Welcome to the brand new BarrettMedia.com! I’m excited and proud to show you what we’ve been working on for months. My thanks to Andy Drake, Alex Reynolds, Stephanie Eads, Dylan Barrett, Dave Greene, Garrett Searight, and Jeff Lynn for helping make this a reality. I think you’ll agree that the site feels big, looks strong, and has tons to offer. Our sports and news media coverage remains unchanged, so BSM and BNM readers, have no fear. However, we have added music radio, podcasting, and tech coverage. Though we are far from done, this is a strong start. I hope you love reading the site as much as we enjoy creating the content. Tell your friends.
Today’s column shares what’s new, what lies ahead, and why we made this change. If you’re a first time visitor, thanks for stopping by. We’ve covered the media industry for nearly nine years, and feature close to thirty people on our team. Our coverage includes daily columns, features, news, and timely originals. If something happens in your career or at your brand that you think we’d care to cover, email me – Jason@BarrettMedia.com. You can also visit the website and click the Tip Box up top on the left side of the main page.
I’ll dive into the details shortly, but first, I want to thank Point to Point Marketing, MRN Radio, and the voice artists listed below for supporting our expansion. Great marketing and consulting partnerships help us make this possible. Covering the industry has been our focus for nearly nine years. Our traffic, reach, influence, and ability to help partners grow their businesses is supported by our results. We belong on your radar if you are marketing a product. Our website, newsletters, conferences, social media, and connections, allow us to create many solutions. To learn more about our opportunities and how we can help, email Stephanie@BarrettMedia.com.
Why The Change?
Growing a brand requires constant examination, and knowing when to stand pat or pivot. I launched BSM in 2015 because I saw a hole in the way sports radio was covered and believed I could fill it. We built a loyal audience, and expanded by increasing our attention on sports television, and digital, and then hosting conferences. We dove into news media coverage next in 2020. Radio, TV, and digital received limited coverage, and I felt we could improve it. So far, so good.
During this same period, I saw Front Office Sports, Axios, Sportico, Sports Business Journal, Puck, Awful Announcing, Outkick, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, the New York Post, and others invest more in covering media. Just last week, CNBC announced plans to dive in too, which followed John Wall Street raising capitol to do the same. I think this is great for the industry, but it also requires outlets to ask themselves ‘what sets us apart?’ I love sports and news media, and remain firmly committed to covering both, but I also know that growing a business requires studying the marketplace, making adjustments, and pursuing openings when they appear.
Music media coverage has been part of my plan for years. I registered BarrettMusicMedia.com two years ago, expecting this to happen. I just thought it’d be between 2025-2027. Then, All Access shut down in August 2023. Joel Denver and his team did a great job serving this industry, and their exit left a gaping hole. I expected an existing outlet would invest and fill the void, but it never happened. So I began asking questions to many about the opportunity and risk. I surveyed hundreds, wanting to make sure my instincts were correct. I needed to know if business could be generated, if we did this right. If it didn’t make sense, we’d pass.
Many believed what I did. There are too many stations with stories to tell that are currently untold. If not us, who? Original content is what we do best, and with that big of a hole, it made sense to dive in. We prioritize news, industry conversations, and analysis/opinion. If we can deliver those three things consistently, I think we can become a daily destination for music radio professionals. Check out Ron Harrell’s first column today, and our debut series, “20 Brands in 20 Days“, featuring a conversation with 96.5 KOIT’s Brian Figula.
New URL and Website Look:
We have a new logo, URL, and fresh new look. BSM and BNM looked great, but hadn’t been modified in a few years. It was time. Our long-term plan of becoming one brand, rather than a series of different outlets presented itself, so a logo change was also necessary. Our events and newsletters remain the same, except we’re now using the new logo instead of promoting three separate branches. Making this move was part of my long-term vision for the company. However, the asking price previously for the domain name didn’t make sense. That changed in March (night before the BSM Summit) so here we are.
