What is your top priority when working with a new radio station?
The most important thing is quickly gaining their confidence. The new client needs to know that I'm a team member and have only their interest in mind.
All parties need to be positive about the relationship and about the direction of the station. One negative person can derail the entire process.
The first thing I want to do is assure everyone that we are all pulling in the same direction.
What has changed about the way you program today from when you started consulting?
There are generally less people in a radio station today then there were 30 years ago. As an outsider, you have to become sensitive to the different financial model today. This is also true when it comes to marketing and advertising, and the number of spots a station is going to air each hour.
What are the key things that broadcasters should be focusing on?
As simple as this sounds, managers need to understand what the listener really wants from MEDIA today. Radio is just one of the outlets that they use, but radio people still think that they are impervious to the changing interests.
We would also like to see research play a more important role in decision making. Research does not have to be the end all and be all, but it has been such a long time since many stations have done research. I think many broadcasters have lost their center and can not find their way back.
What is the one thing that you're most proud of (to date) in your career as a broadcaster and consultant to the broadcast industry?
That there are broadcasters out in the field that feel like I had a small part of pointing them in the right direction as personalities and program directors.
What would you like to be known for as a broadcaster?
Really rich...
What advice would you share with a first time program director who is entering the country format?
Everything you do on the radio has to be a win, win, win. The station has to win, the sponsor needs to win, and the LISTENER needs to win. If this doesn't happen, no one wins.
Any additional thoughts on the state of radio today?
I feel sorry for the many radio people who dedicated their entire career to building something for themselves, only to be left out in their later years. I suspect that no business engenders this kind of loyalty to an industry, and the industry turned on so many of them.
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