Tuesday, January, 19, 2021
Indianapolis – Emmis Communications announced today that Taja Graham will become its Indianapolis Radio Market President on March 1, 2021.
Emmis owns news/talk WIBC, adult contemporary B105, country Hank FM, sports/talk “The Fan”, and Network Indiana. Graham is currently Vice President, Sales and will immediately become Deputy Market Manager retaining her sales responsibilities and working with current Indianapolis Radio Market Manager Bob Richards to transition into the market leadership role. Following the transition, Richards plans to pursue other career interests.
Graham has spent 22 years with Emmis in a variety of radio sales and promotions leadership roles. She is a graduate of the Radio Advertising Bureau’s Mentoring and Inspiring Woman in Radio (MIW) Rising Through the Ranks program and was an MIW Mildred Carter Mentoring Program Finalist. Graham is also a past recipient of Junior Achievement of Central Indiana Indy’s Best and Brightest and the Center for Sales Strategy Super Hero designation. She is a graduate of Butler University.
“Bob approached us last year with this plan and strongly endorsed Taja to succeed him in the role,” said Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan. “Taja has been a huge part of creating our winning culture at Emmis. Her commitment to building and developing great teams is directly correlated with our top-ranked position in the Indianapolis market. I’m thrilled to see our home-grown talent like Taja succeed and look forward to the impact she will have on our great brands in the years to come.”
Richards has been with Emmis for 11 years, the past three and a half years as market manager. Richards built a reputation as one the radio industry’s best country music programmers during his tenure as an Operations Manager and Program Director at Emmis, Cumulus, and Susquehanna. During Richards’ market manager tenure, Emmis Indianapolis was consistently the top ranked radio group in both revenues and ratings.
Smulyan commented on Richards, “I can’t thank Bob enough for his contributions over the past decade and in particular his leadership as market manager. His passion and desire to win have been hallmarks of his leadership and positioned our team for a great future. I wish Bob every success as he charts the course for his next career adventure and thank him for all he’s meant to Emmis.”
Emmis Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: EMMS) currently owns 4 FM and 2 AM radio stations in New York and Indianapolis, as well as Indianapolis Monthly magazine. Emmis also owns a controlling interest in Digonex, which provides dynamic pricing solutions across multiple industries, and Lencore, the world leader in high-quality sound masking solutions for offices and other commercial applications.