Greg Fink: Over the past 30 years; Greg Fink has been marketing, writing, messaging, researching, producing and positioning products, ideas and people. After working the first 10 years mainly in the entertainment industry, to include several non-profits; in 1998, Greg honed his sights on political communication and the public arena.
Since then, Greg has been involved or consulted on hundreds of campaigns surrounding public educations, political, government affairs and environmental industries.
During the past 15 years Greg and his team has perfected direct mail, digital marketing and Precise Polling to a level that is truly unmatched in the industry.
When it is finding the right message for the right audience; Greg will produce and deliver that data for you.
Rob Milford: Rob joined the Listener Group and Political Matrix in 2018 after an impressive career in radio.
Working in major markets and at the network level for many years, he earned national awards and recognition for his news anchoring and reporting, including two embedded tours with US Forces in Iraq. Rob had the “scoop” and was with the unit that lead the way on March 20th, 2003, and he provided the first reports from Iraq.
In addition, he worked with nationally known talent and managers, who allowed his creative juices in the production studio, where his copywriting and production abilities earned more awards for commercials and special events.
Rob’s father provided some of his career inspiration, as a rep for Campbell-Ewald, Chevrolet’s ad agency, where one of Rob’s ideas was turned into a commercial for Chevy Trucks.(https://youtu.be/_EQ-03HY7C4)
Rob advertising work has included a successful campaign, including rebranding, new logo and, pretty rare in the 1990’s, an interactive website for the Boston Lobster Feast restaurant group in Orlando. They also had menus in 16 different languages.
Rob attended college at the University of Texas-Arlington & the University of Missouri-St. Louis with a dual major of history and political science. By his own count, he has been hit by more than 25 hurricanes and tropical storms, including Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. He spent six weeks in New Orleans covering the Katrina disaster for Fox News-Radio.
His reporting also lead him to some movie sets, and into the “extras” category, for “Escape from New York” and “Alamo, The Price of Freedom” and “First Time Felon”. He has written for American Rifleman, Soldier of Fortune Magazine and others.
A few of his awards include:
- RTNDA “Murrow Award” for coverage of the war in Iraq in 2003, and the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.
- Dallas Press Club, best radio field reporter 2001
- Houston Press Club, best radio field reporter 2004
- RTNDA Regional Murrow Award for Deepwater Horizon oil Disaster 2010
- Pensacola Addy Awards, Grand Champion, best radio commercial 2011
Scott Miller: For over 30 years, Scott Miller has been on the cutting edge of not only design, but the approach to the project designed for a results oriented impact. Here at the Listener Group, Scott leads with his creative, strategic, and results-driven marketer merging design/technology/innovation.
As creative director, it is his responsibility to acquire new clients then develop and execute a marketing plan, branding and platform for the campaign. Scott is responsible for the creation and distribution of printed goods and digital media products. The marketing plan includes a messaging narrative for the client that is developed using polling research. This research then identifies areas of focus for the campaign.
In 2015, Scott developed then presented a “text to pay” demonstration application for the Harris Conference in Atlanta. As an early adopter of the Linux based LAMP stack and the Adobe suite of graphic design tools, Scott has always been able to create his own marketing materials so that his marketing focus matched his production focus.
HOST, WEBY — 2013-2019
As a political communicator, Scott served 6 years as the host of “Your Turn”, a politically themed drive-time call-in radio talk show broadcast. That broadcasts to a population of approximately 300,000 Panhandle residents.Scott was responsible for maintaining a current fluency of national political issues and discussing a variety of topics with call in guests. During special events, Scott would recruit guests from the local delegation of elected officials.
Jonathan Cole has been a leader in consulting, media messaging, Cole has worked with Gov. Bob Graham, Gov. Lawton Charles (FL), Sen. Bill Nelson (FL) , CFO Alex Sink (FL), State Sen. Betty Castor (FL) at the tops of the state ticket.
Over the last 3 decades, Cole has been involved in numerous other local and municipal elections. In the printing and direct mail world, Cole has also led with the messaging and implementation of several large direct mail campaigns throughout the regions. Also a published author, Cole has penned numerous op-eds, articles, radio shows and a contributor of the Political Matrix News podcast.
Mike Bates: When it comes to pitch perfect messaging and producing; Mike Bates hits all of the bulls-eyes. Her wealth of experience is a great new addition to the Listener Group.
Mike began his radio career in 1980 at age 14 while in high school in Virginia. When in college, he worked at a NPR station in Tennessee. Since 1989, he has worked at radio stations in Florida. He has been on the air in several formats including top 40, country, NPR, and news/talk, his favorite. Mike has interviewed politicians, actors, singers, military personnel, authors, college professors, sports stars, and more.
