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How News/Talk Radio Can Capitalize on Newfound Bigger Audiences

Garrett Searight
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How News/Talk Radio Can Capitalize on Newfound Bigger Audiences

It has never been lost on me how quickly conservative news/talk radio hosts will scream and shout about how anyone on the other side of the political aisle is “alienating half the country” when they share their political beliefs. And yet, those same hosts don’t realize they do exactly the same thing with their radio shows every day.

News/talk radio has seen an uptick in listenership in recent weeks. Unfortunately, it’s due to wild happenings in the news cycle with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the appointment of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) to serve as his running mate, and the announcement that President Joe Biden would no long seek re-election.

And it isn’t just a gut feeling that listenership is up. Audacy reported that news stations saw a 32% increase in streaming listeners the day former President Trump was shot.

Americans are turning to news/talk radio as news breaks and they’re on the go. But is your station equipped to keep them when things settle down?

I know the summer months are generally a time to experiment, whether that be with formats, interviews, subject matter, topics, guests, co-hosts, or anything else in the industry.

But right now, it’s imperative the industry put its best foot forward.

What does that look like? Well, first of all, and this may be difficult for some hosts, but you’re going to have to come to your show with a better topic than “Does Kamala Harris suck or does she suck? Am I right?!”

It’s easy. And it’s lazy. Anyone — and this isn’t an exaggeration — anyone can sit down in front of a microphone and say a politician sucks. And anyone — and this isn’t an exaggeration — anyone can sit down in front of a microphone and say mean, degrading, innuendo-laden verbiage about their opposition.

You’re a trained professional. I don’t necessarily care if you think Kamala Harris sucks. Millions do, you’re not alone in that. But can you present it in a compelling way? Can you present it in an entertaining way?

Conservative talk radio listeners aren’t completely atypical from every other radio user. What do they want? Entertainment. And I think we lose sight of that fact sometimes. The seriousness of the topics often spoken about on talk radio absolutely — at times — warrant a serious presentation.

And sometimes the news is funny. Borderline hilarious. Greg Gutfeld has built on a strong following on Fox News by being funny.

Maybe that’s not your lane. Hilarity isn’t the only form of entertainment. Can you tell a great story? A personal anecdote? Something to keep newfound listeners on your station? Because, I’m here to tell you, if an average listener — who, let’s face it, doesn’t eat, sleep, and breathe politics the way you do — tunes into your station and just hears “Kamala Harris sucks. Nancy Pelosi sucks. Joe Biden sucks. Jill Biden isn’t a doctor. John Fetterman sucks. Alejandro Mayorkas? Sucks. Our Democratic Mayor/Governor/Representative/Senator sucks,” how long do you think they’ll stick around?

Opportunity should be an exciting time. You have the chance to reach new listeners. Those who might not be as familiar with you as your P1s. It’s a great chance to build new listeners. But you have to be at the top of your game. This is an exciting time to be a news/talk radio host in this country. You’ve been handed content — from a variety of areas — on a silver platter. Accompanying that content is a slew of new listeners.

To tell you the truth, I’m 34 years old, and the news/talk format missed my generation. I don’t know a single person my age (who doesn’t work in the radio industry) who listens to AM radio on a regular basis or could likely identify the “stars” of the industry today. The medium did nothing to reach people my age, other than hope that millennials will get more conservative as we age, and somehow stumble into a format that has never done a thing to reach us.

But, when breaking news happens, especially news of the magnitude of a former president being shot or a current president saying they’re not going to continue their campaign, the industry has stumbled into a fresh group of listeners.

Don’t take their time for granted. They have hundreds of options to interact with. If they chose you, you should put together an on-air product that isn’t simply “Anyone I disagree with is wrong.” If you met someone for the first time at a bar, restaurant, wedding, or any other social gathering, and they had absolutely no interest in hearing about anything other than what they wanted to talk about, how long would you want to spend with them? How long would you talk with them before you got up and left?

It’s the exact same situation in someone’s car, at their desk at work, while walking their dog, or however they’re consuming content. Listen, I know there’s a good chance you don’t like Kamala Harris, or any other potential Democratic nominee for President for that matter. But the fact is that tens of millions of people are going to cast their ballots for her in November. Are you going to exclude those people from your audience? Do you have so many listeners that you can’t afford any more? Do the advertisers on your show not need more customers? Have you ever thought “Naw, my ratings are high enough”? No? Well then, why are you willing to punt on anyone listening to your show?

