Originally published on January 16, 2009

Patrick Walsh

Emmis Communications
COO/CFO

Emmis Communications COO/CFO gets a charge out of building from the ground up

With a strong financial background and a keen interest in building brands and businesses, Pat Walsh seems to be sitting in the right seat at the right time. Last month he added the responsibility of COO for Emmis Communications to his role as CFO for the company.

Beginning your career: When I graduated from Michigan I went to work at Deloitte & Touche. My big client there was General Motors. After several years in the accounting world I decided that's not what I wanted to make a career of, so I went to work at GM and spent five years working in a variety of finance, accounting and marketing functions before I went back to grad school. Then I spent four years at McKinsey & Co., where I worked with a number of large companies on growth initiatives and new strategies for business development. After traveling all around the world, my wife and I had our first child and I decided I didn't want to be out of town 200 or 250 days a year. That's when I hooked up with McKinsey alum Bob Strubel at iBiquity. I went to work with Bob to help build out the HD radio platform.

Joining Emmis: While I was with iBiquity I got to know everyone in the radio industry and formed a relationship with [president of radio programming] Rick Cummings and [CEO] Jeff Smulyan and the team at Emmis. When [former Emmis CFO] Walter Berger moved to CBS Radio they introduced this opportunity to me. I commuted back and forth to Maryland for the better part of a year, but I started at Emmis in September 2006 and my family and I have been in Indianapolis for almost a year now.

On your recent promotion: It's something Rick, Jeff and I have been working on for a couple of months. With some of the challenges facing the radio division and Rick's skills on the product side and the knowledge he's developed with PPM over the past year or so, we thought it might be a good division of resources as we work through this challenging period. Rick is now very much focused on the product and PPM side, particularly how it pertains to some of our larger brands, and I am taking a fresh look at how we're managing the rest of the radio business. It's bringing some of the perspective I've had working with a variety of clients in my past to help build new and innovative ways to look at to our business.

Long-term goals: Like everyone else, [we're asking], "How do we compete effectively in an environment where the economy is under duress and ad dollars are mistakenly being moved online or they continue to reside in media like newspapers or television?" We're focused on how we manage this business to get to those huge opportunities coming in the next three, five, seven, 10 years. In the near term, it's managing our cost base effectively—trying to do the absolute best to sell our premium brands to advertisers.

Where you see HD: It's part of a longer-term value proposition for radio. For a long time we've had one channel to deliver our content and to extend our brands. Now we're selling not just our over-the-air content but our interactive online platform, mobile capabilities, streaming. As wireless technology extends and broadband becomes more pervasive into people's homes, there are lots of opportunities to take these brands that mean so much to so many people and monetize them. I think HD is part of that. It allows us to continue to develop content and deliver it in multiple ways. It's taken us 15 years in the HD television revolution to get to the point where half of the TV sets are HD-capable, and that's going to race to 100% with the mandate to change over [from analog] in February. We're still early in the game and we're just crossing a million HD receivers. People have to be patient. It's part of the equation and not the entire answer all by itself.

Biggest challenge: I feel like I'm drinking out of a fire hose right now; there's an awful lot to learn. After two years sitting in the CFO chair I thought I learned enough about the radio business to be conversant, but now working with Rick and our market managers, I realize there's a lot more to learn. The biggest challenge is getting up to speed with everything going on; the various challenges we face on individual stations and setting our operating budgets for what might be the most challenging period radio has faced. Then making sure we're investing in the area of the business that will yield long-term value—and that we're not so near-term-focused that we are hurting the business' long-term capabilities.

State of radio: Spot business in particular has its challenges, but part of it has been self-inflicted. The industry has allowed itself to some degree to be repositioned and is viewed by too many people as being yesterday's news. There aren't many media—or frankly anything in American life—that 93% of us, or 260 million people, actively participate in. The efforts the NAB, RAB and others are making toward rebranding radio are critical and really position our programmers and salespeople to be much more effective. "Radio 2020" and the "Radio Heard Here" effort are important steps to rebuild a bit of perspective on this business I think has been lost.

Career highlight: They all relate to building new things: I was hired at General Motors to build a department that didn't exist. I was promoted to build a new function that didn't exist at McKenzie. I helped several clients build Internet or other growth businesses. I was one of the first employees at iBiquity and helped build that business. I get a charge out of extending people's brands or building new business opportunities and there's a unique chance at Emmis to do exactly the same thing.

Advice for broadcasters: We're going to make it through these next challenging six to 12 months and be more vibrant than ever. There is a shakeout coming in local media, and radio is going to be a winner. Newspapers, directories and TV are not going to win, and those dollars have to go somewhere.

Liner Notes
Profile: Patrick Walsh
Title: Emmis Communications COO/CFO
Favorite radio format: Rock and Rhythmic R&B
Favorite TV show: "24"
Favorite song: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2
Favorite movie: "The Shawshank Redemption"
Favorite book: "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
Favorite website: "For news it's cnn.com and for fun it's theonion.com."
Favorite restaurant: Hammersley's Bistro in Boston
Beverage of choice: Grey Goose and tonic
Hobbies: "I love all sports; I'm deeply passionate about the Michigan Wolverines. I like to play golf, read, the stock market—although not so much these past few months—music and the theater."
E-mail address: pwalsh@emmis.com

'Rick Cummings is now very much focused on the product and PPM side, particularly how it pertains to some of our larger brands, and I am taking a fresh look at how we're managing the rest of the radio business.' —Patrick Walsh