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Charese Fruge’ (@MCMediaonline) Jessica Mackenzie-Williams
December 6, 2022
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She grew up listening to KRBE/Houston and in fact, her high school boyfriend called up the station and asked her to prom live on the air back in the day. It’s no wonder fate eventually led Jessica Mackenzie-Williams to a career in radio. She is currently the Promotions Director for the Cumulus/Dallas Music Brands – The New HOT 93.3 (KLIF-FM), New Country 96.3 (KSCS-FM) and 99.5 The Wolf (KPLX). She describes her current roles and responsibilities as “Promotions Director, Event Director, Marketing Director, Digital Director, Graphic Designer, Babysitter, Listener Helpline… and little bit of everything and anything!” Her favorite part of the job, “I love brainstorming new and creative ways to make my stations activations fun, unique and engaging; on-air and on-site,” she says.
Mackenzie-Williams was born and raised in England, and moved to a suburb of Houston, TX in 2002 with her family. She graduated from Sam Houston State University and completed an internship at Walt Disney World after graduation in 2012. In 2013 she began working for the Grand Prix of Houston as the Promotions & Fulfillment Coordinator, which is a part of the IndyCar Race Series. In 2014, she moved into radio and started a journey that would lead her to the path she’s on now.
“I accepted a role as the Promotions and Activations Coordinator for the Cluster at CBS Radio/Houston (KHMX, KKHH, KLOL, KILT-AM & FM),” she says. “In March of 2016 I moved to a job at 104.1 KRBE, Cumulus’ Houston’s heritage CHR Station. KRBE was a dream station to work at – I grew up listening to KRBE, so I was excited for the new opportunity. As the Local and National Sales Coordinator for the station, I was able to sit in meetings, including programming, production and promotions which helped me learn and absorb more about the industry and the direction I wanted to take my own career.”
“In 2018, I moved to Dallas and accepted the role of Promotions Director over The New HOT 93.3 (KLIF-FM), WBAP-AM and KLIF-FM at Cumulus/Dallas. During the pandemic, my job shifted back into the sales department as the Sales Marketing Specialist. And, then at the beginning of 2022 I accepted the role I’m currently in today.”
“My biggest accomplishment so far is moving from National and Local Sales Assistant at Cumulus/Houston to Promotions Director at Cumulus/Dallas,” says Mackenzie-Williams. “I knew within a few weeks of being in the Radio industry where I wanted to be – and that was to be a Promotions Director. I worked hard, I listened, I asked questions and learned everything I could to be the best possible Promotions Director I could be. And I’ve been lucky to work with some very talented women in the industry, such as Tracy Gibson, Lesley Brotamonte, Rebecca Kaplan… just to name a few.”
“Another accomplishment,” Mackenzie-Williams adds, “Happened earlier this year, when I became the Promotions Director of two of the biggest country stations in the country – New County 96.3 and 99.5 The Wolf. New Country 96.3 won the Marconi Award for Country ‘Station of the Year’ this year, I was excited to be a part of it. Our team worked long hours, worked hard, and put our hearts and souls into the brand. Special shout out to my coordinator, Jennipher Miller, who I think has started reading my mind – which helps a lot!”
The roller coaster industry doesn’t come without it challenges. “My biggest was during the pandemic,” says Mackenzie-Williams. “I was furloughed, and after 3-months I was lucky enough to be brought back and offered a new role in the Sales Department. It was a role that I didn’t see myself going back into, but one I am very grateful for because it taught me new things and helped me develop new passion projects within the radio industry,” she says. “I learned a lot being back in the Sales Department, skills that helped me become a better Promotions Director. I can now turn on my Sales mind to figure out what will work for them and turn on my Promotions mind to figure out how the Sales angle will help with what Programming is wanting to execute. For that, I can thank our VP/Sales, Dawn Girocco, for taking me under her wing and mentoring me during this challenging time in my career.”
With everything Mackenzie-Williams has learned over the last few years, the best advice she can offer to women who want to get into the industry is ‘Be able to stand your ground. Fight for what you want. Fight for what you deserve. Know your worth. And know what you bring to the table.’
Jessica also has good advice for tackling one of the industry’s biggest challenges which is attracting and creating loyalty and engagement with a younger audience. “For me I rely on and converse with my promo team, I have 20+ people who are in that demo who are excited and eager to learn and who teach me new ways to relate and be creative across our social media platforms,” she says. “There have been numerous occasions where my promo team has created TikTok videos from the events they have worked. They’re amazing, creative, and fun. I show my appreciation by posting to our official account and tagging them. Also, know that ‘your interests’ will also, potentially, interest the younger generations. It’s all in how you deliver the information. Each form of outlet needs a different style of delivery.”
Not only do we as an industry need to grow a younger audience, but we need to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion. Mackenzie-Williams’ thoughts on radio’s progress are similar to most these days, “There is always room for improvement, but I believe we are continuing to move in the right direction with each day that passes,” she says. “We still need to continue looking at the people we see in our day-to-day meetings and see if there is room for growth and/or improvement. People now more than ever are starting to have more conversations about their own personal experiences, what we can do better, and how we implement those changes, and that can only lead to progress when it comes to Diversity.”
What keeps Mackenzie-Williams up at night? “Work,” she says. “Normally it’s things like: ‘Did I send that email?’; ‘Am I overthinking that email?’; ‘Did I do this?’... If it is the day before a big event, my thoughts are more like: ‘did I gather everything needed for the event, what do I need to do in the morning, where’s my checklist with everything on it…?’”
How does Jessica find balance? “I remember that I work in radio, and that this is a really fun job that a lot of people want,” she says. “I remember that even though sometimes it is a long day working a concert event, or a Radiothon over 2-days, that sometimes I’m hanging backstage with Ed Sheeran or Keith Urban. We’re not performing open heart surgery or brain surgery – I am planning an event or being creative and thinking up fun and new promotions.”
“Fortunately for me, the things I like to do in my spare time are the things that my job requires me to be at. I also like to take time to hang by myself, or with those close to me. I have two nieces who mean the absolute world to me and all I want to do it sit there with them and watch ‘Bluey.’”
As for 2023, Mackenzie-Williams expects to be busy next year. “I am most looking forward to planning our Second Annual Texas Independence Jam at the Historic Billy Bob’s Texas in February. This was my first project after moving into this new Promotions Director role, and I was only given a month to plan it out! “She says. “I am also excited to have a years’ worth of events and on-air promotions under my belt and be able to strategically plan them with experiences and lessons I learned from the previous year.”
We look forward to seeing how everything turns out for Mackenzie-Williams in the coming year. Follow her on Instagram at @jmackwill.
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