2020 was obviously a transformative year in many aspects. But daily audio consumption is nearing a return to levels last seen in 2019, new Edison Research data shows.
According to data from the latest Share of Ear study update, daily time spent listening at home continued to drop in 2024 from its 2022 peak. The average audio consumption of those aged 13+ in the study showed 127 minutes of listening at home, with 107 minutes taking place in all other locations. That time at home figure has declined from 152 minutes in 2022.
Meanwhile, the category of all other places rose from a low of 91 in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“Though it was perfectly reasonable to wonder whether the pandemic had permanently supercharged our audio habits, the location differential finally started to show signs of cracking throughout 2023,” Edison Research said of its findings. “Now, as the dust settles on 2024, what we see in its wake is a return to normalcy in one way: audio consumption.
In 2019, there was only a two-minute difference in daily audio listening, with 116 minutes happening at home and another 114 minutes taking place elsewhere. The gap grew as wide as 50 minutes in 2021 before shrinking to 47 minutes in 2022, 29 minutes in 2023, and 20 minutes in 2024.
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.
Brett Andrews confirmed on Facebook yesterday that he is no longer with iHeartMedia.
He wrote, “The Brett Andrews Radio will no longer be heard on BIG FM Milwaukee, Z104 Madison, or KISS FM Chicago.”
Andrews had served as Senior Vice President of Programming for the Milwaukee and Madison markets and as the BIG FM and Z-104 Program Director.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported earlier this month that Dave Michaels will move from afternoons to mornings on BIG FM.
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.
CNN is set to announce widespread cuts to its worldwide staff as part of a company-wide restructuring that will include a new streaming service, CEO Mark Thompson has revealed.
The company will slash the jobs of 6% of its staff in a cost-saving measure, with roughly 200 employees seeing their time end with the company. It does not appear as if many, if any, on-air employees will be laid off in this round of cuts. The reductions are most likely to affect producers, technicians, and editors.
“The changes we’re announcing today are part of an ongoing response by this great news organization to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news,” Thompson wrote.
Thompson added that while the roughly 200 jobs will be cut today, the company doesn’t “expect total headcount to fall much this year, if at all” due to the investment of $70 million into digital plans that will be enacted throughout the calendar year.
Additionally, the network plans a new streaming service that will “develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose,” Thompson wrote. “It’s early days but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America but across much of the world.”
Thompson added that CNN will “continue to have a strong presence on Max,” the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming platform, “but we also believe it is not a complete answer to the future of the great linear CNN experience.”
The network is also slated to debut a “fresh new TV schedule” on Thursday. Previous reporting has shared that CNN would move Wolf Blitzer to late mornings, away from the afternoon timeslot he has held for 20 years, while Jim Acosta would find himself anchoring a new program from Midnight to 2 AM ET. That shift for Acosta was viewed as a way to “throw a bone” to new President Donald Trump, as Acosta has been one of the loudest and most ardent critics of the Republican president.
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.
Charlotte Wilder has departed Meadowlark Media, announcing on her Bluesky account last week that her final day at the company was on Friday, Jan. 17. Wilder, who hosted the Oddball podcast with Amin Elhassan and contributed to a variety of programming across its portfolio, came to the company after working at FOX Sports for three years. Prior to that time, she was a senior writer and host for Sports Illustrated, and she has also maintained a Substack page titled “The Wilder Things.” Last fall, she launched The Sports Gossip Show podcast with Madeline Hill, which is distributed across several audiovisual platforms.
“Grateful to the folks [at Meadowlark Media] who supported me and a big thank you to the listeners/viewers – I wouldn’t be doing any of this without you!,” Wilder wrote on Bluesky. “Excited for what’s next, and I’ll see you on the internet.”
In addition to her podcast with Meadowlark Media, Wilder appeared on other programming with the digital venture as well, including The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and Pablo Torre Finds Out. Furthermore, she made appearances on the DraftKings Network show GoJo and Golic, which is coming to an end as the company ends its in-house produced content. This separate transaction affects several hosts at the sports betting brand, including Mike Golic, Mike Golic Jr., Jessie Coffield, Trey Wingo and Claudia Bellofatto.
