Art Rowbotham, Hall Communications: "We Look at Our Business as a Public Trust."

As the president of a privately held, family owned business with stations in both PPM and Diary markets, you have a unique perspective on radio. What are the ingredients to radio's sustained strength?

Art: Radio's reach is unsurpassed over all other media. Radio gives advertisers an efficient way to target the audience. Radio does this with effective creative for which there is normally no added charge. Effective scheduling insures impact. Localism provides a foundation of listener engagement.

Can you speak more to the power of localism?

Art: Localism differentiates your station from the competition. You also get the benefit of local promotion and marketing that comes with being local. A private group does not have to report to public stockholders every quarter so you have more flexibility to make this investment.

Radio is the best source of emergency information during natural disasters like hurricanes and the wildfires out west. Radio is there for you when the power, cell phones, television and other forms of communications are out. Finally, radio offers a direct connection with your local community. This is a local impact other media cannot match. All of this is done efficiently compared to other media.

In regards to effective scheduling, how do your sellers answer the objection "I've tried radio and it didn't work"?

Art: Most ad campaign failures are in the creative area. There is a poorly defined benefit or offer and/or a call to action without a compelling deadline. You can overcome average creative with good scheduling, but smaller advertisers do not have sufficient budgets. You avoid this situation through proper sales training, and passing on business that is destined to fail.

As an industry, we have the largest overall audience, third party measurement ensuring the audience is not comprised of bots/click farms and our heaviest listeners are employed with money to spend, unlike core TV viewers. As the overall advertising pie continues to grow, how does radio capture a larger share?

Art: Radio as an industry must improve the blocking and tackling elements. Emphasize localism in your programing. Sales skills are next. Your sellers must make the calls, know how to build trusting relationships and know how to close. You combine this with results and you will see growth in radio sales.

Speaking of sales, how do you maintain your focus on the high margin, profitable core business of on-air spots, when the opportunity exists to pursue incremental, low margin dollars?

Art: Actually, we don't have major problems at the local level focusing on the core business of selling spot radio. That's our bread and butter. Where we have had challenges is extending our product to new platforms that are hard to monetize.

You've been with Hall Communications for 35 years - that's an impressive tenure. Along the way, you've been behind the wheel and helped radio navigate the ongoing disruptions that are always with us. What are the guiding principles you've relied on, which will be useful to future leaders within your company and across the industry?

Art: We invest in our people with a strong benefits package and show loyalty to our employees over the years. This continuity has paid dividends to our company in better programming, community connections and advertiser support.

In addition, we have a mission statement at Hall Communications. It states: "Our cause is to do what is right for our listeners, advertisers, families and communities to make a positive difference in their lives." We have tried to carry that mission out. We look at our business as a public trust. Everything else seems to work out.

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