In February of this year, CBS RADIO promoted Chad Fitzsimmons to the newly created post of Director of Music Initiatives in an effort to place more emphasis on unique and special initiatives and partnerships with artists, music labels and management companies. He’s been off to a flying start as the company has embarked on several successful campaigns in furthering its commitment and support of the music and artist communities.
Chad Fitzsimmons
It’s no coincidence that CBS RADIO chose Chad Fitzsimmons to be an integral part of its signature Amplify program in dealing with music formats and the respective programming execs. Given his background, Fitzsimmons has worked with a myriad of formats, holding various positions and serving under several programmers, ensuring ample preparation for the challenges in front of him in his current role.
CBS RADIO is also no stranger to Chad. After starting his career as a promotion assistant in his hometown of Chicago at Modern Rocker Q101 in 1999, Fitzsimmons found his initiation with CBS RADIO in Charlotte at WNKS and in helping to launch AC WKQC. He also spent some time at WEND in Charlotte. In 2005 he shifted to Los Angeles and as Marketing Director for KCBS-FM (Classic Hits at the time), and later that year the company flipped the switch to Adult Hits JACK-FM with Chad right in the middle of that launch. Next up in LA for CBS RADIO was the new 97.1 AMP Radio and Fitzsimmons was appointed Marketing Director for the Top 40 outlet as well. He ultimately dovetailed into the role of Director of Integrated Marketing for AMP and JACK, a position he held until his promotion earlier this year.
Now at the epicenter of CBS RADIO’s Amplify program, Fitzsimmons works with over 50 of CBS RADIO’s major market music radio stations, it’s arsenal of digital assets and CBS-TV stations nationwide as he focuses his attention on developing and launching a variety of unique partnership opportunities for music labels, artists and artist management firms in enhancing the music and artist experience for the scores of CBS RADIO listeners.
Can you describe your specific duties in your new role as Director of Music Initiatives?
In terms of our Amplify program and what we’ve created at CBS RADIO, my role is to support the great people in our senior management programming team. I work very closely with this group and we’re in constant communication. Steve Salhany on the AC side and I talk almost daily. I also communicate frequently with Jeff Kapugi and Tim Roberts who lead the Country charge, and Kevin Weatherly and Michael Martin on the Pop and Rock sides. In celebrating the music across all these formats, our goal is to create unique content and exciting opportunities for record labels, managers, artists and CBS RADIO stations.
How was the concept of Amplify born?
Amplify is a program we created at CBS RADIO to support the music and artist industry. We developed a few brand filters in terms of programming and marketing initiatives which essentially blossomed into Amplify. Through many conversations with labels and artists we discovered that they’re certainly very appreciative of radio and they thought there were a couple things we were missing that would really help them in breaking new artists and supporting existing artists. Amplify was created to take full advantage of CBS RADIO’s tremendous reach around the country in utilizing our traditional and new media platforms to engage our wealth of listeners with unique opportunities with artists across the vast array of formats in our portfolio.
How has your past experience in radio promotions and marketing help prepare you for this position?
It’s interesting because all of my experiences were super valuable coming into this role. As a Promotions Director for eleven years, I certainly had great experiences in developing events and staying on top of Pop culture and riding the wave of music trends all the way down to what the nuts and bolts of killer execution are. I feel that all the great promotions directors have to be this delicate balance of uber detailed-oriented individuals but yet some of the most highly creative folks in the business. Doing that day to day certainly prepared me for this role.
I’m naturally a huge music fan, and through the years I’ve always aspired to work at the biggest and best radio station on the planet. I remember being a part-time kid in Chicago and writing a cover letter to (PD) Amy Stevens stating that I wanted to work at KROQ in LA. I moved to Charlotte and told my PD that I’d only be there a few years, because I was going to move to LA to work at KROQ. Then the opportunity came up to work at JACK-FM and then to take on AMP in LA which ultimately brought me to where I always wanted to be in this business! But I wouldn’t be in this role without the daily experiences I had doing local radio and the kind of passion and drive I developed for music and radio in general.
You have worked at a variety of formats. What tenets of marketing do you adhere to, regardless of format, when confronting the challenge of effective marketing and promotion in aligning the right events with the proper audience?
All formats have different nuances but at the core it really comes down to the brand and the brand filters you establish. What has helped me even more was my role in helping launch stations. We launched an AC property in Charlotte (WKQC) with (PD) John Reynolds and that was my first look at it. Then in coming to LA I was recruited to be part of the JACK-FM launch based on the fact that they wanted an aggressive Promotions Director with a Top 40 or Alternative background. People assume that Top 40 and Rock promotions people are more aggressive and street savvy, but I think you’ll find the same principals apply to every format.
