Is a radio signal as valuable as your largest social media platforms in 2025? I mean, sure, finding your frequency on the dial requires a listener to know way less about you than finding your videos on YouTube or TikTok. Maybe the respective algorithms will feed them to that audience eventually, but it is going to take a lot of training and previous actions to teach the algorithm that they like the kind of topics you cover.
On the other hand, YouTube and TikTok are always in your listeners’ pockets. That means they always have access to whatever you put there, whereas they have to be tuned into your broadcast signal at the exact right moment to consume that same content via your radio broadcast.
So that brings up a question: should you be programming your brand with digital platforms instead of the radio signal at the top of your mind?
It’s 2025! The answer is yes, but that answer brings up an even bigger question: If you make the digital world your top priority, how does that change the way you think about your brand?
Who Is Your Audience?
The vast majority of radio content is made for a specific market. Discussions of the NCAA Tournament championship are going to sound very different on Houston radio versus Tampa radio regardless of the outcome. Terrestrial radio has a very specific reach, so it’s talking to a very specific audience.
But if you’re a digital brand, exactly who is your audience? Does a host based in Houston have to talk about what the game means to Kelvin Sampson’s legacy in college basketball? That YouTube video or podcast episode is just as easy to stream in Seattle as it is in Houston. Does that mean he or she should approach the game with a more national perspective?
That’s a massive mistake that I fear that brands and hosts in markets like Raleigh/Durham (where I live) are way more likely to make than hosts in places like say Cincinnati. So few people that live in Raleigh have deep family roots here. It’s a market full of transplants that surely welcomes discussion of the biggest teams from around the country, right?
Sorry, but no.
I trust that my friend Adam Gold knows a lot about the Carolina Hurricanes and about the failure of Duke’s amazing freshman class to seal the deal with a title. If he were to start talking about LeBron James or the Philadelphia Eagles, I’m sorry, but I’m out. There are other people on these same digital platforms whose opinions and insight on those topics carry so much more weight.
Your position of strength is your position of strength regardless of the size of your space. Maybe the “big fish in a small pond” nature of local radio feels confining, but look at it this way. Imagine you’re the fisherman. In the pond, your little rowboat works just fine. There are only so many places the fish can go and your bait is easy for them to find. You’ll probably get bites all day long. If you go into open water though, there is a lot you have to compete with to catch a fish – other fishermen in bigger boats, ocean waves that you can’t row against, bigger fish or even alligators that also want to eat the fish you’re trying to catch, etc.
So what is the best way for that fisherman to succeed in the open ocean or in a giant bay? It’s to find his advantages. Go fish in mangroves or near reeds where fish are known to be, avoid crowded areas, get away from those bigger boats or professional fishing vessels built to do things you simply can’t.
There are so many videos on YouTube and TikTok and so many podcasts on Spotify and Apple. You will starve trying to fish in the same waters as ESPN, Barstool and FOX. Sure, people from all over the world can find your digital content easier than they can find your broadcast signal, but the audience in your market will always be the one most likely to go looking for you.
What Does Your Content Look Like?
Plenty of program directors have asked if there is a better way to structure sports radio than three or four-hour long shows. Some have invested in two-hour blocks, but even then, very few people in the audience to start the show will be there by the end. They have jobs and lives.
Think about how digital content is structured. Instagram Reels are capped at 90 seconds. TikToks perform best when they are between 21 and 34 seconds. For YouTube, it’s between 7 and 15 minutes. You can post a full three hour radio show as a single video, but all of these platforms allow you to program with short attention spans in mind and the numbers say that is the right way to do this.
There is no flowing from topic to topic. No need to develop a topic by asking what the interactive element to follow the initial conversation. Programming for digital platforms allows you to create full stories and discussions in shorter, self-contained segments.
All of those formatics that PPM says are important and that so many great talents dismiss anyway (teasing, resetting, etc.) go out the window and so do the arguments that come with them. All that matters is what is happening in the timespan of that one video. It’s the whole universe.
What Are You Selling?
Let’s be clear about something. All audience measurement numbers are fake. Whether it’s Nielsen’s ratings system lowering the bar to inflate the results or these digital platforms counting views based on videos that start playing automatically, there is no number that can reliably tell bosses and advertisers how valuable a show is to its audience.
Digital platforms can do two things better than broadcast radio. First, between shares and comments, it can give advertisers an idea of how entertained the audience is by what it sees. They took the time to comment. They share it with their friends or on their own social media pages. It’s tangible proof that the content connected.
The other thing it can do is deliver a number that is easy to understand. Don’t get me wrong. The numbers are still inflated and skewed to make the platform look more valuable to its advertisers, but put yourself in an advertisers shoes.
If I don’t work in the media, am I more likely to perk up when I hear that your station has a 5 share or when I hear that your video has 25,000 views? The view count is simple to understand. It’s delivered in layman’s terms. That’s disarming. I don’t need an education to know if the information I’m being told is good or bad. Plus, the number is verifiable. It’s right there on the screen, so I don’t have to question if you are trying to pull a fast one on me.
Forget the future being digital. We’re well past that. Radio brands have to figure out how to shift from valuing filling hours to generating truly valuable content.
No one is just going to abandon their air signal in favor of making content in ten minute chunks, but ten minute chunks may have more value than the full hours they come from. Maximize the value of those shorter chunks of content. You have all the tools. You just need the strategy and the buy-in of the people around you.
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.
Demetri Ravanos is a former columnist and editor for Barrett Media. He is the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host of the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
