Back to Broadcast Media Sales!
In my last blog, My Entry into Broadcast Media Sales, I ended it with how I was starting to feel antsy working in print sales at Umoja Newspaper which led to me thinking about my next challenge. Coincidentally I received a phone call from the local sales manager at WEBE 108FM and WICC 600AM. She said one of their seasoned players did not work out and there was a “list” for me if I wanted it. A “list” in broadcast media sales is a written guarantee of accounts that show that a seller is going to make a certain amount of money within the year by servicing these accounts. I was very happy to return to WEBE and WICC, this time with a “base” to work from as well as a team that I felt more aligned with. This was back in the 90s when there were lots of incentives put forth for good sellers to stick around. At WEBE and WICC these included trips to the Caribbean if quarterly team budgets were met, cash bonuses and lots of local restaurant trade for sellers to use on their advertising clients. Here’s another: if we lived in a nearby city (at the time I lived in New Haven, CT) we were encouraged to get a gas and oil change trade to use for our own car(!) as well as to be shared with the radio stations news vehicles. Win Win! I got it done and spent the following year enjoying free gas and free oil changes! Again, very different times (smile).
It gets better. On my first day back to work, I found out the WEBE and WICC combo sales team had just achieved their quarterly sales budget so, as they say, I stepped into it. Since I was the one who had replaced the dismissed Senior Account Executive, I automatically qualified for an All-Inclusive 6 day 5 night trip to Half Moon Bay in Montego Bay, Jamaica! Since I wasn’t a “real winner” like the rest of the sales team I could go, but I could not bring a date. No matter, I still enjoyed my very own Junior Suite, copious amounts of delish food and drink, quality beach time and plenty of sight seeing with the only other 2 “single ladies” on the trip and I had a blast! What a way to start a new job (smile).
I truly enjoyed being back at WEBE and WICC radio for the second time around. Now I was making good money, I got along very well with the staff and the local sales team, dined out at some of the finest restaurants in Fairfield County, and enjoyed many other occupational perks. However, I still felt like something was missing. So when I got a phone call from the then General Sales Manager of Star 99.9FM, WPLR 99.1FM, and WYBC 94.3FM, I took it. We met up and he told me in person that they had created a position just for me. I would be the New Business Director of WYBC 94.3FM. I would have my own office at their Milford, CT headquarters and I was to be charged with creating a media kit from scratch as well as sales one sheeters and such. I would also hire local Account Executives strictly for WYBC and train them as well as train the Star 99.9 and WPLR 99.1 Account Executives on how to sell a black radio station and more importantly, how to sell to the Urban community. Management had evidently did their homework on me…I was up to the task and lasted 5 and a half years. I was forced out in the end when things started to get ugly in the Radio industry. It was transitioning to Wall Street which meant lots of mergers and the introduction of satellite radio. Positions like mine were cut and heads rolled out the door. My beloved Radio was becoming a part of my not too distant past and I had no choice but to finally let go…
I started interviewing for local television stations while I took advantage of my time off with severance pay. A good friend of mine named Catherine (who is now one of my fav clients!) suggested I start there. I also met with another industry friend of mine named Paul who worked in local sales for both radio and television stations and told me that it’s like “going from the basement to the penthouse.” Paul was not wrong (smile). I ended up back at News 8 (ABC) my first choice even though I interviewed with all of the other local network affiliates: CBS, NBC and FOX. News 8 was appealing to me because of my previous and positive work history there and because I truly loved the station and it programming – Me and my family watched Channel 8 back in the day when I was Growing up Hollis in Groton, CT – Sports Nut. Again, News 8 was the last tv station I interviewed with. I learned a lot from the other interviews and used that knowledge to convince the then Local Sales Manager to hire me in a week’s time (including a drug test)! I basically said something to the effect of, you can hire me here to bring in New Business or you can watch while I bring it in to your competition and he was SOLD (smile).
It’s now 20 years later and I sell 2 local TV stations – WTNH News 8 and WCTX My TV; a station website, WTNH.com; Integrated Sponsorships for our local lifestyle show, CT Buzz; and local News and Community sponsorships. Since we are owned by Nexstar Media Group out of Texas, I also sell Nexstar digital products including but not limited to SEM/SEO, Video Marketing, Email Blasts, Social Media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and You Tube) and OTT/CTV.
The world has truly changed over the past 35+ years and local media continues to evolve. My story will not be fully written until I retire and can really kick back and look at things from a perspective not clouded by the daily stresses of my work life. Stay tuned…
TVFL