Current company: Jumpwire Media
Position: President
Location: New York
Place of Birth: Hospital
Date of Birth: Spring when flowers bloom
Spouse/Kid/Personal info: A wife who would like me to work less.
College: Western
Favorite band or artist: The Police
Favorite movies: Star Wars, Gallipoli, anything animated
Favorite books: Anything by Fredrick Forsyth or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sports Team Preferences: Arsenal FC, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Giants
Hobbies/Passions: Drummer since I was 7, anything tech/geek related
Causes/Charities: organic food movement
Questions:
1. How did you get started in the business?
At college I did a morning radio show that was picked up in the local papers and I created a weekly TV show. I sent a tape of the show to the head of a TV network and he hired me immediately. I had to finish college in another city.
2. Tells us about your company.
Fast Company magazine voted us one of the top 10 most innovative companies in media. We help media companies understand and navigate all the constant change. We are constantly looking for new ways to help traditional media brands build and monetize audiences on new platforms.
3. How can traditional media monetize social media?
Like Mark Zuckerberg did with Facebook, media CEOs need to invest in building their social media audiences then monetizing them. I meet many CEOs who want to monetize while they build the audience. The best strategy is to get really good at engaging with your current audience across social media platforms, learn their patterns, then look for ways to monetize that audience in new ways.
4. How should radio use social media to drive ratings?
Social media is all about engagement. Increasing the Likes on your Facebook page is not enough. I would prefer to have only 10,000 likes but have those people engaging with the brand daily or hourly. That is how we build our crossmedia ecosystems that many radio, TV and publishing groups currently implement.
5. What will the radio and broadcast television industries look like in five years in terms of audience and usage?
The audience will heavily fragmented and the usage will be enormous. How audiences discover your brand will become extremely important. The question will be why does the audience need your brand. Real time content creation via data feedback and tracking will become most important part of determining where your crowd is going and what is relevant to them. Staying in front of your audiences will be one of the most challenging parts of running a media company as there will be so much choice.
6. Is there any question you’d like to answer that we forgot to ask?
What is it like to use Google Glass? I am currently one of the testers for Google Glass and I think there is a massive opportunity for media companies as curators of content. When I have my Glass on I have so much choice that I have noticed I am beginning to focus on one or two brands that really provide excellent relevant content consistently.
