As radio continues to evolve and embrace new distribution platforms, some traditional job titles like PD, APD and MD are evolving too. Case in point: Alpha Broadcasting’s KUPL Portland, Ore., where afternoon driver Keola Lui-Kwan also holds the intriguing title of assistant director of digital programming, or “digital APD” for short.

“In radio right now, and especially with the day and age that we’re in with everything going wireless and digital, it’s radio’s challenge to connect the dots,” says Lui-Kwan, explaining his job description. “A position like that of digital APD is someone who can be part of the think tank and also part of the execution to materialize these ideas. It’s our duty to enhance and execute digital and wireless strategy.”

One project he has in the works at KUPL is building a creative services team “that’s all encompassing of video, audio and design,” Lui-Kwan says. They’ll help “connect the dots between sales, programming, production and promotion. In radio you’ve got production, and then if you want something to go viral or to be on the Web site you’ve got to go through promotion and the Web master. As digital APD I’m trying to connect all of these dots so that it goes in one channel, it all goes through the link and it comes out as one cohesive product.”

The station recently launched its own iPhone app, and similar apps for Droid and Blackberry will roll out next week. Lui-Kwan is also hard at work on an extensive overhaul of the KUPL Web site, with “version 2.0” expected to be launched in the next few months. The idea is to develop a site that’s easy to navigate and “delivers content that’s relevant locally to our KUPL country listeners, a Web site that’s going to enhance their experience and also be able to adapt to the times where people are now wireless,” Lui-Kwan says of the project.

Another venture he has in the works is one he describes as a “digital press conference.” The station will bring in a country artist for a show in Portland, and invite 100 influential locals with active digital platforms—be it large numbers of Facebook friends or Twitter followers, or a popular blog about events taking place in the Northwest—to the show. The hope and expectation is that those people will then “translate their experience to the hundreds of thousands of followers, cumulatively, that the 100 people in that room have,” Lui-Kwan says.

Asked how his role at the station specifically differs from that of a typical radio APD, Lui-Kwan says, “My job is to interpret the content that’s going on the air and relay that on a digital platform. Let’s say we have a certain weekend promotion that’s going on, [my job is] making sure that all facets of KUPL are represented digitally and wirelessly [for] people who may be streaming online, or maybe listening on their iPhone, so that everything is conducive and parallel to the sound and character and personality of the station.”

Born and raised in Hawaii, Lui-Kwan got his start in radio in his home state. After graduation from the University of Washington, he landed a gig at CHR KIKI Honolulu. From there, his career included stops at KWIN Stockton, Calif., KCHZ Kansas City and KBKS Seattle, where he worked for nearly five years. About two and a half years ago, he moved into the country format at KBWF (the Wolf) San Francisco, where he worked his way up from nights to APD/MD/afternoons. When Wolf PD Scott Mahalick left to join Alpha Broadcasting as director of music programming, Lui-Kwan was one of his first hires.

Turning down multiple offers—including the chance to re-up with the Wolf, a morning gig in San Diego and a job offer in Phoenix—Lui-Kwan says it was an easy decision to work for Mahalick again, whom he calls “the most forward-thinking programmer out there. He thinks bigger than life. There are no restrictions. There are no limitations.

“Remember how radio used to be 10-15 years ago when it was a show, it was entertaining, it was compelling, you felt like you were part of the show and it got you excited about something? I’ve never met a programmer who both has that vision and knows how to execute it. He’s a great manager of talent. He’s a great thinker promotionally, programming-wise; he sees value in the copy and production of a station. He sees value in on-air talent, and he’s the most personable guy I’ve ever worked for.”

Another huge plus was the opportunity to work for the much envied Alpha Broadcasting. Lui-Kwan says after meeting with company founder Larry Wilson and CEO Bob Proffitt to discuss coming to work for them, “I’ve never felt more inspired. I just felt like a kid all over again when I started off in radio 11-some odd years ago. Their belief in localizing radio and putting live jocks on the air and putting on a compelling, entertaining and locally relevant station … a lot of companies have lost track of that. Alpha is a company that challenges you to step up to the plate. [They want you to] do a live show that really incorporates our listeners and really makes them and the music the stars of the radio station. A lot of companies claim that’s what they want, very few actually embody it. This company does.”

Wilson has told the media he plans to “put the fun back in radio,” and that seems to already be happening for Lui-Kwan, who says Wilson will sometimes just stop by his desk to see how he’s doing. “I’ve never met an owner of any company I’ve ever worked for [who] is that personable, cares about his employees, cares about the sound of his stations and the product his stations are putting out, and really supports his employees,” he says. “He encourages you. He’s a guy you want to go to bat for day in and day out … He puts the right people in the right places that embody the philosophies of Alpha Broadcasting and he encourages and challenges them to carry out these philosophies and knows they’re capable of doing it. There’s no better feeling than that in radio.”