Wilder is a graduate of Colby College with a bachelor of arts in history and creative writing and has worked in the sports media business for more than a decade. At the moment, she has not divulged information about her next role in media but continues to host The Sports Gossip Show podcast.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
We’re half way through Barrett Media’s Top 20 of 2024 presented by Radio.Cloud. Day four features the Top 20 Adult/Classic Hits radio shows of 2024. We’ve also announced today the Adult/Classic Hits formats Top 20 program directors. Stay updated on all of the results by visiting the website, following BM on X, Facebook or LinkedIn or signing up for our newsletters.
Our Top 20 series has highlighted the Sports and News/Talk formats for years, but this is our first entry for music radio. It’s by far the largest project we’ve ever done. 173 program directors, corporate executives, and format consultants voted in this series. 250+ were invited to be a part of it. Though some brand leaders and company executives didn’t make time to vote and some didn’t respond, I’m ecstatic with our turnout. I wasn’t sure what to expect when this process began given that I’m a new face to some, but many knew our brand, and were excited to participate. It’s been fun connecting with many accomplished radio professionals.
As you review these results, please remember that they represent the collective feedback shared by our industry voters. I do not vote in this process. My role is to assemble the group, collect their votes, and present the information. At the conclusion of the series, Jeff Lynn and I will record a video for the Barrett Media YouTube page sharing our takeaways from the series. Be sure to subscribe to the page so you’re notified of when the video goes live.
Given the size of Music Radio formats, we are presenting the Top 20 shows and programmers from ALL markets. This includes Major Markets, Mid-Markets, and syndicated programs. The best of the best if you will. Some formats are combined due to similarities such as AC/Hot AC, Adult/Classic Hits, and Rock (Active/Modern Rock). There are also a few shows, hosts and/or programmers who appear on lists in multiple formats due to their stations featuring music and programming that crosses over.
Important Information
#1 – Music radio is a massive space, and stations don’t always provide or update information. That makes it hard at times to issue credit to deserving programmers or hosts. We’ve tried to be accurate with the spelling of names, shows, brands, cities, and positions, but we’re human, and mistakes happen. If you see an error, please email Jason@BarrettMedia.com so we can make a correction.
#2 – We’ve asked the voters to supply photos and logos to avoid headaches. Some comply, but most don’t. That’s consistent with voters in our sports and news/talk series too. It forces us to spend a lot of time digging for images to highlight everyone. For that reason, there are no photo changes unless it involves a mistake. Thanks in advance for understanding.
#3 – This series specifically focuses on United States terrestrial music radio shows and programmers. Shows and brand leaders with Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, SiriusXM, YouTube, podcasts and programming outside the United States are not included.
#4 – 72 Adult/Classic Hits radio shows appeared on ballots turned in by our voters. Executives were asked to rank their Top 10 selections using the following criteria: Quality of Show (ear test), Originality, Ability to Entertain-Inform-Connect Across Multiple Platforms, Ratings Success, Clearance (national shows) and Industry Buzz. A 1st place vote equals 20 points, 2nd gets 18, and it goes down by 2 each time until reaching 10th and earning 2 points. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have individual tastes, work for different companies, and value certain factors higher than others. This is not a perfect system but it’s one we feel good about using to showcase the industry’s best.
#4 – 27 broadcasting companies are represented in this series. Among them include iHeartMedia, Audacy, Cumulus Media, Townsquare Media, Beasley Media, Hubbard Radio, Bonneville, Meruelo Media, Radio One, Cox Media Group, Alpha Media, Connoisseur Media, Saga Communications, Hearst Communications, Rubber City Radio Group, Cromwell Media, Press Communications, Pamal Broadcasting, Lotus Communications, Shamrock Communications, Midwest Communications, Seven Mountains Media, Summit Media, Buck Owens, Local Media San Diego, Colorado Springs Radio Broadcasters, and Milwaukee Media Group. Another 18 consulting groups were involved as well. We involve people from different groups and cities to make sure balance is provided.
#5 – Though we have a total of 173 voters in this series, the number voting on each format is lower. This is by design. We wanted experts from each format to vote on what they know best. This means that 38 programmers, consultants, and executives voted on the Classic Rock category, not managers from other formats with less knowledge of Rock radio’s best shows and leaders.
I want to thank Dylan Barrett for doing an excellent job with our graphics, and Stephanie Eads for helping with the voting process. I’d also like to thank every single voter who made time to participate. Now without further delay, here are the Top 20 Adult/Classic Hits Radio Shows of 2024.
