To borrow a line from the great Billy Joel, “I got a call from an old friend, we used to be real close…” This is a radio friend, and he called to let me know he had gotten laid off recently and to see if I might have any job leads for him. “I was shocked,” he said.
Without thinking, I blurted out, “You’re kidding, right?!”
He wasn’t, but since I said that the way I did, he pressed me and asked why he shouldn’t have been surprised about getting laid off, especially after having been with the company of over a decade.
I couldn’t believe I had to have this conversation, but I went ahead with it anyway and told my ol’ pal the truth. “Buddy, you worked for a big radio company that went bankrupt. And you were on AM radio. And you didn’t do anything extra to provide any value to the company. And you kind of always act like you hate the place. And you really haven’t adapted over the years. And I see you post about your whole life on social media but rarely, if ever, about your station/job/company. Would you like me to continue?”
He should have known all of this stuff, but sometimes people just do not, under any circumstances, want to deal with reality or go out of their way to do anything other than what they believe they are being paid to do.
I’ve had the privilege of speaking to many students over the years about careers in the media and the number one thing I say today is – be versatile. One-trick ponies don’t work in this business anymore, unless the one trick is sales. The second thing I say is – learn to sell, even if the only thing you’re ever selling is yourself. If you can tie yourself to revenue, you have value. If you can tie yourself to a lot of revenue you have leverage.
After revenue, revenue, revenue and revenue, audience rounds out the top five things you need to also make sure to provide. And that doesn’t necessarily mean ratings and, in most cases, doesn’t mean ratings at all. Yes, having a big following is awesome, but it’s really about the engagement. We all know this is no longer just about your air shift. It is about engaging with your audience about everything at all times, it comes with the territory now. If you don’t want to be on the socials, or you want to keep your private life private, that’s cool, but you may want to start looking into another industry.
This industry needs creative people who are coming up with new ways to drive revenue and new ways to create content and new ways to lock in their listeners and viewers, because they can’t get enough of that particular person. This is the world we live in today, where people think social media ‘influencers’ are their friends – because those ‘influencers’ are always providing original content for them. I have a wife and three daughters who are 20, 18 and 15 – trust me on this.
Radio loves the ‘we were the original social media’ line – and while it is a correct statement, it doesn’t mean a thing if the industry isn’t taking advantage of the current social media in order to stay relevant.
If you are a talent who is not doing those sorts of things, you are simply waiting out the time until the GM taps you on the shoulder and says it’s time to go.
As the chat with my friend started to wind down and we had talked through how it all has changed, he started to realize that he really had fought it instead of growing with it. Finally, he said, “You’re right. How can I have not realized how unsafe of a position I was in?”
He texted me the next day with an idea he has for a podcast and a weekly video series. He said he is thinking about just doing things on his own and selling it himself because he believes he has the connections it will take to get support.
I had two thoughts. One, good for him, I hope he kills it, and I hope he ends up making 3 times the money he was making before and works half the time. And then the second thought, which was wondering how many others will have to get laid off before they realize the reality of the current situation.
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The Best Thing I’ve Heard/Watched Recently
A week ago, 98.5 The Sports Hub and Beasley Media Group announced Ryan Johnston as the new radio play-by-play voice of the Boston Bruins. Johnston has been doing play-by-play for almost 25 years and will now have one of the most coveted jobs in sports.
If you did not get to hear how the announcement was made on the radio station, it is worth about 12 minutes of your time. Not only do you get to hear how obviously excited Johnston is, but you also get to hear how excited everyone else is. If you know much about morning host Fred Toucher, you’ll know he isn’t always…how do I say this?…well, he isn’t always very nice to people.
In this particular case, you will hear Toucher give an incredibly kind introduction about how hard Johnston has worked to earn this new position, how important he has been to the show and radio station and how much they all believe Johnston will crush it as the new radio voice of the Bruins. It was great radio.
You can watch the announcement by clicking here.
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In Case You Missed It
Like most people I think Jason Benetti does such a great job doing play-by-play. To me, the mark of a good announcer is that they do well when things are exciting, but they also do well during the down times. They have the play-by-play chops, but they can be funny, insightful and keep you entertained.
Derek Futterman talked to Jason recently I hope you had the chance to read it. One of the quotes that stood out was one where Jason talked about whether or not his goal is to call the biggest games like a Super Bowl or a World Series.
“We have no idea if somebody would put a person with a disability that’s so open and obvious on the biggest game in the world,” Benetti told Derek. “We don’t know that; I don’t know that. Nobody’s tried, so it would be a little far-fetched for me to say that that’s what I’d want to do and my career’s a failure if I don’t get to do that.”
You can read the full article by clicking here.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
