Tony Lorino is the CEO of Throwback Brands and the host of Throwback Nation Radio. The company’s brands include Throwback Nation Radio, Throwback 2K, and Retro Pop Reunion.
After stops in Des Moines, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Atlanta, Lorino decided to step out on his own and develop the Throwback Brands.
With a family to feed and a vision, Lorino jumped into the deep end of the pool.
“There are a couple of things that I think I’ve learned through it, and one is that you have to embrace the little wins along the way because we kept growing the whole time. The toughest part was the pandemic. I started the show in the fall of 2018 with no significant expectations of how many stations we would get on this thing. What are we going to do?”
“What’s it going to be like? It was just really, okay, we’re going to, I’m going to give it a try, because, and the other part was, I saw an opportunity in the marketplace. I noticed that Classic Hits was modernizing, and it was having to appeal to a 40- to 54-year-old audience that had different tastes than the previous 40- to 54-year-olds, and it was not ready.
“The format as a whole was hanging on to what it had been and wasn’t modernizing, wasn’t moving quick enough, and so I said, you know what? I think I’m going to do it because I love it. I loved the format.”
Understanding the bond between the format and people’s memories and believing in his vision was key.
“You have this bond with the audience over their favorite songs and these times in their life that I just loved. So that’s where my head was with it, and we just kept working. I think the thing for me was an ultimate belief in myself that we would achieve what we wanted to achieve, even if it wasn’t instantaneous or overnight. The dollars and cents were a long-term play.”
Lorino’s vision and hard work have paid off.
“Throwback Nation, we’re at 80 affiliates in all market sizes from PPM to mom-and-pop. Throwback 2K is also right around 80 stations.
While the music may be from 30 to 40 years old, the Throwback brand’s presentation is contemporary.
“Everything we do is contemporary. Everything we do is today. It just happens to be that we’re playing classic music. In Throwback 2K, we saw something very similar to Hot AC in the late 90s and early 2000s, and this boom with 80s products where they couldn’t play enough.”
“We believe that this is the exact same situation, and that’s research-driven. We’ve done our homework. We’ve done some independent music research on the titles for the opportunities there, and you can see it, too. All you have to do is look at who’s at The Sphere in Vegas and the Backstreet Boys this year. Holy cow. I mean, that is Throwback 2K.”
I suggested that the music takes us to a time when the world wasn’t as divided and life for the core demo was simpler.
“125 billion percent, absolutely, and it’s the same, by the way, for all the different ages of people. If you’re a baby boomer, it’s the 80s that you’re probably tied to. If you’re an early Gen Xer, it’s the 1980s. For late Gen X or Zennial, it’s the 90s. If you’re a millennial, it’s the early 2000s. All these buckets of music and nostalgia make you feel good and bring you a little semblance of calm in a very uncalm world.”
I asked what is on the horizon for Throwback brands.
“We are always looking at opportunities, and right now, the stuff we’re looking at for the immediate future is to grow the three brands that we have. We still have a little more runway on all the shows because what we’re hearing more and more is that there are more stations that need more content of higher quality, and we’ve built not just content but quality content. In the case of Throwback Nation, it’s completely localized with call letters and promotion mentions, all woven in with the Radio.Cloud setup.”
“This business is self-funded. There’s no one underwriting. We’re not supported by a corporate entity like Westwood One or Premier that has the opportunity to develop something. Skyview Networks is our syndicator, and they play a huge part in our success; however, the growth and business are all self-funded.
Lorino sees value and opportunity for radio to learn from one another.
“We always joke that in this business, if you stole it from me, it’s been stolen twice. Right? And there’s a little bit of truth to that, but it isn’t always the verbatim of that. Sometimes it’s just the influence. It’s just about hearing someone say something in a certain way and observing how a different talent may try something on social media.
“We all have to be open to experimenting. We all have to be open to learning from each other. There is no tried and true plan for success in the infinite dial for people who have begun their careers in radio. The infinite dial is where we live now. We have got to take what we’re doing to social media. We have got to take what we’re doing on YouTube and other channels.”
“If we’re going to remain relevant, the interaction with the audience that we can achieve on all these multiple platforms is going to be the way we do it. And let’s learn from each other. We’re not looking to steal verbatim from someone but complement each other.”
Lorino is a big believer in complimenting others on a job well done.
“The most important thing right now for radio people to do is to support each other and complement each other when you think someone’s doing something good. If you see someone trying something on a social platform and sharing a video from on the air, send them a DM and say, ‘ Hey, that’s really cool.”
“I’ll give you a prime example. A couple of years ago, we are on WDJX in Louisville with Throwback2K. We saw Ben Davis, the PD there, doing New Year’s Tay, which was Taylor Swift on New Year’s Day. I thought it was brilliant. And I made sure to send him a message to say, I think this is great. What a good idea.”
You can reach Tony Lorino by email here.
Skyview Networks is the syndicator and can be reached here.
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Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