Additional Notes:
Broadway Bill Lee enjoyed a comfortable 54 point win over runner up the Gary Bryan Show. Lee also led the way with a category high 7 first place votes.
Spots 21-25 were held by Kristen Hermann, Joanna, Jason & Ben, Rene Taylor, Moose, and Joe Rosati.
The closest battles saw Billy & Judi and Murphy, Sam & Jodi hold off JT Springer, and Jones and Company by 1 point each.
Of the 72 shows to receive votes, 11 received at least one 1st place vote.
Barrett Media Top 20 of 2024 in Music Radio Upcoming Schedule:
Friday January 24 = BMM Top 20 Country Radio Shows and Program Directors
Monday January 27 = BMM Top 20 Urban/Hip-Hop Radio Shows and Program Directors
Tuesday January 28 = BMM Top 20 AC/Hot AC Radio Shows and Program Directors
Wednesday January 29 = BMM Top 20 CHR/Top 40 Radio Shows and Program Directors
We’re half way through Barrett Media’s Top 20 of 2024 presented by Radio.Cloud. Day four features the Top 20 Adult/Classic Hits radio shows of 2024. We’ve also announced today the Adult/Classic Hits formats Top 20 program directors. Stay updated on all of the results by visiting the website, following BM on X, Facebook or LinkedIn or signing up for our newsletters.
Our Top 20 series has highlighted the Sports and News/Talk formats for years, but this is our first entry for music radio. It’s by far the largest project we’ve ever done. 173 program directors, corporate executives, and format consultants voted in this series. 250+ were invited to be a part of it. Though some brand leaders and company executives didn’t make time to vote and some didn’t respond, I’m ecstatic with our turnout. I wasn’t sure what to expect when this process began given that I’m a new face to some, but many knew our brand, and were excited to participate. It’s been fun connecting with many accomplished radio professionals.
As you review these results, please remember that they represent the collective feedback shared by our industry voters. I do not vote in this process. My role is to assemble the group, collect their votes, and present the information. At the conclusion of the series, Jeff Lynn and I will record a video for the Barrett Media YouTube page sharing our takeaways from the series. Be sure to subscribe to the page so you’re notified of when the video goes live.
Given the size of Music Radio formats, we are presenting the Top 20 shows and programmers from ALL markets. This includes Major Markets, Mid-Markets, and syndicated programs. The best of the best if you will. Some formats are combined due to similarities such as AC/Hot AC, Adult/Classic Hits, and Rock (Active/Modern Rock). There are also a few shows, hosts and/or programmers who appear on lists in multiple formats due to their stations featuring music and programming that crosses over.
Important Information
#1 – Music radio is a massive space, and stations don’t always provide or update information. That makes it hard at times to issue credit to deserving programmers or hosts. We’ve tried to be accurate with the spelling of names, shows, brands, cities, and positions, but we’re human, and mistakes happen. If you see an error, please email Jason@BarrettMedia.com so we can make a correction.
#2 – We’ve asked the voters to supply photos and logos to avoid headaches. Some comply, but most don’t. That’s consistent with voters in our sports and news/talk series too. It forces us to spend a lot of time digging for images to highlight everyone. For that reason, there are no photo changes unless it involves a mistake. Thanks in advance for understanding.
#3 – This series specifically focuses on United States terrestrial music radio shows and programmers. Shows and brand leaders with Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, SiriusXM, YouTube, podcasts and programming outside the United States are not included.
#4 – 49 Adult/Classic Hits radio program directors appeared on ballots turned in by our voters. Executives were asked to rank their Top 10 selections using the following criteria: Quality of Show (ear test), Originality, Ability to Entertain-Inform-Connect Across Multiple Platforms, Ratings Success, Clearance (national shows) and Industry Buzz. A 1st place vote equals 20 points, 2nd gets 18, and it goes down by 2 each time until reaching 10th and earning 2 points. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have individual tastes, work for different companies, and value certain factors higher than others. This is not a perfect system but it’s one we feel good about using to showcase the industry’s best.
