National Radio Award winner: Charles Warfield JM: If we go back in time what was it that attracted you to this business in the first place? CW: Well I have to say honestly Jack it was more or less being in the right place at the right time. My professional training is in finance and accounting and certainly not in the communica- tions. I started out in this business as a controller so it was an opportunity when I started to be a controller of a growing broad- cast company, Inner City Broadcasting in New York City. To be affiliated with a media company that you listen to on the radio was a great opportunity at that point for me. JM: Now you started at the same company you’re at but you were off to several other places along the way, what brought you back to the place of origination in a much higher position? CW: When I left Inner City Broadcasting back in 1989 I guess it was I really felt at that point that I had been in the company for 12 years and I felt there was a lot more that I needed to learn about broadcasting and had an opportunity to move to a number of other companies over an 11 year period which certainly broadened my understanding of all different aspects of our industry. I had some great opportunities during that period of time. I was given an op- This year’s recipient of the National Radio Award is portunity in 2000 to rejoin the company when it’s Chairman Pierre Charles Warfield, President and COO of ICBC Broad- Sutton had made it his decision internally to focus solely on radio cast Holdings, a privately held company better known broadcasting for the company, as the company had been involved in to most people in radio as Inner City Broadcasting. He a number of other interests such as the Apollo Theater at one point will receive the prestigious award during the Radio and cable franchises in New York and also in Philadelphia, but he wanted to make the company primarily a pure play radio company. Show Luncheon held Friday, October 1, the final day I felt at that point with the experience that I had gained from being of the 2010 Radio Show in Washington, DC. around the company that I could bring some, and he felt the same Warfield began his 32-year career in radio at way, that I could bring some discipline to the company and a broad- Inner City and is back there now, but there were other er breath of broadcast experience at a time that the company needed stops along the way. In a recent interview with RBR- it and the time that I was looking for another challenge. TVBR Executive Editor Jack Messmer, Warfield talked about the people who influenced his career and the bat- JM: Looking back across your career who do you point to as tle by Urban radio to achieve parity with general market your mentors? stations in ad buys. He also discussed some of the hot topics to- CW: We could be on this call for quite a while if you really go day: Arbitron’s PPM and the battle over the Perfor- through the list of people, certainly Percy Sutton who was the mance Rights Act. After all, he is the immediate past Chairman Emeritus prior to his passing late last year. His son Pierre Sutton but I had a number of people, Mike Goldstein Chairman of the NAB Radio Board. who at one point was the CEO of Toys R’ Us was a supporter CW = Charles Warfield - JM = Jack Messmer and a mentor. Owen Webber that I worked with at Summit Broadcasting George Pine at Interep Rep; Jimmy de Castro and 2 RBR-TVBR Kenny O’Keefe there were a lot of individuals along my career oversaw some stations in a variety of formats. From that who saw something and gave me the opportunity to reach for- perspective is selling general market radio really that much ward and to learn more and presented challenges to me but at easier than Urban? the same time provided the kind of support and guidance that was necessary to be successful in that. There were just so many CW: It’s absolutely easier to sell a good general market radio other people along the way that you learn from. A lot of times station versus a good Urban radio station. There are unique mentors are people who take an interest in you—they’re not challenges that Urban salespeople that Urban radio stations necessarily mentoring you but they’re people that you respect have unfortunately; it still exists today 33 years after I started and people that take time with you. They are people that lead in this industry that there isn’t a level playing field in that re- you down the right path, who correct you when you need cor- gard. We still have to qualify our audiences too often in many recting. I tell people, particularly in today’s environment in the ways with the buying community and with clients before we broadcast industry, I was very fortunate I learned this business can be on a level playing field and talk about the size or the from the bottom up and a lot of people look at that as sort of quantity of our audience or the listenership of our station. You the worst thing that can happen in a business to be so focused have to have a certain passion to understand the difficulties that from the bottom up, but I learned it that way and today’s envi- you’re going to encounter selling Urban radio and it’s still dif- ronment is that absolutely we all have to look at our business. ficult today as it’s ever been. I have been involved with general A lot of people along the way I’ve probably left out—a half market radio stations, but being involved with Urban was quite a dozen individuals. You know Mary Catherine Sneed when I honestly something that I’ve always had a passion for and have worked with Mary Catherine at Summit we always referred to sought various opportunities to continue to work with Urban Mary Catherine as our secret weapon back then. There are a lot radio stations and the communities those stations service. In of people that have played a role along these 33 years of being looking for people and working with people who shared that in the business. passion too consistently and doggedly seek fair value for the audiences that we service. JM: Now you spent most of your career working with ur- ban radio stations but when you were at Chancellor you JM: So what’s it going to take to get that level playing field? Transforming the Revenue Opportunities for Media Enabling Media Organizations to Capitalize on the Digital Era, Grow Revenue and Improve Operations Revenue Builder Global Data Manager The industry’s only digital platform enabling The foundation that enables a 360 degree view the sale and fulfillment of all digital / NTR and is the backbone for centralized command through a single, integrated solution. This and control supporting any operating model solution enables comprehensive cross-media chosen by the media enterprise. 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I’ve seen it for 33 so now that you have a settlement with Arbitron are you satis- years and it isn’t there. I hold no delusions that it’s ever going fied with how that whole thing came out? to get there. What we still have to continue to do is seek peo- ple who share our passion. Our passion is the passion of any- CW: I can’t say I’m totally satisfied Jack. We believe we have one who is committed to seeking the value of our audiences made significant progress in working with Arbitron on improv- and servicing our audiences with entertainment and music and ing the methodology and that was our goal all along, improv- other programming and continuing to tell the story. It’s the ing the methodology. It was not about what was going to help constant education process that we’re doing with the buying Urban; we just felt that urban needed some particular attention community or any others that misinterpret, don’t understand, because it was not getting what we perceived to be proper rep- and don’t have the proper awareness of our audience. That is resentative in the panel as it was. So we think that what we going to be something which we’re going to continue to have fought for, what we think the settlement addresses is to improve to do.