If you’ve been reading BSM or BNM and bookmarked our former URL’s, have no fear. Typing in those web addresses still leads you to BarrettMedia.com. This is just shorter, and easier.
Content Additions/Changes:
The site features seven stories in each section, with Sports, Music, and News prominently displayed. Scrolling further down the page leads you to seven pieces of content from our Business and Podcasting categories, plus Tech has a featured story, with the ability to scroll to the right for more. Featuring fresh content on our main page is vital, but those who seek more will visit specific sections. News readers for instance can click the News Radio, News Television or News Digital tabs up top to get much more. Sports media folks and music radio pros can do the same in their respective sections.
We’re putting a greater focus moving forward on quality over quantity. Covering every single story sent in by brands is unrealistic. We want to prioritize news, business, and high-profile drama because they perform best. Generic reactions and smaller scale business stories will be reduced because readers are less interested in them. Send tips and pitches to myself and our editors. Reach Dave for sports here, Garrett for news here, and Jeff for music here. My email is up above in this article.
Writers:
We have twenty four (24) writers on this site, not counting myself or our digital director Alex Reynolds. Our columnists and reporters can be found in the sports, news, music, and business tabs up top. Main page visitors will see seven new pieces of content each morning, before scrolling down to the various sections on the site. We’ve also juggled our lineup to feature strong perspectives from all three lanes (sports-news-music) and conversations with people inside the industry.
The hard part of change is that while it means an opportunity for some, it means the loss of one for others. We’ve hired a lot of people over the years. Our weekly writers don’t get rich here, but they’re all paid for their contributions. When you’re in my shoes footing the bill for everyone, it adds up. I have to manage a budget too. I’m thrilled with our team, but sad to lose some folks who I hold in high regard. I wish all of them well, and appreciate everything they did for us in recent years.
Newsletters:
Barrett Media now distributes four daily newsletters. Sign up for the ones you want by going here. The 8@8 goes out at 8am ET to sports media readers. The Rundown reaches news media professionals daily at 9am ET. The Pulse hits inboxes at 10am ET each day for music radio pros. If you receive either of those three newsletters, you’ll automatically receive the Press Pass. It goes out nightly at 6pm ET, and features a blend of our sports, news, and music stories, and important articles from other outlets across the nation.
Social Media:
Barrett Media is available on 3 platforms – Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn. There are no longer news pages and sports pages, everything is now rolled into one. Go here to follow us on Facebook. X users can find us here on that platform. And on LinkedIn, we’re accessible here. We will only post content on these channels. We are scheduling posts through the end of July on our other channels, notifying followers of the transition, with plans to discontinue those channels at the end of the month. Though it’s a short-term inconvenience, we’re hopeful folks join us in our new locations.
Voices:
A new addition to the website is our brand new Voices section. We’re grateful to have Steve Stone, Jim Cutler, Matt Fogarty, Dan Levy, Loren Raye, Matt Anthony, Neil Wilson, and Anne Vydra on board as partners. Be sure to listen to their demos. There are many great voice talents across the country, and we wanted to create a paid section on the website where we could showcase the best in the business. Given how many decision makers we have reading us daily, it made sense to connect both sides, and open the door to future business. If you’re a voice talent interested in being featured, email Stephanie@BarrettMedia.com for details.
Memberships and Database:
Supercharging our Memberships is a priority. THANK YOU to all who have rode with us so far! Promotion for our members will continue in the newsletter, along with on-site profiles for resumes and demos, and discounts on tickets to our industry conferences. But we’re also adding a few ads on our pages to showcase our members, and introducing quarterly zoom calls with industry folks later this fall. If you’re investing in yourself and our brand, we want to help you back.
That’s not all though. One major addition to the website is our brand new Industry Database. This high powered section of the site will make it easier for people to reach others across all areas of the industry. I loved that part of the All Access site, and wanted to do it too, except with increased access to folks in television, tech, betting, digital, advertising, etc.. We’re starting with about a thousand people in the system, and will add more each week. 20,000-30,000 people will be in it by the end of the year.
