Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Mac and Grant McAuley
Hi Ali and Grant, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Ali:
My story begins with me being obsessed with the radio station, Q100. When I was listening one day, I heard them mention their intern program and thought I should pursue that. At that time, I was too young to get college credit at Georgia College & State University, and the Q100 promotions internship didn’t pay a dime, but I didn’t care! Handing out stickers to listeners waiting in line for Bitter Ball was the coolest experience to me! I just couldn’t believe that I got a free t-shirt that said ‘Q100 Staff’ and handing out swag to our listeners was my ‘job’. I was part of radio.
It dawned on me that using every single weekend of my freshmen year in college to drive home, work for free, and drive back to school 2 hours away, probably meant I had been bitten by the radio bug. With a year of radio experience under my belt, I sought out a position with Z97 in Milledgeville to learn as much as I could. To my surprise, they had me on-air within a week. Thanks to that station, I left college with 4 years of on-air experience which is incredibly hard to get when you’re just starting out.
Before leaving Milledgeville, I secured an internship with Star 94’s morning show. That had to be one of the most dynamic positions I’ve ever been in. The morning show would have me prep the studio, screen calls, grab breakfast, and pushed my boundaries with gags they were pulling off on-air. One time, they said if anyone could get a donkey to the station by 10am, they would give out concert tickets. I thought there was no way anybody in the city of Atlanta would come through, but within an hour, there I was guiding this massive, but adorable donkey through the lobby of Star 94. It was an unusual yet perfect baptism by fire into the radio industry.
Somehow, I landed on-air as the traffic reporter for Star 94 and I held that spot for 5 years. To this day, people still think I’m ‘Ali Mac, Star 94 Real Time Traffic’. That had to be one of the most influential roles I held because I would stare into the main studio every morning and just hope that one day I could be THE girl in the morning show chair. I was so close to my dream, but also so far! I needed mic time, and I knew it meant I had to leave.
My radio journey took me all over the southeast. I hosted mornings in Mobile, AL, Vero Beach, FL, and Jacksonville at one point. I was in THE morning show chair – finally! But the best call came from Atlanta – my home – to host middays on Kicks 101.5. There had to be at least an hour of shrieking and screaming and jumping when I hung up that call. ME? On Kick 101.5 in Atlanta? A station I grew up on? It was an absolute dream!
That station meant the world to me, and I couldn’t have been more surprised when they pulled me into a closed-door meeting and clued me in that I had been picked to sit in THE morning show chair. My dream had actually happened. I got to host mornings on a radio station that I grew up listening to in my hometown. I couldn’t have been more honored. I love being part of someone’s morning. It always felt like my calling, and as soon as we went on air, it solidified my thinking.
Beyond my work on the mic, I’m proud to serve as a Digital Host for Women in Radio, where I help amplify the voices of women in our industry. Most recently, I had the opportunity to fill in on the Morning Shift on 92.9 The Game and that couldn’t have been a better experience.
Grant and I were both busy chasing our dreams for several years, each on our own unique journey. He was pursuing a career in baseball, and I was deep into building my career in morning radio. It took time, and a lot of growth, before our paths finally crossed. But when they did, everything just clicked. It’s amazing how life works out when you’re focused on what you love—eventually, it brings you right to where you’re meant to be, and for us, that meant finding each other.
Grant:
“Timing” is probably the best way to describe our story. It took nearly two decades in the radio business before we finally crossed paths at the exact right juncture for each of us. It’s not always easy to see the road and understand the plan, but our separate journeys brought us together at the best possible time in each of our lives.
Ali is such a vibrant and engaging personality both on the air and off. She shines a bright light on everything in my life. Knowing that she traveled that long road, handled the ups and downs in order to build her career in a seemingly ever-shrinking industry renewed my belief that people like us are out there striving and working our way toward the things that matter.
I don’t believe it’s that difficult to find like minds. Like souls is a different story.
She and I often imagine what we could do with more time together had we met earlier, but quickly recognize the importance of everything we’ve learned along the way. All of that experience, both good and bad, made us the people that we are today. While I won’t speak for both of us, I had a lot of learning to do, about both myself and life, in order to be ready for the responsibility of caring for someone else in all of the ways I wanted to be able to.
It was a journey of self-discovery while chasing a dream that allowed me to do that.
