10 Questions with ... Bill Mayne

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Shortly after the conclusion of CRS 2019 - the 50th CRS - the organization's Executive Director, Bill Mayne will close the curtain on his 50 years in the music industry. Mayne's last 10 years have been spent guiding CRS, and while his accomplishments in the last decade are top of mind, there are two other equally storied chapters in Mayne's half-century story.

He started in a band, then segued to radio, holding down on-air and programming positions in Top 40, Rock, and Country formats. Mayne found a home at Country radio, launching KASE/Austin, then guiding KZLA/KLAC/Los Angeles, and KSCS/WBAP/Dallas. Next came a 15-year tenure at Warner Bros./Nashville that included time as a regional, VP/Promotion and eventually, GM. A longtime CRB Board member and Board VP when he assumed his current role in 2009, Mayne breathed fresh life into the organization, which is in solid shape today. As Mayne gets ready to shut it down, All Access sat down for "10 Questions."

1. Bill, thanks for taking time for "10 Questions." After 10 successful years leading CRB, you'll be stepping down in May, shortly after CRS 50. Why is 2019 the right time for you to bow out?

It's the right time, because I think it's time. After 10 years, I had a specific vision for where CRS needed to go and what we needed to do to make it innovative and relevant again, and the board supported that. I think it's time for someone else to come in that has a view for looking farther ahead, starting with Generation Z and going to Double A, or whatever it's gonna be after that. Basically, I think it's time for a new vision. I wanna do it. I've worked really hard with a lot of great people, and I wanna do the right thing, mostly for the organization and, ultimately, me, personally. I will have spent 50 years as of 2019. I started in the Summer of '69.

2. Let's step back for a minute, and try to wrap our heads around the number 50 for CRS. That's an amazing history. What has made CRS sustainable and so special for the past 49 years?

The first time I went [to CRS] was in 1981 [when I was] at KASE, when I flipped KASE to Country. At that time, my very first one really blew me away. I was coming out of Rock radio, where all the conventions were like, "When'd ya get in?" - all the typical convention speak. At my very first CRS, I could tell that people were really coming there to be engaged and talk about the business. In the beginning, it was very ardent, almost like classes that discussed topics. It was primarily panels and speakers - incredible speakers. There was a lot to learn, and I've always referred to the magic of CRS, and that magic, after giving it years of thought, is the fact that people really come with the intent to engage one another. It's also kind of, in that sense, like Country music's family reunion. I wouldn't put that in a promo, because it reminds me of hay bales and barn slats, which we had spent 40 years getting rid of, but it's truly where people get together and open up. It's a lot of engagement, and that excites me, because it truly does make us Country music's convention - the only convention.

3. You've led the organization for the past 10 years, but what many people don't know is that you were a longtime board member before taking on the ED role. You were part of board leadership and, similar to your incoming successor, RJ Curtis, served as VP at the time you moved into your current role. How did you first get involved?

It was a bit [after my first CRS]. I went, in the very beginning, within my first year of switching to Country. Normally, I'm a pretty quick adapter, but in this case, I needed to learn a lot about the Country format and about Country music. I knew a lot about Country music, being raised in Texas, but I needed to really learn of which I would speak. It was a few years, and there were some great people in the organization on the Board - Erica Farber, Corrine Baldassano, Gaylon Christie - a lot of different, wonderful people. When the time was right, it evolved, and it happened. I don't keep track of the analytics or numbers; I just believe in doing it. As one gets older - and I'm older than dirt, it's true - people start asking you that question. I've been asked often about my 15 years at Warner Bros. - how many #1s did you have - "I don't know," is what I always had to answer. Someday, when I'm sitting in a rocking chair and have nothing else to do, I'll get some books and data and figure all that stuff out. The joy and success came with spending all my time focused on doing it.

4. CRS is just one of three significant chapters in your career. You just mentioned 15 years at Warner Music Nashville, helping develop the likes of Randy Travis, Faith Hill, Dwight Yoakam, Travis Tritt, and many others. Prior to that, you spent years in radio, programming in major markets and overseeing huge radio brands. All of these jobs are totally different - the only similarity being the same overall business - what lesson about re-inventing yourself would you share with others?

