A Traveling Man Stays Local

Chris Sehring, VP and GM for Clear Channel's powerhouse CBS affiliate WKRC Cincinnati, has honed his understanding of localism by traveling the world. During his 30-year career in local TV, Sehring has taken time out to hopscotch the globe, visiting such far-flung locales as Bhutan, Morocco and Peru. In each place, Sehring says, he has made a point of learning about local culture and values. He often travels solo and likes to take spontaneous bus trips to little-known towns.

Abroad or at home, Sehring says, he learns from the locals. “I like to get out into the community and listen. What are their needs? What are their issues?” Cincinnati is hardly exotic, but the city has its own local customs and priorities. Focusing on them is essential to WKRC's continuing success, Sehring says.

A Columbus, Ohio, native, Sehring grew up watching WBNS Columbus, the CBS affiliate that dominates central Ohio. It left a lasting impression. “WBNS is a model for how a good station operates,” Sehring says. “They are involved in the community, have great local programming and top-rated newscasts.”

WKRC is a similarly strong performer. It is the news leader in the market and ranks among the top five rated CBS stations anywhere in the country. In Cincinnati, CSI scores big ratings. and Survivor sizzles. Sehring says CBS' programming meshes well with Cincinnati's more traditional, family-oriented viewers.

The southern Ohio region, the 33rd-largest market in the country, is home to several Fortune 500 companies, including the Kroger supermarket chain, Federated department stores and Procter & Gamble, the city's most famous employer. Sehring never worked at Procter & Gamble (or as a “Proctoid,” as he refers to a P&G employee), but the consumer-products giant has shaped his views on business.

“They believe in getting return on investment and moving product,” Sehring says. That focus, he adds, applies to television, too. “Television is the most powerful medium,” he says. “When I meet with nonprofits and advertisers, I tell them the same thing: TV can win the hearts and minds of viewers.”

Sehring developed his ad-sales savvy as he moved around the country working for local stations, a common experience for local broadcast executives. After graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., Sehring worked at sales-rep firm Telerep and spent two years learning the TV-ad-sales ropes. But when the training program ended, Sehring headed to Europe to backpack, his first of many travel adventures. He came home enlightened but broke, and returned to Ohio to work as a salesman for WSYX Columbus.

From there, Sehring did stints at KPHO Phoenix, Meredith Broadcasting's former independent and now a CBS station, and KMGH Denver, a McGraw- Hill-owned ABC affiliate. At the two stations, he ventured beyond sales, learning about news, programming and promotion. When Clear Channel needed a station manager for WXXA, its Fox affiliate in Albany, N.Y., Sehring got his first shot at station management.

The travels have all been training for WKRC, where Sehring arrived in 1999 as director of sales. Within a year, he took over as VP/GM, after former WKRC chief Bill Moll was promoted to run the Clear Channel TV-station group. One of Sehring's early moves was rebranding WKRC, which is channel 12, as “Local 12,” a positioning Moll says was effective. “Viewers and advertisers know 'Local 12' is not an empty promise,” Moll says. “It is a thoughtful commitment to local service, to viewers, to advertisers and the community.”

As he does when visiting another country, Sehring studies the Cincinnati market closely, looking for trends and opportunities. That is how he hit on the idea for Nuestro Rincon, WKRC's weekly Spanish-language newscast. Two percent of Cincinnati residents are Hispanic, and the population is fast-growing. “Someone needed to serve that audience. As the local station, I wanted it to be us,” says Sehring. “Some viewers took jabs at us, but they missed the point. We are serving the community.” The station hired a bilingual anchor and several producers to work on the newscast. It is an example of Sehring's innovative spirit, Moll says: “Chris is the consummate local broadcaster.”

Another way for WKRC to connect with viewers, Sehring says, is to get out into the community. That priority spawned WKRC's “12 on Tour,” which sees the station's morning newscast broadcasting from smaller towns across the market.

With these efforts and others, WKRC can count on its eight sister Clear Channel radio stations for promotional support. But it can be challenging to manage, Sehring says. “You can pull in other mediums when it makes sense. That is when it is synergy.”

When the Cincinnati Zoo, which advertises on WKRC, was drumming up attention for a new dinosaur exhibit, it called on the station for help. Sehring organized a visit from Survivor star Rupert Boneham and recruited the station's Clear Channel radio compatriots to promote the event on-air. The event drew about 4,000 people.

Sehring is vigilant about maintaining WKRC's status and wary of complacency. “It is hard to stay No. 1,” he says. “There is a tendency to resist change, but I believe you have to change.”

Echoing a bit of Zen he picked up in the Far East, he says, “I believe there is karma for the station. We need to always serve the community.”