Tim Rainey’s career path would be paved with the opportunity to learn the programming ropes from the likes of Jave Patterson, Bill Schulz, Cat Thomas, J.B. King, Tod Tucker, Chris Edge and Chris Pickett. Quite an array of talent to get him started for what would be his eventual first programming assignment at WNOU in 2007. Four years later, the well respected “Rayne” has WNOU at the top of its game and was recently rewarded with a three-year contract extension.
Tim Rainey
By Mark LaSpina
Tim Rainey started his radio career before he could drive as a board op for the Leeza Gibbons Top 25 Countdown. But it was while working at KDOT/Reno with Jave Patterson that his programming interest became peaked, and then fueled even higher by Bill Schulz at KWNZ/Reno. While attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas he joined Cat Thomas and J.B. King at KLUC/Las Vegas for weekends. His time at KLUC paved the way the for his first APD gig at KHTT/Tulsa. In 2006 he landed at WNOU for APD duties and was named PD in 2007.
“Rayne” exudes the qualities of an accomplished programmer in today’s competitive environment: Progressive and forward thinking, embracing new technology and social networking from the onset, recognizing the enormous potential it possessed to connect better with his audience making WNOU, as he puts it, the “Pop culture epicenter of Indianapolis.” After four successful years at the helm of WNOU, he was rewarded with a three-year extension in January.
How well did your APD experience prepare you for your first PD gig?
Think of it as Minor League Baseball. You might get a taste of the experience on a smaller scale, but you really don’t know until you get the call to the “Big Show.” Being an APD/MD was great because I could still have some fun with programming…without the responsibility of being a PD. My PD mentor Cat Thomas from KLUCsummed it up best…”it’s like being an APD with more paperwork.”
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced as programmer over the past four years?
PPM, managing people, client complaints, music cycles, fresh imaging, budget cuts, competition. I believe you’ll find that not only are these challenges for me, but for all programmers at all radio stations. Think about it though, we do have a pretty cool job. We get to listen to music, interact with people, be as creative as we can, and we get paid for it. None of these challenges are bad, they only make you better. I believe you can assess your own greatness on how you tackle and overcome obstacles.
What does it take to be a successful programmer and how are you applying this to your programming philosophy?
I think to be good, you have to have guts. You need to be able to say, “Why have we been doing it this way? Let’s try something different.” Our audience is always trying new and different things, so you have to be able to do the same. You have to take risks. That is what pushes you from good to great. Lincoln isn’t recognized as one of our greatest Presidents because he continued to do what James Buchanan did. He made different, unique decisions. It was those new and shocking decisions that made him great. You can’t invent something new without changing the process first.
What do you feel are the biggest challenges radio faces today?
People that continue to say radio is a “dying medium.” It’s only dying to them because they refuse to accept that it’s not radio 20 years ago. They have failed to evolve with the medium. This medium continues to evolve every day. Downloads, social networking, websites, streaming, video, text, UStream; are all tools to make radio more than it was the day before. For radio to “survive”, we need to continue to market new artists, continue to expose our audience to new music and come up with new, innovative ways for our sales people to sell advertising. For once in this industry, NTR actually means more than putting on a car show once a year.
How are you preparing RadioNOW to meet, if not exceed, these challenges issues?
I love being creative. I love finding out what the “next big thing” is that our audience is looking for. I love looking and seeing what other ideas my peers are coming up with. I love emailing them and sharing my ideas. You can’t think of “stealing” an idea from another station in another market. Think of it as an innovation in your market. As I like to say, RadioNOW is the “Pop culture epicenter of Indianapolis.” No other TV, radio or print can come close to influencing our audience with Pop culture like we do on RadioNOW. Challenges make you better daily.
In retrospect, were there any strategic and/or positioning changes you felt were necessary as you put your imprint on the station?
When I joined RadioNOW in June 2006, former PD Chris Edge had maintained quite a brand. We both felt it was missing that “Rhythmic” touch. Edge admitted to me on my first day, “I don’t hear the Rhythm stuff, I’m going to count on you for that.” From that point on, RadioNOW has always had that Pop/Rhythmic edge that the city of Indianapolis has come to expect from us. Since then, thousands of dollars in research confirmed that fact. As a matter of fact, the running joke is we are the “female friendly counterpart to sister WHHH.”
How important is it for programmers to be personally involved with social networking?
I love to facebook, tweet, (@rayne1009) and text because that’s where our audience is. Follow them. What is shocking to me is when PD’s preach how much they expect their talent to facebook and tweet about themselves and about the station…when the PD’s don’t do it themselves.
How do you effectively use research to make music decisions, and what role does gut play in assessing and reacting to new music?
