03/08/04 Have You Discovered Your Purpose On Earth?
I recently attended the funeral of Charlie Willer, one of my dearest lifelong friends. As I prepared my thoughts to speak at his memorial service, I realized the impact this one man had on my life: Without his efforts, everything in my life would be different. Charlie introduced me to radio as a career; without that introduction, I could still be welding cement-truck bodies in an Indiana factory (and there would be no Radio Ink). He also introduced me to my wife and many of my closest friends. His life — his very purpose — was about putting people together and helping them see their God-given talents.

This issue of Radio Ink is focused on the 35 Most Influential African-Americans in Radio and on the Bayliss Foundation Roast. Neither of these features would have occurred if it were not for people who were fulfilling their purpose.

John Bayliss was a legend in this industry. Bayliss was such an influencer, such an innovator, and such a quality broadcaster that, upon his death, the entire industry stood up to honor him with a scholarship foundation in his name. Scores of deserving college students have received educations and entered broadcasting as a result of John’s influence. This great man is still making a difference.

Years ago, I received a call from a college student, who befriended me and then went on to chastise me for not giving enough coverage to the African-American radio community. He convinced me to do the right thing, and we immediately started to make changes in the magazine. More than a decade later, Sherman Kizart continues to stay in my face, making sure we do not let up our coverage. Radio Ink’s annual African-American list is the result of one man’s effort.

For the past eight years, Sherman has worked for Interep and has developed many innovative programs for them, for the radio industry, for the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and for Radio Ink. His recent promotion to vice president at Interep and his appointment to the FCC’s Diversity Advisory Committee now make him one of the most influential people in African-American radio. His efforts have changed the visibility and acceptance of urban radio throughout the industry, and the impact will be felt in the lives of millions of listeners.

Each of these people is a hero in my eyes. Each is proof that one person can make a difference, with an impact on people’s lives and on an entire industry. Most great people don’t set out to become great; they merely follow their conscience and do what must be done. Nothing gets in their way, and nothing intimidates them. Their passion is strong, and their will cannot be broken. They never assume that it’s someone else’s responsibility to make change.

What do you passionately believe in? And what are you doing about it? How will you be remembered by your friends, your colleagues and your peers?

3/08/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

One well-kept secret of this industry is that Radio Ink is not the only magazine I write for. Though I write for other magazines I own, I also write for one magazine I do not own. I write marketing columns for Dealer magazine, which goes to most of the car dealers in America.

I began my relationship with this publication when I encountered Jim Ziglar while waiting for my luggage in the lobby of our Roy Williams show in Atlantic City. Ziglar is the top sales consultant for the car-dealer industry, and he is Dealer magazine’s top writer. As we chatted, I told him that automotive advertising is radio’s biggest local advertising category and that, though dealers and dealer groups spend a lot of money, most are doing it wrong. I explained that they could be getting more sales and more customers with the money they spend — and that got his attention. Next thing I knew, I was a columnist for that publication.

Car buyers fall into one of two categories: relational (those who relate to or look for something that satisfies a need or dream) or transactional (those who look for best price and check out multiple dealers). Though there are more transactional buyers, relational buyers pay higher prices. Therefore, dealers who focus on relational business make higher profits and get the lion’s share of business.

Unfortunately, only a few dealers in America understand this concept and practice it. For instance, the biggest BMW dealer in the world is in Los Angeles. It’s not the biggest just because it’s in Los Angeles (which has many dealers); it’s the biggest because it is focused on relationships, instead of transactions. You won’t hear screaming car ads shouting prices and deals. Instead, you hear relationship building.

When people in L.A. are in the market for a luxury car or specifically a BMW, they always go to this dealer first, because they are focused on an experience that satisfies their needs or dreams, rather than on price. Though this is an over-simplification of a complex selling situation, dealers who follow this practice will outsell those who shout and scream about price. Transactional buyers are harder to get and harder to sell, and they are less desirable to a business. I am able to show dealers how to increase their business dramatically by simply altering their focus.

We’ve all heard Detroit Radio Advertising Group President/COO Bill Burton’s line: “A car is a radio with four wheels.” In today’s environment, the match between cars and radio is growing. Traffic in most metropolitan areas has exploded almost exponentially over the last 10 years, and the trend promises to continue. Time spent in the car is increasing, which means that radio listening in cars will also increase. Is it any wonder that car dealerships are radio’s biggest spenders? They know that, when people need a new car, the dealership can talk to them while they are still driving the old car. Radio and car dealers match perfectly.

