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Speaker 1: M h. Welcome to Strictly Business, Varieties weekly podcast featuring

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Speaker 1: conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment.

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Speaker 1: I'm Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety. Today,

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Speaker 1: my guest is Adam Simpson, CEO of E W Scripts Company.

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Speaker 1: Scripts is one of the oldest names in mass media

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Speaker 1: in the US, with deep roots in newspapers. Today, the

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Speaker 1: company's focus is firmly on the future of TV and

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Speaker 1: how people consume news, information and entertainment. Simpson wants to

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Speaker 1: make sure the company that is still controlled by Scripts

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Speaker 1: Airs is competitive no matter how the market takes shape.

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Speaker 1: Simpson is the rare media CEO who has a background

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Speaker 1: as an investigative journalist. He explains in our wide ranging

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Speaker 1: conversation why he is aggressively bought TV stations since he

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Speaker 1: took over as CEO into when he's seventeen, and he

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Speaker 1: also details how Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway came on board

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Speaker 1: as a partner in Scripts as few point six five

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Speaker 1: billion dollar acquisition of I On Media TV stations earlier

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Speaker 1: this year. That's all coming up on today's episode of

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Speaker 1: Strictly Business. Welcome back to strictly business. Adam Simpson, President

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Speaker 1: CEO of E W Scripts, K, thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for joining us today. Yeah, it's my pleasure, glad to

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Speaker 1: be here. There has been a lot going on at Scripts.

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Speaker 1: I have been writing about deals and transactions and movement

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Speaker 1: in the company. UM some m and a on both

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Speaker 1: sides of the equations, some buying, some selling. Tell me

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Speaker 1: kind of in the big picture, is this the result

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Speaker 1: of kind of a concerted effort to grow and make

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Speaker 1: some of these moves or are you responding to organic

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Speaker 1: market opportunities? Well, I would say both. I mean, really

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Speaker 1: for the long history of Scripts and about a hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty two years, the company has UH prided itself

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Speaker 1: on always evolving to meet the changing needs of the

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Speaker 1: media consumer. And you know, the company started in newspapers.

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Speaker 1: It was one of the first companies to own radio licenses,

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Speaker 1: one of the first companies to launch with television when

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Speaker 1: that was brand new and nobody quite understood the impact

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Speaker 1: it would have on on America. Was a cable mso

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Speaker 1: an operator got out of the operating business and actually

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Speaker 1: you know, launched among the first cable UH networks um

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Speaker 1: h G TV, and then acquired the controlling interest of

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Speaker 1: the Food Network. We spun off the Scripts Networks back

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Speaker 1: in two thousand eight, ultimately exited the newspaper business, double

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Speaker 1: the size of our local television portfolio, and then, you know,

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Speaker 1: under my leadership, I would say over the last three years,

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Speaker 1: we've really been focused on re making the company again

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Speaker 1: to be prepared for the next iteration of what the

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Speaker 1: media landscape looks like. The opportunities have come to us

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Speaker 1: UM first to add scale to our local media portfolio.

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Speaker 1: We can recognize the opportunity in consolidation, and we participated

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Speaker 1: in that. We double the size of our our local

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Speaker 1: media portfolio. UM. We also invested you're talking about the

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Speaker 1: purchase of I on Media. No, actually this was even

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Speaker 1: before that. We we we double the size of our

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Speaker 1: local stations when we acquired stations from cordill Era and

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Speaker 1: also stations from the Next Star Tribune to vestitures, and

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Speaker 1: then last year, during amidst the pandemic, we really sought

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Speaker 1: to seek the opportunity in the chaos, and that's when

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Speaker 1: we acquired I on Media and really transformed the company.

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Speaker 1: That was what I would consider a significant transformation UH

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Speaker 1: an investment in what we see as the future uh,

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Speaker 1: the over the air ecosystem, and and we've also created

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Speaker 1: value and been in other business as well. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we we certainly were early to the game and podcasting,

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Speaker 1: acquiring mid Role Media and Stitcher and Trite and digital

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Speaker 1: and then last year, uh, and this year we actually

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Speaker 1: sold our podcasting business and our exiting digital audio as

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Speaker 1: well for really good returns for our shareholders. And what

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Speaker 1: made it? With podcasting growing, you know, really, it's got

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Speaker 1: so much sizzle. Why did you feel like it was

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Speaker 1: the right time for you to exit? Well, I look,

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Speaker 1: I think we believe that scale is necessary in the

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Speaker 1: media space, and it became very clear to us that

