Karen Travis
Karen is a Virginia native and started her career after college in 1976 at General Cinema Corporation’s station, WIFI (now WXTU) in Philadelphia.  She started on the ground floor, working as a receptionist and programming assistant, and was introduced to sales later that year.  A transfer in her husband’s business took her to Cleveland where she joined the sales department at the then CBS affiliate owned by Storer Broadcasting, WJKW-TV8.  Following that, she accepted a position with the sales department at General Cinema’s, WGCL-FM (now WNCX) & WERE-AM, where she became their top billing rep within her first year.  Local sales management duties followed, and in 1984, Karen joined Blair’s WHDH-AM/WBOS-FM in Boston.  Later that year, Karen accepted an opportunity with the newly created broadcast software system, Tapscan, Inc. Tapscan was truly unique at that time because stations were rarely using personal computers in their sales departments to create presentation materials, let alone ratings analysis information … so the opportunity to introduce this new technology was exciting for her and the industry.  Between 1984 and 1992, Karen opened, staffed and managed the Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston offices for Tapscan, plus marketed the Tapscan software system to radio and TV station’s major corporate owners, individual station owners and managers.  She taught over 1,000 advertising executives how to create professional presentations, properly interpret and apply quantitative and qualitative ratings information (Arbitron, Scarborough, Media Audit, Simmons and MRI) to produce a proper schedule & advertising campaign for their clients and attain their selling or buying goals.  In 1992, Karen left Tapscan and transitioned her career into radio station ownership.  It became Karen’s company’s niche to take start-up stations with little or no revenues, implement professional programming and effectively hire and train the sellers in order to quickly turn the stations into competitive revenue producers.  They did it with sixteen stations in three different markets.  Her company purchased its first set of stations (WFNR AM/FM) in Blacksburg, Virginia, and following the passage of the Telecom act of 1996, that group grew to seven stations.  Her company then acquired three stations in Roanoke-Lynchburg, Virginia and six stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Within one to two years, their market revenues had increased from 283% to as much as 1010%.  After a period of growth, Karen’s company decided to sell its stations, consummating the sale of the last of its properties in December 2004.

Karen has been a successful broadcast seller, manager and owner for over 25 years.  Every job she has ever accepted or station she has ever purchased has involved growing the project from the ground up, turning it around and making it into a revenue winner.  While it’s not the easiest path to success, she has found it to be the most rewarding.  Karen has been a teacher and mentor to over a thousand radio reps, which she enjoys and finds very gratifying.  She joined the Advantage Systems team in June 2005 because she believes in the system and its ability to help the industry overcome its steep revenue generation and billing goal challenges, an aspect of the business she understands well as a former owner and manager.

Karen has been married since 1977 to Bob Travis, who has also enjoyed a career in radio as a successful major market radio programmer, station owner and manager.  They live in West Palm Beach, Florida and have two children. Both their son, Greg, and their daughter, Lori, attend Florida State University. Greg will complete his masters degree in 2009, and Lori began her freshman year there in 2007.  Karen’s community interests have included serving as a board member of the Chamber of Commerce, advocate and contributor to Battered Women’s and Children’s centers and member of Rotary International.  Karen’s personal interests include a love of travel, reading, swimming … and she hopes to get her former golf handicap back to a seven in the not too distant future!

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