This issue of Radio Ink is a first — it’s intended not only as information for you, our readers, but also as a piece that you can hand to a local car dealer to inform him or her about radio. We’ve highlighted some of Detroit’s biggest automotive players who are big fans of radio. We hope you enjoy it.

3/22/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

I tried to bluff my dad, and I got busted. Forty years later, Radio tried to bluff the American people, and we got busted.

Rain pounded against the glass as I gazed at the fierce thunderstorm, wishing I could be outside. My bicycle was lying on the sidewalk in a pool of water. No problem until I saw my dad’s car coming. I scampered into the rain, opened the garage door, grabbed my bike and shoved it into the dry garage. I didn’t think my father saw me; he was still pretty far down the road.

“Did you leave your bike in the rain, son?”

With fingers crossed, I said, “No, sir.”

“You know the rule: If you leave your bike in the rain, I take it away.”

I insisted I brought it in before the deluge, but a quick trip to the garage proved otherwise, and I lost my bicycling privileges. I had been given a responsibility — and now I was busted.

Radio left its bike in the rain and tried to pull it in before Dad got home. Though we knew right from wrong, we pushed until the edge of the envelope became invisible. We were outside it and tried to pretend we weren’t. One station tried to out-smut the other because smut sells, and this is a business driven by revenues. We began reining ourselves in only when the government slapped our hands. “Bike? Rain? Oh, we forgot. Sorry, Dad.”

The FCC has been wimpish for the last 15 years and did not live up to its responsibilities. Then Justin Timberlake ripped the breast covering from Janet Jackson and exposed the American media’s inability to police itself. Thank you, Justin. We needed that.

Congress has allowed the media to do what we wanted; legislators got religion only when the FCC was exposed to the disgust of angry voters in an election year. So, who is to blame? None of us corrected the problem until we got caught — not the broadcasters, not the FCC and not Congress. That’s a bunch of wet bikes, friends.

I’m not big on Congress’ stepping in to police the industry, but we showed the American public that we would definitely do whatever it took to build ratings and revenues. We proved that we cannot be trusted. I said “we.” I didn’t write any editorials about it until after the fact. I’m as guilty as you are.

I believe the increase in fines was the right thing to do. The previous fines had been less money than Mel Karmazin spends on dry cleaning each year. Paying them had no more impact than a $150 speeding ticket has on Bill Gates; yet even these levels of fines soon will not be enough. Only ripping away the broadcast licenses of a property worth $500 million will get and keep the industry’s attention.

Radio has been highlighted in national news and has been the focus of congressional probes. A few irresponsible broadcasters have polluted the preciously good image of an industry mostly made of responsible people.

Just last week, a major national advertiser told me: “Once the headlines about radio hit, we immediately pulled all our radio advertising. We can no longer be associated with the medium known for disgusting and vile content.”

We’ve been painted with a broad brush, becoming known for the vile content of a few irresponsible license-holders who are “becoming responsible” only when they have been busted. We left our bike in the rain. I can only hope that Papa Congress loves this country enough to take away a few bikes.

4/12/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

It was 1 a.m. Startled, I stared blearily at the ringing phone that had blasted me from a cozy dream. My mind staggered through disastrous scenarios: dead relatives, crippling auto accidents, a deejay to be bailed out of jail.

“Hello,” I croaked fearfully. The chief engineer on the line needed someone to accompany him to the transmitter site. His usual assistants were not answering their phones, so he called me, the station owner. Wanting to be a team player, I agreed.

While I slept, a major snowstorm had hit the area. Winds were gusting to 50 mph, the power was off, the generator had failed, and we were off the air. In my warmest clothes, I drove through blinding snow, meeting the CE at the base of the mountain.

It was one of those nights you did not want to be out in a car, but we took his four-wheel-drive up the mountain as far as the snow would permit us. Then we hopped on a snowmobile. Snow blinded us as it accumulated on our facemasks. Heavy snow also meant driving the snowmobile as fast as we could go until, every few minutes, we had to hop off and wade through waist-high snow to unjam the snowmobile and start again. Cliffs with 100-foot drops invited disaster at every corner.