#4 – 27 broadcasting companies are represented in this series. Among them include iHeartMedia, Audacy, Cumulus Media, Townsquare Media, Beasley Media, Hubbard Radio, Bonneville, Meruelo Media, Radio One, Cox Media Group, Alpha Media, Connoisseur Media, Saga Communications, Hearst Communications, Rubber City Radio Group, Cromwell Media, Press Communications, Pamal Broadcasting, Lotus Communications, Shamrock Communications, Midwest Communications, Seven Mountains Media, Summit Media, Buck Owens, Local Media San Diego, Colorado Springs Radio Broadcasters, and Milwaukee Media Group. Another 18 consulting groups were involved as well. We involve people from different groups and cities to make sure balance is provided.
#5 – Though we have a total of 173 voters in this series, the number voting on each format is lower. This is by design. We wanted experts from each format to vote on what they know best. This means that 38 programmers, consultants, and executives voted on the Classic Rock category, not managers from other formats with less knowledge of Rock radio’s best shows and leaders.
I want to thank Dylan Barrett for doing an excellent job with our graphics, and Stephanie Eads for helping with the voting process. I’d also like to thank every single voter who made time to participate. Now without further delay, here are the Top 20 Adult/Classic Hits Program Directors of 2024.
Additional Notes:
Chris Ebbott notched a 46 point victory over John Foxx, supported by a category best 8 first place votes.
Spots 21-25 were held by Keith Kennedy, Dan Hardee, Larry Morgan, Michael LaCrosse, and Jonathan Suttin.
The closest battles saw Leigh McNabb,Jim Fox and Chris Sargent all separated by 1 point each.
Of the 49 program directors to receive votes, 10 received at least one 1st place vote.
Barrett Media Top 20 of 2024 in Music Radio Upcoming Schedule:
Friday January 24 = BMM Top 20 Country Radio Shows and Program Directors
Monday January 27 = BMM Top 20 Urban/Hip-Hop Radio Shows and Program Directors
Tuesday January 28 = BMM Top 20 AC/Hot AC Radio Shows and Program Directors
Wednesday January 29 = BMM Top 20 CHR/Top 40 Radio Shows and Program Directors
Tim Montemayor loves radio. I mean he really loves radio. In fact, he recently said, “I am in love with radio today as much as I’ve ever been.”
However, you won’t find Tim Montemayor, who most know simply as ‘Monty’, anywhere on the radio dial. You’ll find him on YouTube. Each weekday he’s live from 3p-6p MT on a channel he and his son have built out. That channel now has over 130,000 subscribers.
Monty has been in talk radio for a long time. Way back in 2000 he was a producer at Fox Sports booking guests for the likes of Jim Rome. He did evenings in Sacramento at KHTK, spent time at KTRS in St. Louis, followed that with a stint at Sporting News Radio, then headed Cumulus San Francisco, followed by a move to Salt Lake City as PD and morning show host at KFAN. A land sale ended the run for that station after two years, leaving Montemayor to figure out what was next.
Fortunately, Monty was able to do some work on the national level again with ESPN, but also, he had his son Jake telling him YouTube was the place he needed to be at. So, while he did national work for ESPN Radio, he started diving into YouTube. The rest as they say is history.
“I just have a little bit of a different perspective from my experiences now,” Montemayor said. “Not working in radio and doing YouTube and podcasting, it’s given me a completely different perspective that I don’t know that I could have had when I was working inside of radio. It just makes me realize how much I love the game.”
“What happened with Cumulus in Salt Lake was a real eye-opener for me,” Monty explained. “That experience really changed me because I got to work for Bruce Gilbert, and my market manager was a guy named Terry Mathis. They were just really supportive, strong individual leaders. We had just had our first ever million-dollar year, and done some really great things. But the business was just upside down for Cumulus.”
He continued, “I got really lucky that we started doing YouTube and everything kind of snowballed from there. I’ve had opportunities frankly, but radio is not the same anymore. You can’t count on performing as a barrier to whether or not you keep your job or your contract gets renewed. You can be number one in your market, make the company money, and have ratings and revenue, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to keep your job. I’m fortunate that I have great listeners and supportive sponsors, and it’s really helped me make the transition to where we are now.”
Monty said when the money started to follow the amount and quality of the content they were putting out it was a momentous occasion for him and his family.
“We started to understand that we were in control of our own destiny. Now we didn’t have to worry about our program director getting fired or our sales guy having a bad month.”
Montemayor says he and his son learned everything the way most people do, by trying. You succeed at some things, and fail at others. But as long as you learn from failures, everything should be ok. Figuring out why some posts hit and why others didn’t was one of those learning curves.
