Alan Mason

After completing his “national service,” Alan tried to find a job with as little responsibility and as much money as possible. If you ask him what his first station was, he’ll say “Texaco,” and he means it! But even that was too much manual labor, so when a friend suggested to him that he had a deep voice and was kind of weird, he applied for and was accepted as a DJ in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. He and the only other DJ split up the day on a station that was all religious in the morning and went “underground rock” in the afternoon, immediately following the Holy Rosary live from the First Church of the Holy Rosary.

After bumming around the country in low paying jobs in garden spots like Great Falls, Montana and Fargo North Dakota, he finally landed a minimum wage job as a DJ at KGW in Portland, Oregon. He stayed with that company, King Broadcasting Company for 18 years as a DJ, program director, group program director, and general manager.

In 1988 it struck him that he wanted to work for someone who truly loves and understands him, so he went into business for himself. In 1999 he partnered with John Frost to leverage the strategic thinking they are both known for, which means they each had half a brain and together could probably figure out how to tie their shoes.

Alan also took on the responsibilities of Executive Vice President of Programming for Paxson Communications, where they made the mistake of giving him an American Express card with no limit. Using that card he was able to take enough people out to lunch and dinner to make them feel good about Paxson Communications, and thereby produce good ratings.

Since then he’s been influential in several formats, including Smooth Jazz and Contemporary Christian, and become a combination consultant, writer, public speaker, clown, mentor, cheerleader, and change agent.  He is currently the Chief Operating Officer for EMF Broadcasting.

Experience as a radio General Manager taught him the importance of balancing forces: creativity and accountability. So he combines original thinking with strategic execution to create highly successful radio stations. He would copy what everyone else does, but he’s old enough now that his memory isn’t great.

Alan is an active contributor to the industry, and has spoken at the NAB, Radio & Records conventions, the Country Radio Seminar, the NRB and the GMA. He’s been published in Radio & Records, Radio Ink, Christian Radio Weekly, All Access, and many other places. He also publishes the successful “Mason Morning Minute” blog.

Chosen by CRW magazine as on of the 50 most influential people in Christian music, Alan is also the 2007 recipient of the Scott Campbell Award, and the GMA Echo Award for impact on Christian music radio.

Alan can be contacted at alan@goodratings.com.

John Frost

John Frost’s 45-year broadcast career includes two decades as an air
personality, then as program director, corporate programming, and consulting for companies such as CBS, Gannett, Cap Cities, Westinghouse, and Sandusky.

John was a part of the creative team for trendsetting formats such as Smooth Jazz, Young Country, sports radio, and Modern AC.

As a result of changes in FCC ownership regulations in the early 90’s, John was on the ground floor of consolidation at Paxson Communications’ six station cluster in Orlando, Florida, the first cluster to have stations ranking #1 in Women 25-54 and #1 in Men 25-54 in the same book.

John served with Alan Mason as Vice President of Programming for Paxson’s 47-station group headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, where John and Alan’s involvement with Christian radio began as a result of a tithe from Bud Paxson to WAY-FM.  Mr. Paxson, founder of Home Shopping Network, believed that Christian radio could have the greatest impact if it embraced the strategic principles and disciplines of Paxson Communications.

In 1999, John and Alan formed Goodratings Strategic Services as a resource for Christian ministries.

Over the last twenty years John has been involved in the significant growth of Contemporary Christian radio, being a part of developing some of America’s most successful Christian music stations including Z88.3 in Orlando, Salem’s Fish stations in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Portland, CRISTA’s Spirit stations in Austin and Seattle, KLTY in Dallas, and KSBJ in Houston, as well as stations in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

John is the co-creator and executive producer of the internationally syndicated “Keep the Faith,” sharing songs and stories of hope and Contagious Encouragement to almost two million listeners a week.

John helped create “You Think About That” for Steve Brown’s Key Life network, as well as the “Lead Like Jesus” radio campaign for Ken Blanchard, author of “The One Minute Manager” best sellers.

The Gospel Music Association honored John in 2004 with the Scott Campbell industry achievement award. Radio and Records and Christian Radio Weekly have recognized John as one of the most influential people in the Christian music industry.

Ever comfortable behind the microphone and an avid baseball fan, John has served for almost 20 years as the semi-professional public address announcer for St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training in Jupiter, Florida, as well as the Cardinals’ and Marlins’ minor league teams through the summer.

