The Community, Connections & Commerce Podcast, presented by OUE & St. Clairsville Chamber - Community, Connections, & Commerce Episode 21 with Sam from The Bloomdaddy Experience

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

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Good day, Drake. It is a good day and we are joined by a good guest. Yes, we are. Good morning. Good morning, Sam. I get to talk. You do get to talk. You're also behind glass, but that's all right. You're doing... They keep me caged up. Somebody's got to hit record and cut out all the bad things we said. Doing double duty today. This is weird. I know. This is really weird for me. It is weird for me, too. To be on the other side of the questions.

Before we start, did you see the fog on the way into Wheeling this morning? I did. Yeah. I thought it looked pretty neat. Yes. So where I live, it is always foggy. It's down in a valley. Until like when I'm hitting St. Clairsville and I drive and I go up on that hill.

It is breathtaking. From the fog to the light or to the sunshine. Oh, it's gorgeous. Yeah. Sea to shining sea. It has a spooky season feel to it. I know it's not Halloween time for the listener, but rumor has it that it might be for us. So I thought it was quite fitting this morning.

Anyway, Sam, tell us about who you are, first of all. Oh, gosh. Who am I? No, I am the co-host of The Morning Show on WWVA. And I have been doing that for a little over a year now. Prior to that I was the co-host on a one-hour show on WWVA but got the bump up to the morning show so and I am born and raised here in the Ohio Valley so when I talk about this is my hometown backyard, it's the honest to God's truth. The furthest I lived away from where I grew up was Wheeling. So how long

have you been in radio? I have been in radio, let's see, going on 24 years. prior to the on-air side of my job I have had the privilege for over 20 years to work directly with local businesses on their marketing so I am the senior marketing consultant here at iHeart and I have done that since I stepped foot out of college. So I kind of do both sides of the business. I do the marketing and working with local businesses, helping them build campaigns, strategies to build their customer base. And then I also do the on-air stuff, which is fairly new in my career compared to the sales side of what I do. So I kind of touch both sides of the business. How did each of those get started for you?

If you could detail if it was something you'd always wanted to do or if there was a realization that made you say, I want to get into marketing. And then subsequently, what made you want to get behind the microphone? Not in any way, shape or form did I want to get behind the microphone? Not not not in any way, shape or form. Did I want to get into sales? So so I went to West Liberty. And when I went to West Lib, my and this was when it was still a state college. FYI, they will not give you a university diploma if you ask for it since they changed their.

Yeah. So ask for that. Didn't get it. so state college is where I went but anyways I digress um when I went to college what my dream job was if you've ever been to a pro sports football stadium me it's the Cleveland Browns I wanted to be the person that edited and brought together the videos on the jumbotron that got the crowd pumped. So I wanted to get into the archive footage of players like Jim Brown, Bernie Kosar, Webster Slaughter, all of those football players, Brian Seip, and build hype videos to play in the stadium.

That was my dream job. Wow. Creative media. Yeah. Didn't happen. So when I was in college, my first senior year, because I had two,

I started working full time for a gentleman who had a local ad agency. While I was working for him, he purchased the rights to be the affiliate for the network, the CW. Oh, at the time it was called the WB. So that was during the time of Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Drake, you're probably too young. But so while that when he did that, I was his only other employee. So of course,

if you work in radio or TV to to make a profit, you have to sell the ads. So he came to me and said, Do you have any interest in selling the advertising? I said, Sure. It was 20. I didn't know what I was doing. So I built sales packages and I got in my car and I started knocking on doors. And that's kind of how it started. And then when I graduated, there were certain things that I asked for that were not available so I had to start looking elsewhere for a job and one of my the first person that I ever sold sold advertising to was Bernie Kaufman oh my gosh and he uh Kaufman's of Wheeling the dress shop he uh he I loved I loved Bernie absolutely adored Bernie and I told him the circumstance and he grabbed me by the hand, walked me out the front doors of Kaufman's a wheeling, walked me right across the street to the Capitol into here and said, you need to hire this girl. And that's how I ended up here at the radio stations. And I had they haven't gotten rid of me yet no way yep yep Bernie Kaufman my first my first sale ever

