Tony Zazza has been a radio personality, entrepreneur and philanthropist in the

Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

for over 11 years.KVIL, ''KVIL'', 2009,
1
, 2010 He is now the morning host for

WAOA-FM WAOA-FM (107.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Melbourne and covering Florida's Space Coast. Owned by Cumulus Media, it broadcasts a top 40 (CHR) radio format. It calls itself W A One A, named after Coastal Florida highway Stat ...

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

. Tony was born on June 25, 1975, in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. He is the eldest of five children and moved to

Hillsboro, Texas Hillsboro is a city in and the county seat of Hill County, Texas, United States. It is located between Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco, directly on Interstate 35 in North Central Texas. Hillsboro draws trade from throughout the county, and from Inte ...

after high school on a

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

scholarship to attend

Hill College Hill College is a public community college in Hillsboro, Texas. It opened in 1923. History The authorization to establish Hill College was issued in 1921 by the Attorney General of the State of Texas under the name of Hillsboro Junior Colle ...

. After two years, Tony transferred to

Tarleton State University Tarleton State University is a Public university, public research university in Stephenville, Texas, United States. It is a founding member of the Texas A&M University System and enrolled over 15,000 students in the fall of 2022. It is Carnegie C ...

Stephenville, Texas Stephenville is a city in and the county seat of Erath County, Texas, United States. It sits on the North Bosque River, which rises nearby. Founded in 1854, it is home to Tarleton State University. Located in north-central Texas, Stephenville' ...

and continued playing baseball.

Career Start in Media

At Tarleton, Tony began writing for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, covering the Metroplex's entertainment and music scene. He edited and reported on local events and interviewed

Kidd Kraddick David Peter Cradick (August 22, 1959 – July 27, 2013) was an American radio host and television personality, known as Kidd Kraddick. His nationally syndicated morning radio show, '' The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show'', is based in Irving, ...

before starting his radio career in Tarleton. Before graduating, Tony auditioned for

KDMX KDMX () is a radio station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in Texas. It is currently owned and operated by iHeartMedia, and airs a hot adult contemporary format. The station's studios are located along Dallas Parkway in Farmers Bran ...

and was hired on his birthday, June 25, in 1998.

Career at KDMX

Working his way up from weekends, Tony became a fixture of KDMX's afternoon drive before eventually hosting the "Morning Mix". An early stunt received some criticism from the Dallas Gay community.David Webb, ''Dallas Voice/Pegasus News'', 2007,
2
, 2010

Awards

Tony was named On-Air Personality of the Year by AWRT ( American Women in Radio and Television) in 2007, and was nominated for On-Air Personality of the Year in 2004 by R&R (Radio and Records) and The RMA's (Radio Music Awards).

Entrepreneurship

In January 2009, Tony was let go from KDMXGreg Janda, ''NBC DFW'', 2009,
4
, 2010 as a part of

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

massive layoffs.Erik Sass, ''Media Daily News'', 2009,
5
, 2010 Tony has since begun his own Media Strategies firmTony Zazza, ''Tony Talks'', 2009,

, 2010 to offer branding, exposure, marketing and advertising services to small and medium-sized businesses called Zazza Media Strategies. Since July 2009 Tony has been back on the air at his old competition. Tony Zazza, ''Tony Talks'', 2009,
7
, 2010

Tony Zazza's Jingle Jet

In 2007, Tony lent his idea for Jingle Jet, a fantasy flight to take five deserving families on a trip to the "

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

" using the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. The Stars compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The Stars ...

and Texas Rangers team plane,Texas Rangers, ''Press Release'', 2007,
8
, 2010 to KDMX for them to sponsor. KDMX partnered with Tony for the event's first two years. Tony was allowed to solicit nominations for families who had experienced hardship through the year on the air. In 2009, Tony organized Jingle Jet without a radio sponsor for the first time. Still sponsored by the

, Tony brought five families to the North Pole yet again using the teams' plane.Olivia Kiespert, ''Dallas Stars Community Journal'', 2009,
9
, 2010

Mike Modano Michael Thomas Modano Jr. (; born June 7, 1970) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played as a Centre (ice hockey), center and spent most of his career with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise. He spent the fina ...

and his wife,

Willa Ford Amanda Lee Williford (born January 22, 1981), known by her stage name Willa Ford, is an American interior designer and former singer, songwriter, television personality, film actress, dancer, and model. She released her debut album, '' Willa Wa ...

, are major supporters of Jingle Jet and for the first time, Mike was able to attend the event.

References

External links

Zazza Media StrategiesMedia Strategy Blog by Tony

Tony on Facebook

Tony Zazza's Jingle Jet

Zazza Mornings on WAOA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zazza, Tony Living people 1975 births American radio personalities Radio personalities from San Diego People from Hillsboro, Texas