John can be contacted at john@goodratings.com.

Tommy Kramer

Tommy Kramer has spent over 35 years in radio as an on-air talent, Programmer, Operations Manager, and Talent Coach, and has worked with over 300 stations in all formats, specializing in coaching morning team shows, but working with entire staffs, too.

He also works with many of the nation’s best-known and most talented Voice Actors—people that you hear every day on station Imaging, Radio and TV commercials, and Hollywood Movie Trailers.

He was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2003, and now lives in Hawaii.

The process is very much like a drama coach working with actors, using very specific techniques to sound more real, touch the listener in a personal and conversational way, eliminate generic content, and stand out against your competitors.

Some of the techniques are a little unorthodox; all of them are simple. There’s no “cookie cutter” method to it, since each Talent is different.

Every professional athlete and every famous actor has a coach.

There’s a reason for that.

Tommy can be contacted at coachtommykramer@gmail.com

TJ Holland

With his Kenner Close ‘N Play Phonograph in one hand and a copy of Ray Stevens’s “Gitarzan” in the other, 6-year-old TJ first discovered the power of  “playing the hits.”  Forty-five years later, the hits have changed and the technology has evolved past the Close ‘N Play but TJ’s passion for the power of music hasn’t waned one bit.

His love of music first found an outlet on the carrier-current powered airwaves of Michigan State University campus radio around 1985.  The tens of people listening to their AM radios heard TJ talk up his first ramp and artfully hit the top of the hour break for network news.

His professional career launched two years later in Lansing, Michigan at a rimshot 3kw rock station.  After three format changes in 2 years, it was time to experience real broadcasting.  It was at that point that his career intersected with Chuck Finney and Goodrich Broadcasting.  TJ took advantage of this opportunity by learning everything he could about working within a successful organization.  By the time the economic downturn of 1989 hit, TJ had experience on-air, as a music director, a promotion director, and as a program director.

TJ pulled up his Midwestern roots and landed at Portland, Maine’s “Ocean 98” (WCSO-FM) where he cut his programming and management teeth under the guidance of his consultant, Tim Moore.  Success came and, along with it, the need to keep ahead of the competition.  The programming team saw the opportunity of continued growth by bringing in someone to aid with music research.  That decision launched a lifelong mentorship and friendship for TJ with consultant, Alan Mason.

Next was Cincinnati and Warm 98 (WRRM) to join the legendary Susquehanna Radio Corp.  Winning brought opportunity for growth when Susquehanna invested in the market by acquiring then Smooth Jazz station 94.9 The Wave (WVAE-FM).  This gave TJ the chance to reconnect with Alan.  The Wave gave way to Mojo 94.9, a ratings winners in “jammin’ oldies” where others failed.  Warm 98 became one of the most respected ACs in the industry as they created a brand that cut through the noise, softly.  Instead of fitting into the “light rock, less talk” mold, Alan and TJ broke it by inserting a “family values” pledge to this heritage AC in the form of “Family Friendly Warm 98”.  Warm 98 dominated in demo and proved that a station that focuses on the positive can win big in mainstream radio.

Opportunity called in Columbus, OH and a chance to join the programming team of one of AC’s other legendary stations, Sunny 95 (WSNY-FM).   Working for Saga Communications proved to be another great growth opportunity for TJ.  Yet, even with the success with Saga, something was missing.

It was certainly no coincidence when at that point, TJ received the call (literally and spiritually) to once again link up with Alan.  This time it was across town at Contemporary Christian 104-9 the River (WCVO-FM).  It didn’t take long before the station was recognized by Christian Music Broadcasters as its “2014 Large Market Station of the Year”.

To this day, TJ has programmed almost every English language station and has been voted one of the “Top Programmers in America” multiple times.  His stations have been recognized as “Station of the Year” in two separate formats (twice in AC and once with CCM).

TJ brings passion to mentoring team members, creating a real strategy for sustained growth, developing engaging brands, applying analysis and research based thinking, and for finding radio’s place in the digital and social media landscape of today… and tomorrow.

When he’s not building radio brands, TJ is home trying to improve his ratings with his wife and two children.  Never far from music, TJ’s basement is a shrine to his collection of rare guitars… and maybe a Ray Stevens single or two.

TJ can be contacted at tj@goodratings.com.