According to Research…
By Walter Sabo
Consultant, Sabo Media
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Radio Host, Sterling on Sunday
Oh, excuse me, hold on. Here it is! The hourly report from quasi research companies or real research companies like Nielsen declaring that radio is just fine, thank you! Massive surveys (choose one) reveal that radio works! Radio appeals to younger demos! Radio moves product! Radio has more listeners in AM drive than the “Tonight Show” has viewers! A landslide of data proves that after 100 years of success, radio is a viable medium.
Crazy stuff.
As both a radio executive and host, I don’t need to know that radio works. I see the sales results from your show and from “Sterling On Sunday.” No advertiser gives us money for the heck of it. The checks clear; there’s your proof. The research that is desperately needed would support innovative, disruptive programming. Radio will grow its place in American media by surprising listeners with new formats, new forms of presentation and things that are… new.
Radio exists today because of innovations like Top 40! Urban! Progressive Rock! AOR! Modern Country! FM Talk! and The Seven-Second Delay!
Today, however, there is nothing harder than selling a radio executive a new idea. Any new idea. It is hard for a very good reason. Radio stations are major investments and failure is expensive. In 1977, the most expensive radio stations in history sold for $11 million. (WMAL/WRQX-FM, Washington DC.) In absolute dollars, experimentation was a minor financial risk. Risk would be manageable if owners had sophisticated research tools to test new ideas.
State-of-the-art new product research is required to take radio safely onto the golden path to innovation. How’s your research and development budget? Oh.
Each television network invests about $100 million a year in developing and testing new shows. Those networks deploy stunning techniques to find and test new ideas. There will be new formats and techniques when the collective “we” is finally convinced that radio is a success. Then our research investments can be focused on cutting-edge product research tools that can guarantee a successful pilot season and future.
Walter Sabo, consultant, can be contacted at Sabo Media: walter@sabomedia.com. Direct phone: 646-678-1110. Check out www.waltersterlingshow.com. Meet Walter Sabo at TALKERS 2023 on June 2 at Hofstra University.
Tip: If you’re auditioning for voiceover work, call yourself a “voice actor,” not an announcer.
I’m an SU fan. I’m sorry, but I bleed Orange. I’m not going to apologize for that, and I think a fair reading of the Orange is appropriate. I understand [Galaxy has] a business relationship [with Syracuse], that Coach [Jim] Boeheim and I are personal friends and he’s an investor in my company. I understand and acknowledge all of that. We’ve called it pretty fair, and I would argue we’ve been tough on SU when the on-field or off-field events warrant it. I just think over the past six months it took a different tone and became overly dark and negative. I don’t think that’s what Syracuse fans want to hear.” For his part Axe tells Syracuse.com, “I had a responsibility to give an honest, fair and thorough opinion to my audience. I certainly wasn’t perfect, but I don’t regret anything about the approach of the show. We put listeners on the air, and we gave them the opportunity to say what they needed to say. I don’t have any regrets.” 
‘Stuff You Missed in History Class’ podcast, Holly Frey; and esteemed journalist, author and co-founder of Pushkin Industries, Malcolm Gladwell, joined with today’s biggest marketers to explain why podcasting is growing rapidly and how brands need to adapt, invest and create audio advertising that resonates with podcast fans.” iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group CEO Conal Byrne says, “Podcasters are the most creative, fastest-growing, diverse wave of influencers to hit content and marketing in years – just as influencer marketing more generally was becoming a key new way to reach audiences. This event came together because our podcast creators are deeply invested in the brands and advertising that become part of their shows, that they asked us to give them a chance to sit down with marketers at scale and talk about what makes host-read creative work. What really differentiates podcasting and our iHeartPodcast Network from other mediums is that creators and fans expect the advertising to be endemic to the shows, often voiced by the hosts and authentic to the listening experience. This is a chance to roll up our sleeves and co-create, collaborate and showcase the simplicity, speed and creative potential of podcasting.”
