Sabo Sez: The Smartest Minds in the Radio Room
By Walter Sabo
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Host, The Other Side of Midnight
WABC, New York / Red Apple Audio Networks
When in doubt, I recall smart quotes from people in our business who are successful, well paid, kind, and future oriented. I have always focused on what’s next rather than what’s been. These observations drive good results:
“Citytv of Canada is the model local TV News and has been for 50 years.” – Strategist, John Parikal
“Progress moves in many directions. Imagine if cable came first, then someone invented a way to send shows over the air.” – publisher / broadcaster, Michael Harrison
“The goal is a playlist of one song.” – Al Brady Law, a kind mentor and brilliant programmer.
“An Urban station should sound like music bouncing off the rooftops in Harlem on a July night.” – Frankie Crocker
“Top 40 will always be a successful format because by definition it plays the most popular songs of the day.” – Allen Shaw, former vice chairman of Beasley Broadcasting.
“We have a business plan; our stations have to be number 1.” – Robert McAllan, president emeritus Press Broadcasting / founder of WTKS-FM Real Radio. Orlando / New Jersey 101.5.
“One day all music will be on FM and all talk will be on AM.” – Jean Shepherd, WOR Radio host, 1964.
GM Mickey Luckoff on why number 1 KGO, San Francisco moved like an express train: “I hire hosts who have done Top 40. I can teach them Talk; I can’t teach them Radio.”
“My staff just can’t barge into the studio when I’m on, they have to understand this takes concentration, the job is to get to the next thing.” – Howard Stern
“It’s a simple business; people make it hard.” – Edward F. Mclaughlin president EIB network.
“My business decisions are always based on common sense.” – John Catsimatidis, owner, WABC Radio.
“When we release a movie, I stand outside the theatre on opening night and talk to the audience members as they file out. That’s the best research we do.” – Leonard Goldenson, founding chairman ABC Inc.
“No, I don’t watch many TV shows because I know all the stories.” – Fred Silverman, program chief CBS, ABC, NBC.
About streaming music services: “There has always been a box of records next to the radio.” – Bob Pittman, CEO, IHeart.
Tom O’Neil, founder, RKO General Radio, “Pay whatever you have to for a morning man, a production director, and for equipment to make the loudest signal, the rest you’ll have to beg for.”
Walter Sabo has been a C-Suite action partner for companies such as SiriusXM, Hearst, Press Broadcasting, Gannett, RKO General, and many other leading media outlets. His company, HITVIEWS, in 2007, was the first to identify and monetize video influencers. His nightly show “The Other Side of Midnight” is heard on WABC, New York and the Red Apple Audio Network 1:00 am – 5:00 am. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com. He can be phoned at 646-678-1110.
Billionaires make predominantly good investments, which is why they are billionaires.
In 1952, the success formula for today’s radio was discovered and put into practice by two hungry entrepreneurs: Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon. Both men owned dying radio stations in medium and major markets. The industry was suffering from a lack of purpose or solutions due to the advent of television which drove the migration of hit network radio shows to television. Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, and Gertrude Berg were on radio first.
Talk radio has a long incredibly successful run of shows about sex.
I am pleased to be speaking this weekend at the IBS New York 2026 conference in New York City. Thank you, TALKERS magazine, for being the presenting sponsor of this important, timely annual event along with the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS).
The plague of pessimism about the future of radio is fueled internally by radio employees. Doomsayers are logically found in the sales department. All day, salespeople meet with buyers. A buyer’s job is to negotiate a lower price by arguing radio’s negatives. The wall of negativity thrives within the work environment of a seller. Tough. But there is little or no reason for pessimism.
Talk show hosts are not motivated or driven like disk jockeys or salespeople. Most general managers have never managed talk show hosts. Few program directors have managed talk show hosts. My career has been blessed with daily exchanges with the best talk show hosts in history. Here are some suggestions I would like to share on how to have a superior relationship with talk stars.
Finally. Not by Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, nope; I was banned from a WBIR anchor’s video live stream.
As a media consultant, my team has had the privilege of being engaged extensively by members of the C-Suite. Becoming a member of the C-Suite is a common goal. To get into any group, acceptance often depends on acting and appearing like established members. Here are some of the actions observed of business masters whom we consulted:
Have you noticed a profile pattern for the mass shooters and political assassins? 20-30 years old. Living at home or close.
Amazon learned that there are high volume sales for specific categories of products. High demand equals high value to the seller. Items such as diapers, printer ink, staplers, batteries, etc. Being brilliant, Amazon created “Amazon Basics.” Same products, white labeled. Amazon doesn’t manufacture batteries; they just slap their logos on what America needs most. That’s why Mr. Bezos has a bigger boat than you.
The risk is real. Suggesting that a technique used with great success in the recent past might be beneficial to the present is a perilous course. Is the idea out of touch with today’s reality? Is the author ignoring current trends?
Reviewing radio’s challenges:
Conventional industry wisdom: “If our morning star leaves, we’re dead. How could we replace them?”
There are two broad categories of thought: Task. Creative. When in creative mode, a person innovates, imagines, plans, and solves problems. An idea bank is a bank! Money grows from the results of imagination: new products, new music, new formats, new sales strategies. Business growth depends on new!
The drive to stream video of radio shows has always been risky. Remember your shock when you first saw one of your radio heroes? Video streaming can present a constant disconnect between the show in the listener’s head and the show on the stream. Many stations make the disconnect worse by streaming terrible video images. Combine the trauma of how a host really looks with a dreary TV show and the package cannot benefit the relationship between station and listener/viewer.
right, two shows… one on the radio, one on the stream. Seamless and fun.
At first, I thought it was a joke. When I realized there were serious people having serious meetings about the joke, it became both horrific and symptomatic
Dozens of brand-new audio hardware and software companies have been launched during the past 20 years. These start-ups are usually funded by venture capital money. VC money is not invested to return a profit, it’s poured in to – pour it in. Their money is “different” than the cashflow that fuels your business. Start-up money buys time to profit.
Right now, dozens of well-suited, over-priced, unpleasant lawyers are fighting in Hollywood over the title credit their client should receive on a movie, TV show, or book cover. Placement within the credit roll at the end of a show is a battleground of egos and legalities. Part of the process of securing proper credit is governed by multiple union rules negotiated by multiple unions and corporate dictates of corporate masters. (You don’t get to be CEO of Paramount by being a nice guy.)
These books have helped me tell stories, prioritize programming initiatives and manage career strategies. If interested in a book the link connects to its page on Amazon.
Serious business coaches reveal that a common trait of successful people is their ability to immediately forget their failures and to move on. Next idea. Next project. Surrounded by seas of committees, forms, rules and mediocrity, effective leaders know that just trying something, regardless of the outcome, is the WIN. 
During my tenure at NBC, once a month the division heads would meet at the behest of the CEO to report on their progress and trends in their sector. As the executive vice president of the FM division, I took a seat in that formidable group and tried to keep my remarks as brief as possible. What could I possibly say that would be more damn important than the words of the president of NBC News or the NBC Television network? In addition to NBC’s CEO, the CEO of owner RCA would often join the fun.
As an industry, radio has a peculiar modesty. We diminish our magic and power in relating to listeners and colleagues by using the wrong slang terminology. May I suggest new “labelling” of commonly used radio terms?
Wall Street investors do not put up money for traditional radio and television stations.