Audacy and Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) are strengthening their relationship through a new multi-year extension that will broaden sports coverage across both audio and video platforms in the Washington, D.C. market. Under the agreement, 106.7 The Fan becomes the official flagship station for the Washington Wizards, while continuing to serve as the flagship for the Washington Capitals.
Select broadcasts—particularly when both teams play on the same night—will also air on The Team 980 and 99.1 WDCH.
The partnership also extends to the Washington Mystics, whose games will continue to be carried across 106.7 The Fan, The Team 980, 99.1 WDCH, and 1580 The Bet. Each broadcast will include halftime coverage and feature live audio simulcasts from Monumental Sports Network’s (MNMT) television production.
In addition to live game coverage, the collaboration will expand cross-platform content. The fan-favorite morning show The Sports Junkies will continue its weekday simulcast on MNMT and now stream live and on demand through 106.7 The Fan’s YouTube channel.
Starting November 3, BMitch and Finlay will also simulcast daily on MNMT from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET, bringing another of Audacy’s most popular local programs to both television and digital audiences.
“We are excited to extend and expand our partnership with Monumental Sports to enhance the listening and viewing experience for fans,” said Ivy Savoy-Smith, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy Washington D.C. “Being the flagship station for the Wizards and Capitals solidifies our position as the top destination for D.C. sports fans.”
Zach Leonsis, President of Media & New Enterprises at MSE, echoed that sentiment, noting the collaboration’s focus on accessibility and audience reach.
“This expanded partnership with Audacy allows us to bring even more of the content fans love—across radio, TV, and digital platforms—whenever and wherever they want it,” Leonsis said.
For fans, that means broader coverage than ever. The Wizards Radio Network will air all 82 regular season games, three preseason contests, and full pregame and postgame shows, with veteran play-by-play voice Dave Johnson returning for his 29th season.
The Capitals Radio Network, anchored by 106.7 The Fan, features 14 affiliates across the Mid-Atlantic and welcomes back John Walton and Ken Sabourin for their 15th and 23rd seasons, respectively.
MNMT remains the exclusive local TV rights holder for the Capital City Go-Go and also broadcasts the Washington Spirit, Old Glory DC, and extensive college and high school sports coverage. The partnership underscores both companies’ commitment to deepening fan engagement through multi-platform storytelling and dynamic local sports coverage.
📻 MSE and @Audacy have announced a multi-year extension of their broadcast and content partnership, making 106.7 The Fan the flagship station for the @WashWizards and continuing as the flagship home of the @Capitals.
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With the countdown to this year’s Super Bowl continuing, the NFL may be exploring ways to renegotiate its television and streaming deals years ahead of schedule with one network has its future Super Bowl locked in. NBC Sports President Rick Cordella confirmed in an interview with Sports Media Watch Podcast that NBC will hold broadcast rights to Super Bowl 64 in 2030 regardless of how soon the NFL decides to reopen its current media rights contracts.
“We will have the 2030 Super Bowl guaranteed no matter what,” Cordella said. “So if [the NFL] were to open [up the rights], and if the crazy scenario where we don’t renew the NFL happened, we would still have the 2030 Super Bowl. That’s guaranteed to us.”
NBC will air this season’s Super Bowl, which marks the third year of the league’s current four-network rotation. ESPN and ABC are next in line to broadcast in 2026. Followed by CBS in 2028, FOX in 2029, and NBC returning to the rotation in 2030.
That 2029-30 season also serves as a key pivot point for the NFL. It’s the final year before the league can trigger the opt-out clauses built into most of its long-term television deals. Disney’s agreement runs slightly longer, with its opt-out coming after it airs the 2031 Super Bowl.
While the expectation has long been that the league would wait until 2030 to revisit those contracts, the timeline may accelerate. Earlier this year, John Ourand of Puck reported that the NFL was considering early talks with its media partners. A move that commissioner Roger Goodell later confirmed to CNBC’s Alex Sherman. According to Goodell, the league could initiate renegotiations as soon as next year. Three years before the formal opt-out window opens.
However, moving up negotiations requires the cooperation of all media partners. Cordella said NBC is open to those discussions and maintains an active, positive relationship with the league.
