The days of radio waiting for the other shoe to drop are over.
After years of staff cuts, multiplied responsibilities, and constant headlines predicting the industry’s demise, radio is still here and still connecting. What I’m hearing now, in Nashville, where I live and work, and beyond, is a shift. Less doom. More doing.
Over the past year, I’ve noticed a change in the conversations I’ve been having with people across the industry — managers, programmers and personalities alike. The “woe is radio” mindset appears to be losing some steam, replaced by something far more powerful: the realization that, while we can’t control Wall Street, corporate boards, or the latest technology disruptor, we can control how we show up every day.
And that’s where the opportunity is.
Being an outlier, even a disruptor, in today’s radio environment isn’t easy. It requires honest creativity, relentless hard work, and a willingness to rethink how we do what we do. But here’s the thing – radio is not going anywhere. The rules of the game may have changed, but the game is still on.
That energy was on full display at this year’s Morning Show Boot Camp a few weeks back. The personalities there knew the challenges as well as anyone, but every single one of them showed up ready to put it all on the line because they still believe in this business — and love what they do (entertaining) more than they hate what’s broken. I heard the phrase “You’ve got a job to do, so, forget what you can’t control, and do your job” from several panels. That says it all.
I had a manager early in my career who drilled this lesson into us: don’t just identify problems — find solutions. That mindset feels more relevant now than ever. Instead of riding the “radio must change to survive” horse, let’s climb onto the “here’s how we can thrive with what we’ve got” wagon.
If we do that — as stations, as teams, and as individuals — we won’t just hold on to listeners. We might even start attracting new ones, Gen Z included, because they’ll hear the optimism and passion in what we do, which is what radio has always been about.
Here are several recommendations as we move forward:
- Adapt to change: With new tech (hello, A.I.) emerging daily, stay curious, open, and positive. Never stop learning.
- Network and share ideas: Years ago, I joined monthly calls with PDs from other companies for the purpose of an idea exchange. Every session, I walked away with something — a great song I’d overlooked or a fresh promotion idea. Now, you have Zoom, Teams, and Riverside.
- Take smart risks: Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Now is the time to try bold, creative ideas to stand out with the emphasis on “bold”. The word’s definition is self-explanatory – showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous.
Saw this quote a few weeks back and it now adorns a wall in my office: “You have nothing to say about the cards you’re dealt, but you have everything to say about how you play them.”
The cards have been dealt. Now it’s on us to write the playbook together. In next week’s column, I will show some real life, successful examples of being bold.
