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PG 1 800.275.2840 THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO MORE NEWS» insideradio.com [email protected] | 800.275.2840 TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2015 Radio Jobs Report: Web Drives Growth. It wasn’t very long ago that the phrase “drive traffic” in relation to radio had only to do with trouble on the highway. But the Web is now firmly embedded in the sensibilities of every media user and provider along the “information superhighway.” And with radio, like every other medium, moving at a full-digital gallop, companies and stations have seen a complete shift in once-traditional job descriptions for anything from salespeople to announcers to management. “Everybody’s role has changed,” says Patrick Walsh, executive VP, CFO/COO, at Emmis Communications. “All the hiring growth is coming in areas for jobs that likely didn’t exist 15 years ago.” Larger companies, such as iHeartRadio, were among the earliest to plant their digital flags, but stations everywhere and of every size are now driving traffic to their websites and apps. And new hires, people with more social media experience, were and are necessary. “What I witnessed early on is that radio’s decision-makers didn’t really know what skills were required,” says Lori Lewis, VP of social at Cumulus, who is thought to be the first person in the radio business with that title. “For social,” she says, “it was pretty much handed off to anyone who would just take care of ‘that Facebook stuff.’” But with everybody seemingly on Facebook, or tweeting, one’s relationship with social is no longer considered “complicated.” It’s now much more of a necessity to understand what this interaction can bring. Wanted: ‘Inherently Opportunistic and Nimble’ Radio Workers. Trinity Brocato has the once unthought-of title of “national director for mobile innovation” for Emmis. Back in 1999, at a Lancaster, CA, station, she started a station’s website on her own because, “I had a flare for coding and graphic design and I had the good fortune of having a general manager who was far-sighted enough to let me do it.” Now she estimates every radio station cluster in a major market nationwide has one, perhaps two, digital coordinators. (Brocato is currently trying to fill two content developer openings.) Anyone now wishing to be in the radio business has to be active online. “It used to be the morning guy flew out the door at 10 a.m.,” says Hartley Atkins, executive VP, operations at iHeartRadio. “Now, that guy is back in his office tweeting or on Facebook.” Mark Ramsay, a consultant whose clients included iHeart Radio, CBS and Bonneville, says when employers look to hire radio station personnel, from disc jockeys to account executives, they’re asking “’How many Twitter followers do you have? How big is your Facebook fan page?’ Everybody’s a brand in business for themselves.” What are employers looking for? Lewis at Cumulus has a prescription: “We need to identify people who are inherently opportunistic and nimble, folks who know how to react strategically when opportunity randomly shows up. All companies,” she adds with a knowing smile, “would do well to stop making the station’s ‘banner hanger’ [at station remotes] the social media manager, too.” Why Social Media, Video and Web Skills Spell “Radio Job.” When asked about radio and the next generation of jobs, Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, puts it this way: “If you were at a college job fair and there was a recruiter from a radio station group and a recruiter from Google, which one do you think would have the longer line?” The answer, he thinks, is obvious—which perhaps says more about the Vince Vaughn movie “The Internship” than it does about what Borrell sees as radio’s considerable value. “There’s more evidence than ever that radio gets it,” he says. Pat Walsh, executive VP, CFO/COO for Emmis Communications, would probably argue that Borrell’s example doesn’t distinguish quite far enough. In other words, industry job competition for would-be digital programmers, Web designers and social media coordinators, can also boil down to being between radio and cool Internet inventions. ”These people are being sought out by all kinds of companies, not just other media companies,” Walsh says. What radio offers, however, is - Layoffs Rock CBS Radio -Davidson Media Sheds 10 Stations NEWS INSIDE >>
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Radio Jobs Report: Web Drives Growth. It wasn’t very long ago that the phrase “drive traffic” in relation to radio had only to do with trouble on the highway. But the Web is now firmly embedded in the sensibilities of every media user and provider along the “information superhighway.” And with radio, like every other medium, moving at a full-digital gallop, companies and stations have seen a complete shift in once-traditional job descriptions for anything from salespeople to announcers to management. “Everybody’s role has changed,” says Patrick Walsh, executive VP, CFO/COO, at Emmis Communications. “All the hiring growth is coming in areas for jobs that likely didn’t exist 15 years ago.” Larger companies, such as iHeartRadio, were among the earliest to plant their digital flags, but stations everywhere and of every size are now driving traffic to their websites and apps. And new hires, people with more social media experience, were and are necessary. “What I witnessed early on is that radio’s decision-makers didn’t really know what skills were required,” says Lori Lewis, VP of social at Cumulus, who is thought to be the first person in the radio business with that title. “For social,” she says, “it was pretty much handed off to anyone who would just take care of ‘that Facebook stuff.’” But with everybody seemingly on Facebook, or tweeting, one’s relationship with social is no longer considered “complicated.” It’s now much more of a necessity to understand what this interaction can bring.