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Speaker 1: our brands, we had done a wonderful job growing those brands,

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Speaker 1: and they had they had been great companies to operate. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: I think podcasting will be one of the most important

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Speaker 1: platforms for the future of journalism. But I also recognize

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Speaker 1: that we were not going to be in a position

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Speaker 1: to help foster those companies growth. And putting them in

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Speaker 1: the hands of audio only companies that had the capital

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Speaker 1: necessary for them to really continue to foster their growth

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Speaker 1: would benefit both the brands are employees, and doing so

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Speaker 1: at a time when the valuations were high would benefit

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Speaker 1: our shareholders, and that's why we sold Stitcher to Syria

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Speaker 1: s x M last year. And that's why we recently

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Speaker 1: announced the sale of Triton Digital to Higheart, because those

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Speaker 1: two companies truly have scale in the audio ecosystem, the scale,

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Speaker 1: the kind of scale that we didn't have. Is it

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Speaker 1: hard when you're evaluating your assets like that? Is it hard?

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Speaker 1: Do you have to kind of force yourself sometimes to

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Speaker 1: be objective because for something that people may be very

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Speaker 1: passionate about, or even something like podcasting, which is, you know,

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Speaker 1: all the arrows are going up, it seems like it's

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Speaker 1: a growth business. But you know, what you explain makes

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense. But is it hard to get there?

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Speaker 1: Sometimes if you're in a business that you're passionate about,

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Speaker 1: Oh absolutely. Um. You know, while I see my role

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Speaker 1: as a bit of an asset manager, the truth is,

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Speaker 1: you know, podcasting. We got into podcasting under my leadership

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Speaker 1: when I was the chief digital officer. I love podcasting.

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Speaker 1: I've always loved audio. I actually started in radio um

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Speaker 1: and so, uh, it was a bit of an emotional decision.

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Speaker 1: I think anytime you're divesting of businesses, it can be emotional,

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Speaker 1: but at the same time, I think you have to

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Speaker 1: think about what's best for those businesses. I think you

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Speaker 1: have to think about what's best for the employees and

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Speaker 1: those businesses. And you know, our responsibility is always to

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Speaker 1: create value, and uh, podcasting is a growth business. That's

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Speaker 1: what's fueling a lot of the valuations. And it was

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Speaker 1: a great opportunity for us to do right by our employees,

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Speaker 1: those businesses, and our own company and shareholders divesting of

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Speaker 1: those assets, even despite my personal love and affection for

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Speaker 1: the medium and the business. MM. Well with the with

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Speaker 1: the acquisitions that you've made and with Ion Media coming

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Speaker 1: into the fold um earlier this year, you have you

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Speaker 1: know you are you said you're looking to position the

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Speaker 1: company for the future, and a lot of those those

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Speaker 1: acquisitions have been broadcast TV stations, which on the surface,

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Speaker 1: don't you know, they don't screen the future. Why are

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Speaker 1: you invested in continuing to invest in broadcast TV? Well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I think people have this impression that over

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Speaker 1: the air broadcasting is a relic of the past. And

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Speaker 1: if you're thinking about over the air broadcasting, um the

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Speaker 1: way you know, I grew up where I remember my

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Speaker 1: dad having to adjust the antenna in order to get

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Speaker 1: the signal before we had cable in our in our

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Speaker 1: house when I was a kid. That's not what over

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Speaker 1: your broadcasting is anymore. Today, over the air broadcasting is

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Speaker 1: a robust marketplace. It's a growth marketplace in media, and

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Speaker 1: it all has to do with the changes to the

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Speaker 1: television ecosystem because while most people have followed closely the

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Speaker 1: growth of over the top television, of streaming of of

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Speaker 1: s BOD or subscription video on demand right alongside that,

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Speaker 1: over the air has been growing. And today, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's recent research that talks about the total number of

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Speaker 1: households now at of US homes that are antenna homes

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Speaker 1: digital antenna homes. That's about fifty million households that are

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Speaker 1: using digital antennas. And I think what's happened is consumers

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Speaker 1: have recognized that there is a universe of free over

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Speaker 1: the air television that pairs very efficiently with s BOD.

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Speaker 1: And we talked about this phenomenon as self bundling, you know, Cynthia,

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Speaker 1: I mean, consumers have completely taken control of their entertainment

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Speaker 1: options and for US investing further in free ads reported

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Speaker 1: television through over the air broadcasting. In fact, being the

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Speaker 1: dominant company in this marketplace is a really terrific opportunity

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Speaker 1: because we see continued growth ahead and it is interesting

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Speaker 1: we're seeing, you know, we've we've seen we've done stories

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Speaker 1: about the rise of things like Pluto TV and people

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Speaker 1: that are assembling a lot of a lot of big

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Speaker 1: content companies are slicing and dicing and assembling new channels.