“If [Goodell] were to come and want to talk to us about extending our deal, of course,” Cordella said. “They’re a fantastic partner. We talk to the NFL daily, maybe every other day. It would be no surprise if they want to talk about the future. We welcome those conversations.”
For NBC, one detail remains non-negotiable: its 2030 Super Bowl broadcast. Cordella made it clear that the network’s rights to that game are part of its guaranteed inventory.
“If there’s a scenario where NBC were no longer in business with the NFL, we would still be guaranteed that 2030 Super Bowl,” he said. “We wouldn’t give up that Super Bowl unless it was part of something longer term.”
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On Sunday morning, Vice President JD Vance sat down with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos for an interview on This Week. Things went off the rails at the end, and there were plenty of reactions from news media members.
Stephanopoulos asked the Vice President about reports that Border Czar Tom Homan accepted a $50,000 bribe from undercover FBI agents.
Vance called the question a “weird left-wing rabbit hole”, adding that he’d rather talk about more important issues.
In response, Stephanopoulos said, “It’s not a ‘weird left-wing rabbit hole.'”
“I didn’t insinuate anything,” the ABC News anchor continued. “I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50,000, as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. And you did not answer the question. Thank you for your time this morning,” with Stephanopoulos ending the interview.
JD Vance attempted a rebuttal, but his audio was cut, and the program shifted to another topic.
On social media, some took issue with the conduct of Stephanopoulos and ABC News, while others defended the network by not allowing Vance to sidestep the question.
That is the most unprofessional treatments of a guest I can recall seeing —especially the @VP of the U.S.!— and should oblige @ABC to make changes immediately. George has always been courteous and professional in our few exchanges on and off air so I am very surprised. But if any… https://t.co/H94qQgPqRS
Clinton political stooge George Stephanopoulos loses his temper and cuts off the Vice-President of the United States mid-sentence. Incredible. But certainly useful for all to see. https://t.co/85n1RaSFpn
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Former NFL quarterback and FOX Sports analyst Mark Sanchez has spoken publicly for the first time since a violent altercation in downtown Indianapolis left him hospitalized and facing a felony charge.
Sanchez was released from Eskenazi Hospital early Sunday and taken to the Marion County Community Justice Center. He was booked and processed on a Level 5 felony charge of battery resulting in serious injury. After being fingerprinted and photographed, Sanchez was permitted to leave Indiana.
Cameras from local affiliate FOX59/CBS4 captured exclusive footage of Sanchez’s arrival at the justice center. Following his release, reporter Russ McQuaid approached the former New York Jets quarterback for a brief on-camera exchange. It marked the first time Sanchez had spoken publicly since being stabbed in the chest by 69-year-old truck driver Perry Tole, who told police he acted in self-defense.
When asked if he had a message for the people of Indianapolis, Sanchez appeared composed but reserved.
“I’m just focused on my recovery. I just want to thank the first responders, Eskenazi Hospital, the Marion County Sheriff, and the Indianapolis Metro Police Department,” Sanchez said. “I just want to see my wife, my son, and my two baby girls. There will be a day to answer all these questions, and unfortunately, today is not that day.”
McQuaid then asked if Sanchez had anything to say to Tole, who alleges that Sanchez attacked him and forced him to defend himself. According to police reports, Tole claimed he initially used pepper spray before stabbing Sanchez in an attempt to protect himself.
Sanchez declined to address Tole directly but took a moment to express gratitude toward his medical team.
“I just want to thank Dr. Mosler, the surgeon. She saved my life, and I’m grateful for that,” he said.
In the days since the incident, Tole and his attorney have filed a lawsuit against Sanchez and FOX Sports. The suit alleges damages related to the altercation and seeks unspecified compensation.
Sanchez is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 5 for a pretrial conference set for 1 p.m. in Marion County. The case remains under investigation as both sides prepare for the next phase in what has become a headline-making legal battle.
The incident has generated significant attention given Sanchez’s broadcasting role with FOX Sports and his high-profile past as an NFL quarterback. Sanchez had been in Indianapolis to call the Colts-Raiders game the same weekend the altercation occurred.
There has been no word on Sanchez’ future with the network.
