10-9-14
Friends and co-workers of the late Kevin Metheny have created a tribute website to the long-time programmer who died suddenly on October 3. The site can be found at http://www.kevinmetheny.com/ and is called "An Online Celebration of Kevin Metheny." You can send in pictures, audio, and stories about Kevin. Funeral arrangements have not been made public yet. He was 60 years old when he passed away of a massive heart attack at his desk at KGO/KSFO last Friday.
7-8-2013
?What would you think if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends."?The Beatles
In the early days, I had some people walk out of my training seminars, so I sought out some mentors. Those mentors helped me refine my skills in public speaking and sales training. One of those mentors was Dave Gifford. He retired last Friday as a master trainer in media sales. Dave always gave me the straight talk when he visited with me ? he never minced words with me. He would say, ?Sean, get your !&*#% together [on this or that].? Dave was also influential in some of my clothing accessories that I wear during seminars. I was amazed at how Dave used the easel to work his audiences. Even with all the technical capacity we have in today?s sales training world, I still use the easel in selected parts of my seminars. Thank you Dave Gifford!
When I first decided to be a speaker in media sales, I studied the top trainers in my field at the time. I paid for everything on my dime and time except for my first seminar. I didn?t wait for the company to pay the freight on my education or dreams. It was my responsibility to capture and learn from the best. Paying for it myself always came with more satisfaction, too. Here are a few tips you might want to consider:
1) Invest in Yourself: I was working as a sales manager for CBS Radio in Houston. I needed to save money for my trip to attend a public speaking course. It was a high-dollar course too! I had to pay for my own travel as well. When I went full time with my dream of speaking and training, my plan was to be prepared to be the best I could be. I attended the training on my own vacation days. It took a year of planning to attend this course in the windsurfing capitol of the world (on the Columbia River). My instructor taught me how to pause?to lean in?to modulate?.and to enunciate ? to make eye contact with the audience and how to write a speech outline.
2) Have a Goal: I had a 15-year goal to be a sales trainer and professional speaker. I accomplished it in 13 years. During the initial 13 years, I knew very early that someday I wanted to help others grow and have success in sales. I looked over the programs of the major conferences in our industry. I sat in on seminars and listened over and over to Chris Lytle, Chuck Mefford, Irwin Pollack, Ken Greenwood, Norm Goldsmith, Pam Lontos, and Jason Jennings and studied the writings of Roy Williams. I sought out their advice and mentorship in speaking. Whenever I could sneak in a moment after one of their seminars, I was in line to speak to them and ask them a question on something they did or instructed in their seminar. I then watched the master storytellers, Harvey McKay (who wrote "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive") and the great Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World). I listened to them speak, and I bought their tapes/CDs and listened to them over and over again.
3) Make Your Own Way: At some of the broadcast conventions, I got as close to the ?masters? as I could during the general sessions. I studied what they did before they went on stage, what they said to others, how they prepared, and what kind of notes they took on stage. The reserved tables in the front of the room are for the ?important? people. I would wait until one or two important people didn?t show up at the front table, and I would find a chair and sit down at that table. I used to do this at Memorial Stadium during Nebraska football games. As a teenager, I sold programs on Saturday afternoons at the Cornhusker games. I then had to find my own seat to watch the games, so needling my way up front at the speakers table wasn?t much of an issue. You have to make your own way if you?re going to capture your dream. Yes, that was me at your table, ?very important people.? They started talking to me once they understood that I just wanted to be like them someday. Many of the people that I have mentioned in this article have taken me by the hand and freely taught me their secrets since they knew I was going to do something with it.
Great job Dave Gifford! The thing that still blows me away about you is how you have kept your body so conditioned after so many years of travel? You are amazing!
?How do I feel by the end of the day? (Are you sad because you?re on your own?)
No, I get by with a little help from my friends.? ? The Beatles
Note: There are many other people out there who were also influential in teaching me the art of public speaking. Space will not allow me to mention all of the names in this article, but stay tuned for future articles.
Sean Luce is the Head International Instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com.
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So after several years of proving yourself, your company finally recognizes your potential as a future leader. The opportunity for promotion, however, comes with a risk. You have made a number of friends at work during the past few years and now you will have to manage them. I was recently reminded of this dilemma when working with a leader who had recently been promoted from an individual contributor as a lead programmer to a manager of a team of eight technicians. She was struggling with her transition from friend to manager since three of her employees were friends.
How can you make a transition from friend to manager and at the same time not lose your friends? Here are seven tips on making this transition a success:
1. Once your promotion has been announced, schedule time with each of your friends at work and outline the future guidelines for your relationship with them. No longer will you be equals in the workplace. Define what will change in your relationship with them and what won?t change. Some of the changes should include: no coffees, breaks, or lunches with work friends unless other team members are included. Potential disciplinary action if policies, procedures, or standards aren?t adhered to at work. And, you will be asking for their feedback of you as a leader, not as a friend. Things that should remain the same will include: respect for each other and what you bring to the team, and caring about each other as an employee and a friend.
