Tag: Holland Cooke

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Hungry for Some Summer Fun Next Month?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgIf you are doing talk radio, much of your programming is syndicated. If you do music radio, your most formidable competitors are robotic streams that live in the cloud. Either way, YOU, being local, can make friends — and money — if you plan now to exploit these occasions.

  • Monday, July 6: National Fried Chicken Day
  • Tuesday, July 7: World Chocolate Day
  • Friday, July 10: National French Fry Day
  • Tuesday, July 14: National Mac & Cheese Day
  • Sunday, July 19: National Ice Cream Day
  • Wednesday, July 29: National Chicken Wing Day

And after all that, may I suggest a National Alka-Seltzer Day? JUST kidding. Wash-it-all-down on Friday, July 24, National Tequila Day.

For more upcoming opportunities to mingle with listeners — and engage advertisers – download my FREE 2026 Events + Occasions Calendar. Scroll down the home page at HollandCooke.com

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Sayonara CBS

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgAlthough I don’t have a machine to play it, I have saved the cart. December 9, 1980, the sad morning-after John Lennon died, Charles Osgood, doleful: “I read the news today. Oh boy.” That morning’s CBS World News Roundup – and on-hour newscasts throughout that day – delivered more moments that would keep you sitting in a parked car at your destination. As they would 3 months later when President Reagan was shot. Then soon again when Pope John Paul II was severely wounded in St. Peter’s Square. And five years yonder, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds into its flight.

There have been countless other such moments we emotionally bookmark. But it is the dependable day-in-day-out certainty of its on-hour newscast – what we programmers call “a benchmark” – that we will miss most after Friday, when CBS News Radio ends. Among the stories they will cover that day: Stephen Colbert’s CBS “Late Show” finale the night before.

The CBS Radio Network would have turned 100 next year. It sent home the sounds of war, live from a rooftop: “This… is London,” reported by Edward R. Murrow, whose name adorns the news award broadcasters still strive for. His trademark sign-off “Good Night and Good Luck” titled a 2005 biopic directed by George Clooney, who starred in last year’s ambitious Broadway production (available on Netflix). The New York Times: “Clooney makes Edward R. Murrow a saint of sane journalism for a world that still needs one.”

“It’s no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it,” is the CBS corporate spin. But neither supply nor demand failed. What failed is the supply chain, 1996 deregulation run-amok. And news/talk stations have borne the brunt of it. Depopulated of local talent and starved for promotion and other resources allocated to co-owned music stations now losing to streaming, too many talk stations became angry, non-local, one-sided political caricatures, too predictable to seem vital. Other stations, with diligent owners hellbent on Doing It Right, are all-the-more conspicuous. They will continue to succeed, even without precious CBS assets. But those stations are anomalies, now outnumbered by others in unattended operation mode, some of which could end up broadcasting dead air on-hour Saturday morning.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: AI Side Hustles

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgJason Reddick’s The Complete Guide to AI Side Hustles is aimed at beginners trying to build passive income. But read it through a broadcaster’s lens and it suggests a blueprint for how radio talent and podcasters can leverage AI to expand their influence, diversify revenue, and stay indispensable in a media economy that rewards relevance and speed.

His central thesis is simple: AI doesn’t create talent – it amplifies it. And that’s especially advantageous if you are already a communicator.

AI Enhanced Audio Services: Your Voice, Supercharged

Reddick writes about “leveraged skills,” and the most leveraged skill you have is your voice. Consider exploiting AI tools to offer:

  • local tourism audio guides,
  • church or nonprofit announcements,
  • fundraising video narration,
  • audio newsletters for local businesses,
  • corporate training narration,
  • e-learning or product demonstration voiceovers.

Each of these is high-trust, high-value, and repeatable. Businesses want a real human voice, and if you’re on radio or have a popular podcast, local businesses already know and trust your voice. AI simply lets you scale it. 

Repurposing: Your Secret Weapon

Reddick emphasizes turning one idea into multiple assets. You already generate hours of content. With AI, that becomes:

  • a monologue turned into a newsletter or newspaper column,
  • a segment turned into a blog post,
  • a rant turned into a daily, shareable email.

You’re already doing the hard part. AI helps multiply the output.

“Small, Fast, Useful”

Reddick likes what he calls “microproducts” – simple digital items that solve a problem quickly. As a broadcaster or podcaster, you already know how to explain things clearly and in plain English.

Whether you are repackaging interviews you already do or advertisers you already have (or want), or exploring your own personal interests, or simply addressing the everyday issues you yourself confront as a consumer, what can AI help you produce?

  • “How to Explain Tech Problems to Customer Support”
  • “How to Write a Complaint That Gets Results”
  • “Explaining Big News Stories to Young Children”
  • “Talking to Teens About Online Safety”
  • “How to Cancel SiriusXM Without the Runaround”
  • “Welcome! Starter Kit if You’re New to the Area”
  • “How to Sound Confident on Conference Calls”
  • “Airport Survival Guide for Infrequent Flyers”

Why These Work: They’re “evergreen” (relevant today and a year from now), high-utility (solves a problem quickly, low-lift (AI drafts, you refine), and trust-based (your voice + clarity = credibility).

If AI can scale your talent, the only limit now is your imagination. You can read the first two chapters of “The Complete Guide to AI Side Hustles,” free, here.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: You Will Save the Aircheck

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgMay the Fourth be with you today, as DJs and talk hosts are bumping with Star Wars music. And with Mother’s Day looming, here’s a tune that can be a wake-up call for forgetful listeners this Friday and Saturday – and a topic for Sunday’s show if you’re live-N-local then.

Got a mom in your family? Make a fuss. She earns it, every day. And if your mom has passed, I suspect that you have found – as my brothers and sisters and I have – that she never really leaves you. And THAT is a call-in/text-in topic that always clicks: “The best advice she ever gave you?”

You will hear stories. Some are so laugh-out-loud familiar that you may finish the caller’s sentence. Other callers’ tearful reminiscences will hit a nerve.

