Leadership Approach

In my VP / Programming role I became the primary resource for the 33 stations and PD’s I advised and mentored. Our weekly team calls were productive – sharing ideas, company initiatives, best practices and we had some fun along the way too. I developed special programming, leveraged company deals for premiums and contests, hosted talent webinars and held quarterly drawings selecting one of our PD’s to host a group call to encourage team building.

With budgets continuing to be challenged, dwindling resources and the new normal of our work from home environment – experienced programming leadership, along with creative ideas that engage audiences on-air and online is what I’ve proven to deliver.

Attention to Detail tops the list of the most important attributes of today’s successful PD’s. It’s a distracted, disengaged, multi-tasking world, and there’s never been a time where “the little things” matter more

• Competition is intense with consumers having more music choices than ever, many of them commercial free. You’re not only competing with stations down the dial, your competing for people’s attention
• As Program Director, it’s your movie. You need everyone on the set executing your script. If you’re not buttoned up and organized, they’ll lose confidence in your ability, and things, at times, can unravel
• It all comes back to having keen attention to detail on every aspect of your brand and holding yourself and those accountable for their performance. But it all begins with you as Program Director being super focused on the “little things”. Over communicate and follow-up
• If you’re organized, have a good plan, and execute flawlessly, rarely will your staff ask, “what are we doing”?  Music scheduling is critical, so is imaging, events, coaching, and research too, but it all begins with never taking your eye off the ball, and never cutting corners. That’s why I believe attention to detail ranks highest on PD “must haves”

• During our “Hierarchy of Attention” presentation earlier this year, we found it virtually impossible to be effective on every meaningful social media platform, so we created a playbook on what we expect from our stations in terms of content every day. Some of you met or exceeded those minimums, others still struggle with populating their station pages with relevant content
• I encourage all of you to be more proactive in 2020 with content that’s interesting to the Classic Rock life group. Communicate the importance to your jocks on how sharing content about artists, events and music on your station pages is an opportunity for talent brand extension and how using Facebook LIVE is a simple and easy tool to engage listeners using video
• Educate your staff on how Twitter is best for “in the moment” and Facebook is best for storytelling, sharing, emotional connection and consumer interaction
• At the corporate level we’ve provided you with ready-made posts for a variety of topics and current events. I’ve recently started sending links for you to share among your staff at least once per week, sent via email with the subject line – Classic Rock / Web & Social Content / Talent Show Prep

• Music scheduling software is a lot like a car engine, if you take care of it on a regular basis and take preventative measures against breakdowns, it will run better
• Sadly, too many stations don’t treat it that way. Music scheduling software has made life easier, but it takes (and here’s that word again- “attention”) to keep it running at peak performance. If you set it and forget it, you run the risk of not catching things that can negatively affect your station
• Throughout 2019 Emily Boldon joined our call to field questions, provide updates and share best practices on themes, rotations and core artist exposure. You can look forward to more of her insights in 2020 keeping you running at high efficiency
• It’s critical to routinely check your diagnostics to make sure everything looks and is performing the way you want it to, if it isn’t, we have a team to help you, in many cases the same day

Classic Rock has a renegade spirit with attitude and swagger, a generation that grew up with great DJ’s, vinyl albums and arguably the greatest era in rock music.

That’s why it’s so critical to creatively and effectively “context the music” with short-attention-span imaging and content. So much of our music is shared across multiple formats and platforms, how are we going to be the outlet they choose to consume that content? I believe it’s by being interesting, sharing stories online and on-air about the rock heroes of the 70’s and 80’s, developing fan-centric podcasts, and creating unique features that highlight your brand.

Classic Rock Radio also comes with a sense of excitement and risk. Don’t be afraid to “go long” once in a while, if you get picked off, it’s OK, learn from it and move on. We don’t want to do anything placing our station or license in jeopardy, however, think things thru and take “intelligent risks” when the time is right.

A few tips to consider: