Episode 181

What Makes Your Career Stand Out? We ask Phil Becker, EVP/Content, Alpha Media

Phil Becker is an experienced radio executive and Executive VP of Content at Alpha Media, a top privately-owned US radio broadcast company. He has managed over 200 radio stations in diverse markets and formats, leading a team of format captains and regional vice presidents.

Phil prioritizes talent development, seeking individuals with innate storytelling and communication abilities. He believes that successful programming is about finding people who are interesting and memorable to listeners.

Phil is a respected industry figure, with several awards for his contributions to radio programming and management. He is a frequent speaker at industry events, sharing his insights and experience.

Key Time-stamped Takeaways:

(01:49) Phil shares his approach to keeping over 200 stations on track.

(02:55) With today’s media world changing, so are the needs for on-air talent. Phil notes the traits, attributes, and skills which can separate future local market superstars from those who might not make it.

(05:20) Phil tackles the same question, but for PDs, OM’s, or Brand Managers. His approach may surprise you.

(09:48) Phil discusses the ONLINE presence of your stations, and delves into the guidance he gives to Alpha stations to create a 360-degree local-first presence on their website, social media, apps - and explains WHO is usually responsible for online content.

(12:28) Phil shares the best way for job seekers to get on his radar…especially if they don’t often get to attend conferences and seminars.

One-Minute Martinizing (tap here)

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Transcript
Phil:

I'll let you guys in on a secret.

Phil:

We have three customers.

Phil:

We have our listener, we have our advertiser, and we have our coworker.

Phil:

And as long as you're delivering for all three of them, everything,

Phil:

everything else kind of becomes easy.

VO:

Welcome to BRANDwidth On Demand, your Guide to Rebooting Radio,

Phil:

The best career advice ever: be unuplicatable.

Phil:

Focus on creating instead of duplicating, and you'll be rewarded.

Phil:

That's more true than.

Phil:

You gotta be und duplicatable.

Phil:

You have to create as opposed to duplicate because ultimately, whether

Phil:

it's your personal life or your professional life, You're rewarded for

Phil:

your differences, not your similarities.

VO:

BRANDwidth On Demand rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be.

VO:

Now your guides through the media Morphosis, David Martin and author of

VO:

the book, bandwidth Media Branding Coach.

VO:

Kipper McGee,

Dave:

Boys and Girls.

Dave:

Our guest is the Executive Vice President of Content for Alpha Media.

Dave:

Oh yeah.

Dave:

Phil Becker oversees over 200 count 200 radio stations and digital

Dave:

properties covering virtually every format across their 44 markets, coast

Dave:

to coast after programming stations ranging from Dohan, Alabama, and

Dave:

Niagara Falls, Buffalo to Orlando.

Dave:

Phil's even been in the corner off of serving his GM for the

Dave:

Oasis Radio Group in Fort Wayne.

Dave:

He's known for finding and developing talent, seizing brand

Dave:

attention, idea generation.

Dave:

But wait, there's more.

Dave:

Helping to maintain Al Alpha's local First Heritage BRANDwidth On Demand is proud to

Dave:

welcome Phil Becker.

Dave:

Hey Phil.

Phil:

Hey guys.

Phil:

Thanks for having me today.

Kipper:

We're working very, very glad to have you, but I gotta ask.

Kipper:

With over 200 stations under your watch, I mean, how in the

Kipper:

world do you keep 'em straight?

Kipper:

Do you have format captains or regional managers or, I mean,

Kipper:

basically how do you do it and what guidelines do you give them?

Phil:

Yeah, so, you know, listen, it, it can't be just me, right?

Phil:

No, no.

Phil:

Corporation that has that big of a footprint can be managed by one person.

Phil:

So I do have format captains that help me choke down the entire country.

Phil:

Uh, and then we also have, uh, regional vice presidents that

Phil:

help to absorb that as well.

Phil:

So while I'm technically in the chair of the guy that oversees a mall,

Phil:

it, it's really a, a community, you know, pulling together sort of thing.

Phil:

And then the other thing as far as how do I manage.

