Dennis Prager has spent several months recuperating from a fall that has left him absent from his Salem Radio Network show. But he now has a return target in mind.
On Tuesday, David Prager, the son of the radio host and PragerU founder, gave an update on his father’s condition during a segment on Pragertopia.com.
While noting that Dennis Prager is still paralyzed from the neck down due to an injury suffered from a November fall, the longtime radio host has begun eating and drinking, which was not happening before the past month.
“It’s really great to see him get to the point where he is now,” said David Prager.
That led the son of the radio host to reveal that his father has a timeframe in mind for returning to his show with Salem Radio Network.
“As much as you are clamoring for him to be back on the radio, he’s clamoring, too,” David Prager shared. “He gives assurances — without giving a specific date — that he’ll be back on at some point in the Spring. Based on all that I’ve seen and all that anyone who has visited him has seen, he’s really the same old Dennis. He’s there and dying to get back on. He’s following everything that’s happening in the news now. And he said that he’s actually following everything more than he used to because he has so much more time.
“He’s really devouring information right now,” he concluded.
Prager’s son added that doctors have been impressed by the progress made by the conservative radio host.
“Since he has now sort of seen A) a goal of getting back on the radio and B) a pathway to get there, his spirits are — pretty much every day — high. That doesn’t mean he’s feeling 100% every day. I don’t want to sugarcoat anything, but he’s definitely feeling great by virtue of knowing there’s a path back to where a large section of his life is.”
In his absence,The Dennis Prager Show has been helmed by Salem Radio Network host Carl Jackson.
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The Walt Disney Company is enacting a round of layoffs, with ABC News being affected by the cuts.
FiveThirtyEight, the political research, data, and analysis arm of ABC News originally founded by Nate Silver, is being shuttered. The outlet showcased election forecasting and political modeling and data. The elimination of the brand comes after Silver exited nearly two years ago. 15 employees with the outlet will be cut.
On social media, Silver shared his disappointment that the brand was ending.
“I just saw the news about 538. My heart goes out to the people there,” he wrote. “They were tremendously hard-working and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better.”
Oh geez, I just saw the news about 538. My heart goes out to the people there. They were tremendously hard-working and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better.
538’s current leader — ABC News Director of Data Analytics G Elliott Morris — shared that he was still working on the site last night, but joked that the timing was less than stellar.
“We added some new polls late this evening,” he wrote. “Trump’s job approval rating average at 538 is now net negative. What timing.”
In total, 6% of the staff at ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks will be cut in the latest round of layoffs, Some of the cuts will begin as early as Wednesday.
In an email to staffers obtained by Barrett Media, ABC News President Almin Karahmehmedovic said the cuts will help the company streamline its operations.
“Rethinking the way we work to future-proof our team regrettably includes reductions to our extraordinary staff,” said Karahmehmedovic. “These decisions are incredibly challenging and today will undoubtedly be difficult for our organization. It bears repeating how profoundly grateful and proud I am to be leading a truly remarkable team that consistently delivers the best our profession has to offer. I’d especially like to acknowledge the outstanding contributions made by our departing colleagues, who have our respect, gratitude and empathy.”
He concluded by stating “I remain confident in our ability to continue to set the bar for journalistic excellence.”
Additionally, the company will move the production of Good Morning America under one roof as a cost-saving measure.
It remains to be seen what eliminations — if any — take place to on-air staffers.
This is the latest in a long line of layoffs for ABC News. In October, 75 employees saw their jobs eliminated between ABC News and local affiliate stations. That came after widespread cuts in 2023 that included Silver’s exit from FiveThirtyEight.
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The Athletics have found a radio home in Las Vegas for their upcoming season, which is set to begin later this month. The franchise announced that Athletics games will be available on the HD2 channel of 95.5 The Bull Las Vegas in “Sin City,” the team’s future home starting in 2028.
Previously, the team revealed that radio broadcasts in their temporary home of Sacramento, CA, will air on 650 KSTE, serving as their flagship station. Additionally, broadcasts will be available on iHeart Sports 960 in Oakland, CA.
Fans can listen to all remaining spring training games, every regular season game, and any potential postseason matchups on the HD2 channel of 95.5 The Bull Las Vegas.
Longtime radio voice of the A’s, Ken Korach, will return for the 2025 season. He will be joined by fellow returning broadcaster Johnny Doskow, as well as Chris Caray.