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Speaker 1: And when you get right down to it, it's like, oh,

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Speaker 1: it's free over the air television. What a concept. It's

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Speaker 1: been around for you know, upwards of upwards of seventy years.

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Speaker 1: Um do you um? How so do you see I mean,

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Speaker 1: for for the moves that you're making, it sounds like

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Speaker 1: you see E W Scripts as kind of still rooted

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Speaker 1: in the broadcast distance. That is that that is kind

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Speaker 1: of the core foundation of the company that you see

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Speaker 1: in the for the foresueable future. Well, look, we've always

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Speaker 1: been a journalism and entertainment company and we will continue

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Speaker 1: to be a journalism company. Are our roots are in journalism,

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Speaker 1: going all the way back to you know, ews first newspaper,

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Speaker 1: the Penny Press in Cleveland. We expect that will continue

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Speaker 1: to serve consumers both locally through our local television stations

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Speaker 1: as well as nationally. When I think about the platforms

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Speaker 1: that we serve people on, will certainly make use of broadcasting.

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Speaker 1: I mean there is no more ubiquitous platform up which

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Speaker 1: you can reach more Americans than broadcast television. But our

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Speaker 1: brands are also in the over the top space where

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Speaker 1: obviously aggressive in digital uh, and I expect will continue

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Speaker 1: to make, you know, additional moves to distribute our our

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Speaker 1: programming streams wherever the consumer gets them. So it's not

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Speaker 1: a it's not a you know, a world. We don't

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Speaker 1: think the world is going to be either pay TV

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Speaker 1: or O T T or over the year. We really

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Speaker 1: think that the world is going to be a combination,

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Speaker 1: That TV landscape is going to be a combination of

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Speaker 1: all three. And I I, you know, I sort of

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Speaker 1: think my charges to make sure we're well positioned to

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Speaker 1: navigate the future of television no matter how the the

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Speaker 1: consumer watches. How are you feeling in the local in

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Speaker 1: the local trenches, how are you feeling it various times

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Speaker 1: in the pandemic. You know, we've heard that local local

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Speaker 1: spot has really really taken taken hard hits obviously, and

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Speaker 1: you know, for for obvious reasons. But what what, how's

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Speaker 1: it been and what do you see? For well, it's

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Speaker 1: sort of interesting. Local television itself has proven itself more

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Speaker 1: valuable as a source of news and information for consumers

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Speaker 1: during this pandemic than for you know, for for I

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Speaker 1: would say, you know, a long while before it comes

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Speaker 1: at the moment when newspapers are most um wounded, and

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Speaker 1: local TV remains the dominant form of news information for

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Speaker 1: most Americans, and in fact it's it's also the most

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Speaker 1: trusted source of news and information. So during the height

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Speaker 1: of the pandemic, during the social and rest of the summer,

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Speaker 1: we saw higher ratings to our newscasts than we had

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Speaker 1: seen in a long time. Now some of that is retained,

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Speaker 1: been retained, and some of that has settled down. But

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Speaker 1: at the same time, you know, we also were significantly

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Speaker 1: suffering from the impact of the business disruption. When you

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Speaker 1: watch the government shut down local economies, it's you know,

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Speaker 1: undoubtedly going to impact the local advertising environment, and dealership

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Speaker 1: is going to feel it, right absolutely. I mean the

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Speaker 1: auto you know, the manufacturing plants shut down, that stops

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Speaker 1: the auto dealers from getting inventory. The auto dealers are closed,

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Speaker 1: I mean don't forget that, you know, some of our

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Speaker 1: TV stations, service advertisers that can be as large as

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Speaker 1: you know, the supermarket chain down to as small as

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Speaker 1: UM you know, the mufflers, the mufflers shop on the

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Speaker 1: corner and all of those business is. We're definitely negatively

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Speaker 1: impacted during the pandemic, since I would tell you that

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Speaker 1: we have been very encouraged by the pace of the rebound.

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Speaker 1: UM first quarter has been very good, I expect us.

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Speaker 1: I absolutely could have never guessed that we would have

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Speaker 1: seen a rebound as strong as we saw following the

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Speaker 1: election and following the pandemic that we experienced last year.

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Speaker 1: You know, most of the categories are really coming back.

