When Florida Talk Radio purchased WSRQ, their main goal was to create a station focusing specifically on local issues. WSRQ was created to serve as “The Voice of Sarasota.” WSRQ, as opposed to other radio stations, focuses on our community – first and foremost. Collectively, the staff has deep roots in our community, so they have seen the county develop from a small town into a prosperous city of many opportunities. To ignore the importance of the people of Sarasota, Bradenton, and Venice and treat us like we are a bedroom community to Tampa is foolish. Whether it’s News, Sports, Traffic, Weather, or just plain entertainment – We want to be the station that everyone turns to when it comes to knowing what is happening here.
Management
Susan 
Nilon - Owner & General Manager
A graduate of Temple University’s Communication Program with a major in Radio, Television, and Film. Susan started her career in syndicated radio working for Pennsylvania Radio Network in Philadelphia. However, Susan grew up in Sarasota Florida and has settled back in Sarasota with her family in 2001. She is committed to making WSRQ a local radio station that is the touchstone of the community. Her goal is that if it is happening in Sarasota, Bradenton, and Venice – you will find out about it here, on WSRQ. Email:
WSRQ Sales Team
Tom Darby – Account Executive
Tom graduated from Temple University in Pennsylvania with a major in Radio, Television, and Film. Before joining our team, Tom hosted his own show for five years on WSLR in Sarasota. His radio program included a combination of music and interviews. When Tom is not busy here at WSRQ, he enjoys going to concerts, attending baseball games, and practicing yoga.
Email:
Jane A. Paquette – Account Executive
An MBA graduate from Loyola University, Jane and family relocated to Sarasota in 1998 from Chicago, Illinois. Since coming to Sarasota, she has worked with local entrepreneurs and architects on new business development, introduction and management. Jane has over twenty-five years experience in business management with key account responsibility for large and small companies. She is engaged in realizing WSRQ’s vision as the touchstone of the community.
Outside WSRQ, she volunteers in a number of Sarasota community groups focused on assisting the 55-plus population in Sarasota County. She is a co-author of “Mining Silver for Workplace Gold: Sarasota County’s Experienced Workers Add Value During Tough Times” Jan. 2012. In her leisure, Jane enjoys attending community events and at her leisure all types of sewing, knitting, spinning and woodworking. She and her husband have two children and live in northern Sarasota. Email contact:
Production
Chris Hengel (aka” Flash”) - WSRQ’s Production Manager.
Chris attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, from which he graduated in 1997. He has been involved in the radio business ever since. His first job was as producer of a morning show at a station on Long Island. The show, the WALK Breakfast Club, was heard on WALK 97.5. When Chris moved to Florida, he began working at 107.9, Oldies 108 as the producer for the Jones and Crane morning show, a
position he held for six years. It was there that he received the nickname “Flash”.
What Chris enjoys most at WSRQ is having the opportunity to meet new people, and also, as he jokingly notes, not having to wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning! Outside of work, he enjoys sports such as hockey, football, and baseball. He also loves to play video games and read comics. He is proud to note that he once ate 18 White Castle hamburgers in one sitting in a contest with some friends!
Chris also enjoys “chasing around his two-year-old son” and spending time with his wife, Tiffany.
Andrew Sanchez – Webmaster
Andrew manages the station’s web site and podcasts.
Andrew is a graduate of Booker High School’s VPA program and humorously boasts being voted as the “most bashful” in his graduating class. Prior to his job here at WSRQ Radio, he was a freelance video editor as well as a wedding videographer. Aside from radio, Andrew likes appreciating and making attempts at art as well as thinking, nature, and learning about technology.
Email:
Interns
Norm Vogele – News Intern
Norm is a contributor to the Nilon Report, a community affairs program, that airs from 5 to 6 p. m. week days on WSRQ. Norm has had prior writing experience, having served for two years as the editor-in-chief of his school newspaper. He is pleased that, while serving as editor of his paper, he had one article picked up by a local
news station and another published in a state newspaper. It was while writing and reporting for the paper that Norm decided to focus on journalism as the field he wanted to pursue. What Norm likes best about WSRQ is the team spirit and its strong sense of professionalism. He also describes WSRQ as feeling like a “very enabling environment.”
When not at WSRQ, Norm enjoys watching all kinds of movies, but he is a particularly big fan of the Muppets. You can also find him at the library. As the proud owner of a record turntable, Norm enthusiastically notes hat the Sarasota library is the first he has ever seen with a vinyl collection!
Seth Borden – Political Science Intern
Seth is a third-year student at New College of Florida majoring in Political Science and Economics. This is Seth’s first time working at a radio station. At New College, he served for one year as Chair of the Student Allocations Committee, a committee that distributes money for student activities on campus. When Seth isn’t at work, he likes watching the news. Besides the news, he also likes to watch satirical news shows such as The Colbert Report and The Daily Show.
Karen Christie – Radio Intern
Karen has had prior experience in the field of radio, having interned at Sarasota’s Clear Channel during the summer before her senior year of college. There, she gained practice in writing copy and recording commercial spots. Karen, a Florida native, graduated from Saint Leo University in 2006, majoring in English Creative Writing. She has had several humorous pieces published in “Dialogue”, a magazine for the blind and visually impaired. She is glad to be interning at WSRQ, where she gets the opportunity to incorporate her creative writing into everything she does there. In her spare time, Karen enjoys music and reading.
Sarah Oldham – Political Science Intern
Sarah’s job is to research and report on local political issues. She is currently attending New College of Florida here in Sarasota, where she plans to major in Political Science. Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, Sarah now resides in n Anna Maria, Florida, where she enjoys spending her spare time reading.
Gus Tupper – Political Science Intern
This year is his first year at New College of Florida where he is completing a double major in Political Science and French. He is originally from Portland, Oregon, and no matter how sunny it is in Florida, he’ll never get tired of Pacific Northwest. Before working at WSRQ, Tupper spent a couple of years interning at the law firm Hoffman, Hart, and Wagner. He would like to pursue a job at the UN or working for the State Department. Having one older brother and one older sister, Tupper jokes that he is the “spoiled baby” of his family. When he is not working at WSRQ, Tupper enjoys watching baseball, particularly the Cubs, Giants, Mariners, Twins, and Red Sox. He also enjoys learning foreign languages as well as sailing, swimming, and running.
