02-24-2009 BLC EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: KCSP'S NEW PD: 'WE ARE GOING TO BEAT WHB' "We are going to beat WHB. That's not a prediction. That's not a mission statement, but a fact and everyone needs to believe that." That's what Ryan Maguire of Entercom KC sports talk station KCSP-610 told staffers at his first meeting shortly after taking his new position as program director on Jan. 19. In sports talk in Kansas City WHB has dominated the ratings for years, but Maguire is confident he can change that scenario. "We are going to beat them by looking at ourselves in the mirror," added Maguire at the meeting. "We have to concentrate on 610 and make sure everything that comes out of the speaker is the best we can do. "We aren't going to do any mudslinging at 810, but, if we do everything right on our end it will happen." Maguire, 31, had a successful 2 ˝-year tenure as the program director at WSSP in Milwaukee before assuming the same position at KSCP.That Entercom station had seen its ratings rise dramatically and also become profitable, but remained second to long-time leader WAUK (in the Fall 2008 ratings WAUK was in 19th place in the market and WSSP 21st). Maguire was not afraid to make staff changes at WSSP.He was criticized for dumping veteran afternoon sports guy Peter Brown, who was considered its top on-air personality, a few months after taking the PD job in 2006. (http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/11/27/daily39.html) It didn't Maguire long for him to realize the Kansas City market is quite a bit different than Milwaukee. "The differences between the two markets is like night and day," he says. "This is as rabid a sports community as I have ever encountered. I really learned that when we had the Larry Johnson interview." KCSP landed an exclusive interview with the Kansas City Chiefs' disgruntled running back (2/4) that almost immediately became a local--and national---media sensation. "I turned on a local TV station and it was the lead item," he said, still surprised at the tremendous reaction. Maguire, an admitted workaholic ("Working in radio is not a job, but a lifestyle. You live in this profession"), began his sports radio career in his hometown of Grand Rapids, MI, before graduating from Grand Valley State. "I began at WMFN in Grand Rapids as a gofer," he jokes. He then went to WQSNin Kalamazoo for six years as a program director and show host. After a year at WTKA in Ann Arbor as a PD and show host he moved into management. "I decided to drop the on-air part when I realized there were a helluva lot better folks than me out there," he says. Maguire says there will be changes at KCSP, but can't say when they will occur. "You can't maintain the status quo because it doesn't work,' he notes. He says that in Milwaukee the joke was that he sent out the most press releases in the history of the city. He looks on his job as keeping the sports station's name in front of the public. "The job of a program director today is really as a brand marketer," he says. "Information is not at a premium. You can get information anywhere. What is at a premium is entertainment. "My job is to help convince someone in their car not to change the station." Of course, unless that station is WHB...
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