SABO SEZ: Mr. Wonderful Thinks Radio is Wonderful
By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”
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.
Kevin O’ Leary (a.k.a. “Mr. Wonderful” on TV’s Shark Tank) is a pragmatic investor. When asked about AI’s impact on radio, he says, “It’s the same phobia we had when television hit radio. ‘Oh, it’s going to decimate radio!’ No, it’s not. The art form exists today, even bigger, terrestrial, and in space. To me, AI is just a tool.” (Variety. January 5, 2026)
Surprising to many, radio’s audience numbers today are virtually the same as they were in 1970.
Radio Listenership Today (2020s)
Weekly Reach: As of 2022–2023, approximately 82% to 88% of Americans aged 12 and older listen to terrestrial (AM/FM) radio in a given week.
Monthly Reach: Nielsen data indicates that AM/FM radio reaches 91% of U.S. adults each month.
Daily Listening: Approximately 66% of U.S. adults listen to broadcast or streaming AM/FM radio on a daily basis.
Resiliency: Despite the rise of podcasts and music streaming, 55% of Gen Z in the U.S. still listen to AM/FM radio every day, and it remains the top reach medium, even exceeding social media.
1970s: The era of AM to FM transition and the peak of top-40 terrestrial radio, with 25 million CB radios also becoming popular in the mid-70s.
Today: While reach is still high, the amount of time spent listening is more fragmented, with radio facing competition from streaming (Spotify/Apple Music) and podcasts, although it remains the dominant ad-supported audio choice in cars.
CB radio, cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs, DVDs, Walkman, iTunes, iPhones, SiriusXM, Spotify, podcasts, Pandora… all terminators of radio. None of them made a dent. The killer of radio will be radio’s odd internal pessimism that while predicting doom that never comes drives actions that are suicidal: Elimination of audience qualitative research. Tracking. More Tracking. (Radio Fracking!) No external marketing. Endless talent cuts. No contests. (A $1,000 national contest WOW!) None of those cuts are good business because they cut potential revenues.
And yet there is a relentless, funded determination to end all FCC ownership caps allowing companies to buy more radio stations to operate with great Panglossian efficiency!
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 “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. 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.
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.
Advice columns blanketing sites like LinkedIn, the Skimm, and Forbes 2.0 – aimed at recent graduates – encourage their readers to seek and bond with an at-work mentor. After years of skimming “5 bullet” articles, I have reached the tipping point and I’m not going to take it anymore: Seeking a mentor as a career strategy is horrible advice. Just horrible.
Andy Economos, the founder of Radio Computing Systems (RCS), was a leader in bringing digital tech into the radio industry. In 1980, he was leaving his position as head of technology for NBC Inc. to start his own company. I was EVP of the NBC FM stations. Andy and I were walking to lunch, crossing Sixth Avenue at 49th street and he asked me, “Is there any software your radio stations could use?”

Finally. Not by Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, nope; I was banned from a WBIR anchor’s video live stream.
One of my first jobs out of college was working in the marketing department of WNBC-AM, New York. Yes, “Imus In The Morning” (Don Imus – not nice), Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow – nicest star who ever lived). One of my tasks was to pull ratings numbers from the computer for the sales department. I was fascinated by TIME SPENT LISTENING (TSL) and CUME numbers. I’d rank them, compare, trend them every way imaginable.
The groaning and moaning that “radio is losing younger demos and will die tomorrow” misses the point. What attracts younger audiences? What has always attracted younger audiences? NEW STUFF. New clothes, shows, slang, ideas… NEW. When you “found” radio, you found a top 40 station that was saturated in the latest music, events and ATTITUDE. Radio remains vital by presenting and celebrating new, shocking, contest prizes, revolutionary ideas, hosts, jocks… NEW.
The world of blogs and vlogs has been loaded with largely erroneous news of MTV closing. New owner, Paramount Global, is searching for divisions showing no growth. If MTV is now a liability, it may be a target for a shutdown.
of the Gods has powered thousands of hours of programming fun. Recently, I saw the latest edition of his book.
Like many of you, I love “Ancient Aliens” on the History Channel narrated by the formidable Robert Clotworthy. Robert is a great guest on my show, “Sterling Every Damn Night” and he puts up with whatever nonsense that gets tossed at him. Thank you, Robert.
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.)
“It won’t work on FM.” Country. Country was predicted to be a failing format for the FM band. At the dawn of FM proliferation in the 1970s, the future of the band was viewed with fear and skepticism. Why wouldn’t country music work on the FM band? The conventional chatter said that “country needs to be on AM because truckers drive long distances and AM signals cover long distances. FM does not.”
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.
Thank you, TALKERS for placing me on two panels at the IBSNYC conference. All student conferences have one underlying goal: Attendees want to know how to land a starter job in media. Here’s the information I shared with the eager crowd.
Thank you, TALKERS for having me on panels at the TALKERS Generations 2025 IBSNYC conference this past Saturday (3/8). Moderator and Philadelphia talk show god Dom Giordano asked us the inevitable: “What is the future of radio?”



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.
Jim Gearhart is a remarkable on-air talent who was the AM drive host on New Jerey 101.5 for 20-plus years. In the 1960’s he was a star on WCBS-AM and WNEW. The illustration is an ad for his 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm show on WNBC circa 1968.

Paired association learning is the primary strategy our brain uses to remember facts: Oh, What a Feeling, Toyota. For several years, our business has worked hard to “save” the AM band by demonstrating how useful radio is in times of Emergency: Floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes. Think AM and think local disaster!