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Speaker 1: The one exception I would say that we haven't seen

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Speaker 1: come back yet has been travel and leisure. Travel and

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Speaker 1: leisure is starting to come back as governors allow more

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Speaker 1: in person events. But I would tell you, UM, you know,

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Speaker 1: travel and leisure as a category has also been positively

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Speaker 1: impacted by the continued growth of the sports betting industry.

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Speaker 1: Sports betting has become a very important category for US.

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Speaker 1: So core what we referred to as core advertising is

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Speaker 1: actually UM twenty with respect one doing very very well. Hopefully,

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Speaker 1: you know, hopefully those are positive signs on many levels

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Speaker 1: for the broadcasting business and for the country at large.

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Speaker 1: We'll be back with more from Script CEO Adam Simpson

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Speaker 1: right after this break, and we're back with Scripts CEO

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Speaker 1: Adam Simpson. Scripts that you have invested a lot in

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Speaker 1: multicast networks, networks that run on the as sub channels

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Speaker 1: on the bandwidth of of what we call the mother

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Speaker 1: the mothership station in each market. It's amazing, you know,

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Speaker 1: the technology is is amazing. What what can be done?

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Speaker 1: And um, you just recently launched announced plans to launch

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Speaker 1: a couple of new networks along the lines of programming,

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Speaker 1: along the lines of certain niches. How are how is

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Speaker 1: the multicast business? It's been around, you know, in various

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Speaker 1: stages for some time. Now is it becoming you know,

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Speaker 1: this gives you, this gives Scripts a chance to be

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Speaker 1: a national player because of the nature of how these

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Speaker 1: how these channels can be accessed in streaming by streaming platforms.

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Speaker 1: How has that been Is that has that changed your

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Speaker 1: profile at all in terms of talking to Madison Avenue

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Speaker 1: because you have a lot of services that now can

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Speaker 1: reach nationally. Yeah, So let me impact that we don't

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Speaker 1: even think about them as multicast anymore. At this point,

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Speaker 1: the over the air universe is exploding um and whether

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Speaker 1: the whether the signal is on a D one or

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Speaker 1: main channel or on one of the sub channels is

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Speaker 1: sort of irrelevant at this point because to the consumer

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Speaker 1: they all appear to be full fledged over the air

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Speaker 1: broadcast television programming streams. And so rather than sort of

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Speaker 1: think about them as you know, sort of the dominant

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Speaker 1: station and the sub channels, at this point, we programmed

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Speaker 1: them as networks, and we bring them to Madison Avenue.

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Speaker 1: We bring them to the national advertising marketplace as a

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Speaker 1: bundle of networks. We reach more than seventy million Americans monthly.

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Speaker 1: Our networks are highly rated. They take significant ratings out

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Speaker 1: of the broadcast and cable marketplace and therefore revenue out

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Speaker 1: of the marketplace. The real interesting opportunity is that as

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Speaker 1: more consumers, particularly younger consumers, forgo pay TV or cut

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Speaker 1: the chord, our free over the air television networks become

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Speaker 1: the best way for Madison Avenue to reach those consumers

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Speaker 1: because they're spending time with spot services which are commercial free,

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Speaker 1: and they're spending time with free ad supported television over broadcast,

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Speaker 1: and we will in on a grid on your smart TV,

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Speaker 1: and it just looks like TV. That's right, it just

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Speaker 1: looks like TV. The consumer doesn't care whether they're watching

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Speaker 1: it off of what transmitter. You know. That's that's sort

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Speaker 1: of like parsing. You know, whether you are watching a

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Speaker 1: video on YouTube from WiFi or five G or four G.

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Speaker 1: None of that really matters anymore at this point. The

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Speaker 1: bottom line is I'm enjoying the content. And so we've

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Speaker 1: really spent the last several years putting together networks that

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Speaker 1: are programs specifically to attract niche demographics, and we'll continue

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Speaker 1: to launch uh those networks in the over the air marketplace.

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Speaker 1: At this point, you know, we have a really dominant position. Uh.

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Speaker 1: If you if you were to be in one of

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Speaker 1: our local markets, for example, and I'll just use uh

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Speaker 1: Detroit as an example, there might be twenty five to

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Speaker 1: thirty over the year channels that the consumer has access to.

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Speaker 1: Now ours are already the biggest. They're they're they're they're

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Speaker 1: all Nielsen rated, or they're you know, they're they're the

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Speaker 1: most dominant in audience size. And you look at that

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Speaker 1: twenty five or thirty channels Scripts has between our local

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Speaker 1: stations and our national networks. You know, we will buy

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Speaker 1: July have uh eight channels in Detroit, for example. So

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Speaker 1: you're really talking about a fairly dominant share of Mart.

