If you’re a baseball fan, Memorial Day carries significant meaning for you and the franchise you follow. Over a 162-game season, it’s typically the first major marker for judging your team’s performance. The longest season in sports requires those checkpoints to avoid judging too quickly or celebrating too early. Sports radio programmers should be no different when it comes to reaching annual benchmarks.
As of today, 39.71% of the year is over. The sixth month of the calendar is around the corner. From a content standpoint, the NBA and NHL are about to wrap up. The NFL is on hiatus, and expectations are that MLB and the FIFA World Cup will dominate collective attention during the summer months before the NFL and college football officially kick off the fall season.
Instead of rolling into the summer months with your feet on the desk and a cool beverage in hand, there has never been a better time for sports radio executives to evaluate internally. Several questions should come to mind immediately.
What is our revenue outlook for the remainder of the year? Is our digital strategy in need of a refresh? Should we adapt our quarter-hour strategy for the summer months when audiences tend to travel more? What technologies can we add to our content distribution strategies ahead of football season?
While those questions are certainly on the minds of every programmer entering the month of June, there’s one that tops the list for most.
How can I keep morale high while the industry continues to be on shaky ground?
An Uncertain Future
Corporate layoffs, company restructures, and possible mergers fill newsfeeds. Just Google any radio company along with the word “layoffs,” and you’ll find stories from nearly every calendar year.
Companies aren’t even hiding the truth anymore when it comes to cost reductions. Earlier this month, iHeartMedia announced during its Q1 financial call a commitment to returning broadcast to profitability growth by the end of the year.
That means cost reductions across several areas, including expanded AI adoption, vendor consolidation, and layoffs. So much for a “guaranteed human” approach.
Other companies such as Beasley Media Group and Townsquare Media reported total net revenue declines year over year during the first quarter. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act remained dormant for three years until recently. Thank goodness Sid Rosenberg brought it up during an interview with the President. Otherwise, that trend likely would have continued.
Talent sees, hears, and witnesses all of it. Many seek advice from direct supervisors on how to add more value to their roles in a declining industry. Some view digital as the only remaining frontier for expansion and reach. Yet many fail to educate themselves or experiment. While the companies they work for often don’t support or encourage that growth.
It’s a difficult task in 2026 to motivate, educate, and inspire sports radio talent. An even greater challenge is developing the next generation of programmers. With so many additional day-to-day responsibilities placed on programmers, far too little time is dedicated to the foundation of the craft itself. Listening, collaborating, and allowing time for coaching.
Recently, I reached out to a former colleague who just picked up a station in his fifth market as a program director. Five markets while living in one city, raising a family, and remaining fully aware of the realities surrounding future consolidation and additional workforce reductions.
Is that addition a promotion earned through success, or a bandage placed on an industry on fire?
An Evaluation Opportunity
Sports radio needs what baseball has. Markers throughout the year to evaluate where you are. Revealing where you’ve been, and where you plan to be. Memorial Day weekend reminds baseball fans that a season is never defined by April overreactions or early hot streaks. It’s a checkpoint, not a finish line.
Sports radio should treat this moment the same way.
The industry doesn’t need more panic, empty corporate buzzwords, or promises that technology alone will solve every problem. It needs honest evaluation. It needs leadership willing to invest in people, prioritize creativity, and remember that strong brands are still built through connection, coaching, collaboration, and trust.
Keeping morale high in today’s sports radio climate starts with acknowledging reality instead of pretending uncertainty doesn’t exist. Talent and staff already see the headlines, hear the rumors, and understand the pressures facing the business.
What they need from leadership isn’t spin — it’s communication, direction, and belief.
Coaching matters. Collaboration matters. Allowing talent the freedom to create, experiment, and grow beyond traditional radio matters. Morale improves when employees feel valued, included, and developed instead of simply being managed.
That’s especially important heading into the summer months.
While the sports calendar slows slightly before football season ramps up, programmers have an opportunity to reconnect with their teams, evaluate strategies, and reinforce culture. The strongest brands in sports radio have never been built solely on ratings sheets or expense reports.
They’re built on trust, consistency, creativity, and leadership that people believe in during difficult moments.
No one can completely eliminate the uncertainty surrounding the industry. But leaders can control how they respond to it. And much like baseball reaching Memorial Day, this point on the calendar serves as an important checkpoint.
It’s a reminder that successful seasons — and successful companies — are usually defined by the organizations that stay focused, connected, and resilient when the pressure is at its highest.
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.
John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
