(By Mike McVay) At some point during grade school, you likely had a homework assignment during the first week back to school to recap what you did over the summer and share it with the class. I was among the few that liked the assignment. It gave me a chance to reflect on the summer, question how my life was changing, and think about what was ahead in the next year of school.
I also relished – like many on the content side – the opportunity to have the spotlight on me. While that essay went away as I progressed through school, I still keep in the habit.
This past summer was one that I absolutely enjoyed in both my work and personal life. Time with family made it good personally, while working with a new generation of content creators made it fantastic professionally. The excitement young Millennials and Gen Z have for all forms of media harkens back to the early career days experienced by many of us in radio.
The excitement to hear a new song, break a story, be part of an event, and entertain. This was before dreams were dashed or detoured, families uprooted, and expectations failed for some from the Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Gen Y generations.
Radio, Podcasting, Digital, Streaming, Satellite, and social media are the outlets of the modern-day broadcaster. The audience doesn’t discern between mass media and niche media. It’s the ubiquity of the medium that excites the next generation. Why are they excited? They understand their message is being heard on multiple platforms. This generation also understands that they are their own brand, and their development benefits the development of the brand they represent.
What is most similar across generations? Those that respect the audience are the most successful. They understand that satisfying an audience is what it’s all about.
This summer I witnessed firsthand the excitement of attendees to multiple conferences and seminars. I spoke at nine different conventions, seminars, summits, and regional gatherings. The enthusiasm witnessed was spectacular. The attendees were engaged. They took notes, pictures of screens, verbalized voice-to-text, and they attended the sessions. They paid attention.
Seeing such a commitment gives me great hope for what they’ll create, what mistakes we made they’ll learn from, and what they’re going to do or create that to date has been unimagined.
Watching those under 35 create events around the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, bring back the promotional tool of The Street Team, using TikTok to magnify their brand, and participate in parades and community activities, was fulfilling. There’s value to being everywhere and being seen everywhere. It reminded me of some of the most amazing physical assets I’ve ever seen in my career. The difference being that today because of digital and social media, and everyone has a device on their person most hours of a day, you can connect directly with the audience and prospective listeners.
WLRS in Louisville, a legendary Rock station in the ’70s and ’80s, had a blue firetruck that went to every event. They sold the naming rights to a soft drink company, and it became The WLRS Pepsi Pumper. It went everywhere. WLTF in Cleveland was an AC station with an ice cream truck that drove through neighborhoods in the summer. In Greensboro, WMAG morning star Bill Flynn created a replica Andy Griffith Show Mayberry Sheriff’s car and drove it in parades.
Those things were memorable. Imagine them being magnified with today’s digital and social media. There are many more examples.
What youth bring ideas without guardrails to the table. Combine that exuberance with the knowledge of time on earth, and you have the skeletal structure of a strategy. Being at conferences and seeing their enthusiasm, working with them, listening to what they have to say, and not living in the past made this a great summer.
I never want to be one of those people that believe it was better before, because it wasn’t. It’s better now. Carly Simon was right. These are “the good old days.” I hope that your summer was as good as mine.
Mike McVay is President of McVay Media and can be reached at [email protected]. Read Mike’s Radio Ink archives here.
