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Reading Assignment

The portion about radio websites rings true here.

The programming/sales split also rings true.

We have one building where the sales offices are and another where the air studios are.

And yes, all these mangers should carry account lists and/or airshifts. I don't seriously believe there is so much managing to be done at a major market radio station cluster to require:
1x Market Manager
3x General Manager
3x Operations Manager
3x GSM
3x LSM
3x NSM
3x Program Director
3x Music Director

Long ago, we got away from the "3x production director" and "3x news director". Whether or not this really affects ratings is unknown (at least to me).

I'm curious to see what those who do work (or have worked) in major markets have to say.
 
I haven't worked many places where the GM didn't carry a list. In one case I thought of the as being an A/C that handled some administrative duties. At this particular station, there was an OM that handled pretty much the entire inside operation. I can see the point if you're a desk jockey, you're prime foddder to get canned.

Hmm, and no mention of hiring lots of DJs.
 
gr8oldies said:
I haven't worked many places where the GM didn't carry a list. In one case I thought of the as being an A/C that handled some administrative duties. At this particular station, there was an OM that handled pretty much the entire inside operation. I can see the point if you're a desk jockey, you're prime foddder to get canned.
Click to expand...

In market 14, where I was, at different times, a GM and a DoS, the only list I ever carried was national. I carried no local accounts, but visited 4 to 6 agencies a week (we did not do much direct sales, if any) in support of the seller handling the shop. In each of the cases, the stations were #1 or #2 or clusters with all top 5 stations, which explains part of the reasoning. On the other hand, I'd average a half dozen or more calls from agencies a day, so it made sense to be available always.

Prior to that, in a market of just under a million, I handled 90% of sales myself and had only one other seller for a cluster of 9 stations and another half dozen stations in other markets within an hour's flight time.
 
In market 47, the GM & GSM didn't carry a list.. The GM did handle national for a while, but that was outsourced. The GM & GSM spent little time in front of agencies or directs..
 
pocket-radio said:
In market 47, the GM & GSM didn't carry a list.. The GM did handle national for a while, but that was outsourced. The GM & GSM spent little time in front of agencies or directs..
Click to expand...

Sombody in the station handled national... while nearly any station that can get national business has a rep firm, there must be somebody to take the orders, approve rate negotiations and submissiones, determine any value added needed to get the buy or bonuses to meet CPP goals.

You can't "outsource" that, although some regional clusters have one person handling national for several markets and that person is a shared staffer.
 
I read the article with great interest, and must say parts of that it aren't exclusive to Radio, like this part about management:
No Management Training. We think it’s very, very funny to say we’re “a business of ‘C’ students.” How many MBA’s do you know in the Radio business? Not many. There are lots of Bachelor’s degrees – but not management oriented. Most managers have had no serious training in personnel, organizational management theory – or the biggie – accounting. Trade-out an Executive MBA.

There's actually an excellent book about this called Managers Not MBA's. I've dealt with various people who are in management who do have MBA's.

Getting an MBA does not prepare you to be a good manager. There's a lot more to management than just crunching numbers. Somehow, when you get promoted to management, there's a belief that because you were good at something, you can get others to be good at it. Nonsense, I've seen some really talented computer programmers who get promoted into management and they're horrible when it comes to motivating others. (In fact, one engineer once told me, "I got into engineering because I have no social skills.")

Then I remember one of the greatest bosses I ever had who said of MBA's, "I have no time for people who are book smart, street stupid." There are some like him who believe that those MBA-types who insist on imposing their classroom talk on everybody don't operate in the real world. They've killed the innovative spirit, because they believe only those with a college degree know how to run a business.

What about the guy who started Popeye's? Or the guy who started Wendy's? Both Al Copeland and Dave Thomas were high-school dropouts.

Sometimes those very C students do develop other kinds of intelligence because nobody will pay attention to them otherwise.

Meanwhile, I have a plumber friend who charges $90/hr. He barely got out of high school. He owns 2 homes, and laughs when he hears of some his age still paying college loans.
 
The section I liked was "Programmers:  Not the Go-To Guy, but the No Go guy."

I used to be a programmer (the PC kind), and Go-To was a no-no.  (If you're a techie, you'll probably know what I'm talking about.  Goto's are inelegant and make your programs look like spaghetti.) 

I'm now in the sleazy side of business, I'm in Sales and Marketing.  That author (Jim Taszarek) had a great point to PD's and OM's, to not say "No" to sales.  Getting past *my* double negative, I must agree with him.

I might sound biased.  Still, I've always thought anybody and everybody can come up with a moneymaker.   They don't always express it as such, it might take someone else to finagle their clams into clam chowder.

If a listener is getting irritated, that could indicate where to change the business for him and others like him.  If a person has years of experience, they may have really good ideas of what works and what doesn't.  If a person just started, maybe he sees things the oldtimers don't.  Professionals and non-professionals can come up with great ideas, if not today, eventually.

The one reason I don't like to turn off ideas like a "No Go" guy like Jim points out is that eventually someone may come up with a winner, despite previous duds.  Will I be smart enough to still be listening?

Of course, I also liked the Sales portion.  I liked "If they turn down the idea, come up with variations more appealing to them – then sell it again."

With one client, I remember I had to go back 8 times to try to get them to buy.  After I got the order, one called me aside and said they almost felt guilty not buying from me.  They said it became an inside joke, wondering, what's this guy going to try next?  They said they were glad I persisted and hammered their requests until they liked it.  (I'm not bragging, just wanting to encourage others who can at times feel very defeated, most of all in this economy.)
 
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