.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Jerry Hoehle has only been on the job a few months as the digital sales specialist at KCCI, the first person to hold that position for the station. Though Hoehle loves his job, especially the creative aspects of it, his true passion is music. When he’s not selling “spots and dots” for a living, he’s playing upright bass with Mr. Baber’s Neighbors, a local bluegrass band.

Why did you decide to focus on Web sales?

We get about 633,000 unique visitors every month at KCCI.com. That’s not a hit; it’s not a page view, it measures a computer’s IP address one time. We’re in the top three of Hearst Argyle stations as far as traffic to our site, and sometimes we beat out our sister station in Boston, and we’re by no means the biggest market. To have a Web site that is this powerful and delivers this type of audience is amazing. We’re kind of a major league ballclub playing in a minor league ballpark.

Are you originally from Des Moines?

My wife and I grew up in Utah. We’re high school sweethearts. We came to Des Moines for school. My dad was an instructor at Drake. My family is here, and even though opportunities have come up in the past that would have taken me out of the market, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m probably never leaving Des Moines.

Where did you work previously?

When I first got into marketing, I worked with the Des Moines Radio Group. I was in sales at Lazer 103.3. Then I went work for a company called ihigh.com, which was building Web sites for high schools across the nation. From there I moved over to WHO-TV for six years. Then I came to KCCI, where this position didn’t even exist before they hired me. There is a big initiative at all the Hearst stations where they are starting to hire someone specifically for Web sales.

What brought you to KCCI?

The biggest reason I came here was for the audience. The opportunity to sell what is a top five, per capita, station in the country here in Des Moines, Iowa, was just something I couldn’t pass up. Obviously, I wanted to keep doing what I was doing, and if you have a larger audience, the more successful your campaigns are going to be and the more clients that are happy. So financially, that’s better for me.

Is it strange to have switched over to the competition?

It is, kind of. I’m pretty used to it now, but you come in the building and it’s kind of weird. It was really weird for a while. But I still have relationships with my friends at WHO. I don’t think there are any ill feelings.

They didn’t give you a hard time?

They gave me somewhat of a hard time, but I think it was in jest. They are all great people over there.

Where would people find you on the weekend?

Sometimes I’ll have a weekend that I’m off totally. But on a Friday night after work, my bluegrass band, Mr. Baber’s Neighbors, might have a show, probably starting about 10, usually with me arriving around 7. We’ll play from about 10 to 1:30 a.m. I’ll get home in the wee hours of the morning. I kiss my wife and kids the next morning and then head off to the Johnston Bluegrass Festival where we appear at 11 a.m. Sometimes it’s the Farmers Market. On weekends where we don’t play shows I try to spend as much time with my family as possible.

How long have you been playing with Mr. Baber’s Neighbors?

We’ve been together since about 2001.

Have you always played in bands?

I’ve been playing bass since I was 13. I started on electric and played in jazz bands with an upright bass in college and high school. It has really gotten to be something that I can’t not do.

There have been short parts of my life when I decided to give up playing music, and I really think it increased my stress load a lot. While I might have had more free time at the end of the day, it has become such an incredible outlet for me to get up and perform. It’s really addicting. And the great thing about bluegrass is that it’s really family friendly, so my wife and two kids get to come out and watch me play a lot.