Emotion drives engagement. The most shared moments aren’t the clever bits that jingle-out. They’re the ones that connect. When listeners hear someone choke up talking about Mom’s advice, they lean in. That’s the magic of radio: real people, real time. Whether it’s “Star Wars Day” or “Mother’s Day,” what keeps radio relevant is what keeps it human: shared moments that make listeners feel seen.

And set a reminder now: Same bit for (and approaching) Father’s Day, June 21 this year.

Holland Cooke is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

NAB Show: Hot Digital Trends: What to Know About Video, Podcasts, AI

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgMy notes from a real useful session with Amazon’s Andy Slater, Audacy’s Michael Biemolt, and YouTube’s Neha Taleja, moderated by WTOP’S John Wardock.

Video trends: 

  • Internet Advertising Bureau: Digital video revenue is strong, +25.4% year-over-year.
  • “It’s an accelerant” to podcasting. “Multi-modal engagement finds your audience where they are.”
  • Adding video to audio work builds trust. When they see the-face-behind-the-voice, they know you more.
  • “You’ve likely created the bulk of the content.” Adding video, “you’re repurposing.”
  • Low cost of entry. “You have an iPhone, buy a tripod.”
  • 233 million Americans have at least one smart TV, another distribution channel.
  • To be smart TV-friendly: solid lighting, quality mic, upgrade camera, catchy graphics/colors, make-up.
  • What makes someone click? Thumbnails!
  • NOT doing video is “a lost opportunity.”

Podcasts:

  • Podcast Time Spent Listening recently eclipsed Spoken Word radio TSL.
  • 58% of Americans are monthly podcast consumers.
  • “Audio + Video = podcasting in 2026.”
  • Service used most for consumption: YouTube 39% — Spotify 20% — Apple Podcasts 11%
  • “YouTube [#2 search tool, second only to owner Google] is a podcast discovery engine.”
  • IAB: 2025 podcast revenue: $2.9 billion.
  • “If you’re a radio station, you’re already in the audio business.”
  • Cannibalizing radio listening? No. “Your audience wants to spend time with your talent. Make it more convenient.”
  • “Podcasting was in ‘the training mode.’ Now it’s ready to run a marathon.”

AI trends:

  • Check out new YouTube AI tools! Among features: A/B testing thumbnails.
  • See also: OpusClip, Headliner, Descript, VivIQ, Riverside.
  • AI apps can translate work to other languages.
  • “Use it to save manhours. You have a very smart [virtual] intern.”

During Q+A, I asked: “You’ve given us some real useful ‘Do’s.’ What are the ‘Don’t’s?”

  • “Nonauthentic content”
  • “Anything forced, unnatural”
  • “Not listening. Losing connection with your audience.”
  • “Be careful with sports betting content, which dates quickly, short shelf life.”

If you missed any of this week’s NAB Show updates, click here.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

NAB Show: Competing on the Omnimedia Landscape

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

img“We are competing in an attention economy,” and Magid COO Jaime Spencer reckons that “the playing field is massive.”

For decades, Magid has been known as a TV news research and consulting firm. But its newest Omnimedia work widens the lens – and radio should be paying close attention. Because the consumers Magid describes aren’t “viewers” or “listeners.” They’re attention grazers, moving across platforms, devices, and dayparts without ever thinking in “TV” or “radio” terms. And that shift changes our game.

Magid’s core point lands hard: We no longer operate in a content economy. We operate in an attention economy. Radio isn’t competingimg with the station across town anymore. It’s competing with 50,000 news brands, nearly half a million podcasts, and an infinite scroll of feeds that never sleep.

And here’s the kicker: the audience doesn’t distinguish platforms – only relevance. They follow whatever captures attention in the moment. If your brand can’t travel across social, smart speakers, mobile, and on air with a consistent voice and value, you could be invisible to the modern consumer.

Spencer also flags a new disruptor: AI as a news gateway. “17% of people now discover news first on AI platforms – higher than push alerts and newsletters. Considering that platform didn’t exist two years ago, that’s a big number.” That’s also a flashing red light for radio. If AI becomes the first stop for facts, radio must become the first stop for context, clarity, and humanity – the things AI can’t localize, empathize with, or improvise.

“Consumers are overwhelmed.” They’re juggling nearly six streaming services and still feel behind. That’s an opening. Radio’s superpower has always been curation – a trusted voice cutting through the noise. In an Omnimedia world, that skill becomes a premium product.

Finally, Magid’s emotional driver research reinforces what great programmers already know: passion beats function. Utility alone (i.e., “Breaking News”) won’t hold audience. Emotional gravity will. “Consumers are looking for comfort and affirmation.” Per Magid’s Trust Index research: Public media outlets like NPR perform strongly, while polarizing figures such as Glenn Beck, Rachel Maddow, and Sean Hannity also rank in the top quartile, skewed by affirmation of audience beliefs.

The bottom line? The Omnimedia consumer is already here. Radio wins by being the most human, most local, most emotionally resonant voice in a chaotic media diet – not by being “radio,” but by being essential wherever the audience happens to be.

See Jaime Spencer’s deck here.

If you missed yesterday’s NAB Show update, click here. And if you are here in ‘Vegas this week, look for me. Maybe we can grab a cuppa cawfee. If you aren’t here, look for my NAB Show update here tomorrow.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: The Future of Radio isn’t Radio, It’s Reach

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgAs a newly minted program director (remember them?), I found the 1980 “NAB Radio Programming Conference” downright enchanting. New-tech cart machines (remember them?) would FIND the splice! And after the cart played, a flashing light saved careless DJs from accidentally playing it again.

Back to The Future: Hello from fabulous Las Vegas, where radio has been folded-into what is now called The NAB Show. Among sessions I will be attending here this week:

  • “Improving the Listener Experience,” which has suffered from cutback-after-cutback;
  • And I will be the guy typing as fast as I can at “The Local Advertising Buying Landscape: Find Out What’s Driving Digital Sales, Revenue and Growth Opportunities.”

At the annual TALKERS conference 20+ years ago, publisher Michael Harrison coined the term “Media Station,” meaning: “Analog-rooted media such as radio stations, TV stations, and newspapers will have the digital capability of assuming each other’s roles in the multi-platform environment of the 21st century. No media brand will be limited to the AM/FM dial, the VHF/UHF TV set, the printed page delivered to the front porch, or even a specific channel. Every small AM radio station could be a sleeping SiriusXM Satellite Radio.”

