Day 1 of the 2026 Barrett Media Audio Summit Presented by Point to Point Marketing is taking place inside the SVA Theater in New York City. Barrett Media News Editor Garrett Searight is passing along key takeaways from this year’s sessions and speakers.
Check back throughout the day to find out what you’ve missed.
Barrett Media President Jason Barrett opened the show by welcoming attendees to the SVA Theater in New York City. He noted that Nielsen ratings have grown 3.8% across PPM markets since a change in measurement. He then shared concerns about what is or isn’t acceptable coverage in a story, pointing to the widespread video of Charlie Kirk’s assassination last September. That led to questions about what does and doesn’t constitute as “television” in 2026. It’s the same challenge radio is facing in 2026. The rise of AI only exacerbates the questions.
9:10-9:50 AM: A Few Good Brands
- Drew Anderssen (Audacy/1080 KRLD)
- Mary Sandberg Boyle (WGN Radio)
- Ben Mevorach (1010 WINS)
- Ken Charles (95.5 WSB)
- Moderator: Chris Berry (iHeartMedia)
Berry opened by noting that the panel assembled represents some of the biggest brands in the format. He asked Mevorach about moving 1010 WINS to the FM dial on 92.3 FM.
“Certainly, we’ve seen interference on the AM band. That interference was growing and growing and growing,” Mevorach said. “So our move to FM changed everything. It was our rebirth, really. It was our blow up. We don’t look at WINS as competing as the all-news vertical. We’re competing with everyone on the FM dial.”
Mevorach added that the business model no longer supported 1010 WINS and WCBS 880 both, which led to 1010 WINS being the main news brand for the company.
Berry then asked Anderssen about competing in the spoken word space in a competitive market like Dallas. He noted that many of his competitors are, like KRLD 1080, strictly on the AM band. It also changed to a more spoken word format compared to an all-news brand. He added that it’s led to longer time spent listening than the previous format.
95.5 WSB’s Ken Charles said that it’s important for the station’s programming to be where every listener is. He said that the changing demographics of the city mean they can’t rest on their laurels.
“2 million more people are moving to Atlanta in the next five years. We can’t rely on three letters to carry us,” Charles said.
Like others, WGN Radio isn’t available on FM. Knowing those challenges shapes how the station operates.
“We find that we have to do our consistent programming so that the audience knows they can return to us, but that they can also return to us because they know what they can get when they listen,” Sandberg Boyle shared.
Mevorach noted that the station’s cume has nearly doubled to 2 million since it moved to the FM dial. However, he added that the station made conscious decisions to be an “FM-sounding station” before it made the move.
Charles said that programmers have to know what makes their brand. He shared that Atlanta listeners expect a strong news presentation, even if they’re a talk-first listener. “When we look at the strategy for the radio station, it’s a news-first strategy,” Charles said. “On radio, on social media, on Facebook. The things we do first on those social brands is news.”
KRLD 1080 moved from all-news to adding more talk programming during the day. But Anderssen said it’s still a news-focused brand.
“We are talking about the news all day long, in one capacity or another,” said Anderssen. However, he said that hosts still need to be able to cut through, because there are so many options to consume news today.
Berry noted that sports has always been a way to build cume. WGN Radio is home to the Chicago Blackhawks, and Northwestern Wildcats. It also broadcasts primetime NFL games. So that adds to the cume of the station. However, she noted that knowing what your lane is is important.
“We are not news first,” Boyle shared. “We have a competitor in the market that does that better than us. But we provide context. And WGN Radio has excelled at that for 100 years.”
Weather coverage can also be a strong cume driver.
“You can’t do enough of it,” Anderssen said. “It’s something you need to do all year long. That branding has to not just happen in severe weather season. It has to be all year long.”
“A lot of our anchors are failed meteorology students,” Boyle said with a laugh. “Dipping our toe in weather coverage is really fun for the station. It’s something important that we can provide.”
“When it happens in your car, you can’t turn on a TV,” added Charles. “If your power is out, you can’t go to the TV. So you need to own that. They can listen on their phones. They can still consume you.”
Mevorach noted that traffic coverage can also help in that space.
“I look at everything we do minute by minute. We’re very blessed in New York to do research. And we can see traffic is still really important. You can have a philosophical conversation about whether or not traffic is still relevant. In the past 15 years, traffic importance hasn’t dropped. We have a system in place and conversations about how to do alternate routes. It is an integral part of our radio station.”
Partnerships with TV stations has remained a critical relationship for large brands.
“Aligning with a television station just makes us bigger and stronger,” said Boyle.
“I want to be partnered with as many organizations that provide reliable, trusted information to the audience as possible,” Anderssen shared. “When I scroll on social media, I’m gonna see the same story 100 different times. I wanna see it through a different lens. I want to see it in a different way.”
“Can 95.5 WSB survive without a radio partner? Yes. Do I want to to survive without a TV partner? No,” said Charles. “They can do things I can’t do. It doesn’t hinder the brand, it enhances. Partnerships are key to get you out of your universe and into a much bigger universe.”
“It also helps in exposure. If I create a partnership with a local TV station, I’m going to get promotion on that station,” Anderssen added.
Verifiable and credible news is becoming a bigger challenge.
“Our philosophy is human-in, human-out,” said Mevorach.
“AI is a great way to be more proficient and efficient. But you still have to have someone making sure that a newscast is still correct,” added Anderssen. “AI is getting better every day, but for right now, humans are still a large part of the process.”
9:50-10:30 AM: Evolution of Influence
- Phil Boyce (Salem Radio Network)
- Hank Fuerst (Ramsey Network)
- John Sylvester (Fox News Audio)
- Moderator: Pete Mundo (KCMO Talk Radio)
10:30-11:10 AM: Are You Not Entertained?
- Adam Carolla (PodcastOne)
- Jimmy Failla (Fox News)
- Buck Sexton (Premiere Networks)
- Moderator: Jason Barrett
11:20 AM-12:00 PM: News/Talk’s Front Seat Advantage
- Juan Galdamez (Xperi)
1:00-1:40 PM: The Keynote Conversation
- Audacy CEO Kelli Turner
1:40-2:20 PM: Playing the Trump Card
- Ryan Gorman (WFLA/WIOD)
- Larry O’Connor (105.9 WMAL/Salem Radio Network)
- Sid Rosenberg (77 WABC)
- Mark Simone (710 WOR)
- Moderator: Erick Erickson (Compass Media Networks)
2:20-3:00 PM: Dollars on the Dashboard
- Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs
3:10-3:50 PM: Managing the Magic
- Ryan Gorman (WFLA/WIOD)
- Chris Krok (Radio Fill-In Host)
- Ann Thomas (WJR 760)
- Dave Tepper (KOA 850)
- Moderator: Garrett Searight (Barrett Media)
3:50-4:30 PM: Getting Serious
- Stephen A. Smith (ESPN/SiriusXM)
- Moderator: Jason Barrett
4:30-5:00 PM: News Media Awards Ceremony
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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.
