Major: Telecommunications and Political Science
Years at IU: 1982 – 1986
What he did at IU: I worked at WIUS (which was the precursor to WIUX, the student run radio station) from sophomore to senior year. I was Sports Director my senior year, and my biggest thrill is being courtside with the voice of the Hoosiers Don Fisher to call the Indiana-Purdue game in 1985 when Coach Knight infamously threw the chair. I probably have the cassette of that buried somewhere in my belongings. We were heard (barely) on 620 AM and 95.1 Cable FM in the dorms. It was a small audience, but you would not believe that people did listen. My love for the medium was formed during those years. I was also a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.
What he does now: I currently serve as the Senior Vice President of Affiliate Sales for Westwood One, the largest audio syndication company in the country. I’ve been with Westwood One off and one for over 20 years. Here is a synopsis of my role at Westwood One:
Dennis is a 20 year+ network radio executive, currently SVP Affiliate Sales of Westwood One. Dennis manages the affiliation of programming for all five divisions of Westwood One’s syndication effort for talk, sports, news, entertainment and format divisions. His staff has been as large as 30 affiliate sales representatives. He was responsible for the launch and operation of national networks with brand-name talent that has generated over $600 million in revenues including: Bill O’Reilly, Dennis Miller, Fred Thompson, Ron Insana, NFL, NBA, NCAA, NHL, MTV, NBC News, CBS News, CNN and CNBC. Dennis has also managed 14 different RADAR (sales) rated networks and managed network compensation budgets of over $40 million annually for clearance of network commercials on stations and select products. Prior to recent structure changes at Westwood One, Dennis was also responsible for overall operations of the network. This included management of the engineering, research, marketing and traffic/compliance/continuity. During the 15+ years with Westwood One, Dennis has been the lead radio programming developer on numerous projects including: Mike Huckabee, Tom Martino, Lars Larson, CBS Sports Radio, Perez Hilton, Bill O’ Reilly, Dennis Miller, and Westwood One News.
What advice he has for sports media students: Don’t ever give up your desire and passion. There will be bumps in the road, but stay true to yourself and if you want to succeed in media. I wanted to be on air more than anything, but the opportunities were a fraction of what they are today. When I realized that dream was not going to be realized, I found a way to stay in the media business and found that getting into management and having a say in the talent that would be on the air was more rewarding. When you go to look for that first job remember you are interviewing the company as well as the company is interviewing you! Make sure the company is the right fit and there is a path to career growth and getting to where you ultimately want to be. Learn as much as you can and don’t just typecast yourself into one role! Be a sponge and learn all you can to make yourself marketable to organizations on a variety of levels.