Our second annual Barrett News Media Top 20 series wraps up week one with a look at the Top 20 Major Market News/Talk Program Directors for 2023. If you missed our Morning, Midday or Afternoon Show releases or the Top 20 National shows, click here to visit the Top 20 section and access the lists you’re interested in. In the meantime, please bookmark our website, follow BNM on X at @BNMStaff or on Facebook at Barrett News Media or sign up for our daily newsletter, ‘The Rundown‘ by clicking here to stay updated.
This year’s series focuses on six categories; Major and Mid market news/talk radio morning, midday, and afternoon shows, program directors, radio stations, and the format’s best national talk shows. Major Markets represent shows, stations, and PDs operating in markets #1-#20. Mid Markets cover markets #21 and below. Not included are NPR brands and shows. Maybe in the future we’ll change that or add an extra category but for now, mainstream news/talk radio outlets are the main focus.
As you review the results, please remember that they represent the collective opinions of fifty four (54) news/talk radio programmers and executives. We try our best to make sure the top shows, hosts, programmers and brands are listed for voting consideration. Industry decision makers are then asked to vote on categories based on where their stations/shows operate. BNM’s role in the voting process is to gather the feedback, add it up, and present the results.
I want to thank Barrett Media’s Digital Director Alex Reynolds for doing an awesome job on this year’s graphics, as well as each PD and executive who participated in this process. We had representation from fourteen companies and forty different cities, which was even better than last year. For those who didn’t vote and were invited to do so, I hope you’ll change your mind next year. It’s good for the format if you’re involved, and depending on the final votes, it can benefit your staff, sales team, and company, and excite your audience and advertisers.
Moving on to the voting, here are a few things to keep in mind.
#1 – Our executive voters are asked to rank their Top 20 selections for each category based on a few key factors; quality of show (ear test), originality, ability to entertain-inform-connect across multiple platforms, ratings success, clearance (national shows) and industry buzz. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have different tastes, work for different groups, and value certain factors higher than others. This is not a perfect system but it’s the best one we’ve come up with to showcase the industry’s top performers. Having done this for eight years with the sports talk format, we’re going to stick with it until a better option arises.
#2 – The executive panel consisted of program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Hubbard, Cox Media Group, Townsquare Media, Salem Media Group, Radio One, Alpha Media, Bonneville, FOX News Radio, Westwood One, Federated Media, and Zimmer Communications. We involve a large number of people in this process in order to receive feedback from all parts of the country, and to avoid the results heavily favoring one group. Given the variety of people in this process, it means there’s no guarantee that last year’s success will be repeated this year.
#3 – A total of 39 program directors received votes in the Major Market PDs category. These talented men and women help guide America’s top brands, often avoiding the spotlight so their teams can reap the rewards. But whether they like the public attention or not, they’re getting it because their hard work deserves to be recognized.
In order to avoid complaints and confusion, please understand that some folks hold titles such as Vice President of News/Talk, Director of Operations, Brand Manager, etc.. We’re not trying to discredit anyone’s credentials or change anyone’s titles but to keep it simple we’re using the common term ‘Program Director’ since it’s existed for decades and describes how managers are viewed by those inside of programming departments.
And that brings us to this year’s winner. Congratulations goes out once again to Robin Bertolucci of KFI in Los Angeles on becoming a two-time category winner. Under her leadership, KFI has been one of the most successful brands in all of talk radio. One glance at this year or last year’s Top 20 series and you’ll quickly see how well the station and its shows are seen by industry decision makers. We applaud Robin on a job well done, as well as every other brand leader who earned a spot on this year’s list.
Now, here are the full results of “BNM’s Top 20 Major Market News/Talk Program Directors of 2023!”
Additional Notes:
- Robin Bertolucci won this category by a slimmer margin this year than in 2022. Nineteen (19) points separated her and Ben Mevorach. She did also received the most first place votes in the category with eight (8).
- Spots 21-25 belonged to Greg Stocker, Marcus Brown, Ann Thomas, Dave Tepper and David Darling.
- The closest races saw Ken Charles finish in front of Julia Ziegler by two (2) points, and Kristina Koppeser slip by Brad Lane by three (3) points. Bryan Erickson also held off Greg Stocker by three (3) points for the final spot.
- Of the 39 programmers to earn votes from our panel, twelve (12) received at least one 1st place vote.
Here is the remaining schedule for the BNM Top 20 of 2022.
- Monday December 18 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Stations of 2023
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
