NATCHEZ &8212; Carrying on in the tradition of her mother is an honor Margaret Perkins does not take lightly.

Named president and CEO of First Natchez Radio in May, she formally has taken the helm from Marie Perkins, who will continue as chairman of the board of the company.

The mother and daughter took time to reflect on the changes in radio, in their company and the delightful surprise of Margaret&8217;s return to work in the family business after a stellar career in radio that took her to several large cities.

First Natchez Radio includes four stations, the most prominent being WQNZ, &8220;95-Country,&8221; with listeners in 34 counties and parishes in the Miss-Lou area and 50,000 different listeners each week.

&8220;Never in a million years did I think I would be back here,&8221; Margaret said. &8220;And here I am literally following in the footsteps of my mother and taking over the family business.&8221;

Working primarily in Charlotte, N.C., and in Boston, Margaret had developed a taste for the city &8212; the cultural opportunities, restaurants and music. &8220;It never occurred to me to come back home. I had worked away from her for 27 years.&8221;

In 2001, she had started a consulting business, drawing on her many years in sales and marketing. In April 2002, her father, William S. Perkins, died. &8220;That changed my perspective. It became apparent to me that I needed to be here,&8221; she said.

It did not take long for her to realize what big shoes she had to fill, as her mother, as a woman, literally was a pioneer in the broadcast industry.

&8220;She was a female executive well ahead of her time,&8221; Margaret said.

Marie recalled that first year she began to spend time at the station. &8220;In 1964, when Margaret went to first grade, it was suggested that I go to the station and work for three days a week,&8221; she said.

&8220;I thought that sounded interesting. I knew business. But I had lots to learn about radio,&8221; she said.

&8220;No one told me anything, but I was learning everything,&8221; Marie said. &8220;I became general manager.&8221;

The example her mother set for her was more than simply becoming a business leader in a man&8217;s world, Margaret said.

Numerous awards attest to the community service awareness Marie Perkins emphasized during her career.

In 1974, she received one of only 11 Abe Lincoln Merit Awards presented that year for &8220;an innovative approach to community programming that has made her station a part of the cure rather than part of the problem of human apathy.&8221;

That same year, the company&8217;s stations WNAT and WQNZ won citations for raising $10,500 for St. Jude Hospital in Memphis; and WNAT won the Freedom Foundation&8217;s Valley Forge Award for the program &8220;WNAT Stands Up for America.&8221;

The business has grown from the original WNAT station to include the country station as well as KTGV &8220;The Grove&8221; 105.1, playing rhythm and blues and oldies, and &8220;Kiss 97.3 WKSO,&8221; playing hot adult contemporary format targeting a mostly adult female market. WNAT is news, talk and sports.

Both mother and daughter are proud of the community service their company provides.

&8220;Of course, the FCC license requires us to communicate with our community and to air community affairs and concerns,&8221; Margaret said.

&8220;We take that very seriously, and it started with my mother. She set the stage for that. It becomes literally who and what we are.&8221;

During the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, WQNZ performed heroically, Margaret Perkins said.

&8220;My staff pulled tricks out of the hat that I didn&8217;t know existed,&8221; she said, recalling that a generator helped to keep their signal going but the announcers broadcasting vital information to listeners were working in the dark except for flashlights.

&8220;That&8217;s when you are most satisfied about having a radio license, when you can help people,&8221; she said. &8220;People listened to us when the other stations went off the air.&8221;

Marie Perkins remembered a similar experience during Hurricane Camille in 1969. &8220;Alan (Perkins) stayed on the air all night to give people information. This is what you have to do,&8221; she said. &8220;If you don&8217;t do this, nothing else matters.&8221;

Her mother persisted in the challenges she faced &8212; a woman in a man&8217;s world, Margaret said. It paid off in many successes.

Marie recalled times when she knew she had to work to get business colleagues to take her seriously. &8220;It was not easy,&8221; she said. &8220;The world was slow moving. I was taken seriously after a while.&8221;

For Margaret the challenges have been entirely different. For one, she is challenged to keep up with fast-changing technology in the industry.

&8220;When I came in, I came with experience in sales and marketing. I always knew I could run a radio station, but it was the engineering that scared me.&8221;

And now? &8220;I had a good engineer and a good consultant. I asked lots of questions, &8216;what is this, what does it do, why do we have to have it and how much will it cost,&8217;&8221; she said. &8220;Now I can carry on a conversation with an engineer.&8221;

Margaret has completed an executive MBA recently, training provided by the National Association of Broadcasters. Like her mother, she is involved in state and national organizations and likes volunteering her talents on professional boards.

Her mother is not shy about praising the work her daughter has done since returning to the family business.

&8220;She has done a job equal to none. It&8217;s been tough. She has worked hard and learned everything about the business. She has earned the position of president and CEO,&8221; Marie Perkins said.