Meet The Leaders: Jeff Warshaw, CEO & Founder Connoisseur Media

Meet The Leaders is a special 8-week series created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing. Our sixth feature is on the CEO and founder of Connoisseur Media, Jeff Warshaw. Follow along with the series and revisit former conversations by checking out the entire category.

Jeff Warshaw’s entrepreneurial journey began at the Wharton School of Business, where he built his first radio station. A lifelong broadcaster, Jeff launched Connoisseur Communications Partners LP in 1993, growing it into a 39-station powerhouse before selling it to Cumulus Broadcasting in 2000 for $258 million. In 2004, he founded Connoisseur Media, which has recently acquired Alpha Media and its 207 radio stations in dozens of markets around the nation. The company also acquired stations from Bonneville International in San Francisco.

Jeff’s influence extends beyond his company. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, the Executive Committee of the Radio Advertising Bureau, and is Chairman of the Nielsen Audio Advisory Council. Widely celebrated for his integrity, accountability, and forward-thinking spirit, Jeff continues to set the standard for excellence in broadcasting.

In this edition of “Meet The Leaders,” we dive into why Warshaw is leading Connoisseur Media to purchase traditional radio brands across the country. Why investing in local is key for success. Also his thoughts on the potential relaxing of ownership limits on radio stations, and what makes a Connoisseur Media seller standout from the rest.

Warshaw spoke with Barrett Media from his offices in Connecticut.

*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*

John Mamola: Why is traditional radio a medium still worth the investments that your company has made in it?

Jeff Warshaw: We’re vital to our communities. We get great results for our clients, providing unique, compelling, and required coverage in our markets. We provide great results.

Not only using radio but using all the tools of a radio company such as endorsements and events. We are a great tool for our clients, and we’re beloved by our communities.

There’s nothing like radio. We are the local voice.

John Mamola: You recently acquired Alpha Media earlier this year. When you were scouting the possibilities of what that move could be before the acquisition, what stuck out to you as the greatest purchase point with the acquisition of Alpha Media?

Jeff Warshaw: The company had a lot of terrific assets in the markets that we’d like to be in. The company had not been able to invest in its people and its products.

We saw a lot of opportunities to improve things and saw an opportunity to improve digital execution to enable the sellers to get better results for their clients. We saw an opportunity to get stronger in some of the markets.

It was a group of stations that didn’t have a tremendous focus on market size or strategy.

Our approach of being extremely focused on our local communities, having large sales forces, and lots of local talent. We saw that they had been doing that in some cases. In some cases, they had not been able to continue to do it the way that we thought was the best for the communities, clients, and for the people that work in the company.

We are very much of the belief that the only way we can be successful is if we look at our bosses as our communities, our listeners, clients, and colleagues—the people that work in the company. We believe that if we take care of those three, they will get taken care of.

If we put our own interests first, if we put what we think is right first, then we’ll be destined to fail. We need to listen to what our listeners want and what our clients need. We want to make it a great place to work, and want to keep the best people and help them get better at their jobs so they can make more money with a longer tenure and build the careers that they want. That’s important to everybody.

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John Mamola: I just talked with Scott Sutherland at Bonneville International. He mentioned the acquisition that Connoisseur Media made with their San Francisco stations.

What was the attractive part with those brands from Bonneville in San Francisco?

Jeff Warshaw: These are fantastic radio properties in one of the largest, most dynamic markets on the planet. Top-rated stations with great people. Legendary talent providing amazing programming. These are a dream to own.

We already have a strong presence in the Bay Area. We own stations in the South Bay and East Bay. This will give us an opportunity to have more scale, interesting programming, and resources as a total entity than either of us could have done individually.

John Mamola: The one aspect that I see from talent Connoisseur Media employs is the trust and belief that the company has in them. That’s a rare sight today when there are so many companies continuing to slash jobs.

The notion of “stop cutting, start hiring” is something I continue to see revolving around Connoisseur Media. From your point of view, how could a talent look at a longer-term career play with Connoisseur Media versus another entity in the radio industry?

Jeff Warshaw: First, we are strong financially. We have a great balance sheet. We have built our business on having large presences in our markets. We’ve built our business on having great people that we retain and make them feel loved and valued.

That’s why we have had extremely low turnover within our company historically. We pride the people in the company.

I always say that the people in the company have a lot more to say about how successful I will be than I will say about how successful they will be. I truly believe that. The only way that we’re going to be successful as a company is if we have people that are dedicated, inspired, and rewarded for contributing.

We have a Connoisseur employee Bill of Rights. You have the right to be told what your job is. You have the right to be told how you’re doing, plus have the right to be told how you can do your job better, and you have the right to benefit if you create value.

We believe that, and we’re going to push that through the entire organization. It’s part of our DNA.

John Mamola: You mentioned the Connoisseur Media Bill of Rights. Do you think that’s one of the biggest mistakes that some of the bigger brands are missing on—explicitly showing the belief in people, where people can believe in the companies that they work for?

Jeff Warshaw: I don’t really need to talk about other companies. Everyone has their own strategy. Our perspective is that when we give somebody a job, we have a responsibility to help them become great at their job.

I’m a huge believer that people should be working in the office every day. The industry and many companies have whiffed on that, particularly in the radio business or local media business. We’re intrinsic to our communities.

How can we be great community servants if people aren’t there?

With that strategy and that core belief, it’s our responsibility to make our offices a great place to work. We need to provide people the opportunity to be creative and share their ideas, to be inspired and compete with each other.