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Another round of layoffs hit iHeartMedia last week, with dozens of employees being handed their pink slips.
As the names continued to roll in, a theme began to take shape: many of those cut loose in the latest round of cuts had spent plenty of time — in some cases, up to nearly 30 years — with the company before seeing their positions eliminated last week.
That fact wasn’t lost on many of the both current and former iHeartMedia employees we spoke with over the course of the layoffs, all who were granted anonymity to speak freely on the topic, and to also avoid any issues with potential severance packages after the most recent round of cuts.
“I was blown away by how many people had dedicated their lives to iHeart and were cut like they didn’t matter,” one former employee who was let go last week shared with Barrett Media. “If you look around, there are people who had been there since the 90s who were cut. Some didn’t even get told in person. It was done over the phone, which is extra (expletive) to me.
“They didn’t even have the (expletive) to tell them in person? That’s next-level cruel,” they concluded.
Other employees who were let go shared suprisingly upbeat reactions to the news of their ouster.
“I’m actually looking forward to new challenges,” one affected on-air personality said of their situation. “I had a great run. It’s a business, and one that I’ll continue to love after this. I did my part, produced great ratings, met with clients, and helped wherever I could. I’m at peace knowing that I did everything I could, and if even that wasn’t enough, I can live with that.”
Another shared that they weren’t surprised to see many midday hosts be included in the cuts.
“Times change and habits change,” the former large market employee said. “At (their former station), mornings makes money. Afternoons does ok. But middays? Wasn’t overwhelmed with spots. If you’re not the ‘at work’ station, cutting costs there does make sense, as much as it sucks for me.”
Another employee that was subject of the reduction in force added that they took some solace in what was viewed as the “random” nature of cuts from iHeartMedia.
“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you come to recognize that layoffs at iHeart aren’t about talent, aren’t about who does what or doesn’t do things. They’re about money,” the former employee shared. “When the market president is told how much money they need to cut, and that’s the only thing that matters, I can live with it. Did I make the most money? No. But when you’re told that that’s the only thing that factors into who stays and who goes? It doesn’t make me question if I can still do this. It doesn’t make me feel like they didn’t value me or believe that I could still perform. There’s more to it.
“When money matters, there’s not much to calculate. It’s a math problem. I was just part of that math,” they concluded.
One current iHeartMedia program director did take issue with the “math problem” and the seniority of some of those laid off.
“What is never going to show up in a spreadsheet is that radio is built, at least behind the scenes, on comradery,” they stated. “If we’re not having fun with people you know and trust, this job can be very difficult. That’s the heart and soul of the job: working with people who you know who are as invested in this as you are. We’re losing those people, and it hurts morale more than those at the corporate office know.”
They added that the trust isn’t built as quickly as some might suggest.
“You don’t learn people overnight,” they added. “It takes time. When you’re with a staff that you don’t have to even think twice about how to handle or what buttons to press, stations are a beautiful thing. You don’t have to wonder about what will or won’t get done. We’re at our best when those folks are here. And now they’re not. We’ve got to figure out how we’re moving forward, and we’ve got ideas in place, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t going to be more difficult.”
Morale was a word mentioned frequently by the program director we spoke with. While they said it wasn’t as low as it has been in the past surrounding other layoffs, it is now lower than it had been previously.
“We had been riding high off some pretty big wins,” they shared. “Morale is fickle. I’ve learned that you can be surprised what does and doesn’t turn the tide sometimes. Layoffs always hurt morale. That’s not unexpected because it’s always going to be a somber attitude when you learn that you’re no longer working with people you liked. Finding what brings the momentum back — after layoffs — though, is more difficult. Because people get inside their heads. They see what goes on and wonder when or if it will happen to them. Trying to tell them that things are going to be alright is difficult, because I don’t have the answers.
“Managing morale isn’t something you think about until it’s down. At least for me. I don’t think about it until it starts to sway. Unfortunately, I’ve been having to think about it more and more. I still think this is a great place to work, for lots of reasons. But that’s a tough one to get over.”
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The Super Bowl Halftime Show is entertainment. It’s unique to the sport and the league. A championship determined through a single game rather than a seven-game series. MLB, the NHL, and the NBA wish they had the opportunity to replicate it. This year’s selection for the Super Bowl Halftime Show is Latin pop sensation Bad Bunny.
