One of the most talked about sessions at this year’s NAB Radio Show was a presentation on listener’s reactions to long stopsets. The presentation included video of the listener’s real time reactions to an 11-minute commercial break. Now, I’m sincerely not trying to be sarcastic… but is the state of our industry so absurd that […]

Where were you the day that innovation stopped? As someone who has been programming radio stations for a long time, I’ve been blessed to work with some of the best talent in the industry. I’ve also witnessed some massive mistakes made by upper management that are the roots of many of the problems we have […]

Early into my time in New York, I met someone who would become one of my closest friends. Mike Erickson was the Chief Engineer of WCBS-FM, and quickly impressed me because he’s one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met in radio. We both share a passion for great audio processing, and one night […]

Yes, it has been a while since I’ve written anything here. This was partially due to the fact that I feel like I’m preaching to the choir on this platform. Most of the readers here “get it” – but the people who need to hear this message the most – the people in charge – […]

A friend of mine was being “courted” by one of the big companies, and as is typically the case, he was told that in addition to hosting a show on one station, he would also be voice-tracking several other stations. They proceeded to give him a memo of instructions entitled “Network Talent Guidelines”, which outlined […]

I’ll never forget the day that I first walked into 4002 Gandy in Tampa. This was the home of Jacor Broadcasting at the time, and my first thought was how dated and cheap the lobby appeared to be. You could tell that there had been almost no investment into the lobby since the mid-1980’s. When […]

I was lucky enough to grow up in a town that had an unusual set of characters on the radio. In that era of Detroit radio, I was able to witness first-hand the power of the medium when a compelling, unusual, and entertaining personality had autonomy to actually do a “show” instead of a “shift”. […]

I’ve seen and written many articles through the years about what it takes to make a great radio station. But few have ever taken the time to talk about what drives a station from the top to the bottom. We’ve all seen the movie… a station is on top for years, and then something happens […]

The moment that I heard the answer, I knew we were doomed. I remember asking a GM at a brand new CHR station that I was working with to define what ratings success looked like… what would be a good rank P 18-34 to define success. The GM said “I’d be happy if the station […]

One of my favorite questions to ask a talent in an interview is “what makes your show special?” This is a basic question that shouldn’t catch talent off-guard, but nine times out of ten, it does. Then I watch them reach for the “stock” answers – “I work really hard every day”, or “I’m real….” […]