Radio Ink Magazine February 7, 2022

Like others who attended the recent CES, I approached going with a bit of hesitation in spite of excellent protocols put in place by the sponsoring organization and my personal precautions, which included a vaccination booster and a supply of KN95 masks. Everyone involved had to make their own decision based on what worked best for them. Still, there are lessons to be learned from this year’s CES, whether you made the trip to Las Vegas or digested its content from headlines and news summaries. One perhaps surprising benefit of an event that usually attracts many more in-person bodies was in fact the smaller attendance. Some saw that as a plus, allowing for more one-on-one time with vendors. Indeed, COVID has taught us to seek benefits behind every adjustment we’ve been…

Thanks to 11 years and 21 seasons as a mainstay on The Voice, Blake Shelton has been the primary face of our format on a national level, giving Country a consistent, legitimate platform. His sense of humor, humility, and mentorship of aspiring young talent have been important to broadening country’s appeal to legions of music fans who always assumed they’d never listen to it. Country music is the most-programmed radio format in America, and typically a competitive factor if not a ratings leader in most markets, particularly during the past 10 years. Blake’s contribution to that ubiquity cannot be overstated. His appeal to radio was firmly established long before The Voice, however — almost 10 years before that. He immediately forged great radio relationships whiledeliveringconsistenthitmusicthatbecamesolid recurrent and gold titles that represented…

My goal today is to encourage you. When the first book in The Wizard of Ads trilogy was released in 1998, my publisher promised all the foreign publishers that I would go on a speaking tour in their nations if they bought the rights to publish my book in their language. Of all the nations I visited, Brazil was my favorite. Antonio Carlos Jobim and “The Girl from Ipanema” and bossa nova are Brazil. Dr. Jorge Martins de Oliveira and Dr. Silvia Helena Cardoso and biophysics are Brazil. Virginio Colombo, the Antoni Gaudi of Buenos Aires, is Brazil. The concrete Christ of Rio is Brazil. When I dropped in to visit my Brazilian publisher, he asked me where I had been, what I had noticed, and what had surprised me most. “My biggest surprise…

You are awakened at 5 a.m. At the other end of the phone: “We have a competitor! It’s ‘The Bull,’ and they sound pretty good! What do we do?” You are suddenly thrust into action. Here’s a checklist of what to do, if you haven’t already: 1. Do a music software check. Are songs rotating perfectly, coded correctly, and mixing properly for your strategy? Get a music test in the field, if you haven’t done so recently. If you can’t afford that, use peer panel monitors to make sure you’re playing the best music. 2. Do air talent understand the target and how to relate to it? If there are weak links, address and fix them immediately. Airstaff will need immediate coaching in order to not be rattled. 3. Be sure your best talent…

First, let’s move ahead a few years mentally. It’s 2024, and we no longer discuss sales compensation in our management meetings. The sales department has been replaced by a marketing department with three subsets of responsibility and dedicated teams to match. The COVID pandemic, the rate of change driven by technology, the increased proliferation of user-generated audio content, and what attracts talent to companies have pushed established ideas out the door. The fundamentals of compensation tied to market size, cost of living, competitive pay, and experience levels still prevail. Comprehensive health insurance, health savings accounts, and short-term savings programs take priority over retirement plans as recruitment efforts require benefits available earlier, when a candidate is hired. Vacations, holidays, and paid time off support the increased emphasis on work-life balance. Benefit Turnover? New on…

Country is heard on more radio stations in America than any other music format, yet the format has shown great audience erosion over the last several years. There is no longer a Country station in America with a cume over 1 million listeners. We’ve even seen the format evacuate from radio in New York City. Audience erosion began before the pandemic, and it has accelerated since the pandemic began. To be fair, other formats have also suffered audience loss since March 2020. But it raises the question: “Where is the Country format going, and can anything be done to bring the format back to pre-pandemic levels?” I posed this question and others to some of the format’s best thought leaders. JohnnyChiang, Country format coordinator for Cox Media Group and director of operations…