OCTOBER 26, 2023

The Kentucky Broadcasters Association mourns the passing of Kentucky's first female news anchor, Sue Wylie. Wylie passed away on Tuesday evening from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

Before arriving in Lexington, the Cincinnati native spent time at local stations WKRC, WLWT, and WCPO, WTVN in Columbus, and WCKT in Miami. Sue excelled in various roles ranging from on-air talent to TV show host.

In 1968, Sue walked into General Manager Harry Barfield's office and pitched a midday news show. Impressed with her drive and ability, he hired her to anchor and produce WLEX-TV's Noon Today program, which is still on the air today. 

She convinced the station to purchase its first sound-on-film camera for the show. For the next 22 years, she anchored and produced Noon Today, which blew away the competition and for many years garnered a 60 share in Nielsen ratings.

In 1974, Sue again went to the front office to pitch a public affairs program called "Your Government." For over two decades, Sue produced and hosted the show, which had a "Meet The Press" format with panelists. Through her efforts alone, Sue could land guests such as Ronald Reagan, Jessie Jackson, Nelson Rockefeller, George Wallace, Jimmy Carter, and various governors, senators, congressmen and newsmakers state-wide. The show made state-wide headlines each week, and Sue's ability to get the tough guests amazed her coworkers and competition.

Named Assistant News Director for Community Affairs in 1988, Sue was active in a number of charitable organizations in Central Kentucky, including United Way, Alternatives for Women, The Chrysalis House for Women, The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation and many, many more.

While still working at WLEX, Sue used her enthusiasm and creativity to host a morning radio talk show on WVLK until her retirement.

Sue was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 1999. 

In 2017, Wylie was honored with the Gold Circle Award for 50 years in TV by the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmy Award). Gold Circle members are honored for more than their longevity — they are honored for making an enduring contribution to the vitality of the television industry and for setting standards of achievement we can all hope to emulate. These honorees also give back to the community as mentors, educators, and volunteers.

Mike Taylor, former assignment manager at WLEX, worked alongside Wylie for nearly two decades. "She was a genuine local television icon. People talk about trailblazers and people who knock down barriers. She crushed barriers for women in television," Taylor said. "She was just nonstop energy. And she was so incredibly creative and thoughtful about how she did things."

Wylie was 90 years old.

The Kentucky Broadcasters Association mourns the loss of "Fearless" Frank Faulconer. He was a pioneer in local television and worked alongside Nick Clooney and others in the formative days of Lexington television in the 1960's, 70's and 80's.

Even after Faulconer left television, his unmistakable voice was heard on radio, including rock and roll station WKQQ.

Faulconer was also a decorated World War II veteran and the great uncle of Rep. Andy Barr. In 2016, on his 93rd birthday, Faulconer was recognized on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and the City of Lexington declared it Frank Faulconer Day.

Faulconer enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 after graduating from Lafayette High School. In 1946, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky and went on to earn a degree in oratory before beginning his broadcast career that included Lexington radio and television stations.

Faulconer was 100 years old.

Congratulations to Forcht Broadcasting's Jeff Sisk on being featured in Radio Ink's edition of The Best Managers in Radio. Sisk, who has 40 years in broadcasting, is the General Manager of WHOP in Hopkinsville.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Public Notice requiring broadcasters to certify the accuracy of their 13 GHz licenses. It is critical that you follow the instructions in the Public Notice, or you may lose interference protection of your 13 GHz operations or have your license cancelled. 

Many TV stations use 13 GHz spectrum for studio-transmitter links or ENG. Check with your station’s engineering department to be sure. 

With limited exceptions, if you hold a license (fixed point-to-point or mobile/ENG) in the 12.7 – 13.25 GHz band you MUST certify to the FCC by November 29th that the information on the license is accurate and that the facilities are operating as authorized. This certification is required to allow the FCC to open the 13 GHz band to new (non-broadcast) entrants. 

If you need to make corrections (“minor modifications”) to the license data, you must do so in ULS by November 29. Detailed instructions are in Section 3 of the Public Notice.

Thanks to a KBA member who recently shared this unique and nostalgic picture of the push-button dial sector on an antique upright radio console. Note the station presets.

We want to promote YOU! Send us your staff additions, promotions and special events. Email Chris at chris@kba.org

IS YOUR SALES MODEL OBSOLETE?

It always gets a laugh in our management training when we talk about recruiting and hiring, and we talk about the candidate who claims to have 20 years of selling experience, but on further inspection and questioning, you find that they only have one year of experience that they have repeated 20 times. The not-so-funny truth is that a failure to evolve, adapt, and change with the times leads to irrelevance.

If there is one thing we’ve always known, which was punctuated by the pandemic, change is constant. To stay relevant and effective, we, too, must change. Conceptually, what we learned just five years ago may still be accurate, but tactically is outdated.

Frank V. Cespedes is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and the author of many books. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Cespedes says today’s coherent sales model has three core components:

1. Customer selection criteria. In short, are you calling on the right clients? Time spent with the wrong targets increases the cost of sale, prolongs the process, and is built around quantity, not quality.
2. Clarity about your customers and their buying process. Customers differ dramatically in what they want from a product and how they respond to marketing initiatives. Knowing the differences is crucial because it’s your responsibility to adapt to the market; it’s not the market’s responsibility to adapt to your sales model.
3. The go-to-market economics and metrics.  As we shared in a sales tip earlier this week, salespeople spend less than a third of their time selling.  Cespedes posits that this presents a tremendous opportunity to adjust the sales model to put the reps where they have the most impact.

In his book:  Sales Management That Works – How to Sell in a world that never stops changing Cespedes likens the sales model to perishable goods:

Like perishable goods in grocery stores, sales models have a sell-by date. As product standards evolve and new entrants emerge, buyers have more choices and demand more in terms of quality and performance across vendors. Firms that fail to adjust to changing customer expectations lose an advantage. 

When was the last time you looked at how you were doing things?  What’s working and what’s not working?  As a manager, what are the obstacles to even more outstanding team performance?  Chances are it’s in one of those three areas.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can also connect with him by email JSchmidt@rab.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Your active KBA membership entitles you to complimentary access to RAB's online certifications.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

KBA Board of Directors Meeting - Bowling Green, KY

*All times shown are Eastern

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