60 in 60 Project: Insights into Success #60in60project #56of60 with Tim Wieczorek @ Rebel 101.7 FM

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With Tim Wieczorek

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Recap - The objective of this project was to meet with 60 business leaders and professionals in 60 days to gain insights and perspectives into what success means for each of them. I then took that information to see what, if any, are the connections I could make to help further my own understanding of what success really is.

Back in 2008, I had moved from Dryden, Ontario, here to Ottawa for a job working as a morning Traffic & Weather Announcer/Sales Executive for a company called Skywords Media, which was owned and operated by Torres Brothers Media. Around the time that I was leaving that position, the company was in the process of trying to acquire their own broadcasting licence for an all blues station here in the city called 101.9 DAWG FM, which has since reformatted to an all rock station and is now known as Rebel 101.7 fm. I didn’t know Tim prior to our interview, which was surprising given the size of the media community here in Ottawa, but I wanted to include some more people from the broadcast industry and given his experiences over the years, I knew he would make a nice addition to this project. I reached out to Tim here in LinkedIn and he was happy to share his thoughts and his story with me (us).

Who is Tim Wieczorek? (see photo above)

Tim Wieczorek is the Director of Operations at Rebel 101.7

Although it has changed quite a bit over the last 30 or so years, Tim is a graduate of Algonquin College for the same program in which I’m in my final year of, which back then was a two year program called Creative Advertising, whereas now it’s a 3 year course with the title: Advertising & Marketing Communications Management. Essentially though it’s the same foundation with new plumbing and some renovations.

“After high school, I did some travelling and then ended up working in a factory, which given my tendency to be somewhat accident prone, wasn’t the best fit for me. I also didn’t really enjoy the job very much and decided to go back to school. I started at Carleton University for Political Science & History, but I wasn’t very successful in that program and I could remember someone telling me about the Advertising Program at Algonquin, so I applied. After taking the necessary steps to get into the program, I was accepted and graduated two years later."

“As a kid, I was fascinated with the world of radio and I loved to listen; it was something I’d always had a keen interest in.”

That interest in radio only grew stronger by the time Tim graduated from the Creative Advertising program and it was that industry in which he set his sights on for a career. Through a contact he’d made while he was in school, Gary Perrin, who had been a guest speaker, Tim was able to land his first job in the broadcast industry working for CHEZ 106.1 here in Ottawa. The year was 1980.

“I worked for CHEZ for 3 years before moving over to CJOH TV, where I worked in sales, then back to CHEZ and their sister station CKBY. In April of 1988, I got a job with a station called CJSB and was brought on as their Sales Manager. It was originally owned by Standard Broadcasting and while I was there we flipped it to a station that was called 54 Rock, which years later would eventually become 106.9 The Bear.”

Tim tells me that he then left the broadcast industry for a short while and tried his luck in the restaurant business, in which he’s not ashamed to admit that he “failed spectacularly”.

“I then got married, had a daughter and went back to work at CKBY for a while, before eventually returning to CKQB (The Bear), until I was let go.”

As life has a tendency to consistently change for all of us, Tim decided to change with it and went into business for himself again, only this time as an advertising and media consultant; working with other businesses helping with media buying & planning as well providing some sales training.

“After that, I got a job working in Belleville, Ontario, for a radio station who for the previous 8 years hadn’t made any money. Within my first year there, I had us breaking even. The following year, we were making money. Then by the third year, the owner ended up selling the station and I was once again looking for work.”

It wasn’t very long however that Tim was out of a job, as he was quickly picked up by a station in Cornwall, Ontario, which was owned by Corus Entertainment. Tim stayed with Corus for another 3 years in Cornwall, before moving to Kingston, Ontario and accepting a position with one of their stations there, where he would spend the following 9 years until the unexpected happened.

“I got restructured again at the age of 56; I walked into work one day and they said to me that my position was now redundant and that was that. I moped around, trying to figure things out and worked on a few different projects for a while. One of which was a company I’d partnered in with called Appmedia, which morphed into VoIP phones and IT stuff, but nothing that I was really interested in.”

After wading through other possibilities and opportunities for the next couple of years, Tim ended up meeting with Ed Torres back in Ottawa and got the job working at Rebel 101.7 FM.

