Thank you for checking out The Industry According To. Every Wednesday, we speak with a different expert or leader from somewhere in the vast music industry — label executives, artist managers, programmers, talent, artists, consultants and beyond. To be considered as a future guest, email me at keithblackboxgroup@gmail.com.
Today we sit down with Steve Jones, President, CEO and Chairman — and sole owner — of Skyview Networks, one of radio’s largest privately held companies specializing in audio technology, syndication and national sales.
Steve’s career began as a 16-year-old intern at WPIX-FM/New York, where he was eventually hired as a newscaster. He later joined the air staffs at WLIR-FM and WXRK-FM before moving to ABC News Radio in 1986. During 32 years at Disney/ABC, he was a senior executive who led programming, business development and technology with P&L responsibility. He received several content and leadership awards.
Steve joined Skyview Networks in 2019, became President and CEO in 2022 and made his biggest bet yet in April 2026, when he acquired full ownership of the company. Today, Skyview operates across national advertising, syndicated programming, sports play-by-play, broadcast distribution and audio technology, serving over 1,250 unique ownership groups and thousands of affiliates. Steve also serves on the boards of the Radio Advertising Bureau and the Broadcasters Foundation of America, and he is a trustee at Adelphi University.
Few executives have Steve’s view of the entire landscape — from talent and advertisers to station needs and network economics. So, let’s dive in.
*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*
Your Big Bet
Keith: At a time when many investors are skeptical of traditional media, you invested your own money and acquired full ownership of Skyview Networks. What do you see in radio’s future that many investors — and even some broadcasters — are missing?
Steve: I think many investors are looking at radio through a rearview mirror. They see a mature medium and assume maturity means decline. I see a trusted, local, habitual medium that scales nationally yet still reaches people in the moments that matter: in the car, at work, during breaking news, and around live sports and personalities. The opportunity is not to defend every legacy practice. It is to modernize how audio is distributed, measured, sold and experienced. Skyview sits at the intersection of stations, talent, advertisers, sports organizations and technology, so we can help create value across the ecosystem. I did not buy the company to preserve the past or flip an asset. I invested because I believe radio has durable strengths, and because a focused private company can move quickly enough to turn those strengths into growth.
The Terrestrial Reality
Keith: Skyview works across thousands of station relationships, national advertisers, syndicated shows, sports organizations and major media brands. From that unusually broad vantage point, what does the radio industry really look like today — healthier than reported, more challenged than it admits, or simply changing into something different?
Steve: It is all three, depending on where you look. Radio is healthier than the public narrative suggests because its reach, trust, live utility and relevance remain substantial. It is also more challenged than some operators admit because audiences and advertisers have more choices, measurement has not kept pace, and too much inventory can make the listening experience harder than it should be. Most importantly, radio is becoming something different. The winners will stop defining themselves by a transmitter and start defining themselves by the relationship they own with an audience. That relationship can travel across broadcast, streaming, podcasts, social media, live events and connected cars. Radio does not need to imitate every digital platform. It needs to combine what it uniquely does well with better technology, cleaner execution and more accountability for advertisers.
The Network Reality
Keith: Now let’s walk directly into your kitchen. Here’s what I continually hear across the industry: “Barter is a mess, and networks are struggling to sell the inventory they already have.” How much truth is there to that, and what is the real state of the barter business?
Steve: There is truth in the criticism. Barter inventory is not unlimited, and when too many participants chase the same demand with undifferentiated impressions, pricing and clearance economics get pressured. But saying the barter business is broken misses what it accomplishes. Barter allows stations to access high-quality content, services and technology without adding a cash expense, while giving networks a way to aggregate national scale. The real issue is whether the exchange creates enough value for every party. Good barter has to be disciplined: the programming or service must improve the station, the inventory must be clear and usable, the audience must be credible, and the network must have the sales capability to monetize it. Strong barter is a value chain in which the station, talent, advertiser and listener all receive something worthwhile. My sales team and I continually communicate that value to buyers who are balancing radio with an expanding range of digital alternatives. Radio often delivers exceptional reach and economics, but we have to prove that value rather than assume buyers will recognize it.
Who’s Really Paying
Keith: Barter programming may not require a station to write a check, but it certainly isn’t free. How should a station determine whether giving up commercial inventory is a better investment than paying talent and producing a show locally?
Steve: The right comparison is not cash versus free. It is return on a scarce asset. A station should calculate the realistic value of the inventory it is giving up, not the theoretical rate-card value, and compare that with the full cost and likely performance of a local alternative. That includes talent compensation, producers, benefits, promotion, research, digital support, management time and the risk that a new show may not find an audience. Then ask what each choice contributes beyond ratings: Does it strengthen the brand? Create local sales opportunities? Improve digital engagement? Reduce operating volatility? A syndicated show can be the better investment if it delivers distinctive talent, consistency, promotion and advertiser interest at a lower total cost. Local wins when the personality has a truly irreplaceable connection to the community and the station is prepared to invest enough to make that advantage matter. All of our syndicated shows customize and localize elements of their content. Because these hosts are also our business partners, they are strongly motivated to support our affiliates when station management identifies opportunities to improve performance and revenue. Talent, stations and Skyview succeed together.
