Marry a radio broadcaster, and it’s likely you’re signing on for a life of moving from city to city with a spouse who can sometimes seem like they’re on the job nearly 24/7. For some spouses (particularly the wives, it seems) their half of the marital bargain can mean staying behind to sell the house or wait out the end of the school year with the kids while their husband moves on to the next city and the next gig.

But the radio wives Stark Country spoke with seem to good-naturedly take it all in stride as they support the radio careers their husbands all adore. They’ve even come to accept with amusement the No. 1 car rule that goes along with being married to a programmer: Stop talking when the jock comes on the radio so the PD/husband can listen to the break!

We spoke with the spouses of four prominent country radio programmers for this two-part series, and while none of the wives has ever worked in radio themselves, they all speak knowledgably about the business they married into, confidently peppering terms like P1 and People Meter into their conversation. And they all say they enjoy some of the perks of the job, particularly getting to hang out with artists and going to lots of concerts.

Terri Yankovich has been married to KKWF (100.7 The Wolf) Seattle PD Mike Preston for 22 years and has moved with him four times already, with a fifth move coming soon as she prepares to relocate from San Francisco—where Preston previously worked—to Seattle. They have been living apart for 16 months, the longest—but by no means first—time they’ve been separated by Preston’s work.

The couple has two sons, ages 20 and 17, and Yankovich is waiting for the younger one to finish his senior year of high school before she rejoins her husband, who flies home to see the family every other weekend.

Emma Callahan has been married to KSON San Diego PD Kevin Callahan (pictured) for 17 years, and has moved to different cities with him for his work a whopping six times. Their most recent move to San Diego was the first for the couple’s nine-year-old daughter and six year old son (not counting a move when their daughter was still a baby).

But Callahan says she was well prepared for radio’s somewhat transient life, having moved multiple times for her father’s jobs as a child, including attending seven different high schools in four years.

Nicki Paul wed current Dial Global Radio Networks VP of programming and “Hot Country” format PD John Paul nearly six years ago, and has moved with him twice so far, the first time just five weeks after their wedding. Paul says they found out the night of their rehearsal dinner that her husband’s dream radio job in Portland, Ore., had just opened up, and she warned him, “‘You can’t tell my Mom and Dad, because this wedding isn’t going to happen if they think you’re moving me to the West coast.’”

The couple currently lives in Denver with their 21-month-old daughter, and Nicki is due to deliver their son just days after this week’s Country Radio Seminar.

Our still-newlywed couple is Kerry Lui-Kwan and KUPL Portland, Ore., APD/MD and afternoon personality Keola Lui-Kwan, who married a little over two years ago. But even before tying the knot, Kerry had already made her first of two moves with Keola, relocating from Seattle to San Francisco for him to take a job at KBWF, and then later moving again for his current job in Portland.

Most of the wives say they had no idea what they were signing on for when they fell in love with a broadcaster, particularly the part about the frequent relocations.

Callahan calls her family’s recent move to San Diego “pretty rough because of the kids. [Kevin] was out here working for two months with me back at home arranging the move and getting the cars shipped, and all this without him being with me to make the major decisions.” In the end, though, everyone has adjusted well and they’re loving their new city and visiting its sites like tourists every weekend.

Staying behind is something Yankovich can relate to, having now done it several times. “I’ve always been left to sell the house and he’s taken off,” she says. The first two times lasted about four months each while the couple’s children finished the school year.

“Trying to keep the kids intact and get their homework done and then getting the house ready to put on the market and selling it, it’s kind of rough,” says Yankovich. “You have to be superwoman to do all that, and I’m not.” It can also be hard on the kids, especially as they get older.

“Our move from New York to Seattle was fine,” she recalls. The boys were then four and seven. But, she says, “The move back to California was not so good. I had one going into 8th grade and one going into 11th grade and they rebelled. It was the hardest time. They couldn’t wait to go back to Seattle, and now that we’re going back to Seattle, neither one of them are planning on going. They’re going to stay here.”

Their sons play together in a San Francisco-based band, and will be staying behind to pursue a music career after Yankovich rejoins her husband later in the year. “It’s hard,” says Yankovich, “but I have to let go.”

The housing market presents its own challenges for broadcast families. Thanks to the poor market, the Pauls still own their house in Portland, which Nicki calls “kind of a headache,” and they’re renting in Denver.

Meanwhile, Yankovich says if she and her husband had sold their Bay Area house right away after he got his current job in Seattle, they would have been “in deep water with the housing market the way it is.” They’re hoping to have better luck later in the year.

For two of the couples, radio is what brought them together in the first place. Preston was programming a station in San Diego when he was introduced to Yankovich by his afternoon jock, who lived across the street from her. But even before the introduction, she admits, “I had a crush on his voice because I listened to the radio station.”

Kerry Lui-Kwan met her future husband when she and her girlfriends went out to a club one night where Keola was DJing.

“I had no idea who he was,” she admits. His employer, KISW, “was a really popular station, but I would never really listen to the DJs. I would change the station when I heard people talking. I knew nothing about radio at that time.

“All my friends were so excited when I told them I was going on a date with Keola,” she continues. “Once they told me who he was I got really nervous… So our first date didn’t start off so well, but after a long game of pool we had hit it off.”

In Thursday’s part two, we’ll continue chatting with these radio wives about the challenges and rewards of being married to a radio broadcaster, how much they’ve learned about radio by osmosis, what parts of the radio industry still make them scratch their heads in puzzlement, and what they’d talk about if there was a support group for radio wives.