Baltimore rock radio 98 Rock officially welcomed veteran broadcaster Priestly to its lineup, marking another chapter in a career that has spanned more than three decades in multiple major markets.
During Thursday’s morning’s edition of The Justin, Scott & Spiegel Show on 98 Rock (WIYY), hosts Justin Schlegel, Scott Reardon and Spiegel introduced Priestly to the audience and celebrated the arrival of a broadcaster whose resume includes a long run in Baltimore radio along with experience in programming and national satellite radio.
The introduction carried the tone of a reunion as much as it did a new hire. Priestly, who spent nearly two decades on afternoons at Hot AC station Mix 106.5 (WWMX), has remained a familiar name to Baltimore listeners even as his professional path evolved in recent years.
“It’s a great day at 98 Rock,” the morning show team said while bringing Priestly on air and officially welcoming him into the station’s family.
Priestly’s addition comes nearly a year after his departure from WWMX, where he wrapped up an 18-year run in afternoon drive in March 2025. Over the course of that lengthy tenure, he built a strong following among Baltimore listeners while establishing himself as one of the market’s most recognizable personalities.
While Baltimore audiences know him best from his years at Mix 106.5, Priestly’s career includes several notable stops that illustrate both his versatility and longevity within the industry.
Before and during his time in Baltimore, Priestly held programming roles with SiriusXM, helping guide several of the satellite platform’s most recognizable music channels. His programming credits include “20 on 20,” “Pop2K,” and “90s on 9,” stations that reached a national audience and helped shape the sound of SiriusXM’s pop-focused offerings.
His on-air experience also extends across several prominent East Coast stations. Earlier in his career, Priestly hosted nights at Baltimore CHR station B102.7 (WXYV), a role that introduced him to many listeners who would later follow him throughout the market. He also spent time working part-time shifts at major-market outlets including WHTZ in New York and WIHT in Washington, D.C., giving him experience in two of the nation’s largest radio environments.
“”I am soo happy,” wrote Priestly on Facebook. “98Rock rolled out the red carpet and had me on this morning to announce my Homecoming! Back on FM on the legendary 98 Rock Baltimore!”
Priestly’s first program airs this weekend.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Former WFAN host Joe Benigno believes the station that helped define sports talk radio in New York still matters, but he does not expect it to ever look the way it once did.
During a recent appearance on The Jake Asman Show on YouTube, the longtime New York radio personality reflected on the legacy of WFAN while discussing both the station’s current direction and his own limited role on weekends. According to Benigno, who still hosts weekend programming on the station, the larger-than-life era that defined WFAN through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s created a standard that simply cannot be recreated.
“WFAN will never be what it once was,” Benigno said. “The days of Don Imus, Mike Francesa and Chris Russo. The days of Steve Somers and myself overnight. Ed Coleman and Dave Sims. Those days are — you know — we’ll never see anything like that again.”
Benigno emphasized that the changes surrounding WFAN should not be viewed in isolation. Instead, he believes the station mirrors a broader shift across the sports radio industry, which once thrived on dominant terrestrial brands before podcasts and streaming platforms fragmented the audience.
“We’ve all seen the heyday of WFAN and sports radio in general as far as I’m concerned,” Benigno said.
The comments arrive years after Benigno stepped away from his longtime weekday role at the station, where he spent decades building a loyal audience that connected with his passionate reactions to New York sports.
While many longtime listeners still wonder whether a full-time return could happen, Benigno indicated that he has little interest in revisiting the daily grind that once defined his career.
“I don’t miss it at all, bro,” he said. “I’m happy I do my little show on a Saturday, my little podcast. I do not miss the commute into the city like I did it for so many years. It was a great run. I was fortunate to be able to do what I did, but I really don’t miss it. To be very honest with you, it ran its course for me as far as an every day thing.”
Instead, Benigno appears comfortable maintaining his current role at the station. He hosts a weekend program while producing content outside traditional radio. The veteran host said recent conversations with station leadership reassured him. He believes the arrangement can continue indefinitely as long as he still enjoys the work.
“It sounds, to me, after talking to the powers that be at WFAN. It sounds like I can do this for as long as I want,” Benigno said. “Right now I’m enjoying doing it on a Saturday. I do it from home. I’m back to doing five to nine again — back to doing a four-hour show from five to 9 a.m. — so right now, I’m good with it.”
For now, Benigno seems content watching the next era of WFAN unfold while maintaining a smaller presence on the station that helped define his broadcasting career.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Care to look at 2026 through a different lens? How about a lens recommended by Nielsen that isn’t what you may think?
For RockTernative programmers, what if it’s not about Share.
Across the hall at Sales, what if it’s not about Rating.
Both metrics have value, and it’s easy to see why they can cause sleepless nights — or even celebrations at the pub. But they also may be leading the industry away from better indicators of product health and sales potential.
In a recent edition of The Industry According to… I connected with Rich Tunkel, Managing Director at Nielsen Audio. We covered many topics, including panel size, wobbles, the “3-minute rule” vs. today’s revenue reality, “best practices,” and the overall health of the industry.