This year’s NAB Show goes-there, with, among other sessions:

  • “Hot Digital Trends: What to Know About Video, Podcasts and AI;” and
  • “The Omni-Media Landscape: Mapping Reach, Affinity, and the Future of Media.

Recently, when CBS Legal wouldn’t let Stephen Colbert air his interview with surging Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D), he posted it to YouTube, where it got roughly FIVE TIMES the views his TV show gets most nights. So… with technology now enabling individuals, I sure won’t miss:

  • “A Crew of One: Solo Storytelling Strategies,” where the NAB Show says we will “Learn how to manipulate space and time as a solo storyteller, getting set up for success, working with multiple cameras, and keeping the flow from start to finish.”
  • Ditto “The Ultimate Creator Studio Tips and Tricks;” and
  • “The Fandom Flywheel: Building Scalable Media Ecosystems in The Bravoverse.”

With Uncle Sam’s big birthday looming, there’s “America 250: Owning the Moment – How Radio and TV Will Drive Community, Culture and Revenue in 2026;” and “The First Amendment and Press Freedom in Today’s Media Landscape.”

If you are in ‘Vegas this week, look for me at all-of-the-above. Maybe we can grab a cuppa cawfee. And no matter WHAT the dealer is showing, always-always split Aces and 8s. If you aren’t here, look for my NAB Show report again here tomorrow.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: The 2026 Case for Weekend Talk Radio

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgTime Spent Listening to podcasts has now surpassed TSL with spoken word radio. And both are fraught.

Anyone can do a podcast, and everyone seems to be. How to get found/subscribed-to/shared?

  • And in this listen-when-ever-you-want culture, basing Return On Investment in a brokered-time weekend ask-the-expert radio show that only reaches real-time listeners is increasingly dubious.

So, I’m helping podcasters I work with to do both. To amplify the impact of all the work you put into a podcast, make radio your content engine.

Yes, radio, for two big reasons:

  • Credibility, because? Anyone can do a podcast. But being on broadcast radio makes you seem “real.” The station delivers you an existing audience that trusts its information, supports its advertisers, and listens habitually. You are live, interactive, and “car radio.” And interview guests will be easier to attract to your on-air show than to a podcast.
  • As a podcaster, you are already an audio publisher – but you’re doing all the work yourself, reckoning what’s relevant to your listeners – a slow, lonely way to build an audience. Host a call-in radio show, and everything changes. Your callers and guests become the content pipeline that makes your podcast more than just you-talking. Their questions position you as an authority and offer proof of what your audience wants. No guesswork. No blind spots. Just nonstop relevance that keeps listeners leaning-in, coming back, and sharing your podcast with friends.

This 1 + 1 can = lots more than 2, when your show and podcast promote each other; and as this process repurposes content to social media, E-newsletters, video, and other online resources. Here’s the schematic: http://getonthenet.com/workflow.png

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Why Local Media Still Moves Communities

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgIn “When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows” (Scribner) cognitive scientist Steven Pinker unpacks a deceptively simple idea: Society runs on common knowledge. Not just what people know individually, but what they know OTHERS know-they-know.

Read that again, aloud. It describes the invisible wiring that drives humans to coordinate, trust, cooperate, and sometimes revolt.

If that sounds abstract, it shouldn’t. Radio and television are the most powerful common knowledge machines ever invented. And in an era when media fragmentation has turned audiences into isolated microtribes, broadcasters who understand Pinker’s point gain a strategic advantage.

Broadcasting creates the “Shared Reality” communities run on

When a radio or TV station says, “Schools are closed,” that’s not just information. It’s a signal that everyone else in town heard the same thing. That shared certainty is what lets a community move in sync. Pinker reckons that this is the essence of coordination: people don’t just act on facts – they act on what they believe others believe.

This is why broadcasters remain indispensable during storms, emergencies, elections, and civic moments. Digital platforms can inform individuals. Only broadcasting can inform everyone at once, and – crucially – make it known that everyone else heard it too.

Trust and legitimacy flow from common knowledge

Pinker notes that institutions derive their authority from shared understanding. Money works because everyone knows everyone else accepts it. Laws work because everyone knows everyone else knows the rules.

Local broadcasters occupy that same psychological space.

A trusted anchor or morning host doesn’t just deliver news – they confer legitimacy. When they say, “Here’s what’s happening,” they’re not merely reporting; they’re establishing the community’s shared frame of reference. In a fragmented media world, that’s gold.

Dueling Realities: FOX News vs MSNow

Inside each bubble, people know what everyone-like-them knows. When national narratives clash, local broadcasters become the last shared reality left.

Local radio and TV, by contrast, still operate in the realm Pinker describes: weather, schools (and EVERYTHING ELSE that triggers a parent’s concern), roads, emergencies, local elections, shared rituals and routines. These are not ideological. They’re lived. Local broadcasters still produce the kind of common knowledge that makes a town function. Cable networks and partisan talk radio produce the kind that makes a tribe feel coherent.

Local broadcasting is still where a community becomes a community.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: “Tell Me What Happened”

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgGood News/Bad News: Fender‑benders, slip‑and‑falls, and other “injuries caused by the negligent, careless, or reckless actions of others” will always happen. That’s the good news…for personal injury attorneys. Their bad news is that supply WAY-exceeds demand, and their advertising reflects it.

It all looks the same. The billboards are interchangeable: a headshot and a promise of six-figure settlements. When everyone is saying the same thing, differentiate with gimmicks. TV spots are either goofy shtick or tough-guy talk. Where I live, “The Heavy Hitter” has a phone number jingle Southern New Englanders can sing from memory. Competitors’ numbers are even easier, 444-4444 and 777-7777.

If you will be in Las Vegas for the NAB Show, turn on local TV there. You will howl. Some firms pitch “we charge less,” like a radio station dropping trou’ on rate to grab the whole buy. And there are the nationally syndicated spots, customized for local firms, in which cartoonishly terrified insurance executives beg to settle. Or the hard-boiled attorney threatens to “beat them in court.” Baloney! A jury trial is the last thing most personal injury firms want. Too time consuming, too risky.