I’m not saying you need to even pretend to stomach the opposition party. But respecting the people who will vote for them will go a long way in keeping and growing listeners who might be coming to your station for the first time for news, analysis, insight, and entertainment. Interact with those who might think differently than you. Welcome them to your show and station. Make them feel welcome and not as if they’re beneath you simply because your political beliefs differ. If you’ve spent the past week and a half talking about how the “temperature and rhetoric need to be lowered by the left” in the wake of the assassination attempt, practice what you preach. Set the example.

You can do better. Be better. The future of the format depends on it.

Sharing Your Station’s Strategy And Tactics

Bob Lawrence
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Sharing Your Station’s Strategy And Tactics

Does everyone in your building truly understand your station brand and even more importantly, are they able to articulate that to clients? Have you explained your branding strategy and tactics to those on the street who speak with your customers every day? It is always disconcerting to talk with sellers whose understanding doesn’t go much beyond some format generalities and the Nielsen driven, corresponding demos. Many programmers and brand managers do not take the time necessary to offer true explanations of their strategy and tactics to sellers, nor are they aware of the challenges sellers face every day.

As one who has held virtually every position in the industry, including half my career in research I can tell you that a format is never driven by gender and/or age – they are driven by one thing and only one thing… the consumer’s tastes.  We only use demographics because it allows us to quantify and categorize data. For example, if someone has always been a pop music lover, it does not suggest that once they’re 35 years old they age out of the Top 40 demo. Their music taste does not change. They will always like Pop music. Their music taste has actually, very likely only broadened.

Of course, we know that there are some assumptions we can make about what appeals to men, women, younger and older listeners.  But someone’s core tastes don’t change based on how old they are. If you’re a Pop person, you will likely always be a pop music lover. You may also now appreciate the pop hits of yesteryear. If you’re a rock person, you don’t start preferring hot or soft AC as you age. No! You are a proud lover of rock. However, now you may also like the classic rock of previous years.

There is also general agreement that some clients likely target their own customers by gender and age and that some formats might serve their needs better than others.  Only after conducting a Customer Needs Analysis (CNA) can your sellers understand how to best solve their most important issues and goals. Have you personally ever participated in one of your seller’s CNAs? When you as a PD or Brand Manager do this, it accomplishes several things:

  • It gives you understanding of what sellers do every day.
  • It lets you meet clients and shows them that you care about their needs.
  • It narrows any gap which often exists between sales and programming.
  • It broadens your own horizons and may help in the creative aspect of a potential sale.
  • You may have terrific ideas when it comes to the creative for clients.
  • You get to hear first-hand how your brand is both represented and received by others and you’re able to determine what customers (who are also listeners) think.
  • Your sellers will appreciate you more and vice versa.

The main point is that we are all best served when we share our goals with one another. Believe it or not, there are some brand managers out there who just don’t feel the need to share the station’s brand strategies with sales and conversely, there are sellers who don’t find it necessary to explore the goals.

Take the time to talk about your station(s) with everyone in the building other than just programming. And be sure to talk about the differences between your product format and your brand. They are not the same.

Madd Hatta is Back Where It All Started at Majic 102.1

BMM Staff
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Madd Hatta is Back Where It All Started at Majic 102.1

Long before he took over the airwaves in Houston, Texas, Benjamin Thompson aka Madd Hatta began his career as a highly respected rapper/producer. Originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Hatta spent his younger years in the state, graduating from North Carolina A&T State University. It was during his college years where he’d catch the radio bug while at 90.1 FM (WNAA-FM) on campus.

“I’ve always been one of those dedicated people. What I enjoyed early on about radio is the goal to get people to listen? Can you get people motivated and want to be a part of it? Just that curiosity from day one was my catalyst. I wanted to learn from as many people as I could how to be a professional radio host. Back at the University, there wasn’t a lot of airchecks, but a man by the name of Larry David introduced me to the world of airchecks and video checks. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been introduced to what being a great jock is. Airchecks were very essential to my early days of learning to be a jock,” says Hatta.

He arrived in Houston in 1993 for the night shift on 102 Jamz (which is now Majic 102.1). He would later move to afternoons on 102 Jamz and spend time in morning drive time at 97.9 The Box (KBXX-FM), Houston’s hip-hop station. There he hosted The Madd Hatta Morning Show for 20 years. At KBXX, he established a highly successful and top-5 rated morning show. In addition, Hatta also spent time as a DJ on sister station KMJQ-FM’s Club Majic show, mixing hip-hop, old-school funk and soul. His mix show became a #1 rated show in the Adults 25-54 demo. I was curious to know what he attributed to that success.