One exchange stood out because it challenged the daily habits and thinking of many movers and shakers inside the walls of radio.
Here was the question:
There are several metrics in a Nielsen Audio report. Programmers focus primarily on Share. Sales teams prioritize Rating. If you had to single out one data point for programmers and another for sales teams, which would they be? Which two matter most today, and why?
Rich Tunkel’s Answer
For Programmers: Average Quarter-Hour (AQH) Persons and Time Spent Listening (TSL). The programmer’s core job is to build and maintain a strong audience base. The new environment rewards engagement. AQH Persons is the engine of the station’s core audience, and TSL is the key indicator of product quality. If TSL is up, the product is sticky, and the listener is engaged.
For Sales Teams: Cume (Reach) and Attribution Metrics. Radio’s superpower is its massive reach (Cume). Sales should lead with that massive scale to compete with digital. However, the most critical “new” data point is Attribution. Sales must pivot to showing how radio advertising drove a measurable result (foot traffic, sales, website lift). This is the language of modern advertising and the only way to prove radio’s value beyond GRPs (Gross Rating Points).
Today’s Reality
Now compare Rich’s thoughts to how most stations operate:
Programmers may glance at TSL, often dismiss it as another number that wobbles — and rarely give heavy attention to AQH Persons.
Sales teams understand Cume, but don’t usually sell it. The goalpost remains Rating, unless the buy is strictly attribution-based.
Before anyone starts rewriting bonus plans or tearing up sales decks, a few habits matter:
Many ad buyers are wired — or tasked — to talk and buy Rating (GRPs). That may not change overnight, but radio can at least negotiate or fight for dollars with more data-based facts and clearer rationale.
PDs aren’t typically bonused on AQH Persons or TSL, but they are two of the best indicators of brand health, even though both can be impacted — like Share or Cume — by a panel change.
Format realities still matter. Alternative won’t nationally out-Cume Country, and very few brands will ever beat NPR in TSL. That doesn’t mean Country wins all revenue or that NPR PDs should lead the league in bonuses.
The Opportunity
What can change is the narrative.
Rich is right: Cume — pure reach — is one of radio’s most compelling selling points, and sales teams should wave that flag every chance they can. TSL tells a powerful story about audience usage and product stickiness — a story that matters to advertisers trying to achieve reach and frequency efficiently.
There will always be complaints about ratings. Nielsen freely admits they are statistical estimates, not literal headcounts. But from one data nerd to another: if we focus on the right numbers to define success, there are stories to be found in the data that we often miss — even in a down book.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
I bet NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is a big fan of the band Queen. How’s the lyric go? “I want it all, and I want it now.” Can you blame him? The man is in charge of the biggest sport in the country. He’s making money hand over fist for the owners he represents. Is it greed? Some would say it is. Others would say he’s capitalizing on opportunity.
Every time the NFL announces a new initiative, schedule tweak, or added international game, all I hear is “cha-ching.” Is investing in a professional flag football league good for the health of the sport or the back pockets of owners? How many international games will the NFL hold next year? Nine — a new record high after playing 62 regular-season games internationally so far. Plus, Goodell has openly discussed a goal of 16 international games per season, one for each of the NFL’s 32 teams.
Then came news this week that the NFL is considering placing a game on Thanksgiving Eve as early as this coming season. Once again, the question surfaces. Is it greed or just smart business? And can there ever be too much football?
Without question, Roger Goodell has done a masterful job as commissioner of the National Football League. Since taking over the role 21 seasons ago, he’s experienced a number of highs and lows. He navigated a lockout, two collective bargaining agreements, landmark player discipline cases, and attacks from controversial politicians. Oh, and there was also a global pandemic and a social justice reckoning within the sport.
Through all of that, business in the NFL has never been better.
Last year, the average NFL franchise was valued at $7.65 billion. That represents an 18% jump from 2024. The NFL salary cap has climbed from $167 million in 2017 to a record $301.2 million this season — the first time it has crossed the $300 million mark.
Owners are making more. Players are making more.
In 2025, NFL attendance dipped 0.8%, but games still averaged 69,055 fans. That still remains the fifth-highest leaguewide average since 2004.
Television contracts tell the same story. The league is currently in the middle of a $110 billion media rights deal and will open discussions for the next one later this year. What once included FOX Sports, CBS Sports, ABC Sports/ESPN, and NBC Sports now also features YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, and likely others soon.
And Goodell is still pushing for an 18-game regular season.
The league has a stranglehold on sports in America. NFL free agency collides with March Madness and the World Baseball Classic. The NFL Draft overlaps with the start of the NBA and NHL postseasons. Training camp coverage dominates attention during the dog days of the MLB calendar.
College football isn’t immune either. The NFL added games on Black Friday to invade college football’s rivalry weekend. NBA on Christmas? Why bother when the NFL is playing multiple games that day.
In the eyes of many fans, the league already owns Labor Day, October baseball, and the start of the NBA and NHL seasons. So what’s left to own?
That’s where Goodell is a genius.
