Leslie Whittle, Program Director, KRBE/Houston
September 17, 2021
by Fred Deane
Leslie Whittle
Leslie Whittle has had a steady dose of radio since her formative years as an intern at KHFI/Austin in 1992. She eventually graduated to a fulltime post starting in promotions and research, and eventually landing in the PD chair.
In 2000, it was off to the place she would call her radio home for over two decades now. Then PD Jay Michaels hired Leslie as APD, and in 2006 she claimed the PD post and has clutched it ever since.
She “loves the Houston market” for a variety of personal and professional reasons, but initially she wasn’t quite sure.
What was your initial reaction to the Houston market when you arrived at KRBE, and was it an instant attraction or an acquired taste?
My parents moved to Houston while I was in college so I’d spent time here, but honestly, I didn’t LOVE the city yet. I did, however, love the radio scene in Houston and of course that my family lived a few minutes away. KRBE was a fantastic place to work from the beginning, but I can literally remember the moment I fell in love with Houston at a show at the Arena Theatre. It took all of two months of experiencing the food, music and theater scene, and local sports, but most of all, the PEOPLE. Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country and that comes through in all aspects of our community.
How aware of the radio market were you prior to your KRBE arrival?
When I was at the University of Texas, I’d drive from Austin to Houston to visit my family. It was wonderful to drive on Friday morning and hear Stevens & Pruett on KLOL, or Friday afternoon and listen to Moby who I remembered from my time in Dallas. And of course, KRBE was a station teeming with talent and the music was different than so many other Top 40s. These frequent trips allowed me to have a relationship with the market before living here.
I’m also so thankful to have made a career in this transitory business in a city surrounded by family, and thrilled to still work at a station I’ve so passionately loved over the years, even before moving to Houston.
You are in an enviable programming position where you have a full live and local staff. How much does that contribute to KRBE’s ongoing success?
It’s instrumental to our success and branding longevity. It all starts in the mornings with the Roula & Ryan Show. Both Roula and Ryan are from Houston, Roula’s family even owns a restaurant that’s been open for 104 years. Midday talent Freddy Cruz is also from Houston and, like me, the rest recognized what a great city it is soon after arriving. So being able to speak to our community comes easily and is something we embrace, especially in today’s radio environment. We also do unique local promotions, like our signature cause-oriented contest “H-Town Wins.” Five times each day our listeners win $500. They each get half, then give half to their favorite local charity. Contesting like this gives your listeners and community a collective hug, which is something we all need after the last year and a half.
Can you elaborate on the balance of your airstaff?
We have an amazing airstaff that complements one another. Each does a different type of show on the air highlighting how they best communicate with our listeners, and each has different strengths in other aspects of radio.
Aside from middays, Freddy Cruz is also one of the most-respected creative imaging guys in the country. We put a lot of emphasis on our imaging to build the KRBE brand. Your voiceover folks (shout out to Scott Matthews and Amber Cotton) are on the air more than your local talent, so you have to make it count. Freddy is fantastic about making sure our imaging counts and acts as an additional communicator.
Kevin Quinn does afternoons and is also KRBE’s APD. He’s my right hand regarding the day-to-day running of the station and is also a great creative resource.
Tyler Frye, host of H-Town Live from 7 to midnight, digs into the local scene and is great with callers. He also has a spectacular social media game.
Given the history of your morning show, what have been the keys to their success and what role do you play in adding to the equation of its continuing success?
When I tell people what I do they immediately identity KRBE as the station with the Roula and Ryan Show. They are our foundation and what we’re best known for. Roula, Ryan, Eric and Special K have been at KRBE for 15 years, and current technical producer Sam for a little over two. They’re fantastic to work with because they understand exactly who they’re talking to. Each member of the show shares their lives with our listeners through all the ups and downs, and also contributes something different to the show and has the ability to make you laugh through hard times. Making your audience FEEL is the hallmark of a unique relationship, and the Roula and Ryan Show is exceptional at that.
They’ve also been great at adapting to other ways of communicating with our audience via social platforms and their podcasts. Through the years our relationship has grown and changed, and I recognize they need different things from me at different times. They’re the performers. I need to give them the knowledge of what it takes to win in a PPM world, trends I see both in our market and across the country, how to meet and overcome challenges as we face them, and how to grow the show for the future.
How supportive has Cumulus been regarding your live and local position?
Our leadership at Cumulus is extremely invested in KRBE as a locally staffed station with a robust presence in the Houston market. Cumulus has been supportive in so many ways, particularly with our live and local stance, and gives us the necessary tools and support to win. We’ve also had an amazing leadership team in place from the corporate to local levels who are dedicated to doing what it takes to accomplish our goals.
You have spoken very highly of the Cumulus culture, what qualities of the company make it so appealing?
When (President/CEO) Mary Berner arrived at Cumulus, she implemented the FORCE culture. FORCE stands for Focused, Responsible, Collaborative and Empowered, and quickly became not only our company mantra, but our reality.
