To support the launch of the new Barrett Media, we’ve created a special series titled “20 Brands In 20 Days.” Highlighting successful stations across the country in various formats by conducting conversations with their brand leaders. Up next is Bonneville’s Chad Rufer. Chad is OM/PD for KYMX (MIX96) and KZZO (NOW 100.5)/Sacramento The stations we are highlighting today.
Jeff Lynn: I’ve listened to both stations, but I’d like to hear in your words and how you define your brands.
Chad Rufer: NOW 100.5 transitioned into an adult top 40 station in 2010. We rebranded it from The Zone, which was experiencing rough times at the time.
In its heyday, The Zone was probably one of the premier Modern AC radio stations in the country and was hugely successful. When that product dried up, the station tried to chase it and couldn’t find its niche. So, in 2010, under CBS, I wasn’t part of the launch team, but I was the first Program Director hired after they rebranded.
It was rebranded as a Hot AC/Adult Top 40. We started by building a morning show and built things out from there because we saw an opportunity in the market. It has been a great addition to what was great under CBS and a great complement to the wall of women that Bonneville now has.
MIX 96 is a legendary AC station, and it has been AC throughout its history as well. MIX still plays a decent amount of 80s products and acknowledges music products all the way into some of the current hits as well. But they complement each other nicely.
It’s certainly not brain surgery to see that one sits on the top end of adults 25-54 and one sits on the bottom end of adults 25-54, kind of protecting each other.
JL: What would you say are the brand’s addictive experiences?
CR: It’s a testament to Bonneville and their local experience, as well as the fact that they’re a fabric of the community. Bonneville really believes in being part of the community and using the megaphones that we have access to for good.
You always hear a radio company say, go do good in the community. Our license is to benefit the local community. And sometimes that’s lip service.
With Bonneville, it’s not. And they really believe that. They stand by that.
That’s why it’s so important that we do what we do on MIX 96: a weekly segment with a video feature called” Good Deeds.” I think we’ve been doing that for almost eight years now.
Various talents have hosted it. It’s where we motivate service in the community. We find different charities that can use help and highlight them.
We talk about different service opportunities. On NOW 100.5, we do a streamlined version because Instagram is much more important to that audience. We do a 60-second version called “Instagood” that Doug Lazy, our morning show host, posts every other week.
It highlights service opportunities in the Sacramento community. Deanna, our midday talent, does a feature called “NOW in the 916,” which features locally-owned businesses. It’s not a sales mechanism.
It’s a community mechanism where we highlight some of these smaller businesses that people may not be aware of. It’s another way to give back to the local community and make Sacramento a better place for those here. You don’t hear much of that anymore.
JL: Tell me about one thing that caught my eye. It may not be on the air as much as a video but tell me about “Talk With The Badge.”.
CR: Before the pandemic, we had a charity event at a Dutch Bros. Coffee Shop to support the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. We went out there, and it was just a great event. We raised a lot of money.
We exchanged information. A couple of weeks later, someone was pretending online to be our radio station. They were selling fake tickets for one of our events at that time. We were producing 14 to 15 live events a year.
I called my contact at the sheriff’s office, whom I had just met. And I said, “Now I’m coming to you for a favor.”
I said, “We have this situation going on. Is there any way you could help me with it?” They connected me with someone from their forensics or digital team—I think it was their digital forensics team. They helped us locate the person and get them to stop.
After that, I said, you know what? There’s something here, guys. Can we meet? The public information team came in, and we sat down. It was at a time when I don’t think people had a full understanding of the good that law enforcement was doing in the community and the good that they wanted to do. We talked about how to work together to highlight those sorts of things.
It’s how some law enforcement is doing good in the community. We had this video podcast idea and said we wanted to highlight some of these things you guys are doing to make Sacramento a better and safer place to live. And it was during a time when a lot of social injustice was going on.
JL: You in the community doing good instead of just jumping up and down, saying, hey, pay attention to us must contribute greatly to your success. It makes no difference in market size if you are doing good things.