Thanksgiving Day viewership, which the NFL has long dominated, set new regular-season records last year. An estimated 57.2 million watched the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys while sitting down for dinner. The three Thanksgiving Day games combined averaged 44.7 million viewers.
Then came Black Friday. Prime Video carried a matchup between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers that drew an average audience of 16.3 million viewers — the most-watched sporting event on that day since 1991.
If the audience is there, networks will pay for it and fans will watch it. Even on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
So why wouldn’t the NFL place a game on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving? It’s another day to own and another opportunity to cash in.
NFL now is exploring playing a game on Thanksgiving Eve as early as this season. This year this would be Wednesday, Nov. 25. pic.twitter.com/ZFTrOIjTYV
Yes, the NFL remains the most violent sport in America. Careers end too soon and added games increase the risk of injuries. The league protects players more than ever before because it has to. If everyone associated with the sport is going to make more money, the league must protect the people needed to make the games happen.
Moving an already scheduled regular-season game from Sunday to Wednesday isn’t necessarily “too much” football.
If history and ratings data are any indication, there may not be a way to fully satisfy the nation’s appetite for the sport. Fans continue to watch, buy tickets and merchandise, gamble, and flood social and traditional media with reactions to every play, injury, and headline.
For every sports media voice shouting from the mountaintop that the NFL’s greed knows no limits, you’re probably right. But you would do the same thing if you had Goodell’s job.
He’s doing nothing different than a great sports talk show host does every day: strike while the iron is hot and play the hit as often as possible.
As much as it stinks for teams to lose a home game for an overseas trip, they don’t lose money and they expand their brands internationally each time. For every complaint about how the league doesn’t care about players, the salary cap continues to rise.
When Roger Goodell says he isn’t competing with the NBA or MLB, he means it. He says the NFL is competing with Apple and Google. And increasingly, the league is winning that race. The NFL’s influence now stretches far beyond the games themselves. That’s a credit to Goodell and should be celebrated more than criticized.
Maybe that’s the real lesson here.
The NFL isn’t succeeding because it plays it safe. It’s succeeding because it pushes boundaries. It tests ideas. It expands until someone tells it to stop. So far, no one has.
Roger Goodell isn’t apologizing for wanting more — more games, more viewers, more revenue, more reach. Because as long as fans keep showing up, turning on the television, clicking the stream, and arguing about every call online, the NFL has no reason to slow down.
The appetite for football keeps growing. Goodell’s job is simply to feed it.
So if another game appears on the schedule or another holiday suddenly belongs to the NFL, don’t be surprised. When you run the most powerful sports league in America, you don’t wait for opportunity.
You take it all. And you take it now.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
The confetti had barely settled on the field at Levi’s Stadium on February 8th when the most powerful content machine in the history of American sports fired its NFL engines back up.
The Seattle Seahawks were Super Bowl LX champions. Ken Walker III was holding the MVP trophy. NBC’s broadcast crew was wrapping a telecast that drew 124.9 million viewers, more people than watched the last three NBA Finals combined. Yet somewhere in an NFL office, a content strategist was already scheduling the next upload.
No “See You in September” marquee, graceful bow, or running of the credits. The NFL doesn’t do farewell tours. It does program cycles.
Nine days after the Super Bowl, the franchise tag designation window opened. With it the first wave of offseason content dropped like a new Netflix season. Would the Seahawks tag their Super Bowl MVP running back? Where would the leading men in every NFL movie such as quarterbacks Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa land? Debates raged in every NFL city, and there aren’t any games for six months.
Those arguments were happening on sports radio, podcasts, and in group chats — before the victory parade confetti had been swept off the streets of Seattle. Clicks were already climbing. Producers were already booking guests. The algorithm was already feeding.
The media was already debating: Can the Seahawks do it again? What do the odds say? Who are the challengers? What about free agency, the draft, and who is getting traded?
There is no next season. It’s just one long, continuous reel year after year.
QB Taylen Green is putting in work at the NFL Combine 😤
He ran the second-fastest 40-yard dash (4.36) by a QB in combine history 🌟
About two weeks after the Super Bowl, Indianapolis lit up for the NFL Scouting Combine. Let’s be very clear about what this is. Men running in shorts. No pads, opponent, or actual football played at any point.
And yet — NFL Network aired it for four straight days, morning through evening, narrated by Rich Eisen with the energy of someone calling a Game 7 during a 40-yard dash.
The Combine isn’t just tolerated. It performs.
The ESPN app alone reached 28.4 million unique users during the Combine window. More than the next seven non-ESPN sports apps combined. We watched dashes, jumps, and bench press reps like they were playoff games.
That’s not fan loyalty. That’s media dominance.
Earlier this week, the gates open on the NFL’s annual drunken money toss. The Adam Schefter invitational. Ladies and gentlemen, start your checkbooks!
NFL free agency is the league’s most chaotic content day of the entire calendar year. The “Shefty blast” is now a genuine cultural moment. His phone buzzes. Your phone buzzes and you refresh before you even fully register why.