2. Schedule a meeting with your new team and be transparent and honest about your friendships with co-workers. Share with the team that your work friends understand their relationship with you at work has changed and that they will be treated just like the rest of the team members
3. It will be important to demonstrate fairness and equality for all who report to you. All policies and procedures, as well as work standards, will be adhered to by all employees and the consequences for non conformity will be the same for all. Be careful with this and don?t over compensate by interpreting the guidelines more strictly for your friends than for others on your team. This can lead to your friend quitting or asking for a transfer.
4. There will be situations such as new policies and guidelines that will cause frustration for you in your new role. You should not share your frustrations with your employee friend. Your company has seen potential in you as a leader and leaders don?t gripe to employees about company policy or direction. Leaders do bring their concerns to their managers by communicating the potential implications changes could have for the company.
5. Confidential company situations must stay confidential even if it impacts your friends at work. The ability to keep confidences is important in building trust and respect in an organization. How do you think team members will view you if you?re breaking company confidences? It certainly won?t make them feel comfortable in bringing their own confidential situations to you in fear that you will share them with others.
6. Be careful about your behavior in social situations where other employees are observing your behavior. Remember you are no longer an equal but a role model. You are now a leader and having executive presence will be important to your success.
7. Ask for feedback from your friends about your ability as a leader. The questions you should ask them should be focused on your behaviors as a leader such as communications, fairness, motivation, praise and recognition, listening etc.
All these steps require great communication skills. Focus your efforts on honing your skills in the following areas: listening, questioning, and story telling. All of these must be performed skillfully and in a timely manner for a leader to be successful especially when managing friends.
Beth Armknecht Miller is Founder and President of Executive Velocity, a leadership development advisory firm accelerating the success of senior executives and the companies they lead. Her career spans over 30 years and includes management positions in Fortune 500 companies as well as several entrepreneurial ventures, one of which was honored as an Inc 500 winner. Visit www.executive-velocity.com or http://executivevelocityblog.com
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1-13-2012
Cox Louisville says it will support the local community with its new ?Friends & Neighbors? program, a $300,000 in-kind initiative to publicize community organizations and agencies committed to the betterment of Louisville, KY and Southern Indiana. GM Todd Schumacher (pictured) says ?CMG Louisville is an integral part of this community?s fabric, and we are committed to this city and the people who make it great,? We are proud to work for a company that allows us the freedom and flexibility to re-invest in our local community.?
?Friends & Neighbors? pledges in-kind support in monthly increments to nominated organizations in the form of radio commercials, online presence, and employee volunteering. Friends & Neighbors is currently taking nominations for organizations to receive the inaugural monthly gift. Nominations can be made at
http://www.friendsandneighborsonline.com/.
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1-6-2012
by Ed Ryan
Before coming back to Radio Ink, one bright sunny morning I received a telephone call. On the other line, a young sounding very distraught female voice gave me the details about how one of our employees was gone. He had put a handgun to his chest covered it with pillows so he wouldn't wake his parents and pulled the trigger. He was a great employee, fun to be around and had a sweet loving family. He was in his early 30's. When I hung up the phone, my immediate reaction was, that didn't just happen. After realizing it did, I tried to call and tell my wife and friends but just couldn't keep it together. It left us all asking the question why.
Many of us wondered what we missed and what we could have done to see the signs, but we didn't see any signs. Or did we just ignore them? At times we were angry about how selfish he was for what he had done to his friends and family. At the end of the day, and with the passing of time, you realize the only answer is, you just never know. The friends of Bill Heywood are dealing with a similar situation.
It was 1973 and Gary Edens was in need of a morning man at his station in Phoenix. He got on an airplane to Las Vegas, met with Bill Heywood, and they cut a deal on a napkin that continued until 1987. "It was a wonderful 13 year run and Heywood was a prince to work with," Edens told Radio Ink yesterday. "He was the easiest person to manage." The news of Heywood's death was shocking to Edens who says Heywood did not seem despondent. Edens and Heywood spoke last week when Heywood requested the picture above, of the two of them with Charlie Van Dyke, from the Arizona Broadcasters Hall of Fame ceremony just last month. Reports out of Phoenix say that Heywood and his wife either killed each other or one person killed them both in a hotel room. A note was left on the hotel room door to warn the staff of what was inside, like pillows to muffle the sound. Funeral arrangements were laid out at their home. Heywood's wife of 35 years, Susan, was very sick. Perhaps they wanted to go together, but only they know the answer to that question.
