Meet The Leaders is a special 8-week series created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing. Our fifth feature is on the Executive Vice President of Regional Media Operations at Bonneville International Corporation, Scott Sutherland. Follow along with the series and revisit former conversations by checking out the entire category.
Scott Sutherland joined Bonneville in 2005 after serving as VP/Market Manager for the Phoenix and Seattle markets. He also served as Director of Sales for Bonneville Phoenix. As Executive Vice President of Regional Media Operations at Bonneville, Sutherland oversees content, sales, and full operations for Bonneville’s five markets.
Prior to joining Bonneville, Sutherland spent ten years with CBS Radio, AM/FM Corporation, and Chancellor Media. While there, he held various senior positions including Director of Sales, General Sales Manager, and Account Executive. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arizona in 1990, and serves on several Phoenix non-profit boards, including: Greater Phoenix Leadership, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix, ALS Association of Arizona, and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. He previously served as Chairman of the Arizona Broadcasters Association and board member of the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center.
In this edition of “Meet The Leaders,” we dive into what the day-to-day is like for Sutherland guiding Bonneville’s brands. We also dive into the company’s recent sale of its San Francisco based brands to Connoisseur Media, the growth of the KSL Podcast Network, and what people, purpose and profits means to a company like Bonneville International.
Sutherland spoke with Barrett Media from his office in Phoenix, Arizona.
*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*
John Mamola: Twenty years now with Bonneville?
Scott Sutherland: Yeah. Twenty years last January. It’s crazy.
John Mamola: What are maybe one or two items that stand out as the most significant growth you’ve seen over the last two decades with Bonneville?
Scott Sutherland: We had a company meeting the other day. The thing that I appreciate the most, I remember sitting down with our former CEO and COO. They positioned me that at the end of the day, Bonneville is about three things.
It’s about people, purpose, and profit.
How do we grow our people and create a culture that our people can thrive in? Bonneville is all about purpose. How do we make a positive difference in the communities that we serve? Work for a higher calling, if you will. Then in profit, we do those things to obviously deliver a profit to our owner. A lot of those things haven’t changed. The three tenets are still there.
Obviously, the number of markets changed from the 2000s when we were all over the country until we retracted a little bit. We grew some in the 2010s. Then the news a couple of weeks ago that we let [Jeff] Warshaw and the good folks at Connoisseur Media be the next stewards of our market in San Francisco.
That’s always an ebb and flow as it relates to markets. Core principles are still there.
John Mamola: What led to Bonneville making the agreement with Connoisseur Media to exit San Francisco?
Scott Sutherland: There’s zero spin in this. We think that we tried our darndest to get the most out of those markets. Bonneville’s secret sauce is being all things local content, ubiquitous distribution, and local sales strategy.
That doesn’t line up that well in San Francisco.
The majority of our markets we offer news and sports and complement it with some music. In San Francisco, we were all music. I think scale matters. In a market like San Francisco, that was hard for Bonneville to compete with some of the bigger companies on the national front.
The majority of the ad dollars there come from the national revenue stream. We can play in that, but not to the extent that the folks who can scale. For competitive reasons, there are some categories that Bonneville can’t participate in that others can.
This isn’t a knock on our people or to impugn anyone, but I think Jeff [Warshaw] and his team can operate it in ways that we couldn’t. It’s a win-win for everybody.
John Mamola: Bonneville has grown successful brands out west, especially in the news and sports formats. There’s typically a lot of attention paid to brands on the East Coast and the Midwest when it comes to success stories in those formats.
Is there anything that you feel that Bonneville does in the region of the country you’re situated in that maybe the brands out east could take a page and learn something from?
Scott Sutherland: Every market is different. Our company headquarters is in Salt Lake. So, obviously, a western footprint strategically makes sense for us. We’ve always had big bell cow brands, certainly on the news front. We have KSL in Salt Lake City, KTAR in Arizona, and big brands in Seattle. We’ve always had a big news talk presence.