The NFL’s official news feed hits records on X within hours of noon. ESPN and NFL Network pivot to wall-to-wall live coverage. Hosts have guests. Guests have hot takes. Hot takes have counter-takes.
Teams that blew their cap space or whiffed on their draft picks for three straight years are left picking through what’s left like seagulls fighting over French fries in a parking lot. They overpay for flawed players whose original teams already decided weren’t worth the market rate. Damaged goods at a premium price, and we watch every transaction like it’s breaking news.
We know this movie. The data bears it out every single year. Three-quarters of the big splashes become cap casualties or disappointments within two seasons. Yet, we watch anyway.
Because the content is the product. The NFL has figured out how to make even the transactional feel theatrical.
NFL league and team-owned accounts generated more than $1.5 billion in total social media value during the 2025 regular season alone, as measured by Zoomph’s social value methodology. The number proves that team-owned content has become one of the most powerful and measurable media channels in sports.
From the moment free agency ends, every sports media outlet activates its version of Mel Kiper Jr. mock drafts. Big boards. Players rising in projections and falling. Film rooms that went dark in January suddenly light up again.
Here is the key insight for anyone in the media business. The more draft content you produce, the higher your ratings and clicks climb. This isn’t opinion. The numbers are unambiguous.
The 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay averaged 7.5 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, NFL Network, and digital channels over three days, making it the second most-watched draft on record, up 27% from the previous year.
Round 1 alone averaged 13.6 million viewers — up 11% versus 2024 and the second most-watched Day 1 in draft history. Day 2, consisting of Rounds 2 and 3, averaged 7.5 million viewers, the second most-watched on record and up 48% from 2024. Saturday’s coverage of Rounds 4 through 7 averaged 4.3 million viewers — the most-watched Day 3 in draft history and up 43% from the prior year.
The seventh round. Players with a 10% chance of making a 53-man roster.
Over 600,000 fans attended in person in Green Bay, more than doubling the league’s projected estimate of 250,000 in a city with a population under 110,000. There is no equivalent event in any other sport.
The offseason doesn’t just hold the NFL’s audience. It expands it.
Franchises whose regular seasons offer the hope of an Alaskan weather forecast in late December suddenly become the stars of the offseason. They have top-five picks, cap space, and a clean slate. General managers who are once again promising a different direction.
That is raw engagement fuel, and every producer, programmer, and digital editor knows it.
A desperate fan base clicks, streams, and argues in the comments and keeps the algorithm fed.
OTAs will start in the spring. Then minicamp leads to training camp. A beat reporter tweets that a backup safety looked sharp in a non-padded walk-through. Fifty thousand people like it before noon.
Depth chart projections will generate more web traffic than most leagues produce during their playoffs.
With the NFL, there is no closed sign in the window. There is no last call.
Every other sport has an offseason. The NFL has a content shift from on the field to off, and the machine never sleeps.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
It makes sense when you think about it. When you name a radio show Free Beer and Hot Wings, there probably isn’t going to be much about the operation that could be described as typical.
I spoke with Greg “Free Beer” Daniels and the show’s executive producer, Steve McKiernan. Our lively conversation navigated us to discuss the typical elements of the show that are atypical. Starting with the show name itself, because where better to start than there.
The name arrived when Daniels was paired with Chris Michaels to do a show at their college station, KIWR in Omaha. Michaels had played in a cover band called Free Beer and Hot Wings to get college kids to pay the cover charge at a local bar.
“It worked. The owner of the bar had been angry because he didn’t figure it out in time. All the people that paid seven dollars to get in were pissed,” says Daniels.
Based on that tenuous success, and the fact they couldn’t think of anything better. The two decided to use the name for six weeks just to get attention. A few weeks in, they hosted an event at a bookstore with people not on the lookout for the band. Instead, the crowd were looking for Free Beer and Hot Wings.
“We were shocked anyone was coming to see us at all. Afterward we compared notes and thought, ‘Holy s**t. People know us by these fake names. We may have to keep them,’” said Daniels.
Nearly three decades later the names are still in place. Free Beer and Hot Wings finds itself syndicated into seventy markets by Compass Media. True to form, the syndication effort didn’t begin like most shows. In fact, the early beginnings were based in New Jersey with a show on just two signals.
“The stations were both kind of regional, so we couldn’t really do a lot of local content,” said Daniels. “People on the Jersey Shore didn’t necessarily care about what’s happening in Trenton. We were kind of doing a show at ten thousand feet.”
While doing that type of content played a role in preparing them for syndication, the opportunity to move to Grand Rapids would have launched the show into multiple markets.
Meanwhile, Nassau Broadcasting won a critical court case holding the Free Beer and Hot Wings team to a non-compete. That essentially blocked their move to Grand Rapids. However, in due time the company eventually relented and allowed them to make the move.
“We lost the case our lawyer assured us was a slam dunk,” said Daniels. “Then they agreed that we could leave if we syndicated the show back to their stations for the remainder of the year while they looked for a replacement.”
After a couple of months, Nassau Broadcasting asked to formalize a syndication deal because the show was still performing well in New Jersey. Soon after, Nassau expanded the show to its stations in New Hampshire and Portland, Maine. Hence, syndication officially began for Free Beer and Hot Wings.