A’s scout Shooty Babitt and former MLB infielder Steve Sax will contribute to the pregame and postgame shows alongside Jessica Kleinschmidt.
As part of the agreement in Las Vegas, a 30-minute pregame and postgame shows will also air. Additionally, the station will broadcast “A’s Cast” programming, which will run for two and a half hours before each weeknight game.
For the next three seasons, the Athletics will play their home games in Sacramento. Meanwhile, construction on their $1.75 billion stadium in Las Vegas is scheduled to begin between April and June. The new ballpark is expected to be completed ahead of the 2028 regular season.
According to the team, the stadium will feature 30,000 fixed seats, with room for an additional 3,000, bringing the total capacity to 33,000. The project will receive $380 million in public funding, with $350 million allocated directly to construction on the site of the former Tropicana hotel-casino.
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Comcast recently reported its quarterly financial results demonstrating a 90.9% year-over-year increase in free cash flow and proliferation in other key metrics, including adjusted EBITDA, earnings per share and revenue. In addition to NBC Sports securing its most-watched year of programming since 2016, which included the presentation of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, NFL games on Sunday Night Football and Big Ten college football, the company also reached an 11-year deal to resume live game broadcasts of the NBA starting this fall.
On a previous earnings call, Comcast Corporation chairman and chief executive officer Brian Roberts divulged that the NBA rights could “theoretically” hurt profitability in the short term. Yet he also referred to the development as one of the best things to happen for the company and something that can help grow Peacock, which bolstered its fourth-quarter revenue by 28% year-over-year but has yet to reach profitability. While speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Roberts was asked about the impact the NBA contract would have for company stakeholders.
“We looked at the NBA and said that we had a big hole in Peacock’s schedule, and in order to slow churn and to build something for the long term, we have Sunday Night Football, we have the Olympics, we have obviously all the entertainment content,” Roberts said. “But right after the winter and a bit of the spring, first and second quarter, that’s where the NBA has tonnage, and we are actually getting the most games of any of the three providers.”
The agreement, which is reportedly worth $2.45 billion per annum, will grant the company rights to televise games on broadcast television and the Peacock streaming platform. On top of that, the NBC television network will also broadcast one of the two Conference Finals series for six of the 11 years in the deal, along with select games in the first two rounds of the playoffs and NBA All-Star Weekend. Roberts expressed that Comcast is getting more regular-season NBA games than any other media partner.
NBCUniversal is also going to present at least 50 WNBA regular-season and early postseason games, along with USA Basketball men’s and women’s matchups leading into the next three Summer Olympic Games. The NBA on NBC property is nearing a return for the first time since 2002, and it will feature talent such as Mike Tirico, Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford among others.
“We have a lot of playoff games, but that drives your subs, your ARPU and your churn, and it is, just with the NFL, I think the premier content that we can do in the United States,” Roberts said. “We also get the WNBA – we’re going to have 50 games on Peacock exclusively – we can continue our Sunday night franchise. I think we’ll have a lot of great execution and make it big the way NBC Sports – [it] doesn’t do everything, but when we do it, tends to be like just take football, No. 1 show in television.”
Earlier in the interview, Roberts addressed different aspects of the financial standing of the Comcast Corporation and how it relates to broadband customers. In the fiscal fourth quarter, customers only subscribed to broadband averaged 800 gigabits a month, something that he explained was up double digits. Furthermore, he explained that 70% of all internet consumption is entertainment, and he has witnessed how more content in the genre and sports are moving to streaming.
“What will be the norm for consumption in the next five years, I think, is going to [be that] regional sports are all going to streaming,” Roberts said. “We’re going to go to 8K or whatever the next generation of video quality [is]. All of that is bandwidth, bandwidth, bandwidth.”
Comcast also announced the formation of SpinCo, an independent publicly traded media company that will consist of various cable networks such as CNBC, MSNBC and Golf Channel. Mark Lazarus, the former chairman of NBCUniversal media group, is the prospective chief executive officer of the venture and announced several corporate leadership appointments earlier in the year. Roberts explained that Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast Corporation, “came up with a very smart move” as the company recognizes that 98% of Peacock viewership comes from other content beyond the cable networks.
“You put that company together, it’s a terrific media company, and I think we will make all of Comcast NBCUniversal now 65%, as I said at the beginning, of our growth businesses, up from 60%,” Roberts explained. “It accelerates us and gives a whole lot of people new responsibilities. It’s been energizing to the organization. I give Mike a lot of kudos – hope to get that done by the end of the year.
