Kelly Sutton, '92, is the first female general manager in the history of WJPZ. And, like many of us, the station launched her into a prolific media career.
This Buffalo native went to Syracuse, in part, because of the opportunity to double major in both Newhouse and business. And when a local radio owner back home promised a summer job, she knew she needed experience. By the spring, she found Z89, and folks like Scott Meach, Hal Rood, Dave Gorab, Dave Roberts, Dave Morgan, and more.
Despite doing an overnight shift, she knew she wanted to work off-air, and she worked her way up to promotions director, and also doing sales (there was a commission structure in place at the time). Kelly was encouraged to run for General Manager, which she did, and won. While she didn't see it as a big deal at the time, she's certainly proud of the legacy of strong female leaders at the station since.
After Syracuse, Kelly returned home to Buffalo where she worked in various sales and management roles. Soon, she got her "major market" opportunity to head east to Boston. She relied on the advice of some lifelong JPZ friends to make the move, and the first person she met at CBS Boston also had JPZ roots. The conversation starter of "where did you go to school" was the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Julie Bruno.
After a succesful run at Boston's rock station WBCN, she was recruited to head over to then-Entercom, and sports station WEEI. We spend some time on what the sales side of sports radio looks like. Do wins and losses matter? What happens when a personality crosses the line? Or an advertiser THINKS they did, but got bad information?
The radio industry is tough, and Kelly prefers to be in the sales side over the management side - through COVID, corporate mergers. and more. (The Entercom/CBS merger in Boston was so complicated, the DOJ took Kelly's laptop at one point!) We talk about what it takes to be successful today in radio, from both an an on and off-air perspective.
We close the conversation by getting very personal. Kelly has a special needs son, Devin. When she moved to Boston she was a single Mom, and certainly had a lot on her plate. That first encounter with Julie Bruno resulted in a piece of advice from Julie that Kelly says changed her life. It's one of our favoirite JPZ'er-helping-JPZ'er stories yet. You'll hear about that today, as well as the inspirational young man Devin is, as well as Kelly's other son, Brady.
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
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