An Appalachian State University alumna now has her name on a County Music Association award.
Carothers won the award along with colleagues Mike Wheless and Marty Young. Together, the three make up the WQDR and The Q Morning Crew that airs Monday through Friday mornings.
Carothers has worked with WQDR and The Q Morning Crew for seven years.
Having multiple CMA and Academy of Country Music award nominations in the past, Carothers said she was ready for more than just the nomination.
“You get so close and it doesn’t quite happen so we really hoped it would be our turn [to win], and fortunately this was our year,” Carothers said.
WQDR won large market station of the year in the past, but this was Carothers’ and The Q Morning Crew’s first Broadcast Personality of the Year award.
Carothers said her trip to Nashville began Nov. 3 with a press conference with CMA hosts and country music stars Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.
Carothers said The Q Morning Crew spent the next two days interviewing approximately 40 artists a day.
“It was a pretty intense couple of days.” Carothers said.
The trip wasn’t all business for Carothers. As winners, Carothers and the crew got to sit in the third row of the award show beside the country band Lady Antebellum.
Carothers said they walked in the awards show on the red carpet, and the feeling was surreal.
“When you realize the magnitude of what a CMA is and you’re attending the award ceremony because you got one too, it’s like ‘how did this happen,'” she said.
Carothers said that the chemistry and hard work helped the crew win the award.
“We just had a genuine chemistry pretty much from the get-go,” Carothers said. “We’re to the point where we literally finish each other’s sentences.”
Associate Executive Director of Alumni Affairs and Annual Giving Kimberly Dull said the Alumni Association was happy to hear that Carothers received recognition for her work as part of the WQDR and The Q Morning Crew.
“There are more than 109,000 members of the Appalachian alumni family, and we get excited every time we hear about an individual’s accomplishments,” Dull said. “[Carothers] is certainly included in that company.”
After several nominations, Carothers finally has a CMA for herself that she said is currently sitting on her entertainment center at her home.
“I don’t really know what do with it,” Carothers said. “I’m just kind of at a loss.”
Carothers said she has always had a love for country music.
“I’ve done things that I never dreamed that I would do back then when I was just a fan of the music,” Carothers said. “It’s definitely a ‘how did I get here?’ kind of thing.”
*CORRECTION: The original article called the radio station 97.5 WQDR-FM when it is actually 94.7 WQDR-FM. The Appalachian apologizes for the error.
Story: NICOLE BELLAMY, Intern News Reporter