An experienced professional in media and entertainment, Carol Batchelor began her musical journey at age 10 as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She played flute, percussion, guitar, piano, bass, and keyboard in school bands and taught guitar to friends. She also sang in choirs and took on lead roles in musical theater. In the late 80s, her grunge band Detente Touch recorded two all-original studio projects with producer Jon Lindahl.

Education and Early Career in California

Early 90s, Carol attended Napa Valley College, where she earned scholarships for Early Childhood Education, Music, and Theater. She then transferred to Sonoma State University, where she managed the student-run radio station, 91.5 KSUN, and established a new club, The Walford Collective, to manage the college recording studio. She also created and ran "Day In The Sun," an annual outdoor concert for local bands.

Leaving school early in '97, Carol took a job handling radio promotions for global artist record labels Tinder, Candela and Chipie under World Music Distribution. She had enormous success charting a diverse roster of international artists including Sally Nyolo, Son 14, and Cheb Mami. Concurrently, she became a film critic for UncleWebster.com, where her daily reviews were syndicated to hundreds of radio station websites. The reviews provided guidance for parents and educators on appropriate viewing material, often detailing the number of swear words, violent acts, and sex scenes.

Radio Career and Other Roles

Carol's radio career officially began in 1999 as a part-time news anchor at FM 100 KZST in Santa Rosa, California. Her first live report was at the public memorial for Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, where she interviewed his widow, Jean Schulz. After KZST, she worked as an Administrative Assistant at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where she was responsible for updating disaster and chemical safety manuals and served on a Y2K Preparedness Committee.

Her first full-time news position was as Managing News Editor for the KSRO Morning News at Maverick Media in Santa Rosa. She also served as Promotions Director for KSRO and Assistant Promotions Director for sister station 97.7 The River. During this time, she hosted and produced several award-winning shows including The Pat Thurston Show. As Pat's producer, she spoke with iconic journalists like Walter Cronkite and Helen Thomas, actors Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, and influential figures such as Ralph Nader, Arianna Huffington, and Harry Shearer. As a CNN affiliate, KSRO had reporters Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper on speed dial. She also met legends Bob Newhart, James Brown. Notable moments include opening for Joan Rivers at the LBC and broadcasting live from Pixar's Monster's Inc premiere.

In 2005, she returned to Portland and worked in Search Engine Optimization at PromoPeddler.com. She then found her place on the FM dial hosting the swing shift at 98-7 KUPL and creating the Locals Only segment to spotlight Pacific Northwest country artists. She quickly was grabbed up by the morning crews to be news anchor for both KUPL and its sister station, K-HiTs 106-7. This ended when CBS Radio sold the Portland cluster to Alpha Media in 2008.

Between traditional radio gigs, Carol played guitar in an AC/DC cover band called American Thighs, hosted karaoke, and drove taxi and rideshare. For two years, she worked from her Oregon home studio as a traffic reporter for a smart phone app servicing law enforcement in Florida.

In 2017 Carol moved to Arizona to become News Director for a three-frequency cluster in Page under Lake Powell Communications, managing news across radio, social media, and the station's website. She also spearheaded and taught a new afterschool music program for high school students, earning Presidential recognition in 2018 for her volunteerism. Carol was also awarded a medal by the Page Police for contributing to community safety.

Big city called and Carol answered, relocating to Phoenix for a reporter and anchor position with iHeart Media/NBC Radio News in 2019. Carol served as national news desk writer, local news anchor for AM 550 KFYI, and a Google news podcast producer.

During Covid lockdown creative projects for Carol as da Batchelor Party (dBP), continued to showcase her lifelong dedication to music and songwriting. Her experimental instrumental tracks on Reverb Nation have steadily charted in the Reverb Top Ten for more than 8 years.

Carol has since transitioned back to the Pacific Northwest where she now seeks remote opportunities in music, content creation and coaching AI.