The program then moved to Grand Rapids, where it still originates from to this day. For some, that’s not a large market to house one of the more dominant syndicated programs in the country. That story starts at a Morning Show Boot Camp event when the Free Beer and Hot Wings show was still in its infancy.
At the event, the program sat in on a panel that included Jeff Detrow from the Jeff and Jer Showgram in San Diego. The topic, the concept of marrying a market.
“That just really spoke to us,” says Daniels. “We saw other shows chase after big markets, and get their opportunity. Then hit a bad situation and get kicked to the curb. That wasn’t what we wanted.”
With roots in the Midwest and the idea of finding a permanent home for the show on their minds, the Grand Rapids opportunity was perfect. Even though they were already syndicating their program, the Free Beer and Hot Wings team set out to own the market.
The process began with building their show clocks. Every hour included three to six minutes of local time for local content. The goal was to have a local voice discussing local issues and stories on 97.9 WGRD. The next step was becoming involved in the local community.
“All of our families were here. We were desperate to make Grand Rapids work, and I think that probably helped,” says Daniels. “We brought lunch to people who wrote in to the show three or four days a week for five years. It’s a little thing, but it worked in a midsized market.”
Another trick for winning over Grand Rapids was finding opportunities to get in front of lots of people. Seeking out opportunities with local sports franchises and other opportunities to introduce themselves to where the local community comes together.
“We’d say yes to anything,” admitted Daniels. “Being called Free Beer and Hot Wings doesn’t exactly make people want you to host their charity events. But when we were asked, we always said yes.”
As the show grew, they also started calling their most dedicated listeners “idiots.” A tactic that, like many other things about the program, might seem counterintuitive.
“Idiot is actually a term of endearment on our show,” says McKiernan. “They’re the people that are our most dedicated P1 listeners. The ones that comment on everything, and go to every show. They’re first in line for whatever we’re doing. So, we affectionately refer to them as idiots.”
The most dedicated ones of all in fact pay a monthly fee to be members of the show’s website. Gaining unique access to additional show content. Those consumers are called ‘Fancy Idiots.’
Many shows likely would welcome the extra income from listeners paying monthly subscription fees. Free Beer and Hot Wings instead took a different approach. They use some of the money that comes in each month to fund a charitable endeavor called “Idiots for Underdogs,” a 501(c)(3) charity.
The idea grew out of their annual Christmas Break-In program. Luckily a promotion they borrowed, with permission from Jeff and Jer in San Diego. Each holiday season the show solicits nominations for needy families who can’t buy holiday gifts. The team, along with other hosts from the station, “break in” to the nominees’ homes — with help from the person who nominated the family — and leave behind gifts and other holiday cheer.
According to McKiernan, that evolved into “Idiots for Underdogs” when Daniels said he wanted to use that feeling of giving and spread it out all year long.
“If we had an opportunity to help somebody. Whether it’s getting a wheelchair or paying expenses for a veteran. We wanted to be able to do it. Taking part of the money from the ‘Fancy Idiots’ means there’s always money coming in. When we need it we can disperse it,” says McKiernan.
Daniels adds that the beauty of the setup is that the listeners feel like they are part of each charitable act all year round.
“When we do a donation, we say, ‘Idiots, this is what you’re doing.’ That’s how the audience has ownership,” adds Daniels.
At this point many of those gestures impact listeners in markets other than Grand Rapids. That’s just one of the many benefits they try to offer affiliates to help grow the show. Beyond the usual daily promos and a willingness to cut liners, Daniels says they help the sales team by not charging endorsement fees for local sponsors.
“It’s a little thing,” said Daniels. “When new stations hear that — particularly the sales staff and management — all of a sudden they’re really interested.”
The program aims to make ten to twelve affiliate market visits a year. Most of those include a live morning show in front of a local audience. The opportunity provides instant feedback from both the live audience, and the staffs inside the walls of the individual markets themselves.
There’s no better way to kick off Live Show Season 2026 than with all our favorite idiots down in Nashville, Tennessee 🥳 Thanks for showing up for the live morning show and Live at Night! Big shout out to the folks at @102.9 The Buzz, JBJ’s,and @Category 10, yall sure know how to take care of us. We love you, Nashville! #fyp#reels#nashville#tn#podcast
Some stations have turned those shows into ticketed events. Many air in the morning during the normal show time. Other events — called Live at Night — take place in the evening, off the air and free of F.C.C. guidelines.
In Grand Rapids, Live at Night shows have sold out venues as large as 2,300 people. But for Free Beer and Hot Wings, it’s not always about the size of the venue.
“We’ve done Live at Night shows in a union hall in Illinois that sold out at 150 people, which is great,” said Daniels. “It’s a chance to hang out with P1s and really laugh with them. Plus help the local station make money.”
Live at Night allows the program to talk about things that can’t be said over the airwaves. However, being free of the F.C.C. for a night isn’t as big of a factor as it might be for other rock-based shows.
