Nikki Nite is definitely in that PD lane these days where her background includes programming a variety of formats from CHR to AC to MOViN to Hot AC, heck, she even helped launch a God & Country format. It’s no small wonder why she’s enjoyed a successful career with quality radio groups like Entercom and CBS Radio, working with some of the top programmers in the country. It’s rubbed off well as Nite has developed into one of the more seasoned and polished programmers in the business today.
By Fred Deane
Nikki Nite
Today’s programmer faces daily challenges and decisions that have to be made quickly and wisely while balancing responsibilities that go well beyond what a PD’s gig was fifteen years ago when Nikki Nite began her programming career. Adaptation, re-shaping and advancing your skills-set is one way to assimilate to today’s demands on PD’s and Nikki Nite has accomplished her goals based on all of the above.
In her current position, Nite returned for a second tour of duty with Entercom Communications and has settled quite nicely in Austin, Texas. Her first round with Entercom had her setting records at WFBC/Greenville where she piloted the station to #1in the market 21 out of 26 ratings periods. Prior to arriving in Austin, she was brought into the Dallas market by CBS Radio to re-brand the struggling KVIL as “The New 103.7 Lite FM,” and the station proceeded to jump from sixth to third with W25-54. While in Dallas, CBS took advantage of her CHR experience and had her launch MOViN 107.5 finding the audience growing to Top 5 W18-49.
After a format flip to Hispanic, Nikki had to move on from Dallas and was recruited to return to Entercom where she’s been for the past two and a half years focusing on keeping KAMX at the top of its game in a very competitive Adult formats marketplace.
From PD of CHR WFBC you shifted to Mainstream AC KVIL in Dallas, not the most comparable formats. What was the transition like going from CHR to AC?
It was exciting. CBS sought me out for that job because KVIL was in a position at the time where it needed to be reinvigorated, if not reinvented. They were looking for a good PD with a solid programming background that wasn’t necessarily an AC background, who didn’t necessarily have to know the “rules” of AC radio, and who wouldn’t be afraid to try new things. Sometimes when you’re entrenched in a format for a really long time, you can learn things to be truths and that can make it difficult to try something other than what has been known to work in the past. It was mutually beneficial that I went into that situation not really having any AC experience. The real transition was learning about the music, because the tenets of good programming are similar across all formats. That job was mainly about re-imaging the station and giving it new life. A lot of it was branding, and that certainly wasn’t foreign to me because you have to do that with any great product, give it a personality and a brand.
In Dallas, what lessons did you learn about programming in your first major market?
It was interesting going from a medium size market to a major market because you learn quite readily that things move so much more quickly. I was very fortunate to have great support from (VP of Programming) Kurt Johnson and (Market Manager) Brian Purdy. Dallas was definitely the place where I learned to be a much better business person.
I was also surrounded by a cluster of formats I hadn’t dealt with before and because of that and the caliber of people programming those stations, it opened my eyes about many different formats and different ways to approach things. It made me a more well-rounded programmer.
You eventually shifted to the newly launched MOViN 107.5 in Dallas with CBS, but that was short lived.
I was on the KVIL project for about a year, re-branding it to the new 103.7 Lite-FM. The station was doing really well with the numbers back where they needed to be. At that time CBS decided to launch a MOViN station within the cluster. They knew I had a CHR background and were happy with the job I did at KVIL, so they wanted me to launch this new brand in Dallas. A couple of years later CBS decided they would be in a better revenue position with a Hispanic format on that frequency. During the two and half years I was at MOViN there was quite a bit of restructuring and consolidation at CBS Dallas and unfortunately my position was eliminated.
Then in May 2009 the move back to Entercom in the Austin market with Hot AC KAMX. Yet you entered MIX as APD/MD. Given your programming background, why was that the case?
