The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

MARIAN LOCKETT-EGAN

A native of Kentucky and the mother of five children, Marian has led a full and varied life. She began her adult life as a stay-at-home mother and part-time music teacher. Her venture into the business world came quite by accident, when she started helping her husband in the office of the grain business they owned.

Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last, and Marian found herself at the age of 30, a single mom, needing to make a living. Her first “real” job, traffic manager at her hometown radio station, gave her the advertising “bug”. Never lacking in courage, Marian quit her job and spent one semester as a full-time business student at Murray State University honing her business and communication skills. At mid-term she journeyed to Nashville and made ‘cold calls’ on broadcasting companies and advertising agencies. This trip proved to be a major turning point in her life; she went back to Murray, Ky. with a media trainee job waiting at the largest advertising agency in Nashville.

In 1964, Marian moved with her family to Philadelphia where she first worked as assistant to the business manager at Triangle Broadcasting. In 1966, she returned to the agency business as a buyer at Lewis & Gilman, advancing to Associate Media Director before leaving in 1972 to join Scott Paper Company where she served as Advertising Media Manager for 12 years. While at Scott, she helped organize an in-house advertising agency and was named V.P. Media.

In 1983, when Scott was preparing for the sale of the company, Marian elected to establish a media consulting organization. Her firm, DMS Communications, Inc. provided media management services to corporations without in-house specialists. She worked with Hershey Chocolate Company, her first major account, on a contractual arrangement for 23 years, from 1983 - 2006, coordinating all media between the brands and working with the advertising agencies supervising all national media purchasing. In addition, she provided media management services to Exxon Mobil Corporation for 17 years starting with Mobil in 1994 prior to the merger and continuing until she decided to retire in 2011. She also served as Executive Director of The Media School from 1984-2003, providing media planning and negotiation seminars to major advertising agencies and media companies throughout the country. Marian is recognized in the advertising industry as a leader and ‘guru’ in her field.

Lockett-Egan’s early career spanned the days when women in business were not given the recognition they are today. Marian’s dedication and willingness to take risk were instrumental in gaining her many “women’s first.” She served as the first female president of the Television Radio Advertising Club (now know as PAC) IN 1973-74, the first female trustee at Methodist Hospital 1974-1986 (she received the Outstanding Trustee Award in 1982); She was the first female on the Association of National Advertisers Television Committee 1976-1986, and the first female to chair the ANA Television Workshop in New York City in 1981.

In spite of her many professional achievements, Marian counts her greatest accomplishment winning the battle with cancer in 1985-1987. Given less than a one-percent chance of survival, she set about to learn everything she could on her options. Electing surgery and aggressive chemotherapy in the face of long-shot odds, Marian turned to her faith in God to ‘do the rest’. She credits a miracle with her many years cancer free.

Today (in 2015), Marian enjoys the advantages of modern communication keeping up with friends, many of whom are former business associates, from her home in Bryn Mawr, PA. She finds time for church activities, community work, bridge, keeping up with tennis, and the grandchildren.

When asked what her friends would say is her best quality she quickly answered; “the ability to get things done and my optimism”. An often-quoted description by business associates is; “she’s tough but fair.”

Professional Associations and Honors:

Television Radio Advertising Club of Philadelphia

Board of Directors 1968-75
President 1973-74
Chairman of the Board 1974-75
Honorary Chairman Communications Day 1983

Association of Nat’l Advertisers Television Committee 1976-83

Chairman ANA Television Workshop 1981

Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Board of Directors 1991-97
President 1994-96
Chairman of Board 1996-97

Philadelphia Ad Club Media All Star, for outstanding

Industry and community service 1995

Trustee Methodist Hospital of Philadelphia 1974-86

Outstanding Trustee Award 1982

Visiting Professor, Un.of Fla School of Jrnl & Adv. 1983

Guest Lecturer Wharton Graduate School, Marketing 1981-83
Media Decisions Guest Editor 1981

Who’s Who in Finance and Industry 1979-80

Who’s Who in Advertising 1980-81, 1990-91, 2001-04
Who’s Who in the World 1980
Who’s Who in American Women 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1991-92, 1995-96, 1996-97
Who’s Who in the East 1986-87, 2002-3
Who’s Who in America 1990-91

Bryn Mawr Hospital Cancer Survivor Honoree 1996

Education:

Murray State University, Business Adm.

