When Clarke Brown takes the dais next month (3-16-2005) in New York City, the retiring Jefferson-Pilot Radio Division President will become the 19th person to be subjected to good-natured barbs in The Bayliss Foundation’s annual fundraiser.
While technically called a “roast,” things usually remain under control, since the roastee actually selects the people who’ll deliver the insults.
Among those scheduled to toss abuse at Brown include his J-P successor Don Benson, Emmis Chairman/President/CEO Jeff Smulyan, “WKRP In Cincinnati” Creator/Executive Producer Hugh Wilson, Interep Sales Division President Jeff Dashev, and WCBS/New York GM Chad Brown - who just happens to be the honored guest’s son.
Tasteful Time
Only one of the previous annual events was really outrageous. “I was one of the roasters two years ago of [Katz Media CEO] Stu Olds,” explains Carl Butrum, who was appointed to the newly-created position of President of The John Bayliss Broadcast Foundation in January 2004.
“It was very tasteful, funny and terrific. What we do as a board is coach the
individual who is being roasted. We try to make it something that’s fun and
doesn’t drag on interminably. I’m very happy to say that Wall Street turns out
in large numbers. The groups are there and many tables are sold for the groups
and Wall Street. It’s a very nice thing to see.” The site for this year’s proceedings is Cipriani’s on 42nd Street in New York City and Butrum boasts, “It’s an enormous room in a spectacular setting and can handle upwards of 700 people with no problem. We basically outgrew our previous venue.”
The gala event, of course, is named after John Bayliss, who for more than three years in the late-1970s, was Gannett Broadcasting's Radio Division President; was owner-operator of Bayliss Broadcasting; and was President of Charter Media Company's eight-station group.
The 17-member Bayliss Foundation board selects each roastee, but the Foundation is considerably more than simply one raucous dinner.
Remembering A Mentor
Kagan World Media Founder/CEO Paul Kagan was instrumental in getting the ball rolling 20 years ago following the car crash that claimed Bayliss’ life. “[Paul] had a tremendous amount of respect for John and helped him do acquisitions,” Butrum explains. “[Bayliss] was very well respected by many people and was quite a mentor. He helped people get into the business and also helped them acquire radio stations. Paul thought something should be done, so they put together the foundation and [made plans to have an annual] roast.”
An attendee of all but one Bayliss Foundation roast through the years, Butrum notes, “It’s turned out to be a wonderful project that has done a tremendous amount of good. The foundation has given about 300 scholarships to worthy students in communications schools around the country. Post-September 11th (2001), attendance was down a little bit. The board decided it wanted to expand the mission and endow these scholarships, so they’d be there year in and year out.”
With a 32-year tenure in the rep business, the former Eastman Radio President knows virtually every important industry player. “The Bayliss Foundation board approached me to see if I’d be interested in helping out,” Butrum remarks. “I read an article that really struck me. It said that [Microsoft Chairman] Bill Gates basically takes a month out of his life to give one-hour and two-hour speeches at five top computer science schools in the country. He explains the future and implores students to come into his business. I thought to myself – here’s the richest man on the planet taking a month out of his life to [do that]. I started thinking what Wall Street does with recruiting; what the banking industry does; and then looked at Gates and computer science. I’d recently seen some data on the size of the radio industry post-consolidation.”
Tighter Focus
A quick analysis of that data indicated there are more than 25 corporations involved in the radio business with market capitalization of a billion dollars or more. But as the former two-year Katz Media Group Senior VP/Corporate claims, “Our presence on the campuses of communication schools is practically non-existent. I also happen to know, however, there are some schools – Syracuse and Southern Illinois University in particular - where we’ve had some tremendous talent come into our industry.”
Overall, though, a considerably better image is needed and Butrum maintains the way to do that is to become important to the country’s top communications schools. “As I looked at the 300 scholarships, I asked how many schools received those scholarships,” he comments. “There were approximately 80. I thought to myself, 300 scholarships in 19 years is impressive, but we’re not very important to anybody because we haven’t focused our mission. My goal was for radio to have a presence in the communications schools that love radio. What I’m attempting to do is narrow the focus to 10-12 universities that really emphasize their radio program. I want to reach into those schools for juniors, seniors and graduate students and introduce them to the magic of a career in radio.”
Favorable Response
Feedback from the schools has been especially encouraging, as many university presidents and deans are flying into New York City to meet Butrum. Emerson College/Boston President Jacqueline Liebergott was among those saying that no one else is doing anything like this. “[Other] presidents have said this is brilliant and that I’d made their day with this program,” notes Butrum. “I probably can’t get everything done in year one, but I’m so overjoyed by the reaction of the corporations and reaction of the schools.”
Northwestern University, for example, has 250 students who go through their radio stations on an annual basis, but as Butrum states, “I don’t want to find the next Peter Jennings – I want to find the next great GM, market manager, sales manager, on-air radio talent, engineer, marketing genius and promotional genius. I want these people to be exposed to great radio stations. I’ve approached the industry and more than 10 corporations have agreed to participate. They’re going to pay The Bayliss Foundation a finder’s fee for the best and brightest students from these 10-12 schools.”
One GM said at least 100 people walk through his front door and are willing to work for free, so he was taken aback about having to pay the person a salary as well as a fee to Bayliss. “I explained that I’m going to be a rep and interface with the corporations who support us and they’re going to become the most astute and effective employment agency in the world [when it comes to] finding talented people who want to be in radio,” Butrum points out. “Their parents are paying tuition for them to become communicators. I want their professors to tell me who they think are the ones who absolutely want it the most. It’s just a very smart thing for us to do as an industry.”