Like radio’s, a lawyer’s inventory is perishable. We can’t monetize yesterday’s unsold avail. And lawyers can’t add the client who didn’t come in yesterday for that free, no obligation consultation. No “intake,” no sale. Which is exactly why they should be using radio.

“The lawyer is in, the meter is off” is the proposition when attorneys host brokered weekend talk shows and take listener calls. No look-alike billboard or tacky TV spot can humanize the attorney – and demonstrate comforting counsel – like eavesdropping on a conversation with a caller’s relatable situation. So instead of slogans or shouting about settlements, build the client’s message around four words that are turning callers into clients on weekend talk radio: “Tell me what happened.”

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: “What Matters Next” for Radio?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgIf you work in radio, you’ve heard every flavor of AI anxiety. Some fear it will wipe out jobs. Others treat it like a super shortcut – cranking-out spots, promos, and proposals faster and cheaper. Kate O’Neill’s What Matters Next lands squarely in the middle of this tension, and its message is one radio people need to hear: AI isn’t the disruptor. Human behavior is. AI just accelerates the consequences.

The book’s central argument is blunt: The organizations that thrive in an AI-driven world are the ones that stay relentlessly human. Not sentimental – human. Curious. Adaptive. Willing to rethink habits that calcified long before the first smart speaker ever said, “Now playing.” That’s a mirror radio hasn’t always wanted to look into.

For decades, the industry has survived by optimizing the familiar: tighter clocks, leaner staffs, syndicated shows, templated production, and “good enough” digital. AI tempts some operators to double down on that instinct – to automate more, localize less, and hope listeners won’t notice. This book argues the opposite: AI punishes sameness and rewards originality. When every business has access to the same tools, the differentiator becomes the people who use them with imagination, empathy, and purpose. That should sound familiar. It’s what radio used to brag about.

O’Neill also warns against the other extreme, the fear-driven paralysis that keeps talented people from experimenting. AI isn’t a job eater; it’s a task eater. It clears the underbrush so humans can do the work only humans can do: judgment, storytelling, connection, and community presence. In radio terms: the stuff listeners actually remember.

Imagine a morning show that uses AI not to replace prep, but to deepen it, surfacing hyperlocal stories, analyzing listener sentiment, or generating alternate angles on a topic the hosts want to explore. Or a sales team that uses AI to tailor proposals to each client’s issues instead of reshuffling the same deck. How about a newsroom (remember them?) that uses AI to sift data so stations can spend more time delivering what’s special to listeners (and sponsors): helpful local news they can’t get anywhere else. None of that eliminates jobs. It elevates them.

This book’s most important warning is this: AI widens the gap between organizations that learn and organizations that cling. Radio has lived through this before – streaming, podcasting, social media, smart speakers. The winners weren’t the ones who panicked or the ones who ignored the shift. They were the ones who adapted early, experimented often, and stayed close to their audience.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Your Local Advantage

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgSmall businesses often underestimate their greatest competitive edge. It’s not price. It’s not selection.

It’s localness. Big companies spend millions trying to sound personal and relatable. Small businesses already are those things – yet they often fail to exploit their advantage.

Common small business marketing mistake: Trying to sound big, speaking in an unnatural tone, a kind of “corporate costume.” It sounds like: “We are committed to excellence” or “Our mission is to provide unparalleled service” or “We pride ourselves on quality and customer satisfaction.” That’s verbal Styrofoam. Nobody talks like this and nobody remembers this.

Local isn’t just location

It’s a feeling. When customers say they prefer to “shop local,” they don’t necessarily mean geographically close, independently owned/noncorporate. Those things do matter, but they’re not the heart of it.

What customers really mean is:

  • “I feel like these people understand me.”
  • “They get what matters here.”
  • “They’re part of this place.”
  • “They care about the same things I do.”

Local is emotional

It’s relational, human. Show that you understand the place your customers live by referencing familiar landmarks, acknowledging local quirks, using neighborhood names, mentioning local events, speaking the way locals speak. Explaining that the advertiser is “just off the rotary at the bridge” tells would-be customers: “We’re here. We get it.” Big brands can’t fake that.

Tout personal service: 

“You can buy the same shed from Lowe’s or Home Depot, cash-N-carry. Buy yours at Lorraine Lumber and Paul Jr. will set it up in your back yard.”

This is the second installment in a 3-part series about optimizing commercial copy, the fundamentals we’re covering in Sales meetings as I visit client stations this spring. If you missed last week’s column, here’s “If It Doesn’t Matter to the Customer, It Doesn’t Matter.”  Next week here: “Anatomy of a Results-Producing Spot.”

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Spring-Forward Show Prep

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgUnless you live in Hawaii and Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) or American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, your clocks will change when we “Spring Forward” on Sunday 3/8.

Every year, that one missing hour becomes a big topic of conversation. So, it’s an opportunity to flex your local radio advantage. Plan now to empathize with the emotional and practical adjustments listeners are confronting, including…  

Darker Mornings
Positive:

  • Later sunrise can feel cozy, especially for people who enjoy easing into the day.
  • Early-morning workers may appreciate the quieter, calmer pre-dawn hours.

Negative:

  • For many, waking up in darkness can be jarring.
  • Kids heading to school and commuters on the road face reduced visibility.

Longer Evenings
Positive:

  • More daylight after work boosts mood, encourages outdoor activity, and feels like the unofficial start of spring.
  • Families get more time outside; businesses tied to recreation, dining, and retail see a lift.

Negative:

  • Evening routines shift, especially for parents managing homework, sports, and bedtime.
  • People who work late may feel the day stretching uncomfortably long.

Sleep Disruption
Positive:

  • Some listeners welcome the psychological “reset” of a seasonal shift.
  • A later sunset can help night owls feel more aligned with the clock.

Negative:

  • Losing an hour can hit hard.
  • Many experience grogginess, irritability, and a few days of circadian chaos.

Health and Mood
Positive:

  • More evening light is a proven mood-booster.
  • For those prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder, the extended daylight is a relief.

Negative:

  • The abrupt change can trigger fatigue, headaches, and short-term stress.
  • Sleep-deprived mornings can amplify anxiety.

