Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Bloomberg Radio’s Michael Lysak likes to tell people, “Not only am I on your side, but it’s my job to make you the best you can be because if you’re not good at your job, then I’m not going to be good at my job because my job is to make you good at your job.”
The Regis High School graduate made his way to the top of the industry without ever having to leave the New York market. His passion for radio began in the halls, and microphones, of the catholic school. “I launched a radio station on the PA system of my high school,” Lysak said. “And that was a lot of fun. And, you know, I just kind of got the radio bug way back then.”
Lysak attended NYU and before long he joined Bloomberg Radio Network. “When I walked in the door, I never knew that I would be here for a long time,” he said. “I was interviewed by Mike Bloomberg, and you talk about people who have influenced you. He’s such a great hands-on guy. Firsthand, he would interview employees. He can’t do it now because the company has grown so much.”
Lysak recalled, “Back then, [Mike Bloomberg] interviewed every employee. In the morning, he was the first one in the office. He didn’t have to be. He had his name on the company. The phone would ring, he’d answer the phone. It wasn’t that small of a company, but he’d answer the phone because it was often a Bloomberg terminal customer, which is the lifeblood of this company. He wanted to send the message that he cared.”
The former New York City Mayor’s influence on Lysak is evident, not just by work ethic but by humbleness as well. “It’s a very, egalitarian place,” Lysak said about Bloomberg. “People do not have offices, we sit in an open room. [Mike] sits in an open room as well, and he’s always put himself near radio people, which is very cool. He likes radio a lot. Despite how important and successful he is, he doesn’t put himself in an ivory tower. He sits at an open desk just like everybody else. So, he walks the walk. And, you know, I try to do the same thing.”
Today, Lysak is the head of Global Radio & TV syndication at the network. His team provides business reports for stations around the country, including Audacy and iHeartMedia. “I say money reports because you know, they have mainstream audiences. So unlike Bloomberg Radio, which has more of a niche audience that is very interested in the more of the granular details of business news, the more general radio stations that my department services are general news stations.”
Another part of his team’s responsibilities is handling ‘two way’ requests and inquiries. “[Affiliates will contact my team and] say, ‘We’ve read the story about the latest morning Consult poll, which is a poll that Bloomberg does about the presidential election. Can we talk to the reporter?’ Then we’ll hook them up with the reporter and they’ll interview the reporter on the air for 3 to 5 minutes. So, in that sense, we’re involved in presidential politics, but very peripherally.”
This might be why the outlet is so down the line when it comes to reporting on politics. “In a day where a lot of media might have a point of view one way or the other purposely because that’s their mission, at Bloomberg our mission is to be kind of down the middle, and we have a reputation for that. So that’s kind of nice [and] a breath of fresh air for your listeners to know that we’ll do our best to be evenhanded.”
No matter the size of the market his team is reporting for, Lysak notes it doesn’t matter how many people are listening, you are talking to one person. “You want to talk to an audience of one so that you are intimate and that’s the beauty of audio.”
Over the years Lysak has transitioned from saying ‘radio’ to ‘audio’ because, “We’re in the storytelling business and we’re platform agnostic.” He also noted, “At Bloomberg a lot of our radio shows are turned into podcasts. A lot of our podcasts are turned into radio shows, which proves that good content is good content. Of course, there are stylistic differences and so forth. But these high-level ideas remain the same. Tell a good story and communicate directly in an intimate way to your audience of one. I think that that’s true whether you’re podcasting or broadcasting.”
Either way, the intimacy still remains because you can stream radio or podcasts straight from your phone, “They’re not just sitting in front of the radio like you would sit in front of a television and watch the latest episode on Netflix,” Lysak said. “They’re doing all sorts of other things while they’re listening to the radio.” Lysak added, “You’re not just competing with other radio stations, you’re competing with all of this other media like audiobooks. I like listening to audiobooks, but if they’re listening to an audiobook, they’re not listening to you. How do you make [listeners] special? Just speaking to that audience of one, communicating in a way that you would to your friend.”
No matter the type of report his staff is giving, what Lysak believes is most important is telling good stories. “Things at the top of the list are good writing, being able to write good broadcast copy and obviously you need to have a good on-air delivery that’s appropriate for the particular venue,” he said.
Most importantly, for those looking to follow in Lysak’s footsteps or even for those reporters he oversees, he looks for people who have the desire to be there. “Who wants to be the first person and show up in the morning and the last person to leave, not because you want to work them to death, but because they love the job so much. They want to be there. You know, you want to see that spark in people. You want to go into something with the idea that ‘I want to do as much as I can.’”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
