Pending Business: One Billion and Counting
By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communucations Corp
President
Let’s talk streaming because I don’t get what is happening. Maybe you do.
Talk shows place decent cameras in the radio studio, maybe one in the control room, possibly a third at a “producer’s” desk, a flat screen or two with cool visuals in the background to fulfill the coolness quotient, push the video stream to YouTube or another platform and wait for the throngs of followers to find the talk radio show, view, subscribe and stay with it until the numbers are staggering.
Sometimes the video stream is promoted on air or your station’s website and the expectation is the online audience will skyrocket. After several months, the viewer numbers don’t skyrocket, or maybe the numbers develop modestly, but sales becomes the art of packaging. Because the scale necessary to move the sales needle is still not happening.
This is not a hypothetical. This is happening today at some of the best radio stations delivering high-level radio programming in markets of all sizes around the country. Why do we struggle with how to turn the best radio programming in the world into competitive online video content?
The short answer is great talk radio programming is just that: great radio programming. But herein lies the dilemma. Great talk radio talent, in any format, are natural masters of the foundational elements that can make their YouTube, Rumble, and other social media video platforms gain audience and successfully generate revenue.
Let’s identify the most important reason why:
1. Authentic. Show me one successful talk radio host in any talk radio format who does not exude “authentic.” Agree or disagree with the host on politics, sports, finances or fishing, great talk show hosts are authentic, and their audience can sense the passion coming through in every show. Now, let’s identify the nasty four-letter word, stopping many great talk talents and their content from performing competitively on current social media video platforms. That four-letter word?
2. Show. Most great talk radio talents understand what it takes to put on a great “show.” Mechanics, formatics, and unique skills are developed over time designed to maximize Nielsen performance. But often, many of these – forgive me here – old media “show” skills are not relevant to the huge audience now consuming 1 billion hours of YouTube video every day. Yet we persist and video stream the radio “show” with the expectation an online audience will skyrocket, sales will explode, and the future is as easy as hitting the send button. It just does not work that way.
The radio industry has developed many of the greatest “authentic” talents in the world. How will we plan for a future that has billions of hours of consumption?
Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.
Avoid THE most-common mistake I hear in promos for talk stations’ weekend ask-the-expert shows: Opening with the Close.
Multimedia’s KNDK- AM/FM, Langdon and KXPO-AM/FM, Grafton, North Dakota add the program to their lineups. “The Joe Pags Show,” hosted by Joe Pagliarulo, is based at flagship WOAI, San Antonio where Pagliarulo and iHeartMedia recently signed an extension through 2026. The program is now heard on more than 170 markets across the country. Joe Pags comments, “I’m incredibly excited to welcome Tampa, Tucson and North Dakota listeners to the show to start off the 2024 presidential election year.”
Ticket radio station as a kid, and I knew within about 5 seconds it’s where I wanted to be. It was a magical place. The energy was off the charts. I was hooked. From intern, to overnight board op, to fill in producer to full time producer, to host… it didn’t matter what I did there, it just mattered that I WAS THERE. Well here we are, 30 years down the road, and I’m still here. And I still have a blast every single day, and it’s still such a magical place. I know I’m lucky. So I just signed a 5 year deal, ensuring I will begin and end my work life there. Love my team, love our show, and love that place. Cheers to you, good P1s, Let’s go.”
compliance reports to the Bureau through the remainder of the current license terms of the two stations, and pay a Civil Penalty to the United States Treasury in the total amount of $500,000.” The violations in question center on a program that aired on Townsquare’s news/talk outlets KIDO-AM, Boise and KLIX-AM, Idaho Falls from October 2021 through March 2023 in which they “broadcast a one-hour episode of, and 30-second advertisements promoting, the Program. The format of each episode nominally resembled a news interview/public affairs program produced and presented by the Stations. In fact, however, all episodes of the Program were paid political presentations. Townsquare was paid to broadcast episodes of the Program and related advertisements initially by and on behalf of the Idaho Republican Party, and later by Tom Luna on behalf of a company doing business as Tom Luna and Associates. The hosts of each episode (Tom Luna and Victor Miller, chairman of the Ada County (Idaho) Republican Party) were solely responsible for producing the Program, including selecting guests and determining program content. Neither station provided any on-air Sponsorship ID announcements for the vast majority of the episodes or promotional advertisements that they aired revealing to listeners the true nature of the broadcasts and the identity of those who paid for them. In addition, multiple episodes of the Program contained appearances that constituted uses by legally qualified candidates for public office and communicated messages relating to political matters of national importance. Neither station uploaded records of any such candidate uses or messages to their respective online political files.”
become synonymous with insightful, spirited broadcasting. This contract is more than an agreement; it’s a promise of continued excellence and engagement with our beloved San Antonio community and the great state of Texas.” Pags’ program is nationally syndicated and is heard on more than 170 stations. He comments, “It has been an absolute honor to be on WOAI for 18 years now and I’m so thankful to continue talking with the great people of San Antonio and beyond for years to come! Growing with this community and with iHeart has been an incredible ride. Being on this station has given me the opportunity to reach the kind of national audiences I only dreamed would happen one day. I remain driven and motivated to produce the best show I can every day – and am thrilled it will continue from WOAI!”