The 31-year-old Puerto Rico native is a three-time Grammy Award-winning global artist and one of the most streamed musicians on the planet. With more than 100 billion streams across platforms and 80.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, the NFL’s decision makes perfect sense. The league has been clear about its intent to reach younger and more global audiences — and Bad Bunny delivers both.
Still, since the announcement, backlash has been building. Some of it comes from political criticism. Some from personal taste. But now, there’s a growing conversation about whether someone — or something — could actually counterprogram the Super Bowl Halftime Show.. The question is, can it be done—and how?
Every year, the Super Bowl dominates American television. Nineteen of the 20 most-watched broadcasts in U.S. history are Super Bowls. The last three games alone sit atop that list.
Last year’s game wasn’t just another big number — it was the most-watched broadcast ever. The halftime show drew 133.5 million viewers as Kendrick Lamar performed a set filled with Compton pride and subtle jabs at Drake. The internet lit up with memes of Lamar pacing the 50-yard line, smiling as he delivered his message.
That’s exactly what the NFL wants — a halftime show that grabs attention, trends globally, and gets people talking long after the game. And Bad Bunny has already done that without performing a single note.
In 2019, the NFL signed an agreement with Roc Nation, which is owned by rapper Jay-Z. As part of the deal, Jay-Z was named live music entertainment strategist in charge of producing the halftime show and aiding the NFL with social justice initiatives. This deal was signed following the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial inequality.
Since then, the Super Bowl Halftime Show has featured Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, The Weeknd, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, and Usher — with Bad Bunny set for 2026. Notice the pattern? The league has leaned into artists who reflect younger, more diverse audiences rather than the classic rock comfort zone of acts like The Who or Coldplay.
So if that’s the direction, can anyone really steal their thunder?
Who Can Even Attempt
For starters, any media partner of the NFL won’t even try. With this season’s game airing on NBC, you can cross off CBS, ESPN, Amazon Prime, Netflix, FOX, and YouTube immediately. No one wants to jeopardize their relationship with the NFL, the most valuable sports property in the country.
The same goes for digital sports brands. Their traffic, sponsorships, and access all depend on the NFL. Going head-to-head with the league on its biggest day would be professional suicide.
The NFL has too many ties to too many brands for someone to go against the shield on its big day.
That’s why we get the Puppy Bowl annually on Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, TBS, and truTV (all owned by Warner Bros. Discovery), which received an average of 12.8 million viewers last year. That’s a higher viewership number than every game of the MLB postseason so far and the NBA Finals last year.
FOX attempted a counterprogramming measure in 1992, airing a live episode of In Living Color to go head-to-head with Gloria Estefan’s performance as a salute to the 1992 Winter Olympics. FOX began broadcasting the NFL in 1994. The move by FOX to counterprogram has been credited with signaling the NFL to improve its product at halftime of the Super Bowl.
But that was three decades ago — long before streaming, social media, and second screens. Today, trying to chip away at the NFL’s broadcast audience would be a fool’s errand. The smarter move would be digital.
Dominate Digital
The NFL is simply too popular to strike a significant dent in the traditional viewership of the Super Bowl. The halftime show is now designed to cater to younger and more diverse audiences than ever, drawing attention for months leading up to the moment of execution.
The goal shouldn’t be to cut into the viewership of the halftime show—it should be to dominate the conversation online. It’s the same approach advertisers take with their commercials during the broadcast of the game.
Digital currency is the currency to earn if you attempt to counterprogram. If your 25-minute programming can dominate online conversation over the latest Doritos ad or a new movie trailer, that’s where you win. Attempting to draw viewership on traditional television like the Puppy Bowl should not be the goal. The Puppy Bowl has a 20-year head start on you already.
It doesn’t have to be music. It could be comedy, gaming, influencer-driven content — anything that gives audiences an alternative experience, not just another performance. Competing with the NFL on its own terms rarely works; giving people something completely different might.
Can it be done? Yes. Could counterprogramming be considered a success? Certainly.