“We’re not your typical, TNA rock show,” Daniels says. “Even when we were younger and more aggressive or filthy or whatever. We still took more inspiration from the likes of The Bert Show and Ace and TJ than we ever did from any of the, ‘let’s put a staple in your balls, black t-shirt rock shows.’ We’ve always been more touchy-feely. Now that we’re older, we’ve gone even more in that direction.”
Instead, Free Beer and Hot Wings focuses more on sharing life’s most embarrassing moments. In fact, it’s a requirement for the team, known as “Show Code.” It began in New Jersey when there were three people on the show. Daniels admits part of the impetus for the discussion was that he took himself a little too seriously. Adding he was afraid of being embarrassed.
“We had a talk one day and came up with show code,” Daniels explains. “If all three of us share when we have something stupid happen, that’s three times the stories. Those are the stories that always resonate.”
The idea was only meant to apply to the three of them, but then they talked about it on the air and listeners embraced the concept.
“Over time, the audience started calling in and saying, ‘hey, I’ve got a show code story,’” said Daniels. “Suddenly you’re all sharing these humbling moments, and it puts everybody on the same level.”
In many ways, that philosophy explains why Free Beer and Hot Wings has lasted as long as it has. The show built its brand on the very things most radio consultants might warn against — fake names, calling fans “idiots,” and openly sharing their most embarrassing moments.
Yet those quirks became the connective tissue that turned listeners into a community.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
As a manager, I am baffled by the economy and the way people view it. On paper, the data looks pretty good to me. When I examine the typical indicators, the overall picture appears fairly strong. While the stock market has seen some volatility, it has also been in record territory recently.
Inflation is down significantly, job reports are outperforming most economic expectations, and gas prices—something virtually all of us measure with our wallets once a week—have been overall lower than in previous years.
Admittedly, the military action in Iran has had an impact on oil prices, which could affect prices at the pump. Maybe it’s me (and for the record, I am not even close to being an expert economist), but I decided to do some rudimentary digging into what’s going on.
I began examining why, despite positive data, so many of us are jittery about the nation’s economy. Even before the recent action in the Middle East. I know many people view the data in different ways. Some are driven by emotions, fear, and/or politics, which can change very rapidly.
Others believe in a long-term strategy and have the ability to ride out a storm.
Whatever your opinion, facts and data sometimes confuse us even more. Creating a disconnect between our individual perspectives and the way economists interpret the numbers. There is certainly more skepticism in the air these days.
The first thing most people agree on is the disparity between “the markets” and the average American.
As I age, I pay more attention to my 401(k)’s performance, as well as my wife’s. I do watch the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500, but what about others in their everyday households? While most retirement accounts are managed by professionals, direct stock ownership remains far less common among average-income families.
Daily gains and losses in the markets do not translate as clearly to the broader population. In fact, many people see that world as unattainable. Let’s face it—if you’re struggling with rent, childcare, groceries, or rising healthcare costs, you likely couldn’t care less about the stock price of Apple or Spotify.
There is also something called “psychological residue,” which refers to traces of past experiences that remain in our minds.
We have all learned that despite declining inflation rates, prices rarely return to previous levels. Instead, they simply rise more slowly. The sticker shock of higher prices remains ingrained in our memories for quite some time.
Think back to the price of cars when you were younger. My dad used to walk in and pay cash for his cars. Of course, the price tag back in the 1970s was about $3,000.
That’s quite a different sticker today.
This lingering memory creates a lack of confidence that often lags behind positive economic indicators. Which helps explain the confusion I experience when I see improving numbers but negative attitudes.
Housing costs also play an especially powerful role. Even though interest rates remain above the 2.675% levels of 2020, few people realize that today’s 6% rates are still considered relatively low compared with historical averages.
When I bought my first home in 1997, my interest rate was over 10%, and that was with a good credit score.
Regardless, housing is usually the largest expense for most households. When that expense becomes unstable, confidence can shudder like a ground-shaking tremor.
Economic skepticism also stems from the amount of debt the average household accumulates. It’s difficult to argue that some of this is the result of personal spending habits. However, much of it also comes from people relying on credit more often because of rising costs and limited cash flow.
This situation becomes especially problematic when average credit card interest rates range between 21% and 25%. With minimum payments, many customers rarely find their way out of that cycle.
Another major factor is trust.
Today’s sentiment carries a palpable level of tension that seems to hang in the air. Many of us experienced a true economic shock during the 2008 financial meltdown. Not to mention the pandemic disruptions six years ago that led to supply chain chaos and a rapid inflation rate of 9.2%.
I remember feeling like we would never recover. Even today, optimism sometimes carries the proverbial “waiting for the other shoe to drop” mentality.
University of Michigan studies show that subjective perceptions can differ significantly from objective indicators. What matters most on the personal level? Personal experience, political affiliation, and our own jaded expectations.
What about the media’s role in shaping how people perceive the economy?