Kinkead and talking about Audacy’s impending bankruptcy. Kinkead reports that Audacy executives weren’t happy with Marks broaching the subject and consequently fired him from the CBS Sports Radio position. Marks told Kinkead, “I am no longer doing CBS Sports Radio because I was terminated by the company following the interview with you…. I wanted to be honest and candid about it. I didn’t rip the company. I wasn’t killing the company. I was very fair and spoke very highly of everybody that worked at WIP, and I wasn’t blaming Audacy (like) it was their fault, I was just talking about the financials of being in the radio business today…” 
news, content, and operations for the Black Information Network. As SVP of public engagement, Ingram will lead BIN’s efforts to build more meaningful public and private sector partnerships and lead the network’s engagement efforts for 
both the national BIN platform as well as in all local BIN markets. BIN president Tony Coles says, “Chris and Angela have been integral to the growth and success of the Black Information Network, and these new and expanded roles reflect their leadership. Chris has worked with closely with our newsroom since day one and unifying our news and programming operations under his direction will enable us to grow and strengthen our network, podcast, and digital content at a faster pace. I am equally excited about Angela’s new role, which will enable the Black Information Network to work even closer with leaders in government, business, and non-profits to improve our content, coverage, and impact.”
Acknowledging that this publication is fiercely non-partisan and that I – in my role as a broadcaster – am basically the same, I offer the following, not as a political opinion piece, but rather a personal observation based on experience that might shed light on the deeper nature of a large segment of the American population prone to listen to talk radio.
the report as momentum grows in Congress for legislation to ensure AM radio is accessible to the public in all vehicles. NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt states, “When disaster strikes, AM radio has proven time and again its invaluable role as a source of factual, authoritative, up-to-the-minute information that saves lives. It is also a home to a diversity of programming that is often unavailable on other mediums and particularly important to otherwise underserved communities. It is critical that Congress address the need for AM radio capability in vehicles to ensure Americans can turn to local AM stations when they need them the most.” 
Yellowtec, will be discussing new developments and TALKERS founder Michael Harrison will be chatting about the forthcoming United Nations’ 
Radio Network. This is a significant step up for us, and we are ready to help more people! By airing our radio show weekly on JFRN, we will be able to help more great Americans and their loved ones.” John Fredericks comments, “Adding an informative investing and retirement planning show to our growing radio network was important to us. We want to provide important information to help people better protect and grow their hard-earned money during this difficult time in our country, politically and economically. Ford’s show is at the next level. He shares important information as a licensed financial advisor that Americans can apply to their retirement plans every week.”
here to stay.” In order to get compensation from these multichannel video programming distributors, Newsmax shuttered its free steaming channel on November 1. Interestingly, Ruddy tells Cablefax that contrary to what people might assume, the arrival of Donald Trump on the political scene didn’t help Newsmax’s efforts. “I think President Trump has added great difficulty to Newsmax because there’s so much hostility in the industry and world against him. The media establishment, but also in the cable industry, he’s not a really liked figure. We were having more success I felt before he was elected in 2016. I think we probably would have gotten more carriage earlier had he not been elected… We try to reach out to both sides. While we have a lot of pro-Trump stuff, we also have people like Rick Santorum. He has been you know very critical of him through the years and he’s now our leading political adviser… Our night leads with Greta Van Susteren, and she’s not a polarizing figure.” 
collection migration. NPR’s “NPR News Now” is back in the #1 spot, followed by NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” at #2, audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #3, and NPR’s “Up First” at #4. Other radio-related podcasts in the top 25 include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #7 (down three places), Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” at #18 (down six spots), and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” at #25 (down nine places). 
views and minutes, according to data from Comscore. FOX News Digital accrued 20.2 billion multiplatform views (up 9% versus 2022) and multiplatform minutes reached 36.9 billion (up 6% over 2022). FOX topped competitors CNN.com and NYTimes.com in both of those metrics. Importantly, in the multiplatform unique visitors – comparable to radio’s cume – FOX achieved 93.6 million, an increase of 13% over its 2022 total, while news brand leader CNN.com racked up 121 million, a decline of 3% compared to 2022. 
WWL-AM/FM, sports talk WWWL-AM, and four music brands. Barron succeeds Kevin Cassidy, who was named SVP and market manager of Audacy Chicago in December. Additionally, Bob Mackay assumes the role of vice president of sales for Audacy Dallas after serving in the same post in Austin. And three regional presidents add responsibilities to their regions as Doug Abernethy picks up regional and direct oversight of Audacy Austin, Brian Purdy adds regional oversight for Audacy Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee, and Mark Hannon assumes regional oversight of Audacy Minneapolis. Audacy COO Susan Larkin comments, “We have a very strong leadership team that has enabled us to make strategic changes and promote talent with multi-year track records of success. These leadership moves continue to position our local brands to deliver exceptional listener experiences and client value while reinforcing our commitment to excellence in the communities we serve.”
