Growing up, Danny Highsmith wanted to be a on the radio as a sportscaster and when he got that opportunity in 1971 it didn't take him long to realize the money he was making was not going to be enough to feed his family. So he turned his focus to management and he's never looked back. Yesterday Highsmith celebrated 40 years with Beasley Broadcasting, 32 of those as a Manager. Today he's the Regional Vice President for Beasley's Fayetteville, NC cluster.
Highsmith started out at a 1000 watt station that George Beasley owned in Fayetteville. After the company purchased WKML-FM (a 100,000 watt powerhouse), he as promoted to GM. In 2001, after three more stations were purchased in the market, he was promoted again, this time to market manager. And in 2007 he accepted the position of Regional Vice President. He's had a long-time love affair with the radio business. "I recently told George Beasley that 99% of the time in the last 40 years I've enjoyed coming to work. And, for me it's been very, very important to work with wonderful people who want the station(s) to succeed as much as I do. Most of the time I have been blessed with a very talented team of people that I would call winners."
Highsmith tells Radio Ink his longevity has a lot to do with his skills being a good match for the company. "George Beasley and his family have been very good to me?and, I think I have been very good to them. When I first became a GM in the early to mid 70?s, George gave me enough rope to either be successful or hang myself. Since I?m still around, I assume I was somewhat successful. I grew up in Fayetteville, NC; I knew a lot of people and a lot of people knew me, which did not hurt me in this business. As I mentioned, George gave me a lot of latitude and I managed the station (later stations as a Market Manager) as if they were mine. I was always comfortable living and working in this market and, for the most part, never even considered moving to another market. I have often wondered if my career would have been more fulfilling if I had worked in larger markets, but at this point I?ll never know."
We asked Highsmith to share his philosophy on managing people. "Communicate with them; encourage them; make sure they know you are standing behind them and manage by walking around; make sure they know everyone in the station must be on the same team.
T E A M is something I truly believe:
T?together?everyone has to work together to get anything done (programming with production; sales with programming; sales with production; sales and programming with Traffic and everyone with the G&A department.
E?effort and enthusiasm?all team members need to give 100% effort and work with enthusiasm
A?attitude?by attitude, I mean Positive Attitude.
M?make our customers happy! We have two sets of customers?the ones that are our listeners and the ones that purchase our advertising. Both need to be equally happy if we are to have a successful team.
Every GM has a different personality and a different way of motivating. The one common denominator, in my opinion, is that a successful GM MUST BE A PEOPLE PERSON. Without good people it is difficult to be successful in radio or any other business (my opinion)
Highsmith says it feels very good to be celebrating 40 years in radio and "I hope I?m still contributing in some way to the success of our company." Congratulate Danny Highsmith on his 40th anniversary in radio...
(11/2/2011 5:41:51 AM)
Now if I could only learn to make this spellchecker work.!!
(11/2/2011 5:40:58 AM)
COngratulations to my first manager!! Danny, you always inspried me. When I started with you at WFAI in Fayetteville, I was a longhaired kid who rode his bike to work because I didn't have a driver's license yet! We used to joke when we reduced the power at night, there were light bulbs with more power...but it was a wonderful adventure and the perfect introduction to what has been a very exciting career for me. My best to you and the rest of the Beasley gang! If I was wearing a hat, I would tip it now! Bob Brandon Charlotte NC
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