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Speaker 1: It's a lot of share of the of the marketplace

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Speaker 1: and a and a really terrific opportunity for us to

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Speaker 1: serve advertisers with the demographics they're seeking. And do you

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Speaker 1: have do you get broad m v p D distribution

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Speaker 1: of those channels or does that not matter? So some

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Speaker 1: of our channels have MVPD distribution and some of them don't.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't you know, obviously, the more distribution you have matter,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna matter. So Ion, for example, UM is carried

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Speaker 1: on virtually all of the m v p ds as

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Speaker 1: a result of must carry right, but some of the

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Speaker 1: some of the other stations are in different different situations.

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Speaker 1: In some cases we have MVB the carriage, in some

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Speaker 1: cases we don't. It just really depends. Our goal, though,

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Speaker 1: is to continue to drive greater distribution so that we

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Speaker 1: can be wherever the consumer wants to watch Spot subscription

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Speaker 1: video on demand services UM. That's UM. That's a really expensive,

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Speaker 1: high risk knife fight going on among content creators. And

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Speaker 1: it's going to benefit us because we have continued to

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Speaker 1: see what happens when the consumer loads up incremental cost.

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Speaker 1: As they add more cost, they become aware that free

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Speaker 1: over the year television is an efficient pairing for it.

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Speaker 1: The other the other thing I always think of. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think about, you know, the evenings my wife and

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Speaker 1: I spend on the couch. You know, I love the

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Speaker 1: subscription video on demand services. Um that I have to admit,

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Speaker 1: um that it's starting to feel a little bit like

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Speaker 1: a content blood. And every once in a while I

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Speaker 1: find myself sitting on the couch and staring at the

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Speaker 1: Netflix screen or flipping over to lipping over to Prime

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Speaker 1: or Hulu, and I'm almost paralyzed, like what do I

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Speaker 1: want to start next? And sometimes I just want to

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Speaker 1: lean back, flip around and enjoy something that comes to me.

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Speaker 1: And that's the opportunity in the free ad supported television space.

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Speaker 1: And that's why consumers are flocking to plugging in digital

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Speaker 1: antennas and recognizing that, you know, sometimes you want to

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Speaker 1: watch something comfortable, and you know, that's that's the that's

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Speaker 1: what's behind really what we expect to be a continued

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Speaker 1: growth opportunity on our network side, and I on media.

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Speaker 1: Of course, buying those sixties some stations brought you also

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Speaker 1: a lot of bandwidth to carry and distribute your your

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Speaker 1: subchannels or multicast networks or whatever you want to call them.

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Speaker 1: And I know that that they brought you some technical

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Speaker 1: capabilities that you didn't have before. So there was precisely

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Speaker 1: I mean, we're distributing our programming streams over broadcast spectrum,

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Speaker 1: and now our company is the largest holder of broadcast

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Speaker 1: spectrum in the company in the country, and I would

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Speaker 1: say we're the most efficient at monetizing that broadcast spectrum

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Speaker 1: because you know will be uh, you know, eight nine

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Speaker 1: networks deep soon. When you think about uh that ecosystem

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Speaker 1: where that electronic program guide from the consumer's perspective, you know,

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Speaker 1: you've got a lot of programming coming off of all

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Speaker 1: of our transmitters that um that is that has delivered

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Speaker 1: ubiquitously into the homes of you know that that fifty

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Speaker 1: million Americans and growing. M No, it's interesting, and you

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Speaker 1: also have a very interesting partner in the ion track

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Speaker 1: transaction in Berkshire half away. Can you at all characterized

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Speaker 1: sort of what the what the appeal of this transaction

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Speaker 1: was from the Berkshire perspective. Well, I think Berkshire recognized

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Speaker 1: the opportunity around the economics of this transaction, and I

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Speaker 1: think they like to see company is that have near

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Speaker 1: term operating discipline but long term value creation aspirations and goals,

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Speaker 1: and that's exactly we have Scripts operates. I also know

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Speaker 1: Berkshire UM does like doing business with family controlled companies,

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Speaker 1: you know, Scripts as public but family controlled. And the

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Speaker 1: Script's family has been at this for a hundred and

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Speaker 1: forty two years, incredibly committed to this company, and they

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Speaker 1: are and Berkshire are long holders. They like to be

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Speaker 1: invested with people who themselves are invested in the business,

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Speaker 1: and I think all of that comes together. The other

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Speaker 1: thing I would say my sense of things is UM

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Speaker 1: they understand the television ecosystem and they also understand the

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Speaker 1: wireless and spectrum ecosystem, having made investments in both of these.