Work Experience:

Radio Station WNBS. Traffic Manager, Murray, Ky 1962-63
Noble Dury, Ad Agency in Nashville, trainee 1963-64
Triangle Broadcasting, Phila – asst to business mgr and research dtr 1964-66
Lewis & Gilman Ad Agency, buyer/planner 1966-69
Lewis & Gilman Ad Agency, Asso Media Director 1969-72
Scott Paper Company, Asst Media Director 1972
Scott Paper Company, Media Director 1972-83
Scott Paper Company, VP Media 1978-83
DMS Communications, President and Owner 1983-2011 retired

ADDENDUM – ‘Beyond the Job Title”…. (as written by Marian Lockett-Egan)

WNBS Radio Station, Murray, Kentucky

Since this was a small station in my hometown, in addition to my primary responsibility of Traffic Manager, Bookkeeper and Notary, I had the opportunity to participate in other parts of the operation. I got my FCC license to run the board when the ‘on duty DJ’ was temporarily unavailable, wrote copy and did various commercials when a female voice was needed.

Noble-Dury and Associates, Nashville, Tennessee

The agency’s major business was producing and placing sponsored Country Music Shows for their clients, e.g. The Porter Wagner Show (Dolly Parton female vocalist), Wilburn Bros (with Loretta Lynn), and Hee-Haw to name a few better known shows. My responsibility was to assist in the time period buys, track the ratings and manage the bicycling of the kines (yes, kines!) While not a major responsibility, I also attended tapings when needed.

Triangle Broadcasting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Job responsibilities entailed analysis of bookings and billings for all fourteen radio and television stations and reducing the findings to a weekly executive report for Walter Annenberg; as well as, providing research analysis for rating information and communicating this to clients and sales.

Lewis and Gilman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Job responsibilities included all planning and buying of broadcast media for assigned clients. Clients included Tasty Baking Co, Domino Sugar and Central Penn Bank. While working on Tasty Baking, I negotiated the annual contract with the Philadelphia Flyers, including the Hat Trick bonus, and all post games at no extra cost! And, yes, this did include Stanley Cup finals.

Scott Paper Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

When hired at Scott in 1972 major companies with government contracts were in need of having more women in prominent positions. Since Media Manager was a visible position, and I had the necessary speaking skills, it was determined that I should be ‘sent on the road’ to represent the company on local television talk shows and as a guest speaker at local ad clubs, colleges, etc.

During my 12 year tenure, I appeared on many local talk shows and consumer report programs in Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Cincinnati, Ft Wayne, Milwaukee, etc. Guest speaker events with Ad Clubs, and related Associations were in Richmond, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Dallas…to name a few.

DMS Communications, Inc, Ardmore, Pennsylvania

As an independent consultant working with various companies I avoided interviews and discussing projects since I was not a spokesperson for the companies I worked with and felt it would not be in keeping with the confidentiality clause in my agreements.

In addition to client consulting, DMS managed and developed The Media School programs, materials, marketing and conducting various seminars throughout the U.S. on Dynamics of Media Planning and Buying; as well as, Presentation Skills. The Presentation Skills included organizing business presentations, both group and one-on-one meetings. We averaged 30-40 seminars per year…both public ones in various cities and private customized ones to clients such as Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine Division, Paramount, Colgate, and various marketing companies – many with repeat seminars annually.

It’s been a great and varied career. My 50-year stint spanned the early growth of television, FM radio’s development, the infancy of cable and the beginning of digital media. The full array of stations and social media of today could only be dreamed in the early days. An exciting time in an exciting industry!

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com