Jon Sinton

Jon Sinton is an American broadcaster.

In 1980 Sinton moved from afternoon drive talent and Program Director of KDKB/Phoenix to Senior Consultant with the pioneering Burkhart/Abrams & Associates where he was part of the team responsible for the promotion, marketing, music selection and air talent of over 125 stations worldwide. The "SuperStars" rock format dominated markets from New York (WNEW-FM) to Los Angeles (KLOS-FM). In 1980, answering Fred Silverman's call to compete for young adults with the ABC Radio Networks, Mr. Sinton was given the responsibility of co-creating and growing "The Source" for NBC Radio. It remains the most successful radio network launch in history.

Sinton was a founding principal of ABS Communications, Inc. in 1984. ABS owned and operated five radio stations in four states. The stations were sold into consolidation in the mid-nineties. Concurrently, Mr. Sinton was President and CEO of Jon Sinton Associates, Inc., a privately held management consulting firm specializing in broadcasting. Carrying on the work he had done at Burkhart/Abrams, Mr. Sinton consulted dozens of stations and networks.

As an offshoot of the experience gained in the financial markets with ABS, JSA added a boutique investment banking service for broadcasters that closed over $250 million in equity and debt placement in radio and television in 1993 and 1994.

Also through JSA, Mr. Sinton turned his attention to program creation as Executive Producer of ABC Radio's "Hightower Radio", a nationally syndicated commentary program hosted by former Texas Agriculture Commissioner and populist author, Jim Hightower. JSA also did development work with:
*Time Warner on cable music
*Sony / Time Warner on the SW Radio Network launch
*CBS Radio and the Mayo Clinic on health programming
*Lee Masters and Tom Freston at MTV Networks (where, with Lee Abrams, Sinton had worked in 1982 for Bob Pittman)

As consolidation gripped radio in the aftermath of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Mr. Sinton began helping radio companies that were on the acquisition trail blend cultures with former rivals who were being acquired.

At the same time the government mandate for digital television and the wireless explosion caught JSA's eye. While researching a white paper on the prospects of "spectrum distribution" as an unregulated utility, the company began to explore the antiquated and at-capacity broadcast tower market. This exploration led to consulting work with a number of tower companies, and ultimately resulted in the sale of JSA to SpectraSite Communications Inc. in late 1999. As part of the deal, Mr. Sinton served as Vice President of SpectraSite Broadcast Group.

In late 2002, Mr. Sinton began work on what became Air America Radio, the first ever "Progressive Talk" network. According to a 2003 interview, this was a liberal network to balance the growth of conservative radio, such as Rush Limbaugh. Mr. Sinton took the concept of "formatic purity" from his consulting career in music radio, converted it to a Talk Radio model, and began to raise money. In March of 2004 AAR went on the air. In less than a year it had set growth records for network radio expansion by being on both satellite radio services (XM and Sirius), the Internet (where AAR is usually among the top five most streamed audio sources) and 50 terrestrial radio stations, primarily concentrated in the nation's largest cities. At its peak, AAR was heard on over 100 terrestrial stations by over 3 million people each week.

In late 2006 Mr. Sinton left Air America to form Progressive Agenda LLC, a re-envisioned consulting, management and production company that helps companies like Foneshow, shows like Planet Check and causes like Global Warming get attention and disribution.

In late 2007, the nationally syndicated radio show Ring of Fire (radio program) began billing Sinton as an executive producer.

References

* [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/interviews/sinton.html PBS]