(Entercom VP of Programming) Cat Thomas, who I had worked with in the past, along with (SVP of Programming) Pat Paxton, came calling on me to return to the company. Entercom’s a company I’ve always felt great about and Austin is a great place to live. They happened to have an APD opening at the time at KAMX, and I was eager to get back to work and excited to be able to do that alongside people I knew and respected. I knew that I was a valuable asset and would eventually have an opportunity to program again. So I wasn’t really concerned about going in as APD for a little while and working my way back to a PD position with Entercom.
Given your CHR and Mainstream AC experience at this point, was it an easier transition to the Hot AC format at KAMX?
I did feel more at ease and I think it was because of my experience of having programmed and having seen up close, many different formats at that stage in my career. I learned that a lot of the basics are really the same. What’s different is the music you’re playing and the audience you’re targeting. Given my extensive knowledge of CHR music coupled with my knowledge of the music at AC, I felt confident transitioning to the Hot AC format.
You’ve programmed a variety of formats over the course of your career. What management philosophies have continued to work best for you regardless of the format?
First and foremost, your people management skills must be a top priority. People are all the same regardless of format. They all want to be acknowledged and appreciated. They want to excel in what they do. They want to be in roles that challenge them. No matter what format you’re involved with dealing with your staff in a way that keeps them happy, challenged and motivated is the first step to having a successful radio station.
I’ve also never been one of those PD’s that separates herself from sales. I believe you have to have a good relationship with the sales department. I have an immense respect for what the sales department does. They have a tough job. They have to go out on the street every day and hear “no” all day long. If people in programming had to hear no all day long we’d fall over and die! The sales/programming relationship is very important because when both departments understand the other’s objectives everyone can be on the same page moving forward and making money, which is the bottom line. We’re all in this to see our business be profitable., As programmers we need to contribute to help meet this objective.
You’ve worked back to back now for two successful radio groups in CBS Radio and Entercom. Can you contrast the cultures of the two companies?
They’re both fantastic companies. They both really value people, and are excellent operators. I didn’t see a lot of difference between the two. I’ve had great experiences with both. I was able to be autonomous with Entercom in Greenville and now in Austin. I had the same experience with CBS in Dallas, where Brian Purdy’s mantra was “run your business.” Also in both cases, there was help if you needed it and great support systems when facing the most challenging of circumstances.
There has been quite a bit of radio consolidation over the past couple years with other large radio groups leading to national programming and talent syndication. How do you feel about this trend in general for the radio industry?
I truly believe there’s a distinct advantage in being local. I believe local radio has the best opportunities to serve communities. When natural disasters occur, like the recent wildfires here, it is awesome to be local and be able to react to those things spontaneously and inform people who are worried and scared about the situations happening around them, and get info to people and help with recovery afterwards. You’re experiencing it with the community firsthand. I don’t think it’s impossible to do those things when you have piped in voice-tracking, but it does make it harder to react as quickly and touch the community as genuinely. It’s one of the advantages radio has that makes us a different medium than anything else that people have at their disposal right now for entertainment and information. I feel if we lose or dilute localism, that it would be very unfortunate.
As far as drifting away from localism being an industry trend, the concept doesn’t appeal to me. Our ability to communicate one on one with the people right in our own cities, and the feeling that people will turn to you when something does happen and you can make a real difference as their favorite local radio station is something that makes our medium special and I hope it’s doesn’t get replaced.
How much of a local air-staff have you retained in Austin?
We’re live and local all day long up until the Kim Iverson show at 9pm which is a syndicated show that originates in our studios.
There are many major market facilities that operate with skeleton crews and the programmers comment on the lack of vibe in the halls because of the lack of people. Given a full staff of people, how does that result in idea energy and excitement?
I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t experienced a radio station with only a few people in it, but I will say that it’s great to come in and have people rallying around the brand every day. We do engage in a lot of brainstorming and sharing of ideas. There’s a lot of creative problem solving that goes on. It’s definitely invigorating to do those types of things when you have people in the building who are getting excited and have a vested interest in the station doing well and want to participate. I would assume this is a lot more fun than sitting in your office and trying to do it all by yourself with computers and feeds. After all, radio has a human element to it, so it’s great to have other humans to interact with while you’re doing this thing that’s a personal entertainment medium.