Here’s the part some may not love. This section is only available to members, and consulting clients. It takes a lot of time and resources to track down thousands of people let alone key people in each company. All you have to do to gain access is sign up for a Membership. $149.99 per year gets you database access, 10% off Summit tickets, promotion on the website and in our newsletters, and invites to quarterly zooms with industry folks. Those same perks minus the zoom calls, and website/newsletter promotion can be enjoyed monthly for $14.99. It’s more than worth the price.
Jobs:
Promoting industry openings on our websites and supporting them with newsletter and social media has long been part of what we do. Charging for Job placements began in January 2024 because we deliver the right candidates to help brands fill key positions. Visit other trades, and you’ll find it costs $250-$1000 to promote a Job opening. I’ve bought ads myself on Indeed, and LinkedIn, and they’re not only more expensive, but they attract a lot of the wrong people. We keep costs low at $99 per month. That earns you placement on the site for 30-days, one-week of newsletter promotion, and additional social media support. Companies aiming to hire the right people, click here.
Stocks and Upcoming Events:
News media readers have seen our Stock Ticker before, but if you’ve never read BNM, it’s simply a way to stay aware of each day’s stock price for the nation’s top media companies. It displays right under the menu on the main page, and is updated M-F.
Additionally, when you click on a story, you’ll notice to the right an Upcoming Events Calendar. This is built to notify you of key business conferences, and industry events. We try to update it monthly, so if you have a future event coming up and wish to be added, please email the information to Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
What’s Next?
We expect to hit a homerun with our news media conference, the BNM Summit in September. George Washington University is where we’ll be on September 4-5, 2024. Tickets are on-sale now. Another big addition to the show will be announced tomorrow. I’m excited to unite the industry, and hope you’ll join us if your schedule allows. It’s worth the trip.
6+ and 12+ Ratings data will be added this week thanks to a new publisher partnership with Nielsen. BSM and BNM readers enjoyed our quarterly reports on Men 25-5 and Adults 35-64, but data mostly comes in when the news is good. Advertisers know the truth, and so does your employer. Consistency matters. We have to be fair to all groups, markets, and stations. Thousands of radio stations battle for audience, in numerous formats, all chasing different demos, and goals. Some groups have even unsubscribed to Nielsen in larger cities, making it harder to showcase their performances. As we expand, featuring all markets, using 6+/12+ data, and writing ratings recaps when new data comes out makes the most sense.
Other future possibilities include adding Airplay charts. If people want to see them on the site I’ll consider adding them. I do want to add Podcasting Charts as Edison, Triton, and Podtrac all track performance. When? I’m not sure yet. A weekly tech newsletter is planned for the 4th quarter of 2024. I’m aiming to launch it in October or November, and distribute it on Friday’s. More on that in the future. Advertising content is another area of interest. We won’t touch that though until we’ve got our current process firing on all cylinders. Doing it requires adding more writers, and we’re not ready to do that just yet. We’ll see if it makes sense for 2025.
Closing
I’m 50 years old, have tons of energy and passion, am well connected across the industry, and plan to cover this business for years to come. It is challenging, but I love it, and so does our team. Millions read us annually, hundreds of thousands do so monthly, and that’s not including the millions of monthly impressions we generate across social media platforms. We create content for a specific audience, delivered by experienced professionals who know the business they write about. It involves talking to broadcasters and executives regularly, staying educated, and making sacrifices to be on top of the news cycle.
I said this in the third paragraph, and it bears repeating – we belong on your radar if you’re marketing a product. Period. End of story. The only question is, which project are we working on together? What you see on this website, and in your inbox through our daily newsletters is the result of passion, investment, love, knowledge, and hard work. We’re better today than we were last week, and will continue to grow as long as I’m alive, and physically capable of doing the work.
Thank you so much for supporting our journey. September marks our nine year anniversary, and it’s been a hell of a ride. But we’re not done yet. The best is yet to come!
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.
