INDIANAPOLIS - RADIO ONE
Deon- Thank you again for the meeting. I created this page on my site as an easy one-stop for you to learn more about me, my thoughts as a programmer, learn about some things I have done in my career, and some of my ideas about your radio stations at Radio ONE Indianapolis.
MY RESUME
If I was your Operations Manager position in Indy, I would plan on moving to Indy immediately. My family would be staying in Cincinnati, and I'd get a small apartment near the radio stations. I would plan on being at the radio stations a lot, and get home on the weekends and when possible. As discussed, I have two kids in highschool, and my wife starting a new job in August working as a school teacher in the neighborhood where we live. They have been following me around- right now, it's their turn and I will make my life revolve around them a lil bit.
HOW DO I PROGRAM?
Of course, the number one job always it to protect the license of the radio station. Then, it's about the brands and making sure they are built to win. My vibe as a manager is pretty chill, fun, but also with very high expectations. We have great jobs. We work in the entertainment industry and create fun shit for people to do. It's important to create a fun atmosphere and enjoy yourself at work. I truly don't feel like I have "worked" much in my life. I love these jobs and we are lucky to be in them. (I know that more than ever right now) I think people that have worked for me would explain ME as a manager that helped them solve problems, get better, and win in a fun environment. Everyone is different, and I think people need managed differently. That doesn't necessarily mean different rules for different folks- but people tick in different ways. I am good at motivating folks, and fighting for them. I am also good at getting talent, and other staff members to "buy in" to our mission. VERY important.
I like breaking stations down on the following "Brand Pyramid".
The above are the building blocks of a good radio station.
The Base Position is your positioning statement- What you are… Maybe it’s "Indy's Number One for Hip Hop and R&B”. Define what you are first before layering in everything else.
Next- GOTTA be PERSONALITY. This is your content, and your personality has to be top shelf. I love working with talent, and challenging them to consistently get better. Each personality will likely end up having their own Brand Pyramid for their shows that will define what they are. During drive times, you want your personalities to be well-rounded and allow ALL possible fans to come in. You don’t want to become too one-dimensional. Your personality must be invested into your mission, and buy-in to the mechanics that will make them win.
After that- You lay in your specialty programming. This can also give you good programming in the evening and weekends through the year. Use your local personalities to bookend the specialty content with pre-shows/post shows and other opportunities where you can maximize sponsorships/revenue with local time surrounding programs (where it makes sense) But… this comes AFTER personality- If you have a station with only good specialty programming- but nothing else, your station still kinda sucks. Gotta have sticky personality.
After the Specialty programming - you lay in your contests. Make them matter… experiences that people can’t buy or easily afford. CLEAR LISTENER BENEFIT at every turn and look for ways to incorporate revenue opportunities. We have the ability to CATER contests and include partners better than TV, Print, online. MAX this opportunity.
Community - So important- Be TIED in here . It’s important to be an important steward/pillar of the community. What youth organizations can we help? Have we talked to our biggest clients about charitable efforts they are involved with? What are THEIR hot buttons? Can we help our partners with their charity efforts, and we can also get some credit for helping too? Are we on local boards for local charitable organizations? Clients love spending money with a station that is focused on the community, and at times - we do creative things on the air- And our personalities might say some things on the air that could potentially offend people. It could even be in some of the music we play- Having a nice charitable effort can smooth over a lot.
Marketing - If you have it- amazing. If not.. you NEED to maximize the opportunity with the teams and cross-promo. Social media NEEDS to be popping here. You have an opportunity ALL DAY regardless of WHEN shows or games are ON to touch your audience and consistently create FOMO (Fear of Missing OUT) with your audience. Drive them to appointments on the radio. Tell them WHEN you will give them what they want. No generics here- not needed- and they don’t work. Provide VALUE to your audience, and get ears on your station either LIVE or through alternate means like streaming/podcasting. These things HELP you and reinforce the brand/practice of your audience coming to YOU when they need (insert Base position here).
NEWS- News will be layered in as well, and I think top level big headline stuff is good here. You may have an opportunity to create a marketing relationship with a local TV station to provide news/cross promote on THEIR air. Still important- When you get to this step in the brand pyramid, and have it rocking…. You have a good radio station.
SALES + PROGRAMMING
This only works well if sales and programming are tied at the hip. In my most recent position, part of my salary was tied to our cluster/region meeting its revenue goals. While it's always important to protect the product- you MUST protect (and grow) the revenue. I love creating on-air experiences that are engaging, and compelling. These on air assets should be things that our revenue partners WANT to be involved with. As long as we are creating a clear listener benefit, we can do things that are NOT too "sales-y" and a "turnoff" for the listener.
