MSN:  Please describe your current position. How long have you been in the position and with the company?
Rhoads:  I am the founder-Chairman of Radio Ink and Streamline Publishing, which I started in 1986.

MSN:  How did you get this position?
Rhoads:  I felt there was a need for a good radio management publication so I purchased a floundering publication, renamed it and refocused it.

MSN:  What interested you in this position?
Rhoads:  I felt radio needed an agitator to question the status quo and keep promoting new thinking and new ideas.

MSN:  How did you get into media?
Rhoads:  I stumbled into a radio station as a kid, fell in love with the magic of the business and have been at it ever since

MSN:  How did you get hired by your current company?
Rhoads:  The best way to get hired is to start your own company. That’s what I did.

MSN:  What has been the most challenging for you in your career?
Rhoads:  Nothing gets easy. I never expected that. I assumed that with time things got easier but because things change it impacts the decisions you face. I think the hardest challenge for me today is staying current. I fight hard to stay on top of technology and business trends. You have to make a concerted effort to stay current.

MSN:  What is your favorite part of your job?
Rhoads:  I like being stretched and challenged. I have had this magazine 20 years… I don’t want 1 year of experience 20 times, I want 20 new years of experience to keep it interesting and challenging. I like learning but again you have to work hard at it by reading everything you can get your hands on, attending things outside of your industry and jumping into new things you know nothing about so you are immersed and forced to learn.

MSN:  What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into a similar career?
Rhoads:  The most important thing you can do today is learn not earn. If you learn the earning will come. Its not about money at the early stages, its about networking, getting known, and absorbing everything you can learn about the business. If you are focused on money too soon your decisions will be colored by that goal. I think the goal should be about becoming the world’s foremost expert and the best connected. Money happens once you have accomplished the goal of being the best.

MSN:  What tools helped prepare you for this position?
Rhoads:  It all helps. Learn in the fastest most efficient way… from others who have already made the mistakes. This is done thru having mentors, attending conferences, listening to audio training and books and reading. Everything you need to learn has already been learned elsewhere. Capture their lessons and you speed up your own.

MSN:  What set you apart from other candidates?
Rhoads:  I was less qualified. I did not have a good education; I did not know anyone in the business to help me. I got a job in a radio station as the low man on the pole. I worked hard and worked my way up. It was slower than I wanted but in retrospect it was fast. Today people want people willing to work harder than anyone else. If you are that person it gets noticed, stands above the fray and opportunity will fall in your lap. Excel at everything you do. Don’t be average, be exceptional. Time disappears quickly. Make progress toward your goals each day and make sure your goals are well defined and as exact as possible.