Linda Little Rises In Phoenix

4-21-15
 
iHeartMedia has promoted  Linda Little to president of its eight-station Phoenix cluster. Little has been in sales management roles with iHeartMedia since June 2000. Prior to that she worked in radio sales for Chancellor/AMFM and Sandusky. Little replaces Scott Hopek, who was promoted to president of the New York market.

Little will report to iHeartMedia EVP of Operations Hartley Adkins. Said Atkins in the announcement: "Linda has been on my team for several years and I have personally witnessed her transform iHeartMedia Phoenix into the digital leader it is today. This is a well-deserved promotion and I am confident in her ability to drive results by amplifying the success and momentum Phoenix has experienced in recent years."

Added Little: "I have had the privilege of building my media career in Phoenix and am very fortunate to have worked for a company that has given me many opportunities to grow while constantly evolving with the industry. Our team's history of creating custom designed campaigns, deeply integrated in digital, social, mobile, and broadcast has helped us earn the reputation for consistently delivering results for our clients. I am honored to take this next step to market president and know that working together with the fantastic team in Phoenix we will continue to achieve even higher levels of success."

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SALES) With A Little Help From My Friends

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.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Despite Complaints About Streaming Costs, Artists Still Getting Very Little

1-28-2013

The New York Times is reporting that much like the CD when it first came out, Streaming music to consumers, is not very lucrative for artists. For example, on a 99-cent download, a typical artist earn about 7 to 10 cents after cuts are doled out to retailers, the record company and the songwriter. "One industry joke calls the flow of these royalties a ?river of nickels.? In the CRS issue of Radio Ink, Big Machine Label CEO Scott Borchetta says it's also time for radio to give a little more back to artists. And, he has very little sympathy for Pandora's complaints about paying too much to operate its business.

Borchetta says over the last couple of years radio received a price break from BMI and ASCAP. "They gave radio a couple of points back. It's time to give those points to the artists, to the labels. They are no more important partners than we are. We are not even asking for more. We are saying, "What you have got on the table, share it. Bring it back." As far as Pandora, I didn't ask them to take my content and build a new business model with it. They chose that route, not me. If Pandora went away tomorrow, if they went out of business, it's not my fault. They chose that route." Borchetta's label is home to Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw and The Band Perry and other big name Country stars. 

The Times piece highlights Spotify, Pandora and other Internet music companies that "pay fractions of a cent to record companies and publishers each time a song is played, some portion of which goes to performers and songwriters as royalties. Unlike the royalties from a sale, these payments accrue every time a listener clicks on a song, year after year. Complicating the issue, each type of service pays different rates. Pandora?s are set by law. According to a number of music executives who have negotiated with Spotify, it generally pays 0.5 to 0.7 cent a stream (or $5,000 to $8,000 per million plays) for its paid tier, and as much as 90 percent less for its free tier."

The companies behind streaming are ballooning quickly, The Times writes. "Pandora, with 67 million regular users, is publicly traded, with a market capitalization of nearly $2 billion, and Spotify?s investors have reportedly valued the company at $3 billion. Yet so far they have contributed relatively little to the American recording industry?s $7 billion bottom line. In its last four reported quarters, Pandora paid $202 million in ?content acquisition costs,? including licensing fees, and Spotify recently announced that it has paid $500 million in royalties since its inception. Downloads, by comparison, had $2.6 billion in sales in 2011, according to the Recording Industry Association of America."

Read the entire Times piece HERE
Subscribe to Radio Ink in time to receive our Country Radio Seminar issue highlighting the 25 Best Country PD's in America and our interview with Scott Borchetta.