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Three of San Francisco sports radio’s most popular voices are reuniting. Former KNBR colleagues, Tom Tolbert, Paul McCaffrey, and John Lund, are partnering on the launch of a new podcast network, Bay Area Sports Collective. The network debuts today with The Tom Tolbert Show, Paulie Mac’s Particles and John Lund Unleashed as the first three podcasts to be broadcast live on YouTube and across all major audio podcasting platforms. Additional information about the company can be found on its website.
The new venture is co-founded and co-owned by former Bay Area sports radio programmer Jeremiah Crowe. Crowe previously programmed KNBR and served as Assistant PD at 95.7 The Game following a stint at ESPN Radio. He’ll direct business operations, marketing, and sales for the Bay Area sports podcast network.
In addition, former KNBR teammates Tony Rhein and Daniel Ogden will be involved both on and off the air. Rhein and Ogden were integral parts of Bay Area Sports radio programming for decades. They’ll help assure the content is well produced, and promoted.
Tom Tolbert said: “I am thrilled to join my partners Paul McCaffrey, John Lund, and Jeremiah Crowe to launch this exciting sports podcast network. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, and I have a great deal of respect for everyone involved. Together, we will leverage our combined relationships, knowledge, and experience to offer sports fans the most entertaining and informative content, insights, and access to the biggest stories and people in sports today. I’m looking forward to sharing some good laughs again with my loyal audience, friends, and guests across the Bay Area Sports spectrum.”
Paul McCaffrey added: “You know that feeling of anticipation when Steph Curry launches a 3-point shot from downtown? Just waiting for the ‘nothing but net’ payoff? That’s how I’m feeling bringing Paulie Mac’s Particles to the Bay Area Sports Collective. The right people are in place and the timing is right. The best part is you’re all coming with me! The good times are just beginning.”
John Lund said: “Looking to the future after many successful years in sports radio working with some of the best talent out there to now teaming up with iconic guys like Tom and Paulie, plus the all-star team we’ve put in place at the Bay Area Sports Collective, it’s going to be special for me personally, our fans and our audience.”
Jeremiah Crowe noted: “This announcement marks the dawn of a new day for the underserved Bay Area Sports fan. They deserve better. We are thrilled to launch The Bay Area Sports Collective with three very influential, entertaining, and experienced hosts who all remain dedicated to their craft. We are open to additional shows and talent joining our network in the future and look forward to scaling our unique talent-friendly business model into additional markets.”
Crowe added: “Multiple professional sports franchises have already expressed strong interest in migrating programming to our network, and local blue-chip advertisers have also contacted our team. We are excited to open the floodgates and provide Bay Area Sports fans with a more convenient way of finding their favorite shows, whether live or on-demand. This is the future of sports entertainment.”
The network will feature The Tom Tolbert Show, three times per week. John Lund Unleashed and Paulie Mac’s Particles will broadcast each weekday. For more information, reach out to Jeremiah Crowe by email at jeremiah@bayareasc.com.
Dan Bongino is gone. You might be asking yourself: what’s next? My friends who work for Cumulus had to wait for what was next. The rest of us need to protect our brands.
There was no question that once President Trump was elected this past November Dan Bongino was on the shortlist. This should serve as a lesson. If you have hired hosts who have been politicians or political insiders, be prepared for them to leave.
I know a lot of people who are impacted by Bongino’s exit. These are wonderful people who have carried and supported Dan’s show. Some of those people are in the Westwood One sales department, Affiliate Relations, or on the Cumulus station side.
When a host is added to a station, radio station managers want someone who is committed for the long haul. I often recite this truth. It takes 18-24 months for a News Talk Host to be successful in ratings and revenue. I wish that it was quicker, but it is not.
Bongino built a successful formula for many stations. I remember after Rush Limbaugh passed away; it was an uphill battle to grow that audience. Some stations are still rebuilding those ratings. Bongino’s exit will create ratings and revenue headwinds for many in our industry. If you are hiring a new host, are they there for themselves or for the station? Are you prepared to lose an important team member to the political class?
News Talk stations have often based content and entertainment on politics alone. There are many reasons why this is a terrible idea. Take your local city council meeting for instance. Have you ever been to one? Is this a subject on your local shows? Attend one, you will find that very few people attend.
I have heard talk show hosts keeping it local focusing on events that no one in their community cares about. If your city is talking about tax increases and less than 30 people show up to complain, that should serve as an indication of community interest. Should people be mad as hell that their property taxes are going up? Absolutely. But do they care?
