The voice of 100.5 signs off after a 22-year career

Vaughn Zenko, the man behind the voice that Baker’s started their day with for the last 22 years, retired his microphone last week.

Vaughn moved to Baker from Milwaukee, WI for a job with KFLN as a sports announcer in January of 2001. It wasn’t long before young and ambitious Vaughn pitched the idea of a morning radio show to his boss, Russ. He was given the go ahead and he couldn’t have been more excited “I’m really proud of what we did, and I hope I made Baker proud,” said Zenko. “A whole generation grew up with what I was doing out there.”

After college, Vaughn found that he didn’t like corporate radio. His dream job was to find a small radio station that would give him the creative freedom to do what he wanted to do with his show, and at just 23 years old he found that. “This is what I always wanted to do,” he explained. “I wanted it to be like we were just sitting and having coffee together.”

“I wanted it to be a friendly radio show and not just me talking at people,” he added. “Even though we weren’t conversing I wanted it to feel like we were.”

Reflecting on his career, he always had fun making commercials over the years, but it was the interactions with the listeners, the young radio DJs he trained, and his community that made the job so special for him. “It was about Baker, the people I worked with, and the kids I got to teach,” Vaughn expressed.

Even though he’s unplugging his radio microphone, he’ll still have plenty to keep him busy. He’ll be continuing his job as executive director with SMART, as a Rock Jock, and as a sports announcer for KFLN. “It’s funny because that’s what I was initially hired to do and after 22 years I’ll finally be doing what I was hired to do: just the sports,” he laughed. “I’ll still be rock jocking a little bit too. I’ll still be doing Brew Tunes and Karaoke in Marmarth.”

Currently, Vaughn’s finding himself in a period of transition. “I’m an emotional wreck. That morning show was such a part of me,” he admitted. “Morning Radio guy is what I’ve always been.” After being on the radio for 22 years, he still has his passion for creating and communicating and plans to explore different avenues to do that.

“I’ll find an outlet for that. I’ll just sit in your business and tell people the weather forecast as they walk in,” he joked.

Although he’ll miss the radio, retiring from it will be far sweeter than it is bitter. “This is going to be the first time in 30 some years I’ve slept eight hours on a weekday,” he laughed. “My body isn’t going to know what to do with itself.” He’s looking forward to spending the mornings and weekends with his wife and daughters.

“After 22 years I just hope I made life a little bit better in Baker,” he smiled.