Knocking It Out Of The Park
The Foundation will commit two scholarships per year to each participating school. “My goal, which I’m more than two-thirds of the way of fulfilling, is to [also] give them 10 internships, so each college or university has a bag of 12 goodies they can hand out,” Butrum explains. “The Bayliss committee will determine the scholarship recipients. Scholarships are typically $5000 and handed to students with no strings attached. We’ll allow the schools to pick their 10 brightest radio stars. Corporations have agreed they’ll pay the finder’s fee and will then place them at a paying internship for six-eight weeks in their markets. Every single group I’ve talked to has wanted to participate. It’s not an inexpensive thing, but we estimate that we’ll be able to fully endow the scholarships within five years.”
It’s the type of association that would’ve meant a tremendous amount to the late John Bayliss, who genuinely enjoyed helping young people succeed. “John would love [knowing that] we were extending this program into these schools and are really forming a partnership,” Butrum remarks. “You’d want to introduce a young person interested in being a baseball player to how the game is played. You could either take them to a high school in a small town someplace or to a World Series game in [Boston’s] Fenway Park. What’s the impact on that young person’s mind going to be when they see bright lights, big city and the excitement of the crowd?”
More than 90% of those who, at one time, said they were thinking of a career in radio, Butrum claims, never make it into the medium. “With the cooperation of these schools and corporations, I have the ability to give students a chance to spend six-eight weeks in their junior or senior year in a big league ballpark,” he notes. “They might be in as many as six consolidated stations in one single setting. They go into the engine room of a major industry. We’re opening doors that, maybe, the corporations wouldn’t have time to - and students wouldn’t know how to - open. I’ve been to literally hundreds of radio stations through the years and have seen the evolution of clusters and groups and [I know] how sophisticated it is. I even sent one of my four sons – who’s in the sound production business - to a radio station for a week. He said that, in one week, he learned more at the station than he did in six months in school.”
Sending A Serious Message
Even with a rapidly changing and more complex world, our medium seems to find ways to engage the next generation, but Butrum cautions, “We have to have a coordinated effort at the very highest levels interfaced with the schools and the leadership of the schools, or we won’t continue to have 95% of the country listening to us. I’m most concerned about the next generation because they have so many different choices.”
When Butrum ran Eastman Radio for 12 years (1988-2000), the rep company had offices in 12 cities. As President, he might not have known who the next superstars were going to be, but points out, “The [people] who ran my [various offices] certainly knew who their [stars were].”
Professors in schools Butrum is having conversations with are in a similar position. “With the presidents and deans involved with The Bayliss Foundation, the pressure is on professors to deliver people who are going to take radio to the next level,” he opines. “That’s a very exciting thing. Radio stations, individual corporations, schools, students and the next generation of listeners all win. It sends a unified message that radio is interested in the American educational system and also sends a message to Wall Street that radio is very serious about its future. It’s a mature industry with tremendous growth opportunity.”
Selfless Board Members
Most recently Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation’s Executive VP/Director of Sales, New York City-based Butrum finds his current Bayliss Foundation duties to be a fulltime job. “Someone once said that, in an ideal life, the first-third of your life is spent learning; the second third earning; and the final third serving. I love nothing more than giving back to the industry that raised my family and created my life. I’ve been exposed to some of the greatest people, but the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen is the possibility of giving 120 students a shot every year to see Oz. I’m not looking for my own legacy, but it would be a wonderful thing for me to give back. Corporations will quickly discover the quality of interns they’re going to receive is something they couldn’t find by themselves.”
Foundation board members get involved purely because they want to, and some have been with the organization for many years. Bayliss’ wife, Alice (who was seriously injured in the 1984 crash that took her husband’s life), is still very much involved, and their three sons are on the board; Joe Bayliss recently purchased his own radio station.
Last year’s roastee, Cumulus Media Chairman/President/CEO Lew Dickey, is Bayliss’ newest board member. “They’re very selfless in the work they’ve done,” Butrum comments of the entire board. “[Dickey] saw one of these young [scholarship recipients] – a woman who works in morning drive for Clear Channel/Cleveland – and was very impressed. She came back and spent about five minutes talking to [those at last year’s] the dinner about what [an amazing] thing Bayliss had done with her life.”
Life-Changing Opportunity
Another in a long line of radio professionals influenced by their Motor City roots, Butrum enthuses, “Detroit was a great radio town with great AM stations like CKLW, WJR and `Keener’ [WKNR] – one of the first Top 40 stations. I was fortunate enough to have a buddy who knew [Detroit Radio Advertising Group President/COO] Bill Burton. At that point of my life, I was in the insurance industry and heard [Burton] was in radio on the rep side. I met Bill - and seven interviews later - he gave me a job. I started at Eastman/Detroit and subsequently worked in Chicago; ran the St. Louis office for three years; the West coast [office] for three years; and wound up back in New York in 1984. Most of my friends are from the radio business. I just love the buzz and excitement and action of being exposed to these great groups.”
Again underscoring that his Bayliss Foundation participation isn’t about personal glory or aggrandizement, Butrum sees himself continuing with the project until he’s certain the scholarships are endowed. “The thought of putting 120 students a year in touch with their future puts the biggest smile imaginable on my face,” he says. “My life changed the day Bill Burton offered me an opportunity. I’ve had a glorious life thanks to that shot. All it takes is to work with people who have the ability to say `yes.’ Bill always said don’t take `no’ from a person who can’t say `yes.’ These schools and corporations have the ability to say `yes.’ What I want them to say `yes’ to are students who’ve demonstrated intense desire to work with them. That will make me the happiest guy on the planet.”
Inside Radio subscribers can read more about this year’s Bayliss roastee - Clarke Brown - in “The Mike Kinosian Interview: Personalities Inside Radio” on our website (archives - seee 11-29-2004).
By Mike Kinosian
