Mike Moore

It's almost as if Christmas came early for Entercom Dir./Country Programming Mike Moore. When Entercom closed the deal to acquire CBS Radio in November 2017, Moore's format oversight suddenly included high-profile stations such as WUSN/Chicago, KILT/Houston, KMLE/Phoenix, WDSY/Pittsburgh and a host of others. Here, he discusses the new, larger Country posse, as well as the state of the format and his keys for success.

You've been programming and overseeing Country for almost 15 years. How has the music and radio evolved over that time?

I've spent over a decade at Entercom/Portland, and I will have been here at KWJJ/Portland for 15 years in September. I've obviously had a variety jobs in that time. Like all musical formats, Country has its ebbs and flows. There are periods of time when the format becomes white-hot; either particular acts become white-hot or different sorts of styles rise to the top. And after that happens, it usually ends up swinging back in more a traditional direction. We've been through a lot of things; we've had the whole era when Dixie Chicks were gigantic, spanned through the Garth explosion and more recently, there's been Bro country. I've seen and heard a lot over the years.

What's your overall view of Country radio today in terms of the quality of music and the hottest new trends?

I think the format is on the uptick. I'm very encouraged by a lot of new music coming out of the town that's interesting and exciting. Luke Combs is an exciting act in a more traditional vein; he has three #1s under his belt. He's a tremendous singer and an amazing songwriter. I'm very excited by the new Florida Georgia Line song that caught my ear. It's more of a Country song for them. They had one of the biggest hits in the world with Bebe Rexha. It's also nice to have established acts like Kenny Chesney still making relevant, good hit music. Overall, I think it's a really good time to be in Country.

How has the infusion of CBS' Country stations impacted your work as Dir./Country Programming?

To be sure, I'm involved in more meetings and conference calls, and there is more travel but frankly, it's been wonderful. When David Field put this together, he saw a lot of synergies and similarities between the two companies. I've known a lot of folks on the CBS side of the ledger for years -- Bruce Logan, Shelly Easton, Tim Roberts, among them -- either by working with them or through association, being in the same business. I'm excited about it; it's increased the brainpower, if you will, for our company. It's a tremendous opportunity for our people to work together not just for Entercom, but for the good of the format.

When there are three large radio groups - Entercom, iHeartMedia and Cumulus - pretty much dominating the national radio landscape, do you view the competitive battle in a national perspective or in a local market level?

Entercom is one of the two largest radio broadcasters in the U.S. and our differentiator is that we deliver the power of local connection on a national scale. We're very much in touch with local markets and our content reflects what matters to the audiences we serve. Other companies that have a national footprint may rely on more of a national presentation, but we want to have people who are very active in their local markets.

Do you see Entercom adding more Country stations in the near future?

There are many items taken into consideration in order to reach that decision. It's a format that we're bullish on; we currently have 18 Country radio stations and I would welcome more. However, we consider many factors including the economics and whether there is an appetite for it in the marketplace.

With CBS stations now in the fold, will you invest in more national product, be it programming, air talent, concert tours or promotions?

Prior to the merger with CBS, we did some routing of programming between markets that made sense. We've been routing the same holiday show in Portland and Seattle for the last four to five years. The same lineup that plays in Portland, plays in Seattle. We have those kinds of opportunities that make sense geographically as well as for the artist and label.

If there is an opportunity for us to capitalize on the strength of our entire group, we'll do it. There are some tent pole events in place, like Stars & Strings, that we'll continue to brand as Radio.com. I will say it's certainly been easier getting artists involved in these things. WUSN/Chicago will have a larger stake in that event where its listeners can win tickets, but it's still an event that we, as a company, can get behind to support through the Radio.com umbrella.

Coming up, our Country stations will be partnering with Kenny Chesney to help promote his new album launch. In times like that, it makes sense for us to act as a group.

Has the PPM era, which is more conducive to succinct non-music segments, lessened the importance of having star air personalities?

It's still very important. To entertain your listeners, your mission should be to have a strong local connection with the audience, where your on-air talents are legitimate celebrities in their respective markets. To name a few, we have personalities such as The Portland Wolf's Mike and Amy, who won CMA's Personality the Year last year, great morning shows in Seattle and Detroit, and a fantastic morning show with Bruce Logan in Houston, among others.

How does one successfully balance the demand for teen appeal/pop crossover with the more traditional ... and "Bro Country?"

When scheduling music, you always want a balance, and it takes the right coding of songs that represent all the particular styles or flavors of Country through the course of an hour. You want to make sure that hour is not all pop-influenced or all traditional in nature. It's important to reflect all the different tastes.

Where does streaming data and Shazam fit into the programming decisions?

All of those things are part of the equation. They're interesting to look at, but I honestly don't know how much of it correlates to radio airplay. When you look at the streaming data, most of the songs that stream in a big way are catalog songs. People like to hear familiar things from artists they're familiar with - and not pay for it. If we paid complete attention to streaming, we'd all be more gold and recurrent-based. We feel new music is an important part of radio's mission -- to discover and curate the best new music.

How deeply involved are you in social media? Are you concerned that your personalities may devote more time branding themselves online than on-air?

We look at social media as another touch point for the audience. We need to be where the audience is to interact with them. We have websites and the Radio.com app, obviously the traditional radio signals, podcasts and e-mail. It's our goal to meet the audience wherever they want to meet us. These are all things we need to be conscious of and we're fortunate that we have great people who specialize in that aspect here. Kim Reis leads our whole digital and social team; she does monthly webinars on the best practices to maximize the different platforms. It's all about training, prioritizing and trying to figure out what things resonate best with the audience.

In the wake of perpetual complaints by some parties that female Country artists are under-represented on the radio, Bobby Bones announced that he will syndicate an all-female Country music show. Thoughts?

It's an interesting concept. I think it's great to shine a light specifically on women, so I applaud him for trying something different. I applaud anyone who tries something new and big at the same time and I commend the many females that are currently having great success on the radio, especially on our airwaves; artists like Carly Pearce, Kelsea Ballerini, Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum.

How do you define success nowadays? Is it merely ratings and revenue, or is there more to it?

It's a combination of things. Great ratings usually lead to great revenue, but there's a bit more to it than that. We want to make a difference in the communities we serve. We're doing an exceptional job for local charities, particularly helping people in need after a weather disaster or after other emergencies. As a business, generating revenue and ratings are a big part of our success, but it's just as important to make a positive impact in our communities.

And what of your future - do you still have long-range goals or plans, or are you more concerned with the day-to-day?

I just feel very fortunate to have been here for 15 years. The people at this company have treated me very well - David, Pat (Paxton), Weezie (Kramer) and many others. I'm not that old ... I hope I have some good years left. I'm excited about the future and I will keep coming in here to do this job as long as they'll allow me to. Frankly, this is the best job anybody could have.

I go back to when I started out in this business, probably 30 years ago as a young DJ. I thought, "My God, someone's paying me to do this ... are you kidding?" I still get that feeling with the things we get to do in this industry. There's a lot to be excited about with regard to Radio, which is the #1 reach medium in the U.S. and the #1 platform for music discovery. We're still extremely relevant ... and now we have a lot of resources at our disposal.