Jon Zellner
It doesn’t take long to recognize Jon Zellner’s accomplishments throughout his career. His passion for the medium has led him to successful stints with some very successful companies like CBS Radio, Sirius XM, and iHeartMedia. He’s held executive programming positions at each and has been an instrumental source of helping mold the vision paths of each of these companies. But now it’s all about iHeart and Jon eagerly elaborates on his enthusiasm regarding the refreshed approach the company has taken under its newly minted name change.
The depth and diversity of Jon Zellner’s radio experience resonates clearly. Zellner is a model programmer for those attempting to gain quality, hands-on programming experience and parlaying the success of that experience into a career path up the programming chain of command. As a current SVP of Programming, Zellner’s in a suitable position to impart his wisdom and acumen to the many iHeartMedia programmers within his oversight and guide them accordingly.
Throughout his Clear Channel/iHeartMedia tenure, Zellner has been given ample opportunity to put his company’s best practices into motion in several markets affecting company personnel at all levels. iHeart’s penchant for mentorship and shared expertise has given rise to a new breed of programmers who are indeed the next generation of critical thinkers and decision makers. This kind of progression doesn’t occur without the likes of valuable executive assets like Jon Zellner.
After breaking in as a PD and OM at stations like WNCI, KZZP, WKZL, KTHT and KYIS, Jon pursued a career op with CBS Radio to tackle new challenges. During his nine year stint with CBS Radio he served as VP of Top 40 & HAC Programming, as well as PD/OM at the Boston combo of WBMX & WODS. He also had a run in Kansas City as VP of Programming for KMXV, KSRC, KFKF and KBEQ.
Terrestrial radio wasn’t enough, so Zellner enlisted for a four and a half year term at Sirius XM Radio, where he had oversight of music, entertainment and broadcast operations. In July of 2009 he joined CCM&E as SVP of Programming and currently oversees 200+ radio stations across 47 markets in the Northeast and Midwest regions.
As CCM&E transformed into iHeartMedia earlier this year, it’s given new life and vigor to a company and team of professionals who were already collectively one step ahead of the curve.
The corporate name change speaks volumes regarding the company’s commitment to remain dynamically relevant in both the consumer and advertiser worlds. Can you give us your take on the evolution from CCM&E to iHeartMedia?
The name change reflects the success and cultural impact that iHeartRadio has had over the past few years. iHeartMedia has evolved from a radio company to an all-encompassing multi-media company that includes our powerful radio brands, digital, mobile, social, outdoor, television and our live events, which have amassed over 15.4 billion social impressions.
iHeartMedia has been a pacesetting company for several years now. Just how much of a game-changer was iHeartRadio in establishing the next level of intelligence and competitiveness in the digital space?
Our goal is to be everywhere our listeners are with the products and services they expect and iHeartRadio allows us to do just that. iHeartRadio provides 24/7 instant access to more than 1,900 live radio stations from anywhere across the country and allows listeners to create their own artist or song based custom station right at your fingertips. There have been over 435 million downloads of the iHeartRadio app and more than 56 million registered users, a milestone reached faster than any digital music service and even faster than Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest – and that doesn’t even include our live radio only users who do not need to register. In addition, iHeartRadio has surpassed 70% brand awareness in just three years, has gained more than 97 million monthly digital uniques across its network and has attracted a social following of more than 58 million people across iHeartMedia stations and on–air personality Facebook and Twitter pages.
Given its array of live media platforms how much leverage do you feel the company now has versus the large digital players that have amassed huge user and registration numbers?
iHeartMedia has strong relationships with musicians, labels, artist management and our millions of listeners nationwide as well as the understanding that the majority of music fans still discover new songs on the radio. There’s a long history of “trust” between our on-air personalities and their listeners as well as between our programmers and the artists who make the music. This allows us to deliver an unmatched experience for listeners, artists and brands who are looking to connect with their target consumers.
How would you differentiate iHeartMedia from other digital players when it comes to vying for common consumers and listeners?