For me it’s all about collaborating on a vision with the PD, following that vision, outlining the brand filters and knowing who we’re talking to. If we’re at a Rock station and it’s a twenty-three year old male in the ‘burbs, we get a picture of what he looks like on a daily basis and really try to understand him. We live in a pretty exciting world where we can easily become spoiled about the opportunities and I always try to speak to that person on his terms. So if you’re creating an on-air contest, a special event or a sales promotion, those things need to be vetted through the filter and pass the listener test of accuracy. I go to the extent of having that on the wall in front of me…here’s what the brand is, here are the parameters, here’s where it needs to work. It has to work for the brand, it has to work for the programmer, and it definitely has to work for the listeners because if they don’t accept it, it’s dead in the water. I certainly try to keep the integrity of the brand top of mind at all times.
Prior to your new post, you were Director of Integrated Marketing at (Top 40) AMP in LA. How important was it to evolve in that role (in a very competitive market) as a requisite for the challenges you confront now nationally?
It was very enlightening. I was a Promotions Director for nearly ten years, and as big a music fan as I am I didn’t think I had the chops to be a Program Director. I came to a point where I thought I had achieved everything that I could as a Marketing Director, and when looking for the next challenge, I wasn’t sure I had the right skill set to program. But I also wasn’t sure I was right for sales, so the Integrated Marketing role seemed like a natural progression for me. I had some really great mentors specifically HelenLeisengang, our VP of Integrated Marketing. Her and I had a very strong relationship on a marketing level and when the integrated role came up in LA I spoke with her and with Weatherly (people I trusted) and they thought that it would be a good opportunity for me to take everything I learned as a promotions guy and everything I learned from the programming and sales sides and putting that all into motion.
Going over to NTR was very educational because I saw it all and the daily challenges that our account execs and sales managers have. Whether it’s drumming up new business or figuring out how our agenda fits a client’s agenda. It’s interesting because after four weeks in that role is when I kind of had that aha moment of recognizing that on the sales side we do a great job of combining assets and building campaigns for clients. That’s when I realized we can be doing that on the programming side and that’s the point when I approached (SVP of Programming) Greg Strassell and Kevin about the foundation of Amplify and what we can do based on some of my experiences in the integrative side and the programming side.
How pro-active do you get with the labels regarding artist initiatives and does it cut both ways in their pursuit of you?
I kind of feel like the hot girl at the high school dance! My phone has been blowing up which speaks to the fact that we’ve outlined some programs that really address the needs of the record industry. It does go both ways. I’m probably as aggressive in calling those guys between labels and managers. We look at both emerging artists and existing artists and create a good fit to build a program around. I believe they target us the same way and look at our stations and see good opportunities.
For example, we recently executed this Lady Antebellum event in Chicago. Capitol Records came to us and thought it would be a great event for CBS RADIO’s Country portfolio. Sometimes it comes that way and other times we’re aggressively developing on-air opportunities, sales opportunities or event opportunities. We’re constantly dialing and developing relationships even beyond the ones we currently have.
Which key assets across CBS RADIO’s multiple properties in various media areas do you use in the integration process?
Our over-the-air assets are first and foremost. What’s been interesting about Amplify is how we’ve been able to collectively use our over-the-air assets, not just as specific silos of radio stations. We came out of the box at the beginning of this year before my role was even established and we did a pretty killer program to launch the Bon Jovi project using a combination of Classic Hits, AC and Hot AC stations. I don’t know that it was anything super-revolutionary but it was an example of the assets we’re sitting on and our ability to work together and really make an impact. Some of that is probably just the natural evolution of where music is, where peoples’ music interests are a little broader enabling us to take some artists across formats and use our arsenal of on-air assets in such a manner.
Ezra Kucharz, our President of Digital, is developing new assets everyday. It’s really great to combine our on-air radio product with our digital assets from traditional websites to social media outlets. We’ve also had success tapping into some of our immediate family whether its television or some of the other network properties that allow us to bundle a package and create really special opportunities.
While other radio groups have previously forged ahead in the area of aggressive marketing of artists and music, what was the prime motivation behind CBS RADIO’s launch into this more extensive sphere of artist integration?
I really can’t speak to the competition, but for us we pride ourselves in the continual evolution of programs. Whether you’re looking at the competition, meaning specific radio markets or the media landscape in general, companies are trying to partner and integrate with music more and more. It just continues to grow. When I started in this business my only recall of artist integration with brands was the old school Pepsi/Michael Jackson ads. These days I believe everyone’s seeing the tremendous marketability of artists. So for us it was an evolution in responding to the marketplace and seeing what music needs were and how we could utilize our assets to really build some platforms for them. Things we’ve always been doing. Amplify is just on a grander scale…pardon the pun, but we’re amplifying our efforts.
As all media companies attempt to aggregate their resources for premium exposure and impressions of content, what do feel separates CBS from its competitors with like-kind models?
First and foremost are the tremendous brands we have. It’s interesting, as a kid growing up in Chicago whose parents drove him to school listening to US99 every day, I know the value of an established brand. Now that I’m working on the other side it’s amazing to see the amount of respect a Country product like US99 gets. We have these killer and amazing brands! Who hasn’t heard of theWorld Famous KROQ? That’s on the leading edge of what differentiates us. There are a lot of great radio properties from a lot of great radio companies, but I believe our brands stand pretty tall in the pack and separate us from other companies. The location of some of those brands is really key, because we have good collective groups in certain formats in some really large and exciting markets, which serves as another big difference maker.
