Successfully Managing Through The COVID Crisis

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As we get closer to the 2020 Radio Ink Radio Wayne Awards, which will be held virtually on September 15th, we’ll be spotlighting many of our Radio Wayne finalists every day up until the event. Our focus is how to manage successfully during COVID-19. Up first, Entercom’s Regional President for Southern California Jeff Federman.

Jeff has been in radio for 22 years with 15 of those years as a General Manager or Market Manager.

How has the COVID crisis changed how you manage and run stations?
Jeff Federman: We’ve all been working remotely since March 12th. My primary role was to keep the lines of communication open which was how we operated pre-Covid. I sent out an email almost daily with company and cluster updates and included as much information as I had at the moment. These emails usually ended with one of my favorite lines, “It’s the absolute truth, forever, for now.” Things were moving so fast, I wanted everyone to know we didn’t take college courses for this pandemic and we all needed to be flexible, patient and compassionate with each other.

We continued to have our all staff meetings (over 275 people on Zoom) every other month as well as all of our individual meetings. I try and drop in on individual department meetings every 1-2 weeks. Again, I want our team to feel connected and I want to be able to praise them, help them overcome any anxiety and deliver news – good or bad.

Radio Ink: How were you able to keep things positive at your stations during the COVID-19 crisis?
Jeff Federman:
I think this is an “are” not “were” since the crisis is on-going. We do many fun things on Zoom meetings from guest speakers to games to dress up days to “guess the photo.” We’ve also had some very open and deep discussions about life in general. Most of our team has become extremely close over the past three months. It’s been beautiful and inspiring to watch.

We’ve been very transparent with information as well. We don’t sugarcoat anything. I think it helps keep people positive as it eliminates anxiety. Even if it’s bad news, I believe people would rather know versus using their imagination to conjure up worst case scenarios.

Mark Tuesday September 15, 2020 on your calendar. That’s the day we’ll be presenting the 2020 Radio Ink Radio Wayne awards, the most prestigious radio awards for sales and management. Stay tuned for more details on the event in the coming days.

 

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