When Paul Mason arrived at 104.5 FM “The Zone” in Nashville to take over as Program Director in April of 2020, he was hoping to made an immediate impact at the radio station. The growth was helped by a Tennessee Titans run to the AFC Championship Game during the COVID year of 2020 and four years later, the station is doing very well.
“I could not be happier with what we’ve seen here at The Zone with just the growth of this group as a whole,” said Mason who took on the added title of Operations Manager of Titans Radio in April 2021.
“It’s come together as a team and everybody roots for everybody and pulls for everybody to win. I think you’re seeing all tides rise because as a PD I cannot be anymore pleased with what I’ve seen unfold the last several years.”
There’s no question that the Nashville sports market is booming and that’s just a part of the rapid growth that the city has experienced in recent years. Major pro sports arrived in town when the Houston Oilers relocated to Nashville in 1997 and two seasons later they were renamed the Titans. In 1998, the Nashville Predators joined the National Hockey League as an expansion team and went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017. And now, there’s a Major League Soccer club in town after Nashville SC was born in 2020.
Throw in the fact that it’s always been a huge SEC market and the sports scene is exploding in Nashville.
“It’s growing and it’s growing very quickly,” said Mason. “There are new people moving here every day and getting exposed to not only different teams but also to us. It’s important to us and we’re always marketing what this brand is and who we are to not just the people who have been here and have been loyal to us over the years but the new people coming in.”
Building a radio station and the brand that comes along with it is not an easy thing to do. A lot has to go your way and now there are digital considerations that play into a radio station’s revenue stream.
In the case of The Zone, business has been good for the brand.
“If the brand is right, everything else is going to follow so if we’re talking about or targeting the things on air that our audience comes to us with an expectation, that’s going to grow,” said Mason. “We are delivering on those expectations. We’re obviously very football-centric and very Titan-centric but the key is balancing that with everything else in the town as well.”
There’s no question that the sports radio industry has changed over the years and continues to evolve, especially when it comes to technology. These days, it’s not just about the terrestrial aspect of a radio station but other ways that content is distributed whether it’s video, podcast or streaming. Those other components are extremely important to a radio station’s success.
It’s something that Mason and his team have taken to very well.
“You have to embrace technology and you have to embrace things evolving and if you resist, you’re going to get left behind,” said Mason. “What we’ve done well here is we’re on every social media platform and we do it well. We’ve embraced video by creating Zone TV a few years back. In the world that we live in now, you need to be in all the places that your audience wants to consume you.”
While Mason has been very successful in the role of Program Director, it does take a village for a sports radio station to be successful. At The Zone, Mason has been getting a lot of help from his friends. Whether it’s Cumulus Nashville Market Manager Allison Warren or Operations Manager Charlie Cook, Mason has and continues to receive a great deal of support from up above.
“It’s all about the people,” said Mason. “It starts with the people that you have on your staff but it starts above that. It’s having great people that trust you to build your vision.”
And the vision has led to a terrific lineup at The Zone including Ramon, Kayla and Will from 6am to 10am, Buck Reising 10am to 1pm, Blaine and Mickey from 1pm to 3pm and 3HL from 3pm to 7pm.
“Just beyond our air staff, it’s having a good sales staff, a good promotions staff and good producers,” said Mason. “My job is to be the resource for them to put them in the best position possible to do what they do best.”
Speaking of those shows, the lineup at The Zone did very well in the 2023 Barrett Sports Media Top 20 list.
*Paul Mason finished 5th in the voting among Mid-Market Program Directors.
*The Zone finished 5th among Mid-Market sports radio stations.
*Ramon, Kayla and Will finished 4th among Mid-Market sports morning shows.
*Buck Reising finished 2nd and Blaine and Mickey finished 5th among Mid-Market sports midday shows.
*3HL finished 2nd among Mid-Market sports afternoon shows.
“I was thrilled to have every one of our shows place in the top five,” said Mason. “I think that just shows the growth of what we’ve done here at The Zone. I couldn’t be anymore happy for our staff. I love the results but we want all of our shows to be number one so that’s going to be our next goal.”
Mason will get a chance to revel in the success of The Zone when he rubs elbows with the entire sports radio industry at the upcoming 2024 Barrett Sports Media Summit in New York City on March 13th and 14th. Mason attended the 2023 Barrett News Media Summit in Nashville in September but this will be his first visit to the BSM Summit.
“I can’t wait to go to the summit,” said Mason. “If I can go up there and learn one or two things that I can take back here to Nashville and try to figure out how it works within my structure, that’s great but I think I’m going to learn a lot more than that. It’s meeting different people in the industry with a lot of minds coming together and you just never know what you’re going to learn or who you’re going to run into and how it’s going to turn out. I can’t wait to get boots on the ground in New York to check it out.”
While Paul Mason hopes to learn a few things at the BSM Summit, there’s no doubt that other Program Directors and media professionals from around the country will want to pick his brain as well. That’s because Mason has guided The Zone in Nashville to incredible success and there’s no telling what lies ahead.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
