Page 29 - Radio_Ink

Local Radio Networks'
Angola, Indiana
headquarters

localism. If you give that up, you are out of about attention to detail, affiliate relations,
the game. localization, and true customer service that
we believe is second to none. The feeling we
Radio Ink: You owned eight stations, getfromtheaffiliatesisthatweareonthe
then decided you wanted to launch same page. We understand what it's like to be
another company. When and why did on that side of the fence.
you do that?
Swick: As a small-market operator, we Radio Ink: How big do you want to get?
used the networks a lot. And as they have Swick: Well, there are 15,000-plus radio
been rolled up by the Wall Street conglomer- stations — we don't know where it's going to
ates, we see complacency and a lack of atten- go. I know there are a tremendous number of
tion to detail. It was my breaking point. There affiliates in the pipeline waiting for contrac-
were many phone calls with all the highest- LRN Technology Engineer Chris Peters, CEO tual agreements to lapse to get out of those
level executives, and it was all falling on deaf Steve Swick, and CIO William Mashione contracts. As soon as those expire, there is a
ears. I finally had enough. I said, "You guys tremendous amount in the pipeline ready to
better start listening to what we're saying As long as you have a stream connection come to LRN.
because we are paying your bills." to us that is the highest quality, we have our
The positive thing that came out of it — yes, own VPN-based technology that we use as Radio Ink: Most people who own eight
we are small-market radio, but also, with the our delivery system and we can have you radio stations and get frustrated with
depth of my team, we have some of the most back on air. Our competitors did not have that a network are not going to go out and
brilliant radio and software engineers. We said capability. start their own. What was it about you
we'd had enough and we embarked on devel- that not only made you say it, but do it?
oping our own proprietary software technol- Radio Ink: You were five years in devel- Swick: There is no question I am
ogy and launched Local Radio Networks. opment and now two years in the mar- extremely competitive. You don't settle for
ket. How did everything start off? something that's not up to par. You push hard
Radio Ink: How difficult was it to get Swick: We have a mix of folks that came and work hard to produce the best possible
started, to get the people, the equip- to us, all small- and medium-market station product for the listener. I was not settling for
ment and technology? owners. what the industry had to offer. But where else
Swick: In 2012 we embarked on five years are you going to go? It's almost like you don't
of software development technology, all inter- Radio Ink: Getting customers and mak- have a choice, you are stuck with them. Well,
nally. Everything has been written by radio ing the sales calls — is that coming that wasn't a good answer for me.
broadcast engineers for radio broadcasters. easy? Do you find more people looking When you turn million-dollar sticks over
When we talk about the coding and software for the product than you expected? to a provider, you are turning over your baby,
that was written for LRN, we know and under- Swick: They have been seeking us. We just and you still have all the risks and responsibil-
stand every facet of the end use of a radio came back from Austin, and that was very ity. Like I said, that did not work well for me,
owner, how that will interface with him, tying fruitful for us as well. We feel we are some of when I had those signals and sounds coming
it around localism with full customization. the best-kept secrets in this space for small- from the corporate mentality of that space at
It provides you as much control or as little and medium-market owners. that time. I just said, "We are better than this."
control as you want as a radio owner-operator That being said, Donna Halberson, our That's why we embarked on LRN. We have
utilizing the 24/7 format through us. national sales rep, has done an amazing job a great strategic partnership with ADLarge
with the outreach she has. Radio station own- Media — Gary Schonfeld and Kathy Csukas are
Radio Ink: Tell us exactly what you are ers/operators are reaching out to us. It is a great folks. They do all the ad barter repre-
offering stations. good thing. We are more than capable of han- sentation. The team of LRN is expanding and
Swick: We have 12 different formats, all dling from one station to 20 stations at a time growing. Most recently we hired three key
24/7. With all that had gone on with Cumulus if they join the network. individuals from Westwood One and brought
and iHeartMedia, etc., we started hiring back them over to our team. There will be others as
all this national talent at LRN. We have a Radio Ink: What kind of feedback are this grows bigger.
complete library of all uncompressed audio, you getting? I can tell you, the folks who left 20- or
flexible clocks, no mandatory-fill positions. Swick: I get direct calls from operators 25-year careers with those organizations left
We provide 100 percent redundancy, so if you who say, "You do not have the Wall Street cor- for a reason. It was because of what we just
have a power failure, a fire, a flood, a hur- porate mentality. You do understand what it's explained, the complacency and lack of atten-
ricane, etc., we have everything backed up like to be a small-market owner." tion to detail. The folks I brought over are the
virtually in our system. We took it totally to the opposite. We are people we want on our team.

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