“I dove all in on YouTube SEO and never until that moment, I had no idea how important your title and tag was and had no idea that YouTube transcribes your show. Until I dove headfirst into it, and got into the SEO part of it and started doing custom thumbnails every day, titles, tags. Understanding that SEO is not just tags that it’s the words you’re actually saying that’s really where we kind of turned the corner and started seeing our YouTube recommendations go way up.”
Montemayor and his son have formed a great partnership. Monty handles everything on the business end and the SEO while Jake does all of the video production.
“I’m making sure that I keep up with trends and shorts and it is challenging,” Monty said. “I’m fortunate that I’m also in the YouTube research pipeline. We do research and surveys with them pretty much every month. Once you get into their community and you get into their pipeline it really can help.”
Montemayor has helped other hosts who want to go out on their own, but mostly he will talk to anyone that wants to know more, and potentially control their own destiny. Monty says getting started is simple. “Pull out your iPhone and start recording yourself,” he said. “A lot of people are not comfortable with it – it doesn’t matter, you have to do video.”
The other thing Montemayor discusses with hosts who express interest in going the digital route, is whether or not they realize the time commitment to doing it right. He says some come in with all of the right intentions, but don’t want to put in the time and the effort or aren’t willing to stay on top of the latest technology has to offer when it comes to distribution.
“You’ve got to treat it like a gig,” Monty said. “You have to get up every day, get dressed, and go to the office no matter where that is. One of the first lessons you learn is this is a job, and it is not easy.”
Seeing many people in the radio business getting laid off recently, Montemayor posted on his LinkedIn that he was willing to offer his services, free of charge, to anyone who had been affected and wanted advice on how to start up on their own.
“I get so much more out of helping people and giving back,” he said. “I spent so much of my radio career not understanding the value of relationships.”
Monty said he expected maybe a couple of people would reach out in reply to his LinkedIn post, however, he was surprised when it was many more than that. “I probably talked to 25 people, I was really surprised how many people reached out.”
He said he told them all something that is very important and key to their success in digital: Do not care what other people think.
“It’s the number one mistake that people make,” he said. “You’ve got to do it for you. That’s where your passion and enjoyment are going to come out.” He said people in our industry have a tendency to worry about what others may say, and his point is, you are the one doing it, so continue to do it how you want to because you only have to answer to yourself.
As far as who he sees out there that he thinks is doing a great job with digital media, he first points to an old boss – Jim Rome. “Jim Rome is crushing it,” Monty added. “That’s my dude. Jim used to have an open door, and he would allow me to come sit in his office and just talk to him about the business. If I could go back in time, the resource that that man was for me and to see him evolve and to see him doing FAST channels is amazing.”
Monty would later mention 670 The Score in Chicago, 95.7 The Game in San Francisco Brand Manager Matt Nahigian and John Kurtz, who does college football coverage out of Kansas City, as a few he sees thriving with digital content.
“There’s so many people in sports and news/talk today who should be doing it, and they’re not. There’s not a lot out there that is great in my opinion.”
As for what’s next for ‘The Monty’ show and his digital empire, he said 2025 is all about expanding their reach. “We just got back from CES and had some great meetings there with a lot of important people. We’re certainly working on better distribution. You have to find people where they live. We have a lot of people who watch our show on a TV already, more than half of our viewership is on a television and the other part obviously is on a telephone or smartphone, so our goal in 2025 is to grow that distribution.”
As much as ‘Monty’ loves radio, he is also a realist. Being out in front of the content revolution happening on YouTube has paid off more than he ever could have imagined.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
I used to tell air talent that they should have an answer to this question at the end of their shift. “What did I do to delight and surprise the listener today?”
One simple way was to give away a random prize or gift. Ensure that your shows have a stash of prizes they can give away at their discretion.
Let them award one of the prizes when they get a good on-air caller, traffic contributor, or whatever makes the talent happy.
The key is to have a wide range of prizes so that people never know what they might get. There is everything from “Be Our Guest” free restaurant meals to a coveted pair of concert tickets. It’s a good way to handle client giveaways that might not stand alone for a promotional campaign.
Extend it to social media, where you award a poster a prize for a good interaction.
Newsletter Surprise
If your station still does an email blast, surprise people who read to the end. It’s a good way to drive web traffic and see who is paying attention.
