Monday Memo: The Power of Pause in Local Radio
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
In an industry built on speed – breaking news, live liners, commercial deadlines – “pause” can feel like a luxury radio can’t afford. But Kevin Cashman’s The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward (Wiley) argues the opposite: pausing isn’t weakness, it’s a competitive advantage. For local radio leaders, the message couldn’t be timelier.
Cashman defines pause as the conscious act of stepping back to gain perspective before moving forward. Leaders who constantly react miss opportunities for growth and innovation. Those who pause, he argues, engage with more clarity, creativity, and authenticity.
Think about the daily grind in local radio. The PD is juggling ratings pressure, expense challenges, talent issues, and a half-dozen urgent emails from corporate. The sales manager is chasing month-end, writing copy on deadline, and fielding calls from advertisers. In that swirl, it’s tempting to equate motion with progress. Yet, as Cashman warns, constant motion without reflection leads to burnout, blind spots, and missed chances to connect.
For broadcasters, pause can take many forms:
- Programming: Instead of cranking out another promo, take time to ask if the message really resonates with the community. What do listeners need from us right now?
- Sales: Before pitching another rate card, pause to explore the client’s true business challenge. That deeper understanding can unlock bigger, longer-term partnerships.
- Leadership: In staff meetings, pause to let quieter voices contribute. The next big idea might come from someone who usually doesn’t speak up.
Cashman links pause to authenticity. When leaders slow down enough to be present, they foster trust. In local radio, where credibility is everything, that authenticity builds loyalty with both audiences and advertisers.
He also reminds us that pause is not about inaction. It’s about deliberate action. A well-timed pause before responding to a crisis on-air, before agreeing to a questionable promotion, or before rushing through a strategic decision can be the difference between a misstep and a breakthrough.
For local stations, the takeaway is clear: The pace isn’t going to slow down. The emails will keep coming, the ratings will keep posting, and the deadlines will keep looming. But leaders who carve out moments of pause will not only preserve their sanity – they’ll make better decisions, inspire their teams, and serve their communities more meaningfully.
Pause. Reflect. Then lead forward.
Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a media consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke
If you’re a news/talk station, be known-for-knowing what’s happening. My client stations routinely invite tune-in “for a quick [name of network] news update, every hour, throughout your busy day.”
of businesspeople are reducing their exposure to New York City.” He tells Forbes he’s looking for “friendly states.” “The key word is a commonsense place to do business in.” Catsimatidis, whose business interests include Gristedes supermarkets and a controlling share of D’Agostino stores, was irked by Mamdani’s promise of opening “cheap city-run grocery stores” in each of the boroughs. Catsimatidis tells Forbes, “‘We don’t have any profit margins,’ he says, explaining that his stores have been losing money for ‘at least two years.’ He blames the state of the city: ‘Shoplifting is up to an all-time high. A lot of stuff is being closed up, which means that it’s not easy for people to shop, so sales are down.’” Catsimatidis does not talk about his radio businesses in the article but given how much effort he’s put into covering local New York news and his hiring local talk hosts and journalists, it’s hard to imagine him running the radio stations from another state such as Florida. 
Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Compass Media Networks host is heard in Atlanta on Cox Media Group’s WSB-AM/WSBB-FM. His first piece was printed in September in the wake of the slaying of Charlie Kirk. His latest column is titled, “Democrats are hungry, Republicans complacent and all politics is national,” and 
Cincinnati – died on Sunday at age 80. As reported by John Kiesewetter at WVXU.org reports on Trumpy’s passing and his career. Trumpy pitched the idea of a sports talk program to then-general manager of WLW-AM, Cincinnati Charles Murdock but was shot down. He turned to WCKY-AM and launched the show there. Three years later, WLW-AM hired him away from WCKY. Trumpy, who played for the hometown Cincinnati Bengals from 1968-1977, would move on to national television with NBC Sports that culminated with him receiving the Pete Rozelle Award for lifetime achievement in NFL broadcasting. 
to have interviewed tens of thousands of celebrities, authors, politicians and other assorted newsmakers during his long radio career.” The Free Press obit states, “He filled a variety of roles for WJR across the decades beginning in the 1970s. Whether hosting a weekday morning or afternoon slot or doing a weekend shift, he drew fans with his friendly, upbeat style and filled ‘The Warren Pierce Show’ with a mix of interviews, movie reviews, news and weather. A dedicated fan of University of Michigan football, Pierce also did sideline reporting for WJR’s coverage of Wolverines games during the era of coach Bo Schembechler.” He left WJR in 1993 and joined WJBK-TV, Detroit as a morning news anchor. 
