The History of ScLoHo

Time to introduce myself, again for some of you that I’ve known for awhile, and perhaps for the first time if you are unfamiliar with this website and podcast.

This is episode 75 of the weekly podcast titled, The Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast.

Launched in early 2017 as a request from a couple of the managers at Federated Media in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they were asked to create a sales and marketing oriented podcast and they asked me if I would consider doing it.

See this ScLoHo thing has been around for quite awhile. On the ScottHoward.me website are over 13 hundred articles I have written, edited and published since 2011 and the Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing Podcast is simply an audio version of most of the articles I have created since March, 2017.

The history of ScLoHo however is much longer that that.

And before we dig into that history, I want to clear something up about what ScLoHo is.

ScLoHo began as an email address and grew into an online moniker, identity and nickname. I even registered a marketing company with the ScLoHo name.  ScLoHo is a made up word that takes the first two letters of my first name, middle and last names and mashes them together. Scott Louis Howard becomes ScLoHo. Look for me on Twitter, Instagram and nearly any other social media site that I am on as ScLoHo.  Before launching the ScottHoward.me website, I published over 10,000 articles on ScLoHo branded blogs starting around 2005.

So ScLoHo and Scott Howard, that’s me, are synonymous.

I began working in the media world as a teenager when my high school launched a radio station.  After school, I landed my first full time job on the air in Marion, Indiana at WBAT, followed by WIOU in Kokomo, WMEE in Fort Wayne, WKSY in Columbia City, WZWZ in Kokomo, and WXIR in Indianapolis.  At all of these stations, I worked on the air as a disc jockey and radio personality.

Life changed when I turned 26.  I crossed over to the advertising side of the radio business. I was impressed by the philosophy that  the Crawford Broadcasting Company had regarding the relationship between the listeners, the radio station and the advertisers.  I moved my young family to work for WMUZ in Detroit, one of a dozen Crawford stations at the time.  My job was to write and produce advertising campaigns.

I loved the challenge and learning that occurred during my 8 years at WMUZ. I also did fill-in work in the afternoon and spent about a year hosting WMUZ’s morning show in Detroit.  My first venture as an advertising salesperson was also at WMUZ.

The philosophy that I learned related to the trust factor we as people have.  WMUZ was and is a commercial Christian radio station that has a special bond with their thousands of weekly listeners.  Listeners trust the WMUZ radio personalities.  Those personalities often talk about their advertising partners and so that trust factor is passed along to the businesses that advertise.  WMUZ listeners trust that the businesses that advertise on their station are trustworthy.

My job was not just to create effective advertising campaigns, but to screen out the bad businesses from the good.  I carry this philosophy today as I consider which businesses I want to work with at WOWO radio in Fort Wayne.

In the mid 1990’s, we decided to leave Detroit and return to Indiana.  I worked on the radio again in Fort Wayne at WBTU, WFWI, WGL and WAJI. Between 1995 and 2003, along with some part-time radio work and voice over production I was doing, I took a few blue collar jobs too in the printing business, the plastics industry and even automotive.

2003 was the year that I returned to media and marketing full-time in Fort Wayne when I joined a group of radio stations in the advertising sales side of the business.  I spent 8 years rising as high as one could advance at that company before I was lured away to work for a website development company and later manage the social media for a $50 million dollar internet sales company.

I also served on the Board of Directors for the American Advertising Federation/Fort Wayne Chapter for 7 years. I taught personal branding seminars, guest lectured at a local university, was featured in some national publications including the Wall Street Journal, won a few awards and have had a lot of fun.  I have consulted and coached businesses doing newspaper and magazine ads, billboard advertising, social media and all kinds of internet marketing, along with television and event marketing. More recently I was featured on an international podcast for broadcasters to share what it takes to be successful in broadcasting.

I only share all this with you because I want you to have confidence in the Scott Howard dude a.k.a. ScLoHo, that I’m not just hear to sell you stuff.  I am here to help. I’m here to teach, to consult, to advise, to coach and even guide you through the process of marketing you and your business.

Human Relationship Principles are the heart of most successful marketing and advertising efforts and I can help you employ them with your business, organization, or event.

I have learned a lot from a lot of people and continue to learn more and more every week.  If you have any marketing or advertising questions or answers, I’d love to talk with you.