Rich Davis, Program Director KDWB & KTCZ & iHeartCustom CHR Programming Lead

June 16, 2023

by Fred Deane

Rich Davis

There are several reasons why Rich Davis is one of iHeart’s most valuable programmers. While success resonates in his ongoing career portfolio, his ability to adapt to new and challenging opportunities has also been an intrinsic trait that had allowed him to gain a vast amount of experience in dealing with a variety of situations across many contemporary formats across the country.

Rich has also shown himself to be a consummate team player in his multiple roles both locally and nationally and has welcomed new responsibilities with eager eyes and open arms. His ambitious nature is commendable.

What still motivates you the most about your job?
I’ve always said my worst day doing radio is likely better than most people’s best day at their job. I love what I do as I much as I did when I walked into my first radio station many years ago. Playing songs on the radio that eventually turn into hits, putting together a great promotion or station concert and hopefully having that turn into some good ratings is so rewarding. I feel programmers have even more of an essential role to make their brands stand out. We need to be more in tune with the marketplace, in search of the biggest hits from wherever they’re coming from, empowering our talent to be personalities, and keeping our brands sounding as fresh as we can. I still do noon-4 every Saturday on KDWB (all these years later) so I’m in touch with my radio station, the music, events in the market, and promotions… it keeps me plugged in!

Programmers are doing more with less these days with additional duties. How have you handled your additional duties and have they fragmented the overall energy you put into your local brands?
As the PD of two big brands here in the Twin Cities and the iHeart Media Custom Format Lead for CHR, there’s never a shortage of things to do. I’m pretty upbeat and organized so I feel like I’ve got enough energy to go around. Plus, it’s not unusual to find me in front of the computer over the weekend working on whatever I might have coming up or listening to one of my stations in another market. As much as there’s always something to be done, I love it. If I can impact any of my stations positively, here locally or any of the 40-some custom stations that are under our Custom CHR umbrella, that’s a huge win for me.

What do you think is the biggest issue facing our industry in these current times?
We still have a major talent problem and it’s not getting any better. I understand that it’s a very challenging time in the marketplace overall, but we’ve got to keep growing talent and having places on-air for talents to learn. Taking the time to speak to schools or interns who show any interest in being on-air, even air checking talent in smaller markets. It’s so important. There isn’t much of a farm system like we used to have. I can remember always having an on deck bench of talent who was ready to move to the next level. These days that list is very small and anyone who is on it is in high demand. Plus with AI hurtling towards us, even being implemented in some spots, it’ll be interesting to watch the impact of that as well. There’s certainly some potential there and if we’re not careful we could be in even more trouble on the talent side. Our most important asset is our personalities and their ability to connect with the local audience, entertain, and even make people feel something, is more invaluable than ever.

What solutions do you recommend?
We need to continue to nurture, build and hold onto existing talent. As programmers, we have the opportunity to encourage our shows to be more personality-driven and local. In my mind, there are only a few places where you can fully replace live talent with AI. If you have personality talents across the entire station, those people are going to be hard to beat. I also really think it’s incumbent on anyone who is a personality right now to truly understand that there are no throwaway breaks. They need to use every opportunity to further connect with the audience, and sell who they are as a person who lives in the same town, doing the same things the listeners are doing. It remains to be seen whether AI can be programmed to talk about events in emotionally bonding ways or whether it comes across as sterile. Plus, if you lose that connection with the marketplace, you’re also losing one of radio’s biggest advantages over streaming services. Most of us PD’s have come up thru the industry as a personality and were hopefully lucky enough to be surrounded by compelling live talent on the way up. We all know the importance of that as an essential component of our stations.

What role does imaging play in this mix?
I’m lucky to have one of the best imagers in house here in Diego and he and I are doing more imaging on the station than I probably ever have. Not unlike many of my fellow PD’s we do custom intro’s assimilated into our songs. I feel like those branded intros and the way we segue edit each element really enables maximum momentum on KDWB. I really want us to be a unique sounding station and hopefully, you hear that when you listen.

