Rocco Macri

Rocco Macri has perfected the art of "moonlighting." While working as Emmis/New York's Marketing Director, overseeing heritage superstation Hot 97 and others, Macri spent his off-hours with college buddy Chris Bungo to create a radio promotion-based computer program called Promo Suite that would soon become the industry standard. In time, he would leave Emmis for PromoSuite full-time so he and his staff could continuously improve and upgrade the product line to the point where PromoSuite Next is currently in use at over 2,500 radio stations by over 39,000 end users. Here, he recalls the company's development and how PromoSuite always stays ahead of the high-tech curve.

Working at Hot 97/New York has long been one of the premier promotion gigs in radio. What made you decide to leave and start PromoSuite?

Agreed! Which is why PromoSuite was my "side hustle" for many years before I finally got up the nerve to leave! I actually worked both gigs, day and night, for over 12 years.

Let me explain ... I joined Emmis New York as Assistant Promotion Director out of college in December, 1986. It wasn't until I became Hot 97's Marketing Director in 1989 that I received my first computer. That's when I realized that all of the other departments had their software systems in place (Our MD was using Selector, our Traffic Manager was using Marketron). I did my research and found that there was nothing available for Marketing and Promotion Directors.

I reached out to Chris Bungo, who was my closest friend at Syracuse University's student-owned and-operated WJPZ (Z89). Chris had decided to put his promising production and on-air career on hold to become a computer programmer. The two of us got together and we laid out all the possible uses for a radio promotion-based system. A few weeks later, he called to say, "This is not a project, it's a business" ... and that's how the Radio Promotions Management Software category was created!

The last piece of the puzzle was getting permission from my boss. Fortunately for me, Judy Ellis (Hot 97's GM at the time) was a progressive thinker when it came to finding ways to increase her employees' long-term loyalty. She gave me the green light as long as my contributions were done at night and on the weekend, and that Hot 97 would never have to pay for it as long as she was GM.

We started working on it in 1990 and officially formed our company in 1992 coinciding with Hot 97 using it as a beta. We finally went on the market in 1993 and brought in $3,675 in revenue year one! For the next decade I worked around the clock as I considered my radio stations (Hot 97, 98.7 Kiss FM and CD 101.9) my "work family" and my products (PromoSuite, ListenerEmail, PromoSuite Web) my "work kids."

I finally left Emmis in early 2003, two months after Judy left to become the COO of Citadel Broadcasting. That was no coincidence, as my loyalty to her was undeniable. She was like my radio Mom. But with her moving on, it was time for me to spend 100% of my time focused on my company.

Were you confident of your success from the outset, or was there a considerable amount of false starts or tweaking to get through?

There were no false starts, but there definitely was tweaking. We started with the most important thing, PromoSuite's contesting engine, which became the industry standard from day one. Every radio station needs the ability to handle sales requests, track prizes when they come in, schedule on-air, off-air and online giveaways, make sure that the sponsors get their proper mentions, ensure winners get their prizes, and that recaps and affidavits are sent out to the advertisers. We simplified that chaotic, paper-wasting process into a streamlined task.

Having said that, no two stations, clusters or companies handle that process exactly the same way. So we've continued to tweak, add and revise to meet the changing needs of our customers. Radio and technology are constantly evolving. Therefore, to stay relevant to our longtime clients and attractive to new ones, we are constantly evolving, too.

It took us a few years to gain traction, but we never lost confidence. We knew that we had something that would really make radio stations operate more efficiently. It was just a matter of time before we could get in front of the right people to show them that a small licensing fee or barter commitment could help them make and save lots of money over time.

Your website mentions adopting a cloud-based platform ... how has radio's evolution into digital impacted the evolution of PromoSuite's products and services?

It's fun to look back. Twenty-five years ago when we signed up a new client, they would fax us the signed agreements and then we would FedEx floppy disks to their engineer so they could install Original PromoSuite on either one PC or their station's local network. If they owned more than one station, another pile of floppy disks would come their way!

Today we sign our agreements via DocuSign, do our trainings using WebEx and give our users a PromoSuite Next cloud-based login that allows them to work on any of their radio stations from anywhere in the world.

The features keep changing, too. Back in the day everything was on-air or off-site. Now, many promotions have moved online. So we've added the ability to manage online promotions, fulfill online contests and create feeds from PromoSuite Next direct to station's websites.