But it’s a high-risk play. The upside for a brand that tries might not outweigh the cost. The NFL’s reach, resources, and cultural footprint make it nearly impossible to “beat” the halftime show in any traditional sense.
And that’s okay. Sports and music both exist to bring people together, not divide them. The halftime show has never been designed to please everyone — it’s meant to create a shared cultural moment.
So if Bad Bunny’s performance isn’t your thing, there’s an easy solution. No need to rage, protest, or counterprogram.
Just turn the television off.
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Heavy metal is one of rock music’s most loyal fan genres. Traditionally known for headbanging and dudes, the metal mainstream is shifting. I have always been a self-proclaimed “metalhead,” and never has the fan base been stronger than it is now — from Sabbath to Slipknot to Spiritbox.
Yup, the ladies are present in a big way — selling out shows without selling out. Women in metalcore, alt metal, and power metal are not only present but popular. The recent shift to harsh vocals, mixed with pop sensibility and powerful visuals, seems to be a trend for a new generation of female performers and the fans who follow them.
Future female stars? Check out Daedric, The Pretty Wild, and Living Dead Girl — talented, determined, and business-minded. Gone are the days of needing a major label or airplay to jumpstart a career and define success.
Social media, hard work, and a DIY attitude have made the field much more accessible for a new generation of strong females who could easily go the pop star or TikTok route but decided to let their vigorous voices and passion for the genre define their art.
I recently caught up with Molly Rennick, the intoxicating frontwoman and visionary for the band Living Dead Girl (whose second full-length metal masterpiece Conspiracy just dropped). She told me about her self-made approach — and why never compromising in her music or her band’s impressive videos is more important than instant crowd size.
“Without control, my identity is not my music. If I were a fabricated artist, like a Disney Channel pop star that they write songs for, I would not enjoy music anymore. It has to be my idea, my vision. There was this one band that asked me to join twice — they reached out to me again recently, where I would be in face paint and anonymous — and I said no,” said Rennick. “I’ve seen that they are playing huge shows to huge crowds, and that would be really fun for me, but if no one knows it’s Molly, then what’s the point?”
Living Dead Girl has also worked with Mitchell Marlow (In This Moment) on both of their records. How does an indie band score the perfect producer?
“I just messaged him on Facebook, asked what his rates were, and told him I am a self-funded musician who wanted to hire him because I respected his work,” explained Rennick. “He knew I meant business and told me to come up next month. That’s why he took me seriously — I was a businesswoman.”
Managing The Metal
Having a team that has a strong belief in artistry is an important piece of the puzzle, and I hit up a few “male metal believers” who stand by their women.
Speaking with the founder of Landshark Promotion, Gary Jay, I asked how do you open doors for new artists who clearly have the talent and drive to become unique stars when the genre is so much harder to the ear and not specifically radio-friendly.
“Fortunately, there are a vast number of airplay outlets at commercial rock and classic rock radio that cater to artists and bands with a heavier edge to their music,” said Jay. “I wish there were more, ’cause there’s absolutely an audience out there that’s hungry for it. Ultimately, radio is a giant loudspeaker — an amplifier — that broadcasts your music, and also whatever you’re doing, to the masses. So, if you’re not doing anything, well, that message gets delivered as well. Musicians that treat their band like a business, that tour extensively, that invest in their own future — those are the ones that tend to succeed, and the types of artists that we’re looking to work and partner with.”
Jay believes the women in the country have every right to be angry, especially in this current climate. He says that the expression of that anger manifested into music is maybe more relevant now than ever before. So, why does he choose to partner with super-heavy artists?
“While the airplay outlets for the stuff that’s really heavy and shocking aren’t plentiful, there are some — and their loyal audience is a dedicated, prime target to market aggressive and edgy new sounds to. To me, it all starts and ends with the riff. That’s my point of entry into a song — a deep, sludgy riff that immediately sends you into air guitar mode,” explained Jay. “As a radio guy, I’m also looking for a hook — a massive, monster chorus (I love gang vocals, fist-in-the-air, call-and-response, etc.). There’s gotta be something that brings you back to the song again and again. I think all of the best metal songs have that epic chorus that makes you wanna scream it back at your radio or speakers.”
