Radio Ink’s 2016 Most Influential Women in Radio issue is now making its way around the country via the U.S. Postal Service. In that issue, amongst all the other great women in our industry should have been a picture of Jana Cosgrove. Jana is President of CBS Radio Sales and Entercom Radio Sales at Katz and is a regular on this list every year. Jana made our 2016 list and through an editing error we accidentally omitted Jana’s picture and answers from the issue. Jana Cosgrove is clearly one of radio’s Most Influential and we want to apologize to her for making that mistake. We also want to apologize to our readers for not bringing you Jana’s excellent answers to our questions in that issue. So to make it up to you and to Jana, we have an extended interview with Jana here.
RI: What are you responsible for on a daily basis?
Cosgrove: As President of CBS Radio Sales and Entercom Radio Sales at Katz, I am responsible for working with both broadcast groups in developing a strategy to grow their national revenue. I manage a team of 30+ sellers in implementing this strategy across 12 offices across the country. In addition, I maintain relationships with key agencies and advertisers with a focus on providing marketing solutions that deliver results for advertisers.
RI: What is it about you that you believe makes successful and influential?
Cosgrove: I have always worked hard and I know my business. However, I am also always still engaged in the sales process. I have always believed that it was critical for me to continue to sell radio, markets and stations. This business is evolving so quickly and what we sold even 5 years ago is different than what we are selling today. When leaders become disengaged with the realities of what is going on in their industry and with their teams, they can no longer effectively guide and coach people towards success.
RI: What advice can you offer readers on how to be successful today in radio?
Cosgrove: You first have to have a passion for radio with a keen understanding of how radio stations connect and engage with their listeners. A well programmed radio station knows how to connect with their listener on every level – over the air, station website, social media, email marketing, contesting and events. They know what resonates with the listener. From a sales perspective, you need to understand a client’s needs and goals and utilize all resources available to help connect and engage the consumer/listener with the advertiser.
RI: What steps should they take to achieve those goals?
Cosgrove: I always have a 12 month plan of what I want to accomplish in my career. They can be both simple goals and steps towards achieving long term goals. Having a plan enables you to stay focused. The other important thing is to always talk with people who are doing interesting things in the business and learn as much as you can about what they are doing and how they came up with the idea or executed the idea. You can learn so much from other people and sometimes just listen and ask questions. You simply never stop learning.
RI: What do you want to see radio do better?
Cosgrove: We need to be more proactive and less reactive. The radio industry has been in a defensive position for years. We need to start all speaking with one voice about what makes radio an incredible experience for the user and an incredibly effective platform for an advertiser. Fortunately, we have some great stories to tell on the effectiveness of radio based on research done by Katz and Nielsen.
Reach out to Jana to congratulate her on being one of Radio’s Most Influential at [email protected].
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