Consultant’s Corner: Lee Abrams, Lee Abrams Media Visions

Lee Abrams has decades of experience in radio, TV news, and print media. He has consulted over 1,000 radio stations and designed XM satellite radio. He developed Album Oriented Rock (AOR) and is a member of the Rock Radio Hall of Fame, along with awards too numerous to list.

He is this week’s featured consultant.

Jeff Lynn: What is the current state of the radio industry?

Lee Abrams: I’m amazed that at this time of unprecedented competition in audio, terrestrial radio has its eye off the creative ball, opting for autopilot presentations and creative paralysis. There are, of course, stations that are successful, but the era of where radio as the great American soundtrack is fading/faded, you would think radio would be on creative steroids. Imagination is about brainpower, not money power — new angles and ideas, even for traditional formats, has never been more important, and the best ideas often cost nothing or aren’t particularly labor intensive. 

It was a completely different ecosystem in the earlier pre-consolidation days, but we had people blowing up playbooks, making magic, and introducing often radical new approaches, and often with spectacular success.

SOMEBODY must have new ideas and the moxie to develop a plan. 

There are plenty of offshoot formats that skew in a modified direction, but I haven’t heard any that are rewriting the playbook at a time when those who can rewrite it and execute it have a chance to do some damage.    

Again, it’s a new world out there with new rules but radio programming is addicted to the 80s playbook in 2025! I’m just thinking it’s time for some serious action to breathe life into a medium that requires innovation and shakes itself up in most areas. It’s happening in operations, tech, and finance but not in programming.  It’s about ideas more than spending money.

There are new format opportunities, too, beyond another rebranding of AC. Many targeting 55+ which is radio’s sweet spot of radio-centric listenership.

Personally, I listen to News Radio, which I find refreshing for its directness in a world of political skew, misinformation, and cliches in traditional news. 

A few years ago, I wrote this in “State of Radio,” which is a deep dive that still applies:

JL: As the founder of the AOR format, how do you see it currently, and how has it changed since you started it?

LA: Well, the biggest changes include:

-less depth by core artists.

-little new music compared to then.

-an addiction to cheesy Star Wars sound effect promos.

-Little interaction with core artists.

-fewer features and special programming.

-Lack of eccentricity. 

-Fewer anchor personalities outside of morning.

On the plus side, there are some great long-term success stories where stations have morphed into fuller service stations, including carrying the NFL, having a strong morning presence, big local visibility, and bulletproof playlists. Classic Rock is the new MOR—not a bad thing.

JL: Have a lot of stations that were once AOR slid into Classic Rock?

LA: Yes, it’s a natural evolution. The music people like between 16-20 is what you like for life—the musically formative years. There’s a gigantic group (and underserved) called baby boomers where the 60s and 70s music is the soundtrack of their lives. Classic Rock evolved out of AOR as the original listeners have grown.

It’s funny because in the late 70s, there was the great 25-34 scare, and census data would illustrate a decline in 18-24. Therefore, many 18-24 driven stations panicked and figured that a rocker on his/her 25th birthday would throw out their Hendrix records and suddenly like Neil Diamond since they’re now 25-34 “adults.” Didn’t happen. The relationship with ‘their’ artists became stronger until these artists reached the untouchable stage of superstardom. 

JL: I remember AOR as free-form and deep tracks that people would step out on. With PPM and programmers reluctant to take music chances, is it possible to have this type of presentation?

LA: They often resist taking music risks because they may be subject to corporate playlists and/or lack the understanding of their audience, not knowing what will click to 2025 ears. Music selection is more than scheduling. It’s immersion into the genre.  Understanding the music parameters, but within that parameter, there may be opportunities for exciting new tracks. Perhaps new research techniques are necessary to account for the modern listening scenario, which requires new ways to examine real-time music trends.

Here’s a piece on music programming I wrote back at XM.

JL: Personalities are being consolidated into national shows spread across several markets; how does this bode for the future of radio?

LA: I’ve always been a fan of national radio. It can be big and badass. The key is if it’s national, SAY SO. Being national and pretending it’s local is more trickery than radio seems to like. Live and local is great, but economically, it is not always feasible.  I’d rather hear great national talent than generic card readers. Hats off to the stations that are able to afford local personalities, but I see National Radio growing. An extreme example- but I don’t think Howard Stern fans care where he is. For the stations that are locally originated I don’t hear a lot of local references in the way it used to be.  When I was a kid, we’d drive from Chicago to Miami on holidays through Indy, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, and Jacksonville. Every station sounded unique to its community. Make that same trip today; it sounds like one station. The sameness is astounding. If you’re going local, do it. Engage as the great MOR stations did in the past. Completely absorbed in their city. Simply saying local won’t cut it. At ZRock, we were national and proud of it. We had branches of our national army in 50 cities. It was a National family.

JL: You pioneered researching Psychographics. Can you expound a bit on that?

LA: Age/Sex demographics were designed for sales. We needed new categories designed for programmers. Back when we first started focusing on psychographics, you could take a 30-year-old. Traditionally, they were male or female. Psychographics allowed us to look at types of people within those age ranges. For example, that 30-year-old male might think Springsteen is the greatest, another could care less and prefer Country music, another might be into R&B, and another into eclectic music. The point is there are so many types of people within any age/sex demographic.

Here’s a recent psychographic breakdown:

Along those lines, we also did some very eclectic research, including hitchhiking studies, to learn about in-car listening habits. And call back cards to talk with people who bought records. This kept us ahead of the pack in understanding our target and delivering the goods. One hitchhiking example was a DJ talking up a record— jocks loved it; that guy driving a Ford would pound the dashboard and scream, “Shut the f up and play the song.” 

