Kim Komando is an undeniable radio legend. A Gracie Award winner, Marconi Award nominee, and National Radio Hall of Famer, the longtime radio host has reached heights most can only dream of.
And yet, Kim Komando continues to innovate.
In 2022, Komando added a Friday night program to WLS-AM 890 in Chicago. The one-hour show airs from 7-8 PM local time on the Chicago news/talk station. The audience during that timeslot has increased 95% in the Persons 18+ demographic since the spring 2023 ratings period.
On the heels of that ratings success, her weekend program has extended on 95.5 WSB in Atlanta. Additionally, The Daily Tech Update and Kim Komando’s Digital Life Hack are now also heard on stations like WTOP in Washington D.C. and 77 WABC in New York.
One could attribute that ratings jump to a rise in interest in Artificial Intelligence. But the longtime tech radio host keeps her show refreshed on a near-constant basis as a way to continue to hone her craft.
“The calls that I get now are totally different than calls like six months ago. What I’ve done with the show is about every six months, I sit down and I reinvent the show,” said Komando. “I go in and say ‘Ok, this works, this doesn’t. This feels old. This doesn’t feel fresh. What other component can I add to it that will give the listener value if they just tuned in for that second, that would make them want to hang out?”
“I’ve done this forever,” The Kim Komando Show host later added. “Every six months, I literally have an appointment on my calendar to look at it to say, ‘This is what we’re doing. Does this feel right?’ The actual hope is that you are still perfecting your craft. That’s what I like to do.”
That audience growth continues to excite Komando.
“Right now, I have chicken skin because you don’t really know how an audience is going to accept something new,” Komando said of the Friday night WLS program. “It’s such an honor to be on that station, and to be a part of WLS.”
Everyone — both inside the news media industry and outside — is talking about the rise of AI. Not just the expansion of the technology, but how it will help business in a variety of ways. And while the topic continues to be one many are interested in learning more about, Komando says it’s just the latest in a long line of hot-button topics.
“There’s never been a topic that is this far-reaching into all of our lives. And I don’t know if the average American really fully comprehends that,” she admitted. “It’s not just careers … It’s fabulous, it’s very frightening, and it’s a real productivity tool. But also a productivity buster, right? There’s two sides of the coin for everything. You can use it for good, yes, but there’s a bad side. Good people are gonna have it, and bad people are gonna have it.
“We put a poll up and we got — I don’t know, last time I checked we had like 12,000 people that responded to ‘Are you afraid of AI?’ And about 80% of people say yes.”
Komando shares many similarities with Dave Ramsey. The pair both built their empires — albeit in different areas — from the ground up and are radio titans. Earlier this year, Ramsey committed to never utilizing AI as an on-air content tool, calling it a decision based on principle.
Kim Komando shared similar sentiments, but wouldn’t rule out utilizing the technology should it dramatically improve somewhere down the line.
“I never want to say never. We are not using any AI for content at all right now. None. I tried with an AI voice. And because I thought, ‘How great would this be? Super great. I can just like write the Daily Tech Update and just travel and not have to know where my Go-bag is.’
“So I sat there and I trained it. I mean, oh my god. It was awful. Hours, and hours, and hours and hours now trying to train one AI voice tool. It didn’t work. I tried the other AI voice tool. It didn’t work. Finally, I’m like ‘Ok, this is a big company. We’re going to use this AI voice tool. Trained it. Trained it, trained it, trained. And then did a Tech Update with it. One. I got program directors (asking) ‘Are you okay? You sound little down.’ Then I had one program director in a major market — top 10 market — (say) ‘That is just totally AI. I’m not running it.’
“Because it doesn’t have the tone, the breath, the feeling, the emotion,” she shared. “So I tried to get my money back from that big company. My contract is up in August. I’m still paying a monthly fee. I’m not a little bitter. Yeah, I am.”
The irony isn’t lost that someone who has covered the biggest stories in the tech world for more than three decades could still be viewed as an innovator, despite her Radio Hall of Fame credentials.
“I say this a lot here, and every time I say it, people will roll their eyes. If you don’t innovate, you’re gonna evaporate,” Kim Komando said, before later adding “I love what I do.”
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