EVENTS
Stations have been doing events for a LONG time. Now, there are pop-up shops and new businesses in markets that are focusing on event activations for OUR clients and they are essentially ripping radio off. We can do this the best, and incorporate all of our assets, digital, on air, social, talent... etc. We can do it best. We just need to create fun events- money can't buy experiences and always strive to be better than a prize wheel, an ugly tent and some intern sitting behind a table eating pizza passing out stickers. We need to be engaging- Have something to DO at the events, come up with a "bag of tricks" to bring to events and get people moving and interacting with your street team/talent/station reps.
PRE CONCERT EVENT EXAMPLE
This below was my idea and they are now doing this in Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Rather than bring a station tent, and a prize wheel to a concert- we partnered with a local DJ/Event company. We partnered with the Cleveland Cavaliers. We had the event company build a riser, and stage setup with video monitors, tv's, etc. (no cost). After we did one of them, we were able to sell these events to a client and get their name on ALL of the imaging, on the air and on site. We created a special step-and-repeat banner for them with THEIR logo and OURS on it- So people would get pictures in front of both our logos. Huge win for station, huge win for client. Competition (as you can see in the video... looks lame) This is entertainment. Be Big. Be creative. I even created a local kids hip hop dance team that we had perform at different station events like this. (You can see them below in the Justin Bieber Pre Party event)
ARTIST EVENT
We have access to artists. We can get these artists cheaper than the promoters in the market can. Many times, we can create artist experiences for very little to no "artist costs". Below is an example of an artist encounter that we did with the rock band, FILTER. We had a client (Jack Daniels) that wanted to do a OVER THE TOP sampling event with us in a non-traditional venue. They gave us money to produce the event, and we got a significant spend on top of the costs to promote their brand AND the event. We gave away all tix to the event, along with the client doing on-site activations. They also had many of their clients/distributors at the event. We then tied in a local firefighter charity, and donated a check to their organization. We did this in an airplane hangar. I SHOT, edited, produced, and uploaded this video the night of the event so that my morning show could talk about it, and share with their audience the next morning.
How cool would it be to do these kind of events with HOT, TLC, NOW, even BOOM?
LARGE SCALE EVENTS
During my time in Cincinnati, I was the lead manager for producing the Western and Southern WEBN Fireworks. This is an event that we took about 7 months producing. The title sponsor was 500K, and the event would raise over a million dollars each year for the Free Store Foodbank with their Rubber Duck Regatta. It was a blessing to be involved with such an important event for the region. Last year's recap video here:
MUSIC + CLOCKS + SCHEDULING
This one is simple. Just play the hits. I am not involved with the day-to-day scheduling and rationale with music on your stations so I would be hesitant to pass judgement on certain songs that were played. That would always annoy me when someone from another place would come in and criticize something, when they might not know the "WHY". So I will hold off on being critical of music, clocks, rotations. I will say that I am super confident and have been trained by the best when it comes to clock structure and knowing when and HOW to properly execute a log. It's all about familiarity, HITS and keeping people. Make sure you don't play things that are too new, too close to each other- Make sure you are playing more hits in places where more people are listening. Right now, we have more resources than ever to figure out what songs to play. For a contemporary format- I have experience with using weekly callout, online music tests, library gold tests, M-Scores, Shazams scores, Rate the Music, sales data, streaming data. I think programmers in 2017 really need to look at the WHOLE picture when making decisions- and not just lean on ONE thing over another. I also like using shared resources with other markets. IF something is working in another market two hours away- chances are, it will also work here. I like communicating, and being strategic. "The strength is in the pack". We have resources, and other smart people in the company, I would look forward to tapping into all available.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Stations I managed on the top row- Kidd Chris is a SHOW page.
Example of an artist experience promotion I designed...
Example of SnapChat filter I designed/executed around arena...
If hired, what do my first 30 days look like? 90?
I have a plan. Contact me and ask for it.
MORE ABOUT BO
Formats I have programmed day-to-day:
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Rock
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Pop
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Urban/Hip Hop
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FM TALK
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Alternative Rock
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Old School Hip Hop
Other facts:
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I love coaching. I was on the speech team in highschool, and always did theater in school. Coaching talent gives me that same vibe, and I love it.
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I have a High School English Education Degree- while I decided to go into radio, I feel like I still get to coach, lead and teach every day. It's been the perfect degree for me in radio.
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I am in the OJ Simpson E! True Hollywood story! (My Hip Hop Station in Florida was doing a concert, and we heard that OJ wanted to come to the show. It ended up being his first public appearance after his murder trial. He was very nice- he went up on stage and tossed out T Shirts. I have pics to prove it. HAHA.
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My son is a music recording artist- I spend my off-time helping him out. He started as a Hip Hop Dancer for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then he ended up DJ'ing for them. He then graduated to releasing his own music. He has been on several national tours, and continues to release music, and perform. Been a fun ride.