Kelsey Danca is a Promotion Manager for WJMK-FM, CBS Radio, Chicago. She recently met with students at the La Salle building of the Illinois Center for Broadcasting, Chicago Campus.

Kelsey talked about her love of promotion which she developed while in post-secondary school working at her college radio station. During school, Kelsey got an internship at a Chicago radio station assigned to the promotion department. Initially Kelsey had thoughts of becoming an on-air talent but after learning about the fun of working in broadcast promotion, she decided that was the career path she would take.

While still in college, Kelsey checked out the CBS Radio website and found a posting for a position as a promotions coordinator, which she applied for and won.

Kelsey shared her duties as a promotion manager which includes application of marketing concepts and the ability to read and understand audience research and demographic profiles generated by Arbitron Audience Research Company regarding the typical WJMK listener. Danca designs many of the promotional efforts for the station including contests that may be only for on-air or on-line or in some cases both venues. She also works with the legal department to make sure all the rules for a contest are read on-air properly or listed on-line accurately. All of the winner information must be organized and details regarding who wins a prize with a value of more than $600, must be reported to the IRS via a W-9 and securely filed to protect contestant social security information.

Kelsey shared how Arbitron collects the data necessary for WJMK’s sales effort and noted that the popular FM station attracts approximately 1.3 million listeners daily. She also talked about how her department interfaces with the sales team when it comes to product give-a-ways tied to commercial schedules played on WJMK. Ms. Danca provided the students with a look at how radio stations actually make money today from not only on-air spots but also digital banner ads on the WJMK website, concert venues that are presented by the station on behalf of sponsors as well as special events.

Kelsey loves her job and sees herself in this role for at least the next five years of her career.