Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 10, 2009 at 07:42:16:
Earl Jones is making plays & waves
Exec who dumped popular radio jock confident of game plan
July 10, 2009
LEWIS LAZARE | Chicago Sun-Times
Earl Jones controls a lot of what Chicago radio listeners hear each day. As president and market manager of Clear Channel Radio/Chicago since 2005, Jones sits atop the second-largest cluster of radio stations -- six altogether -- in the local market.
The stations Jones, 51, manages are some of the city's most popular and high profile -- ranging from urban contemporary WGCI-FM (107.5) to adult contemporary WLIT-FM (93.9) and the recently launched hot Spanish adult contemporary station Mega 95.5, formerly smooth jazz WNUA-FM (95.5). Only CBS Radio, with seven stations in the market, has a larger footprint than Jones' Clear Channel Chicago empire.
There are two things you really need to know about Jones to understand why he's a power player in Chicago radio and within the huge 20,000-plus-employee Clear Channel Communications company, where he is the highest-ranking African-American executive. First, it's important to note that before he got into radio, Jones was a professional football player -- a third-round NFL draft pick out of Norfolk State University and a cornerback with the Atlanta Falcons for five years. That stint in professional football honed his competitive spirit. Jones will tell you he doesn't like to knock the competition, but he sure likes to win -- fair and square -- in an intensely competitive business.
The second thing to point out about Jones is that he has proved himself a smart salesman -- a very valuable talent in broadcasting. His wife pulled him into the broadcast industry where she worked in sales after he retired from football, and it quickly became apparent he knew how to sell -- first in television, where he began his second career, and finally in radio.
Now, in charge of a large sales force for the six Chicago radio stations he manages, he is constantly pushing his troops to get out and meet with clients and get to know them. "I tell my sales teams to find out what our clients need and make sure they're getting it," explained Jones.
On the programming front, Jones has made a couple of tough, controversial moves in recent months. But he is confident they will pay off. There was a huge outcry in March when Jones dumped Tom Joyner from the urban adult contemporary WVAZ-FM (102.7) morning lineup and replaced him with Steve Harvey, who had been at WGCI. But months later, Jones remains convinced he made the right move because of some sophisticated research he was privy to that suggested Joyner and his style of show really weren't clicking with as many WVAZ listeners as some of Joyner's most vocal fans thought they were.
As for the more recent format switch at WNUA, Jones said the debut of the Portable People Meter ratings mechanism a year ago played a role in his decision to dump smooth jazz and move to a Spanish adult contemporary format. Jones realized the PPM wasn't doing a good job of picking up the upscale listeners who prefer smooth jazz. Consequently, WNUA was slumping in the ratings and generating less revenue. Something had to be done. With Chicago now home to a surging Hispanic population, Jones believes the format switch he has implemented will find a large and receptive audience and boost Clear Channel's bottom line over the long haul.
And Jones is clear about his mission as Clear Channel's chief executive in Chicago. "My job is to increase the value of the stations I manage and give the local community a product that educates and entertains," he said.
Layoffs at CLTV
Sources say layoffs were under way this week at CLTV, and more could be in the offing as additional details of the planned operational merger of Tribune Co.'s unionized WGN-Channel 9 with its non-union CLTV franchise are finalized in the coming weeks. The CLTV layoffs are believed to have included graphic department staffers, master control operators, camera operators and reporters.