Darren Davis is president of iHeartRadio Worldwide. His rapid rise through the ranks of radio management is a true blueprint for success — one that includes determination, desire, and hard work. He’s always curious. He’s always ready for his next challenge. He’s always having fun. And now he’s always mentoring as many people as he can along the way, spreading his unbridled enthusiasm for the business he loves. Davis decided he wanted to be in the radio business when he was 6 years old and was lucky enough to see “behind the curtain” at his hometown radio station, KNCO-AM in Grass Valley, CA. He became a radio groupie, calling the station all the time, until the jocks knew who he was every time he called. He perceived the DJs as “people making really cool stuff come out of my radio speakers.”
Davis would wind up working at KNCO when he came home from George Washington University for the summer. He did whatever was asked of him and asked to do anything that needed to be done. After college, Darren took a position as an intern at WASH-FM in Washington, DC. By age 23 he was the PD at the station. As you’ll read in this cover story, Davis would advance up the radio management ladder every few years, taking on more responsibility, managing more stations, leading more people. At iHeart, Davis would eventually hold the positions of regional VP of programming in Detroit and Chicago, senior VP of programming, and executive VP/GM of national programming.
Today, as president of the iHeartMedia Networks group, Davis oversees several important businesses inside iHeartMedia, including Premiere Networks, Total Traffic + Weather Network, NBC News Radio Network, and iHeartMedia’s Global Music Marketing team, Programmatic & Data Operations, in-house commercial creative agency, and in-house graphic design team.
Radio Ink: Radio can be a business that changes a lot. How do you make sure you stay on somebody else’s radar when there’s constant change at the top of a company?
Darren Davis: Be curious. Talk to everyone. Ask about all parts of the business. Talk to competitors. And don’t just reach out to people when you need something — that’s not a good way to be successful in business, and it’s frankly not the way to be a very nice person. Be kind to all people, all the time.
And when it comes to your career growth, let people know what you want. They can’t and generally won’t guess. Bosses can’t intuit what your career goals are. So you’ve got to let them know what you want to do in the future. I told John Hogan in 2007 that my dream was to become one of his SVPPs. I told him I wanted to be at the top of his list next time he had an opening. And I told him if I wasn’t already at the top of that list, I wanted to hear what I needed to fix. And that gave us the opportunity to talk about what I was great at and what areas needed work, so by 2008 I got that call to become an SVPP for Clear Channel.
Radio Ink: Who have been some of your mentors along the way?
Darren Davis: Since I grew up through the programming ranks, I always think about a handful of programmers in particular that helped me over the years. Guy Zapoleon was my first consultant when I was at WASH. Guy’s seen more research and worked with more radio brands than anyone I can think of. So much knowledge. And genuinely one of the sweetest people.
There were several PDs at WASH during the first years I was there, and Steve Streit was the third PD I worked for at WASH. He really shaped the station into a different kind of AC station — lots of fun, big contests, CHR-style imaging. I learned a lot from Steve. As the lead AC programmer for Clear Channel, Jim Ryan was always very supportive and involved me in a lot of fun projects all over the country and taught me a lot.
Steve Rivers was amazing — I got to work closely with Steve both in DC and in Houston. He was obviously one of the very best ever at crafting a creative product that could reach out and grab listeners. And of course, having a world-class programmer like Tom Poleman right down the hall every day is always a good thing. I’m always picking Tom’s brain. I’ve known Tom for 20 years now, and he’s great.
Radio Ink: And you are trying to mentor others as they come through the business?
Darren Davis: Totally. Even though I’m not that old, I sort of feel like a dad or the elder statesman around here. I like people to have as much fun as I’m having. It hurts my feelings if I ever hear about people not enjoying working at iHeart or not having a good experience in radio. So I’m always trying to coach people and help people get to where they want to be.
Read more in the November 14, 2016 issue of Radio Ink. Subscribe to Radio Ink HERE.
As Darren is one of those few senior executives with a background in programming, I do wonder how it is that he has not (figuratively) been tromping the sidewalks wearing a sandwich board that reads: “Need Immediate and Significant Help in Programming and Ad Generation. Apply here! Now! Please!”