yep he you know he was a polarizing figure but I I adored Bernie I adored Bernie he was he was wonderful to me that that's my experience so yeah he walked me in here and and and that's how I got my start oh my gosh I didn't even even know that. So that's a good story and example of not quite knowing or not quite having a path of what you want to be doing in school. And then something kind of falling in your lap or you stumbling into something that, you know, you didn't think about much beforehand. And then here you are. No, I wanted to. Yeah, I wanted to be in the production side of things. And this just happened. And I still remember when when I told my parents that I was going to be getting into sales and, you know, literally you walk me off the mic, I'm quiet. I'm shy in unfamiliar circumstances.

I'm the person at a gathering that's probably going to stay very away from crowds. So when I told her what I was getting into, both my parents, they never thought in a million years ever that I would do something like that. And somehow I've been okay at it, I guess. You've been successful at it. So Bernie knew something and saw something in you in order for him to bring you over here. So what do you think makes a good salesperson? Honesty. Plain salesperson? Honesty. Plain and simple. Honesty. I agree. Honesty and integrity, which kind of go hand in hand. Because

you know, when you're in small town USA, like we are, everybody knows everybody. And that's good and bad. But when you do what I do, you have to, they're entrusting, this is what I always tell all new sales reps that come in here. They're entrusting you with their money. And whether it's $500 or $5, however you want to phrase it, you have to know, they have to know that they can trust you on what you're putting in front of them. Because, you know, you can't just take a package per se. That's a go-to word in my industry we have a package we have a package that's great you have a package that does not mean that package is going to work for a bank and then it's also going to work for a car dealership and then it's also going

to work for a restaurant so just because somebody brings you a package and it's really low prices doesn't mean it's the best thing for your business. So that's why when you propose something to a business owner, they've got to know you've put time, thought and effort behind what you're putting in front of them. And you're asking them to spend their money on. It's not something you're selling to everybody else. It's designed specifically for them. And that comes back to you as a salesperson, your honesty and your integrity. That's the way I've always approached it.

Well, and then you stand behind that package. So I'm sure if a company bought a particular package and it wasn't working for them, it gives the entire industry a bad name. Because I don't need other people in radio just outselling something just to sell it. Okay. Because they need to hit a budget or whatever the reason would be. Because if it doesn't work for a business owner,

they're not going to say such and such radio station didn't work for me. They're going to say radio did not work for me. Right. And that hurts all of us. It does. You're right. I think we've touched on two key things so far. Going back to Bernie, that just speaks to how important connections are

and you developing that connection. And he was able to walk you into your current job. And then community, you talked about the small town aspect and how important it is for you to be truthful and honest with what you do because you know that if you treat one person, whether on purpose or not, you know, if you give one person a bad experience, well, the guy down the street knows that too now. Yeah, absolutely.

And so does the guy, you know, down the block. And it spreads like wildfire. Sure. You do something bad, it spreads like crazy. You do one thing good, you know, down the block. And it spreads like wildfire. Sure. You do something bad, it spreads like crazy. You do one thing good, you don't hear. You might hear a whisper about it. Yeah, maybe. Yeah.

Yeah. So you are so involved in the community. Not only is this your backyard, you grew up here, so you kind of know the in and outs of the Ohio Valley, but you're really involved in the community. So why is that important to you and why is that important for others following you? Well, it's kind of twofold. It's hit me two different ways. So when I first got into this industry, it was very I was very tunnel vision.

And I got asked to visit an organization called BNI and I was real hesitant about it. But I did it. I ended up joining and I was in it for, oh, God, eight years, nine years until I got the morning show gig because of time situations. But what it did, it opened up my eyes to the referrals and the connections and learning from other people in other industries, whether it was a realtor or a mortgage lender or a construction guy or a roofing guy. That's what was so great about BNI. It was one person per type of industry. So I was able to have conversations with a realtor who's still doing sales, just selling a different product. It also made me stand up and talk in front of people. So you would stand up once a week

and you'd do a 60 second little mantra on your, you know, so I could say something like, you know, you know what time it is. It's football season. We've got high school football coming up. We've got Steelers football. And just mention what's going on within your business. So it made me speak for 60 seconds every week, stand up in front of a group of people. Like a live ad read. Yes, basically. And then every so often you would have a 10 minute um uh presentation and then that made me stand in front of a podium so it pulled me out if you remember me saying i mentioned how you know i'm the person in the group that's going to stand against the wall

that organization pulled me out of that shell it it, it made me more comfortable speaking in front of people. I'm still not great at it, but it made me more comfortable. So that pulled me out and then it made connections for me. That's how I got involved in the St. Clairsville Chamber. That's how I got involved in multiple things. And once you make that one connection, it just, it just vines out in ways that you can never expect that's how I got involved in Rotary in St. Clairsville so it has been beneficial to me in in my career but it's also that networking and those connections have actually they've also been beneficial in my personal life because it's opened the door to so many my business my world

is very male oriented that radio is a heavy male business it opened my world to other professional females that I have learned from built connections with friendships with which has become personal so it's been like I said it's been a a two sided, two sided thing when you're surrounded. No offense, Blake, but when you're in a male dominated industry, you tend to. Overlook or lose a bit of your your feminine side in a way. And that, it brought me back to, you know, there's professional females everywhere. So it opened the doors to many things, many things.

I don't know who Blake is, but I'm sure he thought that was a really good point. God. No offense, but I don't know your name is what I heard. I'm so sorry. Oh, no, that's fine. All good. But it was a very good point, though. And I a you make a strong point in what you just said um but I do want to shift

gears a little bit and talk about uh your beginnings in getting behind the microphone and then also the kind of change of how and I'm not sure how long ago that was but the the shift in in technology and what you've seen as far as and this could even apply to what you do in terms of sales because of social media and everything like that I think the world is quite different now that it was even 10-15 years ago and I'm sure you could speak to that a little bit as well oh absolutely when I was in college in radio and tv we did deck-to-deck editing um we did not have what I'm looking at in front of me right now. The radio station at West Liberty, when I went there, I had the morning shift.

It started at 5, I believe. I literally walked to the top of the union, and to turn the radio station on, I plugged it in, into the wall. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it was a power strip. So, yes, has technology changed? Absolutely. We used carts. That's how we played music was with carts and record players.

So yes, it has changed drastically from my on-air side. Then on my sales side, when I started this, I used to have to pick up cassette tapes of commercials and then bring them back here. So yes, technology has advanced tremendously and it has made our lives easier. The other side of it is we had, we now do digital advertising. I, you know, I sell that too.

So I am at heart a radio person, but now I have such an immense playbook of offerings for clients that I can be your one-stop shop for your marketing needs, digital and radio and TV. So it has grown. The expanse and growth is overwhelming. Wow. So you have to know the whole industry. Yes. From top to bottom. Pretty much. That's a valuable asset. I'm sure that helps you out. Absolutely. Pretty much. That's a valuable asset, though. Side to side. I'm sure that helps you out incredibly. You try. There's only, I will say this, there's only so much space up here. She's pointing to her head for the listener. Yes.

By the way, yes. You would think I'd do this for a living. But you asked about how I got started on the air. So years ago, I was on Eagle 107. I was on Friday afternoons with Chad Tyson, if anybody remembers that name, and was part of the road crew. And I was kind of the female comic side. You know, the two guys would pick on me and that kind of thing. And we would do stupid stunts like the one i remember the most is um during easter how many peeps can you fit in your mouth

at once i won who does that we do that's my business but i think i think i had 18, I think was my winning number. Oh, wow. They were blue, FYI. They were blue. This is getting quite specific. Yes. So started off with that, took a break for a while. And then probably about seven years ago now, seven or eight years ago, Bloom Daddy, who was the morning show host on WWVA,

asked me to come on every Friday morning. And same kind of concept. I was the female point of view on things. I'm a Browns fan. So they, of course, use that as comic relief, too. It's quite comical. Yes. So that developed.

And we did that. I did that for four or five years. Got the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. with him for a couple things. And then he made his move to Cleveland. And then he and I started doing a one hour show called the BS Hour, Bloom Daddy and Sam. And then Otis and I and Bloom Daddy now do the Bloom Daddy experience seven to nine live on WWVA.

So it's kind of been a roller coaster of different things, but it's been a little bit of airtime, a little bit more of airtime. Hey, we kind of like this girl, I guess. And then. And throughout all that time you're learning the ins and outs yeah and you're improving as you go what what kind of from seven

to nine i guess nowadays what does a show what does a morning show look like or sound like i should say well um it depends on what's going on in the world so you talk about like world events oh absolutely um i recently got to go to the republican national convention and cover that um but again it depends on what's happening during the day so wwva is is conservative talk radio so it's it can be highly political um so we'll hit the hot uh the hot topics of the day nationally local topics. If you remember or saw the story about Roxby Industries and the embezzlement and the fraud and that whole story, Bloom Daddy and I actually broke that story on the BS hour before the morning show that I'm currently on. So that was kind of my first really big getting to a story before anybody else yeah breaking it and that gentleman now is

up with the fbi and that whole situation but that was one of my first big moments that i was really proud of and so trying to follow along those lines and that's our our goal with the morning show now is to bring local stories to the forefront before anybody else does or they're not willing to talk about yeah we're willing to talk about and get into the and we have fun we have fun too i guess on fridays my next question yeah it has to be fun you have to have fun otherwise you'd go insane yeah today we were talking about this morning we were talking about the best horror movies of all time so So it's keeping a balance. Right. I spoke to you guys about the fog this morning so that it didn't seem so uptight.

Right. uh, in your, your beginning with sales and how that plays into what you try to emulate on air these days, because you don't want to tell a story that's not true. You don't want to, you don't want to do anything to anybody, uh, verbally that would, that would harm them in any way. And so you have to, I'm sure practice and do a lot of digging and make sure that what you have is right. Yeah. Oh yes. You have to. So if somebody reaches out to you and to, I'm sure, practice and do a lot of digging and make sure that what you have is right. Yeah. Oh, yes, you have to. So if somebody reaches out to you and says, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. OK, you can't just take that for for fact. Right. You have to get other people that have the exact same story. You have to back that up because we get anonymous tips and we you know, so we we do not go to air with anything unless it's from an absolute validated, trusted source. So you have to do your digging on that. And right now in the day and age that we live in, and I don't want to take it dark.

Journalism is under attack and people are incredibly skeptical of what they see from the media. And I'm not just talking politically. It doesn't matter what side you're on. So our goal is to provide the facts and the information. And then if we continue to talk about it, then that would be our opinion on things. And that's where a lot of confusion is, I think, with a lot of viewers when it comes to the news. Because we've created a 24-hour news cycle,

they have to fill that, right? Right. Well, now opinion-based stories are being presented as factual. Yeah, or at least interpreted as such. Correct, correct. And these people are now personalities because it's entertaining correct and i think i just i just read a whole thing about this this

is really going off the rails a little bit but i believe it was president reagan that lifted a regulation on the media industry that stopped forcing them to be i guess non-partisan if that's the correct term. And so because obviously Reagan was in was in favor of less regulation across the board. And so when that happened, the media then realized, well, we can take this in a bunch of different ways and we don't have to just report on candidate A says this. Candidate B says this. We can now do what we want to in terms of what we think will pull in a viewer. Well, and they can interpret it. They can interpret or give their opinion on candidate A or candidate B. But the way they present it to the public.

It still has news label. Correct. So it comes off as factual news reporting, but when it's actually opinion. So I always revert back to like Andy Rooney at the the end of 60 minutes everybody loved andy rooney right that was like what you watch the end of 60 minutes for andy rooney was opinion so what we have now in a lot of media coverage is dozens of andy rooney's and the general consumer when they turn it, they don't they just they if they're turning on a news channel, whether it's CNN, Fox, MSN, whatever. As far as they're concerned in their mind, they're turning on a news channel. Right.

They don't realize that a lot of what they're getting is opinion. Yes. Yes. So with our morning show, we give you our opinions on a lot of different subjects, whether it be politically national, whether it be local. But we also carry that with factual information behind what our opinions are. And you separate the news. Right. Correct. And that's where you do your deep digging. And I know you said you get anonymous reports or whatever.