Wanted: ‘Inherently Opportunistic and Nimble’ Radio Workers. Trinity Brocato has the once unthought-of title of “national director for mobile innovation” for Emmis. Back in 1999, at a Lancaster, CA, station, she started a station’s website on her own because, “I had a flare for coding and graphic design and I had the good fortune of having a general manager who was far-sighted enough to let me do it.” Now she estimates every radio station cluster in a major market nationwide has one, perhaps two, digital coordinators. (Brocato is currently trying to fill two content developer openings.) Anyone now wishing to be in the radio business has to be active online. “It used to be the morning guy flew out the door at 10 a.m.,” says Hartley Atkins, executive VP, operations at iHeartRadio. “Now, that guy is back in his office tweeting or on Facebook.” Mark Ramsay, a consultant whose clients included iHeart Radio, CBS and Bonneville, says when employers look to hire radio station personnel, from disc jockeys to account executives, they’re asking “’How many Twitter followers do you have? How big is your Facebook fan page?’ Everybody’s a brand in business for themselves.” What are employers looking for? Lewis at Cumulus has a prescription: “We need to identify people who are inherently opportunistic and nimble, folks who know how to react strategically when opportunity randomly shows up. All companies,” she adds with a knowing smile, “would do well to stop making the station’s ‘banner hanger’ [at station remotes] the social media manager, too.”
Why Social Media, Video and Web Skills Spell “Radio Job.” When asked about radio and the next generation of jobs, Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, puts it this way: “If you were at a college job fair and there was a recruiter from a radio station group and a recruiter from Google, which one do you think would have the longer line?” The answer, he thinks, is obvious—which perhaps says more about the Vince Vaughn movie “The Internship” than it does about what Borrell sees as radio’s considerable value. “There’s more evidence than ever that radio gets it,” he says. Pat Walsh, executive VP, CFO/COO for Emmis Communications, would probably argue that Borrell’s example doesn’t distinguish quite far enough. In other words, industry job competition for would-be digital programmers, Web designers and social media coordinators, can also boil down to being between radio and cool Internet inventions. ”These people are being sought out by all kinds of companies, not just other media companies,” Walsh says. What radio offers, however, is
- Layoffs Rock CBS Radio-Davidson Media Sheds 10 Stations
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a place for people with those skills and “a deep passion for music or sports or news,” Walsh adds. That, he thinks, is a distinction worth noting—and hyping. Dan Vallie, of Vallie, Richards, Donovan Consulting, who runs seminars for prospective broadcasters, says he sometimes meets young applicants for radio jobs who have video reels. “I tell them to attach those videos and put it on their resume,” he says. “They’re surprised to hear that, but radio stations are doing video on their websites.” A missing element in the equation remains a lack of information about what a radio job offers, requires and inspires. Millennial candidates, who consider digital prowess a requirement of youth, don’t also realize its power as a tool for creativity. “A lot of young people don’t even know the skills they have yet,” Vallie says.
Radio’s Job Shift From the Top Down. Many people in this industry got into the radio business…and have watched it evolve into the multiplatform audio entertainment business. And as the world of broadcasting continues to expand and once-traditional radio jobs follow suit, some of the brightest media minds have been lured to the industry by the reality of radio’s reach, and its great potential. “My specific hiring was very purposeful because we don’t believe we are in the radio business,” says Mark Stewart, Townsquare Media’s executive VP and chief strategy officer. Stewart’s path to Townsquare came not from another radio company, but after top jobs at major ad agencies and from handling $2 billion of Kraft Foods ad spend. “We think we are a consumer-based multi-platform entertainment and media company,” he says. That mindset is where he believes the “radio business” is headed. “Some very top people are entering this business now,” he adds, specifically citing execs with experience on the other side of the desk who know what clients want. “It creates an attitude of ‘what if?’ not ‘what is.’” Mary M. Collins, president and CEO of Media Financial Management, a group of financial officers and other C-level executives, agrees. She is using trend data to compile a list of what kind of people will have top positions in the industry by 2020. Her early read: “We’re already seeing that the financial people are much more involved—they’re not just men and women wearing the green eyeshades in the corner anymore. They’re involved in strategy because radio is not just people putting stuff on the air. It’s marketers making multimedia buys—more people with technology skills.”
