Last week, just before Thanksgiving, I made a decision to hang up the microphone and headphones life that I have been proud to have done for the last 16 years for you fans of Better Country, KIX 105, 92.3 Bob-FM and Newstalk 1050 KSIS.

It was not the easiest of decisions to make to move on from the job that has exceeded a lot of major milestones in my life. You have been there through the years from my days of doing the No Talk Triple Play wordplays on the weekends, to being the evening host known as Orbit on FM92, to being Doug E. Dawg and the Afternoon Express on Better Country KIX 105, to Doug Allen on Newstalk 1050 KSIS, but more importantly as just Doug Sokolowski, who is who I am and what I most want to be remembered as.

Words can not express my feelings for you fans over the year. I remember getting calls of well wishes on my engagement in 2001 with my wife Diana, congratulations on my wife and I's marriage in 2002, presents at the hospital on the birth of my children Gabriel in 2003 and Lillibeth in 2006. I will always be appreciative of your words of encouragement and compassion during sad moments of my life, such as the deaths of my grandparents and even my dogs or illnesses in my family.

I have always said my personal life was an open book and would share as much as I could. It truly has been a great relationship with each of you. Whether I could make you laugh when you needed a smile or grabbed your attention with important news and weather, I'm glad to have done that over the years.

I won't be going too far away. I'll be working with the Sales and Marketing Team of Lamm Tech and hope this won't be an end of me sharing my life in the public life, but instead a new chapter has begun with the technology growth in our area. I'll be starting there on December 14.

There are some influential people who got me to where I am from my humble beginnings as a Boy Scout where in 1985 I took a tour of KLUK in Knob Noster, Missouri and was guided by Mrs. Cassoleri to that tour and came upon a person that led the tour, that we believe was Denny Perkins. I found it ironic that many years later, I got to work with Denny and am proud to have worked with him and see his family grow over the years; to Mrs. Marjorie Piece who guided me in high school to do radio contests and I got to tell her how much that meant before she passed on a year ago; to now Dr. Brent Foster who first grabbed me in Radio Production classes at UCM/CMSU and I asked him for more hands on experience and received it at KCMW-FM in Warrensburg; to my original program directors with FM 92/Today's Best Country KIX 105/Newstalk 1050 KSIS Paul Ableri and Byron Johnson who believed in me enough to grant me a weekend shift; to Denny Campbell, Paul Hannigan, Dan Claxton and Sean Secrease who brought me into the world of sports and news;  to my original GM's Dennis Polk and Mike Jenkins who believed in me enough to grant me a full time position and the belief in my program director abilities and all those who I've worked with over the years whether it was for one day or in the case of Bob Chancellor all 16 years. More importantly than all that is my parents Dennis and Marge who always encouraged me and my wife, Diana, and kids, Gabriel and Lillibeth, who have stood by my side through all the decisions that have been made.

I appreciated the kind words of Julie Hoffert and Teresa Hardy who have been my equals in their respective departments and appreciated the words of all those in the programming, sales and traffic departments. I also am thankful for the support services of Townsquare Media, who I believe took radio to another level with our websites and social media and have branded the best on-air, digital content around. Too many names for me to mention, but I'll have more thanks and memories coming.

The faces have changed, but the job remains the same, to entertain and inform you on a daily basis with the best local news, sports and weather. I'll be sharing some of my favorite memories from the good, the bad and the ugly in the coming weeks and would appreciate hearing some of your favorite moments.

But I have to say thanks to you for all the memories and I look forward to new ones in the coming final weeks with Better Country KIX 105, 92.3 Bob-FM and Newstalk 1050 KSIS.

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