Phil:

Uh, I'm fortunate enough that I don't have to do every single one of them.

Phil:

Uh, so our c e o and CFO F give me priority stations and priority

Phil:

markets, focus on those and then use the rest of the team to, uh, to

Phil:

help with the rest of the company.

Dave:

Still a big job though, you know, as executive VP of content, what are

Dave:

you looking for with on air talent?

Dave:

What traits and attributes and skills do you coach your team to look for when

Dave:

separating the futurelocal superstars from thosewho might not make it.

Phil:

Yeah.

Phil:

So I think the things to look for, uh, start with are you

Phil:

a good person, Dave Kipper?

Phil:

The thing I can't teach you to do is have a value system.

Phil:

I can't teach integrity.

Phil:

I can't teach work intensity.

Phil:

I can't teach those parts of your DNA.

Phil:

So I start with, you know, I've come to a realization that I

Phil:

can't put in what God left out of.

Phil:

Right.

Phil:

So I start, I start with well said.

Phil:

Yeah.

Phil:

What do they innately have?

Phil:

Because everything else can be taught or developed or amplified.

Phil:

So after we get past those core personality traits, I look for

Phil:

people that are storytellers.

Phil:

I look for people that are expressionists.

Phil:

I look for people that are willing to be vulnerable, um, people that

Phil:

are comfortable being uncomfortable.

Phil:

I think that too often our industry's really leaned on.

Phil:

What call letters did you have or what markets did you work in,

Phil:

or what experience do you have?

Phil:

Or what's your ratings history?

Phil:

To me, I, I don't start with that.

Phil:

I, start with are you interesting and are you memorable and are you

Phil:

someone that people would tune in?

Phil:

Because I've never heard a listener say, you know, why I listen to John

Phil:

Smith because he was on W X Y Z in New York City, so he must be good.

Phil:

Mm-hmm.

Phil:

Uh, I don't, I don't, I just, right.

Phil:

I, I, I don't lean into that.

Phil:

So I was just telling somebody the other day, there was a time where,

Phil:

when, when I was coming up and, and those before me, uh, I grew up in

Phil:

Michigan, so I'll just use Michigan as a reference, but insert your state here.

Phil:

The person in, let's say, Kalamazoo Michigan probably wasn't as good

Phil:

as the person in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who probably wasn't as

Phil:

good as the person in Detroit.

Phil:

Mm-hmm.

Phil:

Right.

Phil:

And that progression, I think is, isn't the same as it used to be.

Phil:

, And so, if I don't necessarily worry about market size and I just worry

Phil:

about, are you, um, interesting and are you memorable and are you someone

Phil:

that people would wanna make an appointment with or spend time with?

Phil:

That's really what I'm looking for.

Dave:

Yeah, that really reminds me of a conversation I had many

Dave:

years ago with Bobby Knight.

Dave:

I said, coach, what makes a great basketball player?

Dave:

He goes, David helps if they're tall.

Kipper:

Okay, so what if we were, take the same question about what you're looking

Kipper:

for, only apply it to the PDs, OMS brand managers, or whatever you want to call

Kipper:

' Phil: em.

Kipper:

Yeah, so I, I think the thing that I would start with there is, And

Kipper:

no, uh, hierarchy of importance.

Kipper:

Um, the first one is, do you have a point of view?

Kipper:

I think a lot of people in our industry right now are struggling with vision.

Kipper:

Um, they default to what they know, what they've seen as

Kipper:

opposed to creating something.

Kipper:

So there's so many stations that like that are doing this story of number one

Kipper:

for hit music, you know, the best in most this and the this and the that.

Kipper:

And they're words.

Kipper:

They're just superfluous words.

Kipper:

Uh, I want a point of view.

Kipper:

I want an opinion.

Kipper:

I, I want a perspective.

Kipper:

I want someone that's willing to, uh, challenge things.

Kipper:

There's so many emails that people get from me that end with break

Kipper:

something, try something, do something.

Kipper:

And for a while when people start, they feel a little uncomfortable with that.