Productivity and Daily Rhythm
Positive:

  • Longer evenings can inspire productivity, exercise, and social plans.
  • People feel like they “get their life back” after winter.

Negative:

  • Morning productivity tanks for a few days as bodies adjust.
  • Parents, shift workers, and early risers feel the strain most acutely.

Safety Considerations
Positive:

  • More daylight during high-traffic evening hours improves visibility and reduces accident risk.

Negative:

  • Darker mornings increase hazards for pedestrians, cyclists, and schoolchildren.
  • Sleep deprivation contributes to slower reaction times.

Energy Consumption
Positive:

  • Longer daylight in the evening can reduce lighting needs.
  • Outdoor activity replaces indoor energy use.

Negative:

  • Darker mornings mean more lights, heat, and coffee makers running earlier.
  • Any savings are inconsistent and vary by region.

Impact on Schedules
Positive:

  • The seasonal shift feels like a milestone — spring is coming.
  • People use the change as a cue to refresh routines.

Negative:

  • Parents, pet owners, and anyone with a rigid schedule face a tough adjustment.
  • “Losing an hour” becomes a shared gripe.

So, What’s a Radio Station To Do?
This is where local radio can shine – being human, helpful, and hyper-local.

  • Songs about time: Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” etc.
  • Explain the history of Daylight Saving Time(NOTE: it’s “Saving,” not “Savings”).
  • Ask callers how they feel about DST. You’ll get strong opinions on both sides…and stories.
  • “What will you do with your longer evenings?”
  • Giveaways that fit the moment: Coffee cards, breakfast treats, outdoor gear, spring-cleaning kits.
  • Partner with advertisers: “Spring Ahead Specials,” etc.
  • Interview a local health pro about sleep.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: If it Doesn’t Matter to the Customer, it Doesn’t Matter

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgYour prospect – or, worse, an existing advertiser with cold feet – says “We tried radio. It didn’t work.” Often, the copy is the culprit, because it’s inside-out.

Customers don’t care about the client’s process, or equipment, how many years in business, or its “state-of-the-art” facility. They do care about their time, their money, their children and grandchildren, and their safety and comfort and convenience.

 So, flip-the-script. Rather than reciting the client’s repertoire, solve the listener’s problem:

 Instead of: “At Smith & Sons Plumbing, we are committed to providing quality service with over 25 years of experience. Our trained technicians are available for all your plumbing needs including leaks, clogs, installations, repairs, and more.”

Say: “Got a leak? Call now and we’re on our way.”

Instead of: “At BrightSmile Dental, we offer cleanings, whitening, implants, crowns, veneers, and family dentistry. Our friendly staff is committed to your oral health. Call today for all your dental needs.”

Ask: “Do you cover your mouth in pictures? Or when you laugh? Let us help you smile with confidence.”

Instead of: “At ClearView Auto Glass, we repair chips, replace windshields, fix power windows, and handle insurance claims. Our technicians are certified and experienced. Call today for all your auto glass needs.”

Try: “Cracked windshield? We’ll fix it before it spreads. C’mon in!”

 Instead of: “At Happy Paws Veterinary Clinic, we offer wellness exams, vaccinations, dental care, diagnostics, surgery, and emergency services. Our caring staff is here for all your pet’s needs.”

Say: “Is your dog just not-himself lately? Bring your buddy to us. We’ll have a look, and he gets a treat”

This is the first installment in a three-part series about optimizing commercial copy – the fundamentals we’re covering in sales meetings as I visit client stations this spring. Next week here: The Local Advantage.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: “What Matters Next” for Radio?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgIf you work in radio, you’ve heard every flavor of AI anxiety. Some fear it will wipe out jobs. Others treat it like a super shortcut – cranking-out spots, promos, and proposals faster and cheaper. Kate O’Neill’s “What Matters Next” lands squarely in the middle of this tension, and its message is one radio people need to hear: AI isn’t the disruptor. Human behavior is. AI just accelerates the consequences.

The book’s central argument is blunt: The organizations that thrive in an AI-driven world are the ones that stay relentlessly human. Not sentimental – human. Curious. Adaptive. Willing to rethink habits that calcified long before the first smart speaker ever said, “Now playing.” That’s a mirror radio hasn’t always wanted to look into.

For decades, the industry has survived by optimizing the familiar: tighter clocks, leaner staffs, syndicated shows, templated production, and “good enough” digital. AI tempts some operators to double down on that instinct – to automate more, localize less, and hope listeners won’t notice. This book argues the opposite: AI punishes sameness and rewards originality. When every business has access to the same tools, the differentiator becomes the people who use them with imagination, empathy, and purpose. That should sound familiar. It’s what radio used to brag about.

O’Neill also warns against the other extreme, the fear-driven paralysis that keeps talented people from experimenting. AI isn’t a job eater; it’s a task eater. It clears the underbrush so humans can do the work only humans can do: judgment, storytelling, connection, and community presence. In radio terms: the stuff listeners actually remember.

Imagine a morning show that uses AI not to replace prep, but to deepen it, surfacing hyperlocal stories, analyzing listener sentiment, or generating alternate angles on a topic the hosts want to explore. Or a sales team that uses AI to tailor proposals to each client’s issues instead of reshuffling the same deck. How about a newsroom (remember those?) that uses AI to sift data so stations can spend more time delivering what’s special to listeners (and sponsors): helpful local news they can’t get anywhere else. None of that eliminates jobs. It elevates them.

This book’s most important warning is this: AI widens the gap between organizations that learn and organizations that cling. Radio has lived through this before – streaming, podcasting, social media, smart speakers. The winners weren’t the ones who panicked or the ones who ignored the shift. They were the ones who adapted early, experimented often, and stayed close to their audience.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Radio’s Advantage is Human

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgEvery radio conference agenda and much of what’s-up in the trade press and chat groups is about exploiting Artificial Intelligence. Often these conversations land in one of two places: fear (“Will this replace us?”) or fascination (“Look what it can do!”). Both miss the point.

