From AE To RVP. Here’s How You Do It.

Donna Baker is the Midwest Regional Vice President and Kansas City Market Manager for Cumulus Media. She’s also been chosen as one of Radio’s Best Managers and is featured in the current issue of Radio Ink Magazine. Baker began her radio career as a salesperson for Sunburst Media before the Telecom Act was passed. She was lucky enough to work for John Border and Don Turner before Sunburst sold to Clear Channel in 2000. She joined Cumulus a decade ago as the Kansas City Market Manager and has worked her way up to Regional Vice President. With 28 years in the business, Donna has been a manager for all but four of those years. Let’s find out how she’s been able to achieve such great success. Here’s our extended interview with one of Radio’s Best Managers, Donna Baker.

Radio Ink: How have you been able to achieve the success you have so far in radio?
Donna Baker: I had the incredible blessing of mentoring and coaching from some of the best minds in the business and that continues today. Hiring passionate, talented people and setting a clear vision of the goals   we want to accomplish as a team, then empowering and leading from the front to build a sustaining culture of success. And…working incredibly hard, making choices including sacrifice of personal and family time, and an insatiable desire to win!

Radio Ink: Who mentored you, and what did they do to help you succeed?
Donna Baker: John Borders and Don Turner, the CEO and COO of Sunburst Media, took a chance on a 29-year-old me, promoted from sales to sales manager to market manager. They taught me every aspect of the business, setting high expectations to first deliver the very best radio stations. Next, set a culture of high accountability to deliver revenue accordingly by hiring, training, and retaining top sales talent. Finally, they let me try new things, leading to the lessons that only failing and leaning the process can teach. After selling the group, Jay Meyers, Dave Crowl, John Laton, and Jon Pinch were next-step mentors who gave me additional opportunities, pushed me just beyond my comfort zone, held me accountable, and collaborated to help. The same is true with our current leadership team and mentors Dave Milner, Bob Walker, and Mike McVay. They walk the talk and model the leadership foundation Mary Berner is building that is turning Cumulus around.

Radio Ink: What do you expect from the people you manage?
Donna Baker: Integrity, positive focus on what is possible and leading by example. And willingness to grow and learn when they fall short.

Radio Ink: When do you know you have a great employee with the potential to be a manager?
Donna Baker: They perform above expectations in their current role and seek additional assignments that challenge them to grow. They recognize performance traits of successful people, are champions of our brands, and enthusiastically recruit talented people to join our team. They are viewed as positive and solution-focused by their peers, have natural leadership qualities and outstanding work ethic.

Radio Ink: What’s the number one challenge you face every day and how are you overcoming it? 
Donna Baker: The actual value vs. perceived value of radio and supporting mediums of digital and events. We focus on overcoming this perception every day. Engaging in meaningful conversations with listeners and advertisers about their needs and expectations is the top priority focus of our teams, and we still have a lot of work to do.

Radio Ink: What was proudest moment was over the past 12 months. 
Donna Baker: Our KC team took a giant swing about a year ago. We aligned our seven stations to change the dynamic of the KC marketplace. This team continues to work tirelessly to execute this vision. It was a very special day opening ratings to a tie for #1 — both are our stations. With additional stations’ growth, the cluster is up 30% in one year. Same day: Chiefs crushed the Patriots in the NFL season opener, broadcast on #1 KCFX, the 28-year flagship of our Chiefs Kingdom Radio Network, the largest in the NFL. Seeing the team’s pure joy in these accomplishments is a career-high memory.

Radio Ink: What does it take to be a strong and successful manager in radio today?
Donna Baker: Relentless focus on building, growing, and empowering talented teams.

Reach out to Cumulus’ Donna Baker to congratulate her on being one of Radio’s Best managers at [email protected]