Program director leaves WTMD

Billy Gallagher, the WTMD program director better known on-air as “Billy Zero,” has left after 10 months on the job, according to the station’s general manager, Steve Yasko.

“William Gallagher is no longer WTMD’s program director. A national search will begin soon,” Yasko wrote in a brief email on Monday.

Until a replacement is named, music director Tyler Laporte will handle the program director duties.

Gallagher, whose last day was Oct. 22, would not elaborate on the reasons for his departure, but said he has several business ventures in the works including a social media music project and a release from his Washington, D.C.-based record label, DJ Boy Records.

He came to the Towson public radio station after several years as program director for Sirius XMU in Washington, D.C., an indie rock station targeted at college students.

Before that, he worked at the now-defunct Washington rock radio station WHFS as an on-air personality.

Gallagher said he looks forward to using his experiences in his new venture.

“I think I’ve been lucky enough to work in the commercial industry, the satellite industry and the public industry, and I think the business venture that we’re launching has a pretty solid stance to be able to pull on my qualities and what I’ve learned from all three and create something that’s kind of interesting for commercial and public radio stations to utilize,” he said.

Gallagher, a 1998 Towson graduate, recalled coming into public radio at a difficult time.

“I think public radio is having a hard time right now collecting funds. I think that’s one of the hurdles in public mediums, and that’s one of the things I learned quickly. I like public radio; I think it’s got a lot [of] potential. It’s just the past year, like since last October to this October, has been a struggle for a lot of radio stations,” he said. “That’s a tough thing to come into almost immediately after being hired. You just realize it’s kind of a different world than commercial radio.”

During Gallagher’s tenure, the station added several new features.

Thursday Night Mixtapes, previously a listener-run show, was expanded into a weekly Mixtape Thursday.

The evening show then became an outlet for musicians and celebrities passing through the WTMD studios to play and discuss their picks, including Keane, The Decemberists and Kevin Bacon.

“We kind of upped the ante on that program,” he said.

Other new features included the Baltimore Band Block Party (where local bands competed to get the most new members for the station) and the Saturday night countdown show, “21 & Over.”

Overall, Gallagher said “Without a doubt, given the economy and the hardships in public radio,” he was proud of what the station was able to do during his brief tenure.

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