In “Between You and AI” (Wiley) author Andrea Iorio cautions that when everyone has access to the same machine intelligence, advantage shifts to what remains scarce. That’s not just-more information. It’s better judgment, trust, empathy, and local savvy… the very things radio has always done best.

Haven’t got time to read all 254 pages? Here’s a short version, as it applies to our work:

  • AI is brilliant at summarizing, predicting, transcribing, drafting, and optimizing. Radio should absolutely use it to handle the mechanical work that clogs calendars and burns out staff. Show prep summaries. Promo copy drafts. Sales proposal outlines. Post-show highlights. Let the machine chew through that.
  • But here’s where radio wins: what to ask, what to emphasize, what to leave out, and how to make people feel. AI can’t do those things without human direction, interpretation, and accountability.
  • For a morning show: AI can surface trending topics in seconds. But it can’t know which story resonates here,today, with this audience – nor when silence, humor, or restraint is the smarter move. That’s human sensemaking. The book calls it “data sensemaking”; radio people have always called it “knowing our market.”
  • News/talk: AI can summarize a city council meeting neatly. It cannot decide which exchange actually matters to listeners’ lives, nor ask the follow-up question that reframes the issue.
  • Sales teams, too, are at a crossroads. AI can generate a competent proposal in seconds. So can your competitor. What it can’t do is replace the trust built when a seller truly understands a retailer’s risk tolerance, cash flow anxiety, and seasonal pressure points. As AI makes “good enough” ubiquitous, relationship quality becomes the differentiator.
  • In an AI-saturated media environment, audiences won’t reward whoever publishes the most. They’ll reward whoever feels the most real. Trust will matter more than tone. Judgment more than speed. Presence more than precision.

AI is not radio’s replacement. It’s radio’s stress test. Stations that pass will be the ones that let machines handle the work so humans can handle the meaning.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Social Media That Clicks

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgIf you’re on-air, it’s an important part of your job. Here’s what I see and hear working:

  • Daily Presence. Not just for-the-sake-of-posting, but to engage. Ask questions that spark conversation, reply to comments, repost listeners’ content (very flattering – they’ll repost you).
  • Share behind-the-scenes moments from the studio – inviting, insightful – not silly or self-amused. Watch how the cast of “This Morning with Gordon Deal” executes “When the Mic is Off.”
  • Tell stories. And at today’s blurry, attention-starved tempo, “word economy” is more imperative than ever. Make your point, without long setups, rambling, needless repetition or inside jokes… then get out. Like on-air breaks, every post has a purpose: entertain, inform, or connect. And a beginning, middle and end.
  • Stay in Your Lane. If the station doesn’t do politics, don’t do politics in social media. If the station is upbeat, you stay upbeat.
  • Done right, short video is powerful. Think: appetizer. 10- to 20-second clips can tease show content, or react to trending topics.
  • Consistency beats perfection. To differentiate you from soulless robotic new-tech audio competitors, raw beats polished, authentic beats staged, frequent beats flawless.
  • Close the loop on-air. Reward engagement with shout-outs. Superfans drive ratings.

As with on-air work:

  • Ask yourself: Why does this matter to listeners? How can I make this relatable? How can I make this interactive?
  • Avoid taking “lazy radio” habits online: reading long articles, bits with no payoff, inside jokes.

 Execute with intention and heart, and you’ll stand out in a world full of noise.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: TV Wants In – Welcome Them

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgLinear broadcast media have never been more challenged. Internet video now commands far more viewing time than over-the-air TV. And their own networks are hijacking viewers! Your local NBC station tells you to watch Peacock. ABC points you to Disney+. CBS pushes Paramount+. Affiliates are effectively forced to promote their own competition.

Music radio is – at best – holding the line against streaming. News/talk radio’s information staples are more-available on smartphones and smart speakers, and its monologue‑heavy style feels less inviting than social media dialogue. 

Radio has what TV envies. We’re in-car, and still #1 there.  

TV has what radio needs. With more local news HR, they’re in more places. 

Both need more promotion than they can afford.

  • Radio still delivers the most cost-efficient reach and frequency in the local market. When I programmed WTOP, Washington, we and what’s now WUSA9 (the former WTOP-TV) had a handshake deal to grab whatever we wanted from each other, with on-air credit. True story: The news director from NBC4 offered that “you can use OUR stuff and not even SAY it’s ours. Just STOP saying that so-and-so ‘told Channel 9…’”
  • And radio-using-local-TV-meteorologists is a win-win. Weather is the #1 reason people watch local news, so TV stations promote it heavily. Radio using their weather people underlines – and stands on the broad shoulders of – the TV station’s weather image and delivers radio habit-forming content with a pedigree.

Local TV and radio are the last two mass-reach media in town, with neither medium losing to the other. Resourceful collaboration makes all the sense in the world. Brainstorm.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Dogs Are Having a Moment

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgNotice how often you see one in TV commercials, even when the product has nothing to do with pets? I see spots for a local building supply outlet, in which the owner’s dog ambles through every shot, then plops down – seeming to smile – among employees in the closing shot.

I am disappointed not to hear local radio spots – with a bark toward the end – for that same business. Does a retailer in your area appear in TV commercials with his or her dog? Can radio – the #1 in-car media – can take that business for a “RIDE???”

Dogs appearing in national ads convey loyalty and adventure. Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Target, Volkswagen, and Subaru are among brands that have used dogs to soften their image and boost attention. Why? Research demonstrates that “harnessing the ​universal ​appeal of man’s‌ best friend, these advertisements ​have emerged as ‍a powerful ‌tool ​for marketers‍ seeking to resonate with consumers on a deeply ‍emotional level.” Dogs evoke warmth and joy. They refine a brand, ‌making it‌ more relatable and trustworthy. ‌

“If only radio had pictures,” you say? We do, in social media posts and on station websites and everywhere else we can take a local advertiser. And beyond dog copy, think: dog content.

