Don Perry Seeks to Create Localism Oasis

Talk about good timing. Guided in part by family obligations, Don Perry and his wife were considering a move to Palm Springs, Calif. — that "desert oasis with a cosmopolitan twist." Not an easy decision for the president and CEO of Clear Channel Television based in San Antonio, Texas.

But that all changed when Clear Channel last year agreed to sell its television properties to Providence Equity Partners. Perry didn't want to stay, but was even less eager to make a hasty career change.

"It seemed a good time to be on the sidelines for a few years," says Perry. "The industry isn't just going through a transition, but a series of explosions and contractions." Word of the Perrys' relocation plans soon spread.

But before they could even unpack their golf clubs, a headhunter interrupted their idyll. Would Don like to be the VP and GM of KPSP, a low-power CBS affiliate and its Hispanic sister station, KYAV, in Palm Springs?

Now the very idea off swapping 51 stations for a pair of Class A low-power station in the 144th market might offend some executives. But Perry was intrigued by the notion of applying his group-wide localism philosophy to just one market. And after two decades working for the likes of GE and Viacom, Perry saw the appeal of running co-located stations owned by one family.

And not just any family. Entrepreneur Jim Houston and his wife Jackie Lee are perhaps the premiere philanthropists in the Coachella Valley. Jackie Lee is the owner of record of KPSP and KYAV.

"She's one of the few women in the country to own and operate a station," says Don, whose marching orders are as broad as they are clear. "My mandate is to run a good station and to be as much an asset to the community as possible."

To the Houstons, "asset" means more than scheduling PSAs. They expect the station to play a vital role in the fabric of the community. And they've backed up this commitment with a resource as valuable as their money — a generous measure of time and patience. While KYAV continues to run the Azteca America Network and paid programming, Perry's first order of business is growing KPSP.

"The Houstons understand that it will take time for changes to be reflected in our earnings," says Perry. "There's accountability, of course. This isn't the United Way of the Coachella Valley. But the added breathing room couldn't come at a better time with our industry facing the digital transition and one of the worst economic environments in the last 30 years."

And Perry is using that breathing room to re-invent and re-position KPSP for the long haul. Previous management mirrored the programming and branding and even the typeface of network flagship KCBS in Los Angeles, hoping to capitalize on Palm Springs' status as a vacation playground for wealthy Angelinos.

Perry takes the opposite view. "We've rebranded the station as ‘KPSP Local 2' and that means much more local coverage," he says. A new logo and Web site will debut soon after Labor Day. But more substantive changes are already underway, beginning with news coverage.

"I put the news production supervisor in charge of all station operations to underscore the need for greater flexibility in all departments," says Perry, who insists that all KPSP personnel learn to run each others' equipment. "We want multi-dimensional skills throughout the building. Now when there's a big story, we can deputize camera operators as needed."

Perry believes that cross-training reinforces an even bigger idea. "We're all working together in the content business. We want to be sure we're an important platform in all media — from on-air to user-generated content."

To further emphasize the importance of multiple platforms, Perry elevated his webmaster to department head status. And to ensure a steady supply of fresh content, Perry struck a deal with the Desert Sun, the local Gannett-owned paper.

This is more than a marketing deal, says Perry. "We're operating on a more granular level — the content level. It's challenging because we're joining two cultures in a kind of arranged marriage. You're told who your spouse will be so you figure out how to fall in love."

Such synergy only works if it's driven by the people at the top, says Perry, who gives high praise to former Desert Sun Publisher Michelle M. Krans, recently promoted to Gannett's corporate level. "Often video their reporters shoot ends up on our air, and they can use our material on their Web site."

While making headway at KPSP, Perry maintains an intense interest in what's going on in the industry in general.

He admires what NBC O&O division head John Wallace is doing to focus his stations' digital efforts on the needs of customers and advertisers and he thinks Randy Michaels and Ed Wilson are shaking things up "in an appropriate way" at Tribune.

"I don't know Randy, but he strikes me as a guy willing to go beyond evolution to revolution," he says.

From what he's read about Tribune's debt, Perry believes Tribune is running a sprint, not a marathon. "They have to transition as quickly as they can — and clearly they're using new technologies to reach out to the audience in new ways."

Speaking of which, Perry has his eyes on some technical innovations of his own, drawing from a surprising source — teen-age viewers.

"In every market there are high school kids with editing equipment as good as ours in their garage. Let's teach them to turn those music video editing skills into good journalism and story construction."

Perry has already begun to reach out to local educators, seeking to create what he envisions as a kind of "University of the Desert" and he believes this should be happening in every market.

"If we're going to survive, we can't think in a linear way about news viewers in certain dayparts," he says. "There are people out there who don't watch TV stations but who we can still attract to our brands on an emotional level."

Lessons learned from building up KPSP will soon also be applied to KYAV, but much more quickly, it is hoped, since the Hispanic station will be able to skip all the preliminary trial-and-error.

But beyond the usual metrics of profitability, what will be Perry's measure of his success? "If we do a brand study in the market and people understand we are truly the local station and platform in the Coachella Valley, then that would be a homerun."

Market Share by Arthur Greenwald showcases innovative station people and projects every Monday in TVNewsday. Share one of your own success stories by writing to Arthur at greenwald@tvnewsday.com.