2021, Townsquare is upbeat about its Digital segment. CEO Bill Wilson says, “I am proud to report that Townsquare’s transformation into a Digital First Local Media Company allowed us to deliver record results in 2022 despite a progressively challenging economic landscape… 2022 was a significant inflection point for our company. It marked the first year where radio no longer comprised the majority of our revenue and profit, further separating Townsquare from our local media peers, and placing a spotlight on our world-class team and our unique and differentiated strategy, assets, platforms and solutions. Our growth engine has been and will continue to be our 
digital solutions, which were the primary driver of our 2022 growth. Total digital revenue increased +16% year-over-year (and +12% in the fourth quarter) to $231 million, and total digital Adjusted Operating Income increased +12% year-over-year to $69 million, representing a 30% profit margin. We believe Townsquare’s ability to drive profitable, sustainable digital growth is a key differentiator for our company, and we reaffirm our expectation that our digital revenue will grow to at least $275 million by 2024. We are uniquely positioned as a Digital First Local Media Company focused principally on markets outside of the Top 50 in the United States, with a resilient digital growth engine supported by both a recurring subscription digital marketing solutions business, with a large addressable market and limited competition, and a highly differentiated digital advertising technology platform. We believe that our business model and strategy position us to weather the current economic environment better than most… Our success has been and will continue to be the result of the Townsquare Team focusing on what we do best: creating high quality, local original content for our audiences and delivering creative and cost-effective marketing solutions for our local clients with strong return on investment.”
noon to 3:00 pm ET. Erickson says, “We are thrilled to embark on this next chapter of our growth and are so appreciative of our friends and partners who have supported us.” Compass Media Networks CEO and founder Peter Kosann states, “At a critical time in our nation’s history and just as the public starts to turn their attention to the upcoming presidential election cycle, we are thrilled to bring Erick Erickson to the national stage. Erick is a winner by every metric, and we are lucky to call him our friend and colleague.”
Have you picked up the most recent buzz around Artificial Intelligence? It’s hard to miss it.
The embarrassing situation and accompanying financial vulnerability being faced by our colleagues at FOX News is a high-profile example of the consequences of audience “targeting” that has become the common positioning strategy in today’s competitive media marketplace. The process is simple: You give the specifically targeted audience what it wants, not necessarily what it needs, even if what it wants is of dubious quality or unhealthy and – in the case of political talk media – untrue. It is a problematic, unsavory practice that has been brewing in our industry for years and, in the case of FOX, the proverbial toxicity has just hit the fan.
three segments. The Multiplatform Group (including broadcast stations, networks and sponsorships & events) reports Q4 revenue of $732 million – a 0.9% increase over Q4 2021. Broadcast revenue grew $3 million, while Networks declined $5.5 million (4.1%). Revenue from Sponsorship and Events increased by $8.1 million (12.1%). The Digital Audio Group reports revenue of $301 million in Q4 of 2022 – up 10.2% 
over Q4 of ’21. Podcast revenue increased by $16.4 million (16.9%). The Audio & Media Services Group reports Q4 2022 revenue of $94.5 million – an increase of 44.3% over the same period in 2021. iHeartMedia chairman and CEO Bob Pittman says, “We are pleased to report another quarter of solid operating results for iHeart in consumer usage, revenue, and earnings growth. The fourth quarter was our best quarter for Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA – and on a full-year basis, in 2022 we generated the highest revenue and the second highest Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow year in iHeart’s history. Even in this continuing challenging and uncertain economic environment, we continue to make strong progress in our transformation of iHeart into a true multiplatform audio company – driven by innovation, supported by data and technology, and powered by the largest sales force in audio – and we are positioning iHeart to take advantage of the coming economic recovery.” 
