Pat Paxton

One byproduct of radio's consolidation boom was the appearance and usage of Format Captains - appointed go-to programmers who offer their expertise to all of the radio group's stations in the same format. Now, Entercom, with Chief Programming Officer Pat Paxton, has decided to make the Format Captain role an annual duty. Here, Paxton explains why they did that and how the Format Captain helps optimize the success of all of its stations, both individually and the radio group as a whole.

When did you first come up with having Format Captains in the first place?

It seems like we have always had Format Captains in place. Soon after I joined the company, well before the merger and close to 20 years ago, we started growing beyond our original scope and we needed people to help on the programming side. We found that having a Format Captain ready to jump in wherever he or she is needed, helped the PD stay focused on research, music scheduling, and finding the right talent to help our brand. It helps our PDs be as successful as they can be.

When did you decide to make the Format Captain an annual gig?

This is pretty new; we instituted this after Entercom's merger with CBS Radio in November 2017. Being a Format Captain can take a lot of time out of a person's day. They have their own stations to lead in addition this role. It should also be noted that not every Format Captain is changed out every year, some serve longer.

The other reason for limiting the term is because we have a significant amount of talent with a lot of expertise across our portfolio of brands. We have quality Brand Managers who deserve the chance to be Format Captains. Changing Captains annually allows anybody who excels with their own station and is collaborative with other programmers the opportunity to be in the role.

What are a Format Captain's exact responsibilities - is it a mixture of oversight in programming, marketing and personnel?

It's a little bit of everything, depending on the needs of the market. If a station needs assistance musically, the Captain will help with the music. If there are air talent issues, whether to improve current talent or find new talent, the Format Captain can help there as well. If the digital metrics are not up to speed, any of the Format Captains can help.

How do you choose the particular programmer to be the Format Captain?

First, I look for people who have been doing a good job with their own stations and have shown the ability and interest in stepping up to help other radio stations outside their markets. For example, a Program Director who calls and asks, "Can you give my station a listen and tell me what you think?" The other thing I look for are programmers who can use digital metrics to drive their own stations and make their brands come alive. I also look for those who are collaborative in nature.

When do you decide on who will be the next Format Captains -- and are they all chosen by you, or do some volunteer to be one?

About 50/50 of Format Captains are people who step up and say they'd love to do it and the others are people I've reached out to. They all share two things in common; they have been very successful in programming stations in their own markets and have also stepped up to help other brands.

Part of my job is to think about how we can make our programming team even stronger and continue to build on what, in my opinion, is the best programming team in the business. We keep making it better by figuring out how to grow our people into superstars, as well as how to attract superstars from other companies to join our team. When someone new joins the team, it takes a few months to consider them for the role of Format Captain. It's impossible for them to raise their hand and say "I'm available," when they're just settling into their new job.

So you appoint this year's Format Captains. Who are their contact points at the other stations - the PD? The GM?

Format Captains work directly with PDs and GMs to collaboratively work on a report to hone in on what is needed. Once that's complete, the Format Captain will make recommendations and will collaborate with the team to make sure the plan that they come up with points the station in the right direction. There are no set metrics on how to do that nor only one way to engage people with brands. Part of being a good leader is being able to persuade people to do the right thing - and to help them do it right.

Extra question: How often do you check in the Captains on how their respective stations are doing? Do you still contact each programmer as well?

This depends on where our priorities are at the time.

How do you gauge the success of each Format Captain? Is it a certain or identifiable boost in ratings, revenue or something else?

Really, it's neither of those. Success for me is based on how well the stations are being helped by the Format Captain. If he or she is coming up with good plans, strategies and the execution works, but the ratings still go down, it won't concern me because I know the ratings will eventually catch up. You have to stick to doing the right thing. It's not smart to change plans just because of one bad book, especially if the station sounds good. That's why we don't hold Format Captains to metrics that don't necessarily reflect what's really going on or will go on in the near future.

Is the "Captain" method of programming oversight/collaboration something you could expand on - in the form of Format Music Captains, Format Promotion Captains or Format Digital Captains?

Music is already under the current Format Captain's main purview. As for the other fields, to be honest, we currently do not have plans to expand the program.