Blackburn Radio Inc

026 Blackburn Radio Inc. Decades of Success for a Family-Owned Broadcaster COMMUNICATION CB

026 Blackburn Radio Inc. Decades of Success for a Family-Owned Broadcaster 28 COMMUNICATION Blackburn Radio

In an era when monumental conglomerates Canadian Free Press, which was the precursor to dominate a substantive percentage of the the London Free Press in 1851.” broadcasting industry in Canada, it is It was Arthur Blackburn who founded CJGC in immensely refreshing and reassuring to bear 1922 during the front end of what would be a large witness to a family-owned entity such as radio boom from 1919 through much of the 1920s Blackburn Radio Inc. not only competing and many of the brands established then are still with much larger corporate players, but often in existence today. The original CJGC studios were equalling if not surpassing them. located inside the Free Press building with 200 watts of emanating power. By 1931, the station The Blackburn family has been in the Cana- had increased its power load to 5,000 watts. The dian media business for more than 160 years station’s last three call letters also changed in the and operates 14 radio stations in Southwestern 1930s to CFPL – standing for Free Press London. It and Midwestern Ontario, including: Sarnia, Lon- was the primordial station for Blackburn Radio Inc. don, Chatham, Wingham, Leamington and Wind- and also one of the first radio broadcasting licences sor, employing about 220 people. During the awarded anywhere in Canada. course of five generations the family has played “Arthur Blackburn was my great grandfa- a pioneering role in newspaper publishing, radio, ther and he was the publisher of the news- television, database marketing and digital media. paper who tried various diversification strate- Roots of the Blackburn enterprise actually pre- gies,” Costley-White states. “Radio came along cedes the advent of radio in the London area where and he realized that there was a broad com- Blackburn Radio Inc. President Richard Costley- panionship of the two media.” White grew up. It was his great, great grandfather Since the early days of Blackburn Radio Inc., Josiah who founded the family franchise. it has established a successful tradition of mar- “I’m the fifth generation,” Costley-White rying state-of-the-art technology with high quality says. “Josiah Blackburn was born and raised local programming and community service. in London, England. One of his older brothers Blackburn Radio Inc.’s vision is to be the emigrated to Ontario in the 1830s and got into leading independently owned broadcasting the newspaper business. My ancestor Josiah company in Southwestern Ontario, with a deep followed him some years later and acquired The commitment to the regions and to the local POA_CBJ_FullPageAd_NO12 copy.pdf 1 12-11-21 3:15 PM

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communities in which it operates. quarterbacking that entire process from start The dramatic digital transformation of all to finish, revealing it was his leadership and media continues to demonstrate the vital im- dedication that got the job done. “He’s had portance of local radio and its power to engage a chance to create something entirely from listeners and activate audiences. The mission is inception, bring it to market and develop it and to connect people and build communities with an that’s quite a rare experience in this industry.” innovative blend of over-the-air, online, interac- With a network of successful radio stations tive and mobile media services. across Ontario, Blackburn Radio Inc. has focused The region of southwestern Ontario has been on several different on-air formats, all with suc- a very successful one for Blackburn Radio Inc., cessful results. with a number of repeaters that greatly extends “Each of our markets has an adult contempo- the market and geographic reach of the stations rary and a rock station and in each of our larger within the network. The most recent addition markets there are country stations along with to radio broadcasting family was 98.1 Free FM strong news and information components at- in London, which hit the airwaves in July, 2011 tached as well, including local sports and those after receiving CRTC approval in the winter of tend to be the AM stations,” remarks Dann. “We 2009. Blackburn had been out of the radio mar- do tend to stick to the mainstream music formats ket in London for a number of years and it was a for our FM stations.” glorious day for the company when it was able to There are several key departments that must once again return to the airwaves. be working in fine order for a radio station to “It was exciting to come back to Richard’s achieve any degree of success. home town and my home town to put a new radio “What we regard as very important is that service into the marketplace against the applica- we put out quality content,” says John Weese, tion process which had the biggest competitors vice president of operations for Windsor-Essex, in the industry and we were awarded the licence, Chatham and Kent Region. “We have bigger which was very gratifying for us,” says Ron Dann, newsrooms and we invest a lot of energy and vice president of operations for London, Sarnia resources to ensure we have good content going and northwestern Ontario. out over the air.” Costley-White credits Dann with The primary goal is to not only meet but JANUARY 2013 The Canadian Business Journal 31

“We’re really focused on developing local brands.”

