Radio has spent the better part of the last fifteen years arguing about music. Meanwhile, for $11 a month, listeners already have access to every song ever recorded. They can build their own station, skip the songs they hate, and replay the ones they love. They also never have to sit through a sweeper reminding them they are listening to “the best variety for your workday, playing at least 15 songs in a row on the station that picks you up, makes you feel good, delivers a better mix, has more winners than anyone else, and is now streaming.”
Music is still the emotional engine of a radio station. But in 2026, getting the music right is a minimum requirement. Expecting applause for that is like asking your boss for a raise because you showed up to work sober.
Instead, the investment for broadcasters has to be talent. Ideally, talent that is not everywhere, all the time, available on every platform in the same form. Talent that creates a reason to come back and a reason to listen now.
Meet Greg FM
That is why Yea Network’s Greg FM caught my attention.
Greg FM is a new, syndicated, personality-first format built around Greg Beharrell. In fact, he serves as the personality, writer, producer, voice, and connective Kleenex of the entire format.
Jack, Bob, and the other imaginary guy radio executives were invented in a boardroom full of dudes over the years. Greg, however, is an actual person. A person your listeners, clients, PDs, and stations can actually connect with. Try that with Jack FM. He won’t respond. He’s too busy playing what he wants.
Affiliates can use the Greg FM imaging, voicework, writing, and production while maintaining local control of their own music. Alternatively, they can pair the format with a tested and focused music feed.
Actual Person, Not an Algorithm
In my listening, what stood out is that Greg FM is not just a playlist. It is not just a few subjectively funny ChatGPT liners sprinkled on top, either. It is a 24/7 entertainment architecture built around talent with wins in Los Angeles and 90-plus other markets. That talent has done Super Bowl commercials, sitcom and film writing, cartoon voiceovers, and delivered radio brands winning results.
Greg is independent. Indeed, he is not beholden to a company that stole its naming convention from Apple. He’s also not named after a cloud or styled like a model line of a Honda minivan.
I find Greg Beharrell to be one of the most interesting radio personalities working in the United States and Canada. I also think he is often misunderstood by the legacy, AARP-card-carrying corner of broadcasting. That crowd still believes personality has to “crush and roll” with “hey gang” energy. That energy is left over from a 1997 R&R convention at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The Comedy Radio Doesn’t Know What to Do With
Greg is Steven Wright, Mitch Hedberg, Matt Rife, and Andy Kaufman blended together. He brings innocence, restraint, strange angles, and really sharp timing.
Greg FM is not trying to beat streaming by pretending radio can out-music Spotify. It is doing what streaming still does not do well: personality, oddity, and humanity. It offers a voice that reminds the listener that somebody is actually there.
Greg Picks Up the Phone
Because he is. Constantly. Like, call him right now. (888-760-1977) He’ll answer before your voice-tracked midday person from Pittsburgh responds to your email from last Thursday. That email asked if they’re available to do an endorsement for Comcast.
I asked Greg to sit down with me and talk about this refreshing 24/7 personality-driven format. Here is what he replied:
In fact, it goes on for 58 more pages.
But that’s the point. Greg FM is creative, unique, different, and what radio needs — that, and more winners, more often!
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Phil Becker is a weekly music columnist for Barrett Media who has built his career at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and operations leading brands, marketing, and content teams across more than 200 radio stations worldwide.
Known for being ahead of the curve, he was the first to integrate social influencers into broadcast brands, launch station apps years before his peers, and pioneer AI air personalities before anyone else in the world.
With leadership roles at Clear Channel, Citadel, Cox Media Group, Alpha Media, and international ventures—as well as owning and operating stations—Phil blends entrepreneurial vision with operational discipline in the messaging and marketing space. He also hosts the Phil-Osophy podcast.
