Dana Cortez is ready to outwork you. She knows what she wants from her radio career, has high expectations of herself, and she’s doing the work. Fresh off a Gracie win earlier this year, Dana is on the cover of Radio Ink Magazine this month.
Our interview will not be available online so get your subscription today. Here’s an excerpt from our interview with Dana Cortez….
Radio Ink: Explain how and why you decided to go out on your own.
Cortez: I think because of where I come from. I’ve always had to constantly think about the next step; it’s just the way I operate. How do I continue forward motion? Once we started to grow, what was the next step? I automatically started to think about syndication.
We started to talk to a couple of companies and approached Univision, who we were with, but that didn’t pan out. Andrew at Skyview reached out after we had a brief meeting at a morning show boot camp. He asked if we were interested. My husband was DJ’ing in New York at the time. We met with Steve Jones, and a few weeks later it happened. This was something we talked about for years before it happened. I’m so happy that we did it.
It was scary to go out on our own. We have to earn our wins. We can’t get put on a station because we work for a big corporation, we work for ourselves. We have to earn every station we’re on. I’m so glad we’re here now. That feeling I’ve had of needing to move and grow and do well — it’s so satisfying when we partner with a station and they can say, “Oh, you guys are doing so well for us.” It’s not just about saving the company money, but making them money, adding value. Skyview has proven to be such a good partner.
Radio Ink: You decided you wanted to be syndicated and pitched it to various groups, but they rejected the idea. How do you keep going?
Cortez: For me, rejection has been a part of my everyday life as far back as I can remember. It’s also turning in receipts; you can’t just want to do something. You have to approach people with a reason why they want to do that with you. Why do they want to partner with you? You can’t pull up to a radio station and say, “Hey, just take a chance.” I have to show them why they would want to be partners with us and why they need to.
There’s nobody that’s going to take a chance on you or me just because I want them to. I hear people say, “I want to be syndicated.” You have to show the person why. It’s not just wanting. I love the whole idea of local radio, but the truth is, people need to make money. We all have families to feed. At the end of the day, can you make a difference in the lives of people every day, and can you get ratings and bring in revenue? If you can answer those questions with a yes, you’re more than likely able to move into this world. I love shows that belong to those big companies and I’m not disparaging them, but we don’t have that luxury. We have to be able to go to people and say, “Here’s where we started. Here’s where we are. Not only the Nielsen numbers, but also take a look at what we’re doing for these affiliates. That’s what we want to do for you.” You have to pull up with numbers, receipts.
Get your copy of Radio Ink in time to read our full interview with Skyview syndicated host Dana Cortez HERE.