As it relates to sports, starting three years ago, we all went to the same strategy that began in Phoenix where we’re creating the agnostic brand. So, in Arizona Sports, Seattle Sports, Salt Lake, Sacramento, that strategy has played well for us. Some markets we have play-by-play, some markets we don’t.
The reasons why it was more difficult for us to compete in a market like San Francisco, I would say it’s the opposite in the Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Sacramento markets. We can be hyperlocal, and that is our secret sauce.
Our business model all starts with we’re local content creators. We’re not trying to get out of our way as it relates to distribution wherever our audiences are. That’s where we want to go. It’s capped off with not a national sales strategy, but more hyperlocal.
For us too, it’s the digital-first transformation that I think all of us in the industry are pivoting from broadcast-first to digital-first. Operationally it’s a challenge, but we’re all getting there. That’s the core and essence of who we are and what we’re trying to do.
John Mamola: The KSL podcast network continues to grow. You have 50 shows on that network utilizing all the talent that are employed through Bonneville in Salt Lake. How do you go about discovering concepts for new podcasts to grow while maintaining the growth you’ve already achieved?
Scott Sutherland: Salt Lake was an anomaly. That’s a credit to Tanya Vea (President and COO for Bonneville International and Salt Lake City Market) and Sheryl Worsley (Vice President of Podcasting at Bonneville International and KSL Podcasts in Salt Lake).
They were ahead of the time on the true crime with The Cold Podcast.
A local market in Seattle had the number one podcast in the country, and subsequently, they’ve developed many others after that. It’s significantly more competitive now than it was when we launched this operation. These are long-form podcasts that were two years in the making. We have one TV station, KSL in Salt Lake. They were able to capitalize using all of their resources and move them forward.
In the other markets, where we’re going, we’re launching our own sports network where we can try to find scale in the other markets. That’s going to be launched in the next couple of weeks. Where we can get our on-demand and our native podcasts to see the power of our owned and operated operations. We’re tripling down on our owned and operated operations.
Since 2011, we’ve always tried to corner how we can be the dominant sports leader regardless of medium in all of our markets. That plays into that strategy as well.
John Mamola: How important is it to the success stories of your sports brands to have broadcasting rights with franchises?
Scott Sutherland: My filter is always two words: it depends. What does the deal look like? We don’t need to make a dollar, but we’re unwilling to lose money.
The days of the huge rights fee where you could be susceptible to losing seven figures, those days are over.
In Phoenix, we have everybody. We have the Utah Jazz and Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City. We have the Seattle Mariners and Seahawks in Seattle. In Sacramento, we have the Kings. In Denver, we don’t have anybody.
All deals are different. We don’t have one matrix where we say it has to be this and that. It starts with our relationships with the teams.
Ultimately for us, if we’re in the content business, that’s the linchpin of those deals more than the sales aspects. The third-party sales can have its own set of implications. If it’s a deal that can be worked out and enables us to have good insider access and content, we’re all about it.
John Mamola: You mentioned the three pillars of Bonneville: people, purpose, and profit. Regarding the people of the company, how do you ensure to the people who work for Bonneville that “live and local” is more than just a buzzword?
Scott Sutherland: If our objective is to own the local experience, it all starts with local personality-driven content, which again feeds our web, apps, podcasting, and everything that we’re doing.
Not to keep referencing San Francisco, but we don’t have scale. In each market, we have to build out and dig down on the local front, so it is our core strategy.
John Mamola: You have a lot of experienced leaders on your staff. Ryan Hatch has been fantastic in Arizona for a long time. The move I was interested in was the elevation of Erin Maloney to program director of Arizona Sports in January.
A lot of companies talk about elevating from within. Erin Maloney was an intern, and now she’s running the place. Explain the importance of identifying leaders within your own organization and how important that is to the future of Bonneville.
Scott Sutherland: Our company is in no way perfect. However, one thing that we have always done exceptionally well is succession planning. In every market, it’s a deal that all leaders are involved in. This isn’t just for market managers or content leaders. It’s sales leaders, HR, and engineers.
We take succession planning seriously. If we’re about people, how do we grow our people? How do we retain our people?
