Entercom has announced a new programming leadership structure for its corporate programming team.
The group will be led by Chief Programming Officer Pat Paxton focusing day-to-day on the “management of its portfolio of market-leading brands” and continuing to oversee brand research and marketing. EVP/Programming Jeff Sottolano will manage the stations News, News/Talk and Sports properties as well as content insights and analytics capabilities and overseeing network and syndicated content development.
Joining the national programming team will be Seattle Brand Manager Dave Richards as SVP/Programming. Richards has programmed Rock 99.9 KISW since 2003. Richards will add responsibility for “original content ideation, talent development and coaching” while leading efforts to support Radio.com, Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios through generation of cross-platform content.
Michael Martin will continue to serve as SVP/Programming and Music Initiatives overseeing relationships with artists, management and record labels and lead its efforts to collaborate with the artist community on event, digital and social opportunities.
The company will have a Executive Committee to develop and oversee programming strategy across the company. The group will include Paxton, Sottolano, Martin, Richards and the following executives: Radio.com SVP/GM Pam Russo, VP/News Bill Smee, VP/Sports Matt Volk, Entercom Austin VP/Programming Nikki Nite and Urban Format Captain/WVEE Atlanta Brand Manager Reggie Rouse.
Entercom announced a new programming leadership structure for its central programming team, positioning the company for further growth and increased capacity for multi-platform premium content development.
“This enhanced leadership team will supplement our premium content offering throughout our portfolio and ensure we have the premier collection of personalities engaging deeply with our audiences nationwide,” said Pat Paxton, Chief Programming Officer. “It will also allow us to best integrate the innovation of new products and content so we are continuously growing the impact and reach of our offering and super serving our 170 million listeners each month.”
Paxton will continue to lead Entercom’s programming department and will focus day-to-day on the management of its portfolio of market-leading brands. He will also continue to oversee Entercom’s brand research and marketing efforts. Jeff Sottolano, Executive Vice President of Programming, will continue to manage Entercom’s industry leading collection of sports, all-news and news/talk brands. He will also be charged with growing Entercom’s content insights and analytics capabilities and overseeing its network and syndicated content development.
Dave Richards joins Entercom’s central programming leadership team as Senior Vice President of Programming, segueing from a distinguished local brand leadership career, most recently having served as Senior Vice President of Programming of 99.9 KISW (KISW-FM) in Seattle for the last 19 years and having developed programs like “The Men’s Room” and concepts like KISW’s annual “Live Day.” In his new role, Richards will be responsible for original content ideation, talent development and coaching. He will spearhead Entercom’s efforts to support its expanding business portfolio, which includes RADIO.COM, Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, through the generation of cross-platform content.
Michael Martin will continue to serve as Senior Vice President of Programming and Music Initiatives and oversee Entercom’s relationships with artists, management and record labels and lead its efforts to collaborate with the artist community on event, digital and social opportunities.
Entercom also announces the following members of its executive committee, who will collaborate to develop and oversee programming strategy across the company: Pat Paxton; Jeff Sottolano; Michael Martin; Dave Richards; Pam Russo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, RADIO.COM; Bill Smee, Vice President of News; Matt Volk, Vice President of Sports; Nikki Nite, Vice President of Programming and Brand Manager, Entercom Austin; and Reggie Rouse, Urban Format Captain, Entercom, and Brand Manager, Entercom Atlanta.
In the past six months, Entercom has also added new leaders to spearhead multi-platform content leadership in its industry-leading sports and news verticals. Matt Volk, formerly of Comcast/NBC and ESPN, recently joined Entercom in the newly created role of Vice President of Sports and will oversee multi-platform sports content strategy and the development of the “BetQL Audio Network.” Bill Smee, formerly of NBC, Slate and CNN, joined Entercom in 2020 as its first Vice President of News and leads innovation efforts across its portfolio of market-leading local news and news/talk brands.