If you judge it by the 30 people who are complaining, the answer is no. I once lived in a community where one woman spoke to every meeting of the city council on the philosophies of Ayn Rand. The people who attend or show interest in city council meetings are outliers. If that is your station’s audience, you are in huge trouble.
Ok, let me get back to the subject of Dan Bongino. I don’t know him and have never met him. Bongino though has shown a lack of patience or focus on any of his careers. He was an FBI Agent. The vast majority of FBI agents work until retirement and start security companies after their career. Some agents join major corporations to serve in their personal expertise from the FBI.
Then Bongino was a Secret Service Agent. This is another career with great post career opportunities. Retired Secret Service Agents protect high value targets. Whether in business or celebrity, a former Secret Service Agent can make 7 figures following their government career. Bongino was not satisfied with that.
So, my concern and the concern of other programmers was about Bongino’s longevity. Not by his employers, but by Dan Bongino himself. I think that we all know of people who are focused on their next thing.
I have a friend who jumps from hobby to hobby. This is a terrific individual, but I can guarantee that his current interest will be discarded in a couple of years. This guy and I had a similar hobby. That is how I got to know him. He was all in and very enthusiastic about our mutual interest. As soon as he got bored, it was onto the next thing.
Bongino certainly has shown this. A friend of mine hired a host who had once been a city council member. This guy was all gung-ho on a media career. My friend didn’t know that this host was using his station to set the groundwork for his next political run. The host quit and ran for Congress and promptly lost. The host and failed political candidate came crawling back looking for a job. My buddy told him that the station had moved on.
Here is the lesson from Dan Bongino – I am sure that Dan’s employers were convinced that he was committed to the show for the next decade. Remember, I don’t know Bongino. I have a buddy who knows Dan well and says that Bongino is good people. But Bongino has also never had long term commitment in his professional life.
There are stations across the USA who are picking up the pieces. The Spring ratings period is essentially lost. There will be a new show in Bongino’s place hosted by Vince Coglianese. Bongino’s departure will be negative for many people across our industry. We certainly don’t need this as an industry.
As we look for what is next, will the new host on your station filling Bongino’s void be there in 5 or 10 years? This is an important consideration. Don’t add a show that will be gone in 2 years. With spoken word formats, consistency is essential.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
We talk a lot about change within our industry and how some just seem to adapt better than others. We’ve even seen friendly fire between the groups and how differently the generations respond to this change.
These days, it’s quite popular for Gen Xers to poke fun at Gen Z and vice versa. But without a doubt, baby boomers are the target of more ridicule and satirical humor than any others. Perhaps the most common expression used to playfully mock boomers is, “Ok Boomer,” which is a blatantly dismissive response to one’s opinions or comments that younger people perceive as out-of-touch.
The implication is that baby boomers are overly traditional or resistant to change. Ironically, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as the generation between 1946 and 1964 has experienced more significant societal, technological, political, and cultural shifts than any other at any time.
When it comes to the media and beyond, we “seasoned pro” boomers have experienced more change than a caterpillar in springtime.
From post-World War II optimism to the current digital age, baby boomers have witnessed and contributed to changes in politics, the economy, technology, family dynamics, and social values, which have shaped their personal and collective identity.
The technology we all use every day was, in truth, imagined, created, developed, and expanded upon by baby boomers. Need I even mention Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, both born in 1955, smack in the middle of the baby boomer era? These two giants literally changed the world.
Without sounding like my own parents, who “Walked to school every day, without shoes, in the snow, uphill—both ways,” I never once tracked a radio show. We were live every day—six days a week!
I didn’t grow up on automation, and “Wide Orbit” was a path the planets may take around the sun. As a boomer, though, I did participate and watch a total global transformation over my lifetime—we adapted!
Obviously, one of the most profound changes has been the amazingly rapid advancement of technology. In my early years, television and radio were the primary forms of mass communication, with only limited access to any global information.
In fact, TVs were all black & white when I was born, and AM radio dominated listenership. FM radio began to overtake AM in the late 70s and through the 80s when FM became standard in all vehicles, eventually adding SiriusXM to the dashboard decades later. Let us not forget the addition of CDs in cars after they replaced vinyl records. All this change was experienced and developed by Boomers.
