10 Questions with ... Rick Peters

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Started as an AOR jock in Miami/Fort Lauderdale in the '70s. Moved on to programming in Miami and Boston, then a couple of entrepreneurial VP/Programming gigs in the '80s and '90s, my own Programming Consultancy for 10 years, CEO of Southern Star (Capstar division) in the late-'90s. Bought the Montgomery cluster in 2004 and been here ever since.

1. Congrats on the station's latest Nielsen Spring '17 Ratings Book. You referenced the station being on top in non-ethnic men 18-34 and 25-54. Please share with us The Gump's ratings success story.

The Gump came out of the box pretty strong back in 2010. It speaks to the demand for New Rock in the market. The other Rock stations are Classic Rock and Album Rock, so Gump is alone in playing New Rock. We've been top ranked or close to it every book, either 18-34 or 25-54 Men (depending on Nielsen wobble) non-ethnic ever since. 12 plus we hover around a 2 share. Alternative isn't one of the top 5 formats here, and we don't need it to be. The top formats tend to be Ethnic, Country and Top 40. We focus on the Alternative core listener.

2. The Gump has a unique situation being on AM with an FM translator, explain the station's coverage with the two signals?

The Gump is a known primarily as 104.9 which is the translator frequency even though it is in fact repeating the AM station WGMP. The AM at 1170 is 1,000 watts and covers the market, but I'd be surprised if anyone listens to it. The 104.9 Translator is at 100 watts at 800 feet in the center of town. It's a defacto Class A FM in its coverage. It's a true "metro" signal. The ratings don't show any deficiency of signal at all.

3. What has been the biggest change at the station since you first launched in 2010?

The biggest change is adding an air staff. We debuted the station jockless, and let the listener vote on keeping it that way. Eventually, we decided that we couldn't really be advocates for the music, or develop a sense of "tribe" without an air staff. Radio is an intimate medium. You must have air personalities that reflect the core life group. So, we added them. Runner up for biggest change is the music. It's dramatically different from when we started. It's much more pop, softer, more female acceptable. We follow the audience wherever they want to go musically. We don't dictate to them, we reflect.

4. You've mentioned to me that you're a bit of a renegade when it comes to programming The Gump. Tell us about your programming philosophy and why you concentrate exclusively on streaming?

Yes, being on both sides of the business (revenue and product) gives me a different perspective. It's the programmer's job to deliver the largest possible audience to our advertisers. After all this is an advertising business. As a programmer, I'm not really interested in being a "trend setter" or music "breaker." That's not a programmer's job. The programmer's job is to ascertain what the audience feels strongest and most passionate amount and PLAY IT. If that's brand new tracks, fine. If it's library, fine. I only look at streaming. It's the best indicator of consumption, period. We look at over 500,000,000 streams and downloads weekly, nationally. That's a bunch of data points. We also look specifically at what the format partisans are streaming locally. We can immediately see what is getting interest and what is hype. Consumption equals passion, especially when tracked week after week. It's a more accurate indicator of what the audience is into than Mediabase which is kind of like a "dog chasing its own tail." Our data shows that radio is usually late in adding the hottest tracks, and off way to early on the most popular tracks, right when the partisans are still deep into consuming the product on line. I predict that everyone will be using streaming data within the next five years. It's the most accurate indicator of a hit track.

5. What is most important to you when determining what is hot in music consumption?

All I care about is what the listener is consuming. Period. I don't follow other stations. I don't really follow Mediabase, at least not for rotations or adds.

6. What may surprise people the most about The Gump?

That it's a 99 watt translator, beating full service stations all over the market.

7. You're a busy man handling the GM, sales, and programming of five stations. How do you make all that work?

It's 9 stations actually, (5 full service, and 4 translators). It's simple really. Hire the absolute best broadcast professionals you can find, tell them specifically what is expected of them, and get out of their way. Let them do their jobs. Manage as necessary, but stay out of their way as much as possible. Other than that, I have to be incredibly organized and have a daily plan of what needs to get done. Having a set routine as much as possible is imperative.

8. You recently relaunched The Vault, an AOR station. Give us the 411 on all five Bluewater Broadcasting brands?

The cluster mirrors the market 40/60 ethnic/non-ethnic. 47% of the market uses one of the 9 stations every week. We have two Urbans, Jamz and Yo! (Mainstream and Hip Hop Oldies);Two Country's, WBAM and The Possum (Today's Best and Classic); an FM News Talker, WACV with 12 hours of locally originated talk every day; two Rock Stations Vault and Gump (Album Rock and Alternative), and an Oldies based AC station, KISS focused on "at work" listening. It's a bunch.

9. What is a typical workday like for you?

There is no typical workday, but it starts about 8:30 and ends around 6 or so, not that I'm complaining. I am a true advocate for what we do and who we are as radio broadcasters. The week starts with Sales and Management meetings, and then right into music data and weekly Programming. Programming takes most of the second half of Monday through Wednesday, putting out fires from other departments along the way. The end of the week is used for follow up, Sales, Promotions and strategic thinking.

10. What do you like best about living in Montgomery, Alabama?

After living almost 40 years in South Florida, I find Montgomery to be a welcome slower pace, much more polite and civil, pretty conservative, easily navigated, and "southern" in a very charming way. It's also 2 hours from Atlanta and 3 hours to some of the best beaches in the world. And, I could afford to buy stations here - that's the best reason to be here.

What are weekends like for you?

Weekends: depends right now Alabama Football. Roll Tide. College football is an absolute passion in Alabama. It was a pleasant discovery after being in a Pro-sports town. I try to hang out with my Frenchies on the weekends, and chill as much as possible.

Tell us about your love for Harleys, airplanes, boats, and cars.

I admit I have a love of burning hydrocarbons, even though I have backed off a lot on the Harley's and Airplane's as I get older. Always been a true "car crazy". Love my cars. Here's a fun fact: I've never had a four seat car as my driver, only two seaters. After a string of "Z" cars, (240, 260, 280, and 300's), I've moved on to fast and comfy - SL Mercedes (560sl, sl500 and now sl550). One true passion these days is French Bulldogs. Crazy cool dogs. Have two, Louie and Cooper. Any critter that can make you laugh every day is a keeper.