A GM once told me something that I’ve never forgotten. “Ya can’t teach give a sh*t.” She was from Arkansas so just imagine it in that accent. For years, I’ve quoted it in polite company and impolite company alike. It’s blunt but it’s also completely true.
You can teach someone to run a board. You can teach copywriting, scheduling software, how to use PromoSuite, or how to sell advertising. What you cannot teach is care. You can’t teach passion. Some people show up wanting the station, the brand, or the team to win. Others just want a paycheck. Both have their place. But the ones who actually give a sh*t are the ones carrying your culture right now, and they need your support now more than ever.
The Quiet Cost of Layoffs
Radio has been through wave after wave of cuts. Consolidation, budget trims, “restructuring.” Anyone who’s lived through it knows the pattern. A team of six becomes a team of four or three or even two. The work doesn’t shrink. It gets redistributed.
The people who give a sh*t absorb that extra work first. They’re the ones who stay late without complaint. They cover a shift, write extra promo copy, or jump on a client call because nobody else will. Management notices the results. Management doesn’t always notice the cost.
Here’s the problem. Those same employees are watching their colleagues get let go. They’re doing more work for the same money, sometimes less, while wondering if they’re next. That combination breeds quiet resentment, and quiet resentment eventually leads to burnout or a resignation letter.
This isn’t just a radio problem, either. Workplaces nationwide have been navigating a “quiet quitting” moment, with employees increasingly prioritizing their own well-being over stress and disengagement. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce only about a third of U.S. employees report feeling genuinely engaged at work. That number should worry every GM and PD in this industry.
Build Growth Plans That Actually Mean Something
Praise alone won’t hold onto your best people forever. They need to see a future, not just a thank-you note. Helping passionate employees grow means giving them stretch projects, offering continuous learning, and setting clear career paths.
Indeed’s Employer Guide identifies continuous learning and development as a core element of any high-performing workplace culture. A generic training module doesn’t cut it. A growth plan built around one specific person, with real milestones and a clear timeline, does.
Personalized growth plans work because they lay out shared goals between the employee and the employer, along with realistic milestones and the resources to hit them. Attainable growth paths as a direct driver of loyalty and retention. That tracks with anything I’ve seen in radio. An employee who knows what the next two years could look like is far less likely to start browsing job boards.
Flexibility and Transparency Build Trust
Flexibility doesn’t have to mean fully remote. For plenty of radio jobs, that’s not even realistic. But mutually agreeing on which days someone comes into the building, or trusting them to manage their own schedule, sends a message. Amy Sharp, a talent acquisition manager, said “providing flexibility fosters a sense of trust and balance, leading to greater focus and efficiency.” Employees will stop feeling like they need to sneak time away to recharge.
Transparency matters just as much. Nothing erodes morale faster than employees hearing about a format change or a layoff secondhand. Open-door policies and honest feedback loops go a long way.
Culture Starts With Leadership
None of this works if leadership doesn’t model it. If GMs and PDs treat their teams as replaceable, employees will act replaceable right back. But if leadership treats effort as valuable, people notice, and they tend to rise to meet that standard.
A healthy culture protects its most engaged people instead of quietly exploiting them. It creates space for honesty about workload. It rewards initiative without punishing people for having limits.
The Bottom Line
You can’t teach someone to care. So when you find people who do, protect that. Pay attention to them. Ask what they need. Give them room to grow. Don’t wait until they’re burned out or halfway out the door to show you noticed.
The industry has lost a lot of talented people to layoffs that arguably nobody on the local level could control. Let’s not lose good people to a culture we could have fixed.
That GM was right all those years ago. You can’t teach give a sh*t. But you can absolutely build a culture that keeps it around.
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Bethany Kent is a Music Radio Editor for Barrett Media. She spent nearly 20 years bringing radio to life on stages, across the airwaves, and through unforgettable listener experiences. Her career spans local markets including Providence, Philadelphia, and New York City, most recently serving as National Director of Music Initiatives for Audacy. From producing major live events like HOT 97’s Summer Jam to leading strategic national marketing initiatives, she has built a career at the intersection of music, media, and culture. She can be reached at bethany@barrettmedia.com.