When Jimmy Steele was 12-years old he learned about electronics to the point where he built his own AM transmitter with a 300 ft. long wire that ran across three house roofs. Then he built an FM when he obtained an old 10-watt FM exciter. He put a 50-foot tower in his backyard, the base of which was a big chunk of concrete in a 55-gallon drum that still remains in the yard and probably will be for more years. Then on his 16th birthday he landed his first radio job at a full service AM station, WKSN, in his hometown of Jamestown, New York. A few years later he landed in Buffalo doing middays at Rock 102/WBEN-FM, which then changed to “Magic 102.” He’s a veteran programming mind who has also programmed many CHRs across the country including WRVW/Nashville, WKSE/Buffalo andWNCI/Columbus where he served as Clear Channel RVP/Programming. Steele now resides in sunny San Diego, overseeing of a pair of Clear Channel FMs, Hot AC KMYI (Star 94.1) and CHR powerhouse KHTS(Channel 933), where he is committed to delivering great radio on a daily basis, while remaining as passionate than ever about radio and its future.
e-QB presents excerpts from the FMQB February Magazine CHR Up Close featuring KHTS-KMYI/San Diego PD Jimmy Steele
On the changing environment of radio… The most welcome change would be on a corporate level, an appreciation for the product. It’s not just the company that I work for in Clear Channel, but you’re starting to see other companies jump aboard too. Radio faced a reality a couple of years ago, spearheaded by Clear Channel’s [CEO] John Hogan, the reality was, we were sitting with up to 10-minute long commercial breaks, lots of clutter throughout the hour, and it kept getting worse. We were not in a business of selling. Radio had moved away from selling spots, and started focusing more on NTR, which we should be because what’s non-traditional today is quickly becoming traditional, but at the same time we continued to sell promotions and giveaway spots. It was bad for radio.
So getting back to an appreciation of the programming, and actually researching what listeners consume and what’s valuable to the listener. That’s very important, and radio has really understood that and rather than ignoring it radio has really stepped up, especially here at Clear Channel in San Diego. We stepped up and said: “Look, we’re going to invest back into the product again.” I can tell you just looking at our budgets this year, they’re investing in the product.
On facing today’s new programming challenges… The biggest challenge is being able to have identified what listeners are really telling us that they want, which means that we’re doing a lot of things to piss them off! And coming to grips with the fact that we have to do things differently in delivering our product in order to maintain the viability of our brand. The biggest challenge is not only being able to deliver what the audience is screaming for to keep us viable as a medium, but at the same time being able to sell it because that means we have to sell it differently. We have to work with our sales teams in coming up with a whole new set of rules and those rules that apply to programming affects sales, and that’s how we make a living. So my biggest challenge is being able to not only deliver what the audience is screaming for, but being able to monetize it in a new way that is better than the old way.
On dealing with the San Diego fires last year… It was an amazing experience. I’ll never forget it. It was surreal being surrounded by fire. I live a block away from the station and the advantage, both a blessing and curse, is that I was the guy who could get to work when the evacuation started. Collectively, all the PDs got together and we made a decision to simulcast our AM News Talk,KOGO. I ended up on the air for that evening all the way through the overnight on seven radio stations co-hosting evacuation coverage. When you’re behind a microphone and you know you’re going out on half-a-dozen radio stations in which everybody that’s evacuating is listening to you, because the only thing they have is radio, it reminds you of how powerful radio really can be, and it also reminds you of how accurate you must be.
On Top 40 format in general and where is it headed in 2008… I’m not quite sure where it’s headed. But right now it’s really healthy. It’s been said it’s a ten-year cycle. I believe it is, but it’s really branched off more lately. If you look at formats like Hot AC, for example. There’s a format that used to get its music from Top 40, where Top 40 would get its music from everywhere else. That’s not the case anymore. Top 40’s getting music for Top 40, and some from Rhythmic and some from Rock, but it’s Top 40.
The thing though that troubles me about CHR is that more than ever, not because so much of the music, but because of external influences such as the growing Hispanic population, the external media sources that are growing, whether it’s satellite or iPods, CHR is in a battle for its life on the young end. In order for CHR to be hot and viable where it can be, because the product is hot, CHR has to fight for the young end. The days of a CHR being about to be your 25–54 winner as well as an 18–34 station are long gone, with the exception of a couple heritage stations in America and those stations are seeing it too.
CHR is in a battle for its life on the young end. As long as you recognize that, as long as you program to that, and are able to sell to that (which in a lot of smaller markets it’s very difficult), you’ll win! The music is right on. It’s hip. The cool thing about a lot of the hip hits is that it used to be that I’d never do a bumper sticker promotion for a Top 40 station because it’s McDonald’s, you consume it but you don’t perceive you like it. Those days have really changed. You listen to Akon and Timbaland on the air. You hear music that is very hip. And the cool thing is Nelly Furtado to Justin Timberlake to Akon, there’s a wide range of hip hit music right now.
On the value research when making music decisions… I value research an awful lot. But I don’t program the radio station based on research as a bible, because it’s not the only tool. It’s a very important and critical tool. It depends on how reactive you are. I program my night show based on reaction. I program the rest of the radio station based on a combination of that. In middays I’m almost exclusively looking at research. We do perceptuals and auditorium testing. We do callout research. We talk to people on the streets. We talk to people in the office. I listen to the station with my gut and the ears. Those are all tools that we use. Research is just as critical as any of those tools. The key with research is to understand how it works. Use it, interpret it, and implement it. Without those three things in concert you lose the effectiveness of research.
But you also have to know your screener. You have to keep it fresh. You have to keep your database fresh. It’s getting more difficult to do that everyday. As long as you don’t neglect your research, it can be very powerful. If not used correctly, the more powerful tool can also be the most detrimental, that’s why you have to really know what you’re doing with it.
On the one thing radio can do better to ensure it remains the go-to media… Keep listening to our audience and listen to our potential audiences. More importantly, because we’ve been listening to them for awhile, respond to them. It’s that simple. If we respond to what they’re telling us, and we also are smart enough to interpret the difference between what they’re telling us they want and what they actually consume, in finding the line between the two, that’s really going to keep us on track because we’re starting to turn around what’s been a sinking ship. But in order to do that we have to throw all the rules that we grew up with out the window.
**QB Content by Bob Burke **
Also in the February Issue:
Q&A: WLAN/Lancaster PD Jeff Hurley
“Drop the hype! Keep it real and on point. Tell me about the artist and let’s talk about the merit of the song.”
Hot Shots
Jordin Sparks, Jonas Bros, Natasha Bedingfield, Faith Hill, Celine Dion