You were in Dallas just as PPM kicked in and were part of that market’s conversion to the new methodology. When you arrived in Austin the market was in the process of converting to PPM. What have been the most valuable lessons learned in programming in a PPM world?
Prior to PPM, people would always say content is king and when you become a PPM market you see how true that really is. The biggest lesson is the slim margin of error because the audience is very unforgiving. You have to keep things tight while still maintaining an entertainment factor to your station. The danger of PPM is the reaction, “To take everything off my station because I can’t possibly stop-down for two seconds and not be playing a song!” But you can end up with a bland station if you do that. It’s just learning how to make sure that when you’re doing something besides playing your audience’s favorite music, it’s as compelling to them as their favorite song.
Can you contrast the two methodologies?
In diary you had the advantage that someone might stop listening to you but they thought they still were, so they would write it down anyway. In PPM it’s actual listening and if they stop listening to you, whether they’ve gotten out of the car or they’ve switched to another station all together, they’ve stopped listening to you period. The one improvement I’d like to see with PPM is better measurement with more meters in the markets, but that’s a cost issue that needs to be addressed.
How much access and interaction do you have up the chain of command at Entercom with VP’s and SVP’s of programming?
Entercom has great communication up the chain. If I needed to speak to Pat Paxton, I would call him and he would call right back. It’s fantastic. Another thing that’s cool about Entercom is that David Field, the President of the company, will come to your market and literally know everybody’s name. He will walk off the elevator and say hello to people by name and ask them questions about their personal lives. It’s great. This company really takes an interest in the people that work for them and that’s pretty cool.
Given the amount of sharing of music between CHR and Hot AC these days, how closely aligned do you feel the two formats are and what precautions should you take in sharing CHR hits?
The two formats have definitely moved closer to each other. Recently, CHR has had a lot of great mass appeal music that Hot AC has been able to play. Plus there haven’t been as many mega-hits from mainstream Hot AC artists as there have been from Pop artists. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, have all been so huge and have transcended formats.
However, Hot AC does have to be careful to differentiate itself from the CHR in the market. By its nature Hot AC has an older audience so it should be a more familiar radio station. In most cases you’re probably not going to win the image of breaking music like the CHR station, therefore you have to be careful because you don’t want to sound like yesterday’s Top 40 station. You have find those artists and songs unique to your format that give you your own identity apart from the CHR station in your market, while still bringing as much cume as possible to your station.
You also have to be cautious of the CHR songs you do play. There are certain songs at CHR we can play and certain songs that violate the expectation our audience has of our brand. You can go a little bit too far and that line is different for every station in each market.
What mainly drives the music at Hot AC and how pliable is the format relative to new music?
When you’re at a Hot AC station there are some great and unique artists out there that your audience is going to love and they deserve to be played on your station. So I don’t want to give the impression that Hot AC doesn’t deal with or break any new artists. You just have to be patient because in most cases you’re not going to have as much exposure for these artists outside of your station so it’ll take those songs a little bit longer to develop and research. Sometimes that’s why it’s difficult for Hot AC to break a lot of artists like that because at times in your market you’re alone. You may be the only station playing a Matt Nathanson or Andy Grammer single. So playing that music along with the big hits that are being supported in a lot of other places like Pop stations, TV commercials or whatever broader exposure these hits are getting, is important for Hot AC in order to maintain a balance.
Now that consumers are in the driver’s seat regarding entertainment and information choices, how important is it to be very lifestyle driven in radio these days?
You definitely have to be more lifestyle centric today. Given all the cross media distractions you have to be sensitive to who you’re talking to and what their habits are. It’s really always been the case except that today there are so many more choices fragmenting peoples’ habits. You’re competing with things like Facebook, which isn’t music at all but people spend a lot of time there; time they’re not necessarily spending with your station.
