Approaching The Summit is a series of special interviews created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing featuring speakers at the upcoming 2026 Barrett Media Audio Summit in New York City. Follow along with this series as prominent names surrounding the event, June 30-July 2, share their insights and expectations for what’s to come in the Big Apple. The Summit takes place at the SVA Theatre on West 23rd Street. For tickets and hotel room reservations, click here or visit the Summit section at the top of the website.
Garrett Searight: You’ve been a regular at our Summits. What value do you derive from being in the room?
Ken Charles: The value number one is networking. It’s an opportunity to get in a room with really smart people from all over the country. A lot of us don’t travel. There aren’t conventions like what Barrett does. This year is even better because now we’re going to be in a room not only with some of the smartest in news and news/talk, but sports guys and music guys. The opportunity to meet, to network, and learn from the best of the best is extraordinarily important to our growth. And also our ability to learn new things, see new things, and hear about things from people we respect, who may look at the same things, but see them differently. That is so important to what we do. Being able to do that is one of the unique propositions that Barrett does, that no other convention in the world does. Nobody gets all the formats together. So that’s exciting.
GS: You’ve participated in panels in the past. What makes a panel at this conference unique from others?
KC: (Jason Barrett) puts a great group of panels together that are cutting edge, are unique, and cover topics we’re all thinking about but may not say out loud to our friends, colleagues, or others. So when we get to sit in a room, and we see some of those people answering questions that we’ve thought about, it’s really helpful to put it in perspective when we go back to our radio stations.
GS: How much does attending the Summit allow you to think of things in a different light?
KC: Sometimes I feel like all of us are in a bubble. You’re in your radio station, you’re focused on your news, you’re focused with your talk guys, you’re focused on all the things you do. And it’s not until you get into a room with other people who do the exact same thing that you do that you find out the challenges you’re going through every day — with recruitment, with coaching, with the million and one other things that face us every day — they’re going through, too. So knowing that, learning that, and sharing that is just psychologically a benefit. Knowing you’re not alone.
GS: How important is it to have that opportunity, even if it is just once a year, to meet with some of the best and brightest in the format and have those conversations?
KC: Listen, if I could do it four times a year, I would. But none of us can. And none of us do. So, because it is once a year, it makes it a must on my calendar that I’m going to be there every year. Because it is my chance to do all of those things. People aren’t going to the NAB the way they used to. Those sessions aren’t designed for what Barrett’s doing. Some of the other conferences for news/talk are nowhere near as broad or as forward-thinking as the Barrett conferences. It’s a shame it can’t be more. But the fact that it is once a year is way better than not at all.
GS: What are the things specifically that you’re hoping to look more closely at and learn more about this year?
KC: AI has got to be at the top of the list, like it is for everybody. We’re all seeing versions of it. We’re all playing with versions of it. I really want to talk to some people and share some best practices. What tools are they using? What tools aren’t they using? In our newsroom, we’re not using it on air. But for some of the talk prep, for some of the things we do off the air, for some of the things that don’t make air, AI has been an eye-opening, interesting experiment in doing certain things. I want to find out who’s doing what and what successes they’ve had. And also what cautionary tales they have to share. So I think AI is absolutely number one.
Number two is recruitment. It is a huge challenge to recruit. Not only in the big markets but the small markets, because the places we used to recruit from — whether it’s in Atlanta or New York or Chicago and LA — those smaller markets either have staffs that are a tenth of the size that they were even five years ago, or the people that are there aren’t moving because their spouses have great jobs and the kids are in school. So I really want to talk to people about recruitment. What they’re doing. What out-of-the-box things they’ve done to find their next generation of hosts, producers, and news people. Because it is probably the biggest challenge that affects our industry today, outside of AI, which is more down the road than it is at this moment.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
