One of the hot-button topics of the radio industry is where the next group of stars will come from. Many lament the lack of opportunities for younger people in the industry. However, Red Apple Media and 77 WABC don’t have that issue.
In an interview with RadioInk, Red Apple Media President Chad Lopez shared that just under half of the staff for the company are 30 or younger.
“I would say it’s about 40% of the staff. It’s a lot because of production and everything that we’re doing, especially with social media and digital,” Lopez said. “Plus, we launched our own syndication. We have an advertising agency and a media placement agency that we do out of here as well.”
Lopez also shared that the company has a robust internship program. One of the features of the program is that interns are paid minimum wage.
“We’re asking them to do what we would pay somebody the minimum wage to do. They could be working in events for us, they could be in social media if they have graphic skills,” he said. “We want a lot of journalists. And we also move them throughout the departments when they come in so they get a really good sense of what a modern radio station looks like and feels like.”
In addition to getting interns from strong communications programs like Hofstra and Fordham, Lopez added that some of the strongest interests from young hires are the children of advertisers on 77 WABC. He said while they may not understand the impact the AM radio station may have in the New York market, they understand that their parents have “skin in the game”, and grow to love the medium from their internship experiences.