Confidence is down. Costco is mobbed.
them achieve their business objectives through effective radio and digital advertising. The ideal candidate will possess excellent communication skills, have an enthusiastic and outgoing personality, along with a drive to succeed. Most importantly – we are looking for hard-working salespeople who want to have FUN at work, make money, and help local businesses grow. 
Don Haney and Minnesota Public Radio’s Dan Gunderson will leave their respective employers over the next 10 days. Both news pro spoke with Forum Communications’ The Forum about their careers. Haney covered news in Fargo for nearly 50 years. He joined WDAY in 1982, then 
moved to KFGO in 1995. Seventy-two year old Haney has been working part time with KFGO since last spring. Gunderson, who joined MPR in 1987, say he got into journalism because he enjoyed writing so much. About his radio work he says, “I liked the idea of taking voices and sounds and putting them together in something interesting. It’s like a craft, where you take this raw material, interviews, and facts, and you try to make it into something meaningful.” 
Conduct a “brand early and often” creative audit: Watch/listen to all your ads. Check off if your brand is mentioned in first two seconds and if there are at least five or more audio track brand mentions in 30-second ads; 2) You can look away but you cannot shut your ears: In video ads, audio branding does all the brand recall heavy lifting; 3) Audio case studies reveal implementing the “brand early and often” creative best practice generates stronger purchase intention and increased brand lift and website attribution; 4) Do you want your brand association and recall to explode? Use a jingle with melody that says the name of your company; and 5) Don’t blame the media plan or media vendors for weak attribution and brand lift: Usually creative is the issue and the ad copy fails to “brand early and often.” 
Possibly not – beginning Sunday – unless you live in Hawaii and Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) or American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Everywhere else, clocks will change when we “fall-back” on November 2.
examining the lifelong love affair of a fictional couple from childhood to old age – an emotional roller coaster ride reflecting the romantic ups and downs of a complex relationship. The tear-jerker is a departure from the heavy-hitting social commentaries that have made Gunhill Road a favorite among talk radio hosts and audiences for the past half decade. The intriguing group, formed in the late 1960s, is still going strong with core members Steve Goldrich, Paul Reisch, Brian Koonin, and Michael Harrison. Matthew B. Harrison produces the ensemble’s videos that employ leading-edge techniques and technology. Ms. Farber, who shares lead vocals on the song with Brian Koonin, is a talented singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist with a number of singles, albums and television commercial soundtracks among her credits. She is presently an advocate for the well-being of nursing home residents and organizer of initiatives to bring live music into their lives. 
in which Tirrell used the proceeds for personal expenses and gambling. Now, prosecutors say Tirrell has done pretty much the same thing again, getting investors to give him money to buy luxury tickets for events like the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Taylor Swift concerts, Indiana Fever games and football and baseball playoff games. Tirrell was to sell the tickets and pay investors their original investment plus a share of the profits. Prosecutors say Tirrell did pay some investors back but did so with money from new investors. In fact, they say Tirrell never made the ticket purchases and instead used the money for personal expenses and gambling. Tirrell worked as a sports talk host at KXLQ-AM, Des Moines and later at KXNO, Des Moines. 
platforms like radio, podcasts, streaming music services and satellite radio, with ad-supported audio representing 64% of total listening.” Breaking that down further, the study reveals that within the ad-supported audio universe, 
consumers spent 62% of their daily time with radio, 20% with podcasts, 15% with streaming audio services and 3% with satellite radio. Among 18-34 year-olds radio accounted for 43% of daily ad-supported audio time, where podcasts accounted for 31%. And adults 35+ spent 69% of daily ad-supported audio time listening to radio and only 16% listening to podcasts. Looking at listening based on radio formats (Nielsen PPM Cross-Market AQH Share. Q3 2025. Mon-Sun 6a-Mid), news/talk garnered a 10.6 share for Persons 18+ and a 12.0 share for Persons 35+, and a 6.1 share in the 25-54 demo. 
charge inflated prices, according to a report by Reuters. At the heart of the complaint is the charge that Nielsen is providing access to the national broadcast radio ratings only if the client spends a lot of extra money on 
the separate local ratings. Cumulus argues that Nielsen’s policy forces them to buy ratings in U.S. markets where it doesn’t operate stations in order to have the complete national ratings data. Nielsen has stated that Cumulus’ suit is “entirely without merit” and “we will respond accordingly.” The complaint also says Nielsen is “degrading product quality, raising prices without justification and blocking competitors from gaining footholds in the industry.” 