– Blackburn Radio Inc. President Richard Costley-White IN GOOD COMPANY exceed stakeholder expectations, which is something Blackburn Radio Inc. has a tradition of accomplishing exceptionally well. With a strong on-air product, it’s vital to get out into the various SPECIALTY DATA SYSTEMS communities and generate sales to support the (SDS) IS PROUD operations. TO BE A PARTNER IN “We try to put as many well-prepared and seasoned people in a position to be able to BLACKBURN RADIO’S exploit the audience that’s generated from the CONTINUED GROWTH content that we provide,” Weese continues. AND FUTURE SUCCESS. “Programming, marketing and sales are all key ingredients.” Costley-White expanded on the topic of news and information and having larger newsrooms SDS Symphony™ than the industry average, which is clearly of pri- Broadcast Management mary importance to the company’s success. Software for Radio and TV “We see ourselves in a different set of com- petitive circumstances in each of the clusters but it’s important for us to be a go-to medium of local record,” he adds. “We’re really focused on developing local brands.” To learn more visit www.sds.ca A striking dynamic within the Blackburn Radio 32 COMMUNICATION Blackburn Radio

Group centres on the small town of Wingham, expand beyond the reach of the regions it cur- which has three radio stations despite a population rently serves with either near or longer term of less than 4,000. As Costley-White notes, it’s a plans, Costley-White led off with this humorous very unique and vital aspect of the company. A response, tongue firmly planted in cheek. question many might ponder is how such a small “I’ve been talking to my bankers and I’ve just town can economically support three radio stations. about got sign-off from them to make a bid for “Wingham’s AM station (920 CKNX) is one of Astral,” he says, laughing heartily. (There was the country’s great heritage properties,” Costley- an attempted $3.4 billion takeover bid of Astral White proudly states. “The one AM and two FM Media by BCE Inc. but it was rejected by the stations that we run out of Wingham are very CRTC due to convergence concerns by the fed- high power, so the regional signals can cover five eral regulator that one company would wield too counties and a large cluster of cities. It’s a well much power within the broadcast media). established cluster up there.” “My primary focus is Southwestern and Mid- When asked if the company has plans to western Ontario because it’s our home turf. I’d JANUARY 2013 The Canadian Business Journal 33 like to continue to intensify the company’s posi- “What we regard as very important tion here in this region.” is that we put out quality content. Such enhancement includes on-air market pen- We have bigger newsrooms and we etration but also by way of various other communi- invest a lot of energy and resources cations elements of the corporate product offering, to ensure we have good content such as interactive website development and mar- going out over the air.” keting. Blackburn Radio Inc. has had a number of opportunities to expand beyond its current scope, – Blackburn Radio Inc. Vice including entrance into the large Toronto market, President, Operations, John Weese but Costley-White is keenly focused on ensuring his current network is top notch. “I compete against the big players in various we have created a very important role within markets and the print media and as far as I’m con- community relations and marketing. We hire and cerned, we compete quite well,” he remarks, and develop and have a specific role at each of our whose grandfather was confronted with that same radio stations to have a person who will engage question 20, 30 and 40 years ago when federal with non-profit organization groups and causes commissions that came forward to question con- within the city. We also help them with their mar- centration of ownership. “He would be stunned by keting and so there is definitely a business com- the level of it right now. Trends in the industry go in ponent to doing that but we dedicate resources one direction, then ideas shift and they go in anoth- for somebody to engage with our communities.” er direction. Right now it’s consolidation. My biggest Blackburn Radio Inc. sees the change in com- question is whether this company is properly capi- munications trends and realizes that mobile media talized and the team is motivated and meeting our and the Internet must be two major components of targets. There are advantages to being a smaller, a successful corporate business plan moving for- more nimble competitor.” ward. Within the past year, Costley-White created “We have tremendous respect for how they a new position called director of interactive digital run their businesses, but we’re influenced far media to really start to take on these issues from more by our own compass,” Weese adds. “One an operational standpoint and tremendous prog- of the things that make Blackburn unique is that ress has been made in that period of time. 34 COMMUNICATION Blackburn Radio