“I’ll be honest, success in radio is community driven. I was working at 102 Jamz in Greensboro and another influential person by the name Brian Douglas was always trying to make us go into the community and do this and do that. When you’re a young jock you really don’t understand why, but as your time in radio progress it makes all of the sense in the world. As a staff we were opposed to our boss’ views, but in a way that unified us to do that work. Years later it helped us develop the work ethic and understanding for what we do. We’re not on the radio for us, we’re on to service our community. It’s much deeper than just serving our own ego,” Hatta explains.

Hatta was adamant that you have to have a great team around you in order to be successful in radio. You’ve got to be passionate about the product you’re putting on the air.

“I don’t have the longevity I’ve had in radio without having a great support team. Jimbo, J Mac, Rob G, The General Steve Nice, it was a cast of characters that really created the vibe that we had in the city. You’ve got to be able to pick the right people that can bring the best out of you and vice versa,” added Hatta.

For someone that has enjoyed great success in his radio career, I was curious to know how he preps his shows. I asked him to put me into the studio prior to an on-air shift.

“If you’ve done mornings, you know that you kind of develop this routine where your daily life becomes your show prep. Things you see, hear, or randomly think of throughout the day, I tend to write it down to remember it for my show and it becomes a habit. Once you’ve done it for so many years, your brain is always in show prep mode. Like this morning, they were talking about the girl that got killed, my brain immediately went, who can I talk about this from the city to get more information for my show. Anything can be show prep if you think it would be interesting to the audience. I feel like all shows need live phone callers because that is what helps drive the show. I grew up in the era where the phones were a very important part of the show,” explains Hatta

He’s been recognized for his many achievements for his time in the radio industry, but also for his contributions to his community. One’s that he recognizes are when he received a Community Hero Award from Top 50 Black Professionals & Entrepreneurs of Texas. Also, in 2014, Madd Hatta was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. Although these are incredible achievements, Hatta mentions it’s not about awards or recognition.

“This is going to sound bad, but I’ve never been good at receiving any kind of recognition for what I do. I believe that when you do what you love and God blesses you to where you can take care of your family, that’s really the big prize,” says Hatta.

What impressed me the most talking to Hatta, during all of these years in radio, he has also maintained a record label Paid In Full Entertainment. A label that signed the talents of rappers Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, and many others. While also simultaneously being a Program Curator for two 24/7-365 digital music platforms: Klassic Joints Radio, featuring classic hip-hop, and Super Throwback Party, offering the best hip-hop and R&B of the 1990s to 2000s.

Check out Madd Hatta on Houston’s only R&B station Magic 102.1. Despite being best known for his morning show on The Box, Hatta began his career in Houston radio on Majic 102.1, and now he is back where it all started. As someone that could relate to going back to where you started in radio (I am now back at Federated Media where I started 10 years ago), Hatta shared with me what led him back to the airwaves on Magic 102.1.

“The station came to me and said, they think the way I left radio was never really explained, shared Hatta. “One day I was in, the next day I was gone, which happens for a lot of different reason in today’s world of radio. They told me, it would be a great idea to go back to where it all began for me and to go out on a high note if this indeed my final run in radio. Everybody doesn’t get that opportunity, so that made me consider it and after a few years of thinking about it and working more on the Operations side, before I went back to the jock side. For a little bit, it was weird to be back. I won’t lie to you, but my passion has once again returned and am loving playing great music, and serving my community in Houston once again.”

Seller to Seller: Sales Meeting

Dave Greene
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Seller to Seller: Sales Meeting

Hope the second half of the year is off to a great start for you. Hopefully you took what I said in our last sales meeting and looked back on the goals you had set for this year to see how you are doing against those. At the very least, I hope you have written down or thought of what your goals are now for the rest of 2024. Goals are great as they give you something to strive for and to check yourself against. You know what else is great? Best friends. That is our topic for this week’s meeting, and as much as I would love to hear about your current best friends, we are here to talk about your new best friends, the on-air staff.

No matter what format you are selling, the on-air team can be your best friends and frankly should be some of your best friends. No, you don’t have to hang out with them all the time and be up in all of their business outside of the station, however, you should know them like a best friend and while you have them at work, making them your best friend can help make you a lot of money.

One of the biggest things we don’t think about from being in the business, is how cool it is to other people. Most people go to a job that nobody would ever want to come visit them at. What are you going to do, show them your cubicle? Let them see the distance between your desk and the break room?

Your job is cool and the on-air staff at those jobs are really cool, even if you don’t think so. Take advantage of it.

