Forty Under 40: Jon Williams

Longmont, Colo., native Jon Williams always knew he’d end up in broadcasting; he just thought it would be television.

But while on a TV internship, he was told to work in radio to train his voice. At the time, he was a student at the University of Arkansas seeking a broadcast journalism degree, so he knocked on the door at KUAF-FM, and he’s had radio in his blood ever since.

Williams’ experience at KUAF helped land him a fulltime job in 1994 hosting the morning show on what was Q102-FM. From there he got a gig at rock station KKEG-FM, where he yukked it up for the morning show for four years.

In 1998 he carried his personality and many loyal listeners to KIGL-FM, “The Eagle,” where he’s been a morning show co-host ever since (with the exception of 2002-2005, when he co-hosted a show on another station).

Williams’ schtick is a slightly off-color brand of humor mixed heavily with Razorbacks sports talk. Though mostly targeted at the 25- to 54-year-old male demographic, Williams and his co-host have managed to pull in consistently good ratings in older, younger and female demographics.

Active in many charities, Williams is a past president of the Northwest Arkansas branch of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.