New station manager at K1037

After working on and off at K1037 Radio since 1995, station manager Heather Bauersfeld is finally calling it quits.

Everyone at the radio station knew her retirement would be coming soon. She had been saying it for years, but was waiting until she could find the right successor to take on the challenge. Dennis Stacey, host of the Afternoon Drive, will officially begin come the new year.

“Several of the board members, I can tell you this, were saying ‘Heather don’t leave! Don’t leave!’” said Joe Delaronde, chair of the station’s board.

Bauersfeld, a long-serving board member, was called upon in 2020 to fix the station’s financial woes after the prior station manager had been laid off. Advertisers were increasingly turning to social media and revenue had plummeted.

“I fix and then I go – that’s what I do - but I’m not coming back again,” Bauersfeld said.

The station’s operations, expenses, and its management of radio bingo had to all be reassessed, she said.

“I did a complete analysis of all of that and submitted a report to the board. The board approved it and said, ‘Go ahead, make the changes.’ And here we are, nearly five years later from 2020, and we’ve never been in a better position,” said Bauersfeld, who had been juggling her managing of the station alongside a part-time job at Kahnawake’s Caisse Populaire until 2021.

Luckily for the station, their Friday night radio bingo grew in popularity over the pandemic as bingo halls shuttered.

It was also around then that Stacey first joined K1037 as an intern, helping to produce the Afternoon Drive. He was briefly let go over the pandemic, but was later called back in to host the show.

He’s worn many hats since then, working in commercial traffic coordination and radio bingo, in addition to other roles. That made him an easy pick, Bauersfeld said.

“I’m a capable person. I’m able to handle a lot of information, and a lot of the stress that comes with the job,” Stacey said. “I’ve learned just about every aspect that can be learned about not only community radio, but K1037 itself.”

Station news director and anchor Paul Graif described him as “unbelievably dedicated.”

“He came in with next to no experience in radio, but all he has done is shown an unbelievable aptitude for learning, for improving,” he said. “He’s taken it upon himself to learn every job in the station, and he’s done them all. He is well positioned to understand everything that goes on here and lead us into the future.”

Delaronde said Stacey has the full support of the station’s board of directors.

“He’s a good guy. He’s got energy. He says all the right things. He does all the right things. He gets his hands dirty when there’s a job to be done,” he said. “He’s very adaptable, and you need that in a small organization. You can’t be a one-trick pony.”

Bauersfeld will remain in her role until December 31, training Stacey in the meantime. Though she’s retired, she’ll continue to remain busy with her latest role at the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC).

“Everybody that comes through the doors at K103 has always said that once you’re here and you’ve worked here for a long period of time, it kind of gets in your blood, right? So, it’s hard to leave,” she said. “I am going to miss it tremendously.”

While it feels bittersweet saying goodbye, she said she’s sure now is the right time to go.

“It needs fresh young energy now,” she said.

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