I have written in this space before, the key to an on-air talent’s heart is through their wallets and their stomachs. If you bring a talent a new advertiser for endorsements, that puts money in the talent’s pocket. It also happens to be the best way to get results for your advertisers. Additionally, if you help build a relationship between the sponsor and the talent, now you really have something special.

Now, we all know that talent will do the best job of endorsing a client if they are talking about a product they use and/or like. There are a few ways you can find some of this information out such as listening to their show and following them on social media. However, become friends with them and you can learn more about their interests that will help you sell them as endorsers. Imagine the confidence you could go out and sell a category with if you knew you had a talent who really could speak well on it and make a big difference for a client in the space.

I highly recommend you do at least one meeting early on and bring the talent in on the conversation. Do that meeting at the radio station and let the client take in the atmosphere, see the studio, the action, and of course meet the people. Bring lunch in (remember to always feed talent!), let the talent get to know the client and vice versa.

Talent are entertainers by nature. Many of them are surprisingly great when you put them in front of the client. On air hosts are used to interviewing people and trying to make them comfortable and have fun. This works extremely well in a sales setting because it helps relax the client and you have them on your home turf.

If talent don’t mind, and I always talk to them about this first, I like to close with the talent in the room. I know for a lot of them the financial part of the discussion can be nerve wracking and something they don’t want to be a part of; however, it is the advantage over the client we are looking for in these situations and it is very difficult for a client to say no in front of the ‘cool talent’ they just met and hung out with.

Talent sells every day. They sell themselves on the air to the listening audience. They don’t think of it this way, but that is absolutely what they are doing, and they are good at it. Use this to your advantage. You can even learn from it if you pay attention closely enough to how the talent interacts with people when they are ‘on.’

So, let the talent do some of the work for you. Let their star shine in front of your clients and prospects and let them bring some energy to your meeting. Between their passion for what they do and your passion for what you sell, it is a no-brainer combination that is likely to work more times than not.

20 Brands In 20 Days: Chad Rufer, Mix 96, Sacramento

Jeff Lynn
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20 Brands In 20 Days: Chad Rufer, Mix 96, Sacramento

To support the launch of the new Barrett Media, we’ve created a special series titled “20 Brands In 20 Days.” Highlighting successful stations across the country in various formats by conducting conversations with their brand leaders. Up next is Bonneville’s Chad Rufer. Chad is OM/PD for KYMX (MIX96) and KZZO (NOW 100.5)/Sacramento The stations we are highlighting today.

Jeff Lynn: I’ve listened to both stations, but I’d like to hear in your words and how you define your brands.

Chad Rufer: NOW 100.5 transitioned into an adult top 40 station in 2010. We rebranded it from The Zone, which was experiencing rough times at the time.

In its heyday, The Zone was probably one of the premier Modern AC radio stations in the country and was hugely successful. When that product dried up, the station tried to chase it and couldn’t find its niche. So, in 2010, under CBS, I wasn’t part of the launch team, but I was the first Program Director hired after they rebranded.

It was rebranded as a Hot AC/Adult Top 40. We started by building a morning show and built things out from there because we saw an opportunity in the market. It has been a great addition to what was great under CBS and a great complement to the wall of women that Bonneville now has.

MIX 96 is a legendary AC station, and it has been AC throughout its history as well. MIX still plays a decent amount of 80s products and acknowledges music products all the way into some of the current hits as well. But they complement each other nicely.

It’s certainly not brain surgery to see that one sits on the top end of adults 25-54 and one sits on the bottom end of adults 25-54, kind of protecting each other.

JL: What would you say are the brand’s addictive experiences?

CR: It’s a testament to Bonneville and their local experience, as well as the fact that they’re a fabric of the community. Bonneville really believes in being part of the community and using the megaphones that we have access to for good.

You always hear a radio company say, go do good in the community. Our license is to benefit the local community. And sometimes that’s lip service.

With Bonneville, it’s not. And they really believe that. They stand by that.

That’s why it’s so important that we do what we do on MIX 96: a weekly segment with a video feature called” Good Deeds.” I think we’ve been doing that for almost eight years now.

Various talents have hosted it. It’s where we motivate service in the community. We find different charities that can use help and highlight them.

We talk about different service opportunities. On NOW 100.5, we do a streamlined version because Instagram is much more important to that audience. We do a 60-second version called “Instagood” that Doug Lazy, our morning show host, posts every other week.

It highlights service opportunities in the Sacramento community. Deanna, our midday talent, does a feature called “NOW in the 916,” which features locally-owned businesses. It’s not a sales mechanism.