  • A number of news/talk stations I’ve worked with broker weekend ask-the-expert hours to veterinarians whose investment ROI’s big-time. The lines are jammed and smart stations extend such weekend warriors by repurposing excerpts. “Pet Pro Dr. Donna Stone has tips for helping your critters keep-their-cool during this long, hot summer” links to an aircheck clip that you Tweet-out and post elsewhere online. Include a picture of an adorable puppy and you’ll click like crazy. Music stations: Sell the vet spots-disguised-as informative features that invite listeners to see/hear/learn more in podcasts or videos or other content on your or the doctor’s website.
  • One of my client stations boosts adoptions each holiday season by featuring “The 12 Strays of Christmas” from the local shelter, sponsored by, you guessed it, a vet.’
  • Tchotchke opportunity: a station-logo’d tennis “BALL!” Toss ‘em around at dog parks and give ‘em away at appearances.
  • Brainstorm other opportunities.

I live at the beach — dog nirvana. It’s a sensory symphony: the scent of salt air, warm sun, sand to dig and roll-around in… canine bliss. On the beach here, dogs don’t have to be leashed; and when you let ‘em romp they sure do, chasing waves, and plunging-in to retrieve “BALL!”

In that wonderful moment, they are living like they will never grow old. Sadly, we know better. Thus The Farmer’s Dog tag line “Making old dogs feel young again;” and Blue Buffalo’s “Love them like family. Feed them like family.”

That’s the emotional space radio can own: warmth, loyalty, companionship, trust. Let’s create messages – and moments – that honor the joy and spirit our buddies bring us.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: The Fearless Cold Caller

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgOften, when visiting client stations, I ride shotgun on a sales call, and it’s always a masterclass. Retailers have a canny, insightful feel for their customers (our listeners). And accompanying these reps, I feel like I’m “Dancing With The Stars.”

Cold calling still rattles many new sellers, even some veterans. The fear is understandable: interrupting strangers to ask for their time sounds like a recipe for rejection. And seems old-school, but the cold call isn’t a relic – it’s a differentiator. Done right, it’s not a pitch. It’s about discovery.

Here’s what successful sellers I work with seem to have in common:

  • — Their goal isn’t a cold close.It’s to open a conversation about helping a business grow. They are confident in what radio advertising – done right – can accomplish.
  • — They do homework beforehand, checking the prospect’s website, social feeds, Google reviews, and its other advertising. So, they can go in with something specific to reference. Some bring “an actual commercial that got results for a business like yours, somewhere else.” When I do a station sales meeting, I leave behind a thumb drive of successful spots from other markets. Retailers are wary of experiments, and curious for proven concepts.
  • — They lead with curiosity. Like a job interview, you are judged more by the-questions-you-ask than the-information-you-give. Productive questions I hear include, “How are you attracting new customers right now?” and, “What’s been working best for you lately… and what’s been frustrating?” and, “Have you ever used local radio to tell your story?” Ask, “What’s the biggest mistake consumers make when planning a kitchen remodel [or purchasing whatever else the prospect sells]?” And, “Why buy from YOU?” Entrepreneurs like to talk about their business. Let them, and take notes, recording on your smartphone.
  • — They present a no-risk offer that invests in the prospect’s growth. Hearing is believing, so “Let me take what-you’ve-told-me and bring back a message that tells your story, at no cost or obligation to you.” Rather than describing that story, spec spots demonstrate it. Note: “spots,” plural.
  • — They bring back two spec spots, so the choice is this-or-that rather than yes-or-no. Not two versions of the same concept, but two different approaches. One might be a live read mock-up; the other a fully produced commercial, incorporating copy points from the prospect’s existing marketing material, and from that first-call interview…
  • — If possible, they use the prospect’s voice. If he or she can read without sounding sing-songy, bring back a draft script. Here’s a straight pitchI wrote for the guy who maintains my home water system. More often, the most productive use of the prospect’s voice is unscripted sound bites lifted from the smartphone after that first call, wrapped with lean announcer copy, like this. Either way, spots like these can get people telling the advertiser “I heard you on the radio.” 😉
  • — If that doesn’t close, they offer to re-do the spec spot, based on feedback from that second call. This persistence demonstrates a partnership with the prospect’s success, and shares authorship of the final version.
  • — They anticipate rejection, and prep responses to common objections. They understand that “no” often means “not now.” Seeming super-appreciative for the prospect’s time, they thank him or her and ask “to check-back with you” in the future. They track attempts, conversations, and follow-ups.

Lately, I’m impressed by how reps are using Artificial Intelligence… not as a crutch, but to collaborate. Various vendors are hawking apps that will write – even voice – spots. Whenever I’m given a demo, I ask for copy about a restaurant my wife and I frequent. And what comes back is painfully generic – “in a relaxing atmosphere” – rather than capturing the experience. DO exploit AI. But ask it for copy concepts, and use it as a first draft, always to frame the prospect’s words.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Successful AI Product Creation

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgEvidence that your correspondent is a nerd: my airplane read for my CES back-N-forth was Successful AI Product Creation: A 9-Step Framework by Shub Agarwal (Wiley). If you haven’t got time for all 307 pages, here’s what I gleaned, pertinent to radio:

Strategic Philosophy

• AI succeeds only when it solves real business problems, not when used as a novelty.

• Begin every AI project with: “What measurable problem are we solving?”

• Align AI use with station strategy — audience growth, advertiser ROI, efficiency, or content quality.

Tactical Applications for Radio

• Show prep: summarize trending topics, generate local angles, suggest guests.

• Automate routine production (editing, scheduling, metadata tagging) to free creative staff.

• Voice tracking with guardrails — use AI to extend live talent, not replace it.

• News: Employ AI to summarize complex stories quickly for on-air and digital use.

• Sales: Personalize ad copy to make spots more relevant. Automate proposal and spec-spot creation to shorten turnaround time.

Think of AI as “augmentation, not automation.” AVOID making radio sound robotic. Use these tools to make radio smarter, faster, and more human. Enhance talent; don’t erase it. Protect authenticity and listener trust — radio’s enduring differentiator. Develop a station AI policy covering attribution, verification, and data privacy.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

CES2026: ICYMI

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgCars were some of the big stars at CES. Not flying cars, which were news there, years ago. But cars that drive themselves, and how the cars we still drive are safer and smarter — some smaller, very inexpensive — and electric cars that go longer between charges. Solar powered cars are coming, among other sustainability breakthroughs like farming with less chemicals and appliances that use lots less energy.

