As a kid growing up in the radio business I used to marvel at the stark difference between the attire of the different groups of people within a station. At that time, there was very little grey area. On the…

For years we’ve been telling radio that their big advantage over digital competitors is their ability to be live and local. I’ve made that statement myself quite a few times. As the major groups continue to scale back their…

Most of the questions I’ve been asked lately from radio broadcasters are A.I. related. So, I thought I’d put together a list of some of the A.I. sites I recommend testing and using. To be clear, I do NOT use…

We’ve reached a critical time for our industry. It’s painfully obvious that things are changing rapidly all around us and the path forward is less certain than it’s ever been. We all know that taking the same exact approach next…

Ask anyone who’s ever gone viral how they did it and they’ll give you some version of the same answer. Essentially, they’ll say that there’s no formula for it. Just trial and error to see what works and starts to…

At the TAB convention in Austin earlier this month I was in the middle of one of many great conversations I had with broadcasters when one of them said, ‘this is why we come to conventions, nothing compares to the…

Airchecking on-air talent is still hands down the best way to improve their performance, regardless of whether we’re working with rookies or experienced radio veterans. No matter how good we get at self-coaching, which is important, there are simply some…

Growing up I wanted to be a writer. So, from the time I could string a few sentences together I started writing short stories. Which I know because my mother kept everything so many of them are still in a…

Writing off an entire generation of potential radio listeners isn’t a good long-term plan for our industry. Yes, it’s true that in general younger people are less likely to listen to terrestrial radio than previous generations. It’s also true that…

Back in May tensions boiled over between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the studio chiefs in Hollywood represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). As of the publishing of this blog that strike continues…

In radio everything that plays through the speakers sends a message to our audience. Some of those messages are pretty obvious, like our strategic imaging that clearly defines our point of difference from competitors and, on music stations, the tunes…

Coming up with original on-air content daily on our own is incredibly challenging. We don’t have a team of writers, there’s not always an obvious thing that everyone is talking about that day and even the most creative among us…

It’s easy to look at an industry that’s in transition, like radio is, and assume that the days of on-air talent making big bucks are all but over. But, they are not. I’m not going to lie and say there’s…

One of our main jobs on the air is to identify the thing that everyone is talking about that day and find our angle to make it interesting and relatable to our target audience. Doing so allows us to utilize…

In a few years the only people left standing in this industry will either be the best of the best or whatever is left. It’s up to the people who read blogs like this to decide which way our industry…

The main stereotype of on-air personalities is that we have huge egos. That we’re all just a bunch of prima-donnas who love the sound of our own voices. To combat that stereotype many of us rely on self-deprecating humor. Which…

Any new market we go into we’re trained to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the other radio stations to figure out a strategic plan for carving out our share of that market’s listenership and revenue. The better our…

There’s a reason why network TV shows stopped doing long intros that lasted a couple minutes several years ago. They understand how important it is to pique the interest of the viewers who were watching the last show to keep…

If you read my blogs or listen to my podcast you know that I have a lot of passionate opinions about radio. Some of that probably stems from my personality type, but the vast majority of that comes from the…

The lack of news coverage for radio station events and promotions can be incredibly frustrating in some markets. Though we may put together massive events or major promotions that draw thousands upon thousands of attendees, entries and engagement, we’ll barely…

Just like any other business on the planet, the main purpose of a commercial radio station is to make money. People that tend to last a long time in our industry, and have sustained success in it, keep that thought…

In some markets the station at the top has been there so long it can feel like there’s no possible way of catching them. They’ve won at the game of radio, established a position format-wise, connected with the audience on…

There’s nothing easy about coaching on-air personalities. It’s a delicate balancing act of finding the right amount of praise to build on the things they are doing well and just enough constructive criticism to help them improve problem areas without…

Being funny is a huge advantage for on-air personalities. It allows us to add to any content and make it our own, making it more likely to stick with the listener. It also helps us come up with those great…