It’s a community mechanism where we highlight some of these smaller businesses that people may not be aware of. It’s another way to give back to the local community and make Sacramento a better place for those here. You don’t hear much of that anymore.

JL: Tell me about one thing that caught my eye. It may not be on the air as much as a video but tell me about “Talk With The Badge.”.

CR: Before the pandemic, we had a charity event at a Dutch Bros. Coffee Shop to support the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. We went out there, and it was just a great event. We raised a lot of money.

We exchanged information. A couple of weeks later, someone was pretending online to be our radio station. They were selling fake tickets for one of our events at that time. We were producing 14 to 15 live events a year.

I called my contact at the sheriff’s office, whom I had just met. And I said, “Now I’m coming to you for a favor.”

I said, “We have this situation going on. Is there any way you could help me with it?” They connected me with someone from their forensics or digital team—I think it was their digital forensics team. They helped us locate the person and get them to stop.

After that, I said, you know what? There’s something here, guys. Can we meet? The public information team came in, and we sat down. It was at a time when I don’t think people had a full understanding of the good that law enforcement was doing in the community and the good that they wanted to do. We talked about how to work together to highlight those sorts of things.

It’s how some law enforcement is doing good in the community. We had this video podcast idea and said we wanted to highlight some of these things you guys are doing to make Sacramento a better and safer place to live. And it was during a time when a lot of social injustice was going on.

JL: You in the community doing good instead of just jumping up and down, saying, hey, pay attention to us must contribute greatly to your success. It makes no difference in market size if you are doing good things.

CR: Yeah, absolutely.

The diary world is all about recalling at the end of the day and hoping somebody saw your brand or remembered to write it down when they finally go around and fill out their diary at the end of the week versus living in the now for lack of a better term in the PPM universe. But I think we, as an industry, need to continue doing a lot of the things that made us famous years ago.

The radio industry and the radio community need to work together for the long-term success of our industry because if we continue trying to cut one another down and shortchange one another, it’s going to be the demise rather than working together and being able to see this to see it all the way through.

JL: You and I have a common market in Des Moines, so you’ll know about the show I’m referring to. When I got to work with “Lou and Larry” at KGGO, it was to the point when something went wrong in Des Moines: a kid’s bike got stolen, a flood, or somebody’s house burned down. It was always we’ll call Lou and Larry. They’ll help. They’ll know what to do. And that’s so missing nowadays.

CR: It is in many areas. And I will tell you, I know we’re talking about NOW 100.5 and MIX 96 now, but our country station, KNCI, has a legacy morning show that we have had for 30-plus years together.

They were inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago in Nashville. I’m so proud of them and very fortunate to have been part of their careers, but “Pat Tom and Cody” is that kind of morning show in Sacramento.

JL: Have you incorporated AI? Is it a tool you’re using to help you in the stations?

CR: I don’t want to speak for Bonneville, right? My belief in AI is that it can certainly benefit us moving forward, but it needs to be used responsibly. And I believe that it will benefit those of us who program multiple brands every single week.

There are ways to make it help—a way for AI to make our lives a little bit easier—but I think it needs to be used responsibly.

Some are using it irresponsibly right now to have a less-than-positive impact on our industry, which worries me for the future.

It certainly can lead to misinformation, and we pride ourselves on not providing misinformation or misleading information as an industry and a company. Those who ignore it will end up behind the curve. I want to know what’s out there.

JL: Correct me if I’m wrong, but your cluster’s success doesn’t necessarily depend on traditional marketing; your secret sauce is doing well for the community.

CR: That also extends down to the air staff. People have gotten into this, and they get excited. Whether it’s “Talk With The Badge,” one of our on-air personalities getting to go run the sheriff’s obstacle course, or one of our morning show talent driving the track and learning high-speed maneuvers, they’ve had fun. I’m not going to tell you that ratings aren’t important. They most certainly are, and we’re in a great ratings position.

I’m very, very proud of the results that we’ve achieved. When you can do good in the community and achieve some good ratings results, that’s a fantastic way to look at it. But I think, as we all know, Nielsen has its challenges, too.

Knowing that you have a strong brand that has impacted the community when you get that crappy rating month because they happen to everybody. You look back and go, yeah, but we did this. We helped this veteran hang lights. I look out in the crowd during our two-day music festival, and I say, local radio did this.

Local radio put these 19,000 butts in seats or standing there; you see people making memories with families. You see people at their first concert; you see people building those experiences that will go with them for a lifetime.

JL: Local radio is not dead, and where it is on life support, it is self-inflicted.

