Singing the Gospel

Name: Charley Humbard
Title: Founder/President, Gospel Music Channel
Age: 44
Years in Industry: 24
Years left in Industry: 2

Name: Brad Siegel
Title: Vice Chairman, Gospel Music Channel
Age: 49
Years in Industry: 25
Years left in Industry: “You tell me!”

Why Them? It sounds like bad reality TV fodder: The son of a television minister and a self-described “nice Jewish boy from Long Island” launch a gospel music channel against all odds. But the reality is, GMC is thriving under Humbard and Siegel’s stewardship. This year, the two cemented a deal with Black Family Channel to switch out BFC for GMC, bringing several million new subscribers and broadening the network’s presence to 23 of the top 25 markets. GMC also launched a new VOD service and clocked more than 100 hours of new original programming in ’07. No wonder Beta Research ranked it the top emerging or midsize network among operators with 100K or 200K subscribers. And GMS is clearly striking a chord with the family-values crowd. It topped the Myers Emotional Connections Study for “overall emotional connections with audience,” “audience attentiveness to advertising” and “feeling comfortable viewing with family.”  CAO

Charley Humbard

Defining career moment: “Launching Gospel Music Channel and seeing its amazing growth.”
Favorite city: “Seattle”
Favorite song: “Old Man” – Neil Young
Favorite movie: Dances With Wolves
Favorite sports team: “The Ohio State University Buckeyes”
What profession would you not like to participate in? “Indy racing.”
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Your channel’s my favorite.”

Brad Siegel

I knew the cable industry was for me when: “They paid me for watching TV.”
Defining career moment: “Getting my first job as VP, programming & production at AMC.”
Person I most admire in the cable industry and why: “Jeff Bewkes. He is one of the smartest guys in the business and one of the funniest.”
Biggest cable surprise of 2007: “Gospel Music Channel being the fastest growing network.”
In my free time, I like to: “Work”
Favorite restaurant: “Lupe”
Favorite city: “San Francisco”
Favorite song: “Born to Run”
Favorite TV show: “Boston Legal”
Favorite movie: Annie Hall
Favorite sports team: “Atlanta Braves”
I wish cable would: “Have voice activated remote control.”
Favorite piece of tech: “Blackberry”
Least favorite piece of tech: “Blackberry”
The three most played songs on my iPod are: “Born to Run” (Springsteen), “Golden Lady” (Stevie Wonder), “I’ll Take You There” (Mike Farris)
My perfect vacation goes like this: “Ski, Golf, Fish, Eat, Sleep, Get Up and Do It Again.”
The world would be a better place if: “People paused to re-read emails before hitting send.”

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