2026 Barrett Media Audio Summit Presented by Point to Point Marketing Day 1 Recap

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)

Hank Fuerst is newly promoted as the Vice President of Ramsey Solutions. He began by noting that one of the company’s priorities is serving its existing partners while also seeking new relationships. Digitally, however, it’s completely different.

“The first thing I think about every morning is ‘What is the algorithm going to do today?'” Fuerst said. “That’s embarrasing to admit but it’s true. Those algorithms decide everything.”

Salem Media began as a Christian broadcasting company. Boyce noted that the company evolved because research showed listeners moved from their Christian stations to news/talk brands. So they began buying signals to launch the Salem Radio Network.

“Every day we wake up with a show screaming to get off our chest,” Boyce said. “It provides a constant stream of talk topics. You can’t get out of the way. We have to be relevant and cognizant of things going so we can tell our listeners what we think about it, and help them figure out what they think about it.”

“For us, we started in ’03 with 40 affiliates, to now having 100 different affiliates,” Sylvester added. “It’s every platform now. I’m thinking about our syndicated partners. I’m thinking about every platform out there and making sure our content is credible and trustworthy. It’s a constant mind meld of all of the stuff we’re doing. I think we’ve really pivoted and created multiple platforms and aren’t cannibalizing our partners on terrestrial radio. We’re constantly thinking about multiple platforms and multiple partners.”

Mundo noted that no one owns the algorithm. So, how do leaders help build a network when you’re at the mercy of something you can’t understand?

“We’ll diversify. For us, the algorithms play a big factor for us, but we’re driving people back to our home. It’s hard to operate a platform on rented land,” Sylvester said.

“The truth is I don’t think there’s any less desire to listen to what we do than there ever was,” Boyce shared. “There’s just so many different ways to do it. We made our own OTT television platform to just reach listeners and viewers where they are. Video is where the action is. YouTube is such a behemoth now. We have to be in that space, too. Every one of our shows has the look of a TV studio behind it. Multiple cameras, multiple people working behind the scenes that never had to worry about what it looked like when we were just radio. Everybody has to do it now to go forward and succeed.”

“It’s a similar strategy for us at Ramsey Network,” Fuerst said. “It’s easy to get caught up and forget that it is rented land. Ultimately, we want to drive people to our destination. If you look at the metrics to each individual platform, you’ll see that they want platform-specific content. I think the thing that we don’t see in the data but remind ourselves is to remain consistent. We have had the same show, but I think it’s been a benefit that our show has been consistent since 1992. That show has been able to transcend radio into podcasting and now into social media. As long as we’re helping someone on the other end, we don’t care what the data says. We’re going to stay consistent.”

AI is impacting everything. Phil Boyce noted that the company has an AI news service operating in Chicago to see how listeners respond. It’s something Salem is still in its infancy.

Fox News Audio, however, is using it extensively.

“Between talk, syndication, podcast business, and streaming audio, we are going to leverage the tools. We use it for metadata, research, and other ways. But we’re never going to take it right to air. I think it’s a great tool,” Sylvester said. “It’s making our team more efficient. It’s going to save you a ton of time. At the end of the day, it’s about the content. If you can create really great content, and save time by using AI, it’s an efficiency multiplier.”

Terrestrial radio still matters, despite many other platforms and options.

“Radio built the brand, so we’re not gonna turn our back on a medium that helped build the brand,” said Fuerst. “There’s a magic that transcends into digital. We’re capturing the magic that happens. We’re still live every day. There’s a magic in live, and there’s a magic in radio.”

“Most of us still love radio and always will,” Boyce added. “We’ve been lucky to find guys who love the medium. It’s just a different way of reaching your audience now. But radio will, in my mind, always be with us.”

“For us, why would you not put your content on radio?” Sylvester asked. “Radio still has a tremendous reach. We may live in New York or LA, but the middle of America is still listening to radio. It’s got reach and habit. And it’s local. People still need that. We’re up 10% and added 300 new affiliations. We’re not turning away from radio. That impact alone, the marketing value alone, is so important. We look at it that way.”

Talent is always changing. So where are leaders looking for new talent?

“I look everywhere,” Boyce said. He explained how Salem Media worked with Cumulus Media to add Larry O’Connor to morning drive. He added that 10 years ago, it would have likely been impossible. But the partnerships has worked tremendously now.

“A lot of them are fans of the brand first,” Fuerst said of where Ramsey Solutions finds talent. “That’s been the strategy to this point. The game has changed, though. To be a Ramsey Network personality, you need to physically move to Nashville. You’re going to come work for us, and we’ll help you build the brand. But a lot of creators can leverage the platforms to build their own brands. We’re going to need to take the Ramsey Network far and wide.”

