Today we’d like to introduce you to Vince Benedetto.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Vince. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I made a leap of faith into being an entrepreneur after a military career. My background was actually in counter-intelligence in the Air Force. I attended the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) after graduation from High School. From there, I was selected for a very unique career field in the Air Force. I became a Special Agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigation, known as O.S.I. Special Agents for O.S.I. are responsible for conducting felony level investigations and engaging in counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism activities world-wide in support of our Air Force and Department of Defense operations. I was also an Air Force Officer. As such, I learned great lessons in leadership, perseverance, team building and measured risk-taking. My work also had me traveling around the world working with people from many different cultures, points of views and agendas. I had to learn how to make complex relationships work to create win-win situations as often as possible… often times under extremely challenging and sometimes dangerous situations. When I eventually left the Air Force, these experiences gave me some unique skill sets as a new and young entrepreneur. About 13 years ago I formed my company, Bold Gold Media Group. Bold Gold has become a growing broadcast and media company with thirteen radio stations throughout Pennsylvania and New York, with listeners and social media followers throughout the country, and especially concentrated in the Northeast.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being a business owner can never be a totally ‘smooth road’. The very nature of business means that you are constantly adapting, pivoting and re-calibrating. Perhaps the most challenging time was during the ‘Great Recession’ which began around 2009 and continued for years. I formed my company in 2005, and just about the time I really felt I had things figured out, the world changed dramatically! The recession hit so many businesses and industries so hard. In fact, many of my business mentors, to whom I would often turn to for advice, did not survive the downturn. It was a rather lonely and scary feeling. However, as I learned at the Academy, failure is not an option. I therefore forced myself to try to seek out the opportunities that such a dramatic economic change afforded my company. And it was during this time that we expanded the quickest. It became a buyer’s market very quickly, and we changed from being a company that was focused mostly on top-line revenue growth of our existing properties, to focusing on acquisition growth. During the recession we doubled our station count and size, acquiring these additional assets at extremely good prices. This allowed us to keep our leverage down while quickly expanding our reach and capabilities. Ultimately, this led to the increased growth of top-line revenue even in a depressed market.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Bold Gold Media Group story. Tell us more about the business.
Bold Gold Media Group is a media company that specializes in over-air radio broadcasting, mobile broadcasting technology, and social & digital media. Our slogan is: “On-air. Online. Mobile. Social. Live & Local.” On the radio side, we’re known for our great community focused radio stations in Northeast Pennsylvania and Upstate New York. We have AM & FM stations that cover the historic regions of Scranton & Wilkes-Barre, the Pocono Mountains, and the New York Catskills & Hudson Valley. Additionally, we have one of the most technologically advanced mobile apps in radio, the RadioBOLD App, which streams all of our stations and integrates our social media into a single powerful app available for free on Apple and Android devices. We also have one of the most followed stations in America on Facebook! The River 105 & 103.5, which has its live on-air studio inside the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino! Thousands of people a day get to see broadcasting happening right before their eyes! We call it, “radio you can see!” This station has nearly 900,000 Facebook followers, reaching millions of people in the aggregate each week! It has become a nationally known online phenomenon for music and entertainment news and information! We have a particularly large number of followers of this station throughout New England. The social sites handle for this station is: @TheRiverNEPA. I believe what sets Bold Gold apart is our entrepreneurial spirit! I like to tell people that I got into radio not because of what it was, but what it is going to be! We are a true hybrid company… blending the best of legacy media with the best in ‘new’ media!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Broadcast radio is actually a very healthy business with amazing reach and cash flow. According to Nielsen Audio, broadcast radio reaches well over 90% of the U.S. population each and every week! Most people don’t know it, but radio is the largest ‘mass reach’ medium in the world! It also has tremendous business fundamentals. When you think about it, it makes total sense. Local radio is free, mobile, high quality and localized to where you live! And everyone has a radio! And now, with great apps like RadioBOLD, people have a radio with them wherever they are! If you have a phone you have a radio! People also have a very personal connection to their favorite local radio station, often referring to it possessively as, “my radio station!” With that said, audio consumption is changing! We are actually living in the golden age of audio! Audio demand is exploding! Listening and consuming audio has become easier, and as such, people are consuming more audio across more platforms than ever before! Radio companies’ main business is audio! So, I see radio companies as uniquely positioned to grow and evolve during this era of technological advancements. Also, local radio stations also know their communities best. A great local radio station is, in many ways, the pulse or voice of a local community! It will take on the character of a local community. Over the coming years I see enormous opportunities for radio and media companies to increasingly find ways to expand the audio offerings on-air, online and on mobile for their listeners, as well as being able to offer more powerful marketing tools for businesses. Radio has the unrivaled ability to offer both mass reach, with an emotional message that can attract new customers, while concurrently offering highly targeted offerings to reach consumers interested in a specific product or service at a specific time!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BoldGoldMedia.Com
- Phone: 570-352-6578
- Email: vbenedetto@boldgoldmedia.com
- Instagram: @TheRiverNEPA
- Facebook: @TheRiverNEPA
- Twitter: @TheRiverNEPA
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