The biggest difference is the emotional connection and the human interaction that listeners get from radio and our iconic brands and iHeartRadio allows us to extend those brands and relationships across multiple platforms. Radio stations have been able to develop millions of fans over the years because of the connection to the music, the personalities, the promotions and the impact our brands have on their local markets. Radio has always been social, long before the Internet was introduced, our personalities are trusted friends to listeners. Radio is what keeps listeners connected to the world – to current events, traffic, weather and entertainment gossip.
Digital music services or playlists are music collections which have existed for decades (45s, albums, tapes and CDs, ipods, etc.) and have always been a private listening experience, making it more challenging for those services to become trusted music curators. They’re missing the human connection to music fans, who still say that radio is the number one place for them to discover and listen to music. iHeartRadio offers a “feature” where listeners can create their own custom stations based from a catalog of more than 20 million songs, but that’s only a small part of what the app offers.
iHeartMedia has a long history of granting programmers premium executive opportunities to grow their careers and expand their horizons within the organization. How does this currently translate to the ranks of individual PD’s at local stations?
As a company, we put a priority on recognizing our high performers with advancement opportunities to grow and develop their careers. I can point to dozens of recent examples of iHeartMedia programmers who have advanced in our company. The Executive Programming team works very closely with each other and HR to not only coach our talent but keep track of where they want to go and how they can achieve their goals. Anytime there’s an opening, we look within the company first to see who the internal options are.
A few years ago, John Ivey launched a mentoring program for our CHR Program Directors where our smaller market Program Directors have frequent interaction with some of our more seasoned programmers. iHeartMedia’s size and our reach across 150 markets allows for unmatched opportunities.
As a SVP of Programming, how much internal planning, strategizing and interfacing do you do with other SVP and EVP’s in the company?
One of the strengths of our company is the fact that programming leadership constantly works together and share best practices to improve our brands and assist our programmers wherever the need is greatest. It’s exciting to see our SWAT approach take form where some of the greatest minds in our business get together, analyze a competitive situation and take immediate action. There’s nothing like matching the research minds in our company with the programming minds of our E/SVPPs, Brand Managers and the National Programming Platforms group.
How do you approach your job regarding your prime responsibilities of station cluster oversight in the several markets you deal with?
I think all of the E/SVPPs have a similar approach to managing and interacting with the markets in our regions. Of course, our primary goal is to increase ratings and revenue and we work very closely to insure that messaging to our programmers is consistent and that they’re maximizing the resources and tools available to them.
Strong leadership of any company is paramount to its overall success. Who are the top leaders within and what do they bring to the company?
It always starts at the top. Just spend a few minutes with (Chairman/CEO) Bob Pittman and (President/CFO) Rich Bressler, and you’ll understand why the morale at iHeartMedia is so high. Bob’s passion for our brands and his optimism for the future of our business is contagious and it has been a thrill for me to listen and learn from the best.
How have you grown as both a manager of people and a crisis manager since you’ve joined the company?
Initially, the hardest part of this job was the absence of managing a staff of people face-to-face, day-to-day. My regional programming team and cluster Operations Managers do a terrific job of handling that. My Ops partner Kevin LeGrett often says to our team that we hope to be viewed as the “aspirin,” not the “headache.” Because we work with so many markets and stations, our hope is to communicate effectively, inspire, motivate and bring ideas to help our teams work smarter.
Who have influenced you the most throughout your career and what significant lessons did you learn from each of these individuals that helped mold your career as a top manager?
I have been fortunate to work with very smart people over the years. Early on, Guy Zapoleon taught me everything I know about the “science” of what we do: music scheduling, analyzing research and the “nuts and bolts” of creating a strong radio station. Dave Robbins taught me everything I know about the “art”: branding, promotions, marketing and coaching talent. Other influences have been Herndon Hasty, my Market Manager at CBS Radio in Kansas City, who taught me how to lead, motivate and create a positive atmosphere in the workplace; Eric Logan, who hired me at XM, and showed me the difference between managing with “love and trust” versus “fear and doubt.” And, most recently, John Hogan who always challenged us to think differently, look at the bigger picture and support our beliefs with data as well as our gut.