Someone like Erin, who has been with us forever, has worked her way up. There’s nothing better, especially in the industry right now where you don’t need me to say it. We’re in transition, and some people can’t see where to go in this, so they’re jumping ship.
Nothing lifts the whole organization like promoting an Erin Maloney who’s done everything that you want and worked in many different facets.
We just promoted Jim Richmond in Sacramento. He was our director of sales in Seattle, and just moved to be the market manager in Sacramento. To replace Jim, Christa St. John has been lifted to be the director of sales in Seattle.
We don’t always do it. It’d be perfect if you could do it every time, but we don’t. It has to be right. But I think that people can see everyone. Everybody wants some growth when you sit the individual people down. Someone promoted a knucklehead like me in different positions.
That makes people feel good that they can have a lane in the race as well.
John Mamola: You sort of hinted at this with your answer there. A lot of the industry wishes there was a lane for them with the future of the industry. How do you see the health of the industry right now?
Scott Sutherland: It’s hard. I don’t think anyone could have predicted COVID to do the damage that it did. In some ways, that exposed how slow we were as an industry to try to get to the other side and be digital-first on the transformational side.
No one wants to be a Pollyanna. I always reference the Far Side cartoon where the T-Rex is looking up at the comet getting ready to crash into the Earth. No one wants to be that guy.
Where I step back and I go ‘is there a there there’? Meaning if we truly are producing local content and people are leaving us for podcasts, we have podcasts. If people are leaving us for video, we have video solutions. We have streaming options, first-party data. We need to mine that more effectively, especially on the news and sports side.
Country as well, because it almost behaves in the same manner that news and sports do. I’m a steadfast believer that there is opportunity there for us. We’re in for the long haul. I just believe that there really is a path for us on the existential side, specifically on the news and sports side.
John Mamola: Artificial intelligence is becoming more normal for the everyday media consumer by the day. How is Bonneville approaching utilizing AI, not just from a content perspective, but also for other departments and management to work smarter, not harder?
Scott Sutherland: How can AI help? Our cost structures still remain anchored in our linear operations. That constricts your ability to fully pivot. So, what does AI look like on things, whether it’s copywriting, digital fulfillment, or any of the production?
I don’t know if it’s a voiceover thing or not. There’s some offshoring of resources to help us. AI is helping us with sales training for a lot of the role training that we’re doing with the Center for Sales Strategy.
Unfortunately, we’re still in the nascent side on how we’re going to develop and fully delve into AI. There’s opportunity, but what we’re looking at is on cost structures, what are ways that can help us make that shift.
John Mamola: What is your typical day-to-day to ensure each one of your markets is fully taken care of?
Scott Sutherland: Ultimately, that’s the core of my job on the operation side. I just finished ten to twelve weeks of traveling. I’ve been in all the markets. On content, sales, and the full operation. I’m in it all day, every day.
John Mamola: After twenty years with a company, some people can get comfortable with the position and just manage the day-to-day. What is fun about your job today that continues to kind of keep you going with the mission statement of what Bonneville represents?
Scott Sutherland: What I love about this business, and I always have, is it’s different every day. Two days ago, I was in Sacramento meeting with the Kings. Today we’re working on launching a sports network.
Dealing with hosts, salespeople, and our corporate leadership. We have so many great people in this company. We have big problems to solve, and we’re all marching to try to transform, which is a big word, but we’re all in it.
I just like the fact that I don’t do the same thing every day. There are different problems, challenges, and rewards.
I wish there was a little bit more smelling the roses for all of us in this industry. We are grinding. However, it’s easy to do that when you believe in the people that you’re surrounded with. Ultimately, we’re making a positive difference.
Those aren’t just words. To really try to help people in all of our markets, seeing the power of what our brands and our audiences can do to lift the community. Ultimately, we need to be good stewards of the brands and deliver profit to our ownership. We’re doing that as well.
The difference in my day-to-day that my job entails is quite rewarding.
To learn more about Point-To-Point Marketing’s Podcast and Broadcast Audience Development Marketing strategies, contact Tim Bronsil at tim@ptpmarketing.com or 513-702-5072.
John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