CR: You were talking about coaching a morning show earlier. When I’m talking to our shows, I ask what the connection moments are. You give someone a thousand dollars, and they may or may not remember you. If you share a moment with them that they can relate to, they will remember you.

We need to invest in personalities, personnel, and talent who can make these connections because that’s why people will go to the radio, not to hear just the Post Malone and Morgan Wallen song, which I love and it’s great. We have to play the right music, but you can get that anywhere. You can’t get that connection point that’s real, vulnerable, and relatable on Spotify.

JL: Final thought?

CR: I’m passionate about the industry and the future. I always tell people I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Because many people my age and younger have years left, we want to keep going.

We want to ensure that this industry is stable and here for a long time, not only to see us through but also to see the people coming up behind us through. And that excites me about figuring out how to ensure that we continue doing this and that we’re doing it the right way.

Listen to MIX 96 and NOW 100.5 here. Connect with Chad Rufer here.

CBS Radio Executive Editor Jennifer Brown Sees Her Job as a Calling

Krystina Alarcon Carroll
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CBS Radio Executive Editor Jennifer Brown Sees Her Job as a Calling

The ‘trusted home for news’ is where CBS Radio Executive Editor Jennifer Brown has made her home for nearly 20 years. “I was very young when I came here. So, I feel like I grew up. I grew up in this building,” the news veteran told Barrett Media.

She always wanted to be in radio, so when she got into college she embarked on her journey to the mic. “When I got started in radio my parents were very skeptical. So, I was determined to get an internship with somebody, and my mom listened to Steve Dahl.”

Chicago’s famous radio DJ, responsible for the Disco demolition, took Brown in as an intern at the same time the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton scandal took place. “It was a very odd time, but it was very fun, and it was nice to work for a legend in the Chicago radio business.”

Brown then went over on to WBBM in Chicago, “I interned there and eventually was hired as a desk associate. From there, I went on to my small-town job in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.” She later moved to WTMJ as a reporter and anchor before moving to her radio home at CBS.

It’s here where she’s made her mark. Covering some of the biggest breaking news stories of this century including Hurricane Katrina, the deaths of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, and the 2016 election. “When Former President Trump won, I remember we were doing the math, and we knew very early he was the winner. I was in a state of shock that we knew so early in the evening. I think that there’s some memorable moments where you’re like, ‘we are making history right now.’”

However, her biggest impact and contribution to CBS radio is bringing CBS Connect to life. “Craig Swagler came up with the idea that we should be offering more to music stations, especially since we have so much content we’re producing already. So, we thought ‘what if we took some of those stories that are really conversational, and we did them in a fun way.’”

The online content system provides almost all the news one could need for a music radio broadcast, except one. “We do a one-minute broadcast, and we really try hard to avoid politics, which is not easy given this time. But we felt that there’s so many other stories to tell in America.” So many great stories there is a different lead every broadcast, “That way it keeps it fresh and original.”

Connect also provides a prep service for their users. “It sends out entertainment cuts, and then we do something we like to call ‘Rip and Read Service,’ which is a really old school saying that you should be able to rip the copy and be able to read it on the air,” Brown said. “And we have a lot of interesting stories we put there. We really try to think about what may go viral or what may be conversational.”

Viral, conversational, or interesting stories, Brown is confident in her team that they will get them. “What I know to be true about the CBS news team is that they have a really good editorial eye for conversational storytelling,” she said. “Being in the business for so long, you can see where the curiosity lies for the public. There’s a lot that happens on social media that we understand or don’t understand, and it’s really consuming part of people’s day. So, because we’re in radio, we should really take the opportunity to be part of that conversation. We don’t want to miss out on it.”

Being a part of the conversation includes social media. “It’s really interesting because I think that people do find a lot of their answers on their phone, whether it be their Googling or on social media. But right now, I would say that radio is ahead of social media in terms of unpacking everything that’s been happening with campaign 2024. I think that social media is additive, but I do think I see more Americans turning to all sorts of different sources for their news.”

Brown believes to be relevant it has to connect with the audience, meaning you have to know who they are and what they want.  “Sometimes, people lose sight of who the audience is, and they start doing the work for themselves or the writing and storytelling for themselves,” Brown said. “But the audience is far broader than we give it credit for and smarter than we give them credit for. So, I definitely think that in order for media to really thrive, we have to make sure that we understand who our audience is that we’re speaking to.”

While Brown hasn’t anchored in the last year, she still finds joy in aiding her team in building newscasts. “I do miss being on the air, I do miss storytelling. But also, I do love this work. Working with the talent and the team and hearing great storytelling on the air. That’s equally wonderful.”