He has covered numerous events at The White House plus visits to Northwest Florida by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. In March 2016, he was part of the Official White House Press Corps that accompanied President Obama on his historic trip to Havana, Cuba.
Mike has interviewed Will Chesney, who served with SEAL Team Six on the 2011 mission that killed Osama bin Laden. He also interviewed Lt. Colonel Dick Cole, who was 101 years old at the time. Cole was Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot on the historic “Doolittle Raid” over Japan on April 18, 1942.
Mike researched, narrated, and produced a 20 part “History of the Blue Angels” radio series and has flown with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels in both the F/A-18 Hornet and the “Fat Albert” C-130.
He also produced a ten hour radio documentary about the Vietnam War (“AFVN: The GI’s Companion”) which included eleven days of research in Vietnam.
While the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig was still ablaze in 2010, Mike flew over the site in a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter, so he could share first-hand information about the disaster.
When hurricanes have threatened Florida’s Gulf Coast, Mike provided residents with storm path and preparation information via live updates from the Emergency Operations Center. After the storms, Mike provided critical relief and recovery information.
On election nights – and during the occasional recounts for which Florida is so famous – voters knew up-to-the-minute vote tallies via Mike’s live reports from the Supervisor of Elections Office.
From 2002 – 2017, Mike broadcast live reports for FSU football games at Doak Campbell Stadium on the campus of Florida State University, at numerous ACC Championship Games in Charlotte, and at the 2014 BCS National Championship Game when the Seminoles defeated the Auburn Tigers at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Since 1990, he has served on numerous non-profit and advertising industry boards. From 2017 – 2019, he was the Government Relations Chairman for the 4th District of the American Advertising Federation. In that capacity, he represented the interests of Florida and the Caribbean in meetings with lawmakers in both Tallahassee and Washington. Mike won first place national achievement awards for his work with AAF in 1998, 2002, and 2017. In 2018, he was awarded 4AAF’s Governor’s Cup Trophy at the American Advertising Awards in recognition of his outstanding and effective volunteer service to the district.
Since 1992, Mike has volunteered his time to serve on the Florida Panhandle Friends of NRA Committee which promotes gun safety and works to protect Second Amendment Rights. Twenty-five of those years were as Vice-Chairman. He was honored by the NRA as Florida’s “Volunteer of the Year” in 1997.
When he’s not discussing politics and current events, Mike enjoys sailing, scuba diving, and traveling. He and his wife Kimberly reside in Pensacola.
Mike’s Strengths Include:
- Speech Giving/Writing
- Focus Group Manager
- Messaging
- Branding
- Direct Mail Writing
- Crisis Management
- Media Production
- Media Placement
- And more…
Some of Mike’s more memorable interviews (in alphabetical order):
- Alex Haley, author of Roots
- Ann Coulter, author
- Bill Kristol, publisher of The Weekly Standard
- Bob Dole, Presidential candidate
- Charlie Crist, Governor of Florida
- Cher, singer/actress
- Dick Armey, Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
- Dick Cole, Doolittle Raider USAAF
- Dick Morris, political analyst
- Don Gaetz, President of the Florida Senate
- Gary Johnson, Governor of New Mexico
- Garth Brooks, award-winning country singer
- George LeMieux, United States Senator
- Greg Evers, Florida Senator
- Harry Belafonte, singer, actor, activist
- Herman Cain, Presidential candidate
- Jeff Miller, United States Congressman
- Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida
- Jennifer Carroll, Lieutenant Governor of Florida
- Joe Scarborough, United States Congressman
- John McCain, Presidential candidate
- Larry Csonka, NFL Hall of Famer, Miami Dolphins
- Marco Rubio, United States Senator
- Matt Gaetz, U.S. Congressman
- Mel Martinez, United States Senator
- Michele Bachmann, Congresswoman
- Mitt Romney, Presidential candidate
- Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Nick Buoniconti, NFL Hall of Famer, Miami Dolphins
- Ofer Bavly, Consul General of Israel
- Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General
- Pat Sajak, “Wheel of Fortune” host
- Rick Perry, Governor of Texas
- Rick Santorum, United States Senator
- Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida
- Ron Paul, U.S. Congressman and Presidential Candidate
- Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York
- Sam Brownback, Governor of Kansas
- Sebastian Gorka, Senior Adviser to the President of the United States
- Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media
- Vince Flynn, best-selling New York Times author
- Walid Shoebat, former PLO terrorist
- Will Chesney, U.S. Navy, SEAL Team Six