As we reached adulthood, we saw the influx of personal computers and video games like Atari and Sega that advanced with lightning speed into Xbox and Play Stations. Color TV was perfected in the late 70s and 80s, and cable companies began to replace the 13 local and network OTA channels with scores of channels and premium choices like HBO.
Enter the VHS and Beta recorders that we all used to tape our favorite shows… until along came TiVo and DVRs that allowed us to pause and record live TV. Of course, now, “We don’t need no stinkin’ recorders!” It’s all recorded in the cloud.
In the late 1990s, DVDs and DVD players entered the marketplace. TVs shifted from large, heavy, and thick projection boxes into flatter plasma screens that cost thousands of dollars, giving way to today’s 80” flat LCD screens that cost as little as a few hundred dollars. Again, all this change was developed and adopted by Baby Boomers!
Lest we forget the internet and mobile phones, revolutionizing the way we interacted with the world. Enter the world of dial-up modems, AOL, and MySpace – our first entry into social media. Skype exploded on the scene, allowing us to enjoy video calls around the planet for free!
The internet soon became ubiquitous, giving rise to even faster online communication, e-commerce, and digital entertainment. Today, baby boomers are navigating the complexities of smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence, all of which were inconceivable when they were growing up, yet many of whom not only adapted, adopted, and thrived but helped develop even more emerging technologies.
Politically, we baby boomers have lived through a number of key historical events that altered the course of history. From the civil rights movement in the 1960s to the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, boomers were at the heart of movements for social justice and reform. We were here to witness and participate from all sides of The Vietnam War, marking a time of great unrest and upheaval.
Economically, baby boomers have seen the transition from post-war prosperity to the challenges of a global economy. We experienced an economic boom, with strong growth, industrial expansion, and a burgeoning middle class. As we aged, we also saw the effects of economic recessions and a decline in manufacturing jobs. We witnessed the 2008 financial crisis, which reshaped retirement savings and pensions for many.
So, next time you talk to a boomer and feel the need to poke fun with the casual, “Ok Boomer,” – think about the only generation to witness an extraordinary range of changes, from the rise of digital technology to evolving social norms and economic conditions. Boomers have truly been at the forefront of major cultural, political, and technological revolutions.
We Boomers have experienced and influenced an unparalleled transformation in the world around us from Radio to TV and every other technology you have likely touched today. Instead of the typical jab to a boomer, how about next time trying… “Thank you Boomer!”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
I’ve always been a big believer in my time in radio and business in the power of positivity. Where a positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you. It goes without saying that the world needs more positivity—just a little more each and every day.
This week, while scrolling through my social media feeds, I found myself awestruck by the amount of positivity that flooded my timelines. It wasn’t birthday wishes or newfound career opportunities. Instead, it was a number of media brands celebrating great months, outstanding statistics, and sharing record metrics to showcase the hard work and results of their people.
The only negative about all the positivity? None of these brands were radio companies.
The Pat McAfee Show is one of the most celebrated sports programs in recent memory as it continues to set trends in sports media. It looks, feels, and sounds different than anything else you see, connect with, or hear on traditional sports radio. It’s a show that runs a disclaimer before every program to explain how the talent are a “bunch of stooges talking about the happenings in the sports world.”
It’s not the sports radio programming you grew up with, and they like it that way.
The show closes every day with Pat McAfee saying the following:
“Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We’re in this thing together.”
Courtesy: Derek Futterman, Barrett Sports Media
Every show, every weekday ends with the power of positivity.
The Power Of Positivity: Social Media
Scouring my LinkedIn feed this weekend, I came across an infographic from the Locked On Podcast Network from a couple of weeks ago. A brand-styled infographic celebrated the network’s “biggest week ever”—over 9.9 million listens and views during the week of the Super Bowl, leading the brand to proclaim, “Locked On is the daily go-to source for passionate local sports fans to get the story behind the biggest moments in sports.”
Screengrab: Locked On Podcast Network LinkedIn
Scrolling down my feed, I came across another infographic. The CEO of ALLCITY Network, Brandon Spano, shared news that Super Bowl week was a massive win for the five markets where ALLCITY calls home—25.4 million impressions, 6.2 million views and downloads, and more than 200,000 hours of content watched for the ALLCITY brands during Super Bowl week.
Screengrab: Brandon Spano LinkedIn
“An absolutely massive number in the world of local media,” posted Spano. “For those counting, we are only in five markets now. The potential, at scale, for the leader of all local markets is tremendous and something we’re excited about building.”