JL: As the co-founder of SiriusXM, you have seen both sides of the equation. What are the biggest threats and, conversely, the biggest opportunities for terrestrial radio?

LA: The two biggest threats are economic instability (and the resulting ad loads among other things ) and lazy imaginations. We all know about the economic strain— much out of the control of the rank and file. But imagination laziness creates very average stations at a time when average sucks. Programmers are unfortunately saddled with overbearing workloads, but there’s an imagination gene that needs to be fired up.     

AFDI ( actually f—-ing) doing it is critical to imagination execution. 

AFDI—— ACTUALLY F- – – – – G DOING IT

AFDI is a slogan I came up with many years ago. The scenario was a radio station that was once on top with a 7 share. In recent years, they had declined to a 3, and we were called in.

On my first visit, I met with the GM and said, “Let’s get you, me, the program director, the production director, the sales manager, and other voices and bury ourselves in a hotel suite with a lot of radios so we can do a complete audit of ourselves and competitors.” The idea being tearing apart ourselves and the market and generating new ideas that’ll bring back the glory. No distractions. A total deep dive. Media surgery.

At 3 am, eight of us emerged from the trade-out suite. A ton of legal pads (old-school before devices ) loaded with ideas and angles. Everyone was charged up and ready to reinvent themselves and the station. As a road-driven consultant, I left the next day armed with plans to rebuild this station, which still had good circulation, good signal, and the tools to succeed, allowing them to execute.

A month later, I returned.  Notes in tow.  The initial conversation went like this:

Q: Did we do this?

A: No, we thought we’d analyze it further ( paralysis by analysis )

Q: Did we do this?

A: The home office would never approve.

Q: Did we do this?

A: Oh…forgot about that one.

Q: Did we do this?

A: No, we had a meeting and decided against it.

Q: Did we do this?

A: Too risky.

Q: Did we do this?

A: We are going to maybe test it at 4 am.

The point is: THEY DID NOTHING and reverted back to their 3 share.

Maybe it was fear of change, laziness, or an extreme lack of imagination or motivation. Not a good idea when the old way was tanking them.

That’s where AFDI emerged. Actually F- – – – -G Doing it

It was a battle cry at XM and other projects. Come up with ideas that are legal, cost-effective, and growth-generating. And AFDI!

That’s the problem with mission statements. Often, they’re BS. I was at a TV station once where the statement included things like:

We are on the cutting edge of programming.

We have a personal relationship with our viewers.

We put the community first.

Etc.

I asked the Sales Manager if he believed that. His response “Hell no, if we did half of those things, we’d be #1. 

It’s easy to roll along “hoping” things will improve. Chances are they won’t unless you go through the exercise and AFDI.

This applies to literally all businesses. The great ones AFDI when they’re already on top.

AFDI’s cousin is “the creative batting average.” Come up with 100 ideas, and if 70 of them stink, you’re an all-star because that means 30 worked. Gotta get off the bench and take swings. If the 30 are good, no one will remember the 70 that weren’t so hot. Like in baseball, the greatest hitters also struck out a lot. But you remember the homers.  Get off the bench and AFDI.

JL: With all you have done and accomplished, can you identify a couple of highlights?

LA: The launch of XM was an amazing time. We started with a clean canvas and created some wonderful channels and developed a new playbook. Reinventing radio. A lot of great programmers all together in one oasis of creativity. Along with people like Dave Logan and a fantastic staff, we charted a new course for radio. It’s changed quite a bit. Prior to that, launching Burkhart/Abrams with Kent Burkhart back around ‘73. Another era of unprecedented growth…and fun. We later brought on guys like Dwight Douglas, Lee Michaels (RIP), Jon Sinton, and others. The level of work we put into it might put some people in the hospital, but we had a blast pioneering many new ideas and working with some great stations. Along with Denny Somach, I had a label deal through Capitol. Cinema Records. They had a huge hit with Eric Johnson, “Ah Via Musicom.” I also worked with several major artists as a career advisor.

Back in 2002, we launched a 24/7 digital TV news channel called TOUCHVISION. It was only on in Chicago. It was WAY ahead of its time. I learned a lot, and it got me totally engaged in the future of video news. You haven’t heard the last of that concept! The time is right. Stay tuned.

There are really too many amazing experiences, but those are four that stand out. We’d need a lot of time to go through all of the stories. They’re endless and range from amusing to insane.  

JL: What advice would you give radio programmers to stand out with all the competition for ears?

LA: Balance science and emotion. The science is the playlist construction, format mechanics, etc. The emotion is creating the culture to invent. To imagine. To be a media artist painting an amazing picture with your station. Re-examine the playbook.  Update to 2025. Lead with new ideas even within a structured format. Colorize the station sound. Study the great airchecks of the past to see how you can capture that magic on 2025 terms and realities. Be a student of programming. Think like a listener. Learn the history of modern radio. Drake, Storz, and McLendon are on the short list of people you should learn about. Study the great battles—the originators. Dive in and know you need to understand the past to design the future.

JL: What is the best piece of advice you were ever given?

I have received great advice from many people, but what stands out is the advice I didn’t listen to. Such as (1969) “rock music on FM will never work” or (1998) ‘no one will ever pay for radio.’ The point being that any adventurous thinker needs thick skin for all the naysayers to new ideas. 

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