“We all use smartphones for business and The LAW of RETURNS entertainment as well,” Costley-White says. “We are staying on top of those trends and monitor- ing how our listeners are using it. We stream over our websites and have seen growth there. We are in the process of grappling with establish- ing more of a uniform model for our websites to Discover the shortest distance between your make management and sales a little simpler.” business and greater profits. Since Day One the Blackburn family-owned Just as in nature, certain Laws in business are irrefutable. As surely as gravity causes the apple to fall, investing in a relationship with the Business Law Group of Lerners LLP company has always cut its teeth on being com- will yield a return. munity oriented with the entertainment component Contact Greg Hatt or visit our website today. being crucial along with channeling public safety Greg Hatt techniques and making it a productive offering 519-640-6385 www.lerners.ca while also providing the local news and surveillance that people need and have come to expect. Despite a prolonged global economic downturn something Costley-White and his executive that first hit Canada in 2008, Blackburn Radio Inc. management team aim to face head on has shown great resiliency in a time when many in- especially with the global digital information dustries have been hit hard. But recessionary times systems now at the disposal of business certainly make for added challenges. enterprise. “Radio is quite dependent on national rev- “We’re focused on our on-air product being the enue,” remarks Weese. “We certainly felt the best it can possibly be and that it’s appropriately impact that most broadcasters did starting in targeted and we’ve got a lot of experience doing 2008. We quickly learned we can’t be too de- that. It’s really going where the audience is going – pendent on those revenues and that we had to being there for them and obviously through adver- really focus on making sure that our bedrock was tisers delivering that audience one way or the other formed with local revenue dollars.” that is going to attract them to us.” It’s a very interesting and challenging time There are several main pillars that to be involved with any form of media and it’s elevates Blackburn Radio Inc. to the top of the JANUARY 2013 The Canadian Business Journal 35

managed,” Weese states. Agri-Media is a Blackburn program that grew out of the talent in the Wingham-based stations and the connections from the news team there and also in Chatham. There is a very large agri- culture base in much of Midwestern and South- Marcus & Associates Hoare • Dalton provide a comprehensive range of professional services, western Ontario and so Agri-Media was formed to including accounting, taxation, business valuation and litigation support cater to that segment of the audience an all-digital news product. “We have the ability not only to serve the market it’s generated from but to spread that 131 Wharncliﬀe Rd. South London, Ontario N6J 2K4 broadcast service across all our radio stations,” T 519-433-9231

WWW.MARCUS.ON.CA Weese says. The digital future of Blackburn Radio Inc. is something Costley-White and his management broadcasting industry, beginning with the close- team are excited to explore as new technologies knit team. continue to emerge on a seemingly daily basis. “We have a pretty well established corporate This past July the company launched a culture and a focus on top-quality service,” Costley- site online called BlackburnNews.com and White continues. “There’s that sense of trust and it’s a networking system in which all the local commitment by demonstrating it everyday in the newsrooms deliver their news on a regional market and delivering results for our advertisers.” platform and it’s seen very strong growth in “I think it does give us a bit of an advantage a very short period of time. It’s also very geo- in that we can relate to a lot of small businesses targeted in that a first-time browser can identify that have staff of 20 to 30 people or less. Part the community they are from and the lead stories of the Blackburn culture is autonomy at a local for that community and surrounding area would level, which gives us the ability to be nimble, flex- go to the top of the news rankings. ible and adaptable in the markets that may be an “Our newsrooms were already together on advantage over corporations that are more tightly a common back-office platform but this has 36 COMMUNICATION Blackburn Radio

“ As the owner I’m looking at investing in expanding our service to the listeners in our communities by extending the reach of the company and online. I’m excited about the future and there are so many ways in which it can go.”

– Blackburn Radio Inc. President Richard Costley-White JANUARY 2013 The Canadian Business Journal 37 38 COMMUNICATION Blackburn Radio JANUARY 2013 The Canadian Business Journal 39

brought them together on a consumer-oriented purchasing new equipment. Blackburn Radio website and I’m very proud of that effort,” notes Inc. was recently recognized by the Ontario Costley-White. “It’s created in many ways a digital Association of Broadcasters with a community regional newspaper.” service award for work carried out on CKNX in “What I would emphasize more than anything conjunction with the Radiothon. is that we’ve been here for a long time and we’re It’s that kind of community spirit, involve- planning to stick around and as the owner I’m ment, dedication and professionalism towards looking at investing in expanding our service to benefitting local citizens that keeps Blackburn the listeners in our communities by extending Radio Inc. at the forefront of the broadcasting the reach of the company and online. I’m excited industry. CB about the future and there are so many ways in which it can go.” www.BlackburnRadio.com Serving the community is not only a duty but a www.BlackburnNews.com privilege and one the executives at Blackburn Radio Inc. completely and wholeheartedly endorse. “We do a major fundraiser in the Wing- ham area that includes 16 hospitals,” says Jim Knowles, vice president of finance. “It really engages the community in our Radiothon. It’s a highly successful one day of broadcasting that has been ongoing for a decade now accumulat- ing $8 million.” “We’ve been able to work with all the hospital foundations in our coverage area to do a one day Radiothon broadcast that on average will bring in $700,000 in a single day,” Weese reveals. The money raised during the annual Oc- tober broadcasts goes right back to each of the hospital foundations to support efforts in