Layoffs Rock CBS Radio. CBS Radio made widespread layoffs yesterday, eliminating scores of positions in multiple markets. Sources say the pink slips cut across departments, from sales to programming, operations and support staff. One major market cluster is believed to have let 10 employees go. CBS hasn’t commented on the layoffs. Reports of those affected began emerging Monday afternoon. In St. Louis, AC KEZK-FM (102.5) morning drive co-host Vic Porcelli and hot AC “Y-98” KYKY personality Brion O’Brion were among the causalities, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. CBS Radio employees who were let go can continue to stay up to date on industry news and job openings with a free subscription to Inside Radio. Send a note with your name, former title and city and personal email address to [email protected], and we’ll send Inside Radio to you by email each morning for the next 90 days.
The Takeaway: The Five Lessons Of Seacrest’s Success. Ryan Seacrest’s new three-year deal with iHeartMedia cements the status of one of the media industry’s most successful figures—and a man who seems to acknowledge radio as the core driver for his multiplatform brand. Here are five lessons to be learned from the multi-hyphenate’s staggering success. Think Big. When the 20-year-old Seacrest departed Atlanta in 1995 to do TV and radio work in L.A., he shared his long-term ambition with his first program director— to be the next Dick Clark. “His vision and goal-setting really struck me,” says talent coach Randy Lane, then Seacrest programming boss at “Star 98.7” KYSR. Build your brand across platforms. Calling his L.A. afternoon show “Ryan for the Ride Home,” Seacrest showed an understanding of branding’s value. He later used digital platforms to deepen that connection. “He uses social media to extend and define what the Ryan brand is—accessibility, likability, proximity to the stars,” says talent coach Steve Reynolds. Work hard. Seacrest is indefatigable, from prepping for interviews, to post-show analysis of what worked and what didn’t. “To be a massive success takes an amazing amount of work,” Reynolds says. “Here’s where Ryan has been über-focused over the years.” Juggling a seeming impossible schedule increases his exposure and opportunities, from radio to “American Idol” to producing the Kardashians. Play well with others. Seacrest is known for positive energy and a penchant for building and maintaining a wide spectrum of relationships, many of which continue to pay off. When he’s in Atlanta, Seacrest still visits “Star 94”
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WSTR, the station that gave him his start. Good guys can finish first. Seacrest has redefined what it is to be a media mogul, while remaining immensely likable. “He connects with people in all walks of life,” Lane says.
Davidson Sheds 10 Stations For $3.1 Million. As it continues to prune its radio assets, Davidson Media Group is selling a block of 10 stations in six markets to TBLC Media for $3.1 million. The deal, which would cut Davidson’s radio holdings in half, includes all of its stations in the Carolinas. Since January, Davidson has sold station in Indianapolis; Fayetteville, NC; and Springfield, MA. Now it’s divesting classic hits WTOB (1380) and Spanish contemporary Christian “Radio Adoracion “ WSGH (1040) in Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point; regional Mexican “La Mega 1310” WTIK and Spanish contemporary Christian WRJD (1410) in Raleigh-Durham; regional Mexican “La Nueva 103.9” WOLI-FM and classic hits WOLI (910) in Greenville-Spartanburg; and Spanish contemporary Christian WNOW, Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill (1030). Two Kansas City stations are also part of the deal—regional Mexican KDTD (1340) and Spanish contemporary Christian KCZZ (1480), along with the Indian Head, MD-licensed Spanish religious “Radio Poder 1030” WWGB in the Washington metro area. The deal significantly expands TBLC’s radio footprint, which currently includes a pair of Hispanic AM stations in Nashville. The transaction will leave Davidson with 11 stations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Inside ESPN’s Stream-Come-True Numbers. ESPN Radio Network streaming grabbed more than 2.5 billion total listening minutes in Q2, representing a rise of 31% over last year. Patrick Polking, ESPN senior director for digital audio strategy, said the impressive increase is tied into a greater presence of podcasts and streaming opportunities throughout the Internet, which are helping drive ESPN streams as well. “More visibility for streaming lifts all boats,” he said. Listening on desktop and mobile constitutes 25% of all audio ESPN creates, with the other 75% coming from a combination of terrestrial radio, satellite radio and on-demand. Polking and ESPN said the first-ever College Football championship game attracted 69,000 listeners in an average minute on its websites and various other sources, up 103% from last year’s Bowl Championship Series game (and the third-highest stream figure for ESPN behind two 2014 FIFA World Cup matches). NBA’s regular season and finals and Major League Baseball registered smaller gains—solid franchises with built-in fan bases. “It all begins with great content,” Polking said. ESPN On Demand podcasts netted more than 90 million downloads in the same quarter, an increase of 27% from a year ago. Polking also said the ability to stream ESPN via Tunein, Slacker and Apple iTunes helps boost listenership.