But the biggest buzz this year was Artificial Intelligence, the secret sauce in much, possibly most, of what’s new. There is angst about AI, forecast to eliminate as many as half of entry‑level white‑collar jobs within five years. In the session “Future-Ready: Shaping the Workforce in the AI Era,” employers were urged to “Reimagine, not adapt” workflows. “And put your employees at the center of reimagination.” It’s all happening quickly. One speaker quipped “ChatGPT is SO 2022.”

Watch/read/hear/download my week-long coverage from Las Vegas at HollandCooke.com. MUST-SEE: Video of the Caterpillar keynote.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

CES2026: Is Your Elevator Speech Too Long?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgWe sell advertisers the attention we earn, and earning it has never been tougher. When we design client stations’ billboards, we’re not “writing a 60” or “a 30,” or even “a 10.” It’s a one-second spot. At a glance, someone driving needs to understand what the station delivers, and why to listen.

Showcase events here are well-catered and open bar (Media Relations 101). So, as we roam exhibits, both hands are already full, a challenge for exhibitors hoping we’ll stop, take a tchotchke, and take-in what they’re rolling-out. So I’m struck by how well the large-font messages on their booth signage distills whassup. 

Examples: 

Komutr: “Finally, Earbuds Your Won’t Lose!”

Stelo by Dexcom: “Glucose tracking made easy”

“Too busy to cook? Let a robot do it,” 500 dishes Nosh can whip-up.

“So your days don’t end up on your face,” Baronbio offers “The 4-Day Slow-Aging Challenge.”

Eloquens: “Automated Email responses that feel human”

“Mist + Wind = Instant Cool” with Aecooly, “the world’s first high-speed cooling fan,” hand-held.

Narwal’s V50 Cube Cordless Vacuum is “light to hold” and will “deep-clean every surface.”

Yarbo’s Modular Yard Robot: not just a lawnmower. “All Seasons Solution” doubles as a snowblower.

Kamingo’s E-Bike Converter switches from bicycle to E-bike “in seconds.”

We have learned – and taught advertisers – to boil-it-down to the proverbial “elevator speech,” a pitch you could spit-out between floors. How quickly does yours convey value? 

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

CES2026: Come for the Gadgets, Stay for the Power Struggle

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgHello from Las Vegas, where 150,000+ of us – from around the world — are swarming. Think: hand sanitzer. And comfortable shoes.

To give you a sense of the scope of what’s up, here’s a PDF link to the slide deck from the Consumer Technology Association’s perennial “Tech Trends” research reveal: https://www.cta.tech/media/chwotebs/ces26_techtrendsdeck.pdf

They click “Buy,” then they click “Return.” 

Now, Artificial Intelligence is cracking-down on E-commerce return fraud. In 2025, scammers cost us consumers an estimated seventy-six-and-a-half billion dollars, by applying for a product refund, then sending back something else of less value, like a cheap knock-off that can’t be resold. 

“Happy Returns” is a UPS-owned company accepting no-box and no-label returns…which scammers LOVE, because it offers immediate refunds. So a new Artificial Intelligence tool called “Return Vision” will flag suspicious returns by analyzing patterns — early or frequent return requests, linked email addresses and past suspicious activity that could evade human detection. So, scammers, no matter how-quick-you-click, AI is watching.

When U.S. senators show up here, you know that CES isn’t just a gadget expo. 

Broadband access is the new oxygen, and Artificial Intelligence is quietly creeping into the background of almost everything we do. Washington now sees consumer technology as a policy issue, impacting jobs, national security, and the USA economy. So lawmakers and high-ranking government officials come to CES to get face‑to‑face with companies building the tools they may soon be regulating; and to talk about new rules for how AI is used in phones, cars, and workplaces. 

Tech companies want a say in those rules — so this is where the negotiations happen. Most CES coverage you see features shiny new gadgets, but the real action here is the growing partnership — and sometimes tension — between Big Tech and Big Government. 

Help yourself to my 60-second CES reports.

They’re updated daily, for air all this week. Simply download from HollandCooke.com. No charge, no paperwork, no spot.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

CES2026: Potholes to Pizza Ovens

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgCutting edge technology is on display — and on wheels — this week here in Las Vegas.  

Your car could join The Pothole Patrol

General Motors is developing technology that collects data from navigation systems, cameras, accelerometers and all your car’s other sensors to spot roads that need repair.

And automakers are trying to keep cars themselves from roughing-up roads. Massive batteries can make an EV sedan weigh as much as a heavy-duty pickup truck. Cadillac’s electric Escalade weighs 3000 pounds more than its gas-tank version. Engineers are working on solid-state batteries that will be smaller, lighter, faster-charging and longer-range. 

And here’s a U-turn: Volkswagen is bringing-back…buttons! According to surveys, drivers don’t want to use touchscreens to turn-up the radio or turn-on the defroster. And studies show that scrolling can impair reaction time more than alcohol.

Artificial Intelligence stampede!

AI from AT&T will spare you from spam calls and save you from phone fraud. I’ve already set my iPhone to send calls from anyone not in my Contacts straight to voicemail, and that has spared me lots of interruptions. And we know not to say “yes” to callers who could be recording you, and use that as permission to make an unwanted purchase. This new system will interact with callers. Yes, your robot can talk-to — and reject — other robots…disconnecting spammers, or providing real-time transcriptions you can interrupt if you want to take the call. 

“Future-Ready” is a CES session about “Shaping the Workforce in the AI Era.” And we’re hearing bullish predictions about “future-proofing the next-gen workforce.” Chipmaker Intel is here forecasting breakthroughs for what it calls “efficient factories.” Radio is already, shall-we-say, dabbling, in these so-called efficiencies. And Hollywood is on-its-heels. Soon, your favorite actor could be an algorithm, as cinematic AI is approaching what some here are calling “its Citizen Kane moment.”

AI is being shoehorned into almost everything. Ooni’s Volt 2 is an all-electric indoor pizza oven. 850 degrees Fahrenheit, perfect pie in 90 seconds.

Help yourself to my 60-second CES reports

They’re updated daily, for air all this week. Simply download from HollandCooke.com. No charge, no paperwork, no spot.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn