iHeartMedia in Riverside and San Bernardino counties has named Ryan Lieberman as senior VP of sales for the region. He will report to Melissa Forrest, president of iHeartMedia San Diego and Riverside-San Bernardino.
iHeart said Lieberman will utilize his experience in marketing, advertising and digital marketing to lead the sales team in building existing partnerships and developing new ones. He also will work with client partners around the United States and in the San Diego region to create a comprehensive advertising footprint throughout Southern California.
Lieberman is a seasoned radio professional, having spent nearly two decades with CBS Radio in both Chicago and Los Angeles. During his tenure in LA, he oversaw sales at KAMP, KRTH, KTWV, and KCBS. For the past three years, he has served as market president for Townsquare Media in Tri-Cities, Washington.
“I am thrilled to return to Southern California as part of the iHeartMedia family by joining the Riverside team,” said Lieberman. “Having spent the better part of my career competing against iHeartMedia, and being envious of how their teams execute marketing solutions for their clients, I’m excited to lend my expertise to an already high-functioning team.”
“We look forward to having Ryan on board,” said Forrest. “His knowledge, leadership and passion will be a tremendous addition to the region and to our team.”
The iHeartMedia cluster in Riverside and San Bernardino includes five radio stations, including KGGI-FM 99.1 (top 40), KTMQ-FM Q103.3 (classic rock), KMYT-FM 94.5 (adult alternative), KPWK-AM Fox Sports 1350 (sports talk) and Black Information Network affiliate KFOO 1440-AM. KPWK owns the broadcast rights for the California Baptist University Lancers men’s basketball team.
Cordial Add Marketing Exec Emily Culp to its Board
San Diego-based Cordial, offering a cross-channel marketing platform for retail brands, has named retail and omni-channel marketing exec Emily Culp to its board of directors. Culp, with experience as a chief marketing officer, is the company’s first outside director, the company said.
Culp was named by Forbes Magazine to its list of “World’s Most Influential CMOs” in 2018, and by Business Insider as one of the “50 Most Innovative CMOs” in 2017. She recently served as chief executive officer for Cover FX Skincare and as CMO for Keds.
Cordial said Culp also sits on the boards of Mizzen & Main, Stio and Izzy Zero Waste Beauty. She has served the past seven years as an advisory board member for the Women in Retail Leadership Council. Culp earned a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University and a master’s in business administration from Columbia University.
“We are delighted to welcome Emily as our newest director to the Cordial board at such an exciting phase of growth,” said Jeremy Swift, co-founder and CEO of Cordial. “Emily brings a unique and valuable perspective from her tenure as a leader in retail and ecommerce, and we are incredibly excited and grateful to have an executive of her stature and esteem on our team.”
“I am thrilled to be joining Cordial as they continue to rapidly scale, and to leverage my experience to help the company’s roster of innovative brands tap into the full potential of the platform to create better messages for each individual consumer,” said Culp. “The Cordial platform truly blew me away with its ability to orchestrate omni-channel messaging, dynamic build-out of content, and focus on driving LTV. With Cordial, brands can reach the right audiences with personalized messages and as a result cultivate meaningful relationships which will drive value creation over the long term.”
Cordial assists clients with email marketing and mobile marketing. Clients include Revolve, L.L. Bean, Backcountry, Purple and Eddie Bauer.
KPBS Launches Redesigned Website
San Diego public-broadcasting station KPBS, an affiliate of PBS and National Public Radio, has launched a redesigned website that offers a more powerful search function and streamlined navigation features.
The station said its new website offers a digital publishing platform that increases efficiency and allows for faster and wider sharing of local news, information and entertainment. The website is based on a format designed by NPR that is tailored toward public media stations.
Among other new changes: A modern design that is mobile-friendly; Live radio streams for news and classical music are available in a persistent player delivery mode so users no longer need to keep open a pop-up window; A TV live stream is accessible from a “Watch Live” link. KPBS said some changes were based on feedback from the audience and staff members.
Website changes were prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing digital audience that was expanding at a faster rate than the broadcast channels, the station said. “We’ve known for a few years that we needed to upgrade our website’s technology and design,” a statement said. “The pandemic simply made it a more urgent necessity to do so in order to meet our community’s demand.”
KPBS is available on 89.5-FM on radio and Channel 15 on local cable TV.
PRSA to Host Panel with Journalists
The Public Relations Society of America San Diego-Imperial Counties Chapter will host an online “Meet the Media” webinar with four journalists from noon to 1 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 2.
The four journalists include: Julie Watson, Associated Press; Jonathan Wosen, The San Diego Union-Tribune; Susan Delos Santos, publisher, The Filipino Press; Gina Diamante, KPBS. Moderator will be Kim Coutts, PRSA board member. Discussion topics will include tips on pitching news stories and storytelling techniques in order to improve media relations and outreach.
Cost to attend the webinar is $5 for students, $10 for PRSA members and $15 for nonmembers. For more information, visit www.prsasdic.org.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.