Everybody's figured this out at this point; when I was doing it, it wasn't too broadly known. In a lot of businesses that are finite businesses, if you're a PhD in Organic Chemistry, that's a pretty highly-specified job. I thought all the things you did, being in a radio business, that it was a specialized job, but when I started looking at it, there were so many different things you could do in media that revolved around all your skill sets; what you had in your kit to go accomplish things, and not just one set of skills. It started before that; I was in a band and played professionally, very mediocrely, before I got into radio. The radio part came when I went to college. I gravitated to radio, because it was more creative than television. I made that transition to be involved with music, and while doing that, I was in college and working in radio, because I realized a degree wasn't going to land me the best gig. All people in the industry really cared about was where you've worked, what you sound like, and your tape, as far as on-air talent was concerned, and that was my portal to get in. I had been in radio for 17 years and gone through all the transition that radio had and the consolidation issues. When [RJ] and I were working together at KZLA/Los Angeles, I made [him] the MD, APD, then PD, then I went back home to Texas. Then, I reached a point where it was time for something new with all that was going on. There was Jim Ed Norman, Mo Ostin and Lennie Waronker- the fabulous people at Warner Bros. during those years, and it was a dream come true. I went to work there and got out of radio. There are definitely those primary chapters during my youth on playing.

5. Speaking of evolution and re-inventing, a lot has happened in the radio industry and with CRS during the past decades. Can you identify one or two of the most critical changes and their impact on the radio business?

The Deregulation Act of 1996; I remember being at the end of the year, meeting at Warner Bros. in '95. We'd all give our reports about how the year has gone and what to expect next year. When I reported - and, I still have this report - I put a paragraph in at the end of the report about radio at Warner Bros., as we were looking at our relationships with radio. I said, "In front of Congress right now is this Communications bill that primarily deals with the cable business, but at the very end of it is an addition to deregulate radio and to remove the ownership Caps. I said, "I don't know all that it will do, but I do know it has the potential to drastically change our world, because it's gonna put the power of many in the hands of very few, and we'll see how it goes, but it's something we need to pay attention to." I had no idea at the time the velocity and magnitude of change that was gonna bring. I just knew it was gonna bring big change, but it was huge. Technology has changed and voice-tracking. Voice-tracking was huge, because unfortunately, it allowed radio groups to basically have one or two people. In some cases, they had one person at the station, and they used one person that worked at the group that was heard on every day part on their stations all over the United States. There was a traumatic loss of jobs for people in the business, and I think that's terrible, because it's not just an efficiency for the company; it's altering the lives of dedicated human beings who love the business and have given their all, only to be compartmentalized and dropped off on the back dock. The same thing happened in other industries, as well, through technologies that allow cost savings, because they were so heavily leveraged and had to continue to look for every efficiency they could get, because they're a publicly-held company, and they're responsible to their shareholders.

6. In addition to running CRB, you've had a long history with ACM and as a CMA Board member. Can you share the differences in board dynamics between these three organizations?

There are vastly different. I'll start with the CRB; CRB is a 501(c)(3). CRB is different between ACM and CMA, because The CRB is a not-for-profit industry service organization - in other words, we have no members with the CRB. We don't have a membership, which is significant, because we are dedicated to improving the business - to bring together radio and the music industry to develop better business practices. The CMA and the ACM are both 501(c)(6)s, and they are membership organizations. Therefore, their missions are still industry-improving, but they can do things in different ways, and they have a membership that they are responsible to. They can take, for instance, positions on subjects, where The CRB can't do that, because we don't have members, and the CMA and ACM can do that. In my perspective, the quick highlight here is the focus of the CMA, over the years, has really been more about dealing with research in the industry, and of course, the Country Music Hall Of Fame and their involvement there, as well as lobbying works in Washington. It goes along with their award show and the specials they do. On the ACM side, they are on a different route, being a West Coast organization, originally, for Country music, was how they got started, then they evolved into having a national footprint, putting on a second national network show for Country Music. Their focus has been more on fan engagement and new artists.

7. What many people don't understand is the CRS-saving turnaround you spearheaded upon your 2009 arrival. The organization is in great shape now. What needs to happen to CRS and CRB in, say, the next five years to keep it vital and relevant?

The person that is asking this question has a very heavy responsibility ahead of him. It's what I said earlier; it's having another person step in that has the vision and the vitality to go execute that vision, once it's approved by the Board. I can't say enough how wonderful the Board has been and the executive committee in supporting me. Part of that comes from having been on the Board for a lot of organizations. If you have an initiative or a vision, the more clearly it can be spelled out so that everyone can buy into it, approve it, and agree with it, the easier it's gonna go for everybody. I've had nothing but total support, and that's what's freed my hands to do the things that need to be done. You develop it, you go to the executive committee, then to the Board, and they say, "Okay, we agree with that. We see the vision and support it," and it just makes it so much easier - not saying that it wasn't hard work. Then, having a great team that helps get it executed - it's everybody working together, in essence. I think that's gonna be the real charge - having conversation and developing a vision on where to next.

Things change at such a rapid pace, and you have to be open to technology and not fight it, but look at how it can be used for our advantage. One thing I think has changed is that we've very slowly come around and see that if we work together, things go better for everybody - doesn't mean you have to do the same kind of stuff, but it's not nearly as proprietary as it was in days past.

