Today marks a big day in the world of firsts for Simply Beautiful 91.3 KNCT-FM as we welcome our new Station General Manager, Michelle Flores.

Michelle is the first woman to lead the station in its nearly 50 years of being on the air. 

At 32, Flores is among the youngest women ever to take on the role of General Manager at a Public Radio Station.  According to KNCT programmer Aleisha Reynolds, “Michelle breathed life into the station from the moment she entered the doors as its new Programming Director in February and has been making things happen ever since.” 

But Michelle became a member of the KNCT-FM family long before she took on any leadership positions within the station.

                As a student of Central Texas College’s Radio Broadcasting program, Michelle’s first job in radio was working as a Student Console Operator at KNCT in 2009.  Along with the typical programming, scheduling, and production involved in the day-to-day minutiae that is the life blood of the Production Department in a Radio Station, she assisted other students by teaching them the ins and outs of the radio equipment and processes, and provided daily traffic reports live on the air.   

                No stranger to hard work and long hours, she worked full-time at multiple radio stations while earning her Bachelor of Science in Communications and Marketing from Texas A & M, Central Texas.  She was a Producer for Cumulus Media, then a Producer and Marketing Associate for Townsquare Media. 

A single mother of two incredible daughters (Zoey and Anna) and a young woman of Mexican decent, Michelle’s success in a media world still dominated by middle-aged white men is no surprise to those close to her. 

                A first-generation American on her father’s side and second-generation American on her mother’s side, Michelle hopes to utilize her new role at KNCT to expand the reach of the station, “My vision for the future of KNCT-FM is for us to become more involved, to really serve the underserved and unserved within the community.  I want to be able to give back to the college that has done so much for this station for so many years.  KNCT-FM really is for everybody.  I hope to build our online presence so that any one and every one can access us and listen to us, not just those in our immediate vicinity.”  Michelle certainly has big dreams, and with as much as she has already been able to accomplish in the time she has been here, we have no doubts that she will bring them all to pass.