If the U.S. military ran wars the way radio runs operations, we’d all be speaking German. Leadership would’ve fired the ground troops and stopped investing in tanks and planes.
It’s budget season. Actually, it’s always budget season.
“Budget” may be the most used word in radio. It’s a word that can be the truth, an excuse, a stall tactic, or permission to be lazy.
- Truth: “There’s no budget for that.”
- Excuse: “I don’t have budget.”
- Buying Time: “We’re working through budgets.”
- Seeking Approval: “Let me see what the budget allows.”
- Laziness: “There’s no budget. Maybe next year.”
For those of us in RockTernative, “the budget” is the center of our universe. It determines hiring and firing, bonuses, marketing, research, technology, content, and sometimes whether a brand changes course.
Most often, budgets are controlled by spreadsheet armies far from the building who have never sat in your chair, cracked a mic, and think Mammoth WVH is an arctic beast.
That’s not unique to radio. Most industries work that way.
But many inside the radio industry are often just accepting of budgets, without pushing back or creatively finding alternatives.
There are a few budget-driven assumptions or realities that need to change.
The Guillotine Selection Committee
Programmers can only control ratings, not revenue targets. Many stations hit or exceed ratings goals each year only for the collective team to miss budget by a country mile. What happens then is cuts almost always hit programming first, the people who actually did their jobs well.
This creates a self-fulfilling decline.
CEOs and CFOs are paid to make tough decisions, but tough doesn’t always mean honest. Cutting a ratings-performing morning show because sales missed is like firing the grenade maker instead of the guy who couldn’t throw it far enough. It’s the equivalent of blaming the guitar when the amp blew a tube.
Get Involved Before it’s Locked
Most programmers are handed a budget and told to deal with it. Rarely are they invited into the process in a way that can meaningfully shape the outcome. That doesn’t mean accept it quietly. Be proactive, specific, and relentless.
Don’t just say, “We need research.” Instead, “Here’s what happens with and without research.” Show the ROI, lay out the risk and reward, and give decision makers a clear fork in the road to make a choice. They will have more skin in the game that way.
The same goes for sales. If your revenue goals feel off or unfair based on market realities, show the math. Include reports and trends. “Auto spending is projected to be down X% next year, yet my auto budget is up X%. To get closer to that, I’m going to need Y&Z.”
You won’t change the budget by complaining, but you can change the outcome if you present clear trade-offs backed by data and experience.
Marketing
Nine out of ten budgets include zero mass marketing. When marketing exists, it’s often stealthy and digital-only, aimed at a few meters instead of people or an audience.
Talent and programming are often blamed for missed budgets. Just like when critics roast Sydney Sweeney if a movie opens soft but fail to mention no one knew about the film because it wasn’t marketed.
The irony: radio is a marketing platform that touts the importance of marketing but it rarely markets itself.
None of this is a road to bust if brands don’t get a corporate check for marketing. It’s a push and reminder that creativity, partnerships, and a return to quid-pro-quo thinking is where to focus. Radio has audience, inventory, and reach. Many brands would eat their shoe to have such problems. The trick is finding mutually beneficial partnerships to explore.
Everyone Is in Sales — Whether They Like It or Not
Everyone represents the brand and everyone is selling whether they realize it or not. Jocks are selling music and initiatives. Street teams are selling representation, presence and image. Digital is selling brand content.
For programming, if initiatives aren’t being sold — specialty weekends, features, endorsements, the tactical cash promotion — that’s a problem. Step in. Ask how to help. If necessary, go sell it yourself and earn a commission.
There used to be a clear line between sales and programming. Like church and state. Today, that line is blurrier than it’s ever been. It’s like a modern day rock festival, all genres contributing, everyone wearing multiple hats, whether they were asked to or not.
Budgets shouldn’t be excuses. They should be truths. A goal continually worked towards. The budget should honestly reflect today’s reality where flat may be the new up, but pretending growth comes by cutting back or without investment is just fantasy. Budgets also shouldn’t protect being comfortable, but they should be able to fund ambition.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Keith Cunningham is a music industry and Rock/Alternative columnist for Barrett Media and the founder of Black Box Group, a modern-modeled creative & strategic consultancy built for brands that need strategies with teeth. He’s the former Master of Mayhem at 95.5 KLOS-FM in Los Angeles for over a decade, a nationwide consultant, and has been repeatedly voted one of America’s top Program Directors and strategic thinkers. Keith has built his career by taking multi-million-dollar brands from worst to first and leading Marconi & Gracie award winners along the way. A data nerd with a rock-and-roll heart, he is an advisory council member for St. Jude fundraising, a fantasy football champion, and lover of his daughters & dogs. Reach him at keithblackboxgroup@gmail.com or on LinkedIn or X.