The legendary Charlie Van Dyke was program director at KOY in 1982 when Heywood was the morning man. Van Dyke told us yesterday, "Heywood was Phoenix. He was huge, a fabulous talent, kind, funny, we got along famously." Van Dyke was the minister at the wedding for Heywood's daughter Nicole. Van Dyke says he invited Heywood and his wife Susan to the Arizon Hall of Fame ceremony last month, as his guest, where that picture was taken and said "I understand Susan had major health issues but I had no sense this was coming."
Friend Bruce Kelly arrived in Phoenix in 1985. His goal was to make it in the radio business so he went looking for the one guy who was radio in Phoenix, Bill Heywood. "He was the first person I sought out. He was the person I aspired to be in radio. The guy set the pace in the market. I told him I want to be you in 15 years. He was truly a part of the Phoenix community in many ways. He told me to always be as local as possible" Yesterday, a distraught Kelly was left asking the question, Why? "This is unfathomable. I just spoke to him last week and we were planning to get together after the first of the year. That's this week."
As a manager of a large staff, accomplishing more tasks for less money and with daily the pressure of higher revenue and bigger ratings, how close do you manage someone? How close should you manage someone? What do you do if you think you see the signs of something going astray? How many times have you thought you were imagining things when maybe you did see something? And how many times have you said to yourself that kind of stuff just isn't any of my business? One thing is for sure, that's a phone call you never want to have to take.
Feedback to edryan@radioink.com or share your comments below.
(1/6/2012 12:35:19 PM)
The death of Bill and Susan Heywood is a crushing blow to their family, friends, and fans. It seems like a deeper wound to those of us who grew up listening to him in the Valley, and have gone on to hold careers in the radio business. We understand the pain, both financial and emotional, of our changing industry.
R.I.P., Bill & Susan.
(1/6/2012 9:05:50 AM)Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend
WGAR's 64-year-old legendary afternoon host and music director died unexpectedly following a heart attack. The Clear Channel Cleveland host worked in radio for over 30 years. A private funeral service for Collier is set for today. He is survived by his wife and two children. WGAR's website said, "Anyone who ever listened to or met Chuck knew instantly the kind and caring human being he was."
You can take a look back at Collier's career and life by clicking HERE:
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Mike Stiles
I read a statistic recently that alarmed but didn?t surprise me. Only about 2% of Fans return to a Facebook Page after they ?Like? it. 2%! What if a friend told you they liked you, but then they never called, never visited, and never had any idea what was going on in your life? You wouldn?t feel like you had a very valuable friend would you?
In the social marketing world, we?ve adopted the mantra that it?s not about the number of Fans you have, it?s all about the number of engaged Fans you have. Meaning you?re not just collecting people as if they were baseball cards or snow globes from tourist attractions. You?re out to make ?good? friends.
In radio, we?ve been all about numbers. We see the PPM numbers, and that?s what we care about. We don?t know who those people are or what they really think of us. All we know is they listened. And in all fairness, the numbers are what we sell. It?s our business model. So we haven?t had to worry about forming real, deep, lasting relationships with our listeners?until now.
What are you doing on the air to make people keep coming back to listen? You put together the best content you could think of and you?re keeping it steadily coming. Great. Now what are you doing on your Facebook Page to make people keep coming back? Are you putting together the best content you can think of and keeping it steadily coming? Or is your Facebook Page looked at as a pain in your ass that you?ll get to when and if somebody has the time?
Much of the responsibility for low Fan Page return visits lies in the lap of the Fan. People who ?Like? 675 Pages are brand whores. You can?t tell me they?re so into those 675 brands that they?re going to check in with those Pages regularly to see what?s going on. They ?Like ?em and leave ?em.? And so, brands have to find a way to show up in these people?s news feeds.
There is something that can get you there. It?s a mysterious little bugger called EdgeRank. EdgeRank is an ever-evolving Facebook algorithm that decides what shows up in any given user?s news feed. And while it is largely a mystery, there are some things that increase your content?s chances of showing up.
- Post content that baits interaction. Things like polls, quizzes and games are good for that.
- Encourage people to click that ?like? button under your posts. If they like your posts, your stuff will keep showing up. Of course, if you expect them to like your posts, they have to be really good.
- Use photo and video as often as possible. Stats consistently show these get better engagement by a wide margin than a couple of lines of text.
C?mon, you?re radio for crying out loud. You?re supposed to be good at this. You not only shouldn?t be bringing up the rear in social network marketing, you should be showing other brands how to amass, entertain and retain Fans.
Mike Stiles is a writer/producer with the social marketing tech platform, Vitrue, and head of Sketchworks comedy theatre.
Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files.
Find him on Facebook or on Twitter @mikestiles
(8/3/2011 7:10:00 AM)
Mike, well stated! It is very true that radio's focus in social media is too often just about numbers. Stations are focused on getting likes, with no focus on the content strategy that makes listeners stick around. I recently wrote an article for Radio Ink mag called "From Likes to Loyalty" about this! I wish I would have read this first so I could have quoted you on the term "brand whore". Hilarious!
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