more ads that communicate dry features/benefits. Additionally, research indicates that converting existing demand and creating future demand require different creative/copy approaches and different media strategies. Converting existing demand is most efficiently achieved by tightly targeting those “in the market” with rational messaging of product and price information that persuades them to choose the advertiser’s product over others. Creating future demand is most efficiently achieved by targeting very broad audiences of “all category buyers” with emotional messaging that is designed to stand out and be enjoyed by consumers, creating positive memories of the brand that will influence future purchase decisions. Finally, podcast consumers are invested in the success of their favorite shows. Half of weekly podcasts consumers said they wouldn’t mind a couple of extra ads per show so their favorite podcasts could continue. 
the Annual Report alone, without also uploading it to its intended destination in a timely manner, here more than nine months late, may, in certain circumstances, constitute (and here does constitute) a violation of the requirements to analyze the Stations’ EEO program. The length of time during which Cumulus failed to upload its Annual Report is persuasive evidence that Cumulus did not ‘routinely analyze the adequacy of their various EEO program elements in achieving broad outreach to all segments of the community’ and address any problems found as a result of such analysis… Consequently, given the specific circumstances of this case, we reject Cumulus’s argument that any self-evaluation it did in fact undertake was adequate and satisfied the self-assessment rule.” 
re-join WIP once a successor is named. Audacy says a nationwide search is currently underway. The WIP co-host position opened after Jon Marks announced his exit from the station for personal reasons in December. Audacy Philadelphia SVP and market manager David Yadgaroff says, “We’re very excited to bring Spike home to Philadelphia and SportsRadio 94WIP. This is a unique opportunity to add a great talent with a long history in our marketplace to one of our most popular dayparts, and we’re looking forward to having Spike reunite with his longtime friend and colleague Ike Reese and Jack Fritz to shape the future of afternoon drive at WIP.” Eskin comments, “I am thrilled to be able to work with Ike and Jack in afternoons at 94WIP. It’s now the third job of a lifetime I’ve had the opportunity to do. Leaving WFAN and CBS Sports Radio is an incredibly difficult decision. I’m surrounded by talented, great people, and it’s been an amazing experience. I’d like to thank David Yadgaroff, Jeff Sottolano and Rod Lakin for this opportunity, and Chris Oliviero for my time in New York.”
inducted into the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame on September 26, 2024. A portion of the net proceeds from the Hall of Fame gala is donated to The Broadcasters Foundation. Herman says, “I’m humbled to be in the company of some of the broadcast greats who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and I’m proud to represent radio in the Class of 2024.” The annual Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame pays tribute to the pioneers, innovators and stars of broadcast, cable, broadband and streaming television.
February 13. Comrex says, “Tens of thousands of Comrex customers go ‘live and local’ every day to bring radio to life for their listeners. Customers that already have a Comrex IP audio codec can use Gagl to connect to their existing hardware. Broadcasters in the US that don’t have a Comrex ACCESS or BRIC-Link IP audio codec can even request free demo hardware if they would like to participate. Restrictions apply.” Comrex adds that using Gagl is as simple as clicking a link from an email. It opens a web browser on a phone or computer and connects with up to five other users. As long as the broadcasters are using headphones, everyone hears each other and the host back in the studio. Audio quality is much better than most web conferencing applications, and there is no complicated setup. For more information, contact Comrex at 800-237-1776 or email 
Salem’s government affairs efforts since September of 2021 and focuses on it full time. Salem CEO Dave Santrella comments, “Nic’s passion and commitment to advocating for the 
interests of Salem and our industry in the halls of government has proven that he is a natural for this role. This promotion to VP of government affairs is a recognition of his talents and the value of the role to Salem.” As a result of Anderson’s promotion, Salem ups Minneapolis station manager Mike Murphy to the general manager position. Salem president of broadcast media Allen Power states, “Mike’s leadership as station manager has earned this elevation into the GM chair. We are grateful for how he has provided oversight in Minneapolis that made it possible for Nic Anderson to take on government affairs. We are excited to see Mike move into the full GM job.”
The company says that the initiative will achieve these objectives with a robust schedule of climate-themed broadcasts and special programming during the next 12 months, four free community events (one per quarter), two town halls broadcast nationally from Los Angeles, and a savvy social media and marketing campaign. KBLA says its public and private partners in this initiative include: LADWP, Metro, the Port of Los Angeles, CalEndow, California Community Foundation, the Sierra Club, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and others who will join the campaign in Q2, Q3 and Q4. Chief visionary officer and nationally 
syndicated talk host Tavis Smiley says, “The harsher impacts of climate change weigh heavily on communities of color. In these underserved communities, families are less likely to have air conditioning, shade trees, bus shelters, water and energy effective appliances and other infrastructure that’s critical to mitigate a changing climate. As the most ‘trusted, credible and reliable’ media source in Southern California for African Americans and beyond, our talk station is committed to do more than just talk in these troubled times. There is a clear connection between Dr. King’s moral consistence on the notion of reverence for human life or the interconnected nature of life and the future of our world house. On this MLK holiday weekend, KBLA assigns itself the task of elevating the climate conversation by amplifying the voices of those who are most impacted by the climate catastrophes we are all witnessing in real time. In a real sense, climate is king.”