Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

Dan Mason’s new book Fearless is just like the radio stations he programmed and managed over 50 years – it informs, entertains and inspires.

One of the most successful executives in the second great age of radio lets us in on how he faced his career, consolidation and some challenging bosses.

His views on public radio:

• “Take a listen to the NPR stations. You hear “funding provided by the following” and “was made possible by a grant from (fill in the blank) media partner.”  WTF, isn’t this revenue generation just like commercial stations? For sure, there is the benefit of a tax write-off (with certain restrictions), but perhaps it’s time for the NPR/PBS model to change to sustain itself.”

Inside stuff like CBS CEO Les Moonves wanting to change the format of the radio division’s 13 country stations to rock after CBS was passed over on a new CMA Networks contract!

And does Dan buy that radio is dead? 

• “Our industry has screwed up many times over the years. An example was the launch of KUBE in the 1980s. My dear friend and colleague, Michael O’Shea, was adamant that the station would carry no more than six minutes of commercials per hour. Fast forward to 2025. It is common to hear radio stations playing eight minutes of commercials in a 15-minute block. Now ask yourself, would you even listen to this? I don’t care if Marconi himself is on the air, I’m tuning out!”

If you know Dan Mason, you can hear his voice clearly in these pages.

A classy, commonsense guy.  In my view, if Entercom had put Mason in charge of the CBS stations they overpaid for – it and its successor Audacy would be rolling in dough right now.  (I see that Audacy sold its St Louis cluster to Hoffmann Media Group recently and the first thing they did was hire back yet another one of Mason’s CBS market managers).

Perhaps my favorite part in light of the private equity industry takeover that defines radio today is the importance of programming – not even sales.  Dan says:

• “I have never sold airtime at the local level in my career. Yep, in this sales-driven business, I have not been part of the sales process in the traditional sense. I attribute my success to a very basic formula that, in many ways, gets overlooked. Product equals ratings, Product equals ratings, which then equals revenue, which then equals profitability.”

I believe it. 

The hedge funds and bean counters have driven the industry into bankruptcy on their watch not programming people who understand that without a compelling product and local engagement, big media owners are just shooting themselves in the foot.

This is a tough book to put down.  Why?  Because it helps you escape from the current underwhelming radio industry to a mindset that all is still possible when you put the local listener first.  To paraphrase an oldie but goodie Dan’s been right all along, he’s absolutely right and big radio was wrong.

You can read more in Fearless and enjoy the book here.  Any profits go to the Broadcasting Foundation of America, medical and disaster relief group for our broadcasting brethren.

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