One thousand or so of the sellers that I mentioned sit in the multi-platform group, and they certainly sell all the assets we have. We have this mantra at the company that ‘Any seller can sell anything any day of the week wherever they live and work,’ and that has rung pretty true. That’s driven most of our growth in podcasting over the last two, three, four years at the company.” He also credits iHeartMedia’s history as a radio company with educating him about how radio personalities have developed the art of conversation. “But I have learned firsthand and talked a lot about the extent to which broadcast radio talent has honed this craft of conversation over the last hundred years and certainly the last few decades, and the extent to which that has driven our medium, just sheer talent hitting the medium, but also with an awareness of the medium.” 
Growing up in a small town, “word of mouth” was the most powerful form of advertising. It could make – or break – a business. Malcolm Gladwell’s important Tipping Point book explained that movements, pandemics, and other things that “catch on” do so because of the influence of “connectors” – people who are asked for their opinion. Today, the media world likes to call them “influencers.”
Local news sponsorship is an opportunity to “fish for whales,” institutional advertisers who can associate with something special. And, well-done, local news sure is special, because:
How might we better serve you in the future? How would you rate our service?
Radio is good at contests. TV and print suck at contests. However, when listeners are asked why they tune to radio, contests are at the bottom of the list.
Miracle Mile. Mike Simpson, host of “LA’s Morning News” on KNX, and Charles Feldman, host of “KNX In Depth” and “LA’s Afternoon News” served as moderators. Audacy Southern California regional president Jeff Federman says, “There is no issue of more universal importance to our communities. It was important that we use our platform at KNX News to ensure parents and teens know they’re not alone in adjusting to a new reality.” Panelists included students Montserrat Hidalgo, Sarah Mian, and Alex Bielanski who discussed their first-hand experiences of how the pandemic shutdowns affected their education, social development, and mental health. Other panelists were Long Beach Unified School District superintendent Jill Baker, UCLA director of undergraduate admissions Gary Clark, Los Angeles Trade Tech College dean Chito Cajayon, and Stanford University professor Sean Reardon. 
recognize social impact work across the globe. A noted civil rights attorney, Martin is also president and CEO of Special Needs Network, Inc, a nonprofit organization that responds to the crisis of autism and other developmental disabilities in underserved communities. She says, “Giving birth should be safe and joyous for everyone, but Black women are more than three times likely to die from childbirth than white women. We are thrilled to have our episode on ‘Black Maternal Health’ win Silver in competition of the 2nd Annual Anthem Awards. ‘The Special Report’ production team has spent countless hours producing powerful programming that spotlights social injustice in America to encourage social and systemic change. Every day at the Special Needs Network in Los Angeles, we live the values of diversity, equity and inclusion. This award recognizes our work.”
advice!” The duo has worked together since 2006, including a formerly syndicated radio show and a podcast. Beasley Media Group chief content officer Justin Chase says, “As someone who grew up listening to fun and edgy night shows like ‘Loveline’ and others, I’m very excited to launch the ‘Cooper & Anthony’ show on three of our great rock brands. They will most certainly make radio a lot more interesting at night in Fort Myers, Tampa and Vegas.” Cooper states, “This is the show I got into radio to do. I’ve been waiting for the right team with the same vision. We found it with the amazing folks at Beasley. Anthony and I can’t wait to share this show with our listening family, because it’s all about them!” 
hour. Starting next Monday, our sports reports will begin airing at :25 and :55 and our money/business reports will move to :10 and :40 past each hour. We will also be reducing the number of commercial breaks listeners hear each hour and increasing the amount of news we deliver at the same time. These changes allow us to provide our listeners with longer, uninterrupted news segments, which we believe offer a better listening experience overall.” Ziegler adds they are tweaking how they approach news content. “WTOP will always be the place you can turn to when news is breaking, but we realize news consumers want more than that — not just from WTOP but from the news industry as a whole. So, it is our commitment to balance out those serious news stories we deliver each day with news about the good things going on in the D.C. region, too. Stories that make you smile; stories that inspire hope; and stories that make you laugh or are just cool. We’re also committed to providing you with stories that can help you, your kids, your finances and your health, too.”
appeared on the “Parkins & Spiegel” show. Olivia Finestead is the mother of Clevinger’s 10-month-old who went on the radio show to discuss the allegations against Clevinger, a move he called “really trashy of them. That was some lowlife material right there.” He was also quoted saying, “My lawyers are paying attention. My lawyers are getting in contact with them, and they probably already sent a cease-and-desist for defamation. So [they] just got themselves involved in this, too, so good for them.” 