Legendary radio metal god Munsey Ricci, president of Skateboard Marketing, has definitely noticed a shift in acceptance of the female-fronted, super-heavy genre.
“Yes, we’ve seen a big shift of women in heavy music,” noted Ricci. “We have Lacuna Coil, Butcher Babies, Dogma, and Tati from Jinjer. All have left a mark on the format, but we’ve seen a growth of many more artists come in.”
He went to to explain in the past, the genre had Doro, Lee Aaron, and Lita Ford — the two most predominant in the ’80s. Over the last 10 to 15 years, metal seen a big rise in symphonic metal and hard rock with Epica, Nightwish, Xandria, and Within Temptation. All have made an impact on how fans view music.
“Then we have Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy, Otep, and Kittie as well — all of whom have made a massive impact with fans musically,” said Ricci. “It’s not a man’s world any longer, as the look and the trend have shifted, where some women are making a bigger splash than men are. If you look at many of the newer artists, such as Dystopica and The Burned Over, it’s very clear that they are in a position to leave a legacy on heavy music.”
Screams And Streams
Loud ladies are streaming as well as screaming — the stats for super-heavy, female-fronted music are massive.
Heavy metal pop superstar Poppy is at close to a billion streams with very little traditional radio support and has had wildly successful tours. Newcomer Daedric is making noise with over 21 million streams on Spotify. Japanese metal icons Babymetal have surpassed the one-billion mark with literally no radio airplay.
Spiritbox is selling out venues, breaking terrestrial radio barriers, and has over three million monthly listeners on Spotify. Their classic “Circle With Me” has surpassed 100 million streams.
Cheers to the groundbreakers — Doro, Lita Ford, Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil, Maria Brink from In This Moment, and more — who have opened doors for new generations to step through. And to those empowering the genre to move forward. Evolution in the music business is moving fast — metal fans will not get left behind.
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One of radio’s biggest strengths is still people listening while they are at work. In fact, in the last Jacobs Media Tech Survey, over 54% of Classic Rock listeners said that listening while they work is a primary reason they use AM/FM radio, which is a higher percentage than the overall sample.
But that’s not the survey we’re talking about this week.
Instead, I want to discuss an article on the StudyFinds website about a survey that asked people at work to describe their relationship with one word, and many of the choices they made are very telling: tired, unfulfilling, adequate, and even autopilot.
Now, those responses are about the respondents’ relationship with their jobs, not a radio station. But if you had even a moment of panic thinking they could be in reference to the radio, it says something about the state of the industry—and possibly about your station.
What Can We Learn
The gist of the study claims that people aren’t just stressed about their jobs; they are literally checking out at work. According to the team that wrote the analysis, workers are experiencing a state of “numbness, self-preservation, and detachment.”
Again, this isn’t in reference to a radio station, but tell me the language doesn’t make your skin crawl just a bit. Especially in Classic Rock and Hits, where we rotate the same songs day in and day out, it’s easy to imagine those descriptions being applied by listeners to what we do.
There are other findings that, again, aren’t about radio—but the language could be. For example, when companies announce new ways of working or new strategies, 30% of respondents say they are “indifferent,” while only 23% say they are “inspired.” I don’t think it’s a giant leap to apply those numbers to our programming. Even when we announce new initiatives to reinvigorate our stations, we often assume people will find out on their own and don’t put enough promotional effort behind the new ideas to inspire people or capture their attention.
A more direct lesson comes from respondents being asked about communication with their colleagues.
More than 60% said they feel disconnected despite constant digital connection through email or programs like Slack, Teams, and Zoom. Many say that lack of connection leads to disengagement and cynicism. They are lonely—and our job is companionship.
Now, I realize all of this sounds pretty doom and gloom, but that’s not the intention. The goal is to spur Program Directors and air talent—especially those on during the workday—who read this to consider what their listeners are going through.
Try Something Different
We need to work every day on creating programming that helps them get through the day and, in turn, makes your station more engaging.
In our world of Classic Rock and Hits, look for ways to consistently make the station more exciting than just playing the big hits. Mix up the music in new and interesting ways with special features. Instead of caller nine or keywords, develop unique contests with greater play-along value. Don’t settle for bland host content, regardless of the daypart. Challenge the talent to be engaging storytellers every day. And finally, find ways to celebrate the people who are working while we get to make a living playing cool music every day. Give them a voice and a role on the radio station.