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Speaker 1: You know, they own w p l G in Miami,

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Speaker 1: which means they have an intimate understanding of the value

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Speaker 1: of local television and what's at play there. They are

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Speaker 1: also the nations, if not the nation's the nation, one

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Speaker 1: of the nation's largest television advertisers in their ownership of Geico, right,

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Speaker 1: so they also recognized exactly where television shines. I mean,

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Speaker 1: there is no other medium that does an effective job

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Speaker 1: of um, you know, selling cars, of converting people from

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Speaker 1: one wireless carrier to the next, of of getting the

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Speaker 1: cash registered to ring and television. I think they understood

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Speaker 1: the value of journalism and and our company's commitment to

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Speaker 1: the fourth of State, the defense of the First Amendment,

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Speaker 1: and the service to the communities where we operate. And

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Speaker 1: I think they appreciated all of that, along of course

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Speaker 1: with the the economics that this transaction UH provided for

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Speaker 1: transformation for the scripts for the U Scripts Company. Adam

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Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about what about your background

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Speaker 1: and what brought you to script. So I'm a journalist

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Speaker 1: by trade. I was born and raised in Los Angeles.

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Speaker 1: I attended U C L A UM and UH started

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Speaker 1: working at a at a radio station when I was

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Speaker 1: in high school, a radio station called k g I

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Speaker 1: L UH out in the out in the valley. UM

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Speaker 1: and then went right into television after UM. Frankly, you know,

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Speaker 1: losing my job at kg I L when when they

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Speaker 1: when they did a format change, which is not uncommon,

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Speaker 1: I guess in the radio business, and I worked in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles television news rooms, mostly doing investigative journalism. For

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Speaker 1: the first several years of my career. I worked also

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Speaker 1: for the CBS O and O in Chicago w BBM,

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Speaker 1: and I found myself working for Scripts as a a

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Speaker 1: sort of a consultant um to help them start up

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Speaker 1: an investigative team in Phoenix. And at Scripts, I found

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Speaker 1: a company incredibly committed to journalism, committed to the highest

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Speaker 1: form of ethics, objective quality journalism. It was exactly, you know,

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Speaker 1: the kind of storytelling that I that I enjoyed, long form,

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Speaker 1: long form investigative journalism. And when my wife was graduating

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Speaker 1: from business school, we knew that we should be in

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Speaker 1: the same city because I was sort of commuting back

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Speaker 1: and forth from from Phoenix to UM Chicago and she

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Speaker 1: was in Chicago at at Kellogg and UH and so

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Speaker 1: UH Procter and Gamble offered her a job here in Cincinnati,

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Speaker 1: and the Scripts corporate office offered me a job overseeing

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Speaker 1: investigations for what at the time was our nine station

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Speaker 1: television station group. Right from from there, I I, you know,

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Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to broaden my responsibility to all

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Speaker 1: of News UH and then UM spend some time outside

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Speaker 1: of our television business overseeing content and marketing for our

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Speaker 1: interactive media division, and then in UM in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eight, when we were spending away the Script's networks,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was sort of given the option, do

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Speaker 1: you want to continue with the interactive businesses or do

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Speaker 1: you want to go back to work on the journalism side.

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Speaker 1: For me, it was a very obvious choice. I'm a

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Speaker 1: journalist by nature and really love them. We have to

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Speaker 1: the mission, and so I came back to the broadcast

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Speaker 1: division and oversaw interactive ultimately became the chief Digital Officer

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Speaker 1: for the company, overseeing the digital assets for our newspapers

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Speaker 1: and our television stations and UM back in two thousand

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Speaker 1: uh sixteen, I was named the successor CEO and took

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Speaker 1: over in two thousand seventeen. And it's been a really

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Speaker 1: it's been a wild ride. Scripts as an incredible company,

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Speaker 1: and it's been a humbling experience to be able to

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Speaker 1: lead our six thousand employees dedicated to you know, informing,

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Speaker 1: engaging and entertaining people across the nation. Thanks for listening.

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Speaker 1: Be sure to give us a review at Apple podcasts

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Speaker 1: we love to hear from listeners, and be sure to

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Speaker 1: tune in next week for another episode of Strictly Business.

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Speaker 1: They can be the thing did him