The Green Bay Press-Gazette visits with newsmakers in the business world each week in its Monday Conversation feature. This week, Joseph R. Giganti, president and chief operating officer of Allouez-based Sovereign City Communications, gives some background about the company as well as current and future projects.

Q. Sovereign City has several distinct companies. What are the companies? What is the main thrust of each company?

A. There are two main components of Sovereign: Sovereign City Communications and Sovereign City Radio Services. There is a third company, Sovereign City Properties that is the holding company for several nonbroadcast properties, but doesn't actually transact any business.

And then there is Music That Matters Inc., which is the parent organization to a noncommercial, nonprofit, radio station we are in the midst of acquiring.

I am president and chief operating officer of Sovereign City Communications, which is a full-service content and promotions company. At this time, our main focus is building high-quality radio content to be syndicated to stations across the nation. We are also currently considering television-based opportunities and have led the grassroots promotion for the release of the major motion picture, "Bella."

Sovereign City Radio Services is based in Chicago and is under the leadership of Scott Krusinski. SCRS is focused on radio station acquisitions, divestitures and brokerage services to third parties. SCRS recently completed its first major acquisition, WNTD (950 AM), Chicago. SCRS is currently reviewing several stations for possible acquisitions, as well as representing other organizations looking to sell all or parts of their station groups.

Q. Sovereign City is moving into the former Relevant Radio facility on Riverside Drive in Allouez. What connection, if any, does Sovereign City have with Relevant Radio?

A. Sovereign City and Relevant Radio are two separate companies that are not bound in any legal way.

We chose the site because the layout was a natural for a studio/office complex, a great location overlooking the Fox River and a positive past experience/relationship with the building's owner.

The only loose connection between the two is Sovereign's founder and chairman, Mark Follett, was also one of the founders of Relevant Radio.

Q. The portion of Sovereign City of which you lead has developed a radio format that will soon be marketed to stations nationwide. What can you tell us about the format?

A. Our first major product rollout for Sovereign City is a new hybrid adult contemporary format that will go into beta testing locally in January 2008 and will be unveiled in national syndication on April 2. While we are keeping most details close to the vest until our launch, I can tell you that the format will "re-introduce" listeners to songs they've heard many times before, but never known quite in the same way. The format is also designed to bring back a little bit of that old-time radio feel that features engaging and entertaining personalities that add to the listener's experience, rather than regurgitating standard liners, and comes complete with an extensive playlist that will feature everything from Bob Marley to The Beach Boys, from U2 to the Doobie Brothers, from Jimmy Wayne to Randy Travis and from Steve Miller to Eric Clapton. But there is a certain "secret sauce" that ties it all together that we believe will fill an audience need that is otherwise being ignored right now.

The format will be delivered to radio stations via satellite and will be available as a 24/7 format, or stations will have the option to take a particular day-part based on their needs.

Q. What was the process of creating a new radio format like? How long did it take? Who worked on it?

A. The creative process of media is why I first got involved in the business and continues to be my favorite part. It is a very exciting, time consuming and, ultimately, rewarding process.

In this case, it began with the seed idea from our founder, Mark Follett, which traces its root to several years back. Late last year, Mark began the process of assembling his team, which included a trip to Washington, D.C., where he invited me to join this amazing effort.

My first trip to Green Bay was in late January 2007, where I met a remarkable group of men and women that each brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. This included people with strong financial discipline, radio professionals with local and national experience, creative experts, media types and others with a passion for the project that formed the core group that has brought this to fruition.

By the time our beta test begins, we will have spent a year developing this concept.

Q. How do you go about pitching a new format to stations?

A. Part of the process in the past year has been to identify key professionals to add to our team that brought a particular discipline to the process. One of the most important was to assemble a strong affiliate relations sales team whose job it is to market the format to radio stations across the country.

We have recently put into place a three-member team that collectively has about 35 years of experience. They will engage station general managers, program directors, and medium and large station group owners by phone, in person at conventions and through one-on-one contact to convince them to carry the format.

The challenge is to convince decision makers that this format will engage their audience to a degree that it will either maintain their current levels while cutting the station's overhead or grow that audience without increasing their costs.

Q. What is "Music That Matters?"

A. Music That Matters Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation that will soon take ownership of a local noncommercial radio station that will offer community outreach and on which we will beta test our new format. (Although the format will ultimately be offered to commercial, for-profit stations.)

The station — WOVM (91.1 FM) — will begin its change this Friday when we will flip formats to an all-Christmas music format. Some of the ingredients to our new adult contemporary format will be reflected in how we're doing Christmas music, such as a more extensive playlist with an emphasis on the positive and more reflective of the true meaning of the season.

And the timing also allows us to engage the community and contribute to the culture, musically speaking, at one of the greatest times of the year.

Q. Looking ahead, what other projects are on tap for the next several years?

A. Based in part on the reaction to our initial offering, Sovereign City hopes to expand its music offering through the creation of the secondary formats, particularly in country and oldies, in the next 18 to 24 months.

Additionally, we have plans to branch out into talk radio programming in the next 12 to 18 months. In both cases, we are looking at the creation of day-parted products (shows created for a specific timeslot) as well as 24/7 network feeds.

With the advent of HD radio (www.ibiquity.com), we believe that there will be higher demand for radio programming in general, and that the additional channels that HD will create will also generate a specific demand for programming that not only engages the audience, but can trail blaze the way to profitability on these channels. It is our intention to lead that charge.

Q. What else should people know about Sovereign City?

A. Sovereign City wants to raise the bar in broadcasting by leading by example. Ours is a holistic approach, meaning that the people, the values, the techniques and the tools used to create the final product are as much of a reflection on the company as the product itself.

To that end, we are continuing our people search that will translate into 45 new hires over the next 12 months.

— Compiled by Bob Van Enkenvoort/Press-Gazette