I love this question. Today, programmers have more tools than EVER to make music decisions. Notice the word “tools” and not “bibles.” Callout is not the end all, be all. I’m lucky enough to have custom callout. I look at Indianapolis downloads, ringtones, text requests, MScore…and the best tie-breaker tool of them all…gut. After five years in Indianapolis, I tend to think I know what our demo wants. I have seen the patterns and cycles. Just because it’s a hot song nationally, will it fit on WNOU? If it doesn’t, what are the long-term effects on the brand? You have to know your market and your brand before you can make those kinds of decisions. If you have to use the “chart” as one of your tools to make your music decisions, you clearly do not understand your market yet.
When can research be a detriment to the decision making process?
When you look at the sample size of callout the same way you look at the sample size of your PPM in-tab. Both are ridiculously small considering your cume. Until the sample size gets bigger and best represents your audience, your callout is a tool and not the Bible.
How much of an effect has PPM measurement had on your programming philosophy?
It’s great because it puts all programmers back on a level playing field. As the PPM technology continues to become perfected, you may realize that the listening patterns of the audience aren’t exactly what you expected them to be. Knowing your market, knowing your brand and knowing how to maximize those five minutes you hope to have with your audience. This isn’t a diary world anymore, Toto.
How important is it for you to utilize the mix shows in developing music at WNOU?
I have a great mix show team on WNOU. Ten-year RadioNOW veteran DJ Orion leads the crew of Cool Hand Lex, Indiana Jones and Slater Hogan on having a tight, branded mix show. I meet with these guys constantly to pick their brain on what is working in the clubs and how we can transfer that into our mixshows on the air. It’s a great launching pad to warm up those early records.
These days, everyone is doing more with less. What are the key factors that allow you to stay focused on your daily tasks?
What’s great is I’m blessed to have a full-time airstaff. Scotty Davis and “The Scotty Show”, Reka in middays, Mikey V at night and a solid team of part-timers on the weekends. It’s quite the change from only one or two people running an entire radio station. What’s great is they are so ingrained in the brand. They know their roles and responsibilities which makes it so much easier on me. You win with people!
To what extent has new media helped in expanding and strengthening the RadioNOW brand?
RadioNOW was the first radio station in Indianapolis in 2005 to utilize text messaging as a branch extension to our audience. Look how far we’ve come in using text messages. Now, we do everything on our phones. Again, that’s where our audience is. Radio One just recently launched our streaming mobile app for RadioNOW through Airkast. Radio One was also the first to launch a WordPress based blog-type website in the market which has made it even easier for our audience to navigate our sites and get Pop culture information, as well as keeping all of our jocks connected to our rapidly progressive audience. I like to think that RadioNOW should move as fast as our audience should.
How important is it to work closely with your sales staff in understanding each other’s needs and goals?
I am blessed to have such a great sales staff. What’s most important is they have to love the brand. They love what they are selling. They come to me with objectives and I provide them branches of the brand to sell. The harder you make it, the harder it is for them. If it is too hard to sell, no one wins. They live the RadioNOW lifestyle and they listen to the station. That makes it so much easier to have a great working relationship.
How frequently do you sit with the staff in a mentoring capacity?
I love being able to aircheck my staff and help them get better. I love knowing that talent that has worked at RadioNOW over the last few years have moved on to full-time positions in Charlotte, Milwaukee, Jacksonville, Fort Wayne, Evansville and Roanoke. RadioNOW is like the Top 40 farm league of the Midwest. I wouldn’t have made it to this point without incredible mentoring and coaching. It’s the least I can do to help these kids that want to do what I’ve wanted to do since I was 12 years old.
Where do you see the greatest potential for growth for the medium of radio?
Anything we can create and put on a cell phone. That’s where our audience lives. Think about everything we can do with apps. We have no reason to lug around a big laptop anymore now that iPads and tablets take over our life, all easy to use and easy to access. Contesting, streaming, podcasts…anything we as radio can put on phones and sell to advertisers is a win.
You recently took part in shaving your head for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for childhood cancer. How did you get involved with the event and how much money were you able to raise?
A friend of mine has been shaving his head for the last few years so when he told me about the event, it peaked my interest, but I knew I did not want to shave off a few inches; I wanted to make it worth it. After 15 months without a haircut, I raised close to $2,000 for St. Baldricks and I have never done something so personally rewarding to help these kids see their next birthday. One 12 year old girl only 6 months into remission, had just started growing her hair back and decided to shave it all off for the sake of these kids. It was definitely one of the highlights of my career.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career?
“I’m listening. Don’t say f**k.” – Every PD I have ever had.
[eQB Content by Mark LaSpina]
