10 Questions with ... Dan Mandis

NAME:Dan Mandis TITLE:Program Director STATION:WOWO and WKJG MARKET:Fort Wayne COMPANY:Federated Media

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Currently Operations Manager for WOWO/WJKG in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Many years with the Dr. Laura Schlessinger Show both locally in LA at KFI and during its days in syndication with Premiere. News Anchor and Promotions Director, KLIF/Dallas. Director of Operations/News Bureau Chief for Metro Networks; Director of AM Programming and Ops for Citadel in Colorado Springs.

1. What made you decide to go into radio? Why radio?

I remember driving around LA with my dad at the age of 8 or 9. He had the Dodgers on the radio, and hearing Vin Scully call the games was amazing. His voice and story telling were incredible and made we think about a career in broadcasting. Flash forward 10 years, I wandered into a college radio station one day at Mount San Antonio College and I fell in love with it, and have not really "worked" for a living since.

2. About what are you most passionate?

Bringing together information, relevancy, passion, emotion, and entertainment together to make one hell of a talk radio station. Outside of the business... my family.

3. You worked for Dr. Laura's show for years and have served as a PD as well. As someone with the rare perspective of working with syndication from both the inside and outside, what makes a good syndicated show in your opinion? What elements have to be there to make it work best?

The successful syndicated show brings something unique that will cut through the radio landscape in local markets "even though the show is not local." Rush brings a magnetic personality that you want to listen to even if you are only somewhat interested in politics. Dr. Laura brings an incredible intuition and insight into matters of personal relationships and matters of morality. Glenn Beck brings a sense of style, wit, sarcasm and incredible production value unmatched by any show on the radio. Pragmatically, a syndicated radio show needs to provide their stations with support: Providing local liners, allow affiliates to interview the syndicated talker locally, provide network promos for affiliates to download, all of these things make such a difference in how a syndicated show works locally. The more support the network provides, the more tools the local station will have to make it work. A good support staff on the affiliate relations side is also critical. They have to "get" the product and convey that enthusiasm to potential affiliates.

4. You've just arrived in Fort Wayne; so far, what are your impressions of the market and the station? How do you approach taking over a heritage station like WOWO?

My approach is one of respect. Respect for the staffers who have made WOWO the great radio station it is, and respect and admiration for what WOWO means to the area. Bob Chase, our sports anchor has been on the station since 1953. Morning Show personality Charly Butcher has been in the market for over 20 years, and afternoon drive host Pat White has been on the Fort Wayne airwaves for years as well. All three I would call market legends. Federated Media has paid close attention over the years to the station's product, with a full news staff and investing in the station's talent. By doing so they have kept WOWO relevant to their audience and the community of Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne as a market is interesting. The city has access to radio stations booming in from larger markets... but they keep coming back to WOWO. That shows you how important WOWO is to North Eastern Indiana. My job is to protect that relationship, while still moving the station forward.

5. As someone who worked with Metro Networks, and in light of the company's recent cutbacks, do you think local traffic and news can be effectively served from regional or distant hubs rather than from local offices? Do you see a future for a return to locally-produced reports from companies like Metro/Shadow, or have the economics changed so much that it's no longer feasible to maintain hundreds of local operations?

I think the fact that so many of my friends and collegues will be out of work soon is tremendously sad. As far as the hub and spoke concept, other groups have been doing something similar for years, but that is with cooperation from their parent company and local managers. From a strictly vendor/client relationship, importing traffic from Washington, DC into Norfolk, Virginia (for example) is tough, because every market has local traffic patterns and colloquialisms. Locals will catch mistakes if they are made. Hub and spoke news also has it's challenges. In times of breaking news and weather it could prove difficult to get information from local sources while in another city, especially if the competition has a reporter on scene. That being said, the managers I know and worked with at Metro are very good broadcasters who know the challenges ahead and will work dilligently to overcome them. It's more than likely the days of hundreds of local operations like Metro are long gone.

6. Who are your influences, inspirations, and/or mentors?

Dr. Laura Schlessinger was an inspiration both personally and professionally. David G. Hall did some incredible programming during our days at KFI together. Jeff Hillery was my PD at KLIF, and he was also someone who did an amazing job at programming KLIF against the heritage talker in the market. Finally, Kraig Kitchin, who used to run Premiere, was a person who simply treated everyone who worked for him with a tremendous amount of respect and kindness. A good lesson for any manager... including myself.

7. Of what are you most proud?

Professionally speaking ... I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Dr. Laura for so many years. To be affiliated with such a successful show for so long is something I am very proud of.

8. What do you do for fun?

Move my family around the country and try my hardest to find the coldest of places to live.

9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ____________.

...Glenn Beck and Starbucks.

10. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? The worst?

The Best: Work and learn as much as you can about the industry early in your career; it'll help later on.

The worst: Get out of radio... because I "didn't have the chops." Good thing I ignored the worst and followed the best.