It is never the only factor, but it does amplify doubt and reinforce narratives that shape reactions to economic conditions. This influence is not always driven by partisan bias. More often, it stems from selection bias. News sites and outlets frequently feel incentivized to highlight problems and conflicts.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that negative information attracts attention. Headlines about layoffs and fears of recession generate more ears, eyes, and clicks than stories about steady job growth. Even when economic news shows strength, coverage often focuses on potential threats.
“A downturn headed our way” beats “Recovery could be in sight.”
The good news is that media influence has its limits. Research shows that personal experience often outweighs what people see and hear in the news.
We also cannot overlook the significant impact of social media. It should come as no surprise that algorithms favor emotionally charged content, which undoubtedly skews how people interpret events.
What spreads faster—fear or reassurance? Anxiety spreads like wildfire, especially among a generation of young people who grew up amid economic and social disruption.
It is difficult to deny the increase in anxiety among Gen Z. All of these pressures can be amplified in the minds of younger audiences. Navigating these challenges is undoubtedly harder today than it was for Boomers and Gen Xers.
In short, doubts about the economy do not necessarily contradict the available data. Instead, skepticism often reflects our personal experiences. In the end, it seems that markets measure performance while the rest of us measure security. Unfortunately, the two do not always appear to align very well.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
A year into hosting his national radio program on Westwood One, Vince Coglianese is taking stock of a ride that’s exceeded even his own expectations.
Coglianese, who stepped into a high-profile timeslot following Dan Bongino‘s departure for the FBI last year, didn’t shy away from acknowledging the weight of the opportunity when it first presented itself.
“It’s been one of the most wild and enjoyable rides of my entire life,” he said. “It’s been super cool to see the industry from this perspective and to have the blessing of doing a show like this. I couldn’t have asked for more. It’s like the kind of thing I dreamed about as a kid as a radio listener. The fact that I get to do it is one of the utter joys of my life.”
Building a show from the ground up on a national stage is no small task, and Coglianese is quick to credit the team around him.
“It’s been really cool to build something together with my producer, Jim, and Mike. We’ve built a really neat show together with a pretty dedicated audience, and I’m very happy to say we’ve succeeded at levels that even we didn’t anticipate,” he shared. “It’s been a total blast of a year.”
Much of year one was spent learning how to broaden his lens.
Vince Coglianese had spent years as one of Washington D.C.’s most prominent conservative voices at WMAL, and making the jump to a national audience required a different kind of thinking.
“The big thing has been learning the skill set of how to handle news that is of national concern for a national radio listening audience listening everywhere in their cars and at their homes and in their workplaces,” the Westwood One host shared. “It was one thing doing it for a major market like Washington DC. Now, the menu of items that I have access to talk about is the entire country.”
That shift in scope meant reframing even local stories through a wider lens than he was used to.
“I’m trying as much as possible to hit issues of importance to all of our markets, and especially to ground each of these stories in such a way that they have national applicability,” Coglianese said. “Whether it’s redistricting fights in any particular state, or chaos going on, fraud in Los Angeles, or violence or crime, it’s always with that national message baked in. This is why this story affects your country. So it’s been good to kind of work those muscles and learn how to communicate that with the audience.”
There was never really a honeymoon period to ease into. Vince Coglianese said the gravity of the platform hit him before he ever sat down at the microphone.
“I knew right away how immense this was and what a great opportunity it was,” he said. “There’s always kind of that underlying sense of panic that you’re going to screw this up. And I think that’s good. That’s a great motivator because it just makes me better. My obligation is to, if not just keep my head above water, but become a very proficient swimmer, and I think I’ve definitely done that.”
The results on the ratings side have backed that confidence up. Coglianese noted that in several markets where the show has been added, stations have seen significant audience growth. “We’ve had stations we’ve joined where we’ve increased the ratings there by 400%,” he stated. “The trick is just getting in front of those listeners. If you get me there, I’ll do the rest.”
Getting in front of new listeners, he said, increasingly happens away from the radio dial. His podcast, produced through Dan Bongino’s company Silverloch, has become a key part of extending his reach.
“Nowadays, the way you become acquainted with someone is you probably encounter them in spaces that aren’t even radio,” Coglianese said. “A lot of people are becoming familiar with me because they’re seeing me on X or seeing me on their Instagram feed, and that’s what’s leading a lot of people to tune into their radios and join me on the big national radio show.”
It’s a strategy that mirrors how many of today’s most successful radio personalities operate — building a multimedia presence that funnels audiences back to the core broadcast product. And for Coglianese, the momentum feels like it’s just getting started.
“Every program director in America should not only take me seriously, but should enthusiastically add me to their lineup while they have the chance,” Coglianese said. “If you like ratings and money, then I’m the right guy for your station, so come at me.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Wait, so radio is not dead? Hmm. Color me shocked. Not.
As Barrett Media reported this week, a new National Radio Listening Survey revealed that 84% of adults aged 25–64 listen to radio weekly. That figure has remained steady in recent years, falling from 86% in 2024 to 85% in 2025.
And if you think this may be unique to smaller markets or more rural areas, you’d be wrong. The data remains consistent when split between those living in the top 30 markets and those in markets 31 and up. Both demographics reported weekly usage of 84%.
