Just in time for the 2nd Annual FMQB Triple A Conference, KPRI/PD Haley Jones sat down for this eQB interview and discussed the challenges facing all programmers in the industry today, as well as the specific challenges and benefits of working for a small company in a major market, not to mention the unique situation of having her boss work for her.
By Jack Barton
Haley Jones
It was 2000 when veteran programmer Haley Jones left a PD job in Spokane, WA to take over the AMD chair at Triple A powerhouse KFOG/San Francisco, working with format luminaries that included Paul Marszalek, Bill Evans and – for most of her tenure – PD Dave Benson. Working with the best in the business, Jones honed her skills and philosophies for the better part of a decade at KFOG and rose to the MD position before moving on to KMTT/Seattle. It was from the APD/MD position at The Mountain that Jones was tapped by Bonneville to be part of the team that launched Los Angeles’ most recent commercial entry into the Triple A field, KSWD. Finally, in 2010, Jones’ opportunity to step back into the PD chair came with an offer to take over the programming reins at Triple A KPRI/San Diego, owned by Compass Radio, a local San Diego company owned by Jonathan Schwartz and Bob Hughes, who also happens to handle nights at the station.
Upon Jones’ arrival at KPRI, the station immediately began seeing results, showing a 30 percent jump in market share over the first six months. Since joining KPRI, Jones has made a commitment to raising the bar for herself and her staff, resulting in higher expectations from – and a greater connection with – the San Diego radio audience.
Just in time for the 2nd Annual FMQB Triple A Conference, Jones sat down for this eQB interview and discussed the challenges facing all programmers in the industry today, as well as the specific challenges and benefits of working for a small company in a major market, not to mention the unique situation of having her boss work for her.
When you came to KPRI it had been over a decade since you sat in a PD chair. How has the job description changed since your days in Spokane?
It feels like more of everything, though there are similarities between San Diego and Spokane in that both were small operations. The good news is I work for a little local independent. The bad news is I work for a little local independent. It allows for freedom to think out-of-the-box and to make things happen more quickly, because our owners are in the building. On the other side, it means that there are not a lot of people to oversee or to help implement all of those great ideas.
What are some of the things you have a little more freedom to do than you did in a more corporate structure?
The first thing that comes to my mind I actually did do in a corporate structure, but I think most corporate owners – outside of Bonneville – would think it was nuts, and that’s Album Side Wednesday. About once a month we’re doing all vinyl all day, and it’s gotten the craziest huge response from the audience. It’s quickly become our most notable feature. Most corporate programming people would look at you and say, “NOT!” But here I can brainstorm an idea like that and put it on the radio tomorrow. Both of my owners are in the offices next door, and so far anyway, they’re more likely than most of the corporate programming people I’ve worked with to take a risk.
You have a unique situation at KPRI that you just alluded to, in that Bob Hughes is one of the owners and also your night host. What are the benefits and challenges of that situation?
The benefit is I have the happiest music fan ever on my staff. Anybody who has met Bob knows he’s like a kid in a candy store. He goes through his albums at home and brings them to me on a regular basis. New music, old music, “What about this deep track, what can we do with it?” I love that. There’s a benefit to me embracing his enthusiasm.
So when he brings music to you, do you evaluate it the same way you would something that anybody else brought to you?
I would evaluate it exactly the same way. I’m lucky enough to have the respect from him that allows me to do so.
That’s great! So are there any challenges?
Try air checking your owner…how does that work?
It has to help that, being a PPM market, you were able to show immediate results with a ratings spike after one month. What did you identify that immediately needed to be addressed to succeed?
KPRI has been on the air 15 years in San Diego. It had signal issues and didn’t reach the entire market until two years ago, making its audience pretty limited. Jump to today and I’ve got this full market signal and there are many people in San Diego who have no idea it even exists. So anything
I can do to spread the word and to get people buzzing is good. I’ve really tried to start a conversation with our audience.
One of the things you hear back from people is that you can hear the same thing on every radio station and they want somebody who is not afraid to try something different. So something likeAlbum Side Wednesday really gets the social media communities buzzing. It’s water cooler talk, and I’m after water cooler talk. That said, it’s not a PPM move; it’s for a different purpose, spreading the word. We always start promoting it at least a week out, and going back to that conversation I mentioned, we ask our audience what albums they want to hear.
We also did a Pay For Play day to raise money for the Gulf, which was all requests all day. I think that started the conversation with the audience. My goal is that KPRI and its audience feel like a family, and families communicate with one another.
What are your discoveries regarding programming in a PPM world?
Everything counts. It’s about every single time you open the mic, every word you say, and every single record. It’s about the details. The diary world was more forgiving. It’s funny that, in a world where it’s all about the minutia, we have less and less people to oversee it all. It’s harder and much more challenging than I thought it was going to be.
Was it a difficult process to get the staff to buy into your philosophies right away?
One of the first things I realized when I got to KPRI is that I need to change the culture of the radio station, both on the air and in the building. If people are having a good time and enjoying their job, you can feel it coming through the speakers when you’re listening. So that’s a huge goal of mine. I wouldn’t say it’s complete. I’ve started that process, but I have a long way to go.
How do you reposition the staff’s thinking after they’ve been doing things a certain way?
Tell them how much I appreciate their hard work each and everyday. I try to make sure they’re in the loop and they know what the goals are and how they can help achieve them. I try to use them as a resource. I get their input, and I don’t mean just ask for it and let it go in one ear and out the other. I try to really listen. I think there are a lot of good ideas in the people around me. I just have to open my ears to hear them.
How are you using social media to engage your audience in conversation?
I try to have the conversation on-the-air as much as I can, but short, sweet and to the point is what it’s all about in a break. The best place to have a conversation with our audience is off-the-air, on Twitter or Facebook, and I even try to get the jocks to call our listeners in our database and say, “Hey, thank you for being a member of the KPRI Family. We really appreciate it.” That resonates because, how many people do that? I’m always asking myself, “How can we be different and how can we really show our appreciation?” Listeners have a lot of choices. San Diego is a wildly competitive market, so anything I can do to stand above the other choices is a good idea for me. Social media is not only relevant, it’s essential in 2010.
You have always been a very vocal and ardent believer in the Triple A format. Define the format for me.
The simplest answer I can give you is what I would tell somebody that I just met off the street when I’m trying to explain what I do: Adult Rock– period. It’s different in every market, which is one of the reasons I love it so much. There are no two stations that are exactly alike. You can’t say that about any other format.
And how does the format continue to succeed without that consensus market-to-market?
I’m not sure we need to all be alike. We just have to play good music. Triple A survives because it serves its audience in each community. It’s still helping to build the careers of the new artists that it is playing. Hopefully, the managers and the bands get what we’re doing for them, even if the labels don’t.
What do you see as the future of this group of radio stations that gathers under a very broad umbrella called Triple A?
That’s a big question right now. It’s kind of the elephant in the room. Triple A is getting beat up in a PPM world, and I don’t hear a lot of people talking about it. We have to reinvent ourselves, and I think the reason WXRT (Chicago), KBCO (Denver-Boulder) and Cities (KTCZ/Minneapolis-St. Paul) are doing so well is because they’re not relying on the chart and looking at what everybody else is doing. They’re just trying to do a great job for their listeners in their markets.
[eQB Content by Jack Barton]