There were over 150 media outlets in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX, including ALLCITY, Locked On, and a number of traditional sports radio outlets.
Was there any positivity for sports radio to share?
Capitalizing On The Moment
The Super Bowl is the single biggest stage for professional sports in the United States. It draws the attention of every single type of fan, from passionate to casual, providing entertainment on the field, at halftime, and in the commercial breaks. It’s the pinnacle opportunity for sports brands to attach celebrity and build FOMO moments because of the access that the NFL has provided over many years.
FOX Sports celebrated their massive viewership numbers days after the Philadelphia Eagles won their second Super Bowl championship in franchise history. Apple Music celebrated record-setting viewership of the halftime show performance by Kendrick Lamar. Was there anything for sports radio to celebrate?
FOX Sports Radio can build a nice set on Media Row, but where’s the celebration of the wins for the week?
iHeartRadio has an exclusive partnership with the NFL Podcast Network. Were there any wins to share from the week that was in the Big Easy?
Courtesy: Derek Futterman, Barrett Sports Media
Controlling The Narrative In Radio
For as long as I’ve been involved with the radio business, I’ve always had to battle the narrative that the medium is “dying.” It’s not hard to see why that’s the narrative those outside of radio believe. Automakers are aiming to get rid of AM radio in electric vehicles, leading to Congress crafting legislation to save it. The continued success of podcasting has led many clients to think differently about their advertising dollars. Last week, YouTube announced one billion active monthly viewers of podcast content on the platform.
Where’s the positivity from radio? Where is radio celebrating the wins?
Are there wins for radio? I’m finding it harder to find them now more than ever.
This past Monday, I spent the evening watching my favorite television show, WWE Monday Night Raw. It’s no secret that WWE is a money-making juggernaut in the sports entertainment world. After every PLE (premium live event), WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque holds a press conference streamed on YouTube to a watching cume that rivals some sports radio stations. The press conference always begins with the wins—the business figures.
Highest-grossing gate. Sponsorship records. Viewership figures. Attendance and merchandise sales.
Monday Night Raw on Netflix was no different. The brand celebrated their massive social media engagement from Saturday night’s Elimination Chamber event—record views on several social platforms, sharing headlines from online and print publications, and clipping creators in the internet wrestling community showing their emotional excitement to the happenings of John Cena turning heel for the first time in his career.
There isn’t a metric that WWE missed promoting in some way between the conclusion of Elimination Chamber on Saturday night to the conclusion of Raw on Monday night.
By telling the story, you control the narrative of how people view and are attracted to your product.
Radio Can Be Better | Radio MUST Be Better
Every radio programmer pulls data from ratings to digital engagement to tell a story to a sales staff, a management team, or the talent themselves. The job of the programmer is to always point out the positives for sales teams to equip sellers going into battle to earn more dollars for the brand. Constantly educating your sales staff is key to not being lost in the shuffle when dollars are on the line, and there’s no better data than celebrating a win.
Where radio programmers continue to miss the point is—why not share the wins with your consumers? The same people who, every day, give you and your advertisers the most valuable thing they own—their time. A radio station is only as successful as the story it tells to the people emotionally connected to it. Brand loyalty is the most valuable real estate any radio brand can own, and that loyalty should be celebrated when there’s a reason to celebrate.
Is there any downside to sharing a ratings win with a cool, station-themed static image that your staff can promote through a share on social media?
Is there any downside to sharing on social media that a brand’s digital metrics on YouTube continue to grow over time?
Is there any downside to sharing download data of an on-demand podcast channel that, since last year, has eclipsed a specific number of downloads?
Sounds all positive to me!
In a time when radio talent are constantly looking over their shoulder for the next round of layoffs and pressured to do more work for no additional pay, wouldn’t it make sense to take time to celebrate the positives more today than ever before and showcase the hard work of the people who make brands what they are?
If the power of positivity is good enough for everyone else, why not radio?
It just might change someone’s life.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Welcome into the sales meeting this week where we are going to talk about how you have to start looking at this job, if you are not already doing so. We all know, a career in media sales is unlike a typical nine-to-five job. It doesn’t come with a guaranteed paycheck, a rigid career path, or even a safety net. Instead, it operates more like a business—a business where you are the CEO. Ultimately, if you want to thrive in media sales, you need to think of yourself as an entrepreneur, taking full ownership of your time, strategy, and success.
