Approaching The Summit is a series of special interviews created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing featuring speakers at the upcoming 2025 BSM Summit in Chicago, IL. Follow along with this series as prominent names surrounding the event coming up on May 8-9 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) inside the Edlis Neeson Theater and share their insights and expectations for what’s to come in the Windy City.
Andy Roth is the Director of Programming of Sports Radio 680 The Fan in Atlanta, GA. He joined Dickey Broadcasting in October of 2024 after serving 13 years with Audacy in the Cleveland/Akron market. Roth began his career with Infinity Broadcasting in 1993, and his career has taken him to stops in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City, Buffalo, Cleveland, and now based in Atlanta.
This is Roth’s second time attending the BSM Summit and will be his first time speaking at the event. He sat down with Barrett Media from his offices in Atlanta, GA.
*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*
BSM Staff: What are you looking forward to the most with the BSM Summit?
Andy Roth: There are two things. First, its connecting with people all across the country and seeing what they’re doing with their radio stations, websites and apps. The second thing is the last conference I went to was right before Covid in 2020. Back then Jason Barrett had a seminar about how important social media was and specifically video.
I want to see face-to-face with people I know what they’re doing not only video wise but how they’re repurposing shows. I think the bite-size clips is the way that our audience takes stuff in if they don’t listen to it live.
BSM Staff: Since you have attended previously, what do you see as the value of the BSM summit for industry professionals and attendees? Plus, with your personal experience with the Summit, how important is it to get outside the office and share in that in person attendance with the event?
Andy Roth: Zoom meetings are great and wonderful to get a top line idea of what the presentation is all about. When you’re actually in the audience, you get a different perspective because you’re seeing it face-to-face and then can go to those people afterwards and follow up. Especially because there’s going to be so many little points that are brought up during these times. I think it’s really important to get clarity when you really want to know something and you can’t do that on Zoom.
BSM Staff: Entering this year’s Summit, what do you feel are the biggest opportunities or challenges that the industry faces today that you’d like to see discussed at the Summit?
Andy Roth: I would say the future of finding talent and then coaching them up. We are not seeing the opportunities that radio stations and websites once had.
If there are ways of grabbing people while they’re in college or while they’re growing in the business, I think it’s important that they should be at the Summit.
BSM Staff: The BSM Summit has a lot of different subsets of sports media. It caters to sports radio, sports television, sports media, and digital publishing. There’s CEOs and brand managers as well.
How do you feel the subsets of sports media for business can continue to foster more synergy and working together to cultivate growth for everybody?
Andy Roth: That’s another reason why I’m going. I think that with Rick Scott’s conference way back in 2000s, I learned a lot at those events, and it wasn’t just talking to people. It was seeing where people had gone and where they want to go. I think that as we have different radio stations trying different things with different companies. I don’t think enough people talk to each other.
This is going to be a great chance to see everybody in one spot and hear people talk to each other on the stage about what they’re doing and what they’re really proud of.
BSM Staff: What’s one specific item that you would like to see coming out of this summit that you could take back to your local market in Atlanta?
Andy Roth: It used to be promotion stuff that I want to see. How are people doing unique things. I really want to see how people are focusing now on mixing digital with the over the air product. I want to see not just best practices, but what people want to do.
I don’t think that right now people even are able to do it effectively, but I think we’re coming more closer to the way that people should be taking in our products because of the advancements in apps. Specifically sharing stuff across social media. I want to see how people and radio stations are adapting even now as technology grows quicker and quicker.
Purchase your tickets to the 2025 BSM Summit here, and for more information BSMSummit.com
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