Rob Roberts

Rob Roberts' experience simply speaks for itself - over 14 years heading up WHYI (Y100)/Miami. Another 10 years overseeing WWWQ (Q100)/Atlanta. And most recently, PD of Hot AC WRQX/Washington, D.C. ... and to top it all off, VP/Hot AC for Cumulus Media. Suffice it to say, what Rob has learned along the way has kept him -- and his stations - one step ahead of the pack. And as you are about to read, Roberts' insight speaks for himself as well.

You went from being an OM at Top 40 Q100/Atlanta to your current post as VP/Hot AC at Cumulus. What's the biggest difference in being successful in the two formats?

Everything changed and nothing changed. I still format my days the exact same way, working off to-do lists, prioritizing and listening to the station. If you compared my days, it would look pretty much the same. But the focus from my eyes and between my ears now turns with a different focus. Being first on a record matters less, but playing the best records probably matters more. I always enjoyed working with Rock 100.5 or Kicks 101.5 in Atlanta. In that same way, I have a group of Hot AC stations where I get to engage smart programmers. Seldom do I have a call with one of my stations where I don't end up making a couple of notes for myself on things to watch out for or add to on Mix 107.3.

If there's a "mother/daughter coalition" for Top 40s, what kind of coalition are you looking for with Hot AC?

I really believe right now there's a better mother/daughter connection with Hot AC than Top 40. When Top 40 gets its act together musically in a year, we'll have to concede that back, but I'm hearing a lot of music on Top 40 right now where moms are checking out. And I'm not mad about that.

Are you basically cherry-picking the most Hot AC-ish tracks from Top 40 and AC, or are there unique Hot AC artists and songs you can own yourself?

We certainly cherry-pick songs but there are always some songs we can own. John Mayer and Jason Mraz are two having a nice run at Hot AC. And Top 40 is just plain missing the boat on Weezer's "Africa" right now because it doesn't have a feature in it. Our best demos on that song are younger. They'll figure it out.

How important is it for a Hot AC station to break its own hits?

It's nice when you have the hits, but you can kill yourself trying to make songs into hits. The radio graveyard is filled with programmers who wanted to be first on everything. It's okay to chase a couple of records a year, but pick and choose wisely. It's more important to know which songs you were first on that were stiffs than the hits. That's the real report card. And very few PDs keep score of those. They want to brag about the Gold record on the wall rather than the iron anchor at the bottom of the chart.

Are you looking into Country or Urban for possible crossovers?

There's one bubbling up right now with Dan + Shay's "Tequilla." Urban is usually something that hits us in the face when we need to pick that up. But the Rihanna hits are invaluable to the format.

Do you find any geographic/local differences in your Hot ACs when it comes to music choice? In programming, perhaps?

I can tell you that the New York, Detroit and Washington DC Hot ACs for Cumulus NEVER have the same playlist. We watch research, MScores, streaming and internal market sales. It would be easy to put out one list and call it "The List," but it doesn't work. We share notes and we all know what seems to be working and what seems to falling short at each of our stations. For the diary markets, it works the same way. You can't expect what works in Oklahoma City to have the same response in Eugene, Oregon. There is always one #1. And there are always similar tendencies. But the unique flavor to market needs to come through the speakers.

Are the characteristics that makes a successful Hot AC personality identical to a successful Top 40 DJ?

Do you talk directly to the audience? Can you connect on an emotional level? If you can do that, the format doesn't make any difference.

There's a popular notion that streaming data accentuates gold and recurrents. Does that make it more relevant for an AC station than a more contemporary one?

We watch streaming numbers but I think as an industry, we're still trying figure out how to use them to our benefit. I know I am. There are so many unknown factors when you just look at streaming. Regional issues, male/female, age and lifestyle should always come into play and too often in streaming, it's just big numbers thrown at me, lacking any kind of qualifying data. Not unlike Shazam, it's a number and it's out there, but I really don't know how to effectively activate that information to make it part of a successful decision.

Now that every station and its HD-2 stepmother are vested into social media, do your Hot ACs do anything unique to optimize its potential?

I feel like sometimes we need to do a little more hand holding. Many of our moms are on social media to keep an eye on their kids, friends, and extended family. A great deal don't post often. Sometimes getting them to engage is a little tougher than the Top 40, but it also works as an opportunity to bring them in as "radio station family."

What do you make of the hubbub surrounding the latest shiny new toy - smart speakers?

I'm a big fan and supporter. It's not just the fact that it puts a radio back in the home, but it's the technology to get us thinking about what comes next. I think the future of radio is about listening on apps via a smartphone (or another wi-fi-enabled product) and we have to begin thinking beyond the dashboard and Alexa. It's a wide open frontier and radio is uniquely positioned to take advantage of it, but we have to begin setting the mindset for our people and our audience now.

Gauge the label interest in Hot AC; is it more of a challenge being a niche format?

I sure don't get as many phone calls as I did when I was at Q or Y, but I also play fewer current records now. So I would put the attention level appropriate to what I'm doing. The good news is when I get excited about a record or artist, there's still just as much equal reaction from the labels. I never feel left alone.

After all you've been through and accomplished in radio, so you still have long-range plans and goals to conquer?

I talk about this a lot. I'm where I am today because people took chances on me. People forgave my mistakes. People appreciated my work ethic and gave me opportunities. Once my only goal was to be a major-market programmer. That morphed into becoming a successful major-market programmer. Then it was oversee multiple stations. And it all just kind of grew from there. My goal now is to bring and encourage young, bright-eyed souls into this business and help them ignore the doom-and-gloomers. Our business is the one traditional media form not in free-fall. And we have opportunities to become a growth industry again. But the core of that will be having young blood pumped into our stations and making sure the old dogs pay attention. Change is part of living. We have to remember that.