10 Questions with ... Jay Hicks

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

• 2011-2016 WGPR (HOT 1075)/Detroit -- PD
• 2007-2011 WQHH (POWER 96.5 FM)/Lansing, MI – PD, on-air personality, Assistant Production Manager (WQHH/WXLA)

1) Was WGPR and Detroit a good experience for you?

My experience at WGPR was incredible. I started the summer of 2011 and walked right into to our Summer Jamz concert. The ability to network and connect with so many Detroit influencers and staff at the event helped me establish a strong base. I remember speaking to Jalen Rose about how the station could make a bigger community impact and how we could utilize his school and his resources to help with anything I needed. The following weeks the station hosted his J Rose B-Ball camp and various food drives, which were very successful.

In October of 2011, we flipped the station from Hot 102.7 to Hot 1075-WGPR and we had success with ratings reaching an immediate high. Everything moved extremely fast and me coming from market #125, I really had to adjust quickly which I did with help from my OM at the time, Armando Rivera, who helped coached and guide me along the way. His programming knowledge was very profound and I learned so many tactics, strategies and philosophies from him, which allowed me to really develop quickly and create some great success stories, like beating my direct competitor for the first time ever in the summer of 2012. I lead an on-air team that was one of the best in the country with Paigon, Big Greg, and Shorty Da Prince.

I was also able to launch a local morning show named the Morning Heat. With daily coaching, implementing key segments, and having a strong social presence allowed the show to receive very good ratings and helped elevate the station to a new level. Over the years, I was able to highlight some of the most talented artists to come out of Detroit. I broke Dej Loaf’s "Try Me" record, which was a huge deal for the city locally and nationally. Recently I broke Zayion Mcall and Zay Hilfigerrr’s "JuJuOnThatBeat."

Over the years, I gained so much experience from my co-workers and upper management, which really sharpened my skill-set. Being able to work directly with Nate Bell, was a true honor and him really grooming me for the next level are things that I’m just very grateful for.

2) How did you get your start in radio?

I started as an intern at WJLB, working in the promotions department. I worked directly with Larry Howard, who was a promotion’s beast. Working in his department required a lot of hard work. We really did grind in that department all day every day bannering up free-way overpasses, which would stretch 10-12 miles. Interning in that department really gave me a different perspective about radio and allowed me to understand some of the business aspects from a marketing perspective.

3) Do you think it’s important to get experience in other departments before programming?

Yes. You have to learn how everything is connected from digital to on-air, promotions, traffic, and most importantly sales. Once you understand how the Radio Echo-System works, then you’re able to know your role and how you can contribute.

4) Are steaming services important to terrestrial radio?

As a programmer, you must understand the lifestyle of your listener and the streaming services are a huge part of that lifestyle. Take the word "Playlist," for example. That word has been used since forever. The word ‘Playlist" is a part of radio’s DNA. Spotify and Apple have taken that word and really made it hip and cool and have really capitalized on it. Spotify is known for having genre specific playlists that are shared by user community. The people who pick these songs that are on the playlist are titled "Curators." When Jimmy Ivoine partnered with Apple, one of the first things he mentioned was utilizing "Human Curation" to select the best songs so that a unique listening experience is created with the users via playlist.

Radio has been doing this for years with PDs, but we missed our opportunity of marketing the fact that we have some of the best professional programmers researching and picking the "hottest" songs for you to listen to on this station.

Now radio has to utilize playlist, from Apple or Spotify to help verify which songs are gaining momentum so they could be considered to be placed in music rotation. Now it’s becoming which song has more streams than the other song style game. The Spotify playlists have now become a "vital tool" to help in selecting the best songs for your station. If you don’t understand or utilize these streaming services, you’re missing out on a huge audience opportunity. A lot of programmers use Shazam, which is cool, but Shazam is after-the-fact in that the song is being played on the station, so it gives justification, but Spotify is the reason the song will have the potential to get Shazamed.

If I like two particular songs, one from the Migos and another from Lil Uzi, but I only have one slot open and both songs are strong in the streets and in the club but I don’t have any research on either yet ... I’m going with the one that’s streamed the most! A lot of programmers don’t understand the streaming services and how they work, but I’m a steaming expert. I even have my own Spotify playlist with over 20,000 followers. Why couldn’t stations create their own?

5) Radio is more than what goes out on the air these days isn’t it?

Radio is social and always has been. We were the first social media before social media! People live on social media. I’m a millennial and I sure do. My philosophy is to engage on all of them (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), but be extremely effective with at least on one of them. For example, my focus was really on Instagram. Instead of just posting typical things like show topics, jocks or guest in the studio, we would post a lot of local humor.

