It’s been a big couple of weeks for the Y98 St. Louis-based “The Bret Mega Show.” A national rollout of the show picked up The New 96.5 Philadelphia. The show is also heard on 99.7 The Point in Kansas City and 105.3 The Buzz in Wichita.
I caught up with Mega to discuss the show’s content, ensemble cast and the national rollout.
“It’s super exciting, said Mega. “I feel like what we do in our industry, or at least for what we do on our show, is we’re storytellers. The more people who can hear our stories, the more impact they will have. I’m someone who over-romanticizes the power of radio, maybe, but I really do believe it.”
“I don’t even know if it’s an over-romanticized, because I feel like radio has an opportunity to sit shotgun with people on a regular day, whether on their way home from work or to work or wherever they’re going. Ride shotgun with them, connect with them, and make them feel something.”
“It can make you laugh when you’re on your way to your shitty job or can make you laugh when you’re feeling stressed out and you just need a friend to put some laughs in your belly. Or it could make you cry because they feel the exact same way. They can connect with you.”
“I feel like the thing that we need to serve more than anyone else is the listeners. That’s the first people we serve, then it’s our clients, and then it’s companies. The more people we can provide with interesting, compelling, and relatable content, the better. It’s super exciting for me.”
I shared with Mega that I once thought that being a great storyteller meant being able to spin tales and make things up. Now it means sharing your life and connecting with people on an everyday level.
“I do think they’re like trigger words for people, right? What does storytelling mean? What does it mean to truly be authentic? For me, it’s the reason I got into radio. When I was looking at schools and where I went to college.”
“My wife is my high school sweetheart. She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in my entire world. We were in high school back in the suburbs of Chicago. I was just a popular kid who caused problems and partied and all that stuff. I applied to two schools. I ended up going and got into it on a tennis scholarship. One that my brother and my dad went to because that’s where they told me to apply.”
“I went to college in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I didn’t care about school or anything like that. I just wasn’t focused on it. I remember asking my wife, ‘Do you know what you want to be?’ This is when I’m 18 or 19 years old. She always wanted to be a mental health therapist and a play therapist for kids. And that’s what she is now.”
“She did what she said she was going to do. And I was like, I don’t really have any skills that can do anything like that. That’s cool that your skills can help people. And she says, ‘What do you consider your skills?’ Like very therapist of her. I said I like being social and hanging out with people, making them laugh, and listening.”
“She said, You have an ability to tell a story that someone else doesn’t have. They don’t have the same skill set or the same platform for you to tell the same story about what’s happening in their life. Oh my God, that’s what’s going on. That’s exactly what I feel.”
“She helped me shape that, and it’s always been my goal: how do I make an impact on other people’s lives that is positive. Whether it be helping the community through charity or through a story or whatever it is.”
In the show’s ensemble cast, each member plays a distinct role in the audience’s connection.
“What’s really cool is I feel like every single person on the show connects with a different type of audience member. Hannah and AB do all the heavy lifting on social media, and they are Gen Z. They’re connected with our younger audience. They are living their messy twenties, figuring out life and what that looks like.”
Kevin connects with our older generation of people, Gen X. He does all the technical things on the show, all the audio focus on the show. And I am in the middle of it, where I feel like the core demo is.”
“I have three kids. We have a newborn. I’m trying to figure out what it’s like to be a dad and juggle work and life, and kind of letting go of both those two worlds. I feel like in your 20s, you’re having so much fun, and you have this great friend group. Then you’re older when you’re like Kevin, who has a teenager and a daughter in college. You come to terms with where you are in life.”
How do you put together a show that is relevant across different geographic areas and different psychographics?
“We ran this in beta for a little while behind this. We were kind of practicing, and we’re working the show as if it were live in multiple cities. We did the work and repetition to get used to it.”
“They’re going to easily receive a show that brings them tons of colors, pop culture, trending stories, and personal stories. They’re going to receive that all in a full package.”
Is there a common theme that connects across markets?
“I feel this so strongly. Love is love. Jealousy is jealousy. These are the strong emotions. Our job as storytellers is to make people feel something. Just because someone’s in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Wichita, or any other city, love is love. It’s the strongest emotion in the world. And anger is anger. It’s all about the emotion of the show.”
“90% of our show is about our personal lives. Our personal lives are so relatable to anyone, anywhere, because we’re all going to go through it in different stages of our lives.”
“You’re going to get through it. You’re going to survive. Or I’ve been there, Bret. I’ve been in the newborn stage with two young kids. You will make it through it. And those stories, it doesn’t matter where you tell them.”
“That’s why the same popular shows everywhere are ‘The White Lotus,’ ‘Love Island,’ ‘The Bachelor.’ All the shows are exactly the same. It’s because it’s a story that connects with them in some way, shape or form.”
Aside from his obvious passion for radio, Mega is just as passionate about his team.
“I just want to reiterate just how amazing, smart, and passionate my team is. There are times when I’ve seen a host who constantly tries to steal the spotlight. But for me, we rotate who’s the star of the show each day.”
“Each person is going to come in, and the show might all be about Hannah or might all be about AB. I feel like I’m a selfless star. I want other people to score on my team. I don’t care if I walk away with zero points and Hannah gets a hundred points that day as long as the team wins.”
I asked Mega for a 30-second elevator speech about the show.
“We are a show that shares our lives in hopes that listeners share their lives back. That’s the show. We share everything that’s happened in our lives and hope the listener can be the star.”
“The star of our show isn’t really us. It’s the people who call into the show. We’re constantly being shocked by listeners. We are a listener-driven interactive show that shares its stories and hopes that other people share their stories back. And luckily for us, our listeners do trust us enough to do that.”
“It’s really about the exchange of stories between friends.
And while Mega admits he may not have been that focused in college, he is now very proud of his work ethic.
“I don’t have any skills that are more than anything that’s better than anyone else. But I will outwork you. If you and I were to get on a treadmill, I would rather die than get off that treadmill. I would rather die than quit.”
“So one of the things that I think we just keep doing is we just keep coming back with more and more content, more and more ideas.
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.
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.
