With a creative legacy that spans forty years, Doug Harris has earned a reputation as the world’s premiere broadcast marketing consultant.
A former Billboard Magazine Promotion Director of the Year, and the recipient of dozens of industry accolades, Harris has made a practice of out-thinking, rather than outspending his competitors in ratings and revenue battles and has demonstrated a unique ability to blend the needs of programming with those of sales.
A former syndicated movie critic and a frequent speaker at gatherings of broadcast professionals, Harris has addressed marketing groups in twenty-six foreign countries on five continents and was a featured presenter at the NAB Europe for eight consecutive years.
A 2011 inductee in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame who currently serves as that organization’s Executive Director, Harris is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and a founding member and former President of the Houston Film Critics Society.
As President of Creative Animal International and Chief Creative Officer of Noisemaker Communications, Harris creates clutter-busting campaigns for a variety of clients worldwide.
Here are a few highlights of Harris’ broadcast career…so far:
–Served as promotions and marketing director for legendary AOR KLOL-FM in Houston during its heyday; assisted in the generation of record ratings and revenue growth during his twelve-year stint.
–Was named Promotions Director of the Year by FMQB and Billboard magazines.
–During his career, claimed Halley’s Comet as Texas Sovereign territory, gave away a producing oil well, named a Texas Ambassador to Australia, and sent listeners to spend Halloween night in Dracula’s castle in Transylvania
–Was a witness for the defense in the Texas trial of the late rock legend David Crosby.
–Developed promotional campaigns that garnered national attention for Texas Radio Hall of Fame personalities like John Lisle and Steve Hahn, Stevens and Pruett, Dayna Steele, Moby, and Lanny Griffith
–With PD Ken Anthony, created and launched the popular nighttime program Outlaw Radio which received national attention during the 90’s
–In the late 1980’s and mid-1990’s, pioneered the concept of cooperative event marketing between programming and sales with projects like the KLOL Street Machine Nationals, Rockfest, The Rock-n-Roll Auctions, the Rock-n-Roll Softball Championships of the World, the Groove Dog Jamboree, and The Miss Rockwear Pageants
–Produced seven Stevens and Pruett, black tie Holiday Balls, including one carried live as a pay-per-view special on national cable television
–Gained national media attention with his campaign for Dean and Rog of Classic Rock 93.7 in Houston, which convinced a listener to legally change his name to Obi Wan Kenobi in exchange for $1,000.
–As a consultant, engineered the promotions campaign that re-launched KISS-FM in San Antonio in 1991 on a budget of $1800, recruiting Miller Beer as the “sponsor” of the station’s return to the airwaves.
–As a consultant, engineered the promotions campaign that launched KTBZ-FM/The Buzz in Houston in 1995; the station continues to be a market leader over 30 years later;
–Launched the first KLOL Rock-n-Roll Auction in Houston which grew from a shopping mall record store to a 17,000-seat venue, raising over $500,000 for charities in its ten-year run (all produced by Harris). Celebrity auctioneers included Jon Bon Jovi, Gene Simmons, Lindsey Buckingham, Ann and Nancy Wilson, and dozens of others. This event sponsorship sustained record-breaking buys from beer companies during its ten existence.
–When Miller Beer expressed interest in a charity softball game, Harris rented the Astrodome and staged a showdown between KLOL’s morning and afternoon drive teams, with celebrity players Joan Jett and Meat Loaf. Year two featured Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander and his Playmate wife Pam Stein, Journey’s Jonathan Cain and Dweezil Zappa.
–In 1990, in concert with Playboy Enterprises, Harris launched the Playmate Broadcasting Team, which featured Playmates filling in for vacationing morning shows on rock stations in Houston and Philadelphia. The concept was later poached by satellite radio programmers who repurposed it to create The Playboy Channel. But Harris is not bitter.
–Staged the first known drag races between ambulances, Rolls Royce’s, beer trucks, golf carts, and Lamborghinis—and made money for KLOL-FM as well as headlines.
–Produced live broadcasts for his station clients from the Grammy’s, the Soviet Union, and Bill Wyman’s Sticky Fingers Café in London
–Has been credited with the ratings and revenue growth of stations in Tyler, San Antonio, Austin, Midland-Odessa, Houston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Dallas not to mention Budapest, Bucharest, Berlin, Aarhus (2nd largest city in Denmark) and other points across the globe.
–Produced the world’s only school for radio promotion directors, Adventures in Broadcasting for seven years in three different cities;
–Created a campaign for News 92 FM (KROI-FM/Houston) centered on “Cronkite, the News 92 FM Newshound” which enlisted the help of a live beagle as a station mascot and generated over $100,000 in sales revenue in two years.
Reach Doug Harris at (713) 569-7716 or Doug@GetMeDougHarris.com !
