Posted by chicagomedia.org on September 17, 2008 at 22:20:56:
AUSTIN -- R&R '08 is underway in Austin, and the first lunch helped kick off the annual industry gathering with a bang as the 2008 R&R Industry Award winners in the National Radio and Station of the Year categories were handed out. Winners included Radio Executive of the Year Mike McVay, who won for the third straight year; Ryan Seacrest, who scored Syndicated Personality of the Year; Clear Channel's Tom Owens, who was anointed Radio Programming Exec of the Year; Lincoln Financial Media/San Diego's Bob Call, who won Market Manager of the Year; CBS Radio's Dan Mason, who was given Radio Group Executive of the Year; and Eileen Woodbury of KIIS & KYSR/Los Angeles, who scored Marketing & Promo Director of the Year.
For markets 1-15, alternative monster KROQ/Los Angeles picked up Alternative Station of the Year, top 40 powerhouse KIIS/Los Angeles won for Top 40 Station of the Year for the second year in a row, WRIF/Detroit continued its Active Rock Station of the Year winning streak, WUSN/Chicago took home Country Station of the Year, WBMX/Boston picked up Hot AC Station of the Year, WBLS/New York won Urban AC Station of the Year, WBEB/Philadelphia was given AC Station of the Year, WBBM/Chicago picked up Rhythmic Station of the Year, WVEE/Atlanta got the crown for Urban Station of the Year, and KLVE/Los Angeles won Latin Station of the Year. Other Station of the Year winners were WFBQ/Indianapolis (Classic Rock), WNUA/Chicago (Smooth Jazz), WCBS-FM/New York (Oldies), WPZE/Atlanta (Gospel, markets 1-50) and KSHE/St. Louis (Rock, markets 1-50). A full list of all of today's winners is available here.
After a performance by independent artist Sharmian, noted financial guru and radio/TV personality Dave Ramsey took the stage to give an invigorating speech, in which he outlined his acronym for success: CAPP, which stands for "creativity, activity, perception and people."
Speaking to creativity, Ramsey noted it's something that needs to be developed and polished, not something you're born with. "Creativity is about 98% sweat," he said. "Push stuff back. Tell the creative people to do better. Use the phrase 'That's not good enough.'"
Ramsey advised people to roll up their sleeves and get passionate about their work, commenting on activity. "My grandmother used to say that there's a great place to go while you don't have a job -- to work," he said, which drew laughter from the crowd. "While you're at work, work. Don't text or talk about your MySpace page. Roll up your sleeves and get passionate. I tell my team, 'Your raise is effective when you are.'"
Perception, the third leg, is an important aspect of success, and Ramsey said that attitude matters, and it's important to project success. "How you approach the business matters. Our perception in radio is that we're not going to not work, we're not going to not win," he said, noting that a defeatist attitude will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ramsey stressed the importance of having the right people in your business and using them in the right way, plus leading and treating them the right way in order to get the most out of them. There will be some people you may have to let go in order to put together your best possible team, he said, but make sure to treat them with dignity as well. "The dignity and integrity you treat people with is called relationships, and this is still a small family in radio and a business that relies on relationships and how you treat people," he said. "This is a people business."
Adding on an extra "p" for perseverance, Ramsey made a point of not quitting despite the difficulty of what we face. "The key quality of winners is that they don't quit," he said. "These are people you want on your sales team. They won't say or take no. They are fired up and won't ever say die."
(R&R)