Kipper:

You know, they're like, break something, try something, do something.

Kipper:

I, I, I'm executing the plan.

Kipper:

Okay, well, that's great for a surgeon or a doctor.

Kipper:

Art doesn't live in a plan.

Kipper:

And, and someone's favorite experience didn't come from the plan, came from a

Kipper:

feeling, from a memory, from an emotion, from an experience, from a thought.

Kipper:

So I start with looking for PDs and oms that have an appreciation for art

Kipper:

and an actual perspective on things.

Kipper:

Uh, after that, then it becomes problem solving.

Kipper:

Same kind of thing you'd look for in any.

Kipper:

I look for people that are calm.

Kipper:

Uh, I had someone not too long ago say to me, if I were on a

Kipper:

plane and it were crashing, I would want you to be the pilot.

Kipper:

And I said, why is that?

Kipper:

And they said, cuz you just have a way of making us feel like it's gonna be okay.

Kipper:

And I like, I like to have people on the team that think that way.

Kipper:

So, well, we'll just call you Sully Becker from now on.

Kipper:

Yeah, exactly.

Kipper:

Exactly.

Kipper:

There it is.

Kipper:

There it is.

Kipper:

So I think that's important.

Kipper:

And then doing what you say you're going to.

Kipper:

Is also good.

Kipper:

I've had a lot of people that are professional interviewers that write

Kipper:

really good spreadsheets, and then I go, all right, Jim, did you do this?

Kipper:

Well, I haven't got to that yet.

Kipper:

Mm-hmm.

Kipper:

Because if you don't follow what you say you're gonna do with me, you're

Kipper:

probably not doing that with your teams.

Kipper:

You're probably not doing that with your sellers.

Kipper:

You're probably not doing that for your clients.

Kipper:

And then I'll, I'll let you guys in on a.

Kipper:

I actually only ask a few questions, so I'm gonna just put it all out there.

Kipper:

So everybody that works at Alpha or chooses to, uh, intersect with me.

Kipper:

At any point, I only ask, what are you doing?

Kipper:

Why do you want to do it?

Kipper:

What would you like the outcome to be and when will it be done by?

Kipper:

To those four answers, you're gonna thrive.

Kipper:

Absolutely.

Kipper:

Now, you mentioned before something that really caught my

Kipper:

ear, which was the pyramid of, what was your word for that again?

Kipper:

And can you

Phil:

Yeah.

Phil:

The, the hierarchy of, of ethics, so there you go.

Phil:

Yeah.

Phil:

You know, I, I just think that when you look back in your life, you have

Phil:

to remember that people take jobs and leave jobs because of people every.

Phil:

You know, someone might say, well, you know, this was a

Phil:

better opportunity for me.

Phil:

Well, because someone convinced you it was a better opportunity.

Phil:

It started with people, right?

Phil:

When you first took the job that you're in, you took the job because

Phil:

you felt they understood you.

Phil:

You felt they'd appreciate you, right?

Phil:

So I always start with people take jobs and leave jobs because of people.

Phil:

No one's ever said to me in my almost 30 years of doing this, Film.

Phil:

Uh, today's my last day.

Phil:

Why?

Phil:

Because you're paying me too much.

Phil:

Never happened, right?

Phil:

So why do we make all of our decisions just based in compensation and

Phil:

traditional, you know, business thinking?

Phil:

So the, the hierarchy of ethics is treating people the

Phil:

way you want to be treated.

Phil:

Obviously, I didn't come up with that, but what I, what I do

Phil:

believe is we have three customers.

Phil:

We have our listener, we have our advertiser, and we have our co.

Phil:

Um, and as long as you're delivering for all three of them, everything,

Phil:

everything else kind of becomes easy.

Phil:

It's a big

Dave:

job delivering for all three though that, that's

Phil:

called work.

Phil:

Alright.

Phil:

Yeah.

Dave:

Talking about the online presence of your station's company

Dave:

really has an impressive website, and we link to that in our show notes.

Dave:

What guidance do you give your stations to create a 360 presence on their

Dave:

website, social media, the apps.

