Monday, April 21, 2008

A Few Words from Terry…



First, a special thanks to the KFSH Sales Department for our Pirate themed luncheon.

John Timm is the manager of the Salem cluster of stations in Phoenix. A career radio professional, John had bought some Jiffy Lube franchises in the Phoenix area and was planning on retiring on the income. I asked him why he had sold his lucrative Jiffy Lube franchises and returned to radio.
His answer? “The people. The caliber of people I work with at these Salem stations is far superior to the people who worked for me at Jiffy Lube.” I like that answer and it’s the same reason I love working here—I get to work with you. I remember back to my start in radio in 1978. Not only did I not know anything about the business, many of my co-workers were killing time waiting until a real job would come around.
There isn’t a day that goes by where Salem L.A. staff doesn’t impact people with its expertise. When people have a creative, sales, IT or graphics need—Who ya gonna call? Not Ghostbusters, but Salem L.A! Here are a few recent examples:
  • Joe Davis asked us to rewrite a script for Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answerman, that will be running on all 45 Salem Teaching talk stations. Dave Deno put together two great spots.
  • Mary Beth Garber, from the Southern California Broadcasters, was looking for someone to judge the entries to a radio commercial contest in the state of Washington. Who ya gonna call? That’s right, Salem L.A., and Blaine Parker volunteered.
  • Frank Pastore and I met with an inner city pastor who hosts a daily talk show on KTYM. He was looking for advice on how to attract and manage callers. Who ya gonna call?
  • Bob Hastings and I were on a conference call preparing a presentation that will be made to all the Salem GMs at our upcoming annual General Manager’s Meeting. We will be sharing non traditional revenue strategies like KKLA’s Kingdom Builders, the Fish’s Faith and Family Day at Staples and the Home Depot Centers, KRLA’s Listener events like the Dennis Prager 25th Anniversary Roast, as well some sales management strategies. “Who ya gonna call?” Not Ghostbusters, Salem L.A!
  • When Salem’s corporate I.T. department was looking for station level pros who could serve multiple stations who did they call? Richie Mortensen.
  • When our sales departments were looking for a company to put together quality graphics—like a thousand FishFest banners, or the 28 page KKLA Magazine, or the Prager Anniversary Program or the official program for FishFest, who ya gonna call? Kinko’s? No. Jake Nyman, Jim Tinker and Kyle Jelinek.
  • When Ed Atsinger’s assistant needed a full page Dennis Prager ad created to put in the Jewish Volunteer Service’s program, who’d she call? Me, but who did I call? Jake.
  • When Craig was on vacation in Hawaii, I asked him to stop by our Honolulu stations. Before you know it he’s helping their program director understand the basics of talk radio.
I could go on and on about how Salem LA people shine above the rest, but I will say this again: there is no group of radio professionals I would rather call than YOU.