I don’t think we mentioned before… she loves sports.

Allison has been involved in the radio and music industries for over twenty five years. Some wonder how she could possibly have started at the tender age of five, but who are we to question? Allison’s love of music has always been the driving force in her life and work. After starting out with alternative rock stations in the 70s, she flipped over to the record company side of things in the late 80s. Working with labels like A&M, Sony and Virgin Music, Allison handled marketing for Lenny Kravitz, 54-40 and the Rolling Stones, to name a few. Returning to radio in 2000 as an independent radio producer and host, Allison premiered “Wide Cut Country” on CKUA and “Backroads Country” on HANK FM, Winnipeg in 2007. Allison’s incredible wealth of knowledge and passion for music remain as strong as ever. She claims her young age has not been a deterrent.

Jerry grew up in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba in History & Political Sciences. It was during his studies that Jerry found his niche in radio by working part time at the university’s campus radio station. From there Jerry landed his first paying radio job in Brockville. Ontario. He was only paid in pizzas and monster truck rodeo tickets, but it was at this point that Jerry saw how rewarding a career in radio could be, and made it his life-long pursuit. After some cold winters in Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon, Jerry decided to at last move to Calgary where Chinooks provided at least some relief from the endless prairie winters. In 1984 he set up shop at 66CFR for a long and successful run as one of Calgary’s top morning show hosts. In 1999 Jerry decided to strike out on his own with his own business. However, after an eight year hiatus from radio he realized that being an entrepreneur was much too difficult (and almost impossible to spell) and came back to his first love, radio! The opportunity to work with the likes of Beesley and Sue Deyell was much too tempting to pass up. Also, having worked with Sue briefly once before, working with her again would afford Jerry the chance to collect the money she owed him.