Just like we would recommend to any other business, you need a brand. In media sales, it just so happens that you are the brand. Your reputation, your relationships, and your expertise define your market value. Clients aren’t just buying ad space; they’re investing in your knowledge, credibility, problem-solving skills, and in the end – your ability to deliver results. As I often like to say, when the client asks for added value, remind them that you are part of that equation and possibly the biggest and best added value they can ever receive.
To build that brand, you must be intentional about how you present yourself. That means maintaining a professional presence (in person and elsewhere), consistently delivering value to your clients, and ensuring you’re known as a resource rather than just another salesperson. Stay engaged in industry conversations, share insights, and become the go-to person for solutions.
Again, just like for the businesses we work with, no successful business waits for customers to walk in the door; they actively seek out opportunities. The same applies to media sales. If you’re treating your career like a business, you should be constantly prospecting, generating leads, and growing relationships.
Be sure to leverage any and all channels to find and engage potential clients. You know what it takes, whether that is cold outreach, networking events, industry events, and using all various means of social media can be helpful as well. Don’t just chase numbers, focus on building real relationships. The strongest businesses aren’t transactional, they’re built on trust and long-term value.
The thing that can trip most people up is the lack of structure where you are not always told where to be and what you should be doing, you have to make those decisions each day. You are the boss, which means you need to manage your time wisely.
You have to set priorities, block time for the most important activities, and typically it’s best to stick to a routine. A wise manager once taught me each day to write down my list as an A list and a B list. The A list is things that have to get done during that workday. The B list are those things that can be done before or after work or just don’t need to be done right away.
In a ‘regular’ job, your compensation is dictated by someone else. In media sales, your earnings are a direct result of your effort and strategy. That means you have to think about your revenue like a business does and making sure you are not only set up for the now but set up for the future as well.
Media sellers can get in trouble if they rely too heavily on a few big clients. If one of those clients walks away for whatever reason, and we know sometimes the reasons are out of our control, your entire business could be blown up. That is a very risky way to go about a business so make sure there is plenty in the pipeline at all levels.
Look, the best business owners don’t just work hard, they also work smart. Whether it is balancing your time as mentioned before or investing in yourself (because we know the company isn’t going to do it) with education or tools to do your job better. And you have to stay up on what is happening in the business so that not only are you informed, but you can keep your clients informed as well.
Businesses that don’t adapt get left behind. The same goes for us. The way people consume media today isn’t the same as it was five years ago, and it will be different five years from now. You have to embrace change and be willing to dive in and really learn the new stuff. The best salespeople aren’t just following trends, they’re ahead of them.
At the end of the day, your success in media sales is completely up to you. There’s no one holding your hand, ensuring you hit your targets, or mapping out your future. Just like an entrepreneur, you have to be self-driven, strategic, and willing to put in the work.
If you treat your media sales career as just a job, you’ll likely struggle. But if you approach it as your own business—where you control the brand, strategy, revenue, and growth—you’ll set yourself up for long-term success. In this field, the ones who think like business owners are the ones who ultimately win.
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Karson and Kennedy host the morning show at Audacy’s Mix 104.1 WWBX Boston. As voted by its peers, the show was number one in the Barrett Media Top 20 AC/Hot AC Shows.
I asked the two how they felt when they saw they were number one.
“Karson explained to me what you were doing when you started this new initiative to talk about all the genres and all of the types of shows. And he had said the Hot AC is going to be on this day,” said Kennedy. “And by then I completely forgot about it. So, I will paint you this picture.”
“Karson is sitting at his desk on this side of this studio. And he’s going Kennedy, come here. I come around the corner, and he’s got it up. I look at our producer Dan and say, ‘Daniel, come here.’ And we just stood there staring at the computer for a long time. No, we were not anticipating any of that.”
Karson added, “I was like if we even cracked the top 20, that would be amazing. Sometimes I feel like we’re like the little show that could, and we just continue on and continue on.”
“It’s not really a show that you hear about much in the industry. We’re just kind of over here in our little world, doing our thing. And you hear about all these other big shows around the country and personalities. We’re just in Boston doing our thing. So, to get that acknowledgement, especially from our peers. Yeah, just wow.”
I shared with them that in a recent conversation with their Program Director, Steve Salhany, who finished third in the Top 20 Program Directors, he said, “I was really more excited about the ‘Karson & Kennedy’ win. I’ve been working with them for a long time, and they’ve come a long way. I’m really excited for them.”
The road to success has had a few bumps along the way.
