Colleen Griffiths
Owner and President of Undiscovered Radio Network, Inc.
Often described as pertinacious, resourceful, hard working but most of all fun to be around, Colleen has dedicated her life to the pursuit of all things musical. She began playing piano at the age of 4 and picked up violin, flute mandolin and many others so that by the age of 18 she was classically trained in 6 different instruments and had already began an amateur career playing in many bands, orchestras etc. Although a well versed musician, Colleen’s passion for music did not include a passion for performing so her college years were spent first in the pursuit of a degree in audio production. Her senior year lead her down a different path though, a good friend and professor convinced her that she was better suited to interact with people rather than plug-ins. She finished her degree in broadcast management and left to pursue and career in radio. (A perfect compromise, still surrounded by music but not the pressure of performance.
Colleen received her Bachelors degree in telecommunications, media management from Ohio University in 1995. She went to work in Baltimore, MD at WPOC FM part of Nationwide Communications. She left Baltimore 6 moths later to move closer to her hometown and went to work for WTCR AM/FM, then part of Commodore Media which eventually purchased 8 more stations and became part of Clear Channel Communications. While interested in programming and music, her career in radio was on the sales and marketing side starting as sales intern and moving her way to the position of Marketing and Public Affairs Director of the 10 station Clear Channel Cluster in Huntington, WV.
In 2002, the radio industry was feeling the tension produced by the business practices and mass consolidation from companies such as Clear Channel. Colleen’s passion for radio was being surpassed by her love of music and those who create it and so she left Clear Channel to pursue other opportunities. In 2005 she completed her Master’s Degree from O.U. and hoped to become a full time professor. Her experience with the radio industry and the changes that she saw occurring influenced her to create a change to counter the negative forces that were preying on the broadcast and music industries. What better way to create a change than to influence the next generation of professionals. Colleen began teaching at Ohio University as an adjunct professor and the idea for Undiscovered Radio Network, Inc. was born from a culmination of ideas stemming from her career experience, her studies during the Master’s program and the students she was influencing in her classroom.
The breaking point came when during spring 2005 she was teaching a class at OU and brought in a guest speaker and long time friend, Kevin Martin, lead singer of the band Candle box and owner of the indie label Tympanic Records. During Kevin’s visit, he asked her to help with his indie label and after much persuasion; Colleen began to test her knowledge on the record side of the industry. In the end, her work with Tympanic was the final push to create what is now Undiscovered Radio Network. Her love of music and radio and the lack of access for indie musicians and decline of listening by younger generations set fire to her passion. That is the mission of URN to both allow good music to be heard and fans to be a part of the growth experience.
Colleen is sole owner and president of URN today. The company currently has two programs for the rock and country formats and plans for future development in other formats. Colleen still pursues teaching as adjunct professor at Ohio University and teaches private music lessons to students in her local community.
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LINKS:
Check out this interview with Colleen