Two-and-a-half hours later — the last 20 minutes on snowshoes — we arrived at the mountaintop transmitter building. We had to shovel six feet of snow with our hands because it had covered the door. We looked like frantic dogs digging for a lost bone.

I cannot recall ever being colder in my life. An annoying and difficult trip in the summer under perfect conditions, this snowy, miserable trip was one of those nightmares you never forget. I could not wait for it to be over, although I could not bear the thought of the trip down.

There was no heat or light in the building, but for the next two hours, we worked on the generator. Our hands were so cold we could hardly grip the ice-cold wrenches. Finally, the generator turned over, and we were back on the air. The generator’s roar reverberated inside the small cement building, but it was music to my ears, representing hope that we could get out of this God-forsaken place! But the generator kept sputtering off, and we had to baby-sit until the power came back on. Ever try to nap on a cold hard floor with the roar of machinery and the stink of diesel fumes? We tore into canned rations sent up after the engineer and another man had been stranded at the transmitter four days. Hours passed. Finally, the generator stabilized, the power came back on, and we headed for home.

Not every station has a transmitter in a remote mountain location. Still, climbing towers, being wakened in the middle of the night, working around high voltage is demanding, often dangerous work. It takes a rare breed. Our engineer made that mountain trip 11 times a winter and never complained. Yet he kept us on the air and always dropped everything so we could play rock ’n’ roll records 24/7.

Engineers are of another world. They often act differently, have their own language, and work on concepts we cannot begin to understand. Their sacrifices are great, yet they often are taken for granted. Thank goodness for people willing to do what these men and women do. They are indeed the unsung heroes of the radio business.

Have you hugged your engineer today?

4/26/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

Legend has it that traffic along Highway 101 in San Francisco was creeping at a snail’s pace, and the only cars moving right along were those in the commuter lane. Suddenly, a red Rolls Royce convertible zipped by in the commuter lane. A motorcycle cop pulled the Rolls over to give the driver a ticket for driving without passengers in the commuter lane. The driver turned out to be Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle.

According also to legend, this is almost a daily occurrence for Ellison, who would rather pay a couple hundred bucks in fines each time he gets caught than waste his time in traffic. After all, this billionaire’s time is probably worth tens of thousands of dollars per hour. The $200 fine may be a big deal to an average citizen, but it’s not much money to someone with a huge bank account.

In Sweden, the police could not control the problem of speeding because wealthy violators would pay the fines and continue to speed. When legislators examined the problem, they realized that fines would not stop people unless the fine was proportionate to the income bracket of the person violating the law. Therefore, the government began basing fines on the income of the person speeding.

The police have a database of income levels that are entered into a formula that involves a combination of income and severity of crime. Violations less than 12 mph over the limit mean a fixed fee in the $400-$600 range, but violations more than 12 mph above the limit kick the fine into a percentage of net income. In one example, a well-known hockey player was caught speeding on two occasions. In one case, he was going 14 mph over the speed limit and was fined $71,400; in the other case, he was fined $44,100.

The U.S. Congress thinks it is solving a problem by increasing indecency fines by 10 times, but this system is seriously flawed. For instance, a small-market broadcaster would be put out of business by a fine of $500,000, which may be many times his annual profitability — it could be more than the value of his entire property. On the other hand, a company such as Viacom could pay many $500,000 fines and probably wouldn’t even flinch.

Fines, therefore, should be based on a formula that takes into account the financial capacity of the company violating the law. Fines are intended to make people think twice before breaking the law. If the fine is of no financial significance, paying it becomes an inconvenience, rather than a financial hardship. Unless there is true financial hardship, these indecency fines are nothing more than the cost of doing business, and violations will continue.

5/10/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

One of my personal passions has been finding ways to recognize and elevate the efforts of effective professional women in the radio industry. I’m not a feminist, but I recognize talent, and it frustrates me when strong talent is not recognized within its own industry or organization. I’m not suggesting promotion of women because they are women; I want opportunity for the many women who struggle for well-deserved promotions.

For the progressive industry we pretend to be, we’re not progressive enough. Why are most leadership positions within radio still male-dominated? Why are most programming positions still male-dominated? Though our industry has a much higher percentage of women in sales and sales management, their promotion to GM or market manager is embarrassingly rare.

