I met Ira through twitter. He has what I consider to be a really cool job. He spends his days listening to music, developing content around music and being all strategenius for Corus Entertainment’s interactive radio properties. Ok…that’s the simple version of what he does, but don’t panic, he explains in detail below!

 

Ira

Sarah: Ira, tell us about what you do!
Ira: No. You tell me. Ha. I’m the Creative/Content Director for Corus Entertainment’s Interactive and Integrated Solutions and am the Brand Manager for ExploreMusic. I help develop content and strategies for Corus Entertainment’s stable of interactive radio properties, specializing in social media, community building, content devlopment and mobile experiences.

Sarah: How much new music do you listen to each week?
Ira: A lot. Everyone says that, but I seriously listen to a ton of music. For a music lover, that’s a good thing I guess. I’ve always listened to a lot of music. I can remember listening to CHUM AM back in the day with my dad, driving around town or back at home where he’d slap on some Dave Brubeck on the hi-fi system. I owe my eclectic taste to those early experiences I guess. I’m pretty fortunate to work in a field where I have to listen to all kinds of music for work. Not just the artists we get to feature and talk to for ExploreMusic, but people have started to send me stuff to get my opinion on their sound, their marketing, etc. Band managers, artists, record labels, all kinds of people do. I’m often sitting at my desk at work with my headphones on. And really, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. I’m constantly digging up, scrounging for new music. We’re also working on these cool emerging artist platforms which are a total howl, cause we get to hear bands in their earliest, rawest form. I love that. Truth is, for me, it always comes back to my faves. If you’re on my Blackberry or Ipod Touch, you’ve arrived for Ira Haberman. That’s what I usually listen to on my commute to and from the office.

Sarah: What path did you take that led you to where you are in your career?
Ira: A long and winding road, to say the least. When all this started (my career) all I wanted to do was be a sportscaster. I idolized people like Dan Shulman, Elliotte Friedman and Mike Wilner growing up in my formative years, and really thought for a few fleeting moments that one day I would grow up to be like them. I even did some sports reporting for great radio stations like CFRB 1010 and 680 News here in Toronto. The bottom line though, is unless you are one of those dudes or as awesome as they are, it’s a rough ride. So that sucked, but I knew I loved radio, from a very early age, so a few really awesome jobs and experiences along the way led me here. I’ve worked every shift in radio, mostly behind the scenes, but sometimes in front of microphones. I’ve also worked for news/ information and rock stations. Originally I was brought into this division at Corus to work on nationally syndicated programming, like the Ongoing History of New Music and the Legends of Classic rock, but like technology the role has evolved. One thing remains though; I have a great face for radio.

I’ve always been really into making compelling content and most importantly connecting with an audience. I’m convinced that no matter what platform or gadget is cool, if you create compelling content an audience will check it out. And so here I am today, part of a team trying to leverage the power of audio entertainment (radio) and its deep connection with people into a new era. We’re still doing the same sorts of things that Uncle Milty did, but the circumstances are different. People aren’t huddling around a radio in the living room anymore, but instead are connecting with our stations or our personalities on our station websites, on a variety of social media, mobile apps, or their radio (there I said it!).

Sarah:You seem to juggle several responsibilities at work. How much of your time is spent on strategy and how much of it is spent creating content?
Ira: Ha. The ole’ chicken and the egg question. I’d say I attend to each with equal amounts of time, but not all the time. So one minute I could be interviewing some singer-songwriter dude that nobody has heard of, and the next minute I could be talking to one of our programmers about their social media strategy. It really does run the gamut. Does that make sense?

Sarah: What is your favorite part of what you do?
Ira: Evangelizing radio and taking radio into the new digital era (or whatever you call this period). Seriously, I love radio, and still think it has a lot to offer. I’m not talking about the physical radio on your mom’s kitchen counter, or the one in your car, I’m talking about audio entertainment in a more generic way. Our newstalk stations were chat rooms before we knew what that word meant and when done right like the way my pals Charles Adler or Dave Rutherford do it, it’s magical and translates really well on-line, on demand, or as part of a podcast. Charles Adler is one of the most prolific twitterers out there, cause he gets that all of this new tech stuff is just an extension of what he’s already been doing for so long. . Before Pitchfork was hip, people like Alan Cross were the tastemakers, letting us in on what’s cool to listen to. He’s still doing just that for ExploreMusic We’re extending the life of what people in the radio business have been doing for so long.

So yeah, I care passionately about the content our people create, and still think it’s very relevant, and for me, its fun telling people just that.

Sarah: Is there anything that takes up your time that is no fun at all?
Ira: I can’t really point to one thing that isn’t fun. I mean we all have paperwork to do that isn’t the most exciting, but you know what, I’m pretty lucky to have a gig like this. I could be outside in the cold rain and snow right now digging ditches. How fun would that be?

Sarah: Do you have any predictions for us for 2011? Where is the Interactive/Entertainment industry headed over the next year?
Ira: I have no idea actually. Things are moving so fast. It’s hard to predict anything these days. I suspect tablet computing will take off this year in a much bigger way, and that Apps will be the key to our collective existence. I think this also might finally be the year of cloud entertainment. You know, having your junk on a server somewhere, so that you can listen to it from multiple devices wherever you are. I use dropbox, evernote and love them both, because I can access my stuff however I want. Wish I could do that with my music. Believe it or not, the smartphone market is still emerging, and I think we’ll see penetration amongst more and more people. The dominant players in this space will continue to dominate. I’m really excited about these emerging artist portals that we’re building with the radio stations. Seems like a great way to leverage our megaphones and build community around local artists and fans. I’m pretty psyched about new records from Nicole Atkins, The Beastie Boys, Bright Eyes, Robbie Robertson, My Morning Jacket and Radiohead just to name a few. I’m sure there will be some killer indie stuff along the way as well…

Thanks for filling us in on your cool job, Ira! if you’d like to check out Ira’s excellent music suggestions, go to his website, ExporeMusic. If you’d like to follow what Ira is up to, you can check him out on Twitter.