8. The emergence of digital platforms seems to be a fast-moving train for our business; music consumption is greater than ever, yet radio is feeling the impact of DSPs. What can CRS do to help radio and/or incorporate the DSPs into the event each year?

I'll never forget when XM radio and Sirius radio came out, sitting in Board meetings, where there was a discussion about if we should have a member of satellite radio on our Board. There were some people that were just like, "That's the end of me, damn it." Fortunately, it did pass, and Scott Lindy, who is a great and smart guy, got on the Board. We were so blessed that Scott was in that position at the time. Scott came in and was Scott; he was all about helping make things happen, as oppose to getting into pissing matches over terrestrial versus satellite and was a great contributor. Five minutes after he got there - he was a radio guy, and he was viewed that way, instead of somebody that was completely against us. The one thing that I love about (Amazon Music's) Ryan Redington is that he saw it from the very beginning, that we were very open to engagement with them. They assumed we wouldn't look at them that way. Their view was there's room for the table for everybody, which I thought was a great way to put it, really it is about looking through the consumer's eyes. You go do research, and people will tell you that Amazon Music is radio. They'll say Pandora and Spotify are radio. I remember when I was in CHR radio, and MTV went on the air, and going to the first NAB meeting. John Coleman has done a study in 1980, and we were all thinking, "Coleman's gonna give this study, and we're all gonna turn the lights off and walk out the door to look for new jobs." Coleman comes in and basically says, "We're not gonna die. In fact, the study shows that with MTV, people want more radio. They're more excited about music and want to listen to it more now." I think you have to keep that in mind and figure out ways that you could take advantage of these new things that are out there. From a programming standpoint, you have the experience that other people don't to know why people listen to your stations. We know the things that we can do to get our live and local listeners back, and it's not gonna take a whole lot - you just have to do it. It can't just be a slogan on the air. Look at your points of innateness that are on the table; the more unique you can make yourself, the stronger you're gonna be, and the larger share you're gonna get. There's room for everybody.

9. Look into your crystal ball, beyond CRS, and tell me where you think radio is headed in the next decade.

I think there are a lot of changes in technology going on. From an advertising standpoint, there's gonna be a tremendous amount of information, and I don't even know how to describe it. I know that I've experienced it in Denver, Colorado; I'm driving down the street, and all of a sudden, I see a Jack In The Box about 200 feet in front of me on the right-hand side, and all of a sudden, on my radio screen, it pops up, "200 feet on your right is a Jack In The Box, featuring blah, blah, blah," and on the screen is a coupon for a free hamburger. I knew about the geo-marketing stuff that was taking place and all the information being gathered from that. I think that's going to allow for some uniqueness for radio to be able to not only get information from individuals, but I know that all providers are going to be in the selling of information. That's not just radio or digital platforms - that's everyone. The technology is gonna continue to evolve to allow people to have the most specific experiences they want to.

10. Another publication recently asked if you'd spill the beans on what you're working on for CRS 50 in February, and you refused. Let's try again... Any hints and teases for All Access?

You're gonna see, unquestionably, more incredible talent this year that will help celebrate our 50th. The other thing I would say is if you're coming expecting a retro convention with hay bales and barn slabs, with everybody dressed up with toy guns and stick horses - that reminds me of a year we were at Opryland, and a label gave away these little slugger baseball bats, and I thought, "Hm, that's interesting; let's give a bunch of drunk people some baseball bats to hit other people in the head." That didn't work out so well. There's gonna be a lot of excitement, and there will be a lot of very fast flashbacks; if you don't pay attention, you'll miss them. And, there will be homage to all 50 years and of the growth the industry has experienced. It won't be a retro thing. It will be very focused and specific, and not just a Chinese buffet of content, but it needs to be really tasty stuff. The other part of it is making it affordable for people, because one of the problems we had was that our price point was way too high. Costs are costs, and they just keep going. We did a business model change and moved a sponsorship, and that's what's helping us keep it at a point that's actually cheap.

Now let's ask you, what does Bill Mayne have planned for post-CRS 50?

Let me tell you about this Guitar Ninja rumor; I'm excited about it, because as the Turtles said, "Take it at your own chosen speed," and I'm going to be entertaining an audience of one - that's ME, only. That's gonna be something fun for me to do. I need to say this: I am so grateful and so blessed to have had the relationships and to be honored with the position and the [other] positions I've had. I tell young kids this all the time: the amazing thing about life's journey is that you don't know where it's gonna end up. If you have a dream, work for it, and it'll happen. So, I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm not the most laid back guy on the planet, so I figured I'll find something to do. I may take on a couple projects, but I'm definitely gonna take it easy and find some things to engage myself in that are fun. Fifty years really snuck up on me. I'm gonna try some different things, too, because I've been so hyper-focused on what I do for so long. I don't think I'll be taking ballet and tap lessons - I don't see that in my future.