Q&A CHER BEST

UPW: As Director of Marketing & Promotions at iHeartMedia Augusta, which stations do you oversee and what are your responsibilities in that capacity?

CHER BEST: I oversee the marketing and promotions for all of the iHeartMedia-Augusta stations WPRW-Power 107, which is our hip-hop station and home to The Breakfast Club mornings), WBBO-104.3, our adult contemporary format. It’s the community heritage station and the official Christmas music station, WKSP-96.3 Kiss FM, our urban AC station. That’s the station that houses the Steve Harvey Morning Show and Fattz and I host the Fattz and Cher Afternoon Ride Out weekdays 3-7pm, (WLUB-105.7 The Bull, it’s our country format, WLUB HD2 -Eagle 106.3, our classic rock station, and the newest addition to our iHeartMedia-Augusta family, WBINThe Black Information Network. My job includes overseeing the imaging for our properties, overseeing and or creating event marketing opportunities, community outreach, internal and external promotions and acting as programing/sales liaison.

UPW: As a marketing and promotions specialist, you are at the epicenter of the digital transformation of all broadcast platforms. How challenging has it been to survive in this environment and why do you think iHeartMedia has been able to adapt so successfully?

CHER: The digital world has created two important elements, access and speed. It has made it easier and quicker for people to have access to information.

The biggest challenge I think is that it has put the ability to spread information that is not verified and often not true in the hands of people who are not concerned with the facts but rather the number of clicks, likes and shares that they can get.

The good news is that it has also made it easier for people to connect and to share important information that can do good things, save lives, finds lost children, inform people of inclement weather, celebrate important life milestones. It’s also allowed people to tap into their own creativity and share it with thousands all at the touch of a button.

iHeartMedia, has always been at the cutting edge of technology. This company has the unique ability to see the next big thing before everyone else even know it is the next big thing. That’s how they have been able to weather the storm. They already had the boats built and ready to sail before anyone else even knew the storm was coming.

UPW: The Fattz and Cher Morning Show was an institution in the Augusta community, but it is also available in other markets. What was that experience been like?

CHER: Yes, we did mornings for a long time. I thought it would be hard to transition to afternoons. It’s one of the few things that I disagreed with Fattz about. He was sure that shifting us to afternoons and Steve Harvey to Mornings on Kiss would also help all of the formats. He was spot on.

We have had some of our biggest ratings in every format under his leadership as SVP of Programming. Being in other markets has been incredible but to be honestly, the biggest honor was many years ago when Fattz and I got to host our show on the legendary 104-WBBQ (It is a 100,000-watt powerhouse) during the winter storm. We practically spent the night some evenings, but we knew we were doing something important and comforting for our community.

UPW: We seem to have put the Covid crisis behind us, but it tested us for a very long time. Would describe some of the challenges you faced personally and in the workplace during the pandemic?

CHER: Covid personally was incredibly difficult for me. I’m a public person with a very private personality. I am not a person that likes to ask for help. I loss a pet that was my heart during covid and found the silence of being in the home that I loved tough. It was one of the few times that I was unsure of myself. I run an organization of women and I was concerned about their mental health so I tried to create ways for us to stay connected so that we could cheer each other on. I called it Augusta Girlfriends Check In. It ended up being super beneficial for me too.

I spent a lot of time outside or going for walks but covid was extremely isolating.

The other thing about covid is it was extremely revealing. To be clear, the country was undergoing some other unrest during that time. I would look on social media and see people saying things that was in direct contrast to the people I thought they were. Like I said it was revealing. I disengaged from a few.

On a work level, iHeartMedia-August, in particular our market President, Ivy Elam took every measure to ensure our safety and wellbeing. She made sure that both Fattz and I had portable units to be able to do our show live from our respective homes. He was at his house, and I was at mine, but we could do the show together. She would check on me often.

I would also facetime with a few friends and my brothers and my sister about every other week so that made it easier.

Like I said, I’m a public/private person or as my friend Kellie says….and introverted extrovert. I enjoy celebrating people, hosting dinner parties, love music, concerts, events and spending time with friends but I too enjoy watching a Netflix marathon rather than going to a party or reading a book instead of going to an event.

UPW: One of the hallmarks of your personal “brand” has been community service. Among your most successful and important projects has been Cher’s Sisters Only Club. How many years has it been ongoing and what is on the immediate horizon?

CHER: Yes, I truly care about people. I want to see people do good and be treated fairly. I appreciate having a platform to help promote organizations that want to help our community grow and be better. Sister Only Club is my greatest inspiration. They so get the assignment. It’s a women’s organization made up of some of the most dynamic, vibrant, and amazing women in the community (on both sides of the river).

I started Cher’s Sisters Only Club in 1999. We’ve been around for 24 years.

We’ve given away countless scholarships, gave prom gowns to girls that could not afford them, hosted leadership academy’s, gave away food and supplies to seniors, toys to kids for the holidays and safety events and trainings for women. I’m extremely proud of the organizations and the women in it.

We were one of the first organization to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of women in our community with our SHERO Awards program. We will host the 16th annual SHERO Awards September 9th at Newberry Hall in Aiken. The theme this year is “She Believed She Could, So She Did”. This year we will have two guest speakers Poncere Daniels of the Poncere Show and Aiken City Council District One Gail Diggs. Also, this year in addition to naming a woman o the Year, we’ll identify a Woman of the Decade and an incredibly talented artist performing. We are currently accepting nominations for the various categories. Applications available on our website sistersonlyclub.wixsite. com or through any Sisters Only Club Member.

UPW: You have been blessed with the ability to develop awesome communication skills including print, radio, tv, and podcasts . . . Along with your capacity to multitask, the obvious question is, what’s next? When the time and conditions are ripe, what are some ventures that you could see yourself tackling in the coming decade?

CHER: I think my superpower is connecting people to create change or improve a problem and or creating ideas to solve problems. I’ll continue to do that, but just in a private industry that involves some travel.

UPW: Their methods of creating multiple revenue streams for entertainers have increased, but so have the challenges. What differences have you noticed about how entertainers interact with radio stations today as opposed to 20 years ago? Do you feel that the older more established entertainers more likely to feel threatened by the advent of the digital transformation of the industry?

CHER: A lot of artists are using the digital platform to promote their new music. Fortunately for iHeartMedia, our platforms include huge digital landscapes, social media, streaming, podcast, OTT, and traditional radio. Just like the old Toyota commercial goes….You ask for it, you got it at iHeartMedia. I don’t think the older established artist are threatened at all, in fact they are thriving right now. Artist with a strong catalog of music, are killing the tour circuit and they are simply hiring influencers and or tech savvy digital talent to help them with marketing.

UPW: What are some of the things that we should be looking for from iHeartMedia in the coming months?

CHER: Look for iHeart to continue to lead the communications platform and come up with new and innovative ways to keep people connected and entertained.

Locally, there is so much entertainment in every format coming to the market. I couldn’t possibly list it all. There are several ways to keep up with what’s happening in the CSRA though, check out the stations’ event page for your respective format

For our audience that would be 96kissfm.com. You can also check me out every Friday on WRDW News 12’s Morning Mix at 9am with Entertainment In the Mix.