And I'm sure if there was something that wasn't anonymous, I don't know if there is any. But, you know, because of the small community aspect, you know, this person has a tendency to overblow things or say things that aren't necessarily true. So you have the benefit, again, of being in a small community where everybody kind of knows everybody. And just real quick, social media has opened that up tremendously for the good and the bad oh yeah and you are really good at you love investigative reporting i like yes i know you do so i was trying to get some information this morning from somebody and it's really good because that goes hand in hand with what you do. And that's why that integrity and that trust level is, is top notch with when it comes to you. Because I know that's something that you're very, very, very passionate about. And to get the

correct information. Now you do have opinions, right or wrong. I mean mean whichever way it goes I have a lot of opinions yeah but I like that fact that you will give them the listeners this is the facts well and that's one of the things when I took this on full time that bloom daddy told me I my mentor I guess you would say is people are going to love you and they're going to hate you. So be prepared for not everybody's going to love you all the time. And I went into this knowing that. One of the other things that I'm proud about getting the opportunity to do this is if you think about talk radio or again, or if you think about radio in general, it's very male driven and starting this in January of this year I knew this year was going to be an absolutely polarizing political season and we're seeing it we are seeing things this year that we have never seen in the history of this country right and I was

proud that they gave me the opportunity because a lot of the subject matter politically right now are female topics. And we can talk about women's rights, we can talk about abortion, we can talk about the the men pretending to be women in sports, all of those subjects, but they're all female talking points. They affect us the most. And we do not have a lot of women who have had the opportunity or are willing to put themselves out there and talk about these topics. Listen, I get it. Men have viewpoints on these topics, too. I get all of that. But we here in the Ohio Valley have not had a woman on the radio giving her point of view on female topics true yeah so it's it's that's one of

the biggest things i'm proud about getting the opportunity to do this i think and just to clarify i think you you're meeting when you said january in this season 2024 correct because this i just again i'm remembering this will air in january sorry yes yes it escapes me all the time as well. Yes. I've got one year under my belt. Let's put it that way. And before we wrap this up, I'd also like to mention that I think what's interesting about what we were talking about just a few moments ago is that's where I think local and you're going to love this local radio and news is so important because you don't

see all that. You don't have on air personalities. You don't have these entertaining show. they tell you what you need to know and i can turn on news nine news seven local radio when i want to know what events are happening in barnesville what's going on in moundsville and then when i want to think or when i want to pay attention to something nationally i struggle with which news source to go to exactly because I don't know how they're going to spin it. Just tell me what I need to know. Well, and the other side of that is if you tune into a show like ours, it's a local show

with local topics. But when we talk about the national topics, we are talking about national topics from our point of view and we are your neighbors. Yeah. So it's not our. Our voice, essentially. Correct. You're not hearing the opinions on a national topic by somebody who lives in California. Sure.

Who lives in a completely different world than you and I do. So there's that local connection to it also. Because, for example, the coal industry. Hot button topic. Has been my entire life. I'm a proud daughter and wife of a coal miner so the industry that i was raised in financially supported by and also now am married to one and financially supported by has always been under attack right so it's something that

is a national topic but i can talk about it from living it. Right. You know, those people on Fox News or CNN, nine times out of 10, they've not lived that lifestyle. Right. They can't talk about it. So that's where it ties in locally. So. Well, I think that's a very productive conversation.

If there's anything you two would like. That's an abrupt ending. We've got a little time crunch here. You're done with me,'re done you're done you're out i've heard enough no i i love it i love how you're connected to the community and you always have been but i think you're more immersed now in the community than ever since for this last year because i love it when i when we're out together and I see something that you see, then you're like, oh, I got to get that person. I got to get that name.

I got, I got, I got, let me talk to that person because they've got a story. And that's what's. Yeah. I walk right up to them now. You do. You do. And then they duck and weave and try to get away from it.

That they don't. No, they don't. Well, we thought we've touched a lot on a lot of community and a lot of connections. And this has been Community Connections and Commerce. If you have any feedback or suggestions or want to reach out to us, you can reach us by email at ouepodcast at ohio.edu. And thanks for listening.