Then communicate what you are doing as loudly as you can.
Many Classic Rock stations call their email databases “The Workforce,” but when it comes to communication, are you taking that concept far enough to help lessen listeners’ feelings of detachment at work? Use your off-air communication channels like email and social media to tout the interesting things you are doing. That will bond people who are slogging through their workday to your station.
I realize there is probably a conversation about detachment in the radio workplace to be had, but that’s for a bigger stage than this column about Classic Rock and Hits radio. For today, let’s just focus on what we can do to help the people who are feeling detached and frustrated at work.
Just taking on that challenge might make our jobs more fun.
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The cliché, of course, is that we all turn into our parents at some point. Progressive Insurance has been using that old saw in its “Dr. Rick” commercials. It’s also true that no matter how hard you fight the evolution, it will, as Abe Simpson insisted, happen to you. But there’s also the contingent that fights the cultural aging process and just comes off as try-hards, being way too obvious about their pandering to youth culture (insert Steve Buscemi “How do you do, fellow kids?” meme here). Radio people are especially illustrative of both.
It’s really evident on Facebook and Instagram. Now, if you primarily use Facebook, you land on the old-fart end of the spectrum anyway, but Facebook is where old radio jocks and crusty talk show curmudgeons trash any music—really, any pop culture since hip-hop took over pop music—while others post pictures of their grinning selves standing next to Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter when the singers visit the studio.
I guarantee that every mid-market radio jock who got a snapshot with Tay-Tay posted it to social media, because nothing says “with it” and “I’m a big shot in this industry” like a photo of yourself grinning broadly while Ms. Swift manages a tortured smile while looking into the distance for her escape route. It will be a highlight of your career and your life, and that’s okay.
She, on the other hand, will not remember that moment—not ever. Promotional tours feel like the Bataan Death March to celebrities.
All of that is to say that if you find yourself posting dismissive comments about current pop culture icons, you’re telegraphing to your audience that your on-air enthusiasm is phony—that you really don’t like what you’re doing for a living, that pop music died in the ’80s, and that there hasn’t been a good album by anyone since David Lee Roth still fronted Van Halen.
It’s a “kids these days” attitude, and you don’t want to show that to the public, even if that’s what you really think—especially when a pop culture story shows up in the news and you have to address it. You’re disconnecting the link between yourself and the listeners when you tell them, in effect, to get off your lawn.
The last few weeks have seen a lot of this. I saw Facebook and Xitter comments from a lot of radio people bemoaning the appointment of Bad Bunny as this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. It mostly came from conservatives livid that Mr. Bunny sings in Spanish and refused to tour the mainland U.S. because of ICE’s heavy-handed tactics targeting anyone with brown skin. That he’s American, and that Puerto Rico is an American territory, seems to have slipped past them, and the comments just made old radio heads look even older and more out of touch—almost as out of touch as Speaker Mike Johnson suggesting that the NFL should have asked Lee Greenwood to perform.
Never mind that Greenwood hasn’t had a hit since “God Bless the USA” rode the post-9/11 national mood to the top 20, and that most non-country fans probably can’t name another of his songs.
But no halftime show will satisfy everyone, and unless we get a wardrobe malfunction or a spectacular performance in a driving rainstorm, it will be forgotten in due order no matter how great Bad Bunny does (and I’m betting he does just fine). You can always watch whatever red, white, and blue nightmare Turning Point USA will be counterprogramming against the game broadcast. Maybe there’ll be another Puppy Bowl. Maybe you’ll take a break and hit the bathroom and the stash of snacks. (Separately.)
But please, please, PLEASE stop trashing the new and extolling the way things used to be. Some things were better; some were not. Some of the music you prefer is 60 or more years old. If that’s what you think radio should be all about rather than reggaeton, you’re just cementing radio as a bunch of old guys pushing the same old tracks down everyone’s throat.
You’re no longer young and well-informed about the culture, but it doesn’t seem like a good strategy to announce that fact when you’re desperately trying to reach listeners under 50 years old. Let the past be the past.