Make the last paragraph read: “Thanks for being a club member. Since you read to the end, enter here for a chance to win a pair of Taylor Swift tickets.”
If the prize is right, this also takes on a viral element. People will work for you and spread the word to their peers.
Rummage Sale
Some readers in the South might toss a challenge flag, but summer is around the corner.
Here is one where I made a huge major mistake executing. How I didn’t see it coming, I will never know. The station set out to host a rummage sale to raise money for a local charity.
We asked listeners to donate items that they no longer wanted that we would sell at your sale.
We set up an area in the station parking lot where people could drop off donations. While some people made nice donations, others used it as a dump for a bunch of crap they no longer wanted.
Then, we had to haul it, price it, and drag away van after van load of things that didn’t sell.
One of my major, no cause-and-effect promotion blunders.
But Rummage Sales are still incredibly popular in some parts of the country. People like my wife plot out a day’s worth of spots she wants to hit.
Let listeners list their sales on a special website page. Ask them to donate to your station’s charity for the fee. Make a free-will offering instead of a fixed price. Free will generally makes people more generous.
Class Reunion
As class reunion season approaches, create a special page on the website where classes can post details of their events. This is a great sponsorship idea for a caterer or event center.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
I’ve been a big “SNL” fan for a long time, and with a show that’s been on as long as it has, I’m not alone; it’s become an institution.
I’ve heard it said that over its 50-year run, most people (not unlike favorite bands) are preferential to the cast and sketches of the era they grew up with, meaning the baby boomers insist the original “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” cannot be topped, others citing the Eddie Murphy era or perhaps younger folks citing John Mulaney and Bill Hader’s Stefan character.
I became nearly as hooked on television as I have been on radio when I was about eight years old and rescued a 12’ black and white television my mother was going to throw into the trash.
I snuck the set with its broken aluminum antenna up to my room and hid it under the bed, bringing it out at night to discover the late-night delights of Johnny Carson and David Letterman and, yes, “Saturday Night Live” with the likes of Phil Hartman, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz, and Jan Hooks at the time. I was hooked and have rarely missed an episode since.
As the show celebrates its 50th anniversary season, NBC is putting on a big splashy prime-time retrospective next month and has also launched a retrospective series on their Peacock app, “SNL 50:Beyond Saturday Night”.
There is a lot to absorb here as a fan of the show, a student of comedy, but also as broadcasters and performers. It starts with the audition process; seeing many familiar SNL faces sit and watch back the in-person audition tape that got them their shot is quite remarkable.
Not surprisingly, most of them cringe and insist to the camera their routine was “rough,” but anyone familiar with their later work can see the glimmer of what they’d become known for and the work taken to hone the act.
Most fascinating to me, watching the comedic stars today peering at the old clip of themselves, several twitched and or subtly mouthed the words; they were transported back to the performance, their brain still maintaining the routine somewhere in their mind, a kinetic reaction to one’s own work.
That is a sign of preparation, concentration, drive, and focus, something every talent that wants to compete today should bring to every live break. Next, watching the time and work spent preparing each show, from production to writing to direction from producers, directors, and, of course, the Godfather of TV himself, Lorne Michaels, is eye-opening.
All of this for a weekly 90-minute live show that airs 25 shows a year. As radio performers and talents, we crank out four to five live hours of content five days a week and with much less staff and resources.
That said, the care should be the same: the pride it brings to work and to stand out in the ever-crowded content marketplace. Last, SNL (like the Fallon show) has demonstrated how “old media” or, more politely, “traditional, linear media” can remain vibrant on the good old-fashioned airwaves live BUT supplement with digital content beyond the main program, whether it is on-demand, clips or extras all with additional ad revenue opportunities.
Hell, people pay to tour the studio and buy merch at NBC in New York; that’s how much they love “SNL.” Fallon has his own theme park attraction as a brand supplement.
Locally, radio and radio talent ought to bring the same level of game to drive the kind of passion it takes to build a legacy like that and content that matters to consumers (and advertisers) in that way.
I’m Robby Bridges, and you’re not; now go be YOU and kick ass!
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
“I was shocked and so excited because I saw everybody else who was on that list, and it made me so happy. Just to see all of the people I’ve known for so long, some are personal friends, some are colleagues that I work with at Beasley, and just to see that list of amazing people, I was really happy to be on both lists. It’s crazy,” said Carr.
