V.1.0: The broadcaster.
Me on the left. Never mind what year.
Before there was music in the cloud, there were music radio stations with real DJ’s. We bounced radio waves with music off the clouds to antennas on your cars and inside radios in your home or office. There were three really cool things about being a disc jockey. You played music and got paid for it. You received free music and concert tickets. Aaaaand chicks called you on the telephone and flirted with you because they didn’t know what you looked like. Yes! Before the expression, “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog,” there was, “That guy has a face for radio.” Some of those girls had active imaginations. So do I.
I spent 27 years as a broadcaster. I started playing tapes of paid church sermons on Sunday mornings right out of high school. I went on to DJ Top 40, rock, alternative, urban oldies, classic hits, and classic rock. My favorites were Top 40 and alternative.
I ended up at 103-KDF for over 17 years. I was night jock, afternoon jock, program director, operations manager and imaging director. I also changed light bulbs.
Edit and focus.
I'm on the air, not the motorcycle.
One of the things I learned in radio was to edit and focus. Today, it’s hard to imagine people actually paying attention to a host, letting him pick it out for you, and talking between the songs, but that’s what we did. Since audiences were in it for the music, I learned to be interesting in very short time spans when I spoke. If I didn’t, I lost listeners (ergo, girls). I learned to get right to it, say one thing at a time clearly, and be cool. Those principles are still at the heart of all marketing, branding and advertising: tell your story tightly. Be interesting. Give them a reason to flirt with you. Otherwise, you’re like some guy sitting alone his basement, playing his guitar.
Version 2.0: online marketing.
2001-today. Still awesome.
In 2001, the internet industry was dusting itself off from what was the called “the bubble.” Hannah Paramore and I co-founded Paramore/Redd Online Marketing, one of the first digital agencies in Nashville. It’s still there, incredibly successful and awesome. It’s now just called Paramore.
My role was VP/creative, another title that doesn’t really say what it is. I led and worked with the creative peeps, designers and developers. I came up with ideas, and wrote websites, email, display and leadgen ads, bios, proposals, you name it. I went to the Apple Store a lot. I crawled under desks, hooking up cables and getting dust on my Robert Graham shirts. I changed light bulbs there, too.
Hannah and me.
At least, I eventually did all those things. In the beginning, it was just Hannah and me, sitting as far away from one another as we could get. She had an office one end of our house. I was downstairs in the kitchen. She’d sell something and I’d say, “Uh-oh. I need to learn how to do that, or find somebody.” We were the first in Nashville to do search marketing. We worked with anyone that would hire us. Bit by bit, we built a multimillion dollar boutique agency, and I’m happy about every minute I spent there. We still partner on projects. They have incredible people. Hannah is a force of nature. (Hot, too. Note her come-hither look in the photo to the left.)
During my time there, I worked with some great clients. There was Country Music Television, The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, golfing legend Gary Player, BOHAN Advertising|Marketing, HCA, The Country Music Hall of Fame, and even a client with a product called Panties for Peace and another startup idea called Fart Factory. Who could pass those up? Panties are great.
V.3.0: Saying things clearly
Today, I’m a writer and consultant who helps you say things clearly. I work with anyone who needs a tagline, a story told or content made awesome. I work with FLO {thinkery}, thinking and writing and helping clients tell their stories and present better content. I partner with Paramore on clients who care about what they say and how they say it. I also publish Stylerant, a labor born out of a love for footwear and a dislike of plaid. I still change my own light bulbs. I use CFL’s.