10 Questions with ... Ian Solla-Yates

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I started volunteering at WNRN when I was in high school. I studied Sociology at the University of Virginia and interned with Red Light Management, which hired me right before graduation. After a year at Red Light, I returned to WNRN, where I have been ever since. While at WNRN, I helped organize a short-lived music festival and briefly dabbled in management. My career highlight is hiring Malcolm Brogdon, who is now the starting point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, as an intern.

1. How did you become interested in radio?

I always followed music as a kid. I discovered WNRN shortly after moving to Charlottesville, because other students at my high school were volunteering there. We were a very different station back then -- the kind that would give a 16-year-old more responsibility than he deserved. It was an opportunity to get legitimate experience in radio and music, and I tried to learn as much as I could.

2. Who are your mentors?

Throughout the years, my role at WNRN has changed quite a few times, and I've looked to different people for guidance. Our original GM was very resistant to change. When he exited and Anne Williams became our acting manager, we looked for obvious areas to update outmoded practices. I had an affinity for membership, so I researched other non-commercial stations. I reached out to Jacquie Fuller, who was at MPR, and Kristin Bachran from WTMD, whose guidance was invaluable in overhauling our membership operations.

I moved away from membership and into sales in 2013. I owe most of my success in sales to Derek Mason from WTYD. He taught me his method and gave me feedback as I adapted it to non-commercial radio and the benefits and needs of WNRN.

Dave Benson and Mark Keefe, former and current WNRN managers, have also been great mentors. Benson's experience speaks for itself. Keefe has been passionate about fundraising for as long as I have known him and was someone that I could discuss ideas with long before he came to Charlottesville.

3. What are your biggest challenges at the station?

Most of our challenges arise out of our unique model. People who understand what we do love it, but building our support outside of the music-obsessed community is the only way we can grow. We are a nonprofit, but not a traditional arts and culture organization. We are a radio station, but not an NPR or college station. We reach over 80,000 listeners each week, but they are spread across hundreds of miles. The elevator pitch for supporting WNRN is challenging.

When I started moving into development, I found myself at events and workshops sitting next to representatives of nonprofits who were curing diseases and feeding the hungry. As impressive as it may be that The Alabama Shakes made their radio debut on our station and the The Head And The Heart played Kan Jam in our backyard, it made our mission seem less significant. We addressed this in a major way when we introduced "Hear Together." This is an hourly feature that runs stories on local nonprofits, highlighting those that are doing good work in the community. It's public service that inspires our listeners to get out and volunteer. All of the public service programming I had heard previously had only inspired me to change the channel. We hired Jaclyn Piermarini to head the program. She had been anchoring the 11 o'clock news in Charlottesville and provided the perfect combination of journalism and entertainment to make the segments work. "Hear Together" is now in its second year, and it has helped us create a buzz outside of just the music community.

4. The WNRN reaches several markets - how do you market to them accordingly?

Our main offices are in Charlottesville and eight of our nine full-timers work primarily out of that office. We broadcast into Richmond, Lynchburg, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lovingston and Staunton. We have satellite offices in Richmond and Lynchburg. Our ninth full-timer is a salesperson who works out of the Richmond office. The Lynchburg office is in a building called Riverviews, which is a major player in Lynchburg's arts scene. Our office is across the hall from their main gallery and is used primarily for monthly First Friday art openings.

Our best marketing comes from being present at events and setting up tables and giveaways at concerts and festivals. For instance, if 1,500 people are seeing Dr. Dog in Richmond, those are 1,500 people who should be our listeners. Since we can't simply berate them into listening to us, we set up a booth at the venue and sign people up to win a signed Dr. Dog record. If we can get their e-mail address, we can thank them for saying hello to us at the show and remind them to tune in. Our MD, Melissa Goode, and our membership director, Lauren Velardi, work with many of our regional venues to ensure that we have a presence and that we follow up appropriately.

5. Do you take a homogenous approach or is each market distinctly different?

For the first 20 years, everything that was broadcast out of Charlottesville was repeated on our other signals. Our current project, which is being painstakingly executed by our APD Tad Abbey and Traffic Director Virginia Kenney, is to segment out a few of the signals. We have begun a process that will, over the next year, make the station sound distinct in each market. We invested in NPRSS, which will let us broadcast localized underwriting announcements and "Hear Together" pieces in Richmond, Lynchburg, Lexington and Staunton. We want people in Lynchburg to hear about Lynchburg and people in Richmond to hear about Richmond. The jocks and music will still be the same across the entire network.

6. The station is celebrating 20 years, what special events and initiative are happening?

For our 20th, we put together a concert series called "WNRN on Tour." We released a collaboration beer with South Street Brewery called "WNRN In-Studio Session IPA" and booked shows all over our listening areas. The idea was to take the staff, the beer and some of Virginia's best musicians out in every market we reach. There are plenty of opportunities to partner with venues in Charlottesville and Richmond. In Lynchburg, Lexington and Staunton, on the other hand, we needed to make a concerted effort to visit. These were all free events and gave our listeners and members the opportunity to meet all of us. Tad and Melissa have been on the air with us for the better part of a decade; Anne has been with us even longer. This was the first time we all got out together.

For our 21st anniversary, we plan on putting together a blowout concert that highlights many great Virginia artists. Our major initiative involves completing expansion projects that will strengthen our signals in Richmond and Lynchburg.

7. How much interaction do you have with record labels?

I produce our station's annual in-studio CD, so I deal with labels for licensing. There was a time when I booked our in-studios and served on the station's music committee. I still read most of the label and industry e-mails that come my way and get a good laugh when someone asks me for an add or to write a story about their band.

8. What is your typical day like?

I work in the office on Mondays and Fridays, and I'm in wall-to-wall meetings Tuesday through Thursday. I usually spend two days in our other markets each week. I try to take six or seven meetings per day. I'll meet with listeners, business owners, marketing directors and community leaders -- anyone who will talk to me. My primary role is to generate underwriting sales, but I always have the station's growth in mind. Even if I don't think the person I'm meeting is a good prospect, I will still make an effort to meet. They could become a bigger supporter of the station, introduce me to a better prospect, change companies or just help me trigger new ideas. Today, I met with the executive director of an arts organization, the marketing team for a credit union, the owner of a chicken producer, a jet boat manufacturer, a restauranteur and the president of a design company. I research every company that I try to work with and end up with interesting stories and factoids from every one. It never gets boring.

9. What's the best piece of advice anyone's ever given you? The worst?

Be skeptical of anyone providing a monocausal explanation for anything. The world is a complicated place, and there is no shame in trying to develop a sophisticated understanding of things.

I was given more bad advice than I care to remember by our original GM at WNRN. Like I said earlier, he was terrified of change and much of his advice was his fear thinly veiled in cliches.

10. If you wanted to completely change careers today, what would you do?

I am really interested in public policy. I would love working in a career that focused on helping local governments audit and update their regulations without having to run for office.

Last non-industry job:

I was a transit supervisor for University Transit Service at UVA. I oversaw the daily operations one day a week and drove a transit bus. I still have my Commercial Drivers License. It gets me out of a ticket about half the time.

First record ever purchased:

I think it was "Smash" by The Offspring

First concert:

Pearl Jam with Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, 1996 at Lockhart Stadium in Ft Lauderdale.

Favorite band of all-time:

The Hold Steady!

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time away from work?

I have a toddler, so most of that time is spent with him, but I am a diehard UVA sports fan and try to make it to games when I can.