We are not alone. Hollywood has hailed the successes of female directors such as Nancy Meyers (who has two radio people in her family), Jodie Foster, Penny Marshall and others, but Hollywood isn’t much more progressive than radio. According to a study by Martha M. Lauzen, a San Diego State professor who studies the role of women in film and TV, women directed 7 percent of the top-grossing 100 films released in 2000. (In a sample of the top 250 films, the percentage was a little higher, at 11 percent.) The U.S. Senate is more progressive than Hollywood: 14 of 100 senators are women (see
In her book The Natural Advantages of Women (Wizard Academy Press), author Michelle Miller presents scientific evidence that the female brain is considerably different from the male brain. She offers proof that women are not only “hard-wired” differently than men, but that they also have the ability to use this “wiring” to great advantage in their personal and professional lives. For instance, the tissue connecting the left and right hemispheres of the female brain is thicker and denser, meaning that women have stronger connections between left and right brain. Her evidence also indicates that women have 10 times more neuron connectors than men. The consequence is that women are more perceptive and more nurturing, and they have better intuition because they use both hemispheres. Men are typically analytical and more left-brained. The end result is that women approach management of people differently, and they approach product creation differently. It’s a mystery why the world (not just radio) does not embrace these differences and integrate them into our companies as advantages.

Since 1999, we have compiled this annual list of the Most Influential Women in Radio, recognizing women who make a difference within our industry. These women have demonstrated great leadership by forming a group (the MIWs) to make their own change by creating educational and mentoring programs. However, the list is also designed to highlight the companies that clearly support women in senior management roles. To the companies that dominate this list, we applaud you.

Let’s not stop there. We can ALL do more.

06/07/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

A year ago this month, we held our Roy Williams conference in Atlantic City. During the conference, a guy came up to me and said, “Mr. Rhoads, I’ve been wanting to meet you. I got your e-mails about this conference, and I paid my own way to be here. I just got into radio.” I learned that he had been a paramedic but felt he could not realize his life’s dreams, so he got a job selling radio.

“It was a disaster,” he told me. “I worked my butt off in that job for six months and got nowhere, so I quit radio and decided to do something else.” Somehow, he eventually hooked up with Bill Hazen, who suggested that, with some training, he could succeed at the Cumulus stations in Macon. “My first day on the job, he handed me the Roy Williams tapes and said, ‘This is all you need to know.’ I watched them all in three days.”

That same week, he said, he saw one of my e-mails for our Roy Williams conferences. “I ran into Bill’s office and asked if I could have the time off if I paid my own way to attend.” Two weeks later, Jeff Norman was in Atlantic City, listening to Roy. “I’ve got to tell you,” he said, “the tapes and the books are good, but seeing this in person, it all comes together.”
Six months later, Jeff contacted me and said that, by following Roy’s system, he had 26 annual contracts on the air and $1 million in billing. “This is my dream come true,” he said. “I’m going to make $150,000 this year, and I’m not done yet.”

I asked him to come to our Roy Williams conference in Austin, so I could tell his story to the crowd. He came, but when I brought him on stage and told his story about six months, 26 annuals and $1 million on the books, he corrected me and said billing at that point was close to $2 million after nine months.

During the Austin conference, I asked Jeff what he wanted to do with his career. “Macon is nice,” he said, “but I want to do bigger things. What would you recommend?” After probing for his goals, I told him that, with his talent and attitude, he could make the same hard work pay off in much bigger ways if he went to sell in a major market. “Let’s do it,” he said.

We thought that, based on his goals, Los Angeles was the best place, though he was a little reluctant, thinking that a country boy in the big city might not be well received. I reminded him that one of the most successful GMs in America, Roy Laughlin from KIIS, was originally a country boy from Alabama.

At Jeff’s request, I made introductions, and he met with most of the radio companies in Los Angeles. Several offered him jobs. As of this writing, Jeff starts in sales at KIIS in Los Angeles, and his goal is to be the top-billing ad rep in LA within three years. My guess is that he will do it in two. Did I mention that Jeff is 25?

I’m sharing this story, not so thousands of you will call me and ask for introductions to great jobs, but to illustrate that belief in oneself, great attitude and willingness to make instant change in your life can make a huge difference in your career. Jeff is a smart guy, but his success is found in his belief systems. He dares to challenge himself and take action, and he is not afraid of change. Jeff is an inspiration to others as well as me.

What are your dreams? What are you telling yourself you want to do? What self-talk is running through your head? What are you waiting for?

