KC Sheperd, director of farm and ranch programming for Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, received the Journalist of the Year award from Oklahoma Farm Bureau during their 82nd Annual Meeting in November 2023.
Sheperd graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with her bachelor's degree in English literature in 1999. During her time in undergrad, she interned at a KWEY radio station in Weatherford, Oklahoma, where she fell in love with the broadcasting world. After graduation, she went to work full-time for the radio station where she interned in college.
She worked there for two years before she transitioned to a radio station in Corpus Christi, Texas. In 2003, she moved back to Weatherford to work at KWEY as the program director. Around that time, her former English professor contacted her with a special request.
“My former professor said that my old college wanted me to teach a radio class,” Sheperd said. “However, I had to get my master’s degree to be able to teach at a collegiate level. So, I graduated with my master’s degree in English literature only to teach radio to students.”
After graduating with her master’s in 2006, she taught at Southwestern Oklahoma State University for one year before she got the call to join a morning show at KKNG/King Country in Oklahoma City. Due to cutbacks, Sheperd was laid off from that job after three years of working there. Luckily, a former listener heard about Sheperd’s unfortunate situation and reached out to help.
“One of my former listeners was the IT project manager at Chesapeake, which is an oil and gas company in Oklahoma City,” Sheperd said. “He hired me to work in IT, which I’d never done a day in my life. Eventually, I became a project manager for Chesapeake.”
After a few years, her former listener went to work for Love’s Travel Stops, and she went with him. She worked there in IT for approximately six years. Her bosses at Love’s agreed to let Sheperd leave the office early in the afternoons to do a radio show at Hank FM in Oklahoma City on a part-time basis.
“Ron Hayes and Tim West called me from Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, and they wanted to chat about getting me back into the radio industry,” Sheperd said. “Ron was getting ready to retire, and they wanted someone with a strong agricultural background to step in.”
She went to work for Radio Oklahoma Ag Network in 2020, where she started covering the agriculture industry of Oklahoma. She was proud to receive the award for her work in farm broadcasting.
“It was a complete surprise, and I had no idea it was coming,” Sheperd said. “I am just honored to be considered, let alone chosen for an award for simply doing my job.”
Sheperd’s best advice for a new broadcaster is to focus on the passion of the job.
“Don’t worry about the money. Just make sure that you’re following something that’s important to you,” Sheperd said. “Networking is also crucial. You never know who you’re going to meet and who is going to help you in your future career.”