Another example: When the Lions football team would win, we would post a meme of the Lions coach or quarterback wearing some "Cartier" glasses. Cartier glasses are very symbolic to Detroit because it represents a certain "Lifestyle Status," but these posts would receive thousands of likes on our Instagram page. These small topical things allowed for the station to lead the market with Instagram followers so when a client would request Instagram posts of their product, the sales team was able to create a huge campaign just based around our Instagram following. It’s very important to be social and find ways to capitalize on that connectivity.

6) Who have been your mentors?

Brant Johnson was my PD while in Lansing. Brant gave me my first start at radio in Lansing at Power 96.5 WQHH. He would give me stacks upon stacks of music to listen to. This really helped develop my music ear!

Mac MacDonald, owner of MacDonald Broadcasting. Mac would always stretch my thinking and challenge me to think big non-stop. He pushed me to use my creativity and create on-air element that could be utilized as a product to be sold.

George Jones, my former sales GM. He always explained various sales tactics and strategies to me and would always give me some real-life advice.

My sister Cortney Hicks. She has always navigated my career in helping me with various airchecks, resume stuff and industry advice. She plugged me with Jay Stevens, which helped me secure the PD job in Detroit.

Armondo Rivera, my former OM. This dude is a research beast. He showed and explained every part and piece of radio research that was available. He taught me how to use various tools and to be professional at all times.

7) How important is imaging to a station?

Imaging is everything for the platform. With people’s ears being pulled so many places -- on the phone, map audio, various sounds outside the car -- it is really important for a station to capture the listener’s attention instantly ... and that’s done with great imaging. I’m a fan of listener drops, which allow your station to be endorsed by someone who is relatable and from the area. Imaging should be local and edgy and projects your city’s sound. I would do this with key words that Detroit only used, such as "Whatupdoe" and "What’s Good My Babi." These imaging pieces really helped the station connect more with the listener. I shouldn’t be able to take your imaging and place it in another market and it would work.

8) What importance has social media been in your programming?

Years upon years, we have been telling listeners to "like" us on Facebook or "friend" us, so when Facebook went with the "live" feature, we were ready to utilize it with product placement from shoe stores reviewing their various fashion releases which would get over 10,000 views. This actually became a weekly Facebook Live segment. I remember we did a firework display from a local distributor and within two hours he sold over $15,000 worth of fireworks. We did this all live on Facebook and made it look organic and authentic to the audience and it created some significant NTR. Plus, it kept us connecting and trendy.

9) How important is air talent in a PPM world?

Regardless if it’s in a PPM or Dairy world, the air talent has to have the following ingredients: relatable, topical, socially engaging, energetic (I’m not talking about screaming), and informative to become a vital part of the station. The talent is what separates us from our competition. It’s what separates us from the Spotify playlist. The talent has to be able to resonate and make an impact and a lot of that comes from being prepared before the shift. A lot of talent prep while doing their show and not before their show so lack luster entertainment is created and they have no impact or no connection. The talent has to entertain every hour. They have to be creating unique moments every time they open the mic. You create enough moments people will start to gravitate to you and sales are able to utilize the talent for endorsement opportunities.

10) What does the future hold for radio?

To be more social and really connect and engage our brands through various platforms. For example, messaging apps are becoming the future trend, why don’t a majority of our radio apps have messaging on them? Why couldn’t a jock or community of listeners message each other inside that platform to talk about community events, new music, or local topics? You could even have a music artist join sometime to message back and forth with listeners.

Another example is podcasting. Programmers always mention how can we develop new talent and utilize some of these "social media" starts.

What if we used Podcasting to help develop this untapped talent? Have them create "them style" shows and place them on the sites. For example, a Spotify Top 7 countdown Podcast, where they countdown the dopest Spotify songs. Things like that could help groom and coach them until their ready for on-air placement.

Is there anything about you that would surprise people?

Nothing really. I’m a huggggggeeee Michigan State FAN!!! #GoSpartans

Who did you listen to while growing up in Detroit and what was your take on how they came across?

I was a huge WJLB listener; I think everyone in Detroit was.

Mason - I always listened to Mason in the Morning. Mason was so creative, and had non-stop energy that just grabbed your attention every time you tuned in. He was so topical and very humorous. He would do traffic in this "Granny Voice" which made traffic very entertaining.

Reggie Reg - He was so relatable, and his energy was always good. He did this segment titled "Holla at the Mayor" which was done by Hip-Hop mayor at the time Kwame. This was before all the text message stuff. It was a dope segment and generated a lot of buzz.

Tic Tac - He was on Channel 955 and this dude was just off the hook. He was never predictable and always had something nutz going on!! I would tune in just to see what crazy things he was about to do.

Big Boy aka Chunky - He was on Channel 955 and his calls was so engaging and hilarious. He really worked the phones well. One of the best in my opinion. He would always end each call or break with a hilarious punch-line.

Cortney Hicks – Yeah, she’s my sister but she’s a really good jock. Her presentation was very clear, professional and relatable. Her sound was always consistent and she connected strongly with each caller that she played.