John Sylvester shared that he’s looking digitally. “It’s TikTok, Substack, or YouTube. We don’t look at it from just a pure follower count. We do video for everything. I think that we look at that talent and say ‘Ok, how can we cultivate this and build together?’ We’re gonna take that talent, know their authentic, and know they understand the space, and if they come in and understand that? We’ll cultivate that.”

10:30-11:10 AM: Are You Not Entertained?

• Adam Carolla (PodcastOne)
• Jimmy Failla (Fox News)
• Buck Sexton (Premiere Networks)
• Moderator: Jason Barrett

Barrett asked about how each panelist got to where they are today and what they envisioned.

“I was a carpenter and a boxing coach before I got into radio,” Carolla said. “I always wanted to do radio. It was my first love. I did radio for quite a long time all through my TV career. I didn’t set the bar too high. Frankly, I just wanted to get off the construction site.”

“I’m accidental media,” Sexton said. “I had resigned from the CIA and was going to Columbia Business School. Glenn Beck convinced me to bail on business school and go work for him in one meeting. Three years later, I was filling in for Rush Limbaugh.”

“I was driving a cab 12 hours a day,” said Failla. “I was doing standup at night. A Fox booker saw me at a comedy club. My first hit on Fox was during a taxi shift. It was in the middle of a hit. That turned me onto Fox’s radar. I then began writing for Kennedy, and that was really my break.”

Buck Sexton and Clay Travis replaced Rush Limbaugh after his death. It was an interesting process to make that transition.

“We had a very honest, from the get go, conversation both off air and on air with the audience about what the mission was. There was no replacing Rush,” Sexton said. “The decision to go with two hosts was essentially an admission that there’s no replacing Rush. The joke that we make with some frequency is no one could fill Rush’s shoes, so Julie (Talbott) put Clay in one and me in one, and we move it forward. We complement each other well. But we were honest. We’re not Rush. But we’re here to do the best we can for the audience. We love the audience and want to do our best for them every day.”

Failla pointed to the success of Greg Gutfeld as for why Fox News would take a risk on a taxi cab driver and comedian.

“Gutfeld’s success absolutely created my opportunity,” Failla said. “But I bring a different perspective. Greg may know one lane, but as a former New York City cab driver, I know a guy named Jesus who sells stolen flat screen TVs. I just try to come into it at my level.”

There are copious amounts of data available for everything today. But do these hosts pay attention to it?

“I honestly just try to focus on the quality of the work,” Sexton shared. “If I think the work is solid, I think the audience will, too. The people writing checks and renewing contracts will let you know if things aren’t working. There’s a lot of gaming of the data that works online. That’s something people in the business are much more aware of than the general public. I don’t want to be paralyzed by the data. Obsession with data isn’t always a good thing. Some things go viral that aren’t good for your brand. Some things are going to reach people you don’t want to reach.”

Failla said he once overheard a conversation between Jay Z and Julius Erving about his process in create music. The artist said ‘You can’t make art with business in mind.’ And Failla has kept that in mind.

Carolla says he takes a different approach.

“I’ve done a lot of TV shows and other projects. If you’re on a show that’s working, you’ll get stopped at the airport,” he said. “I was at a Father’s Day thing last weekend in LA, and people kept stopping me and saying ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, keep up the good work.’ So I knew it was getting out there. I didn’t need to look at a graph or crunch numbers. If you’re doing a podcast, you’ll know if it’s working. All the metrics and meters in the world can’t fix it. But you can analyze what the audience likes based on some data. There is a lot of data that can be gleaned from YouTube.”

The panel also discussed how they handle serious and humorous topics.

“If there is anything of remote seriousness in the world, Fox wants me away from TV,” Failla said. “There’s no way they’re putting me on TV. I’m like a cable news palate cleanser. There’s bad news, and then I come on and make balloon animals. On the radio side, it’s more conversational. You have more time on the topics. You can eventually drive the subject away from the serious topic.”

“You have to be authentic. The audience doesn’t want fake tears and sincerity,” Carolla said. “It’s also nice — and our job — to try to find the humor in whatever the tragedy is. Some of the hardest times people will laugh is at a funeral. There can be a lot of humor in tragedy and I think it’s about doing it in a way that’s on brand and authentic.”

“Something that is sometimes an advantage for me and the show is the expectation that we’re going to cover the news,” Sexton said. “But then, out of nowhere, I can do an Anthony Fauci voice and start to work in something that the audience does not necessarily expect. I’m not a comedian, and Clay isn’t a comedian. Some of the best advice I’ve been given is just be yourself. They expect you to be ‘this guy’, so be ‘this guy.’ Our show is a conversation between two guys. We try to balance the humor and the seriousness. You’ve gotta strike that balance.”

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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