Last month when I arrived at NAB I noticed something that may have been there in previous years without catching my eye, an NAB merch booth. I’m not a big souvenir guy and I’d already paid an overweight fee for…

After starting out as one myself, I’ve now spent three decades of my life managing and coaching local radio on-air talent. It’s been incredibly rewarding at times, when you feel like you played a role in the upward trajectory of…

It’s no coincidence that the groups I work with and talk to who are doing better today than they were a few years ago are the ones who invested in their operation a few years ago. While the groups who…

I’ve written before about determining the value of an on-air talent because that’s always been a tough thing for some stations to quantify. One thing that hasn’t traditionally been hard to quantify for owners is the value of their broadcast…

For the past couple of years one of my mantras has been, if I don’t value my time nobody will. Which is important because the main benefit I bring to my consulting clients is my years of experience, my diverse…

When I was moderating a panel at TAB last year on Extending Your Brand Online, I made a comment about how in many ways now volume is more important than quality for content creators. My comment got some pushback from…

Earlier this year I heard about a couple of radio stations selling for $1 in markets that surprised me a bit. Especially because the stations weren’t off the air, dark as we say, or about to be because of aging…

Like many of you reading this, I was in radio in the 1990s and it was, without a doubt, a good time to be in radio. Everywhere I went in town I was ‘that radio guy.’ I got free tickets…

Over the years I’ve worked with some really incredible radio on air talent who struggled with podcasting. Sometimes that’s because they look down on podcasting and don’t respect the platform. But, often it’s because throughout their radio career they’ve been…

The question every radio on-air talent who wants to create digital content should ask themselves is this, are you a consumer or a creator? I admit it’s a bit of a trick question. Because it’s hard to be good at…

Every year stations start adding Christmas music earlier than the year prior and the handful of stations that go all Christmas make that flip sooner. Why? Because research and data shows us that people want to listen to Christmas music…

For as long as I can remember country radio has had more male country stars than female at any given time. Sure, there were massive individual stars like Dolly, Shania and the Dixie Chicks. But, overall there have always been…

You might have noticed the massive uptick in collaborations over the past couple of years. So, why are we seeing so many artists teaming up? Why do comics go on every other comic’s podcast? The answer in both cases is…

If you’ve worked in radio long enough you’re familiar with tradio. It’s been a staple of small market radio for as long as I can remember and for some stations, to this day, it’s their most listened to and talked…

My whole radio programming career I dreamed of a day when we could know exactly what music our audience was into so we wouldn’t have to spend so much time and energy trying to guess. I went to great lengths…

Part of my job as a consultant is to look ahead and make an educated guess what our industry will look like in the future. That way I can better advise my clients on how to prepare for that future…

As a lifelong radio guy, and gear nerd, I’m always on the lookout for a mic upgrade. So anytime I’m at a convention I test out every mic I can, when I’m visiting a client’s station and I see a…

When radio programmers put together team shows there are a lot of things we look at. Do their voices complement each other well without sounding too similar? Are they at different stages in life or come from different backgrounds so…

Besides adjusting to writing the new year correctly, something that is less of an issue now that nobody writes checks, this is also a time of year where we all collectively think about what we plan to accomplish in the…

When I talk to any fellow radio person lately, regardless of their position, AI always comes up at some point. Maybe that’s because I’m so outspoken about my thoughts on AI or it’s just top of mind for everyone right…

When they need help coming up with ideas for creating digital content I often encourage radio talent to look at comedians. There are a few reasons for this. They’re entertaining (our main purpose), they’re freelancers in an industry that doesn’t…

We’ve all been there. You walk into the office with every intention of spending time prepping for your show only to get hit with distraction after distraction. Spots that need to be recut, a remote added to the calendar last…

One thing I’m always keeping an eye out for in radio is any non-traditional revenue opportunities. That’s because I’ve worked with some very creative operators over the years who have sustained and thrived by thinking outside of the box and…

I’ve always been a big proponent of radio on-air talent doing more topical content to take advantage of the fact that they are live, or recorded day of, when others are pre-recorded days in advance. As well as identifying the…