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Sam Zniber

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Sam Zniber (born 1969, Casablanca) is a French radio executive who has overseen programming at radio stations and radio networks in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, and France.

Career

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His career began at NRJ France in 1986,[1] where he worked as producer, radio host, and production director for eleven years. In the 1990s, he became a TV host at France's main national television channels TF1 and France 2, presenting music shows.[2]

In 1997, he joined RTL Group, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, to become program director of Fun TV, a youth music cable television.[3] In 1998, he was made program director of Fun Radio in France,[4][5] and in 1999, introduced the "soul & dance" rhythmic contemporary hit radio format (CHR).[6] In 2005, Zniber returned to RTL Group France as Group Program Director for Fun Radio and RTL2.[citation needed]

The UK’s Chrysalis Group recruited Zniber in 2001 as program director of the Galaxy radio network stations in Manchester and Newcastle (now Capital FM).[7][8] In a few months, Galaxy went from third to first place in the ratings in Newcastle.[9]

He worked for Clear Channel with Mix 106.5 in Sydney Australia between 2003 and 2005,[7] creating a soft adult contemporary format called "Smooth Variety" and lifted the station's lead in market share for females 25-54 to 6% ahead of its closest competitor station.[10] In 2004 he was a speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters' European conference,[11] and at the Sciences Po University in Paris.

In 2007, Zniber operated as Vice President of Programming at Lagardere Group,[12] overseeing the programming of twenty-three radio networks in seven countries in Europe and South Africa.[7][13] In June 2008 he was appointed as director of the division of music stations Virgin Radio and RFM Lagardère Active. Following an audience decrease for Virgin Radio France from 5.9% to 4.7% between September and October 2009, he departed in November 2009.[1]

He worked from 2010 as a programming and marketing consultant for radio stations and radio networks in Brazil, France, Spain and other countries as Vice President of Radio Intelligence, a research company for radio.[14][15]

From 2012 he was program director at Magic 102.7 WMXJ-FM in Miami, Florida,[16][17][18][19] where market share grew to 5.1% in December 2013 from 2.8% in April 2012 in the Arbitron PPM ratings.[7]

In August 2014 Zniber was made program director at CKBE-FM ("The Beat 92.5 FM") in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[20][21][22] In March 2015 The Beat 92.5 had a 19.9 per cent rating overall, more than five points higher than Virgin Radio Montreal. The Beat had the highest audience figures for the first time with listeners adults 25-54, females 25-54, males 25-54, adults 18-49 and adults 18-34. "The Beat Breakfast" also had the highest audience figures for morning show in female listeners 25-54, and the highest morning show figures among all English-language FM stations in Montreal. Its morning show with Sarah Bartok and Cat Spencer, which was fourth in the market a year previously, was first in that age group, and had higher audience figures than CHOM-FM among men age 25 to 54.[23]

In November 2016 RADIO INTELLIGENCE, involved in strategy and research for radio and music platforms has appointed SAM ZNIBER as Vice President and Strategic Consultant.[24]

In November 2020 Sam Zniber has introduced MusicDatak, an algorithm-based music research tool specifically for radio stations, retail brands and music curators. MusicDatak automatically detects hits, verifies information, organizes and prioritizes hits according to the degree of audience satisfaction or fatigue in a precise location. It uses data sources from music platforms, radio airplay and social media music charts. The tool aims to help radio stations make better-informed decisions about their music categories in GSelector and MusicMaster scheduling systems.[25]

Zniber completed executive courses at the Harvard Business School.[9] and at UCLA.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Lagardère Active - Départ de Sam Zniber". RadioActu (in French). 30 November 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  2. ^ "sam zniber.m4v". YouTube. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Sam Zniber nommé Directeur des Programmes du Pôle Radios Musicales". edubourse.com (in French). 5 June 2008.
  4. ^ "Claude Sertorio prend la tête de RTL2 et de Fun Radio". Le Nouvel Observateur (in French). 29 June 2005. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  5. ^ "Satellimag, No. 20" (PDF) (in French). Satellifax. 4 July 2005.
  6. ^ "Fun Radio - Meilleur résultat depuis 3 ans - Actualité radio - RadioActu". RadioActu (in French). Archived from the original on 14 March 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d "Sam Zniber On Successful Music Radio Programming Strategies". Radio-ILOVEIT. 19 January 2014.
  8. ^ Julia Day (15 October 2002). "Chrysalis reshuffles Galaxy management". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Sam Zniber becomes Vice President of Radio Intelligence". radiointelligence.com. 17 March 2010.
  10. ^ "PD Sam Zniber moving on from Mix 106.5". radioinfo.com.au. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  11. ^ "Australians Speak at Europe NAB". radioinfo.com.au. 21 October 2004.
  12. ^ "Expansion plans for French radio group as Sam Zniber joins LARI". 17 January 2007.
  13. ^ "Sam Zniber appointed Program Director of the Music Radio Division". Lagardère. 5 June 2008.
  14. ^ "Nominations". Le Monde (in French). 22 March 2010.
  15. ^ "Evolution of the program director" (PDF). Blue Evolution. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  16. ^ "Au pays de l'oncle Sam". La Lettre Pro de la Radio (in French). 12 November 2013.
  17. ^ "WMXJ Names Sam Zniber PD". All Access Music Group. 14 June 2012.
  18. ^ "People Moves". Inside Radio. 6 November 2012.
  19. ^ Lance Venta (2 August 2012). "WMXJ Miami Retools". RadioInsight.
  20. ^ "Sam Zniber To Program CKBE". All Access Music Group.
  21. ^ Steve Faguy (21 November 2014). "Anne-Marie Withenshaw suing 92.5 The Beat over contract termination". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  22. ^ Steve Faguy (4 August 2014). "The Beat appoints Sam Zniber as new program director". fagstein.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  23. ^ Steve Faguy (16 March 2015). "The Beat jumps ahead in Montreal radio ratings". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  24. ^ "Radio Intelligence Names Sam Zniber VP, Strategic Consultant". 9 November 2016.
  25. ^ "Zn1berMed1a Launches MusicDatak". 5 November 2020. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2023.