(1/29/2013 7:39:50 PM)
Having read some of the comments, it seems some readers do not understand the difference between market capitalization and profit and loss. What is Pandora's market cap - somewhere around $2 billion. On the other hand annual revenues of around $300 million carry a performance fee of close to 60%. Add to that administrative fees, engineering expenses, etc. and there is no manner in which the company can make a profit. And some of readers think that Pandora should pay higher fees. Study accounting
(1/29/2013 10:16:12 AM)
@Robbie is correct i can tell you for a fact small market radio jobs WILL be lost. people like lanny simply don't care. just how much more money do artists need at the expense of working folks while they fly around on private airplanes doing cocaine lanny?
(1/29/2013 10:02:21 AM)
It's time for a tough negotiator to step up for radio. It's the radio stations that should be receiving money for the advertising and promotion of the music. Yes, it's radio that made those artists and songwriters. Believe in radio or get another career.
(1/29/2013 9:21:29 AM)
I laugh that this article says ZERO about Google/YouTube's catastrophic copyright infringement with the use of Mozilla Firefox'x VideoDownloadHelper to download every YouTube, Veoh, Vimeo, DailyMotion, ETC. files of both video and audio (with a background of a picture) from these sites behind all artists' and record company's backs (along with a Terms of Use that state it can be done), and then Google/YouTube lie in the Viacom case asserting no downloads take place.

Any complaints now artists?

(1/29/2013 7:53:39 AM)
Really Lanny? You also have starving midday jocks in smaller markets, and I guarantee they'll get cut before any increased royalties radio is forced to pay hit the bottom line.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Robert Little New NPR Senior Editor

1-30-2013
NPR News has hired longtime Baltimore Sun investigative reporter and editor Robert Little to lead its investigative team, beginning March 4th. As senior editor for investigations, Little will work with reporters, producers and editors to develop investigative stories, and will oversee NPR?s partnerships with other non-profit news organizations doing high-level investigative work.

Little spent 15 years at The Baltimore Sun; since 2010, he's been the paper?s Investigative and Enterprise Editor. Under Little?s leadership, The Sun recently published a series of articles uncovering widespread flaws in Baltimore?s speed camera network, which has since been shut down. Before that, his team created a unique database of tax records that exposed millions of dollars in improper discounts. Little also designed and launched the watchdog blog Sun Investigates, and oversaw the newsroom?s training program for computer-assisted reporting, and ethics and libel law. As one of The Sun?s senior editors, he managed the organization?s main newsgathering departments and played a leading role in guiding all of its coverage and in planning the daily newspaper.

View the original article here

Lew Gets a Little Defensive About Huckabee

8-10-2012

Responding to a statement from an analyst that Mike Huckabee isn't performing as well as had hoped, Lew Dickey, shot right back stating, "I take issue with your premise that Huckabee isn't going as well as we had hoped. Our team has done an excellent job of getting him cleared. We're off to a good start with the Governor. This is a marathon. We are solidly behind this." As Cumulus expands its talk network content, Governor Mike Huckabee and Geraldo are the two anchor talents, so far, that the company is building off of. Dickey says the company is in negotiations with other talent and additional announcements will be made soon.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(TALENT) 5 Lessons From Little League Baseball

5/14/2012

Say you're seven and up at bat for your first baseball game of the year. You're wearing your still-white baseball pants, a fresh red jersey, new cleats, and a Cardinals cap. Your first at-bat against the provincial champions, you hit a single. The next boy up swings and sends the ball to right field. As you reach second base, Dadcoach voices shout at you from all directions: "Go to third!!!" "Stay at second!!!" "Keep going!!!" "STOP!"

You stay on second and get tagged out at third on the next play. The third base Dadcoach doesn't hesitate to lecture you about how you should have run. You leave the field -- head low, shoulders drooped. Charlie Brown.

Have you ever felt that way?

I watched this happen in real time the other night and talked to my son about it afterwards. Really what I wanted to talk about was the unforgivable temper of the third-base Dadcoach who seriously needs an anger management class. But instead what I got was a management lesson.

Me: "So I heard Nick's dad yelling at you when you didn't run to third base."

Jackson: "Yeah, it was so confusing. Everyone was shouting different things. I didn't know what I was supposed to do."

A lightbulb went off and I realized there were five lessons from Little League for any manager:

1.   Keep feedback to one "voice." Players, and employees, need one coherent directive, or "voice," to guide them. When multiple managers are involved, everyone needs to be on the same page. Minor disagreements are okay but 180-degree differences are, at best, confusing. At worst, paralyzing.

2.   Coaching in the moment. Coaching is for before and after play, not during. When someone is trying to perform, coaching them in the moment, "hotlining" the studio, etc. is rarely effective. The person will get in their "head" rather than staying fully present in the moment. Our rule of thumb: Only hotline the studio if the facts are wrong or the license is in jeopardy.

