From Manager To Owner. Here’s How He Did It.

WEBL-FM in North Mississippi is being sold by The Mighty Media Group to Tom Freeman. Freeman is the current General Manager of the station. Upon FCC approval, Freeman and his wife Allison will take over ownership of the station they call “The Rebel.” Freeman’s career includes management positions at 23 radio stations in Hattiesburg, Jackson, Tupelo, Oklahoma City, Topeka, and Memphis.

Freeman began his radio career at the age of 14 in his hometown of Laurel, MS. Allison caught the radio bug in college, where she managed the commercial college radio station at Ole Miss. She continued in the radio industry after graduation and worked her way up from on-air promotions to office manager of radio stations in Jackson, MS.

The couple will also take over operations of Classic Hits 100.1 FM (W261CE — a translator for WEBL-HD2). The station will feature local content from chambers of commerce, area charities, sports, and community events in North Mississippi, which is slated to become the voice of DeSoto County.

Here’s our interview with Tom Freeman about how he went from the General Manager of the station to the owner.

Radio Ink:How long were you in management and how did you get into Radio?
Freeman: I’ve managed WEBL-FM for nine years. Before working here, I was a programming guy. My first time on the radio was at age 14 — I hosted the Saturday morning obituary reports on WAML-AM in Laurel, MS. After I got a driver’s license, I landed a part-time gig on WBBN-FM, the number one station in town. I went full-time the day after high school graduation.

Radio Ink: Why are you getting into ownership and why do you think this is a good time to jump in?
Freeman: Radio is magical. Other mediums seem to come and go, but this industry still holds a 90%+ reach. I’ve always believed that it’s possible to embrace technology and automation but still deliver a full-service local product that’s profitable — better than the big boys are doing it. Now I get to test my theory.

Radio Ink: How did you get the financing?
Freeman: The last nine years with Ron Unkefer has been a real education — he is a sharp businessman and I admire him. Not only did it give me the confidence to aggressively seek out a path to ownership — but he’s played an instrumental role in making this happen.

Radio Ink: How do you plan to run the station?
Freeman: Years ago, I adopted the lean-services model at this station. We’ll continue seeking the most efficient methods to deliver world-class service to local businesses and serve the community with entertainment and targeted music. We’ll step up our game plan for promoting community charities and economic development.

Radio Ink: What do you see as the biggest challenges in a market your size?Freeman: Radio’s success is linked to the success of local businesses. We want to position ourselves as an advocate for small businesses. In addition to radio, we’ll offer reputation management, social media management, websites, and highly targeted digital advertising. We see ourselves as a full-service advertising firm for local business.

Radio Ink: What does your station mean to the community and how important is live and local?
Freeman: Local is what we are all about. We will embrace automation to aggregate more meaningful local programming.

Radio Ink: What advice do you have for others wanting to get into ownership?
Freeman: After a year or two under my belt, I hope to have a really great answer for that one!