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer retired with enough do-re-mi to indulge two passions. He bought the NBA Los Angeles Clippers (for a record $2 billion). And he built 
and the gut-wrenching chaos of informational overload. Non-partisan lyrics cry out: “Too much information clogging up my brain… and I can’t change the station; it’s driving me insane!” Co-written and performed by band members Steve Goldrich, Paul Reisch, Brian Koonin, and Michael Harrison, the dramatic images accompanying the music include a dynamic montage of exasperated people being driven to the brink of madness by the pressure of what feels like non-stop, negative NOISE. Produced by 
it appears that allowing the former programmer to resign, firing half the news department, and pulling back on advertising and marketing didn’t work the ratings magic they originally had hoped for. In my opinion, KFI has seemed rudderless since Robin Bertolucci left the programming spot last November. The current programmer Brian Long, meanwhile, is also in charge of KLAC (570 AM) and KEIB (1150 AM), but with no time, a limited budget, and a decimated news department, the result is what it is. I don’t blame him at all. For his part, O’Kelly is keeping it positive, posting on Facebook, ‘All jobs end. It is not our lives or our health. Perspective is paramount. There is nothing to be sad about here. I’m genuinely excited for the future.’” Kelly is ranked #83 in the TALKERS 2025 Heavy Hundred. 
The most common mistake podcasters make is assuming the microphone alone creates an audience. Too many would-be hosts hit Record without a clear strategy for WHY they’re doing a show, WHO it’s for, and what makes it DIFFERENT from millions of other podcasts.
sales effect within six months. Podcasts and AM/FM radio also performed strongly in long-term brand building with impressive brand effects beyond six months. The story notes that the Effie Awards are based on growth factors such as incremental revenue, profit, market share, new customers, loyalty, and price sensitivity. Brands that win Effie Awards drive impressive revenue, profit, and brand effects. The stronger the Effie performance, the greater the ROI and business results. The key takeaway is that “some media do well with short-term impact but have a harder time creating future demand (contesting, promotions, search, digital display). Other media are adept at brand building and creating future demand but have difficulty with short-term sales effect (creators/influencers, TV, PR, online video/CTV, and print). AM/FM radio and podcasts are unique in their ability to drive both short-term sales as well as long-term brand effects.” 
These aren’t just bulletin boards. They’re extensions of your station, where listeners expect to be acknowledged and advertisers expect to see results.
solutions organization Magid, the RTDNA examines trust in journalism among younger news consumers in 2025. It published the findings earlier this summer. Now, news pros can watch a recording of the webinar that the two organizations conducted to walk journalists through the findings and help them understand how they can improve trust among the next generation of news consumers. 
number of issues based on data from Edison Research’s ongoing Share of Ear study. One aspect of AM/FM radio’s strength is its ability to reach the country’s political segments. The post notes, “Among registered voters, AM/FM radio has a 67% share of ad-supported audio, followed by podcasts (20%). Whether the target is Independents, Republicans, or Democrats, AM/FM radio shares are in the mid-60s to low 70s.” 
Sure, radio’s superpower is that we’re live. But 75% of all advertising dollars are now spent on digital. And Netflix, YouTube, and podcast platforms have conditioned consumers to expect that their content will wait for them (“on-demand”), not the other way around (“linear,” meaning real-time on-air). If your best content disappears the moment it airs, you’re leaking value. Think: time-shifted, searchable, and shareable.
our airwaves free from government influence. The First Amendment affords our stations – and all Americans – this fundamental right, and the mere perception that broadcasters acted because of undue pressure is a problem for our credibility and the trust we have built with our audiences.
Don’t let Halloween sneak-up on you. The only holiday Americans spend more for is Christmas. So – to seem more in-touch than your robotic and/or non-local audio competitors – plan something spook-tacular.
her SiriusXM podcast, former FOX News Channel star Megyn Kelly criticized FOX for, as she calls it, talking like he was theirs. “It’s really bothering me how FOX News is talking about Charlie, like he was theirs — he wasn’t. It’s a lie. Just stop.” Kelly accuses FOX of making Kirk persona non grata after the company fired Tucker Carlson because Kirk was supportive of Carlson. The story from Newsmax adds that “Kirk appeared to be completely absent from FOX News in 2023 after Carlson’s firing and early 2024 – though Kelly claimed the network would give him brief appearances to cover for their effective ban.” The Newsmax piece goes on to quote Kirk on the matter. “Since Tucker’s departure, I haven’t been on. And so we had to do an event without FOX. And that was a great thing, man, because sometimes desperation is the mother of innovation, right?”