Best Manager Profiles

As part of our series spotlighting Radio Wayne finalists, we turn to the Sales Manager category today. Michael Tedesco fell in love with radio listening to the Real Don Steele on KHJ-AM in Southern California. Today he's helping make WAWZ-FM in New Jersey a financial powerhouse as sales manager.

Michael Dudding is the owner and General Manager of Mikadety Radio Corporation on Denison, Iowa, which he purchased in 1993. It's home to KDSN-AM and FM. Dudding is also on Radio Ink's 2016 Best Managers in Radio list, set to be released on October 24th. Those that nominated Dudding for our list said, "he is the licensee of the most successful small-market broadcast operation in the nation." That is high praise for sure. We set out to find out why he's believed to be one of radio's best and here's what we found out.

iHeartMedia's Dave Carwile has worked in every position in radio sales and sales management over the past 23 years. He's been an AE, Team Leader, GSM, DOS, NSM, Market Manager, Market President, Regional Market President, and now Region President over 53 radio stations in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Carwile has excelled at every level during those 20-plus years and has been promoted to senior executive level positions four times just in the past five years.

Phil Zachary started his radio career on the air at WAAF in Boston. His 40-year journey in radio included positions as Program Director, Sales Manager, National Sales Manager, and GM/Market Manager. He took over the Entercom New England cluster in October 2013. And, according to one employee we spoke to, Zachary has led the group to become one of the most desired clusters to work for in New England. Ratings are up across the brands, and revenue continues to climb. Phil Zachary will appear on Radio Ink's Best Manager's in Radio list set to be released on October 24. Let's find out how and why he's been so successful.

That was one of the questions we asked Chris Kampmeier, iHeartMedia's veteran programmer who's retiring New Year's Eve. In the final installment of our interview with Chris, we asked him for his thoughts on the Portable People Meter technology, whether programming a radio station is easier today than it was decades ago when he started, and the skills the program director of 2017 will need to win. Here's what he had to say...

It was only four years ago that Amy Stroud joined Mike Tarter's Forcht Broadcasting as Digital Media Director. On Wednesday, Tarter promoted Stroud to Senior Vice President, where she will spread all of her broadcasting knowledge across Forcht's 25 stations by working with managers on personnel, programming, and operations as she continues to run the company's social media and website products.

Sarah Frazier is the Market Manager for CBS Radio in Houston. She's also one of Radio Ink’s Best Managers of 2017. And that should come as no surprise, Frazier is consistently one of The Most Influential Women in Radio and on our Best Managers list. Frazier has been in radio since college, when she worked as the sales manager, traffic manager, and operations manager at KJHK at the University of Kansas.

In our latest 2018 Radio Wayne finalist podcast we speak to Cumulus Houston Sales Manager Tim Gratzer about how he succeeds in the trenches every day. The Radio Ink Radio Wayne Awards will be handed out on September 27 at the RAB/NAB Radio Show in Orlando, and over the next several weeks we're going to highlight the best of the best in radio sales and management. Here's our interview with Cumulus' Tim Gratzer...

CBS Radio DFW is having one of its best years ever, with both ratings and revenue up nicely. At the helm is Market Manager Brian Purdy. According to people who work for him, Brian is more than a numbers manager, he truly cares about his employees. One of the ways he keeps his team motivated is by holding breakfasts or happy hours where the staff celebrates its "Rockstar of the Month."

If you answered yes, you may want to listen to some of the advice we pulled from Rex Hansen, who's retiring after a long and successful career in radio management. Hansen's final stop was a 19 year run as VP/GM for SummitMedia's cluster in Springfield, MO.