Dave:

Importantly, who's usually in charge of all

Phil:

that?

Phil:

Yeah, so we have a, a me of digital, uh, VP of digital.

Phil:

His name is Stephan Brock.

Phil:

Uh, Stephan has a team of people underneath him, just like I do in the

Phil:

content department, in the programming department that he tasked them with.

Phil:

Uh, our overarching digital strategy is simple because it

Phil:

should be, and here's what it.

Phil:

We'll use music stations, for example, but you can apply similar, um, structure

Phil:

to sports or news talk and what have you, the music that you play from the people

Phil:

who play it to the market that hears it, the music that you play from the people

Phil:

who play it to the market that hears it.

Phil:

So what that becomes is a social and digital strategy of who is it that's

Phil:

on this radio station artistically, the artist, the format, the.

Phil:

Who are the air personalities that deliver them to you, and then who

Phil:

are the talent and then what is the market that you're serving?

Phil:

So a perfectly executed website in my opinion, would be nothing more than

Phil:

artists, talent, local artists, talent, local artist, talent, local, and.

Phil:

Uh, I don't think that our sites are going to grow major metrics

Phil:

and big meaningful reach because we commented it on a Kardashian or

Phil:

because we put up a paparazzi photo.

Phil:

That's not what we're going to, uh, be remembered for.

Phil:

So, um, don't mean to be dismissive to other strategies.

Phil:

I just don't think that that's the business that.

Phil:

Well, and you

Kipper:

can't win with that because there are always gonna be TMZs or people that

Kipper:

can do that part better, and you're there to serve the local, and that's part of

Kipper:

your local first strategy I would imagine.

Phil:

Yeah, absolutely.

Phil:

And you know, the question that you asked about what do we look for, uh,

Phil:

in our programmers and ops people then is replicated to our air talent.

Phil:

Mm-hmm.

Phil:

So it's like, I, I, I have someone that works for me here in, uh, in

Phil:

Portland, who I just saw moments before we jumped on this call, went

Phil:

to his first Blazer's game, just moved here, went to first Blazer's game,

Phil:

chose to go to the Lakers game to see LeBron, and that's what was posted.

Phil:

It wasn't Kylie Jenner holding a Lion's head at an award show last night, which

Phil:

is what I saw other stations doing.

Phil:

It was him talking about, you know, being in his first Blazer's game.

Phil:

And I think that that is the kind of stuff that that stands out.

Kipper:

Oh yeah.

Kipper:

So here is a killer question.

Kipper:

All right?

Kipper:

If somebody outside of Alpha wants to get your attention either

Kipper:

on air, Managing programming.

Kipper:

Mm-hmm.

Kipper:

Something like that.

Kipper:

What's the best way for them to get on your radar?

Kipper:

And I'm asking that because back when you and I were starting out,

Kipper:

we had confabs and conventions and organizations and things we could go to.

Kipper:

And these days many people don't have the time or the.

Kipper:

To attend a bootcamp or a worldwide summit or anything like that.

Kipper:

So how do you know, how do you get to know who's really out there and

Kipper:

what they could bring to your party?

Kipper:

How do you find that out without, that's a, without being able

Phil:

to meet face to face.

Phil:

Yeah.

Phil:

No, it's a great question and, and it's one that I actually think is.

Phil:

Uh, than it was when you and I started Kiper, where it was, oh,

Phil:

we gotta go to the r and r and I gotta figure out who Bruce St.

Phil:

James is over by the pool, and what do I walk up and say or let me ship

Phil:

this pizza with an air check in it?

Phil:

And all those things that we thought were revolutionary.

Phil:

The truth is in the social media world, you can find me,

Phil:

you could direct message me.

Phil:

In fact, I write back to every single direct message.

Phil:

I just believe in that.

Phil:

Uh, I'm not a big LinkedIn guy.

Phil:

I, I think LinkedIn is sort of changing.

Phil:

It's becoming spammy to me.

Phil:

So if you were looking for me directly, Instagram's probably the best way.