When I got started in broadcasting, I had absolutely no idea where to even begin. Out of college, I quickly realized that I had no network to lean on and no viable way to get my foot in the door. So, I enrolled in a broadcasting school and secured a television internship and a part-time job working in promotions.
That was my introduction to the grind and it has never stopped.
Working for what was then 96 Rock in 2005 gave me a chance to get involved with the Atlanta Braves Radio Network for the first time. It turned out to be a sneak peek into the world of radio and I began to see just what it would take in order to make my career goals and dreams come true.
While sweating it out in promotions and live event production, I studied my broadcasting idols. Getting a chance to observe from the back of the radio booth at Turner Field, I watched closely as Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton, and Joe Simpson prepared and executed their craft on game day. Over time, I sought out my own chance to do the same.
After a couple of years, I was able to secure the team’s road radio equipment and set up recording space in an extra broadcast booth at the ballpark. This allowed me to call dozens of major league games, the first of which was actually alongside veteran broadcaster Chip Caray, who’d returned to Atlanta to work with his father, Skip.
Chip was instrumental in helping me to find my voice as a play-by-play broadcaster. He helped me get over the nerves and believe in my ability from Day 1. Former Braves second baseman Mark Lemke was another baseball lifer who supported me throughout this process. He spent numerous games sitting in with me and honing his color broadcasting skills. It was a surreal partnership that only strengthened my resolve.
The next step was finding a place to do it full time. That meant putting in the miles on buses in the minor leagues. Beginning in 2009, I spent four years calling games and working in the media relations department for the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Tampa Bay Rays organization, making many lifelong friends while sharing our journey one game at a time.
Eventually, that brought me back to Atlanta, where I joined 92-9 The Game in 2012 and began to carve out a foothold talking Braves baseball. Over the next six years, I poured my time into covering games, developing a podcast, launching my own radio show, writing articles and elevating my own brand across multiple platforms by embracing the long hours, reporting multiple sports, and ultimately creating opportunities wherever I could.
My trek eventually took me back to the Braves Radio Network in 2019, affording me the chance to focus solely on baseball and serve as the primary pre and postgame host that season. Unfortunately, the pandemic intervened the following year, shortening baseball season and curtailing my time with 680 The Fan amidst the uncertainty and cutbacks.
What I did not realize initially was how perfect the timing would be in my personal life. Without the relentless baseball schedule for the first time in 15 years, I was open and available to spend my time with Ali. It was more than life changing; it was transformative. Two people, driven to chase their dreams wherever it took them, finally finding each other in the same place and at the same time in every possible way, that’s what I had been waiting for.
When the radio door closed temporarily, I turned my focus to local television with 11Alive, writing for the Marietta Daily Journal and launching multiple YouTube shows. Following a World Series championship in 2021, 92-9 The Game sought me out to enhance their coverage of the Braves and bring my podcast, From The Diamond, to the airwaves during baseball season.
Bringing that show to life each week has been an incredible opportunity to cover the team I grew up watching while interviewing players and personalities from across Major League Baseball. Though my play-by-play dream may be on hold, if there were ever another outlet that I was built for, hosting a baseball show is definitely it.
Outside of baseball, I parlayed two decades of media experience into other ventures and currently serve as the marketing manager for Hoffman Financial Group. Alongside Chris Hoffman, I host “Money Unleashed” on 95.5 WSB each Sunday. This chapter was yet another example of a door opening at the right time and with the right people.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Ali:
Radio is a tough career, with the industry changing every day and only a handful of spots available. It has been nowhere near a smooth experience. You have to scratch, claw, and hustle for every opportunity, constantly proving yourself and fighting to stay relevant. How do you convince a radio station that you’re interesting enough to keep people listening through the commercials? The competition is fierce with so many incredible radio pros out there. Plus, it’s a very small industry so I had to learn pretty fast that one day your boss could be asking you for a job, or an intern you think you’ll only know for a couple months could wind up in a position to lift you up as well. It imperative to be nice to everyone, be a good person, help others, be supportive, and if someone is actually willing to give you advice from their radio experience – absolutely take it!
It takes a crazy amount of confidence to be told ‘no’ over and over again and then keep fighting for your chance. I rarely questioned ‘if’ my radio dream would happen, but I wasn’t sure where I would end up. 2,000 miles from home maybe? I would have done it!
