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CD101
Progresses With New Owner
Columbus Alive! - September 18 – October 2, 1991
Columbus investments executive Roger Vaughan will jump into a moving
vehicle in late September when he buys CD 101-FM, the only commercial
alternative station in the Columbus market. And, when he takes the wheel of this
steadily accelerating craft, he has no intention of slowing it down or changing
its course. In fact, he wants it to run smoother and faster.
In an industry in which no job is secure and the most common
corporate strategy is to “clean house” or change format regularly, Vaughan’s
approach must come as a relief to the station’s employees and its audience.
“CD 101 has already proven there’s an audience out there. I don’t
know if we’re going to create new listeners or grab listeners from somewhere
else,” Vaughan said. Starting from scratch just one year ago, the “modern rock”
station tapped into what Vaughan called a “ disenfranchised” audience. Many
industry people agree that 101 has attracted listeners that previously just
didn’t bother to turn on their radios. At least one staffer at WLVQ- whose
format is most similar to 101’s- confessed relief that CD 101 came along and
played the more progressive sounds that some fans charged should have been
programmed by ‘LVQ.
CD 101’s audience- according to the Arbitron ratings- cuts across
demographic lines to encompass several age groups. “The one bond is the music,”
explained Vaughan.
The ratings service also has tracked the station’s respectable
growth curve. Starting from less than a one-share (one percent of the
radio-listening population) in its first book, 101 scored and impressive 2.9
overall (percentage of listeners, 12 and older) in the most recent ratings
period, nearly tripling its audience from the book before. (Each Arbitron book
details the listening habits of a small sample of the radio audience during a
three-month period.) The 2.9 rating placed CD 101 at No. 10 in this market.
While the station’s success has not exactly been world-class, its
ratings have surprised many observers more skeptical than Vaughan. Before he
began negotiating to buy the station, he made many inquiries about the format’s
potential. “People said that it (programming progressive music in Columbus)
couldn’t be done,” he remembered.
But the Columbus native, a longtime fan of the progressive,
modern-rock sound, had seen the format work elsewhere. “I had the opportunity to
live in Washington D.C. and Denver, both of those towns had really strong
alternative radio stations,” Vaughan recalled. “When I came back to Columbus in
’83, I went through culture shock.”
With his business degree and his family’s help, Vaughan became
involved in various ventures, including apartment-building partnerships in
Dayton and Florida and a housing development, Woods of Centerville, in
Muirfield.
His management of the Muirfield subdivision illustrates his business
philosophy and symbolizes his plans for CD 101. Vaughan and his partners bought
the 12-year-old neighborhood in 1983 and sank a great deal of money into
rebuilding it, rather than taking over the aging development and merely
collecting the rent. They asked themselves, “How can we make this as great a
place to live as possible?” The answer was to create a higher quality
environment by landscaping and remodeling the subdivision. Consequently, they
were able to command higher rents. Keeping and eye on the total investment made
the venture profitable.
Similarly, Vaughan’s plan for CD 101 is to make it better, believing
that profits will follow. “The first and primary goal,” he emphasized, “is to
build a great radio station, one that’s unique and has a special relationship to
its listeners- the WMMS mystique.” He was referring to the Cleveland radio
station, which, during its heyday in the ’70’s, generated an uncommon audience
loyalty. “It’s amazing to me how rarely that happens,” he added.
“My focus is going to always be on the product- the sales will
come.” Vaughan’s Field of Dreams-type optimism is shared by his staff.
Consequently, there will be little, if any, change in personnel. “These guys
have built an audience…There’s a sense of teamwork there. To walk in there and
blow it up wouldn’t make sense.
Vaughan does, however, see some room for improvement:
“Clearly, the sales need help.” (The station has been without a sales manager
since May.) He also has some ideas about improving promotions. “Out of the
blocks…it (promotion) takes money. The key is to do only things that benefit our
listeners.” Vaughan thinks spending money on finely targeted promotions will be
more effective than buying billboards or TV time.
Whatever the problem, its solution will involve input from the whole
staff, not just management. Vaughan is formulating an idea to create advisory
boards- composed of non-station, community and industry experts- to help with
troubleshooting. Vaughan said WMMS’s commercialization and eventual format
change is an example of a strategy commonly used by stations- one he spurns. “It
was sort of just a corporatizing. (Most radio station owners) don’t come up with
creative solutions.”
Vaughan is refreshingly open and idealistic in an industry largely
controlled by corporate entities slavishly mindful of the bottom line. He
emphatically disagreed with the suggestion that business is about making every
possible penny.
Nonetheless, his experience has taught him that “It’s important to
pay attention to the dollars. In this case, I feel like this station is in a
place where we can step into a higher gear.”
Vaughan thinks that will happen, given his hands-on approach. He
intends to be involved with the station full-time, at least at first. And, when
CD 101 shifts into that higher gear, he doesn’t intend to just sit back and
collect the profits. “ I’ve got a vision I’d like to share. If it’s, ‘Send me
the reports, send me a check,’ what do you get out of that?” he asked, then
realized how rare an opinion that may be. “Who knows where I got off the track
thinking that?” he mused.
- Curtis Schieber
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