Don Weaver

You may have seen our Don Weaver zipping around town, but you’d never guess that it was KVPR’s Production and Operations Manager by looking at him. He would have been flying by on his yellow Ducati motorcycle (“the Duke”) looking just like the biggest bumblebee you’ve ever seen.

You may also remember Don from his days as a disc jockey in the Fresno area. He was Don “the Dream” Weaver on The Fox 95.7, and confesses to “living the rock-n-roll lifestyle.” He first broke into radio on KBIF, a Christian station, where he had a weekly two-hour gospel music program. From there, he worked at many stations throughout the valley, learning the radio trade as he went. While working the morning show on KNAX (now Mega 97.9), he started learning the production side of the business. However, Don was affected by the downsizing of the market in the valley. “The media conglomeration changed job availability in the area,” he said, “but luckily I had already started training as an engineer.” Prior to working at FM89, Don was also an operating engineer for KMPH Fox 26.

Don especially enjoys his work at KVPR, where he gets to experiment with “the creative side” of the business, such as serving as producer for Valley Writers Read. He likes working with long-form production and is rightfully proud of the William Saroyan retrospective, My Junkyard of Memories, which aired as part of the citywide Saroyan festival. It’s not just the work that Don likes about KVPR. “There’s a real sense of loyalty with our listeners that’s just not true with commercial radio,” he said, “and we have the greatest volunteers I’ve ever seen.” The chance to entertain and inform our audience is another reason Don enjoys his time at KVPR. “I’m doing what I love. Radio’s in my blood,” he said.