Are you satisfied with where music trends are in general, and do the various sources offer more variety and a wider palate to choose from?
I like the variety we have on the air and the ability to pick records from various sources. The top 40 I grew up with had Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Nirvana, En Vogue, and even Billy Ray Cyrus all on the air at the same time! These days I love seeing records, whether it’s songs by David Kushner or Lil Durk, mixed in with artists like Post Malone, Luke Combs, Dua Lipa, Morgan Wallen, and the Weeknd. Of course, I’m fortunate in this market because I can be a totally mainstream Pop station. It’s also kind of cool that we have records from years ago that become hits today. For me it’s a reflection of where peoples’ music preferences are these days because of all the sources available.

Is there anything you’re not too pleased with about the music cycle?
I have never been one to dwell on things I can’t control. Certainly the music isn’t moving through the system in the same way it used to but that’s just something we have to adapt to. My job is to find the best songs from wherever they are, that are going to make the biggest impact on my target audience, and play them. Sometimes it’s an album cut that’s not even being worked. I’ve played “Exile” by Taylor Swift and Bon Iver on Cities 97.1 thousands of times and it was a massive hit for me there. Sometimes you swing and miss but sometimes the ones that you least expect initially, become the ones that resonate the most.

In a sense, how does KD and KTCZ (Cities) both complement and differentiate each other?
Cities 97.1 is a very unique station, really the only one of its kind which is why it’s so fun to program. There are plenty of records that will really only work on Cities so it’s easy to keep it different than KDWB. Plus, Cities has a robust gold category with a ton of songs that were initially played on Cities in its AAA heyday. Sometimes I’ll start a song first on Cities and eventually add it to KDWB. Sometimes, with anything that might be a little poppy for Cities it works in the opposite direction.

Are there any synergistic (community-driven, etc.) initiatives you execute with the two?
Not really, each station has its own community driven initiatives. Cities 97.1 has a public service umbrella called Cities Gives Back where each month we highlight a specific public service organization in promo’s outlining what they do and how our listeners can help. Our airtime is donated to their cause and it’s great exposure in the market that hopefully helps them generate money and or goods for their worthy cause. On KDWB the biggest thing we do to help our community was started by Dave Ryan 30 years ago and that’s Dave Ryan’s Christmas Wish. Our “Wishes” are a little different in that as Dave reads the submission letter live on-air, we have our promo team standing by ready to knock on the recipients door and load up their house with what they wished for immediately. It’s pretty awesome to hear people touched by the fact that we’ve piled into their house with Christmas Trees, toys, sleds and ice skates for their kids, gas for their cars, ham or turkey dinners for their holiday meal, gloves and new winter coats, a new furnace for their house or whatever it is they need. Two of the most rewarding things we do on the radio.

What do industry leaders need to recognize the most about the future of radio)?
Like I said earlier, personalities are more important than ever! It’s no longer about 7 second breaks between songs. We have to connect with the audience. Don’t be afraid to take chances either. Sometimes the craziest ideas are the ones that make your station stick out the most. I’m currently into my fifth week of doing our TAYDWB Verified Fan contest for Taylor Swift tickets and the numbers both digitally and in Nielsen have been off the charts.

What were the most inspiring words you received over the course of your career?
When I was at KDWB the first time (way back in the day lol), I got a call from Jeff Tyler about the open PD position at Z104 in Madison. I really wasn’t thinking about leaving KDWB at that time but I was also feeling like I was ready to become a PD. I reached out to two guys who I respected, Dave Allan (in Philadelphia) and Steve Rivers. They both stated (in different ways) that, “You have to know when it’s time to be the guy to make the magic!” I thought that was a very cool way to state what we do as programmers and for me that was what spurred my decision to take the leap into running my first radio station as a Program Director and I’ve never looked back!