Blair Garner is an American radio personality best known for his work in

country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. Th ...

. Garner spent over two decades as a nationally syndicated overnight disc jockey, first hosting ''After Midnite'' for

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. ...

and then ''The Blair Garner Show'' for Nash FM; in-between, he hosted the morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cl ...

program ''America's Morning Show'', also for Nash FM. As a radio host and DJ, he won the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country musi ...

's On-Air Personality of the Year award in 2004 and 2006. Garner has also been nominated for the prestigious Marconi Award and for Nationally Syndicated Air Personality by

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

. Over his career, Garner has worked at stations across the country, including

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, Washington, D.C.,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. He has also used the names "Skye Walker" (in New York) and "Blair Michaels" (in Los Angeles).

The radio shows

Garner's programs focus on country music hits, along with recent music news and chat about pop culture. In addition, Garner is recognized as one of

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

's best interviewers. Country music's top stars, including

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those alb ...

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

, and

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...

have made it a point to appear on Blair's show to promote their projects. Garner has also interviewed stars outside of Nashville, including

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom h ...

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...

Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She has received various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the ...

Pete Wentz Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician best known as the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy since 2001. Before Fall Out Boy, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lea ...

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recor ...

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (born October 30, 1945), is an American actor, comedian, author, executive producer, and director. After rising to fame as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series '' Happy Days'', Winkler has ...

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

Kathie Lee Gifford Kathryn Lee Gifford ( née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show ''Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee''. Gifford is ...

, and WWE and UFC stars such as

Stone Cold Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, and retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most ...

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper. He is currently signed to WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is tied ...

and

Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar ( ; born July 12, 1977) is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, former mixed martial artist (MMA), amateur wrestler, and professional American football player who holds both American and Canadian citizenship. He is ...

. From 1993 to 2013, Garner hosted a show he created called ''After Midnite''. The show amassed an affiliate base of over 300 American and Canadian cities. After three years of ownership, he sold the program to

. As of 2021, Premiere continues to use the name for its overnight country show, hosted by Cody Alan from 2013 to 2021, then Granger Smith from 2022 onward. In 2009, Garner moved the show from Los Angeles to Nashville where he hosted the show until 2013, when he left to helm "America's Morning Show" for

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 8 ...

. That show launched initially in New York City on

WNSH WXBK (94.7 FM, "94.7 The Block") is a classic hip hop-formatted radio station that is licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serves the New York City area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. WXBK’s studios are located in the combined Audacy faci ...

(New York City's Nash FM affiliate).

(whose syndication company

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...

competes with Premiere) then took the morning show, into national syndication. In 2016, Garner's stepped away from the grueling demands of morning drive, and elected to return to his former overnight time slot with "The Blair Garner Show". Garner made the move after his young daughter complained of his work interfering with their family life. In 2019, Cumulus Media blocked Garner from airing an interview with 2020 Democratic Party candidate

. Buttigieg is the first major party presidential candidate in a

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. While Garner has discussed the challenges of his

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to a country radio audience, he said that was not part of his interview with Buttigieg. Garner instead put the interview on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

. In July 2020, Westwood One announced that Garner's show was being cancelled, as part of a much-larger programming restructure. The show was last broadcast on August 9, 2020. Once that news broke, Garner was then free to announce what he and his husband had been working on for two years behind the scenes—The Mulehouse. The Mulehouse is slated for an April 2021 opening, and is heralded to be the first-of-its-kind music/concert venue designed for worldwide live-streaming events.

Awards

Garner has nine Billboard Broadcast awards, three

’s “On-Air Personality of the Year” Awards in the national category (2004, 2006 and 2010). He's received four CMA nominations, a nomination for the prestigious Marconi Award, and is a member of both the National Radio Hall of Fame and the Country Radio Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Official After MidNite and Blair Garner Show Web site

Blackbird Studio Web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Blair American radio personalities Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Amarillo, Texas Place of birth missing (living people)