For those thinking about taking the plunge into radio, Brown said, “The advice I would give them is that this is mission driven work. It’s a calling. And it is not easy, but it can be very fulfilling. It’s the type of job where you learn something new every single day. And, you have to have a sense of what’s happening in the world, in society. And I find that with radio we really can have the pulse on what America is talking about. So, I think that if young people wanted to get into journalism, they just have to understand, it’s a huge labor of love and it is a calling.”

And if you feel the calling Brown said, “Go get a job in a small market. That’s what I would say. Somebody said it to me. It was the best advice I received. Some people are able to make it work in larger markets. You know, you can get lucky. But I think that in order to make your own magic, it’s great to start in a small market where you could do a lot of different things and experience more of a local level.”

Nielsen 12+ June Monthly And Spring 2024 Quarterly Ratings

BMM Staff
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Nielsen 12+ June Monthly And Spring 2024 Quarterly Ratings

Nielsen has released the next round of June Monthly and Spring 2024 quarterly ratings.

Dayton

Country WHKO leads the market despite dropping 9.8-9.4

Rhythmic Top 40 gained 7.4-8.2

Hot AC WMMX is up 6.3-7.4

Rock WTUE gained 6.9-7.4

Urban AC WROU fell 6.0-5.0

Ft. Myers

Country WWGR gained 5.1-5.8

AC WAVV drops 7.0-6.6

Spanish Contemporary fell 3.7-3.1

Grand Rapids

Market-leading Contemporary Christian is off 9.1-8.7

Rock WGRD is up 7.0-7.8

AC WSRW dropped 4.0-3.7

Urban AC WNWZ gained 4.0-3.7

Metro Fairfield County

AC WEBE gained over a share at 9.9-11.0

Hot AC WEZN is off 7.0-6.7

Rock WPLR was flat 3.3-3.2

Tucson

Country KIIM up a share 7.3-8.3

Classic Hits KHYT gained 6.2-6.9

Classic Rock KPLX jumped 4.9-6.1

Top 40 KRQQ drops 7.3-6.8

Tulsa

Top 40 KHTT drops 5.9-5.5

Country KWEN falls 6.0-5.4

Classic Rock KXBL off 4.9-4.5

Spring Quarterly

Danbury

Hot AC WDAQ takes a big drop 10.4-8.4

Classic Rock WRKI grows 7.1-8.4

Classical WSHU falls 3.8-3.0

Ft. Smith

Country KMAG falls 8.9-8.6

Top 40 KISR off 6.6-6.3

Classic Rock KKBD grows 4.6-5.9

AC KEZA down 3.9-3.3

Kalamazoo

Big gain for Top 40 WKFR 9.9-11.8

Classic Rock WRKR drops 7.1-6.2

Contemporary Christian WCSG falls 6.6-4.3

Adult Hits WVFM drops 5.5-4.3

Lima/Van Wert

Country WIMT up 15.6-17.5

Oldies WZRX grows 5.2-6.1

AC WMLX falls 5.5-3.9

McAllen/Brownsville

Rhythmic Top 40 KBFM gains 9.9-10.6

Country KTEX is up a share 8.5-9.5

Hot AC KVLY drops 8.1-6.6

Classic Rock KFRQ slides 8.2-6.1

Muskegon

Classic Rock WMRR grows 8.0-8.8

Country WMUS drops 8.7-8.0

Classic Hits WLCS falls 3.6-2.9

New Haven

Urban AC WYBC grows a share plus 9.0-10.4

Rock WPLR up 5.5-7.2

AC WEBE gains 4.2-6.0

Classical WMNR up 1.0-3.0

Sarasota

Classic Hits WSRZ leads the way 7.3-8.4

Classic Hits WSRQ up 2.8-3.1

Classical WSMR falls 5.1-3.2

Andrew Marchand: The NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery ‘Could Be Headed to Litigation’

BSM Staff
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Andrew Marchand: The NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery ‘Could Be Headed to Litigation’

Andrew Marchand, Sports Media Senior Writer for The Athletic, was a guest of The Dan Patrick Show to talk about the NBA media rights and what could happen between Warner Bros. Discovery and the league. Yesterday, the company said it matched one of the offers made to the NBA and then released a statement.

“We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them,” TNT Sports said in the statement. “This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years. Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”

Marchand gave his overview, saying, “TNT is matching Amazon Prime Video’s completed contract with the NBA. They feel like, this is TNT, they have the right to match based off of their contract right now, which gives them back-end rights, which means they can match another deal. The NBA’s contention, I believe, they haven’t said this publicly yet, is going to be, ‘no, you can’t, we want to go with Amazon Prime Video.’ It’s a streaming deal, that was a linear cable TV contract, and so this could be headed towards litigation.”