Ohio but returned to Western New York and has spent the last 18 years with Jeremy White as his co-host in mornings on Audacy’s WGR. Simon says, “I’ve been very lucky to have worked alongside some wonderful people at WJJL, WBEN, Empire Sports Network and finally at WGR. I wish I could list everyone by name, but that isn’t possible. Let me just say, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you to my many co-workers over the years. I’ve made some great, lifelong friendships, while getting a chance to do something I truly loved. I would like to mention my co-host for the last 18 years at WGR, Jeremy White. That is the longest I worked with anyone by far! Jeremy is super talented, extremely creative, and has a great feel for what topics will be of most interest to our listening audience.”
Surprisingly, my company Sabo Media has bought commercial time on radio stations. It’s a surprise because brands have come to us because the word “media” is in the name. Some brands think Sabo Media is a media buying company. Hysterical.
Tulsa; WOKV-FM, Jacksonville, and WHIO-AM/FM, Dayton. WSB director of branding and programming Ken Charles says, “For more than a decade, Erick has done a great job of entertaining and informing the WSB audience about the biggest news stories of the day. I’m proud we’ll continue our partnership for another three years, and I’m 
excited about what new things we can create moving forward. The best is yet to come!” Erickson says, “‘95.5 WSB’ is not just home, it’s the gold standard of talk radio, with incredible leadership from Ken Charles and Jaleigh Long. I fell into the role by accident 12 years ago. It’s not just the longest job I’ve had, it’s three hours of joy every day working with the best people in radio. I simply cannot imagine doing anything else anywhere else with any team other than the hard-working talent at ‘95.5 WSB.’”
working side-by-side with Liz since 2011. She is an outstanding leader and is hard-working and passionate about our business and serving our team, listeners, and customers. This is a great opportunity for us to recognize and promote one of our best, and I’m confident the Cumulus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team will benefit and grow from her leadership just as the Cumulus Allentown team has over the years.” Cumulus owns sports talk WEEX-AM, Allentown “FOX Sports Lehigh Valley 94.7” plus seven music brands in the two markets.
stations. In the bigger picture, Fischer writes, “Today, no one radio host commands the same level of power and influence that Limbaugh did, but a number of new voices are emerging — blending the reach of traditional and digital platforms — and collectively proving to be more powerful in shaping conservative opinion for younger audiences.” TALKERS magazine publisher Michael Harrison is quoted in the piece saying, “The world is changing and there are questions as to how Limbaugh, had he lived and remained healthy — based upon his mindset and his approach to the business — would have remained as pertinent as he was. He was not as flexible when it came to social media and some of the other forms that it takes right now to be a media presence as opposed to just a radio presence.” 
If you float a trial balloon, expect it to be shot down.
the love story of intrepid French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died just as explosively as they lived – capturing the most spectacular imagery ever recorded of their greatest passion: volcanoes. The radio tour will fill up fast, so book your interview with director Sara Dosa now 
grateful for the support Newsmax is receiving from radio hosts, wanted to speak out directly to the medium further explaining his position. (NOTE: Newsmax also has a footprint in the news/talk radio space as syndicator of the daily Rob Carson midday program.)
“We know from ‘The Twitter Files,’ that Twitter worked in collusion with federal agencies, including the FBI, to censor and restrict the speech of news media and public figures,” said Ruddy.