Phil:

Uh, the other thing to think about is I like to look for the matrix

Phil:

in the sense that you probably know somebody who knows me and I

Phil:

probably know somebody who knows you.

Phil:

And we're a very, very small business and we're getting smaller by the day.

Phil:

Use the peer-to-peer endorse.

Phil:

Of, Hey John, this is Phil.

Phil:

I think you guys would get along.

Phil:

Here's an email, here's a phone number.

Phil:

Let's text each other.

Phil:

It really is that easy.

Phil:

I think that even little things like, um, sending notes to you guys and saying,

Phil:

Hey, I listened to Phil on your podcast.

Phil:

Do you think you'd mind if I reach out, reach out when you messaged

Phil:

me, Kipper, I wrote you back within.

Phil:

Less than a day minutes.

Phil:

Sure.

Phil:

You know?

Phil:

Yeah.

Phil:

Minutes and, and I think, I think that that's what it should be.

Phil:

So if anyone's looking for me, I'll just put it out there right now.

Phil:

It's Phil at Alpha Media USA.com, and then Instagram is just Phil Becker.

Phil:

Feel free to reach me there.

Phil:

One thing I have noticed changed, though, I don't have an office phone.

Phil:

There are no phones.

Phil:

Right, right.

Phil:

Ev, I'm a corporate officer who used to go to the corporate office in Portland,

Phil:

and then I would go and there's my phone and this is my office now.

Phil:

It's entirely virtual.

Phil:

I joke that this room that I'm in right now, this is Cloud HQ,

Phil:

welcome to the cloud headquarters.

Phil:

Um, but the head, the cloud hq, cloud headquarters, or wherever,

Phil:

whatever room we're in, while we're having a conversation.

Phil:

So I'd love to hear from people.

Phil:

I'd love for you to figure out who it is that you know, we know each

Phil:

other through and how we can connect.

Phil:

And truth is, Right now, um, I'm in a position where people may wanna

Phil:

reach out for the growth of their own career, and someday I might be

Phil:

in a position and need to reach out for someone for the growth of mine.

Phil:

That's fair.

Phil:

That's real that'ss reasonable, you know?

Phil:

Yeah.

Phil:

Mm-hmm.

Phil:

So if, if I'm not responding or replying, The one way street, which goes all the

Phil:

way back to how you know the question you asked a moment ago, which is

Phil:

like, just serve three customers, the listener, the advertiser and each other,

Kipper:

and a new Disney movie in the making the circle of radio life.

Phil:

Yes.

Phil:

Narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Dave:

Yeah, right.

Dave:

We're with Phil Becker, executive Vice President, content Alpha Media.

Dave:

What an insightful guy.

Dave:

Hey, somebody you'd like to hear from.

Dave:

We'd love to hear your suggestions.

Dave:

Email us show@BRANDwidthOnDemand.com.

Kipper:

And another way to get in touch and stay in touch.

Kipper:

Just follow BRANDwidth plus.

Kipper:

That's BRANDwidth , P L U S.

Kipper:

We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and we'd love to see you there.

Dave:

Coming up, Phil shares the best career vice he's ever gotten and

Dave:

how it helped him get where he's at.

Dave:

Today on the top of the mountain.

VO:

Hi, I'm Jeff McCarthy, vice President of Programming for Duke

VO:

Wright's Midwest communications.

VO:

I'm Tony Lorino from Throwback Nation Radio.

VO:

Hi, this is Dave Tyler from Music Master, with even more raving fans.

VO:

Hey, I'm Bailey, program director for K O S P and Midwest Family

VO:

Broadcasting and Springfield, Missouri.

VO:

Hi, my name's Jonathan Shu.

VO:

I'm the program director at the Legend 6:50 AM W.

VO:

Them ready to join these raving fans.

VO:

I'm so thankful for Music Master and the team for helping us grow

VO:

our station into what it is today.

VO:

Never stop learning music.

VO:

Master's education and webinars have helped us to become

VO:

excellent music schedulers.

VO:

Visit music master.com today.

VO:

I cannot thank the Music master team enough.