CR: Yeah, absolutely.
The diary world is all about recalling at the end of the day and hoping somebody saw your brand or remembered to write it down when they finally go around and fill out their diary at the end of the week versus living in the now for lack of a better term in the PPM universe. But I think we, as an industry, need to continue doing a lot of the things that made us famous years ago.
The radio industry and the radio community need to work together for the long-term success of our industry because if we continue trying to cut one another down and shortchange one another, it’s going to be the demise rather than working together and being able to see this to see it all the way through.
JL: You and I have a common market in Des Moines, so you’ll know about the show I’m referring to. When I got to work with “Lou and Larry” at KGGO, it was to the point when something went wrong in Des Moines: a kid’s bike got stolen, a flood, or somebody’s house burned down. It was always we’ll call Lou and Larry. They’ll help. They’ll know what to do. And that’s so missing nowadays.
CR: It is in many areas. And I will tell you, I know we’re talking about NOW 100.5 and MIX 96 now, but our country station, KNCI, has a legacy morning show that we have had for 30-plus years together.
They were inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago in Nashville. I’m so proud of them and very fortunate to have been part of their careers, but “Pat Tom and Cody” is that kind of morning show in Sacramento.
JL: Have you incorporated AI? Is it a tool you’re using to help you in the stations?
CR: I don’t want to speak for Bonneville, right? My belief in AI is that it can certainly benefit us moving forward, but it needs to be used responsibly. And I believe that it will benefit those of us who program multiple brands every single week.
There are ways to make it help—a way for AI to make our lives a little bit easier—but I think it needs to be used responsibly.
Some are using it irresponsibly right now to have a less-than-positive impact on our industry, which worries me for the future.
It certainly can lead to misinformation, and we pride ourselves on not providing misinformation or misleading information as an industry and a company. Those who ignore it will end up behind the curve. I want to know what’s out there.
JL: Correct me if I’m wrong, but your cluster’s success doesn’t necessarily depend on traditional marketing; your secret sauce is doing well for the community.
CR: That also extends down to the air staff. People have gotten into this, and they get excited. Whether it’s “Talk With The Badge,” one of our on-air personalities getting to go run the sheriff’s obstacle course, or one of our morning show talent driving the track and learning high-speed maneuvers, they’ve had fun. I’m not going to tell you that ratings aren’t important. They most certainly are, and we’re in a great ratings position.
I’m very, very proud of the results that we’ve achieved. When you can do good in the community and achieve some good ratings results, that’s a fantastic way to look at it. But I think, as we all know, Nielsen has its challenges, too.
Knowing that you have a strong brand that has impacted the community when you get that crappy rating month because they happen to everybody. You look back and go, yeah, but we did this. We helped this veteran hang lights. I look out in the crowd during our two-day music festival, and I say, local radio did this.
Local radio put these 19,000 butts in seats or standing there; you see people making memories with families. You see people at their first concert; you see people building those experiences that will go with them for a lifetime.
JL: Local radio is not dead, and where it is on life support, it is self-inflicted.
CR: You were talking about coaching a morning show earlier. When I’m talking to our shows, I ask what the connection moments are. You give someone a thousand dollars, and they may or may not remember you. If you share a moment with them that they can relate to, they will remember you.
We need to invest in personalities, personnel, and talent who can make these connections because that’s why people will go to the radio, not to hear just the Post Malone and Morgan Wallen song, which I love and it’s great. We have to play the right music, but you can get that anywhere. You can’t get that connection point that’s real, vulnerable, and relatable on Spotify.
JL: Final thought?
CR: I’m passionate about the industry and the future. I always tell people I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Because many people my age and younger have years left, we want to keep going.
We want to ensure that this industry is stable and here for a long time, not only to see us through but also to see the people coming up behind us through. And that excites me about figuring out how to ensure that we continue doing this and that we’re doing it the right way.
Listen to MIX 96 and NOW 100.5 here. Connect with Chad Rufer here.
Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