3.   Control your emotions. When you have to talk to someone about their performance, first take stock of your personal emotional state (another reason why coaching "in the moment" can be a bad idea -- your emotions have most likely been triggered). Calm, unemotional feedback is easier to take in. It's trite but I wouldn't quote it if it didn't hold true: "Never let 'em see you sweat."

4.    Never start a sentence that can be finished with "...you idiot."  "You should have run to third..." sounds a lot like "You should have run to third...you idiot." [This by the way is a great rule of thumb for marriages too.]

5.   Future-based feedback keeps a person's ego intact and give them something actionable to focus on, rather than dwelling on a mistake they can't fix. "Next time, try it this way?" or "What do you think you can do differently?" is better than "What were you thinking?" any day.

Thankfully, another coach approached Jackson at the bench afterwards, smiled and said: "Hey Jackson, next time you're coming around second, make sure you know where the ball is so you can make the best play, cool? Good job, buddy." Jackson sat up a little taller.

Angela Perelli is a SVP at the The Randy Lane Company (www.randylane.net).
She can be reached at angela@randylane.net
www.facebook.com/TheRandyLaneCompany
www.twitter.com/TheRandyLaneCo

View the original article here

Kassof Study Concludes Too Little is Known About HD Radio

1-23-2012

The latest Kassof study included 670 people who were interviewed on the telephone in January. They were asked if they had heard of HD radio and what they knew about it. His conclusion, after all the publicity and industry backing is that too little is know about HD. "HD Radio has made important progress recently in terms of getting into the car?more auto makers are offering HD Radio as an option or even standard in some cases. Unfortunately, that progress hasn?t yet translated into the minds of 18-64 consumers."

When comparing this recent survey to a previous study in September ?08, Kassof says we "we find no progress". "Awareness has actually declined. In ?08, 67% had at least ?heard of? HD Radio; now, 54% do. And consumers? understanding (and misunderstanding) of HD is virtually identical to what we found three-plus years ago." Here is the bottom line according to Kassof: "The industry still faces a big challenge marketing HD Radio. Its best decision was to call it ?HD Radio,? because that enables consumers to at least infer that it delivers better quality. The industry needs to continue to focus on sound quality, plus MORE CHOICES and (to separate HD from satellite radio) FREE.   Period.

After a decade as a radio programmer and air talent, Kassof earned an MBA with specialization in research. Since then, he has conducted research and developed strategies for some of the biggest successes in North American radio, among them stations owned by groups including Beasley, Blackburn, CBC, Emmis, Greater Media, Mid-West Family, Midwest Communications, Newcap, Nextmedia, Pattison, Radio One, Standard Broadcasting and Wilks, as well as outstanding independent stations.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Need A Little Streaming Revenue?

Custom Channels is again offering an easy way for radio stations of any format to take advantage of the annual Christmas music gold rush with a fully custom Holiday Music Channel streamed from their station?s website. For the 12th year, Custom Channels provides a ?soup to chestnuts? package that includes everything a station needs to stream a customized ?All Christmas Music? version of their station? including music licensing ? during the holidays for as little as $950. 

?Some of our clients view their streaming Holiday Music Channel as merely a way to generate additional revenue- that?s great, but it?s really much bigger than that,? said Dave Rahn, co-founder and president of Custom Channels. ?Research has shown that listeners to all formats seek out Christmas music during the holidays ? so if you?re not providing that service under your brand umbrella, you?re virtually forcing listeners to tune away to media you don?t control and can?t monetize.  For example, Rahn expects Pandora to see a big uptick in listeners seeking Christmas music this year. 

Custom Channels recently posted its ?10 Reasons? stations should stream Christmas music

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Little Rock DJ Tommy Smith Charged With DWI

Popular Little Rock DJ Tommy Smith has been arrested for DWI, leaving the scene of an accident, possession of a controlled substance and failure to stop. According to Arkansas Online, the 56-year old co-host of "The Show with No Name" on 103.7 The Buzz, an Arkansas State Police officer caught up with Smith after a hit and run on Interstate 430 was called in. The driver had crossed the median. That driver turned out to be Smith
who appeared drunk and admitted to drinking two pints of liquor and taking a Xanax. He refused a breathalzyer. Bond was set at $500.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here