Rod Phillips

To say the least, Rod Phillips has his hands full. As SVP/Programming of iHeartCountry, Phillips is overseeing the optimization of a quality radio brand that includes dozens of stations in a thriving format ... a popular syndicated show in Bobby Bones ... and now, a novel syndicated program that showcases the female stars - past, present and future - of Country. And the way he sees it, the best is yet to come...

You were once PD/on-air at Top 40 Kiss/Chicago. What was behind your transition to Country?

Before I officially entered the world of Country, I was OM/PD/on-air at Y100/Miami. I had a terrific run with George Toulas, who eventually promoted me to oversee the Southeast, which included oversight of quite a few Country stations -- 39, in fact. Obviously I got to know the assets we had in the markets, and they were generating the most revenue. That's when it struck me that this format could use a morning show for the Country life group. We needed a different, exciting, energetic Country show, so we decided to move Bobby Bones from Top 40 to Country radio. That was my first highly visible entry into the format. More formally, two years later, I was named to replace Clay Hunnicutt when he went to the label side. He was Brand Manager of Country, which was the final part of my transition.

Are the keys to success in Country radio programming essentially the same as other formats, or are there certain unique tendencies you need to be aware of?

So very much of it is the same but yes, there are some things about the Country life group that you have to be cognizant of ... just what makes them comfortable. Other than that, it's very similar. You always have to be on top of what's going on in the market and the world. From that standpoint, Country is no different than a Rock or Top 40 station. You need to produce a brand that means something. If you don't have a strong brand, you're probably not going to make it -- especially in the world we live in now. But the other key to success is you can't just put Top 40 imaging on a Country station, which has a very different filter. We consider our target listeners to be a little more conservative and we certainly need to pass the "family friendly" factor. You can be playful and intriguing, but you're going after young to middle-age parents who are likely to have their kids around when they're listening to the station.

Are there certain characteristics of an iHeartCountry station that makes it stand out from other Country stations?

Well, we think so, and there's some secret sauce here that we don't want to give up. But we will say that we've really pushed to change and reinvent what we're doing to reinvigorate our audience. We are very focused on adding entertainment. This goes back to Bobby Bones; we need more interesting characters on the radio like Bobby. We also work with a ton of local morning shows, producing content every day to raise the entertainment factor. Personalities must learn daily how to be more interactive, to offer entertainment on multiple platforms ...whatever you have going on. You need to continue to cultivate the listener connection to your brand.

What's your take on the state of Country music for your format?

I'm sitting here in the summer of 2018, and I feel we're in a really terrific spot. No doubt about it, Country radio was down the last couple of years ... and my take on it is that we've been going through a period of transition. Every few years, there is some sort of change and I believe you see that reflected in the ratings.

We're finding a transition that has followed the pop sound - maybe it's the effort to get more females on the radio, or more different sounds on the radio -- but that's okay. What we're seeing now is that the listeners are getting more comfortable with it. Today, listeners like a high variety of music, and that's one of the reasons we're seeing Country turn the corner back into positive ratings. After a couple years of struggle, I believe this positive trend is just going to continue.

Is it a challenge to balance the Pop Country with Bro and traditional, or do your programmers prefer to "go with the flow" and play more of whatever's the hottest?

It's a combination. Ultimately, whether it's Pop or traditional Country, we're going see passion scores from listeners on whether it's a hit. Naturally, we definitely pay attention to the hot sounds of the time, but we do it without losing variety. The ability to do that is what separates really great PDs.

What's your take on breaking new music ... do all iHeartCountry stations have same level of aggressiveness in breaking new hits?

As to what percentage of the playlist is new music; that ties directly into the strategy each brand has developed. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all. We also know that our format has to create our own future hits, No other format is warming songs up for us.

A fellow Y100 alum and Power Player, Rob Roberts, recently told All Access, "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." Do you share that sentiment?

Everyone likes to claim they heard a hit first, rushed it into the studio and put it on, but we do miss more than we hit because of the bulk of songs that come our way vs. the true hits. I do think it's far more important to increase your batting average. We hear of a lot of PDs claiming to be first, but when you are first with everything, it means very little. You're taking a chance with your listeners' time, so you better to be right more often than not.

What's your take of digital research such as streaming data?

We're paying attention to all of it. There's no such thing as too much research and data. Radio PDs have to continue to educate themselves on what the streaming numbers mean, where they come from and what we know about listeners' reactions to the music they are hearing, wherever/however they are hearing it.