Local Music Tastes Are All Over the Map—Spotify. Want to know the most popular music in Hartford, CT or stream a playlist of favorites from El Paso, TX? On-demand music giant Spotify is using its trove of user data to create city-specific playlists and an interactive map that reveals what music is most frequently listened to by its users in hundreds of U.S. markets, as well as cities around the world. Spotify is using info from 20 billion “listener/track relationships” to generate its information and build the playlists. For instance, in New York, Spotify says listeners love The Chainsmokers, while King Louie is popular in Chicago, and Grupo Maximo Grado is big in Los Angeles. For the first week in June, the top song in the U.S. was Fetty Wap’s catchy hip-hop hit “Trap Queen.” For broadcast radio programmers, the interactive map provides yet another data point to potentially add to the expanding mix of research used to size up what’s hot and what’s not in local music tastes, taken with the caveat that it reflects only part of the local audience. Spotify’s “Musical Map of the World” allows users to browse playlists from nearly 1,000 cities in the U.S. and abroad featuring that market’s most popular songs (at least by Spotify’s calculations). The company built the lists based on songs that are popular in one market, but are not frequently played in other locations. Spotify says it will automatically update the map twice per month, and it is making the map available to embed on third-party websites.
RTDNA Tabs Latest Radio Salary Numbers. According to the eighth-annual survey of TV and radio newsroom salaries by the Radio Television Digital News Association, the major market radio news director average pay was $42,400 in 2014. For reporters, that average was $38,100. Records indicate newsroom salaries declined 4.1% from a year ago, although the RTDNA acknowledges that that figure is hard to confirm. (With the study being voluntary, it’s difficult to verify exact percentages.) The radio paychecks
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are less than those of television journalists, especially among top wage earners. A TV news director pulls down an average of $102,400; a TV reporter averages $44,500. Calculated by median salaries and allowing for market size, additional differences emerged. Ranking radio news director median pay: Major Market (MM): $60,000; Large (L): $45,000; Medium (M): $36,000; Small (S): $30,000. For reporters the numbers were—MM, $50,000; L, $40,000; M, $30,000, and S, $32,500. The survey says 17.9% of radio news directors are under contract; 16.1% of radio news reporters are. The organization also says 316 radio news directors and general managers, representing 868 radio stations, responded. More data is available at http://www.rtdna.org/
Underwater Broadcast Tests Waters For Reef Preservation Awareness. On the surface, the way one Florida Keys station chooses to encourage local environmental awareness and reef preservation may seem fun and novel. Below the surface, however, it really takes off in a big way. Divers and snorkelers in the Florida Keys enjoyed some unusual sounds last weekend when Holladay Broadcasting of Louisiana’s classic hits “U-S One” WWUS, Big Pine Key (104.1) staged an underwater broadcast. As part of the Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival, the station aired four hours of aquatics-themed songs such as the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” and Jimmy Buffett’s “Fins” to both its usual over-the-air audience and between 300-400 underwater listeners, proving that radio will often go to great lengths to serve its local community. “As soon as your ears go into the water, the sound explodes and music is all around,” says Bill Becker, WWUS news director. The music festival, which is organized by WWUS, is in its 31st year and encourages reef protection and environmentally responsible diving. The station has offered the special underwater broadcast every year. Music is delivered via special speakers donated and loaned by Lubell Laboratory, a Columbus, OH producer of underwater speakers, that are hooked onto boats floating near Looe Key, part of the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef. The boats are equipped with receivers to pick up the station’s signal. The four-hour commercial-free broadcast included PSAs that talked up the environment and reef protection. To defray lost ad time, the station partnered with a local dive shop to sponsor the event.
LeGrett Appointed iHeart L.A. Market President. Kevin LeGrett is making a big cross-country move for iHeartMedia. The company’s senior VP of operations for the Northeast and Midwest is transferring to the West Coast as president of iHeart’s eight-station Los Angeles cluster. The promotion coincides with an expanded role for L.A.-based executive VP of operations Greg Ashlock. A 22-year media vet, LeGrett joined the company in 2010 as VP/market manager for its Rochester, NY cluster. As regional senior VP he oversaw 220 radio stations and 46 markets across the Northeast and Midwest. LeGrett has held senior positions in sales, programming and operations and led multiple revenue-generating projects in a variety of divisions, the company said. Before iHeart, LeGrett was a regional president for the former Citadel Broadcasting in Buffalo, NY and senior VP/market manager for CBS Radio in Rochester. In his new post, he reports to Southern California market president and executive VP of operations Greg Ashlock, who takes on expanded operational responsibilities while continuing to oversee the L.A. cluster.
