Al Schares is an Iowa music legend, both on and off the air. The self-taught, guitar-wielding rockstar has not only shared the stage with a multitude of local music luminaries, he's also given artists a platform to be heard through his day job as well. Now, after more than three decades of work for KUNI and later Iowa Public Radio, Schares has retired from his role as music program director. He isn’t about to drop out of the Iowa music scene completely — nor leave Iowa Public Radio just yet either. He plans to spend his retirement hosting Rust On The Dial, enjoying new travels and, of course, playing great music.
Schares, a graduate of Don Bosco High School in his hometown of Gilbertville, spent his early years learning instruments by ear and working typical student jobs like carrying out groceries and landscaping. After high school, he quickly became a Cedar Valley mainstay, bartending at Tony’s Lounge in Cedar Falls and Brinkley’s Landing in Waterloo while earning his degree in English from the University of Northern Iowa. Following some post-undergrad travels, Schares ended up back at UNI, where he pursued his master’s degree in English. It was then that he started to play in bands and joined the staff at KUNI.
Schares’ work in public radio started with classical music. His earliest work was to change reel-to-reel tapes and announce the top-of-the-hour breaks nights and weekends. He quickly climbed the ranks to serve as music director of both the classical and contemporary music divisions, which he held until he took a hiatus from radio to work as a guitarist.
Schares started playing guitar professionally in grad school in the early '80s, starting with gigs with Steve “SR” Turner and some college buddies. He then played in a rockabilly band called The Nonstop, inspired by popular acts at the time like Stray Cats. After The Nonstop broke up around 1985, Schares bounced around bands before joining Boys With Toys, led by Iowa City’s Brad Jones. Boys With Toys and Jones’ other project, The Dig Mandrakes, led him to Minneapolis and then Nashville. He relocated back to Cedar Falls after marrying his wife Katy in 1989.
Schares returned to his post as KUNI's music director in 1990, which was a role he held for the next 35 years — through KUNI’s transition to Iowa Public Radio. By the time he rejoined KUNI, Bob Dorr's Triple A evening music show Progression had become Night Music. That evening music slot, which eventually became Studio One Tracks, was the main focus of Schares’ tenure as music director, although his hosting resumé includes all of IPR’s services over the years: blues, folk, classical and even Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Under Schares’ leadership, both IPR’s classical service and Studio One have always paid special attention to Iowa musicians.
“I think one of the most rewarding things [of my career] has just been, you know, plugging into the Iowa scene and trying to put the Iowa music scene on the map,” Schares said. “I think there’s a ton of credit to Phil Maass in this area. We've done a lot of live broadcasts and recordings over the years and nobody else was doing that, not to the extent that we were, anyway. I think that was the really important role that we were able to fill. I feel like we've done the Iowa music scene a real service, and I'm proud of that.”
The programming on Studio One has encompassed a wide range of musical genres during the arc of Schares career. One of the most significant and lasting contributions Schares made to the station has only happened in the past few years: Studio One’s relaunch on radio as a 24-hour format in 2024.
“I'm pretty proud of the fact that we've finally gotten to the point where we've got a 24-hour signal that's hosted all day long in the largest market in Iowa for Iowa Public Radio,” Schares said. “That was always the thing that kind of drug the Studio One service down was that we were just on at night and just on the weekends, you know — very limited time on the air with the Studio One service. So I think what we've accomplished beginning last August with launching KKSO in Des Moines is really the start of a new era for Studio One and IPR, and if I played a role in that, I'm proud of that.”
“[Schares has] done everything and been everywhere. I'm never surprised anymore when I'll pull out a record and he actually has a story about the band or maybe he met them one time or opened for them one time,” IPR Senior Music Producer Tony Dehner said. “The idea of a public radio station playing what we do here at Studio One, that didn't occur to me. I didn't ever imagine you could do that, you know. So when I got here and here's these cool guys with their long hair, and they’re like, ‘We're playing the Beatles, we're playing House of Large Sizes, it was like I stepped into a new universe.”
KUNI and IPR’s efforts to uplift Iowa musicians under Schares’ supervision have undoubtedly made a lasting impact on the Iowa music scene. Not only has he given local music a platform to be heard, Schares has also been a part of the community himself, playing tunes in Iowa venues for over four decades. Enjoy retirement, Al!