A longstanding label complaint has been how long it takes to break a record on Country radio - sometimes up to a year or more -- and that they'd wish there'd be more #1s over the course of a year. How do you see it?

I try to understand their business and I ask them to understand ours. We are partners and we want that to mean something. I'm not sure we could really get more #1s in a given year ... not in Country anyway. This year we actually have a decent number of multi-week #1s, which I believe is good for the format. Occasionally a song may take a year to reach #1; only a few grow that slowly. We'd love for them to grow faster, but we can't force the listeners to like them faster. It simply doesn't work that way. Typically if it's as slow as a year, it's a brand new artist that listeners are just getting to know, since familiarity seems to help.

Earlier you mentioned the need for "more interesting characters on the radio." Isn't that challenge more difficult when their training ground dayparts are virtually nonexistent?

That a relevant question that has been asked for a long time but quite honestly, the "training ground" is us being better at identifying interesting folks and developing them in their daypart. When we look for a great morning personality or for any daypart, we still have a huge training ground to choose from, middays, afternoons, nights, weekends. When you think about it, what other industry has such a robust training ground? We already have long lists of people on-air who haven't done overnights. It's not a lack of talent, but an ability to do something different and unique. Most people on-air sound like DJs and not personalities. You have to be different, unique ... bring something to the table that really breaks through. We have hundreds of live air personalities who need to produce quality content and show that they have that special factor.

After working on Bobby Bones' syndication, are you at all concerned about radio reaching or exceeding a saturation point with it?

Let's start with the ratings ... over time, they don't lie. Look at shows like Bobby's, Elvis Duran, the Breakfast Club and many others that are literally thriving on the radio. Then look at a great number of morning shows that perform in local markets with huge success of their own. The question might suggest that if any of the syndicated shows grow into more formats, that the bigger pie will erode. It's not about that. It's about what is right for each radio station. Every station manager and PD has to decide on the best content option for their station, regardless of format. We're seeing radio stations coming to us, saying, "I want that," so syndication is on them. Do they want local talent or syndicated talent? The answer is they just want the best content for their listeners. When Bobby goes into Raleigh for an appearance, listeners flock to meet him. They don't say, "I can't believe you don't live in Raleigh." I just want more great radio. I can't wait to hear the best show I don't know about ... local, syndicated, online, where it may exist.

Describe the concept behind Bobby's upcoming syndicated show showcasing all-female Country artists.

It'll be hosted by Bobby and his morning show co-host, Amy. In addition, they're going to be calling on a large number of female personalities within iHeartCountry to be a part of the show, and help feature them as personalities as well. We'll have guest hosts such as Jamie Martin from San Antonio, Lois Lewis from Phoenix, and Brooke Taylor from Chicago ... promoting the women of iHeartCountry.

It's a weekend one-hour special high-quality content show; we feel a PD can put it on in any hour of the weekend. The playlist will be very diverse, from featuring new music you've likely never heard, to looking back at some of the great music in our format that came from female vocalists and stars.

How do you judge success - strictly through ratings and revenue, or are there other factors?

Ratings and revenue are still king. We're here to make money and higher ratings usually generate more revenue. Beyond that, when you look at the song data and other metrics, you see the same thing for personalities and stations. I would encourage personalities and PDs to think about their brand every single day. The bigger the brand, the more you can do. Even if you have bad ratings but maintain a great brand, it's likely the data isn't in your favor at that moment ... and you'll eventually come back up. But if you struggle with your brand and have bad ratings, the revenue will never come. There's no other magic bullet here. If you can see it and you can feel it, you'll know you have something that's going to be successful.

What about your future - have you set five or 10-year goals?

For sure. If I had to add all the years I've already been in this business, I'd be in shock. I still feel like the "young guy" at the radio station, but now my job is to grow brands and people. I'm very proud I started in this position when we launched the iHeartCountry brand. It was a huge opportunity to expand Country under the iHeartRadio umbrella. For us to have a name brand; it strengthens the attachment between listeners, radio stations and our amazing iHeartRadio app. We're still in our infancy as a brand ... just three years old. One of my goals is to help make it a household name as strong as iHeartRadio. We're going to find more shows like Bobby Bone and more platforms to expose them. WAZZ, who does afternoons on Top 40 G105, is a host on one of our national Country channels. We want to find more of those talents from all formats -- some will already be in Country -- and put them in more situations to succeed. Bring it! The opportunities exist ... right now!