The head of Scripps Interactive - HGTV, the Food Network, and country network GAC - quotes former GE CEO Jack Welch, who preached "Change before you have to." Lowe told this morning's opening session of the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville that in a climate of "constant change," businesses need to show #1, innovation, #2, engagement (such as engaging listeners through social media) and #3, leadership. Of the six qualities he associates with leadership, the one he dwelled on was courage.
"You don't have to be a leader to be courageous," he said, "but you do have to be courageous to be a leader… It takes courage on many levels to turn our vision into reality."

"Cookie Cutter" thinking won't do it: Ken Lowe said, "Maybe we need to rely a little less on research and a little more on gut instinct." He suggested there's been an "over-reliance on research in radio," affecting the way the product sounds. In the early 1990s, the former radio DJ and PD suggested to Scripps that they launch a 24-hour cable network named HGTV, and corporate commissioned a research project to check it out. Lowe says the focus group results came back highly negative, and one researcher even said "the name HGTV sucks." Nevertheless, Lowe and his associates believed there was a place for a lifestyle channel that focused on the home and garden, and he told the CRS crowd, "I put the research in the trash can." The rest, as he said, is history.
He also spoke about how GAC is being slightly repositioned as more of a "lifestyle network," even using the slogan "GAC: Country Living."

Lowe was introduced by a surprise guest: Rick Dees, his former UNC-Chapel Hill roommate, who had the room laughing well before Lowe came up to the podium. One of Lowe's final quotes was from management guru Peter Drucker: "The best way to predict the future is to create it." That was Lowe's challenge about "courage" to a crowded room full of country radio PDs and executives as well as record label staffers.

The morning began with Carrie Underwood singing the Star Spangled Banner, and the keynote session was sponsored by Radio-Info.com, which offers the "Stark Country" newsletter by Phyllis Stark.