Job Description:
Who We Are:
Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) is a member-supported public media network whose mission is to strengthen the civic and cultural bonds that unite Southern California's diverse communities by providing the highest quality news and information service on air at LAist 89.3, online at LAist.com and through LAist Live Programming & Events. Since our founding in 1999, SCPR has been a fast growing, innovative, multi-platform public service newsroom. Every day, our staff helps audiences catch up on the latest headlines, solve the complexities of life in Southern California, and connect curious communities to one another.
Position Summary:
The Audience Experience Manager will manage the patron journey for events inclusive of event-related communications, ticketing, and audience services for SCPR’s forum programs and live events platform. Events take place virtually and in-person in the Crawford Family Forum (CFF) at Southern California Public Radio’s Mohn Broadcast Center and off-site in the communities of Southern California.
The Audience Experience Manager is responsible for managing event-related promotions and communications, box office and RSVP processes, data tracking, and developing key audience insights and metrics for success in collaboration with other teams in support of SCPR goals. The Audience Experience Manager will serve as a principal point of contact to the general public and is therefore responsible for being an ambassador for LAist and SCPR and ensuring a welcoming, trustworthy and professional atmosphere. They will provide support to the logistical implementation of on-site, off-site, virtual, and hybrid events and coordinate additional uses of the facility, including choices among competing priorities.
Compensation: The salary for this opportunity will be no less than $78,298 annualized and no more than $90,000 annualized. Exact salary determined by experience and education related to the role, organizational compensation structure, budget and internal equity.
Position Responsibilities:
Event Communications
- Oversee event ticketing and RSVP functions including managing SCPR’s Ticketleap and Etix platforms; Serve as primary liaison for external box offices; Distribute RSVP lists internally as needed; Coordinate with internal departments to allocate comps, process internal ticket purchases, and ensure ticketing platform’s security compliance;
- Facilitate promo production and scheduling requests and coordinate with Traffic team to provide regular updates on upcoming events and incoming requests;
- Write and distribute audience-facing communications such as events blasts, RSVP reminders, and post-event surveys;
- Coordinate with Membership team on event-related eblasts;
- Work with Marketing team on all event-related promotions and awareness campaigns;
- Serve as primary point of contact on public events and provide direct audience/customer support;
- Coordinate and communicate points of access for events to our audience, such as parking, transportation, transcripts, accessibility, and other event attendance information;
- Deploy event-related audience feedback surveys for events platform and track data received;
- Communicate with internal teams on event planning and scheduling;
- Respond to inquiries or requests for use of the CFF from interested community groups and the public;
Front of House (FOH)
- Coordinate all FOH activity before, during, and after events including house managers, technical/operations staff, ushers, booksellers, hospitality, and other necessary personnel; Serve as primary FOH/hospitality vendor liaison; Serve as house manager when necessary;
- Development and implement a new volunteer program in coordination with People & Culture team; Coordinate, manage, recruit, and help steward all event-related volunteers; Provide FOH training to volunteers to support check in, ushering, and tabling;
- Ensure well-being of audience, program participants, and event staff by adhering to local health policies, procedures, and LAist’s event-related values, commitments, and code of conduct;
Audience Development
- In collaboration with the Marketing team, track performance of unique event tracking codes by platform;
- Collect audience and event data; Track event metrics;
- Serve as primary email strategy liaison to develop email acquisition and newsletter opt-in pipeline and member warming campaigns;
- Review, track, and analyze email performance over time and collaborate with members of the Product and Engagement teams to identify areas for improvement and carry out actionable items from these findings;
- Work with Product and Engagement teams to analyze all email addresses collected from events and develop key audience insights and metrics for success in collaboration with team and organizational goals;
- Work with the Membership department on instituting and updating a new Customer Relations Management system; Manage the upload of current and backlogged audience data to CRM;
- Work with Executive Director on the tracking and analysis of demographic data for program and participants and prepare quarterly updates;
Event Management and Venue Support
- Support SCPR’s commitment to DEIA by assisting in the implementation of the event platform’s DEIA framework for events;
