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10 Questions with ... Aaron Tyler
November 1, 2016
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
I started as a night show intern for Brian Figula at WDBR/Springfield during the summer between my junior and senior years of high school back in 2001. From there, I was given a chance to be on the air part-time and got hooked on the business. Since 2001, radio has taken me to Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Mississippi, and stations such as KSLZ, WKST, WKMX, WBAM, KHTT, and my current home base at WMAY/WNNS/WQLZ/WUSW in Springfield, IL. I program WQKS-HD3 from my home.
1) How would you describe the radio landscape in your market?
Montgomery is a very competitive market with each major format having at least two stations going at it. This is the Deep South, so Urban, Urban AC and Gospel do very well here and typically are represented by four of the top-five stations in the ratings. There are also quite a few signals from outside of the market that are listenable here, so there's no shortage of options for the listener. My company, Bluewater Broadcasting, has eight stations, thanks to Rick Peters' early belief in the HD+translator combination. My station is one of those HD+translators, using the HD3 of WQKS and a translator at 107.1. Rick was also one of the early guys on the Classic Hip-Hop bandwagon, first launching "Yo!" on 107.1 back in 2011 (the format has since moved to 100.5, after being off the air for about two years). Cumulus has a handful of heritage brands, including my direct competitor, and iHeart has a wall of Urban.
2) Are you wearing more "hats" than you have in the past?
I think that we'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who can truly answer "No" to this question these days! Yes, I am wearing probably more hats now than I've ever worn in my career. I program WQKS-3 from my home, in addition to voicetracking a 2-6p show seven days a week ... but, I also am at work in Springfield at 6a Monday through Friday, doing two hours of news anchor duties for WMAY. At 8a, I transition into my off-air role as Production Director for the four-station cluster (WMAY, WNNS, WQLZ, and WUSW) and also track afternoons on WNNS. I cover City Hall for WMAY, including weekly meetings of the City Council, and I cover events at the Illinois Capitol, as well, when needed.
3) What is the most challenging part of the job?
Competing with a station that has more resources available to it. WQKS-3 is an HD+translator competing with a 100,000-watt blowtorch with some heritage behind it. We are part of a one-cluster company with certain budget limitations while they are owned by one of the big kids on the block. We have to find ways to be different while playing essentially the same music.
4) What's the coolest promotion you've ever been involved with?
We did a benefit concert and toy drive at WKMX with Lifehouse, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and a local band, Colour Academy, back in 2008 that was an amazing experience. From the station's point of view, the concert didn't draw the crowd that was anticipated, leaving us - and Colour Academy, who were our partners in both the show and the toy drive the next day - way short on the money we needed to have to supplement the toy drive. The day after the show, we were on-site at a Wal-Mart store early and we stayed later than originally planned (with my small staff rotating back and forth between the store and our studios, 30+ miles away) to collect enough toys and raise enough money to buy more toys for foster children in the market. The work of my Promotions Director, Valerie Spivey, and my staff is something that I will always be very proud of and cherish.
5) What's one thing that would surprise many people to learn about you?
I am a big fan of Texas Hold 'Em and have a dream of playing the Main Event of the World Series of Poker someday. Unfortunately, a $10K buy-in just isn't feasible at the moment ... not to mention the fact that I doubt my better half would approve of me doing it. I've also gotten back into umpiring youth baseball this year.
6) If you could add one full-time position to your budget right now, what would it be?
Digital PD. I really need someone in-house in Montgomery who can take ownership of content for the station social media accounts and website. My full-time gig in Illinois takes up -- including travel time to and from work -- about 60 hours a week. My staff members in Montgomery have multiple off-air responsibilities, cluster-wide and on individual stations. I would love to have someone whose sole job was to publish content to our interactive platforms ... fully understanding that I'd have to share them with the other brands, of course.
7) Who is your favorite air personality not on your staff and why do you like them?
I'll give two, starting with Andrew Hart at KOIT/San Francisco. I met Andrew when I was working in Marion-Carbondale and he was a 16-year-old kid working for our competitor, WCIL. Eventually, I ended up introducing him to Tommy Austin when I more or less forced Andrew to come to Tommy's Super Bowl party with me. Tommy gave Andrew a chance to track a few weekend overnights at KSLZ, and as a result of that meeting, I've been blessed to watch Andrew's career take off since then, with stops at WKSC, WTMX and now, KOIT. If you ask him, he'll probably tell you that he "owes everything" to me." I'm just happy to have been able to make the right introduction and then sit back and watch. I've also been fortunate enough to have him as my Best Man in my wedding and he's also Godfather to my two-year-old, Johnathan.
The other favorite is, without a doubt, Elizabethany at HOT in D.C. If there's a more real young talent out there right now, someone who is loving every second of what they do more than she does, and who "gets it" more than her, I haven't met them yet. I love listening to EB when I have the opportunity.
8) What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?
I loved listening to KSLZ and am blessed to have had the opportunity to spend about three years there as a part-timer earlier in my career. I would love to get back on the air in the St. Louis market, part-time.
9) Who were your mentors? Who would you say has influenced your career the most?
I consider myself blessed to have worked for and around people like Tommy Austin, Rick Peters, Brian Figula, Mark Anderson, Kris Van Dyke and Tod Tucker. I feel like I've taken the best of each and formed my programming mentality from their teaching. I also have to give a lot of credit and thanks to my current bosses here in Springfield -- Jim Leach, Chris Murphy, and Johnny Molson. Jim and Chris have been incredibly patient with me over the last two years as I've added news and field reporting to my skill set and Johnny is, hands down, one of the most creative people I've ever met.
10) What is the current state of the radio 'talent pool'?
This is a two-part answer for me. The first part is ... it's awful. By that, I mean that the simple economics of the industry right now is preventing the next generation of great talent from getting as much as a foot in the door. The bigger markets are reluctant to put someone on the air without experience (understandable), but the smaller markets - where someone used to be able to go to get that needed experience - don't have the money to put live bodies on the air weekends and overnights, in most places. The industry has to find a way to balance its needs and revive the talent pool.
The second part is ... it's evolving. There is so much involved in being successful at what we do now that the people who do it well have an amazing future. The people who can host a great show, but also dominate on social media, produce video, and make that connection that you won't get from any of our competitors for attention are going to carry this industry into the next decade. The catch is, we have to give those people a reason to stay in radio. The ones who are the best are continuing to find new ways to brand themselves and make money at it. Radio has to keep up and keep their interest, financially or otherwise.
Bonus Questions
What was your last non-industry job?
Seasonal employee at Target during the holidays. I still have nightmares about khakis and red shirts.
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