It’s important today more than ever to also be as compelling as possible so that when they do spend time with you they feel like they’re spending time with a product that’s designed for them, and it really can’t be for them unless you really know who they are. We constantly are doing events throughout the year and we want to make sure that in every case they are definitely speaking to our audience’s lifestyle.
What are some of the most challenging aspects of social networking strategy?
Social media is moving so quickly. There are new things coming out all the time and we’re all trying to learn how radio can live in that space and be where our audiences are and communicate with them. With Facebook and platforms of that nature, you’re joining their party. Whereas your station website is your party, Facebook is their party and you’re walking into it. So the way you present yourself has to be a little bit different. You have to be careful about being all “me, me, me” and be more about “them, them, them,” and have conversations with your audience and ask them questions. It’s a two way conversation. Learning how to correctly manage the customer service aspects of that is important. How you respond to your audience on Facebook when they’re asking you questions is important. There’s a new transparency now. If someone says something bad about your station on your page you have to let them and you have to respond to it.
All of these platforms are different. Twitter’s purpose is different than Facebook’s and you need to communicate to your audience in the proper way on each medium based on what those mediums are meant to do, and that takes educating yourself and your staff about those and all the new ones that are coming out.
Where is MIX making the most progress with audience engagement in this area?
One area I’m really proud of is our Facebook efforts. We have a very high rate of interaction. Our engagement rate averages 15% which is really good. That’s a reflection of my staff doing a great job communicating with the audience we do have on Facebook and conversing with them about things they care about. That’s so important because with Facebook it’s not all about just how many people like our fan page, it’s about engaging and connecting with the people that are there. If you have 10, 20 or 30 thousand fans on your fan page and you have no interaction, what good is that?
Given the importance of all things digital these days, what shouldn’t radio lose sight of in a traditional sense?
What’s coming out of the speakers. As a programmer today, we have so many responsibilities we didn’t have even just six or seven years ago and people are wearing multiple hats now more than ever. We can become so busy in our day to day multi-tasking responsibilities that we have to always remember that it’s what’s coming out of the speakers that’s the most important thing of all.
What is your take on the three major mergers in the music industry over the past year?
I’m obviously concerned for my friends who lose their jobs through consolidation, that’s difficult to watch. I am excited for the people I see re-invent themselves and the people who are smart and able enough to do that hopefully will be thriving when the music industry finally re-invents itself and gets back into growth mode. We need a vibrant music community of people who are working in this field that we all love so much.
Who have you been the major influences during your career and what did you mainly take away from those relationships?
There are so many people along the way. I have been so blessed. From a programming perspective I learned something different from each one of them, but I think the one thing that all of these people have in common is that not only are they great programmers, they’re also great with people. They’re so good with managing people in such a human and real way, and that has made a big impression on me as I deal with my staff.
Cat Thomas was one of the very first people I worked with in my career and he used to say back in the day that your radio station has to have (like the Wizard of Oz) courage, brains and a heart. I’ve always remembered that. Also at Entercom, Pat Paxton has given me a lot of opportunities and he’s the type of person who genuinely believes in people and is very supportive of his programmers. That’s meant a lot to me.
At CBS, Kurt Johnson and Brian Purdy are both excellent managers who know how to bring out the best in people. Brian has a great business mind and I learned a lot from him about the business side of radio. Kurt always reminded me how much fun this business is. Even though it’s become more and more of a business, at the end of the day what we do is really fun. Dan Vallie is a brilliant programmer. We launched a really out-of-the-box format together (God & Country) and I learned from him that the basic rules of programming apply regardless of the format.
In essence, we’re all doing this thing we love and if you’re fortunate enough to be doing it with people you enjoy and people that treat you well, that is success.
[eQB Content by Fred Deane]
