Bill Richards Announces Retirement
• RCS announced that veteran programmer and entrepreneur Bill Richards is retiring as Product Manager of its Test All Media division, closing out a stellar 50-year broadcast industry career.
Since 2011 Richards has been responsible for overseeing the tremendous growth of Test All Media, which he founded in 2008 and was later acquired by iHeartMedia. Richards earlier founded Bill Richards Radio Consultancy (BRRC) and was responsible for the creation of Rate the Music, an online research software that was also acquired by iHeartMedia. In a statement, Philippe Generali, RCS President & CEO said, “We thank Bill for his leadership and strategic contributions that position Test All Media for future success. Bill should be extremely proud of the mark he has left on our industry.”
Over the course of Richards’ half-century career he has programmed such notable radio stations as KLUC/Las Vegas; KDWB/Minneapolis; WNCI/Columbus, OH, KKBQ (93Q)/Houston, KXXX (X100)/San Francisco and KIIS-FM/Los Angeles. He has also served as co-National PD at Nationwide, VP of Programming for Premiere Networks and SVP of Programming for Clear Channel.
RAMP had the pleasure of chatting with Richards, who shared some thoughts on this career milestone, telling us, “It’s been a honor to work in this industry… actually, it was never ‘work’ to me — I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve been blessed to have worked alongside some of the best in the business, like Rick Dees, John Lander, Guy Zapoleon, Tom Owens, Tom Poleman, Mark Bolke, Randy Michaels, Steve Rivers, Dave Ryan, Jimmy Steal, Marc Chase, Philippe Generali, Rick Cummings, Steve Berger, Jon Coleman, and so many others, too numerous to mention here. They made me better and I learned and grew from that. Hopefully they learned from me as well. My goal was always to win, but do so with integrity and honor.”
Richards continued, “I took risks in starting several businesses which all paid off, thankfully, instead of taking the security of a steady paycheck, and I’m very proud of that. Creating Rate The Music and seeing the massive success of it, and then having the same happen with Test All Media is extremely satisfying. I was also proud to create what is now called Wango Tango when I was at KIIS. Against all odds, my promotions team and I pulled together a major sponsor and I started meeting personally with those artists (Luther Vandross, Richard Marx, Amy Grant, and others) who committed and helped bring it to life.” He added, “So many people are responsible for your success, and I also have to point out the production and imaging people who create the magic on the air between the music. Also the exceptional research firms who helped so much in winning the battle. All the on-air talent and support staffs I had the great pleasure to work with over the years — I can’t thank everyone enough. I look back on all the people I got to know and work with, and it’s truly such a blessing. To come from a small town in South Dakota and to have experienced all this is just mind-numbing.”
Looking ahead, Richards said, “I’m not one to sit around, but I will look forward to spending more time playing golf, guitar and doing some traveling soon, as well as delving more into my music recording. And who knows, maybe there will be something else coming down the pike that I might create…” Your best wishes may be sent directly to Bill at billrichardsmedia@gmail.com.