At Morning Show Boot Camp last month (Cumulus EVP of Programming) Brian Philips stood up and told the attendees, we are a “talent company, and we want you.” That really sums up our culture and I’m thankful to be part of it.
Doug Hamand, John Dimick and Greg Frey are great programming minds who are constantly on the hunt for finding what it takes to win in each individual market they oversee, something I know from working with them in my role as VP of the Cumulus Hot AC Format.
Dan Bennett, our Regional VP in Dallas constantly advocates for all the stations he oversees, including ours. Our local VP/Market Manager Alex Cadelago comes from a radio family. His father was a major market morning show host and GM whose mother worked for an advertising agency and as a radio account executive. To say all these folks “get it” is an understatement. So yes, I’m extremely proud of our company and culture.
KRBE is a 25-44-demo focused Top 40. How important is the younger-end to your overall programming goals, and do you accommodate that demo to any real extent?
I’d like to point out that the oldest millennials turn 40 this year. While I don’t hear it as often as I did three years ago, it used to make me crazy when I’d hear radio hosts act like the “get off my lawn guy” when talking about millennials. They ARE our audience, and Gen Z will be part of that coalition before we know it.
As a heritage station with a heritage morning show, it makes sense for us to focus on the 25-44 demos. There are also more quarter hours coming from these listeners than younger demos, especially the upper end of this demo. With that said, yes, we need to focus on making younger audiences fans of radio. We may not be their first choice when consuming media, but we need to be in the conversation, and at KRBE we focus on several things to achieve this.
Our social and digital platforms are key to staying connected and “in the moment” along with providing on-demand content like podcasts. Our community outreach and programs like Roula and Ryan’s Radio School are also key to establishing lasting relationships. Finally, it’s the entertaining and local content between the music that differentiates us from streaming services. We just need to make sure we keep reinforcing all of these aspects and we’re there and ready for younger audiences when they’re ready for us.
Regarding music analysis, are you using the analytic and data points that are available to programmers these days to any great degree?
Yes, and also looking at the chart less and less. We find records that work for us in Houston (“Goosebumps” is a great example), that didn’t have a big run on the chart. Plus, the chart can be so easily manipulated by mass moves from radio companies, syndication, etc. Also, if a song is still working for us, I have no issue playing it in power for an extended period of time. If research remains great, the song is still streaming, etc., clearly your audience is telling you they still want to hear that song a lot.
Given your history/knowledge of the market, how much of a factor does your gut play in making these decisions?
The fact that I’ve been in Houston so long has played to my advantage. I have the experience and ability to track the history, especially all the music changes KRBE’s been through because it has seen many iterations over the years, many of which I’ve witnessed first-hand. All these different “musical” versions of KRBE bring to light that a couple of years can be a lifetime in music cycles and tastes, and that we can still win by embracing them and understanding our audience.
How sensitive are you to social platforms that can set music/artist agendas (like TikTok) when it comes to music and Pop culture trends?
I think the trick is figuring out which projects have real staying power as actual songs, which should be embraced as moments in time, and which aren’t a good fit for broad audiences, because as a CHR station that’s who we need to appeal to. At first, when TikTok started setting these agendas, we felt like we needed to be part of them. Now there are so many stories out there, I think we’re interested but viewing them more skeptically when it comes to airplay.
You are part of an “industry family” in a sense with your husband (Mike McKay) also in the business. Do the two of you talk a lot of shop around the house?
I met Mike while working as the Research Director and Assistant Promotion Director at KHFI in Austin. He was the Production and Imaging Director at the time, and eventually went on to do afternoons and mornings at KHFI along with station voicework. During our time there I became Music Director and ultimately the Program Director, so as you can imagine that was interesting!
When we moved to Houston Mike started Mike McKay Voiceover and has been a top v/o talent for over 20 years. He understands our business inside and out and is also one of my biggest idea people. We love to talk radio and bounce things off each other. There’s no way I’d have the career I have today without his support.
Throughout your career you have worked with several accomplished programmers. What were the key takeaways from those experiences?
The overall takeaways are to listen to smart people and ask a lot of questions. I’ve been so fortunate to work with some wonderful mentors in my career, all of who wanted to teach others how to do great radio.
John Roberts gave me my first job as a college intern at Clear Channel in Austin where I eventually worked my way up to PD. He was a second father to our staff and was tireless when it came to working on and teaching us our craft.
Jay Michaels hired me at KRBE in 2000 and has such an unbelievable creative mind and a joy that can’t be replicated.
I also worked with Dom Theodore for a year at KRBE, who is incredibly focused on his vision but always wanted input from others, and was so open to ideas.
Tracy Austin was the Program Director at KRBE from 2003-06, and is amazing at finding the next big thing and understanding what women want. She also is fearless when it comes to trying new things, like moving to Australia to program NOVA. All of these wonderful people and great programmers excelled at different things and provided me with the best “radio upbringing” anyone could ask for.
