Midwest Communications was founded in 1958 when its founder, Duke Wright, purchased 1400 WRIG in Wausau, WI, which signed on as a Top 40 station. Today, the privately held company owns stations in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Indiana, and Tennessee.
Jeff McCarthy, a 40-year company veteran, is the Vice President of Programming. He oversees the company’s programming footprint from his office in Green Bay.
McCarthy draws a direct line to his longevity and success straight back to the beginning.
“Number one, it started with Duke Wright, a phenomenal person, highly intelligent, and a really nice guy. And I had 38 years of training, teaching, and learning from Duke, how he treated people, how he dealt with business. And I learned early on that if you wish to be successful, find someone who already is, and then do like they do.”
“Duke had the ability to attract people, but he gave us that independence of free thinking, and that’s where the creativity came from. He never held us back. If we had an idea, you could always go to him and say, here’s an idea, here’s what I think, and he would question a few things, and then go for it.”
McCarthy saw that attitude when he first arrived at the company.
“I remember when I first arrived in Green Bay, WIXX was already a highly successful station. They had a 24 share. And I said, Duke, what do you need me to do? And he said, just maintain. I said, well, would you mind if we improved a few things?”
“He said, go for it. He was always open to that, and that just inspired everybody. I was part of that very early on, where you surround yourself with people who believe what you believe. That have the same passion. That have that desire.”
McCarthy believes in developing a plan and then allowing people to execute it.
“Here’s something I created early on. The philosophy that we took was that we hire, or in some cases, acquire the best. We give you clear direction and the tools to win, and then we get out of your way.”
That leads to a culture of collaboration.
“People are happy that way, too, because now you’re a participant. Now you have ideas you form and create that make a difference in your community. So, yeah, let people run. I have a quote in my email that says, ‘no one of us is smarter than all of us.’ So it’s collaboration, and that’s a big word within our company, collaboration. None of us has all the answers, so together, we can come up with some amazing things.”
Serving the communities where Midwest operates is another important tentpole.
“We believe in serving our local communities. That is huge. That’s something Duke ingrained in us right from the start, and we continue today. What happens then is, you go, wow, we’re making a difference. We’re helping other people.”
“And from that, there’s the law of attraction. So that has not wavered at all. Unfortunately, some groups are run by people who may not even understand the end goal. If you serve the community, the advertisers follow, and so on. I can’t speak for other groups because I’m not in them. All I know is 40 years since I’ve been here. I would say we are a bit of an outlier as far as that goes. But it’s also a company that people are trying to get into. And I’m flattered by that.”
I put McCarthy on the spot and asked what a typical work week was like.
“There’s no typical week. That’s the exciting part. I could be working with a Top 40 station, music databases, research, air talent, and so on. Then I’m working with a Country. Then I’m working with Classic Country. It changes all the time. That’s the exciting part. It doesn’t get boring.”
Training also plays a significant role for McCarthy.
“I think this is what’s special with Midwest Communications: the training. Early on, Duke would hold a meeting at seven on Monday morning. It was primarily sales. And he invited me to attend. We watched a one-hour video, and then we would sit and talk about it for another hour or so.”
“I applied that to programming so that we were doing a lot of training. Even to this day, at 11 o’clock on Mondays, it’s leadership training. We watch some type of video. 95% of the videos we watch have nothing to do with radio. It has everything to do with you becoming a leader, manager, and how to handle certain situations, on and on.”
“Anyone who wishes to attend is allowed, no matter their title or position. We have air talents and IT people. I’ve always said that every day I leave work smarter than when I arrived.”
I asked McCarthy if he shared my concern that radio has let go of its talent farm team?
“That’s a great question. First of all, another thing I acquired in hiring people is using the SWAN effect, which is an acronym. SWAN is smart, works hard, ambitious, and nice.”
“The farm team now comes from people who may not be in radio but have tremendous talent. Whether it’s video, social media, or so on, they’re entertainers. It’s just a different way for us to deliver the content. And we have to adapt to that. If we throw our hands up and say there’s just no farm team, there’s no farm team. But we have to believe and really work and reach out.”
“I’ll give you an example. At WIXX, we hired an afternoon talent from social media, the digital side of things, but also very talented on air. And he’s in his early 20s, and it blows us all away.”
“Those of us who have been around, who used to play 45s on a turntable. We’re learning from those folks and can bring more and more of them on board. And then they get acclimated to, oh, this is radio, but it’s so much more than what we used to do many years ago.”
Midwest is one of the more stable companies, and you don’t often hear of downsizing, but you often hear of job promotions.
“I think there’s a fear of moving forward in a lot of the big groups. And in my 40 years, not once did I ever come in thinking, is this the day that the cuts are coming down? Never. That’s amazing.”
McCarthy’s management advice draws from reinforcing the positive.
“I think that through everything, just remain humble. Have humility. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at the mistakes. My philosophy has always been that I don’t walk around finding fault in people and criticizing them. I see what they’re doing right and compliment them. That way, they never think, oh gee, here comes Jeff down the hallway.”
“Now I look at it and go, that was a great bit this morning. And be very specific about it. But compliment people. Because the insecurity of great talent is there, we look at them and think they’ve got it all together.”
McCarthy is grateful for being able to work in one spot for 40 years, which has been important for his family.
“Part of my 40 years of working for the same company has allowed me to remain in the same place all this time. When raising a family, that’s very important. My wife and I have five children. They’re all grown now. My wife and I just celebrated 47 years of marriage.”
“None of my kids followed into the business. They all went off in their own direction. I think having the support of family, but at the same time, it’s just having the connections with some incredible people.”
“When there’s a mistake, take responsibility. Don’t be afraid, hey, we messed up. Let’s try something different. Not everything works. But having that ability and not worrying about losing your job is incredible.”
Reach Jeff McCarthy by email here.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
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.
Great piece. I appreciate you taking the time to pick this guy’s brain.