CBS Radio Chief Says Radio Needs Courage

Andre Fernandez

At just 47, Andre Fernandez has already held senior executive positions at Telemundo, United Technologies Corp., GE and, most recently, Journal Communications, where he served as president/COO until taking the helm of CBS Radio (117 stations in 26 markets) in April 2015. In his first 10 months on the job, Fernandez says he has worked to create “more of a culture of innovation and risk-taking,” something he thinks the radio industry as a whole needs considerably more of. That helped earn him a spot on Billboard's recently published 2016 Power 100 list.

In an interview Billboard asked Fernandez about the biggest issue facing radio:

This industry needs to continue to innovate. When I look at a lot of the streaming services and a lot of digital development, I’m actually surprised sometimes that more hasn’t been done or developed by traditional over-the-air broadcasters … They need to invest more in R&D and to experiment and, for some reason, they don’t or they haven’t … Companies need to have the courage to plow profits back into R&D and, if they do, I think they can ensure their future.

That’s probably the biggest issue that I see. Having come from GE, a large industrial company where [research and development] and what we used to call “NPI” — new product introduction — are just so key to your business, and where many millions of dollars are spent every year, I just don’t see that as much or, at times, at all in this industry, and I think the industry needs it.

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