I think sometimes radio and the talent in the industry don’t garner the respect they deserve. Radio has some of the greatest employees and talent in the entertainment business, so it’s been really special for me to reach out and work with all the brilliant people we have in our group, from programmers, sales folks and promotions people to air personalities. It’s refreshing when you talk to those people who you really only know because you have the same CBS RADIO email address, and you find out how good and creative they truly are. I believe the creativity we exhibit as a group and the great and diverse brands we have allow us to stand apart from other radio groups.
Is it getting increasingly more competitive among radio groups for procuring the involvement of top (brand) artists in your programs, or is it essentially a matter of offering an attractive package of cross-media platforms and the event itself?
I feel it’s just as competitive as it’s always been. Maybe a little more competitive in general based on what’s at stake. The stakes do continue to grow. But when I was a Promotions Director for KISS 95.1 in Charlotte, we were always really competitive with other stations and trying to come up with the coolest, biggest and most exciting ideas when creating event opportunities for labels and artists. It’s not much different today. There’s always competition for top brands. Competition is great! I grew up a sports kid and have always been competitive by nature.
I’ve always worked by the mantra of if you show up everyday and perform to the best of your ability that naturally good things will follow. As a kid I was an under-sized and under-skilled athlete, but I always tried to make up for that with energy and hard work, and that’s how I look at it today. I compliment the competition for what they’ve done and certainly respect our competitors out there, but the way I manage it internally is to be more concerned with what CBS RADIO does and can do. Let’s focus on what’s important to us and let’s set some short and long term attainable goals. We concern ourselves with really making a name for Amplify and the power it has, as we try to be as good as we can be.
Can you cite examples of some of the more unique initiatives you’ve executed in your partnerships with artists?
Most top of mind, from the unique aspect of it, is what we just did with Stone Temple Pilots which was a result of some conversations we had with some great management companies. We had a meeting with The Collective and the opportunity was presented to us to have the “new” STP, combined with Chester from Linkin Park, as surprise guests on KROQ’s recent WeenieRoast. It kind of started there and we were looking at something else we could do and that conversation evolved into how we can take some of the Amplify initiatives and really blow that thing out.
What we ended up doing is, not only did they perform as surprise guests on the Weenie Roast, but that immediately rolled into a performance at BFD for LIVE 105 in San Francisco the very next night. Then it evolved into CBS RADIO being the exclusive outlet to offer a free download of the new track featuring Chester. So we were able to deliver something to the fans that they really responded to. We also offered the music (on-air) to some of our sports properties and used it as bumpers and we had our sports talent talk about the new STP project. It was such a great and unique program to offer the artist the exposure and give our listeners the exclusive opportunity to experience Chester from one of the biggest Rock bands on the planet, with a core Alternative band like STP.
Regarding your involvement with music labels, which label departments are you working closely with and how deep into the layers of personnel are you reaching?
We talk to everyone from promotion and marketing to A&R. We’re currently building an A&R development program called She Can DJ, which is a venture with Capitol Records. It’s really special and a good example of our reach to A&R folks as well as sponsorship and integration people.
We talk to just about all the VP’s of Promotion, and at times to some of the killer promo reps they have in the field. We also speak to various layers and levels from outside of labels, from day to day tour managers to the bigger picture artist managers. You never really know when that next idea or opportunity is going to strike, and the more collaborative efforts we can have the better the chances of creating special and unique opportunities. Everyone is extremely open to it and can appreciate the aggressiveness and interest on the radio side. The mutual benefit is especially rewarding.
Your diverse background has given you the opportunity to work with a variety of (Program) managers. Who have been the most influential throughout your career and what did you learn from them that you still carry with you today?
I’ve always taken bits and pieces from all the guys or ladies I’ve worked with over the years and just tried to be a sponge and soak up as much as I could. There are some really incredible people that have influenced me. Kevin Weatherly has certainly been a big supporter of mine and a mentor. When I first came to LA Chris Ebbott, who was the APD for JACK-FM, was someone I learned a lot from. It was a little intimidating going from Charlotte to LA. I was a little naïve and to have Chris come to me and say you can do this anywhere, was encouraging. He became very supportive and was rooting for me every day. He had been a programming guy and a marketing guy and understood the challenges I had in front of me. John Reynolds was a fun guy to be around when I was in Charlotte. If I were to compare the three of those guys, they all have great attributes and different personalities and are effective mentors in their own right. John challenged me daily to go bigger and think bigger, he was a good guy to be around. Right now, branching out and being able to work with guys like Steve (Salhany) and Jeff (Kapugi) and getting into different formats and seeing the nuances of how they approach their day is very educational.
If I had to pick one guy, Kevin would be it because we’ve had the most tenure together and we’ve done a lot of things from lighting up JACK and making AMP come to life to contributing to the other Top 40 properties we’ve built across the country. Greg Strassell has also been a special guy to work with. As a SVP and the role he plays on the corporate side, he’s given me a whole new perspective and a whole new set of things for me to learn in how I approach my day.
[eQB Content By Fred Deane]