Local vs. Syndicated
Keith: Radio continues to call “live and local” its secret weapon while replacing local shows with syndicated programming. Put slogans and budgets aside: When is a great national show genuinely better for a market than a good local one — and when is local still impossible to beat?
Steve: A great national show is better than a good local show when the talent is more compelling, the content is more distinctive and the station can integrate it without sacrificing relevance. Listeners do not award bonus points for payroll geography. They choose the most entertaining, useful or emotionally resonant option. At the same time, local is impossible to beat when something important happens in a market, when a personality has earned genuine trust, and when the show reflects the rhythms, language and concerns of that community in a way an outsider cannot manufacture. The mistake is treating “live and local” as a guarantee of quality or syndication as a synonym for generic. The standard should be: Which show gives my station the clearest reason to be chosen? Sometimes that answer is a national franchise. Sometimes it is a local voice. The strongest stations know the difference.
Making National Feel Local
Keith: What must a syndicated personality do beyond saying the city’s name and recording a few local liners to become part of a market rather than merely programming delivered into it? How involved is Skyview in helping its shows create a local connection?
Steve: The starting point is curiosity. A syndicated personality has to care enough about a market to know what people there are talking about, where they gather, what frustrates them and what makes the place distinctive. That means regular communication with the affiliate, timely market-specific content, community involvement, social engagement and, whenever practical, showing up in person. Skyview’s syndicated personalities make market visits and participate in local events. We give affiliates room to participate rather than treating them as passive customers of a finished product. Skyview’s role is to help connect the syndicated talent with the station, share information, identify opportunities and build repeatable ways to localize without making the program sound forced. Saying the city name is geography. Local relevance is when a listener believes the personality understands something about their life. That trust requires consistent work from the talent, the network and the affiliate.
The Chicken, the Egg and the Advertisers
Keith: Advertisers want scale or significant AQH before spending. Stations want proof of performance before clearing a show. Networks want a built-in audience before syndicating one. How do you break that three-way stalemate when launching something from scratch?
Steve: You break the stalemate by reducing risk in stages rather than demanding that everyone make a full commitment on day one. Start with a clear audience promise and evidence that the talent can create engagement, even if the initial proof comes from one market, social platforms, events or direct audience response. Then build a launch plan with a manageable group of committed affiliates, realistic inventory expectations, focused promotion and measurable milestones. Advertisers can participate through test campaigns or category-specific partnerships before the show reaches maximum scale. Stations need transparency about the programming strategy and the runway required. The network has to bring more than enthusiasm; it needs distribution discipline, sales strategy, operational reliability and the capital or patience to learn. Most successful launches are not a single big reveal. They are a sequence of credible proofs that make the next participant more comfortable saying yes.
Skyview Star Spotter
Keith: There’s no shortage of talent and shows that want to be syndicated. Beyond ratings and local name recognition, what tells you a show can travel nationally, and why can something that dominates one market fail to connect a few states away?
Steve: The first question is whether the talent has a point of view that is recognizable and repeatable. National audiences do not need another competent show. They need a reason to care. Skyview’s Andrew Kalb and Ed Moloney lead this effort, and together we look for chemistry, curiosity, preparation, consistency, advertiser compatibility, work ethic and the ability to create community beyond the live broadcast. The talent also has to accept coaching and understand that syndication adds responsibilities. What works in one market may depend on local history, a particular competitor, a station’s promotional power or references that do not travel. A show can dominate at home because it belongs to that city yet become ordinary when those advantages are removed. The shows that travel preserve their authentic voice while making the audience feel included wherever they are. Syndication should expand the circle, not flatten the personality.
Are We Out of Patience?
Keith: Whether local or national, some of radio’s biggest shows took years to become dominant. Does today’s business still have the patience to give promising shows enough runway — or is the industry killing potential hits before they have time to become hits?
Steve: The industry has less patience than it once did, largely because financial pressure makes every quarter feel immediate. That can cause companies to confuse a slow build with a failed concept. At the same time, patience cannot mean avoiding accountability. A promising show needs a defined runway, active support and milestones that reveal whether the fundamentals are strengthening. Are affiliates retaining it? Is audience engagement growing? Is the content becoming more distinctive? Are advertisers renewing? Is the team learning and adapting? If those indicators improve, the show may deserve more time even before it becomes a major franchise. If they do not, additional years will not rescue it. The answer is disciplined patience: commit for long enough to give talent a fair chance, measure the right leading indicators, and make an informed decision based on progress rather than panic or wishful thinking.
