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Sound Choices
Internet radio pioneer Randy Borovsky was born to broadcast.
Today he's simply doing so in a new and different medium
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Business New Haven
6/9/2003
By: BNH
Mimi Houston
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Some people seem to be born knowing what the stars have in store for them when it comes to their calling in life. And Randy Borovsky, founder of CTUltraRadio.com, New Haven's Internet-only radio station, may just be one of those people.
"I've been in radio my whole life," Borovsky explains, "even before I went to college. I started in the AV [audio/video] club in junior high. In high school, I got involved in Junior Achievement."
Borovsky says that taste of the business through that organization for budding entrepreneurs gave him a realistic view of life in his chosen field.
"Junior Achievement is a great organization," he allows. "I'm a big believer in it. You work with local businesses that sponsor your company - they show you how a business is formed. You sell stocks for a dollar for capital for your company and at the end of the year, you return their investment - and any profits you've made - to your investors."
Even in those Junior Achievement days, under the guidance of professional broadcast mentors, Borovsky created a radio station from the ground up, getting an early taste of every facet of the business.
"We had a half-hour show," he remembers, "of musical programming that aired on WNTY in Southington. I was the deejay, the salesperson and president of the company. I didn't want to be the deejay because I was so shy."
But because he had the deepest voice in his young group, Borovsky was wooed in front of the microphone - an experience that would serve him well as his career took shape.
But while Borovsky was eager to begin his career as soon as possible, advice from a radio professional helped shape his path in a way that allowed room for ultimate growth in a competitive field that demands a great deal of endurance.
"I was so excited about the radio thing," he recalls. "I went to the general manager of the station and said, 'I want to start working for you.' And he said, 'But what are you going to do with your future? Being a deejay is a good thing while you're young and it's fun. But most deejays are getting into the business end of radio, or they're getting out of radio altogether."
Borovsky cites long hours, little sleep and low pay - unless you're the star of a morning show - as taking their toll on most air personalities. Heeding the wise GM's advice, in 1977 he enrolled at Central Connecticut State University to study marketing and communications. Once there, he lost no time setting himself up at the college radio station, WFCS.
"I went to the station and said, 'Let me do a midnight-to-3 a.m. shift for four nights a week,'" he recalls. "At that time, the station went off the air at midnight. They found someone else to do the rest of the week, and everyone was happy. They got a longer broadcasting day and I got better at the same time."
Borovsky says at most colleges students get on-air time only about once a week, making it hard for them to improve their skills. He also says his career in radio is marked repeatedly with situations that put him in the right place at the right time. His college days were no exception.
"Central had just started a communications major," he says. "Potential students would go to the University of Hartford and they'd see this beautiful radio station, then they'd come to Central. Their station was in very bad shape."
Borovsky says the university decided to invest $150,000 to get WFCS up to snuff. Those in charge knew that Borovsky, even at a very young age, was the man who could meet the challenge of turning the radio station into a going concern.
"They put me in charge and said use [my] experience," he recalls. "I bought the equipment, found the studio builders and engineers-it was a wonderful learning experience."
Borovsky says the station went from a miniscule listenership to one that was starting to attract the attention of Arbitron, the national company that tracks radio listenership.
Following graduation, Borovsky revisited the general manager who advised him to go to college and said, "All right, I have my marketing degree - I want to sell advertising.
"He told me to take six months and go and work in a small market to get some experience. The station also owned a little AM station in Naugatuck [WNVR], so I went there. While I was there the morning newscaster left and I applied and got that job."
Things seemed well on the way until the station was sold and Borovsky felt it was time to make new plans. "I wanted to stay," he says, "but when a station is sold, there is almost always a housecleaning."
Before he could be swept out the door, Borovsky got a tip from a friend who had left the same station and was working on Cape Cod.
"I called him just to keep in touch and he said, 'We need a newsperson here. Why don't you apply?'"
Borovsky did the news until that station was sold as well. His position was no longer needed, but he stayed on to do sales and within a year became the sales manager for the station owner's AM and FM stations. At a young age, his career was soaring.
He decided it was time to come back to Connecticut, and worked in sales for WHCN-FM in Hartford, and then at WMRQ-FM, also in Hartford. At WMRQ , in 1998, Borovsky billed more that $1 million, with sales of over 10,000 commercial units.
"Selling advertising for radio has so many benefits," he says. "You can really use your creativity because you're writing the commercials, too. It's a great creative outlet, you have flexibility in your schedule, and it pays very well - if you're successful."
In Hartford, Borovsky says, he had an opportunity to work with some of the best radio executives in the country. He spent his years traveling to professional conferences, continuing as a deejay, newsperson and sales manager.
"I now use all that experience to manage this radio station," he says, of CTUltraRadio.com. I really believe Internet radio is the future."
Borovsky says it was the 1996 Telecommunications Act that led him to the path he is on now. When that legislation passed Congress radio ownership rules changed drastically. Where previously companies were allowed to own only 12 or fewer stations nationwide, and no more than one AM and FM station in a single market, now all limitations were scrapped. Mega-companies such as Clear Channel now own up to 1,200 stations.
Borovsky says his station was bought and sold six times within a five-year period, and the rules of radio changed so drastically - all to address the short-term goals of short-term ownership.
While researching a new job for himself involving the five Web sites of the local radio stations owned by his company, an executive asked him an interesting question: Had he ever thought of starting his own Internet radio station?
Using his research as a basis for a business plan, Borovsky invested heavily and asked friends and family to get involved in this new venture. Borovsky says business is great and sees growth as limitless.
"If you think back a few years," he says, "One hundred percent of people watched broadcast TV. Now, 86 percent watch cable. In my opinion, [Internet radio] is in the very early days of cable TV."
Internet radio of course allows listeners to hear songs while online (listeners need a 56K or faster modem), but they can also click on latest weather, concert reports and schedules, news items, etc. at the listener's convenience - not when the station feels like airing them.
Listeners rate the songs they hear and make requests for those they'd like to hear more often. Borovsky calls it "interactive listening," and he believes it's the wave of the future.
"Our listenership continues to grow at a substantial pace," he confirms. "I'd say within the last six months we've really cracked through to where every major advertising agency in Connecticut has heard about us."
That's good news for a station that has all the overhead of a traditional station - rent, utilities, payroll and copyright fees for the songs, as well as the task of pulling in a profit the old-fashioned way - by selling advertising.
Borovsky says both advertisers and listeners are getting more comfortable using the Internet for business and entertainment, and cites a recent example as proof positive.
"In 2001, only 12 percent of concert tickets were sold online," he relates. "By 2002, that number grew to 65 percent."
By the looks of things, Borovsky is in the right place at the right time once again.
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