By way of introduction, I am Gary Buchanan, President of Three Eagles Communications and more importantly a lifelong local radio broadcaster. I grew up in Boulder, Colorado; our high school had a once a week thirty-minute radio show on KBOL-AM. As a junior, I was approached by the teacher that oversaw the program and asked if I would be interested in doing the show. Well, I did and fell in love with radio. Rolling the clock forward I was fourteen then, today I am seventy-one and still working day-to-day in local radio.
Over the years I worked for some that taught me what not to do, and most importantly worked for some ‘greats’ in the business that taught me what to do, how to do it, how to be a part of the community and how to make money doing it. The top two on that list would be Rolland Johnson and Dick Chapin. I worked for Chapin starting in 1978. Then Johnson in 1991. Rolland was the CEO for Duchossois Communications, which then lead us to start Three Eagles Communications in 1996. We purchase radio stations in the Midwest, including Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. That group was sold in 2014. Three Eagles had/has stations in Salida Colorado which is where I am today and have been for twelve years loving life in the Rockies.
When I reflect back to the Midwest company, we had forty-eight stations, three hundred plus employees, one hundred and twenty of those were account representatives, an accounting department of eight, including an in-house collection department. We created an environment of communication within the company, sharing ideas between the markets and a spirit of ‘team’ by working together. As President my goal started at the top. We trained the managers to manage, to be a part of their community and to be live, local and relevant. Over time this group won five Crystal Awards, two Marconi’s along with a countless number of state and community awards. To bottom line their efforts, revenue was strong, cashflow was excellent where the owners and investors received dividends on a regular basis. We never sold towers, buildings, or assets. That group was sold and ultimately morphed into a larger group and now on its third owner in twelve years.
Was the day-to-day perfect. Hell no. Over the eighteen years did we have ups and down, you bet. Did we work hard, YES we did. Am I proud of those that worked with us those eighteen years, I am very proud. They were local broadcasters.
When we sold that group in September 2014 I moved into Salida Colorado as my last hurrah. To date; this group has been named Small Market Station(s) of the Year six times by the Colorado Broadcasters Association. Won over 110 Awards for Broadcast Excellence for programming, sports, news, production and more. If I can brag a little, named Broadcaster of the Year by the CBA a few years ago. Locally; Business of the Year by the Salida Chamber of Commerce, and again the list goes on and on for all of us in this building. From a business standpoint, we have had nice steady growth in revenue. We focus on Main Street, NOT Wall Street. No real magic, just doing it the way I was trained by the ‘greats’. Ya see, we don’t terminate salespeople to save money; we hire salespeople, train them, and help them grow. Are you going to make mistakes and hire the wrong person? Of course you are, it happens. Like Chris Lytle says, hire slowly and fire quickly. Our goal has always been, get the right people on the bus and in the right seats.
We have a sales ‘playbook’ that features three times the amount of inventory we need to hit our goals, and we find ways to drive revenue as each station is a profit center. We give salespeople the opportunity to sell programs that meet the clients’ needs and the inventory they like to sell. Imagine that! Sellers selling what they like to sell. We cover and sell high school sports, local news, podcasts, and dozens of other things. We get out and support community events. We are everywhere all the time.
Lately the headlines have been brutal. Seems the ‘bigs’ grab all the attention. When that happens, it sends shockwaves through the industry, investors, and advertisers. So, let me ask you this; take the top five companies and how many stations do they own? Compare that against the locally owned mom-and-pop groups like us. I am willing to bet there are more locally owned stations. Time for us to speak up.
Most stations that are owned by Wall Street have proven that they cannot save their way to prosperity.
How can you build a team if the members expect to be next on the chopping block? Why have broadcasters forgot that we are a people business?
To sum this up, local radio is not as bad as the reports of a few that continue to grab the headlines. Local radio done right is strong and will be well into the future. It takes well trained people, strong managers who know how to build a team and get out from behind the desk. It is important for the manager to knock on doors with sellers, build their own book of business and be a part of the community.
Time for all of us to super-serve the communities we are licensed to.
Gary Buchanan is the President of Three Eagles Communications & Heart of the Rockies Radio Group. You can reach him at gbuchanan@threeeagles.com.