Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are testimonials intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on automation, traffic, billing and scheduling.
KHYI 95.3 “The Range” is an independent commercial FM station operating in the Dallas–Fort Worth market, with a signal focused across the northern Metroplex and into the Sherman–Denison region.
When longtime KHYI personality Brett Dillon retired after 30 years with the station, management faced an unusual challenge: how to honor his legacy while maintaining continuity for listeners who had heard his voice for decades.
Dillon privately informed station management of his retirement two weeks before KHYI’s 30th Anniversary Texas Music Revolution festival. The station did not announce the news on the air until the week of his retirement and the festival.
KHYI temporarily operated from a storefront in downtown McKinney and broadcast live from the location. Listeners were able to stop by throughout the week and help send Dillon into retirement in person.
With Dillon’s permission and support, the station worked with NextKast during the two-week transition to create an AI version of his voice using NextAI. The resulting personality, named “Bot Dillon,” launched on June 8, 2026.
NextAI is an integrated AI system built into NextKast OnAir automation, which also incorporates music scheduling. Because the music schedule, programming log, automation and AI tools operate within the same system, KHYI did not need to add a separate application or rebuild its existing workflow.
The station added AI break markers to its logs and created a personality description defining Bot Dillon’s voice, style and on-air approach. NextAI then uses the surrounding music and scheduled programming elements as context when generating each break.
During the transition period, KHYI worked with NextKast to adjust its logs, refine the personality instructions and prepare the system for launch.
Rather than positioning the project as a full-time replacement, KHYI uses Bot Dillon for a limited two-hour weekday shift from 10 a.m. to noon. The AI personality creates its breaks within the station’s normal programming log and works around the music, imaging and other scheduled elements already managed by NextKast OnAir.
The arrangement was developed with Dillon’s direct involvement. KHYI management and Dillon agreed on a monthly stipend that compensates him for licensing the use of his voice.
The station has also been open with listeners about the project. KHYI has not attempted to present Bot Dillon as the original personality or conceal its use of artificial intelligence.
“Having Brett’s blessing and compensating him fairly makes this an ethical way to use AI to keep his voice alive on the station he called home for 30 years,” said Chuck Taylor of KHYI.
“Listener reaction has been positive, with some even questioning if he actually retired. We are very pleased with the results of NextAI.”
For KHYI, the project demonstrates a controlled and transparent use of AI in radio. It allows the station to preserve a familiar voice and recognize a longtime personality’s contribution without creating a full-time artificial replacement or using his likeness without consent.
It also shows how an integrated AI system can be introduced without forcing a station to operate an additional platform. With music scheduling, automation and AI operating in the same NextKast OnAir environment, the station primarily needed to add break markers and define the personality.
“The result is both a tribute to Dillon’s three decades at KHYI and a practical example of how a station can use AI with permission, compensation and clear limits,” according to NextKast.
Info: www.nextkast.com
