Brian McDonough says he’s not a morning person. Lucky for him, a 7:30 a.m. board meeting with the American Red Cross was postponed, giving him precious office time to return phone calls and check revenue and audience metrics ahead of his other morning meetings.
However, the postponement does nothing to shrink what will be a 15-hour workday for KY3 Inc.’s president and general manager. Though he typically leaves work around 6 p.m., on this Wednesday, McDonough will finish business in the KY3 community room after the live broadcast of a town hall meeting examining the need for improved early childhood education in the Ozarks.
By 9 a.m., McDonough sits down with 10 of his department managers for briefings on upcoming events. One by one, the managers report on everything from season finales, to some tips from an innovative, messy-looking, “but fun” Denver newscast and plans for this summer’s Ozark Empire Fair.
McDonough calmly goes from one to the next, chiming in where he feels direction is needed and the group is quick to laugh during the morning roundtable.
“I think most people will tell you that my management style is even-keel. I don’t wig out, and I don’t cry over spilled milk,” McDonough says.
Before 10 a.m., the GM and managers head to the back of the station’s parking lot to check out a new $1,500 camera “drone” that easily flies 50 feet skyward by remote control.
Back in his office, four televisions and an ever-present smartphone are evidence technology is everywhere in the president’s life as he works to capitalize on those who utilize news content, but might not watch TV.
McDonough is responsible for KY3, Ozarks CW, 24/7 Weather Channel and KSPR, which KY3 manages for Perkin Media. He also manages six apps and nine websites for the multimedia company.
“People want information when they want it, and we want to be able to give it to them when and where they want it,” McDonough says.
After a brief webinar on a potential Web product, McDonough meets with Urban Districts Alliance Executive Director Rusty Worley to discuss an upcoming Fireworks at the Field event.
It’s lunchtime and McDonough sits down with Smith Geiger news consultant Jacques Natz at Ocean Zen, followed by an afternoon meeting Natz hosts with McDonough and other managers to offer advice on how to better promote upcoming stories and cross-promote content.
“The first screen people look at in the morning is not the television anymore. Viewers have other screens in their lives,” Natz said.
At 2:30 p.m., McDonough takes another meeting, this time with the O-Zone staff. A sports re-cap show and website, the project is an idea McDonough pulled from a previous stint as a weekly newspaper owner, with his wife, in Witchita, Kan. McDonough’s career weaved its way through radio and television advertising before he landed his current position in February 2011.
At 4 p.m., McDonough sits down for a United Way of the Ozarks board meeting. The group’s 2013 associate campaign chairman, today he and Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams officially launch the 2013 fundraising campaign. 2012’s effort raised just under its $4 million goal and the group aims to increase donations in 2013. By 5 p.m., the meeting breaks into groups to set strategy.
After pork chops at home with the family, McDonough returns to the office at 7:30 p.m. Ahead of the night’s town-hall meeting, he walks through the maze of hallways with NBC-show themed names such as Grey’s Anatomy Drive and Saturday Night Live Boulevard, exchanging newsroom pleasantries along the way with KY3 anchors Ethan Forhetz and Lisa Rose. McDonough says he likes to do at least a couple of walk-throughs a day to talk with staff and managers.
Dubbed Ready to Learn, the town-hall meeting challenges faith and community leaders to come up with solutions to improve school readiness for area children. About 40 parents, teachers and civic leaders attend the meeting that serves as the culmination of a three-week partnership between KY3 and the Springfield News-Leader.
Despite an ever-changing media landscape, McDonough says the company has kept pace with ratings’ growth of 21.8 percent for KY3, KSPR-TV and Ozarks CW, combined between 2010 and 2012. Market conditions such as the new Fox affiliate and newscasts on the CW have helped, too.
For McDonough, its all about getting incrementally better. He keeps a quote from motivational author and speaker Larry Winget above his desk that in part reads: “Everything you think, everything you say and everything you do matters. The little stuff matters the most.”
It’s 10:20 p.m., and McDonough hops in his BMW 531i, headed to his south-side home. The fun starts again tomorrow at 7:30 a.m.
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