“And to be on the show’s list was great because “Full Metal Jackie” is on that list, and Jackie Kajzer used to be one of my part-timers many years ago. So, I’ve watched her career grow. So that also made me really proud and happy to see that.”
Carr’s staff was excited to see her receive recognition.
“My staff is always so supportive. They were texting me; it was Monday, MLK Day. I have the greatest staff on the planet. I always say it’s people first. We are nothing at that radio station without our staff. My staff will walk through fire for that radio station.”
“They love it. WDHA is part of who they are. Everyone on staff with us has grown up listening to the station. They were so excited. Everybody was texting me, saying, oh my God, how cool is this? How cool is this?
Carr’s leadership style helps create an all-for-one family-type atmosphere.
“It’s always people first for me. I always say I’m not different than them. I’m not above them. I’m not a boss to them. I never ask them to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself. And I think passion always wins.”
“We’re nothing without the people behind us. I try to make every day have some aspect of why they got into the business. Our business has faced so many challenges lately.”
“Every single day, I constantly try to remind them a little bit of why we loved radio and why we wanted to do it. I think we have to carry a little bit with us through our daily days. Otherwise, the challenges can become overwhelming, especially if you’re a part-time staff. But we’re a family. We’re a team. There’s no one person who’s more important.”
What challenges does Carr see as the most significant facing the industry?
“We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. Radio is such an undervalued asset. We had some of our best moments during the COVID pandemic. We have to communicate with our listeners and with our advertising community. I think that we’ve thrown that away for many years now. The importance of communicating with our advertising community and being our localized entity.”
“I think a lot of the things that we are facing now have been obviously self-inflicted—shrinking staff, shrinking people in the building. And I think the investment in people is the only thing that will save the industry, and that’s gonna sustain the industry.
“Everybody understands that there are different pathways. There are digital pathways. There’s so many ways to consume media these days.”
And what is the advantage of listening to the radio over streaming services?
“We’re a new music station, current based rock station. There’s a different enthusiasm hearing a Wolfgang Van Halen record on WDHA than there is just streaming it. You know? And we just can’t forget that. We’re all taxed with doing a million jobs. Wearing a thousand hats. But we’ve got to roll it back. And we’ve got to roll back to basics. You’ve gotta have a human connection with the people that you are talking to every day.”
Carr’s enthusiasm extends to what can only be called a Sales Manager’s dream PD.
“I never want people to be shy about coming up with something that they think is a great idea. We’re a grassroots radio station. And I try to monetize everything from the WDHA parking lot to concerts to our own beer. There are ways that we have gotten the brand out there and also made money off of it. I always tell everybody to think of yourself as a business person, think of yourself as an agency. What can you do to bring clients to your show?”
Wait a minute. Did she say to sponsor the station’s parking lot? That deserves an explanation.
“After COVID and things were starting to open up I had bands that wanted to come out to the station. So I’m thinking, oh God, you know, getting everybody in a room together, doors closed. We used to do that and invite some listeners in.”
“I thought, you know what? We have this beautiful, amazing parking lot. So, I said to one of my label people, what if I put your band in the parking lot? We’ll set it up really cool. We’ll have them play right in front of the door. There’s a beautiful overhang there, and I’ll contest it. This way, we’ve got an onsite element. We’ve got an on-air element, and we’ve got an online element.”
“It became one of the biggest things that we do. We have thousands of people who enter online. We have people calling all day for parking lot party passes.”
“We brought in a tailgate company, Tapped Event Services. They do all our local football games here, Jets, Giants, Eagles. So, they bring the big tailgate out. I have a local beer distributor, Diamond Spring Brewing. They came up with a parking lot party beer. And we bring in pretty big-name acts. They get a four-song acoustic set. They get to meet the band.”
Carr’s enthusiasm for the business comes through loud and clear when talking to her. So, I asked for the best piece of career advice she ever received.
“I had some really, really great mentors over time. But I think probably something I never forgot is my first management job. Someone told me to always, always let my staff know that I’ll walk through fire for them. Because if that’s the case, they’ll walk through fire for you.”
“I think having everyone’s back has always been a really important part if they’re a part of your team. For me as a manager, that I always wanted to convey to people. I don’t think if you have strife, you’re ever going to really be successful. And I just remember, if you walk through fire for them, they’ll always walk through fire for you.”.
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