As always, radio has a story to tell and sell. Can it do it effectively? That remains to be seen. But the story is there. That’s on all of us in programming, management, sales, and promotions. Being strategic with how we deploy activation events, making sure we set clients up for success with radio, and driving great, unique content that moves the needle on air and on social channels will continue to give the medium an upper hand that some perceive it doesn’t currently have.
Now, that said, this data doesn’t mean we can take our foot off the pedal when it comes to expanding our brand across various digital platforms.
There was data to support this in the study as well. Of the 84% who listen to AM/FM radio weekly, two-thirds said they do so via a terrestrial radio signal. 16% said they listened to an AM/FM station’s stream, while 11% said their primary point of listening to those brands was via a mobile app.
That alone is reason enough to remind everyone on the programming side of the value of driving audience to our streams and mobile app options in real time. And clearly, market size is largely irrelevant to this strategy. We all live on our phones, whether it’s Market No. 1 or No. 100.
The silver lining in all of this is that, regardless of age, technology has taken us to a point where radio listeners are — by and large — also on smartphones much of the time, and the idea of a stream, mobile app, or podcast is not foreign to them.
This also means that YouTube channels, QR codes, X, and Instagram are part of their vocabulary. But one thing we can all do better is think about why we are trying to drive listeners to these platforms.
I hear stations with liners saying, “Follow our Instagram account.” And my immediate reaction is, “Why?” Even if I’m a super fan, give me a reason to follow it. Tease a great piece of content. Tell me what I’m getting.
It’s just like a great over-the-air tease. While it may not be as easy in a 10-second liner, we can all do this more effectively as we try to grow our platforms. We are the original media teasers — keeping our audience coming back for more is our bread and butter. We just need to remember that the concept can be expanded well beyond our over-the-air product.
The growth opportunities never end for our brands across all platforms. It’s a never-ending learning curve for all of us, with not enough time in the day to accomplish everything we want to in the 18 hours we spend awake. And while that work needs to continue as our brands grow, it’s also a chance to remind ourselves that the sky is not falling. When you get good data, don’t apologize for it — but don’t let it make you rest on your laurels, either. That would be a death sentence for any platform competing in today’s media landscape.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
There’s a content arms race happening in podcasting, and it’s worth asking whether podcasters are winning it — or just exhausting themselves trying.
A recent study from FMR and Eastlan offers a number that should give every audio creator pause: only 40% of Americans listen to a podcast in a given week. That’s not a typo. 60% of the country isn’t tuning in at all on a weekly basis.
Let that sit for a second.
Now, of that 40% who do listen, how many are consuming hours of content each week? Some are, sure. Hardcore podcast fans exist. They’ll binge three hours of true crime on a Tuesday commute and a late afternoon walk without blinking. But they’re not the majority of the audience — they’re the outliers. Most casual listeners are probably catching one or two episodes here and there, not working through a daily feed like it’s a second job.
So why are so many creators building their schedules like everyone’s got nothing but time?
The daily podcast has become something of a badge of honor in the medium. It signals hustle, dedication, commitment. It says, “I’m serious about this.” But hustle for its own sake isn’t a strategy — it’s a treadmill. If your audience can’t keep up with you, you’re not building engagement. You’re building a backlog nobody’s clearing.
Here’s where I’ll push back on the conventional wisdom. Yes, consistency is one of the golden rules of podcasting. Don’t argue with that — it’s true and it matters. But consistency means honoring the schedule you set, not chasing someone else’s output pace. If you tell listeners to expect new episodes every Tuesday and Friday, you’d better deliver. That’s the promise. That’s the contract. Miss it and you’ve broken trust. But if you’ve decided you’re going to release every single day, my honest question is: why?
What’s driving that decision? Is it serving your audience, or is it feeding an algorithm you hope will reward you? Because those aren’t the same thing.
Daily content also raises a quality question that doesn’t get asked enough. An hour-long daily podcast means you’re generating roughly seven hours of content every week. Joe Rogan is producing that much a few times per week, which also feels crazy, but it’s a different discussion for a different day.
It demands serious time, serious prep, and serious editing — or it doesn’t get edited at all, which is often what happens. Listeners notice. Rambling, unfocused episodes that could’ve been twenty minutes are a real cost to audience retention.
There’s an argument to be made that a sharp, well-produced thirty-minute episode twice a week does more for a show’s reputation than a daily flood of loosely connected conversation. Quality compounds. Filler erodes. The podcasters who’ve built lasting audiences tend to understand that.
None of this means daily podcasting can’t work. For news and current events formats, there’s a legitimate reason to show up every morning. The logic holds. But for interview shows, storytelling formats, and opinion-driven content? The case gets thinner. Nobody’s day is incomplete because your show didn’t drop on a Thursday.
The data from FMR and Eastlan isn’t a death sentence for podcasting. It’s a reality check. When 60% of Americans aren’t listening weekly, the answer isn’t to produce more content and hope to break through the noise. It’s to make what you do release worth finding. Respect your audience’s time. Respect your own.
Do less. Do it better. That’s not a retreat — it’s a strategy.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