06/21/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

Someone recently asked, “Eric, if you could gather all the big publicly owned broadcasters in one room, what are the biggest concerns you would share with them?” Here are my concerns:

Cost-Cutting: In our efforts to cut expenses, we have cut into the bone. We cannot grow the business by more cost-cutting, because there is little left to cut without seriously hampering operations. All efforts should be focused on growing top-line revenues and overall radio spending.

Top-Line Growth: The misconception is that the RAB’s efforts to promote radio to national advertisers will solve this problem, yet national advertising is only a small percentage of radio billing. Though this effort can help, top-line growth will come from investing in our front-line troops locally — the 65,000 people selling radio. Most are ill equipped and poorly trained. Without excellent training, relevant messaging, and an understanding of how radio really works in today’s environment, they will be unable to create growth.

Quality Content: Radio is not investing enough in quality talent and programming. If Hollywood had overly automated, no one would go to the movies anymore. Hollywood may be containing costs elsewhere, but they invest in their product: quality writers, directors and actors. We do not.

Loss of Experienced People: We’re burning out our people with unrealistic expectations, enormous pressures and little job satisfaction. We’ve lost many of our best people to other industries. Others plan to jump ship the second they can sell their stock.

Ability to Attract and Retain Salespeople: Other industries offer six months of in-depth training before the reps’ first sales calls. They also receive perks, company cars, and ample time to learn and perform. We still throw new salespeople the Yellow Pages, giving them 45 days to sink or swim as we churn and burn bodies. Young people are unwilling to work in a negative pressure cooker with limited rewards and an irrelevant 20-year-old audiocassette as training.

Ability to Attract New Listeners (Thinking 10 Years Out): As teenagers, my generation embraced radio as the soundtrack of our life. Today’s teens and young adults do not have the same relationship with radio. Listening is declining as we compete for their time with iPods, cell phones, video games, Internet and more. Radio is not developing talent and programming targeted to teens, because we cannot make money on it today. If we don’t get teens addicted to radio now, they won’t suddenly become addicted when they become a “money” demographic five or 10 years from now.

Spot Loads: Our inability to price our product fairly and command our price (a training and a quarterly earnings issue) has led us to whoring our rates to get business at any cost and has led to increased inventory. Spot sets are unreasonably long, and unfair to paying advertisers whose ad falls in the middle of a long cluster. This produces unhappy advertisers as well as listeners, and we play into the hands of the satellite radio “commercial free” environment.

Quarterly Earnings: By setting aggressive expectations on Wall Street, our performance must continue to improve each quarter. Growth can no longer come from acquisitions and expense cuts; it can come only from investing in new long-term strategies and investment in our product. Wall Street does not give us the time to innovate and reinvent.

New-Generation Thinking: Every 40 years, the baton passes to a new generation and brings changes in thinking, culture, music and media. The last major shift was in 1964. It’s happening today. This shift impacts what we say, how we say it, what we advertise, and how we sell and communicate. What worked a year ago does not work today. The baby-boomer motto was non-conformity. The echo-boomer motto is authenticity. Radio is ignoring the shift and sticking to what we know — which won’t continue to work.

I’m not being negative. These are realities we cannot deny. Pretending that everything is OK is for fools. Cementing a solid future for radio is possible, but the solutions are painfully slow and require investment. Radio can build a solid future as a predominant medium if we are proactive and stop drifting down Denial River.

7/05/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

A famous cartoon has General Custer on the front line, battling Indians with handguns and rifles. Standing in the wings is a salesman with a Gatling gun (early machine gun). The caption reads: “I haven’t got time to see a salesman. What we’re using works just fine.” Of course, he lost the battle.

Infinity recently announced that it had developed a list of preferred vendors to be used by the company. It evidently means a restriction to certain hardware and software vendors. The company also will use only certain consultants, and managers must select from this list.
Picture this: A cluster manager explains to Steve Rivers, head of Infinity programming, that a ratings disaster resulted from using “XYZ Consultants,” who directed the station with the poor results. Rivers might instantly think, “I’m never using those guys again; they screwed up one of our radio stations.”