VO:

Hey, it's Hannah B, Associate producer of the BRANDwidth podcast and a

VO:

huge fan of Morning Show Bootcamp.

VO:

This will be my third year in a row attending bootcamp, and it's truly.

VO:

Experience.

VO:

Kipper encouraged me to attend bootcamp when I was looking

VO:

to get my foot in the door.

VO:

I took his word and ended up attending my first morning show

VO:

bootcamp back in August of 2021.

VO:

And just a few weeks later, I was offered my first on air gig.

VO:

We all know networking is huge in this industry, right?

VO:

And that's why bootcamp is.

VO:

Simply the best.

VO:

I am now doing afternoon drive with Chicago Radio legend Eddie

VO:

Volkman on three stations.

VO:

I'm so incredibly grateful for everything Morning Show Bootcamp

VO:

has brought into my life.

VO:

I've met the best mentors while attending bootcamp, including Don Anthony, Chris.

VO:

Cruz Sean Tempa, Mike McVey Plus so much more.

VO:

I truly don't know where I would be without Morning Show Bootcamp.

VO:

It has helped me grow as a broadcaster while meeting some of

VO:

my lifelong best friends, or as I like to call them my radio family.

VO:

Don't wait.

VO:

Don't hesitate.

VO:

Visit morning show bootcamp.com today and register for this year's

VO:

Bootcamp, I hope to see you August 10th through the 11th in Dallas, Texas.

VO:

Listen, today, lead Tomorrow BRANDwidth On Demand.

Dave:

We're with Phil Becker, the Executive Vice President

Dave:

of Content with Alpha Media.

Dave:

Phil wants the best career advice that you ever got, and how has

Dave:

it helped you get where you're at

Dave:

today?

Phil:

Gosh, the best career advice I've ever got.

Phil:

There's probably.

Phil:

I'll try to narrow it down to this one.

Phil:

Be und duplicatable.

Phil:

Focus on creating instead of duplicating, and you'll be rewarded.

Phil:

That's more true than ever, right?

Phil:

Mm-hmm.

Phil:

For $9 a month, you own every song ever recorded, right?

Phil:

So if you're living in a world where you're gonna stand out in

Phil:

your career, cuz you have the best music mix, you have the best clock.

Phil:

Right.

Phil:

You gotta be und duplicatable.

Phil:

You have to create as opposed to duplicate because ultimately, whether

Phil:

it's your personal life or your professional life, you're rewarded for

Phil:

your differences, not your similarities.

Phil:

Think about your partner, like when you marry someone or you

Phil:

meet someone, or you date someone, they go, oh, I love so-and-so.

Phil:

Why?

Phil:

Because they're so different than anyone I've ever met before.

Phil:

Same thing happens with the radio.

Phil:

Right.

Phil:

But if you're the exact, exact same, I, I don't think you stand out.

Phil:

So best career advice I got focus on creating, not duplicating.

Phil:

Yeah.

Dave:

Our thanks to Phil Becker, executive Vice President, content Alpha Media.

Dave:

What a guy we have.

Dave:

Links to the Alpha Media website, including incredible videos and more.

Dave:

All in the show notes.

Dave:

Just scroll down on your phone.

Kipper:

As always, our thanks to exec producer Cindy Huber for getting this

Kipper:

all together and associate producer Hannah B, who not only recommended Phil,

Kipper:

but she's the one who got 'em booked.

Kipper:

So thank you, Hannah.

Kipper:

And coming up.

VO:

Hey, I'm Dave Hunter.

VO:

I am Chuck the Freak, and coming up on BRANDwidth On Demand, we're

VO:

gonna talk about what we think has been one of the main reasons that's

VO:

contributed to our success of the years and has helped us grow the

VO:

show even more across the country.

VO:

So make sure you join us.

Dave:

That's a wrap, Kipper.

Dave:

Phil Becker talked about feelings.

Dave:

We will too in the one minute.

Dave:

Martinizing.

Dave:

Find it in the show notes at BRANDwidth On Demand.

Dave:

I'm Dave Martin.

Kipper:

And I'm Kipper McGee.

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