Considering how long I’ve been working in radio, it’s pretty recent that I came face to face with a big life lesson. I think everyone started to reevaluate their lives throughout the pandemic. It made me question if I should stay 100% focused on my career or carve a little piece out for a personal life as well. About that exact time, I met Grant and I didn’t have to ‘make room’ because we just fit. But Grant helped me learn to look around a little more. Enjoy life a little more. Grant understands a crazy schedule, and a serious dedication to radio. We’re each other’s biggest support system and every time he gets a new opportunity that might take some time away from home, I’m the first to say he should absolutely pursue it and vice versa. It’s nice to have someone that understands a strong passion, and a career you’ve been chasing your entire life.
Grant:
To succeed in the radio industry, you have to be willing to bet on yourself time and again, even when no one else will. George S. Patton said, “Pressure makes diamonds.” I’ve always been a believer in that philosophy because the other option is to fold under the pressure, to allow the moment to be too big.
Not every decision maker you encounter will believe in you or understand your story, but you have to continue to tell it until the right one does. There have been program directors who failed to see the value in my work or even the sport I cover. That is ultimately out of my control. What is in my control, however, is showing up and putting in the effort to garner the results that can either sway their opinion or, perhaps, inform someone else’s.
We work in an industry that does not offer limitless opportunities. More times than not they are rare and thus a precious commodity. Seldom are they ever handed out without prompting or significant leveraging and negotiation. I’ve long said, someone may be able to edge me out on talent alone, but I am not going to allow them to simply outwork me. That has long been a foundational principle for me when handling both successes and failures in the professional realm.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Ali Mac: Radio/Morning Show Personality
You could run down my resume and see Star 94 Traffic Reporter, Morning Show Host on Kicks 101.5, Weekends on B98.5, Atlanta Falcons Radio Network Traffic Reporter, but when you size it all up – I talk. I know that sounds so simple, but it’s what I do and there’s an art to it. Telling stories and entertaining people is truly what I love to do. A studio feels so much more like a home to me than my own house.
I grew up feeling insecure, like a misfit, so I like to think that sharing my embarrassing stories, flaws, and mistakes on-air help others feel stronger in their own shoes. It’s amazing what content will push a listener to reach out and say they relate! When that happens, it tells me I did my job. For that moment they were laughing at me talking about falling off a treadmill, or bad date, they weren’t thinking about that stressful thing they have to deal with at work that day.
Grant McAuley: Sports Broadcaster
I like to tell people that I have the best job in the world. I get paid to talk about baseball. That’s taken many different forms, from minor league play-by-play man, to baseball reporter, to hosting shows, conducting interviews or fulfilling interview requests. It all adds up to time well spent in my book.
Since 2015, I’ve hosted my own podcast, From The Diamond, where I cover the latest on the Braves and Major League Baseball. I’ve interviewed legends and Hall of Famers, covered locker room champagne celebrations and World Series parades. There is no better feeling than getting to share my insights and tell the stories that make up each season with the fans who live and die on every pitch.
What matters most to you?
Ali:
This answer would have been different a few years ago for me. What mattered then was radio, radio and only radio. Now, what matters most to me is loving what I do and making time for my passions. During the pandemic, I happened to fall in love with running, and now if I don’t run every single day I feel off! I’m hoping one day to complete a marathon on each continent. I’m literally putting this here, so I have accountability and make it happen!
It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and focus solely on your career, but true fulfillment comes from finding that balance. Whether it’s spending time Grant and our 3 dogs, coming up with my next brilliant radio bit, or just taking a moment to myself, what’s key for me is nurturing my professional and personal life.
Grant:
My career has run the gamut from the minors to the major leagues, production to play-by-play, reporting to hosting, and from writing to television. All of that said, when you truly find your calling, love what you do, and believe in yourself and why you’re doing it, then it makes all the long hours, sacrifices, setbacks, and challenges worth it.
To be able to share that perspective with someone who truly understands the triumphs and the tragedies is more than I could’ve ever asked for. Ali has stayed her course, weathered the storms and proven her considerable talents time and again. She inspires me to maintain my efforts and focus on chasing dreams. While that often applies to professional pursuits, she has opened up a world of possibilities when it comes to what we can build in our life together.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fromthediamond.com and www.alimacradio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alimacradio and https://www.instagram.com/grantmcauley
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AliMacRadio/
- Twitter: https://x.com/grantmcauley and https://x.com/alimacradio
