Protect Your Radio Station From Digital Disruption If An Employee Leaves

Seth Resler

By: Seth Resler
Jacobs Media Strategies

Unfortunately, in the wake of the ongoing pandemic, we are seeing radio stations lose staff members to budget cuts. Even in the best of times, staff turnover can create disruption for radio stations that are unprepared. Often, that disruption looks like this: An employee departs and that person is the only one who has access to important digital accounts. Best case, they left under good terms and are willing to help the station get access to what it needs. Worst case, the departure left a bad taste in people’s mouths, and the former employee is unwilling to help.

Here are some tips to help you avoid this situation:

1. Make a master list of accounts.
Create a list of all of your radio station’s digital accounts and their login credentials so the appropriate employees can access them when they need to. Here’s an extensive list of the accounts that you might want to include. Give multiple employees access to this document so that if one departs, others can still get to it.

2. Know which accounts are single-login and which allow multiple users with different logins.
Some online services only provide a single username and password per account, while others accommodate multiple users, each with their own login credentials. In your master list, make a note of which accounts belong in which category. For single-login accounts, you will want to change the password when an employee leaves. For multiple-user accounts, you only need to revoke that person’s’ access privileges.

3. Use an email address that forwards to multiple people in your station.
Create an email address, such as digital@wkrp.com, that forwards to the email addresses of key personnel. Use this email address when creating digital accounts — especially the single-login accounts — instead of the email address of a specific employee. This way, if an employee leaves the station, other staffers can still recover lost passwords.

4. Designate a single credit card for use with digital accounts.
When different credit cards are used to pay for different digital services, it can add to the confusion. To keep things simple, use one credit card to pay for all of your digital accounts. If you’re ever asked to tally up all of your digital expenses, you won’t have to wade through multiple credit card statements to make sure you’ve got them all.

Losing an employee is never easy, but you can minimize the disruption by taking these simple steps. If you don’t act proactively, you may be dealing with the headache of tracking down orphaned digital accounts for years to come.

For more assistance on digital or social media, contact MAB Member Services at mab@michmab.com or 1-800-968-7622.

Editor’s Note: The views and opinions of this article do not necessarily reflect those of the MAB. Contact the MAB for information on the MAB’s official editorial policy.