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 While the groups who are struggling continue to limp along with outdated facilities, ancient equipment and software, haven’t updated their programming approach in decades or embraced AI tools. That’s why for years I’ve been saying that radio isn’t on the verge of extinction, but groups who choose not to adapt, evolve and instead continue doing everything the way they’ve always done it will in fact die sooner rather than later. While we are certainly at an important inflection point for our industry as we face economic volatility and uncertainty about our future in the dash, it’s still not too late to make the changes necessary to survive. But, groups who don’t invest now will without a doubt be running very lean later, if they’re running at all.
The great news is, modernizing our approach allows us to invest significantly less than we would’ve had to invest previously. Especially if you work with a consultant who has adapted their approach as well, shameless plug. Because I have guided a lot of groups through upgrades that were not only surprisingly affordable but made their operations significantly more efficient within weeks instead of months or years. I know all the pain points, the PD that’s been using the same music scheduler his entire career, the traffic director that tells you it’s not a good time of the year to change out traffic software (regardless of what time of year it is), the engineer that doesn’t trust any automation system created this century, and so on. I’ve also purchased all of these things hundreds of times so I know when sales reps are inflating their price and can leverage my buying power across multiple stations I work with to help get my clients better deals.
If I started a radio group from scratch today I would do two things. I would do more than radio and I would setup the operation where it could be run by one person without killing them. Not because I don’t see the value in local radio employees. I absolutely do, but for startups it’s mission critical that every single new hire adds value and isn’t just there to fill a role radio has traditionally had. There’s certainly a bad side to AI, which I’ve written about. But one of the big benefits of AI is that it allows anyone to start a company with significantly less resources than they would’ve needed before recent AI advancements. While I’ve always asked anyone who solicits my services to help them purchase a new station who will run the station, because that’s a deciding factor in any station’s success, now I also ask if that person is open to using AI tools. Because that decreases the budget needed to get it off the ground. That’s also why I strongly encourage existing radio groups to incentivize, reward and then require all of their staff to use AI tools. Otherwise, they will be outperformed by competitors with smaller operations that fully embrace AI.
What I mean by more than radio is all the things I consistently write and talk about. Making studios more video friendly and adding cameras to every studio and remote bag, renting out those studios to podcasters when not in use (to make incremental revenue and identify good creators), making digital content creation a priority, hiring digital content creators and teaching them radio, partnering with outside influencers, monetizing all of that content on the station websites and all station platforms, subscription models for unique stations and unique shows and strategically using our radio megaphone to encourage our listeners to follow us to every other one of our assets. As well as looking for other NTR money anywhere we can get it, events, standalone local websites, acquiring additional ad space and anything else that fits well with our models.
The truth is, behind the scenes, radio is actively fighting a battle against the largest companies and brands in the world. While at the same time our largest radio companies are saddled with unsustainable debt. So, radio’s best hope is that the smaller, independently owned groups invest enough at the local level to continue radio’s local dominance now and in the future.
But, what do you think? Is now a good or bad time for stations to invest in their operations? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.
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