Jabs Fly As Philly Sports Trash-Talk Battle Rages. The trash talking between a pair of competing Philly sports radio hosts has spread from the airwaves to the printed page. In an opinion piece for Philadelphia magazine, Greater Media “97.5 The Fanatic” WPEN’s Mike Missanelli claimed victory over his competitors at CBS Radio’s WIP-FM (94.1), one of whom, afternoon cohost Tony Bruno, surprisingly resigned last week. Missanelli writes that WIP’s use of “personal insults, sophomoric phone calls and embarrassing bits on the street” led directly to the departure of Bruno, a veteran Philadelphia sportscaster. Carrying the headline “I’m Still Standing,” Missanelli declared victory over WIP, characterizing WIP’s afternoon show, hosted by Josh Innes, as “a cheap and bad imitation of Howard Stern, which is better served as a morning zoo, than an important evening drive slot.” Innes, in turn, turned up the vitriol on Friday, calling Missanelli’s column self-serving fiction. “It’s basically the last ramblings of a desperate man who’s trying to politic his way into the hearts of a few people by basically reading comment sections and seeing what appeals to meatballs,” Innes said, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. The muckfest got underway in mid-June after Bruno took to Twitter to boast about beating Missanelli in Nielsen’s May ratings survey. Missanelli then took to the air to blast his WIP competitors in a three-minute tirade, calling Bruno a “rat” and Innes “a fat-ass out-of-towner with man boobs.” WIP-FM finished first in men 25-54 in afternoon drive in Nielsen’s May survey and ranked second in June, beating WPEN in both surveys.
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qual GM/SM - MINNESOTAGM/SM opening for Hubbard radio in northern Minnesota!
Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. is looking for an energetic, motivated and creative manager to lead our three radio stations in Wadena, MN. As General Manager/Sales Manager you will oversee sales, marketing and operations of the Superstation K-106 KKWS-FM, KWAD-AM and KNSP-AM.
Hubbard Broadcasting recently acquired 16 radio stations in four northern Minnesota markets. The opportunity provides the best of both worlds—small market localism with major market resources.
We can’t wait to hear from you!Send a letter and resume to:
Dan Seeman at [email protected] Equal Opportunity Employer.
GENERAL MANAGERMINNESOTA
1. Masterful at building relationships, and successful, loyal teams.
2. Good at managing all aspects of a broadcasting business including Programming, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Business Administration.
3. A demonstrated commitment to personal and staff growth.
4. Five years experience growing a market as an Operations Manager, GSM or GM.
5. Knowledge of FCC and other federal, state and local broadcasting regulations.
6. Desire to join a company where you create and manage a budget appropriate for the short, medium and long-term success of the Winona market within Leighton Broadcasting.
7. Desire to build a family, employee-owned company, reporting directly to the owner and Board of Directors.
Leighton Broadcasting is looking for a General Manager of our Winona, Minnesota market. We are looking for an ambitious individual to take charge of our new acquisition and take the Winona market to preeminence. Requirements:
To apply, send your resume to:
[email protected]. Equal Opportunity Employer
MARKET MANAGER - WINCHESTER VACentennial Broadcasting is searching for an experienced Market Manager to lead our cluster of radio stations in Winchester, Virginia. Our radio products in Winchester are WINC-AM (News Talk), B-105 (Country) and WINC-FM (Hot AC serving Winchester, Leesburg and Northern Virginia).
We are seeking a smart and aggressive leader of people who can focus on generating healthy revenue growth by developing new local direct, local agency, digital and non-traditional business. Familiarity with all aspects of station operations, proven sales management techniques and knowledge of all aspects of team development and motivation, sales systems and accountability will be essential.
Candidates must have at least 3-5 years of sales management experience and preferably 5 years of market management experience. A college degree is preferable.
To apply, please forward your resume, cover letter & professional references to: [email protected]. EOE
Tired of the Mega company rat race?
Want to work for a company where your efforts are appreciated? Santamaria Broadcasting seeks a Sales Manager for our
Minneapolis Stations. Successful candidates should have a minimum of 5 years radio sales experience and a proven track record of
sales success and leadership. If you are ready to take on a new challenge where the rewards will match your efforts send resume to:
[email protected]. Equal opportunity employer.
SALES MANAGER
