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EEO Narrative
This EEO Narrative is filed on behalf of WIIL, WLIP, WEXT, WXLC, WKRS, WZSR and WWYW (collectively, the Stations) in compliance with the FCC’s EEO reporting requirements. WIIL and WLIP are located in Kenosha, Wisconsin; WEXT is located in Sturtevant, Wisconsin; WXLC and WKRS are located in Waukegan, Illinois; WZSR is located in Crystal Lake, Illinois and WWYW is located in East Dundee, Illinois. The stations all share several employees including a General Manger, a Chief Engineer, a Business Manager and several creative staff members.
This report includes information from August 1st 2004 through July 31st 2005 and will be placed in the station’s public files and on the station’s respective websites..
JOB VACANCY INFORMATION
WIIL, WLIP, WEXT, WXLC, WKRS, WZSR and WWYW are equal opportunity employers that are committed to meeting the Stations’ EEO obligations. All full-time vacancies are posted with several sources. The Stations’ list of recruitment sources has been updated frequently. We subscribe to the BROADCAST COMPLIANCE SERVICES WEBSITE that also updates the list with additions from radio stations throughout the country. The Stations will continue to actively seek out new sources. The Stations encourage organizations, which distribute employment information or refer prospective candidates, to contact us so that they may be placed on our mailing list to receive notification of future vacancies. The stations have been broadcasting 10-second on air announcements in rotating dayparts inviting interested organizations to be added to our mailing lists. Notices on the stations’ websites extend a similar invitation. Finally, the Stations have run prominent print ads in the Kenosha News, Waukegan News Sun, The Daily Herald and the Northwest Herald, major area newspapers and on ALLACCESS.com seeking to further disseminate information about job openings to as wide a circle as possible.
RECORD KEEPING
In compliance with the EEO record keeping requirements, the Stations create a file for each position to be filled. The file contains copies of the job listing for all sources used to recruit interviewees for the position. The Stations’ procedures require approval by the Stations’ General Manager and applicable Department head prior to extending a job offer. In addition, the Stations will document their long-term recruitment initiatives. These files will include the nature and date of each activity, the scope of the Stations’ participation and the names or titles of the Stations’ personnel involved.
LONG-TERM RECRUITMENT MEASURES
The Stations participate in long-term recruitment measures both individually and as a group. Every year, the Stations participate in several community Job Fairs including the recent Illinois Broadcasters’ Job Fair held at their annual convention we also participated in a Job Fair at the Kenosha, Wisconsin Job Center and a Job Fair at the Illinois Center for Broadcasting. Each property also hosted their second annual in house Job Fair in July of 2005. Although we could not attend because of the distance we also promoted this year’s Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Job Fair at their annual meeting.
Each of the stations also held an on site NextMedia Job Fair at the end of July 2005. We sponsored and paid for the entire fair. We advertised in local newspapers and on each of our radio stations. We had over 30 potential employees stop by to drop off resumes at each location.
Each of the Stations has established a college Internship Program designed to assist qualified students in acquiring skills needed for employment in the broadcast industry. This also allows students to receive college credit. The average collage internship is three to four months in duration depending on the needs of the student and the requirements of the college. The stations are in frequent contact with area colleges and the Illinois School of Broadcasting to promote these internships. The goal of the Internship Program is to provide students with hands-on experience within their field of choice by exposing students to real-life situations and day-to-day duties and responsibilities encountered by professionals in the radio industry. The Stations strive to teach interns how the world of radio works and to provide them with valuable experience that will help them pursue a career in broadcasting. An intern’s duties range from helping out at promotional events to assisting at on-air remotes and various sales and promotions related duties.
Our Crystal Lake property has an annual Internship Scholarship. The top intern during each summer session receives a $1000 scholarship fully funded by the Stations.
The Kenosha property participated in an Externship Program that allows area teachers to try their hand at other careers. This year’s externs helped us build the music database for a format change on AM 1050 WLIP.
The radio stations promoted this year’s Wisconsin Broadcasters Internship Program with on air announcements.
The Stations participate in the Wisconsin Broadcasters Scholarship Program. We donate money to the fund and the General Manager was on the panel that reviewed all of the applications and made recommendations on who should receive the scholarship. We will continue to participate in this program.
The stations hosted two Scout Days during which area scouts and their families were given tours of the stations, a description of the jobs available in broadcasting and were able to ask questions about careers in broadcasting.
On May 5th 2005 we participated in a Burlington High School Job Shadow Program at our Kenosha location during which a student spent two days (a total of eight hours) shadowing our John Perry, Program Director and Dan Hanni, Production Manager. This student has shown an interest in pursuing a career in broadcasting.
Stew Cohen spent a day with students who shadowed him as he collected and broadcast the news on Star 105.5. One was on April 7th 2005. He received nice notes of thanks from the students who participated.
Russ Wilkes and Stew Cohen attended a Wauconda High School Job Fair on February 18th 2005. They discussed radio careers with students.
Nanette Lanfear, Patti Banner and Bobby Knight attended a career day at Algonquin Middle School on April 15th 2005.
Tom Kief, Duco Hasert and John Perry, three WIIL air staff made a trip to Burlington High School to answer broadcast career related questions. The visit was the topic of a newspaper article on broadcast careers.
Chris Williams (Waukegan Production) and Frank Wright (Waukegan air personality) participated in a Job Shadow Program with Warren Township Highshool on March 21st 2005.