Maybe he did not have time to gather all the facts. If he were to phone XYZ Consultants, he might hear that the consultants documented that the station followed only 20 percent of XYZ’s advice and that XYZ had many proven successes when the program was followed properly. Maybe the station manager thinks XYZ Consultants were actually to blame. Or maybe the manager knows she did not follow XYZ’s advice, and she wants to avoid censure. Scapegoating research and consultants is an old practice in radio. Meanwhile, Rivers thinks XYZ is a poor company — when they may not be — and XYZ can’t get future Infinity business.

I certainly see the value of knowing which vendors have great track records and which do not, and sticking to the good ones, but here’s at another scenario. Let’s assume that most research for Clear Channel stations is conducted by Critical Mass Media (CMM), a company owned by Clear Channel. Even though the company does not insist on using CMM, managers want to do what is best for the company, so they all use CMM. What if this research company (which has a great track record of success) suddenly makes mistakes or misses valuable information and, as a result, presents flawed research and direction. The company might not recognize that the research is the problem, and placing all its eggs in the one basket could mean company-wide disaster.

A preferred-vendors list is dangerous when it leaves no room for innovation or change and allows vendors to get lazy. Innovators today may not be innovative tomorrow if they get fat, rich and comfortable. We all know that competition is the motivation for innovation. Innovation in big radio companies usually comes when a small-town manager decides to buck company trends and do something new. Maybe it’s using a new piece of equipment. Maybe it’s a new NTR plan or a new research company with a new technique. Its success spreads through the company, and everyone wins. If that manager is allowed to use only pre-specified consultants or companies, innovation isn’t likely.

Historically, big companies do not innovate. Most great new ideas in radio come from small markets and independent broadcasters who have the guts to try something new. They don’t have to “look good” to corporate executives or on a quarterly earnings report.

There is importance in using only one traffic system company-wide for consistency, and doing this for most product categories may seem like a good business practice, but variety in vendors and in people is the key to innovation.

What if, in 1960, Bill Drake had come to Infinity and said, “I’ve reinvented radio”? If he weren’t a preferred vendor, he wouldn’t have been considered, and radio wouldn’t have been revolutionized. We need innovation more than ever, and a preferred-vendor list could end innovation at companies that implement them.

7/26/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads

When Steve Rivers came to work for me at a high-tech start-up, he told me that one reason he did not take the job as head of programming for Clear Channel when his company AMFM was merged was that he did not want to deal with the spot loads the company was running. He said that if Clear Channel did something, such as increase inventory, AMFM would follow suit, because Wall Street expected it.

Two years ago, when John Hogan took the Clear Channel helm, I told him that he had an awesome responsibility: Not only did he have the company’s future in his hands, he also held the future of radio. As everyone watches and stock analysts track the industry’s largest company, he should assume that his actions and practices would be adopted industry-wide.

Radio is often an industry of copycats. A successful format is copied everywhere. If a major company increases spot loads, everyone else thinks they should do the same. Leadership, therefore, becomes an important responsibility when our industry leaders’ actions usually become industry-wide standards.

I applaud Clear Channel for taking the lead to reduce spot loads and sell premium positions. If they can pull it off across the chain, it will have a positive impact on our industry, though it will require a great deal of training and discipline at the station level. This could be a brilliant PR ruse, or it could be the real thing. Will the industry follow? Let’s hope so.

Leadership is happening in many places. David Field of Entercom has become a brilliant visionary and has gathered other group heads to address our industry issues. Field, Joel Hollander of Infinity, and John Hogan have been pushing the Radio Advertising Bureau toward building radio in the eyes of advertisers. Field also took action by creating and airing radio spots informing listeners of satellite radio downsides. David Kennedy of Susquehanna and Jeff Smulyan of Emmis led by example in creating people-friendly cultures and making their companies desired places to work in radio.

Nothing happens until someone takes a step. Everyone can take a leadership role. You don’t have to be a group head, station owner or GM; you can be a salesperson, an air talent or any other position in the industry. Leadership in your local area can manifest itself industry-wide. For example, you may be a sales rep who sees an area needing change, and you may develop and implement an idea that results in great success. Your station gets attention, your group adopts the idea, and the industry copies it.

Don’t expect someone else to see your vision or take the leadership role, and don’t be discouraged by nay-sayers. Stop complaining, and take action on your own. Leaders must endure criticism and often do not receive recognition, yet your idea can change the industry or even the world. Take action now. We need more great leaders in our industry, and there is a leadership role with your name on it.

8/09/04 Radio Ink Magazine. By B. Eric Rhoads