CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – After a 15-year run as your breakfast and morning commute entertainment, the “Ryan and Gretchen Show” is coming to a close.
Co-host Ryan Ploeckelman has been promoted to a big new gig as Operations Manager for 5 Star Media Group, and co-host Gretchen Cordy is retiring from the world of radio and looking for new opportunities. The final show will be Wednesday, Nov. 25.
“I have some operations that need managing, and it’s not easy doing that while also waking up at 4 a.m. to do a morning show that starts at 5,” Ploeckelman said. “Really, though, now is the right time. Gretchen and I have been doing this for 15 years, and that’s a long time to be doing a morning show. We’ve had a lot of fun with each other and with our listeners, but it’s time for a change and to bring Clarksville something new.”
Cordy joined Q108 in 2001 after appearing in the first season of “Survivor” on CBS. She originally did the morning show with Jack Indigo, as the “Jack and Gretchen Show,” before Jack left in early 2005.
Born in New York City, Cordy spent six years in the Air Force before moving to Clarksville as a military spouse.
“Working for 5 Star has been an amazing opportunity,” Cordy said. “Although a career in radio hadn’t been on my radar, I have lived my life by the adage ‘try everything.’ Nineteen years later, it’s time to try something else.
“I have felt such love and support from the community! It’s been like having breakfast with friends every morning. I will miss that part of it, but hopefully will run into those friends here in Clarksville, which has become my home,” she said.
Cordy’s daughter, Ava, is a graduate of Austin Peay State University and is now stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado with her husband, who serves as an Army pilot. Cordy’s son, Eli, is stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, where he has followed in his parents’ footsteps as a SERE instructor.
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Ploeckelman moved to Clarksville in April 2005 with his wife and kids to be on the Q108 morning show, and the “Ryan and Gretchen Show” was born.
“Originally my plan was to work in Clarksville for a while and pursue a job in a bigger radio market after a few years,” he said. “But my family and I fell in love with Clarksville and 5 Star, and we decided that we wanted to make Clarksville our home.”
Two of Ploeckelman’s children, Koen, 16, and Evelyn, 14, attend Clarksville High School, and his oldest daughter, Ava 19, is in her second year of college at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Ryan’s wife, Christina, is a 7th grade math teacher at Richview Middle School.
A brand-new Q108 morning show lineup will soon be announced.