A specific example of digital integration is with Twitter. Say you have a contest winner on the phone; the DJ comes on and says, "Congratulations to Joel Denver from Malibu who just won pair of tickets to the 2018 WWRS!" If the station turns on our Twitter integration, then the same message would be sent out via the station's Twitter account with just one click of the mouse!

We are releasing new features and updates regularly. It's virtually non-stop, which is why we updated our tagline to "Proven. Tested. Always Evolving."

When you tweak your system to fit one station's promotional needs, do you also offer that tweak to other stations, or is that tweak exclusive to the original station?

We have done a handful of exclusive projects in our 25 years, but it's pretty standard in our industry that feature requests are added on a non-exclusive basis. The reason is simple: Radio companies understand the high cost of development and do not want to pay those ongoing costs. It's a win-win, as our radio partners get the benefit of having an experienced product development team create customizable solution to fill their needs, while we get the opportunity to make our partners happy and our product better for the long run.

How do station ownership changes impact your working relationship with them?

We have strong partnerships with many broadcast companies, but that's because we've developed relationships with individuals at those companies. PromoSuite Next is a very personal product. To earn someone's trust, we need to make it easier and more efficient for them to do their jobs. If we do that, regardless of the size of a company or a person's position within that company, we'll gain their long-term loyalty and respect. Those relationships are our lifeblood and they survive ownership changes!

My team, led by Rachel Field (VP/Sales), CJ Knowles (Business Development Manager) and Andrew Smith (Manager, Client Relations) believes deeply in this concept. We stress to our Client Relations reps that their most important attribute is their ability to listen. By listening we are able to understand what our clients need to get through their days. Working in radio is crazy and unpredictable. The hours are long, the demands are high, and PromoSuite's job is to make sure you can leave your office at a decent hour and enjoy your life.

Are all the suggestions from end users do-able? What are the biggest challenges in meeting their requests?

The challenge is in the numbers! PromoSuite Next is currently in use at over 2,500 radio stations. Last I checked there were over 39,000 end users! That's our research department. They are the ones giving us new ideas and coming up with more efficient ways to accomplish tasks. The vast majority of the ideas are useful. The objective of our product development team, led by Peter Elia (Director of Technology), Matt Jacobson (Product Development Manager) and Jeff Weissberg (Lead Developer) is to carefully review all of the requests so we can ensure meeting the common goals of all of our clients.

In your eyes, do Promotion Directors need to have the same skill set today as you did when you held the job?

The easy answer would be to say, "No, understanding technology is so much more important today." Truth is, that's not even a good self-serving answer, as PromoSuite Next is designed to be used by people with varying levels of tech skills. We make it real easy to generate a sales request, distribute a prize or run an affidavit.

Think about it ... "old school fax campaigns" might have been more expensive than "social media campaigns," but if you picked the right recipients and sent them the right message, it could be just as successful. On the flip side, naturally it is easier to direct your listeners to sign up for a prize giveaway on your advertiser's website rather than sending them across town to sign up in a store, but if the prize isn't compelling, neither is going to be successful.

So understanding technology is obviously important, but the primary skills needed to be a great Promotion Director haven't changed. You need the ability to determine what makes your station unique. You need to understand how your station excites and enhances your listeners' lives. And to make it all work, you have to figure out how to put it all together and grow your advertisers' revenue.

Are you bullish on the future of PromoSuite and radio in general?

I will admit that when we started this company, my original goal was to make my job easier at Hot 97 and earn enough money to buy my own laptop. Our co-founder Chris was the "visionary" who imagined that we could have a long run.

This past March we held our company's 25th anniversary at Carmine's Restaurant in Times Square. We thought it was appropriate to have a family-style meal with our entire staff.

Chris and I shared some of our thoughts with our team. We told them that when we started the company, we hired a handful of radio geeks and decided that it would be cool to do tech. We found a small hole in the market, created a new category and never looked back. Twenty-five years later, we realized that things have changed. Now we're a bunch of tech geeks who specialize in radio!

That shift in mindset gets us excited about the future. PromoSuite Next remains our lead product, and due to our clients' input we will be updating, upgrading, improving and evolving for years to come.

Plus, we love the fact that the radio industry is once again innovating and exuding passion. As the industry continues to explore initiatives such as Live Events and the Connected Car, we are confident that our team is capable of pivoting quickly to help the industry succeed.