David Santrella is the President of Broadcast Media for the Salem Media Group. In the April issue of Radio Ink, featuring radio’s Top 20 leaders, Santrella told us his team would describe him as a “warrior.” So where did this warrior rank on our list? Let’s find out.
Before we get to where Santrella ranked on the list, here’s what he had to say regarding being a leader in 2021.
Santrella believes 2021 is going to be a great year for radio, because the economy is coming back and business owners will want to get their lives back to pre-pandemic normal. “That means they will need partners like us to come alongside them and help them,” he says. “It will give us the opportunity to work more closely with clients than we ever have. It will give us the chance to lock arms with them, get creative, and get their business back on track. And in doing that, our business will get back on track. Our business always gets better when we first help those we serve.”
Santrella says going through the pandemic has made him a better leader because it forced him to strike a delicate balance between understanding the very real challenges caused by the pandemic, but at the same time not giving anyone, including himself, an excuse to take a foot off the gas. “It wasn’t ‘our fault’ that the economy came to a screeching halt, but it is ‘our problem’ to fix,” he says. “It’s compelled us to become more creative, which has led to some remarkable growth initiatives in 2020, some of which were highlighted on Salem’s Q4 earnings call. I think crisis provides opportunity to lead better. It’s easy to lead when the sun is shining and the wind is at your back. When the storms hit is when your real leadership ability shows up.”
No question about it, If Santrella were launching his career tomorrow, it would be in radio. “Oh, my goodness, I would jump at it with even more enthusiasm than I did when I started at my high school radio station, WMTH 88.5 FM, back when I was 14 years old. Radio has so much to offer! We continue to have great signals that provide award-winning content that’s free and just one button push away.
“But now we also have streaming channels that provide that same content, as well as other content choices that provide for endless opportunities to be creative. Now, we also offer an array of digital marketing services that give our advertisers the ability to engage with our listeners at an entirely new level.
There was a recent Master Marketers done by Borrell Associates, and among those “Master Marketers” — those that have no fewer than 10,000 hours in the marketing field — it showed that of all traditional forms of media (media other than digital), radio shows the second-highest increase in spend (for 2021), at 6% over 2020. All of the other increases are in digital products such as SEO/SEM, social media marketing, etc.
“Why is radio one of the few more traditional mediums that will see an increase? Because radio drives the digital train. It all starts when somebody hears that commercial on the radio. That starts the journey, and after they hear it on the radio, they search for it online, and then the real engagement begins. Radio/audio loads the top of the funnel from which all business flows, and it provides a level of credibility ‘digital-only’ advertisers generally don’t have. That’s why experts in the field, such as these ‘Master Marketers,’ continue to invest in radio.”
Santrella came in at #3 on our list this year.
#2 – Mary Quass
#1 – Bud Walters
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