- In conjunction with the technical director, respond to inquiries or requests for use of the CFF from interested community groups and the public;
- Coordinate with event producers and managers on the logistical implementation of pan-organizational events that are consistent with SCPR's mission, strategic plan, priorities, and organizational standards;
- Coordinate with the team to ensure coverage of house and FOH needs. Provide real-time audience support for CFF, off-site, and virtual events in collaboration with Operations as needed. This may include assisting with load-in, set-up, load-out, CFF kitchen and storage upkeep and maintenance, etc;
- In collaboration with the technical director, maintain a framework for internal and external use of the CFF, events calendar, CFF policies and procedures manual, and CFF usage agreements;
- Manage shared organizational accounts, FOH inventory, vendor lists/relationships, preferred caterers, and maintain supplies for greenroom and marketing collateral;
- In collaboration with the technical director, manage greenroom set-up and strike and order catering for all staff, venue personnel, and talent;
- Assist in ongoing research for prospective venues and in collaboration with the rest of the team, regularly update venue database;
- Assist in ongoing research on event partnership opportunities and in collaboration with the rest of the team, regularly update partnership database;
- Assist in ongoing event sponsorship cultivation and implementation;
- Submit and process invoices for payment to both internal and external clients; submit all requests to open POs with the finance team;
- Facilitate event-related licensing and permitting;
- In collaboration with event producers, facilitate release appearance requests, contract requests, and contracts for execution with vendors, talent, sponsors, venues, and freelancers;
- Assist with event budget preparation;
- Attend and assist in monthly finance meetings;
- Maintain digital and hard copy filing systems and events archive for all legal and financial paperwork, historical event materials;
Required Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree;
- Experience with event and/or production coordination, theatre, and/or performances;
- Experience with in-person and virtual public and private events;
- Experience with online ticketing platforms and in-person box office operation;
- Experience with front of house (FOH) management;
- Experience with crafting event-related and/or customer service messaging;
- Significant experience with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and Google Workspace;
- Interest in public media, events, and/or production;
Required Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:
- Audience and customer-focused individual;
- Highly organized;
- Team player with ability to work collaboratively and effectively with colleagues in multiple departments/divisions and various diverse groups;
- Ability to prioritize projects and activities and to work under deadline pressure;
- Ability to create budgets and track revenue and expenses for projects; Demonstrated ability to deliver results on-time and on-budget;
- Composed and professional demeanor;
- Must be self-motivated, results oriented and goal focused with ability to work efficiently with limited direct supervision;
- Highly effective communication skills;
- Web savvy, including proficiency with social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, etc;
- Ability/willingness to learn in-house systems including Salesforce (CRM), Grove (CMS), Ticketleap, Sharepoint, Airtable, and Slack;
Reporting To This Position: None
Physical Demands and Working Conditions:
- Must be able to perform the essential duties of the position with or without reasonable accommodation;
- Flexible working hours will be required including mostly evenings and occasional weekends;
- Physical Demands:
- Required to move about in an office environment and sit for extended periods of time;
- Required to move about in the community, regularly travel to off-site events and site visits;
- Frequent use of hands for data entry/keystrokes and simple grasping;
- Required to help with the set-up of chairs, tables, and gear for events on and off-site;
- Potentially driving SCPR vehicles;
- Working Conditions:
- Moderate noise level;
- Occasional exposure to prevalent weather conditions;
Southern California Public Radio (LAist 89.3/LAist.com/LAist Studios) is diverse in race, ethnicity, language, culture, social class, national origin, religious and political belief, age, ability, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation in addition to other markers protected by law.
At SCPR, we strive to create an inclusive environment where we all feel pride in who we are and what we do. We are encouraged to show up as we are – always embracing and recognizing that our diversity is what brings us together. Our fundamental commitment to diversity:
- Enriches SCPR and provides an atmosphere in which all human potential is valued
- Promotes learning through interactions among people of different backgrounds and many perspectives, and
- Enables the organization to prepare all employees to promote social responsibility, equity, freedom, and productive citizenship in a global society
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.
We are committed to hiring a breadth of diverse professionals and encourage you to apply.