Marchand is of the belief this is more about WBD getting something in return for giving up those matching rights. He mentioned money and programming opportunities as examples of things that might keep this battle out of the courtroom.

“Could they get something out of this? Yeah, I think that’s possible,” Marchand told Patrick. “What’s happened is, those deals were made a decade ago, streaming wasn’t what it is now, so there’s an argument to be made that these contracts are completely different. And so, the NBA wants to move on…Clearly, they want Amazon’s market cap. They want streaming because that’s where the future is.”

Marchand said if it was decided the league had to let WBD match one of the media rights packages, it would be “like you telling your wife you want a divorce, but she’s like, ‘no, no, we have an agreement, we’re going to stay together for another 11 years.”

Marchand would later add, “Now, can they get something out of this? This is why they’re playing this card.”

Patrick also asked Marchand about Charles Barkley and the kind of leverage he might have once everything is worked out. “He has all the leverage in the world,” Marchand said “…He’s down in Atlanta, and he loves the people there, so they have a lot of things that he could still do for them.

“But Barkley, if he wants to work, he’s going to get paid a lot of money, think Romo money, if he wants to keep going. Or he can continue to work at TNT where he has a long-term contract.”

Marchand also said he did not think Inside the NBA was a major part of the discussions the league had with the media outlets. “These are 11-year contracts,” he said. “How much longer is inside the NBA, as it’s currently composed, going to go on for? Maybe three, four more years, five at most probably. It’s not really in the equation.”

Colin Cowherd: Not Taking Salary From The Volume Has Allowed For Acquisitions Like Shannon Sharpe

BSM Staff
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Colin Cowherd: Not Taking Salary From The Volume Has Allowed For Acquisitions Like Shannon Sharpe

After creating The Volume more than three years ago, Colin Cowherd has overseen the company’s rise in the digital media landscape. There were some sacrifices along the way, however.

During an appearance on the House of Strauss podcast, Cowherd shared that he doesn’t take a salary from the company he founded, and it has made all the difference in the network’s rise.

“When I built The Volume, my takeaway was I didn’t want to take a salary. We created — very quickly — multiple revenue streams. And I wanted to build a really, really good management and support staff. So it’s very easy lifting for me,” Cowherd admitted. “I set it up so it’s a light lift. I put my money in the first three years of the company into management and it’s been very fruitful. Logan Swaim is my CEO. He’s remarkable.

“We have a really good group all over the country, and it’s allowed us to grow very quickly. This management team allows us to pursue and land a Shannon Sharpe,” continued Cowherd. “He’s going to need multiple producers and a big support system. If I was gobbling up all the salary, we wouldn’t be able to do that. So I think I was in a pretty unique position that I could build a company while having two corporate entities paying me.”

Colin Cowherd added that his timing was right while launching The Volume, as it coincided with many job losses around the nation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This stuff doesn’t come easy. It’s really hard. My theory was ‘Build a really strong management team’,” he shared. “I also got really lucky. Because of COVID, a lot of really talented people were on the beach. Companies cut back and it gave me the opportunity to hire people that would have never been available without a pandemic.

“But companies cut back and I’m sitting there thinking ‘That person’s available?’ I was able to grab eight to 10 people that I never would have been able to land. The pandemic — in a strange way — was the birth of our company. And in a strange way, we were very fortunate that it allowed us to compete for some people that we otherwise could not have.”

“The Ton” 96.1 WQLQ-HD3 Flips To Sports Simulcast

BMM Staff
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“The Ton” 96.1 WQLQ-HD3 Flips To Sports Simulcast

Mid-West Family Broadcasting’s Country WQLQ-HD3 (96.1 The Ton)/Benton Harbor, MI, has flipped to a Sports 960 WSBT/South Bend simulcast.

WQLQ has failed to make any progress in the format compared to Federated Media’s WBYT (B100), which trailed 7.2 to 0.9 in the Fall Nielsen ratings.

WSBT is a Fox Sports Network and Infinity Sports Network affiliate. Darin Pritchett hosts a local show from 5 to 7 p.m. focusing on Notre Dame Football. Additionally, they carry Notre Dame football, basketball, and South Bend Cubs baseball.

The station’s website carries the following message, “96.1 The Ton is no longer broadcasting. We want to thank all the listeners for your support, we had a TON of fun. Though, the fun will continue with great country music at 97.5 Y Country 

Thank you for listening to The Ton.

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