I recently came across a Facebook post of a man in his 40s who was seriously considering leaving his current career and becoming a radio personality. That post should scare everyone in this industry. Not because of the question, but because of the answers.
What got my attention were the comments and words of “advice”, following the post, from those in and NOT in the industry.
Allow me to share a few, anonymously, of course:
It’s a bad time to join that industry. Even the big-time veterans are getting let go.
Large radio companies are layoff factories right now.
Many extremely talented radio people are either struggling to find work or have just decided to change career paths.
Not worth the time, major effort, and money for embarrassment!
Corporate bean-counters consider talent and creativity a bottom-line problem that must be eliminated. Every year, they slash more and more. It’s bare-boned now.
Sounds “interesting”. Now… what are you gonna live on?
I got fired once in ‘92 and couldn’t rebound into a new gig. Ended up finishing up my college degree and transitioned into a medical sales career. I couldn’t even imagine trying to earn a living in radio now.
Since you said “career”, I assume you want to be able to make money. I left radio in 2002 because I wanted to be able to pay my bills. Lots of things have changed in the industry since then, and not for the better.
Radio careers are far and few between, if any. No lie that I ran into a guy who was on air at a medium market station for a lot of years, who is now a greeter at Walmart!
Not to discourage you, but if you have a family and it’s going to be your only means of support, it’s going to be a tough road. Companies today don’t want to pay what they used to pay for air talent.
In terms of full-time work in radio… run away as fast as you can. The pay is falling like a rock, and the jobs are disappearing even faster.
If this is how people inside and outside the industry talk about radio… why would anyone choose it as a career?
I wish broadcast owners/CEO’s could see these very real comments. If they are interested as to where the industry will be five to ten years from now (as they should be!), there is a HUGE barrier to entry, especially for talent, that must be fixed, NOW, with radio’s image AND radio’s ability to pay. If radio wants a future talent workforce, this isn’t optional…
It’s survival!
Here’s what has to happen:
- Start a REAL in-house air talent training program: Create your own “stars”. Use your current talent to work with incoming students to get them ready to be part of the team. Bring them into the station’s various media platforms. Budget for it!
- Create a company/station relationship with area college stations/departments: Work with colleges that have programs (most colleges still do) and sponsor their campus station. Donate a specific amount of time per week of your staff’s expertise in every facet of the business. Select one or more students for scholarships to be part of the station(s) each year. Build your future year by year.
- Promote all of this on air, online… everywhere: Let people know that this is a different radio industry now. We are looking at 2030 and beyond.
We complain about not having any radio “farm teams” anymore… well, there you have it. Your OWN in-house farm team.
What is it that Google, Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart, among others, are doing with training programs for their students/entry-level employees, while radio seems to whiff on it? They are manufacturing their future on purpose. That must be the goal from here on.
Back to that Facebook post…
The real question, right now, isn’t whether that 40-something-year-old should get into radio. The real question is this:
Why would he?
Exactly. Pretty dang scary. People love good talent and listen to that talent habitually. When that talent goes away, radio listenership falls hard.
BUT… if sales teams struggle to sell radio AND struggle to make Radio work for their clients… then, there’s nothing left to pay the talent. The radio groups that struggle… are the ones who don’t train their sales teams properly – how to make it work for advertisers in the long run – and stop relying on short-term packages. And “making it work” is where most of the education is needed. Ad writing skills, creativity, etc. What makes advertising work is the message – not the media. Improve your sales team (weekly educational sessions) and improve the creative. Then, you eventually won’t have to rely on agency business or holiday ad packages to keep the lights on. Long-term, local direct clients. It’s not that hard if you’re willing to do it right.
Train and foster the on-air talent AND the sales / creative team.
Great article. Scary, but good. 🙂
Love this question—and honestly, I think a lot of the negativity misses the bigger picture.
Radio isn’t “dying”… it’s evolving. And for someone at 40, that can actually be a huge advantage.
If you’re looking at radio the way it existed 20–30 years ago—just being on-air, reading liners, and playing music—then yeah, that lane has narrowed. But if you’re looking at what radio is today and where it’s going, it’s a completely different conversation.
Today, radio is:
Content creation
Podcasting & on-demand audio
Video + social integration
Live events & community connection
Local influence that digital-only platforms still can’t replicate
The big groups having challenges? That’s real. But that’s also where opportunity comes from. Disruption always creates space for new talent, new ideas, and people who can connect in authentic ways.
And here’s the part people overlook…
At 40, you likely have:
Real life experience
Business understanding
Stronger communication skills
A clearer sense of purpose
That’s gold in this business.
Radio (and audio in general) still reaches millions of people every single day. Local brands, local voices, and trusted personalities still matter—a lot. If you can tell stories, build relationships, and adapt across platforms, there is absolutely a place for you.
So the better question isn’t “Why would he?”
It’s: “What kind of radio career does he want to build?”
Because the old version is fading—but the new version is wide open.
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