And maybe you should learn Spanish before the game. It might come in handy sometimes.
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There’s something that’s been lost in News TV, and it’s not journalistic integrity, credibility, or even the public’s trust — those ships sailed long ago, you could argue.
What’s missing today is the one-on-one conversation. The genuine sit-down interview. The kind where two people actually talk to each other, not over one another. Somewhere along the line, news executives decided that the way to keep viewers engaged was to cram as many people as possible around a desk and let them go at it.
It’s not just one network guilty of it, either. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Newsmax, they all do it. Nearly every daypart is packed with “panels” of contributors, analysts, and pundits all competing to be the loudest person on screen. It’s a format that’s easy to produce, dependable in structure, and relatively predictable in tone.
The panel has become to cable news what the laugh track once was to sitcoms: a sign you’re watching something that’s been done before.
Even CBS News — under new leadership with Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief — leaned on that same model last week. One of Weiss’ first major programming moves was a live-streamed panel discussion that aired on CBS News’ 24/7 digital channel and YouTube. It was symbolic, maybe unintentionally, of how ingrained the panel discussion has become in modern TV news culture. If your first big swing is another “let’s gather some people and talk about the state of things” panel, it’s hard not to wonder if we’ve all run out of ideas.
Now, let’s be clear: panel shows can work. The Five on Fox News isn’t just the exception — it’s the king of cable news. It’s routinely the highest-rated show in the format, and one of the most popular in all of television. But here’s the problem: for every The Five, there are plenty of other shows that try to copy it, and none of them come close.
You can’t duplicate chemistry by copying structure. Viewers tune in to The Five not because there are five people, but because the people at that table actually have defined roles, personalities, and genuine interaction. Is it contentious at times? Certainly. But it’s lighthearted plenty of others. It’s lightning in a bottle, not a formula to be replicated.
If anything, the real growth opportunity in News TV isn’t finding new ways to repackage The Five. It’s by doing what nearly every other medium has figured out: audiences want conversations. They want interviews. Long-form, sit-down, one-on-one exchanges where the viewer gets to learn something about the subject —not the host, not the panelist across the table, not the network’s agenda.
Just look beyond television. Radio, podcasts, YouTube, and even digital print media all prove the point. The best-performing content, time and time again, isn’t a group of voices talking over one another. It’s one voice speaking directly to another. Whether it’s Joe Rogan sitting down with Elon Musk, Howard Stern interviewing Lady Gaga, or a respected journalist producing a one-on-one deep dive, the pattern is obvious. People crave depth, not noise.
Even social media engagement follows the same logic. Clips from genuine interviews — where a subject has space to expand, explain, or even contradict themselves — consistently outperform snippets from panel shows. Why? Because interviews feel human. Panels feel rehearsed. Viewers can sense when a show is more interested in scoring debate points than understanding the topic.
Of course, it’s not lost on anyone that landing those one-on-one interviews is harder than ever. High-profile figures don’t want to sit down and be questioned without control over the final product. Politicians, CEOs, entertainers — they all would prefer that roundtables stay en vogue or hope for a friendly segment where the message can be guided, if not outright scripted. The one-on-one interview feels dangerous in 2025, both for the interviewer and the interviewee. One wrong question, one awkward silence, and the clip is viral before the commercial break ends.
Still, that’s what made those interviews matter in the first place. The best ones weren’t polished or perfect —they were real. They revealed things about people. They captured moments that couldn’t be manufactured in a six-person shouting match.
So yes, it’s easier said than done. The days of Barbara Walters or Larry King-style interviews are long gone, and the industry has shifted toward production efficiency over storytelling. But the overreliance on panels —on just throwing as many voices at a table as possible and hoping the mix of opinions keeps things interesting — isn’t working nearly as well as feet-to-the-fire discussions.0
News TV needs to get back to the basics of conversation. It needs to value connection over contention. That’s why the networks that figure out how to make sit-down, one-on-one interviews compelling again will be the ones that ultimately separate themselves.
The audience isn’t asking for more panels. They’re asking for more substance. And maybe — just maybe — it’s time someone in News TV gave it to them.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