“Where I am right now, it’s the place where I’m able to use everything I’ve learned in my travels. I’ve done a lot of different things over the years and I’ve had some really great things happen as well as some really disappointing things, but truth be told, it’s been a blast overall. I’ve always worked for myself, on a commission basis and I’ve always enjoyed that although I’m sure my wife finds it a bit stressful at times. Now, I’m working here (at Rebel 101.7) as the Director of Operations; working both the programming and business side of the company and it’s been great. We’ve got a great team here; the radio business has been a bit topsy-turvy over the last number of years, especially since the time I had gotten involved, which has made the victim of some very talented people and I’ve been able to sort of gather up some of these folks and got all here in the same spot. We’re all very passionate about the business and we love rock music; especially here in Canada, where I don’t think the talent has been this good since the 1970’s.”

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

“Right here. That’s what I would love; to stay right where I am, but I’ve been around long enough to know that it doesn’t always work out that way. When I first met with Ed Torres, I told him, I’m 60 years old and because of that, a lot places don’t want me, but I’d still like to work for another 10 years, so that’s the goal.”

“What would I do if I didn’t work?” As Tim says with a smile, “It’s what I like to do; I like to listen to the radio and I like to listen to how it comes together. I love the business; there’s also this philanthropic aspect to it - you’re able to help different organizations and charities and it’s kind of amazing how you can make a difference in your community and there’s not many jobs in advertising where you can do that.

What would you say is your biggest accomplishment in life so far?

“Having my wife still like me after 24 years of marriage and raising our daughter together, those would be my biggest accomplishments.”

What are your driving factors?

“I think what I love about the business and it’s probably the main reason I keep coming back to it; it’s competitive and it’s measurable. Everyday you compete with your competition and you can measure how you did. You know when you won, you know when you’ve lost and it’s really like a marathon - if you have a bad week, then you dust yourself and come back the following week and try it again. For someone like myself who loves to compete, that’s a big driver for me. When I play a pickup game of hockey, I want to win. When I played rugby, I played to win. When I work, I want to win. I think that’s what drives me and what we’re doing right now (at Rebel), we have the opportunity to win and that’s been the same with everywhere for me.”

“I do believe in fair play, but if someone is okay with losing, then I’d prefer they play on someone else’s team.”

What does success mean for you?

“I think success is having a level of contentment with who you are and being comfortable in your own skin; not wishing you were someone or somewhere else and being thankful for what you have. A part of that success is also realizing that not everything I have is because of me - whether it’s my wife or my parents, friends or family or someone else altogether.”

“It’s also about when you fall down the ladder, which most people do, and then seeing who’s there to help you back up. In my experience, I’ve been fortunate to have people who are willing to help me and that to me is success. And that means a lot.”

Insight -

When I asked Tim about where he saw himself in 5 years, he said right where he was - he’d worked in the broadcast industry in one capacity or another for a number of years and now he’d finally found the perfect job that allowed him to utilize all his skills and experience that he’d acquired over that time. Although he’s over 60 years of age, he has no intention of giving that up now and I would completely agree with him - why give up your dream job after so many years of trying to get there? If you can find a spot that enables you to use all your skills and expertise to the best of your abilities and still find new experiences within that role from day to day, then there’s absolutely no reason to leave. Why would you?

“I like to be busy and I like to continue to be challenged. It makes my brain hurt some days, but I still have to think and I still have to experience new things.”

Although Tim’s career has spanned a few more years than a good majority of those who I’ve spoken to (37+), he was still very much into it and that was something that really impressed me. I think it’s hard for anyone to work for almost 40 years, regardless of what you do for a living. You then tack on all the trials and tribulations that are incorporated into that time and to still have that same passion all those years later, that was truly something to admire. I can remember my parents before they retired from their jobs at the Bank of Montreal, where they’d each worked for over 30 years; Although there were some elements to their jobs that they loved (more so the people), they couldn’t wait to retire and leave those jobs behind. I don’t want that to be my future and I’ll be damned if that happens to me. I’d like to think that the passion I currently have for writing will stay with me until my last breath, but because life is so precarious and unknown, it’s impossible to say that for certain. What I am sure of, which I believe is something Tim figured out long ago, is that I don’t want to work somewhere that doesn’t provide that passion for me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; work to live, don’t live to work.

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Hartley is a content marketer who has set out to meet 60 people in 60 days in order to find insights into the idea of success. If you would like to be profiled on this project, you can reach Hartley here on LinkedIn or via email: [email protected]. #60in60project