KMC Wakes Up to Demarrio Spence

Photos by Airman 1st Class Heidi Holston

***image1***His alarm goes off at 4 a.m. every weekday so he can make it into the AFN studio in time for the morning commute for 53,000 Americans in the KMC. By 6 a.m. he is on the air and happily, “Serving America’s best.” 

Staff Sgt. Demarrio Spence, is the voice in the morning on AFN Europe’s 100.2 radio station. He has run the show for the past two and a half years and loves every minute.

***image3***“I am a people person,” said Sergeant Spence. “I like to talk to people and I have met thousands of people I would never have met if it were not for the show.”  

Sergeant Spence, who is from LaGrange, Georgia, got into broadcast while attending Georgia Southern University. He even switched his major from business to broadcast so that he could work on the university’s 91.9 WVGS radio station. 

Since college, Sergeant Spence has interviewed and met a long list of celebrities, among his most memorable are the original Tuskegee Airmen, Jessica Simpson, John Popper, Willie Nelson and the original Band of Brothers. 

***image4***When Sergeant Spence is not working at AFN, he is often recognized around the KMC. 

“Nobody really knows what I look like,” he said. “But when I order a pound of roast beef at the commissary deli counter, people look up and know who I am right away.” 

From 6 to 10 a.m. on weekdays, you can catch Sergeant Spence’s morning show, which covers everything from traffic reports to Hollywood news, on AFN 100.2 FM.