Karson said, “It was a tumultuous beginning. We actually went to number one within the first year here. We went to number one 25-54, and it was a very big deal. They took us out to a fancy lunch with our names on the menu. Then, all of a sudden, they made a change in management, and it was like all these things were going on.”
Karson added that they were having problems with their relationship at the time. “We were having a tough time with our interpersonal relationship, and what was coming out on the air was not fun. And so, Sal took us out to lunch at Regina’s Pizzeria.”
“I thought oh, this is great. The new boss taking us out to lunch. And we ordered the pizza, and he’s like, I don’t know what’s going on with you two. I don’t know what’s going on with the show. I don’t know what anybody has instructed you to do with your show. But whatever’s coming out of the speakers, what I’m hearing right now is not fun.”
They were offered a 90-day contract, being told, “If you can’t figure it out in 90 days, we’re going to make a change. Wow. But I will tell you this. You need to do the show that you want to do.”
The show is known for sharing their personal lives, sometimes in great detail, which Kennedy believes is essential to authenticity.
“No one wants to have a conversation with somebody who’s just talking about themselves and the fancy things that they did or making up, or just reading off prep, right? The best conversations you have at parties, restaurants, or wherever you meet people are where you can go, oh, my God, me too.”
“Because we sit in front of a microphone and talk to however many people every 15 minutes or three minutes now and have a conversation about for me, mental health is a big thing for me. I’ve had multiple diagnoses we’ve talked about here on this show.”
Kennedy continued, “I got cancer last year, my dog died last week. We have talked about all of this stuff. But when you talk about these things, then people say, oh, so it’s okay for me to feel these things, too. You know that everybody is holding onto things so tightly. You can say it’s okay to let go, talk about it, and that you’re not alone, I’m just like you.”
Karson relates to the audience on a parenting level. “My wife and I are raising a 14-year-old boy. Having a job that’s out in the public, but then also having a child who’s trying to navigate what it’s like to be a teen and going through the things that he’s going through. The only way we know how to do it now, is to just share it.”
Adding, “I have found it, for me, cathartic, and it’s made my life a lot easier. I don’t feel like I’m leading two lives. Anybody that meets us will tell you exactly who we are talking to, that’s exactly who we are in the studio, who we are at the grocery store. And that’s kind of nice, because I have met a lot of people in this business, and what they are portraying on the air, is not who they are in real life, and that’s a lot. I don’t know. I couldn’t handle it. That would be too much on my shoulders”
Community involvement is a big part of the winning formula.
“You can make a connection with someone on the radio,” Kennedy said. “We do it all the time. You hear from people who have never met you, but when you can actually stand in front of them and speak with them and have a conversation, and maybe you’re hosting an event, and you all have had this common experience, or whatever the case might be, but to show that you’re not above anything.”
“I feel like there’s a lot of entitlement sometimes when it comes to radio, anything sort of in the public eye, really. [People saying] Well, I don’t do that anymore. I don’t get out of bed for less than this much money. Or someone charges for a charity event. What kind of monster are you?”
“We do a yearly toy drive called Karson and Kennedy 10,000 Toys for Girls and Boys, so we spend six weekends before Christmas in a mall. Two hours a day, Saturday, Sunday, every single one. Thanksgiving, it doesn’t matter, and we do that, and we’ve been doing that for a decade now, and so now you’ve got people who are coming who were dating, and now they’re married, and they have three kids, and the kids are coming to drop off their toys.
“I love that. You become part of a tradition for somebody else. What a gift. I can’t imagine anyone giving me a better gift than that.”
I asked what advice they might offer to an aspiring top ten market talent or show.
Karson said, “I would say the one thing that I learned along the way that was really hard for me was that you need people on your team. You need people on your side. I was battling against everybody. It was always us against the world. Every program director, every consultant, every record rep, every street teamer. No, you don’t understand. You don’t know You don’t know.”
“This is bringing me some PTSD,” laughed Kennedy. “I would love to speak directly to the young women out there and that’s, do it, do all of it. And you don’t have to wait for a boy to bring you along. I’m so thankful I had one. But, I think it’s so important for those voices to be heard. I think both of us are of the same mind that if you need help, we’re here.”
“Karson is the king of listening to a demo and being like, move this, change this, bang, bang, bang. And I’m happy to be helpful in any way I can as well. When it comes to planning a show or doing whatever. I think, more than anything, we want to watch the people who come after us maybe not have to jump on the hurdles that we had to jump on.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
