eckley, 1991: 2).
Today’s program director is closer in nature to the former concept of the radio station general manager than the traditional role of the program director. In today’s radio corporate culture the program manager is now viewed as an important link in the profitability chain since he or she controls the programming staff and creates and promotes the “sound” of the station-both critical elements where other departments are concerned, like sales. Every department within the station is somehow crucial in the generation of revenues. Understanding the contribution of each department and how it links to profitability are essential from a financial aspect, but so are people-management skills in order to achieve the most potential from the program department and to interact successfully with other departments, “You need to become more familiar with, and sensitive to, the types of personalities that are attracted to the variety of jobs available at a radio station. Joe, in sales, for example, has a much different approach to his work than Bill, the traffic manager. While both are motivated by the promise of reward for their work, their definition of reward may differ. Each department also has a different set of expectations of the general manager. To be a successful manager and negotiator, you have to understand what the other guy-and department-really wants” (Checkley, 1991: 8).
Handling people and profitability are linked within the program director job scope because the program director must understand that all programming efforts are spent in the pursuit of sales goals. As much as the program director must move and motivate listeners, so must he move and motivate programming personnel towards this goal. Communicating with others is what the radio business is all about and this applies to the listening audience and the in-house personnel also. Radio is often a talented, ego-filled business and ego a...