We have the opportunity to show people that they are valued. When you make it worth somebody’s while to show up—when they feel like they’re learning, being inspired, and becoming more successful—they’ll come to the office.

It’s not just that we believe that our communities and clients are better served if people are in the office. We also feel it’s our responsibility to make it a great place to work. There are many different forms. They think they can make more money. They’re learning more, they’re growing. It’s fun because there’s camaraderie. They get to know each other and become a team.

You can’t do that if you’re hoteling and making an appointment to get a desk. It’s a different strategy. Everyone is entitled to their own strategy. I don’t need to denigrate anybody else’s; this is what works for us.

This is how we got through COVID-19, right after having bought out the Perot family as an investor. When people talk about COVID, it was obviously awful. Our markets were decimated. New York and Connecticut were the hardest-hit markets, but we were able to pay off almost all of our senior debt from the time when COVID started to the time that we bought Alpha Media.

We did that despite headwinds and an environment that everyone is blaming for their troubles. We walk the walk and have more salespeople in the markets that we owned prior to Alpha Media than we had before COVID. Plus we have a big promotions staff and all the things that we think are important pieces of our success.

That’s what we do. Everyone has a different strategy, but this has worked for us.

John Mamola: What stands out to you as characteristics of a solid seller for Connoisseur Media?

Jeff Warshaw: Extremely client-focused. Realizing that their success is totally dependent on whether or not we’re doing right by our clients. They need to be creative, be able to sell more than just spots and dots.

They need to really care about their client’s success. Their client being successful and a long-term user of our company is the way that they can be successful in the long term as well. Fully understand that it’s not just about making their commission.

It’s about having a deep interest in their client’s best interest. There is no successful salesperson if they don’t get success for their clients.

They also need to work their asses off and need to be in there every day being creative, trying to get results for their clients. Using the full capabilities of our business. We have radio and all the things that go along with it along with a full digital agency and a creative agency that we own.

We have a lot of tools for our sellers to be able to bring to our clients.

John Mamola: The 18–34 demo in a short time will be in the 25–54 demographic, and right in the heart of where a majority of clients’ advertising dollars go.

What’s the strategy for the Connoisseur Media radio brands to attempt to reach that 18–34 demo today when data shows they’re moving away from the traditional radio side of the industry?

Jeff Warshaw: Media has become much more fragmented. Audio is extremely strong. We need to give our listeners products that they’re excited about, and don’t need to run twenty minutes of commercials that are huge tune-outs, especially through programmatic streaming.

We need to make sure that we are creating local and compelling content.

I coached Little League a couple years ago. My son at that point was ten years old. Star 99.9, one of my local stations here in Fairfield County, sponsored the team. So I hand out the uniforms, and on the back, it says Star 99.9.

One kid says, “Star 99.9? That’s my favorite radio station.”

Another kid says, “Anna and Raven? I love Anna and Raven.”

Another kid says, “That’s what me and my mom listen to on our way to school every day.”

Two weeks later, guess who’s sitting at one of their baseball games? Anna. She comes and meets all the kids. It was a huge moment for them.

We’re providing great, compelling content, and it’s something that they’re listening to on their way to school with their parents. You can’t get that interaction or local presence any other way except for local radio.

We think there’s obviously a place for syndicated programming. There’s a place for local. At the end of the day, having one-to-one relationships with our listeners is something that we need to continually always remember is the bread and butter of our business.

John Mamola: I know you’re very involved with the ongoing discussions about relaxing ownership limits with the FCC.

If that indeed does happen and it does go through, what’s the first plan of action for Connoisseur Media to capitalize on if that were to happen?

Jeff Warshaw: We won’t be waiting for the rules to change. We’re going to continue to try to buy things where necessary. We’re going to ask for waivers. You cannot have a monopoly on local media.

Radio does a low single-digit percentage of the total advertising pie. I don’t even know that there are any radio clusters that do more than one to two percent of the total advertising in our markets. Those are tremendously antiquated rules.

What we’ll be doing is finding the right opportunities in our markets to be stronger. To be able to provide greater content, diversity of content, more news, and local public affairs programming. Bigger staffs being able to do more for our communities as a result of having some scale.

John Mamola: You’re acquiring all these properties and injecting positive vibes in an industry that has had a lot of negativity for many years. What’s the most fun part about your job, and the most difficult part of the job for you?

Jeff Warshaw: The excitement of meeting new people, being in new cities, hearing unusual programming from different personalities is the fun part. There are so many new things to experience. I love going into the markets and trying the food that is local to that town.

This is an opportunity to see places and meet people that I don’t normally get a chance to do.

The toughest part is trying to create a place that’s inspiring for people to compete effectively in a challenging market where there’s been so much depression in the rates and the way our inventory has been. So many people are running so many commercials.

The markets are very competitive, partially because of the financially challenged places that many of our competitors have found themselves. Getting our local people to understand the value of what we’re doing and getting them excited again about what we think is still an industry that has a lot to offer.

Getting past the negativity and the competition that has depressed things. That’s a challenge.

John Mamola: If you have one message for advertisers in all the markets where you’re at, if they ask you the question of why legacy media like radio still works in 2025 but also five years from now, what would you say to them?

Jeff Warshaw: We make every other kind of media more compelling and more successful.

Whatever else you’re doing, adding a radio schedule to it will make it much more successful, efficient, and get better results for you.

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.