10 Questions with ... PJ

NAME:PJ POSITION:Program Director STATION:WLDI MARKET:West Palm Beach, FL OWNER:Clear Channel

Please outline your radio career so far:

KMXV/Kansas City - 1999-2002
KKRD, KZCH/Wichita - 2002-2006
Marc Chase's Bitch Clear Channel Corporate - 2006-2008
WLDI/WPB - Current

1) How would you describe your first radio gig?

Brilliant, scary, insightful. I knew NOTHING about radio before interning in Kansas City. Little did I know how powerful and amazing that station and group of people was. Rocket & Teresa, Dylan, Kelly Urich, Mat Mitchell & The JJ, TC/Howie D/Joe Tyler, DJ Kirby and Jon Zellner at the helm ... talk about a sick situation to cut your teeth on. Things on that station were bigger than life, and it was amazing to be a small part of it.

2) What led you to a career in radio?

I did the club/mobile/wedding DJ thing for a number of years, and a lot of that led to a pretty destructive lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, it was a GREAT time ... just not particularly healthy. I needed a 9-5 job ... but the OTHER 9 to 5. I usually tell people that I'm the only guy who got into radio to get AWAY from hookers and blow.

3) What makes your station unique? How would you compare it to other stations you've worked at?

This is a pretty long list. We've tried to do a ton of things differently. We've de-hyped the radio station, use non-traditional dayparts, and focus on quality content above all else, to name a few overall concepts. We're trying really hard to avoid traditional stereotypes of radio on our air, and are questioning the "why" and "how" in everything we do, and that's different than any job I've had in the past.

4) Are you wearing more "hats" than you have in the past?

This one's tough to answer, because when working for Marc, he had 53 markets, 286 radio stations, and moved at a pace I didn't even know existed. Are PDs doing more than ever? Absolutely. But I'll never be that busy. The coolest part of that, though, is that I have taken some of that pace with me to this job, and it's energized everyone in the building.

5) What is your favorite part of the job?

While working for CC Corporate, I got to see and be a part of some truly amazing high-level stuff. The biggest downside was that I had no real way to take those things and apply them. Now, I have the ability to aggressively affect change at the local level.

6) What is the most challenging part of the job?

Having ideas and concepts that see resistance because "that's not the way we've always done it."

7) Could you give us a little insight into your on air staff?

This is the main reason I even wanted to do this. Most want their own name in lights; I couldn't care less. But I love taking every opportunity to praise my folks.

Everyone says their air staff is the best, which could very well be true, as every PD is unique, and the air staff that compliments that PD is always going to be great. Mine is no exception.

• The WiLD Morning Show (Kevin, Virginia, Jason, and Heather) defines the word "content," and has been so mass-appeal for so long that I usually just get out of their way.
• Valentine is my #2, keeps me sane, and not only does things without asking, but does things I wouldn't even think of.
• Kane (WIHT/DC) tracks for us, and exemplifies what the concept was supposed to be. He's tapped in, content-driven, focused and makes it to the market as often as once a month. We still have people in the building who don't realize he's not actually here every day.
• Shawn Jay continues that trend with his strong on-air ability and ridiculous web prowess.
• Most people think weekenders are really "weakenders," but ours (Toby Knapp and Eddie E) are hardly a weak link.

I couldn't ask for better people and harder workers. For the record, the brilliance extends much further than just my station. CC West Palm is full of some amazing and impressive people. I'd be remiss if I didn't give credit to the entire building.

8) What is it about our industry that keeps you wanting to do it for a living?

This may sound weird, but it's actually the fact that it's in a slump. I LOVE radio, and want to be a part of making it great again.

9) What is the current state of the radio "talent pool"?

This one is a tough one, because I think the talent pool is a product of the management, vision, philosophy and industry that oversees it. What we've traditionally asked of the talent is the same as it was in the '80s ... no wonder we're in trouble. Don't believe me? Ask a person on the street to imitate a radio DJ. It's embarrassing. But, it's tough to blame the talent; it's what we've beat into their brains for decades.

If I had to hire someone new right now, I'm not sure what I would do. The most difficult thing would be to gauge a talent's ability to do the things that would be asked of them by the most progressive of us. There's no way their aircheck will reflect that anymore.

I get airchecks all the time for critique, and rarely can I give them anything other than "there's no way I'd let you do that on my station." Instead, I explain to them my philosophy and what I've seen, and what I would do if I were them going forward. I can't fault them for doing exactly what their PD tells them to do. I can only tell them what I would ask of them if I was their PD.

10) What would you like to do to save radio from its "dying-industry" image?

I definitely don't have everything figured out, but I feel pretty good about what NOT to do. The trick is finding things that we SHOULD be doing instead, particularly since we still live in an Arbitron world and, likely, a disparity between who our real audience is, and who Arbitron says it is.

I've stopped thinking about being in the radio business, and feel like we're now in the content business. Someone once told me that radio, traditionally, has been like being in the railroad business, but instead of changing what we do and building airplanes, we keep trying to lay tracks in the sky.

I mentioned before that my goal is to question everything we've always done, and to do it better. Not every idea is going to be better, but every idea will be different. I will probably fail a lot more than I will succeed, but I will succeed. And by being "first in" on every concept I believe in and am willing to try, hopefully people can take the successes and failures and know what to do on their own stations. One by one, we're going to figure this sonuvabitch out. It's like trying to change the direction of a cruise ship with an oar, but I'm not afraid of it.

I'm also very vocal about it. I have the philosophy that if I yell loud enough about this stuff, some of it should stick. If I can help pioneer even ONE concept or "best practice" that helps us move to the future (whatever that is), I will be more satisfied than any trend or book can make me.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

An astronaut. But on my 8th birthday in 1986, my mother let me stay home from school because that was the day the Challenger was launching into space, and I wanted to watch it on TV. Whoops. Bye-bye, dream.