For most of the 1990s, this individual served as VP/GM of WSCR-AM in Chicago — a station that had two homes before ending up on the former WMAQ-AM — a move that changed the dynamic of Sports radio across the Midwest.
Today, GeoBroadcast Solutions believes this seasoned radio station manager can win it new clients for its MaxxCasting and ZoneCasting technologies.
Now serving as the Chicago-based Director of Sales Development and Marketing for GeoBroadcast Solutions is Harvey Wells.
He’ll be chiefly responsible for the continued roll-out of GeoBroadcast Solutions’ two technology-based services, which are used by stations seeking to boost their urban signal coverage for stations with transmitters outside of the central business district of a metropolitan area.
As RBR+TVBR reported on Feb. 21, Cumulus Media is the most recent company to deploy MaxxCasting, at its Worcester, Mass.-based WXLO-FM 104.5. This has helped in making the station a Boston-market facility, in Cumulus’ eyes.
MaxxCasting leverages Single Frequency Network (SFN) architectures to optimize a radio station’s signal strength within its FCC-allocated contour, allowing greater numbers of potential listeners and Nielsen Personal People Meter encoding.
ZoneCasting, which still awaits FCC approval, is designed to allow a radio station to divide its signal based on a market’s geography.
Think of addressable advertising on FM: ZoneCasting would allow a radio station on a single frequency to air different news, traffic, weather, public service announcements and advertisements based on where a listener is located.
Wells ran WSCR-AM “The Score” for 13 years, until 2004. He concurrently led Adult Alternative WXRT-FM in Chicago, starting in 1979, and in the early 2000s tacked on duties at CBS Radio’s WCKG-FM and WUSN-FM in Chicago. From 2004-2010 Wells was at Newsweb.
In 2011, Wells left Chicago for the Inland Empire of Southern California, taking on the role of SVP/Marketing Manager for CBS Radio’s Riverside-San Bernardino stations.
He returned to Chicago in fall 2015, but in November 2016 headed south to Springfield, Ill., taking the role of GM for five radio stations owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting, his most recent role.
Wells explains why he took the role at GeoBroadcast Solutions.
“I spent several months working with the GeoBroadcast Solutions team in the earliest development stages of MaxxCasting and ZoneCasting technology,” he said. “It’s amazing to see how far these products have come. MaxxCasting and ZoneCasting have the ability to literally change the relationship that radio stations have with their three major consumers:listeners, advertisers and the communities they serve. These technologies promise to be game-changers for our industry, and amplify the power of local radio for generations to come.”
GeoBroadcast Solutions CTO Bill Hieatt added, “With successful MaxxCasting deployments delivering real-world results and ZoneCasting in FCC approval, it was time to bring someone onboard with both experience and passion for both technologies. Several years ago, Harvey actually was involved in an early form of ZoneCasting in the Chicago area, but it took three radio stations to do it. Our new technology will allow a single radio station to do what it took Harvey three stations to do. He is the perfect person to help us build on MaxxCasting’s strong momentum, and officially launch ZoneCasting once approved.”
Editor’s Note: An early version of this story incorrectly noted that WSCR-AM was at 1000 kHz. This facility is home to Sports competitor WMVP-AM and is formerly WLUP-AM. We regret the error.
