He’s a radio trendsetter looking to advance the quality of what you hear. “If you want trusted news, you listen to the radio,” Talk Media Network CEO Josh Leng told Barrett. Leng is not just talking about content, but the amplification of kilohertz from your voice to the listener’s ear.
Leng started his career at TV station WKTV, which he called “one of the best-run community TV stations in the country,” but thanks to a friend and baseball, he quickly made the transition to radio.
“My best friend’s younger brother [and I] were calling some baseball games together, you know, color and play-by-play,” Leng recalled.
While calling a baseball game, Leng criticized the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of a show run by the station his friend worked at. “They’re just really worn out,” Leng said. “And [my friend’s younger brother] goes, ‘Oh, really? You think so? Well. Write me some new ones, and I’ll give them to my program director.’”
Leng did, and the following week, the young Leng was meeting with the station’s PD. “That’s kind of how it all started,” Leng humbly remarked.
In the last 15 years, the outlet has grown to encompass talk, news, and weather. “We can send someone a satellite receiver box, and whether they take the shows via satellite or via streaming,” Leng, a former U.S. Air Force Officer, noted. “It’s really a one-stop solution, and great for anybody considering a format flip in a news talk.”
TMN began offering weather services after the outlet assumed operational control of the Radio Forecast Network, following the death of Larry Usner. “There are 250-plus radio stations that are affiliates of RFN, but we’ve rebranded it as the Weather Forecast Network,” Leng said.
As for their news product for both talk and music formats, TMN is celebrating one year anniversary of the full ownership relaunch of USA Radio News.
The outlet had acquired half of USA Radio News back in December of 2021, and after some litigation and a judicial agreement, TMN restaffed USA Radio News last year “with John Summers as our morning anchor, Lance Pry, our news director, in afternoons, and Anthony Lucero, at night,” Leng said.
“Our [news] product is based on trustworthiness and unbiased news coverage,” Leng said before noting almost every piece of news that comes across the wire services “needs to be rewritten so that the bias is removed.”
USA Radio News is now celebrating their 40th anniversary, and TMN’s CEO believes the outlet “Sounds better than ever.”
Making sure his outlets sound good is a large part of Leng’s original goal when starting TMN. “[My original goal when starting TMN] was always to share great content with a wider audience, and that hasn’t changed.”
Leng is not only dedicated to connecting great people to the world, but also to ensuring they sound good across various radio platforms. “Our primary focus, loyalty, [and] responsibilities are to our terrestrial radio affiliates,” Leng said before noting all programs are also available via podcasting.
What the CEO is really looking for is to help lead the industry in better sound. “My hope is for the betterment of the industry that they would go back to distributing at least at 64K.” Leng explained, “A CD-quality sound is approximately 44K, and [when] you start to get lower than that, the human ear can hear the difference.”
He added, “You can hear the difference on these talk shows now.”
For those looking to follow in Leng’s footsteps, he said, “Syndication is a marathon, not a sprint.” An avid runner, Leng has often repeated the quote since he launched the TMN in 2010.
“It starts with audio quality, first of all. So, [good talent has] to have the right technical setup. Two, they have to do the right preparation,” he added, “Three, they have to have the right delivery. All of those need to be at the highest professional level for a show to be worthy of being syndicated, and not all shows achieve that.”
For those looking to develop on the talent side, Leng is always on the lookout for good talent. “[What makes good talent] is usually a combination of the personality of the talent, a unique expertise or life experience they have. And their ability to deliver the content in an entertaining manner.” Leng said. “Which usually means they’re a great storyteller. Storytelling is what talk radio does best.”
“Great storytellers have huge opportunities within talk radio,” he said, “And if I were to give anyone advice on how to improve their odds, to start a syndicated show, or have success in syndication, it would be to hone your storytelling skills.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll contributes features and columns for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
Glad to see USA Radio News is back. I really like them.