NextMedia is dedicated to training staff so that they can grow in their radio career. We have paid for and hosted the RAB Sales Training in June of 2005 and Radio in 2005 in July of 2005. We also hosted Radio in the 21st Century for all sales and programming staff in July of 2005. We also have ongoing aircheck sessions (minimum of one per month) with all full-time airstaff. The Sales Managers hold once weekly training meetings with the full staff and individuals. In Spring of 2005 we held our first annual News Training Conference in Schaumburg, Illinois. All news staff participated. We held our first annual Programming Training Conference for all Chicago Area Programming Staff. This training was led by nationally knows consultant Lorna Ozmond.
We promote on air that organizations who would like to be notified of job openings can be added to the list of people who receive notifications.
6/1/05 – 6/14/05 SPECIFIC POSITIONS FILLED
During the reporting time August 1st 2004 to July 31st 2005 the employment unit hired 23 people for full-time positions. We let several postings expire with no hires because we did not find the best person for the job. We then posted again for similar positions.
1 - In September of 2004 we recruited for Marketing Consultants for WIIL. We did not find a candidate that was qualified and did not hire from that posting.
2 - In September of 2004 we also recruited and hired a full time Sales Assistant for the Kenosha office. After interviewing numerous people from on air ads and newspaper ads Cassie Clark came to work for us on October 11th 2004.
3 - In August of 2004 our Chief Engineer resigned and we started recruiting for a new one. We promoted the job in newspaper and on broadcastjobs.net a place where engineers from throughout the country visit. After interviewing several people and flying two in to see the sites we settled on a gentleman we interviewed for our last engineering opening. Mark Anthony came to work for us in November 2004.
4 - In October of 2004 we began recruiting for a Promotions Director for our Crystal Lake properties. We promoted the job online and in the newspaper. We interviewed six people. In January of 2005 we hired Karen Kasi who is also a teacher at the Illinois School of Broadcasting. Not only is she a great promotion’s director, but she helps us tremendously with our internship programs. She started part-time and we hired a full time assistant instead.
In September 2004 we hired Bobby Knight to replace our current Program Director. We promoted the job through ads in the trade magazines, newspaper and recommendations from staff.
In October 2004 our Production Director in Crystal Lake gave notice and we promoted the job online and in the newspapers. We interviewed three talented individuals after reviewing tapes and resumes and hired Joe Kryc in November of 2004
In January of 2005 we recruited and hired Kathy Kruse as receptionist in Crystal Lake. We had many responses from the Northwest Herald and we also promoted the position on air.
In December 2004 we began promoting for a senior Account Executive for Star 105.5 in Crystal Lake. We used the radio station, newspaper and internal postings. We hired Anthony Myatt in February of 2005.
In September we started promoting for an Account Executive for WWYW. We hired Michael Casper in November of 2004. The best response we received for this job was from the radio station ads.
In December of 2004 our WEXT Sales Manager resigned and we promoted the job online, and in a national magazine. After receiving many resumes and doing 13 phone and face to face interviews we hired internally. Nikki Zimmer was one of our top reps on WEXT. After filling in for a month or so she took over the management position in February of 2005.
When we hired our current Star and Y 103 Traffic Manager as Co-Host on WEXT (internal promotion) it opened up the Traffic Manager position. We posted the job in the Northwest Herald and Illinois Small College Placement Association website. We interviewed 20 candidates and hired Paige McCory on March 10th 2005
Morning Show Co-Host on WWYW
We used temporary firms to recruit and hire our full time Business Manager for all seven stations. We used three temporary firms to assist us in recruiting for this important position. We did many phone interviews from the corporate office and met locally with four candidates. We hired Shantel Allen in June of 2005.
We have ongoing recruitment for Account Executives/Sales Executives/Marketing Consultants. The Sales Managers use different names for the same position. We promoted the jobs in newspaper and on our own radio stations throughout this employment period. This is an ongoing effort. Since August 1st 2004 we have hired Ron Adair for WIIL, Scott DeHann for WXLC, Anthony Myatt and Tami Zukowski and George McReynolds for Star 105.5, Rick Kartz and Ken Franz, Sarah Hagg, Wally Rank and Heidi Duesling for WEXT. We may hire two more people for WIIL before the end of July, but it is likely that they will be hired early August 2005.
After just working as WEXT Sales Manager for a couple of months, Nikki Zimmer resigned. We promoted the job on air and in the newspapers and interviewed five people for the position. We hired an internal candidate who had been filling in on the job for a couple of months. Penny DeCheck will begin officially on August first 2005.
The Creative Director position with DreamMakers is a tremendously specific job and we were replacing a current staff member. We promoted the position with Production Job listings in the newspaper. We were fortunate to be able to recruit and hire Jason Skaggs for the position. He will take over as Production Director and will move into the DreamMakers Director’s job when our current director leaves in two months. We will actually end up with one fewer job than we had previously in this department. We may take the staff back up to two people later in 2005 or early 2006 if billings increase enough to permit it.
We currently have an opening for a Talk Show Host for WLIP. We have promoted the position online and will place a newspaper ad as well. It is not likely that this position will be filled by August first.
We currently also have an opening for Morning Show Co-Host on WZSR. We have been promoting the opening in newspaper and online industry listings. We hope to make a hire within the next couple of weeks.
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