Radio’s Safest Bet
Keith: Sports is one of the few forms of programming that audiences still feel compelled to hear live, but rights are expensive and teams have more ways to distribute games directly. Is play-by-play one of radio’s safest long-term bets — or do you see teams eventually deciding they no longer need traditional radio partners?
Steve: Play-by-play remains one of radio’s strongest long-term assets because live sports combine urgency, habit, identity and community. Fans want to experience the moment as it happens, and radio is uniquely accessible when people are driving or away from a screen. Teams will continue to develop direct-to-consumer channels, but radio still plays a critical role in the ecosystem. Skyview has 1,900 unique professional and collegiate affiliates. Skyview sells national brands access to the hometown experience: live, local game environments in which advertisers reach highly engaged fans through the teams and communities they care about most. For sports organizations, Skyview is both a strategic and operating partner, providing distribution, inventory management, production and affiliate sales support. The more fragmented the media environment becomes, the more valuable a partner can be if it reduces complexity and expands the audience. The business model will evolve, and rights costs must remain economically rational. I expect successful relationships to become more integrated across broadcast, streaming, data, ad insertion and team-owned platforms. Radio is safest when it does not assume tradition guarantees its role but continually proves the value it creates for teams, advertisers and fans.
Proving Performance
Keith: National radio was built on selling reach and association with personalities. As advertisers demand clearer attribution, how close are we to proving what listeners actually do after hearing a network commercial?
Steve: We are much closer technologically than the market sometimes appears, but the industry still has work to do operationally. Advertisers increasingly expect audio to connect exposure with outcomes, not simply deliver reach and frequency. Better attribution can come from combining credible audience measurement with first-party advertiser data, digital signals, branded search, web activity, store visitation, sales lift and controlled test design. No single method will answer every question, and we should be careful not to promise precision that the data cannot support. The objective is not to force radio into a digital last-click model that fails to capture its extraordinary ability to build awareness and influence consumer behavior. Instead, it is to give advertisers a clearer view of what happened after a campaign ran. When you consider that Skyview alone reaches 81.5 million adults 18-49 each week, you begin to appreciate the scale of consumer influence that better attribution could help us demonstrate. Radio remains undervalued, and proving more of what happens after exposure will help close that gap.
Radio in 2031
Keith: Look five years ahead. Will nationally syndicated radio have more shows reaching more affiliates because stations need scale and efficiency — or fewer, larger franchises because only the strongest talent and companies can make the economics work?
Steve: I expect both outcomes at the same time. Technology and economic pressure will make it easier for strong shows to reach more affiliates, especially where stations need efficiency and dependable programming. But the same pressures will make it harder for undifferentiated shows and undercapitalized networks to survive. That should produce fewer companies with the scale, sales capability, technology and patience to build durable franchises, while those successful franchises appear in more markets and across more platforms. The definition of a nationally syndicated show will continue to expand. It will not be only a linear broadcast product; it will be a talent-led brand distributed through broadcast, streaming, podcasts, social video, events and other direct audience channels. At Skyview, we are investing in that future. Cirocast, our cloud-based, IP-delivered distribution technology, gives content creators and distributors a more flexible way to deliver live audio reliably across an evolving broadcast infrastructure. By 2031, the winners will be those who can create distinctive content, local relevance, reliable distribution and measurable advertiser value as one integrated business. I am especially proud that our technology team’s work on Cirocast has already earned industry recognition, including an NAB Product of the Year award.
The Other Steve
Keith: How is it sharing a name with Sex Pistols guitarist and punk-rock legend Steve Jones? Have you ever received anything intended for him — or benefited from someone briefly thinking you were that Steve Jones?
Steve: My on-air name at alternative rock’s WLIR-FM in the early ’80s was Steve “The Pistol” Jones, so any confusion was intentional! I have always loved punk and new wave, and the Sex Pistols’ influence on British music culture is extraordinary. Years later, when I was at ABC News Radio, the other Steve Jones came in to promote his autobiography, Lonely Boy. He saw my name, walked into my office, grabbed about ten of my business cards and said, “I could have some fun with these.” For quite a while, I expected a call from Disney HR about some mischief attributed to me. Fortunately, it never came.
The Blank Slate
Keith: Last question — blank slate. Say anything you want to any sector of the industry. What do you want them to hear?
Steve: Stop talking about radio as if its best days are automatically behind it, but also stop expecting its history to protect its future. We have reach, trusted personalities, local relationships, live sports, companionship and an extraordinary distribution system. Those are real advantages. They become liabilities only when we use them as excuses not to change. We need to improve the listener experience, invest in talent, modernize distribution, make inventory easier to buy, prove advertiser outcomes and use technology and AI to create capacity for better work rather than simply lower cost. Most of all, we need confidence grounded in execution. The future will not belong to the loudest defender of radio or the harshest critic. It will belong to the companies and people willing to build what radio should become next.
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