What Do I Say?

April 10, 2025

Being a compelling and entertaining on-air radio personality is one of the most difficult jobs in the entertainment industry. Those individuals not only need to shine “in the moment” multiple times an hour/shift, but they also have more content responsibilities than ever before. Their lives extend beyond the break into social channels, videos, podcasts and, all too often, voice tracking several other stations. They are self-contained content machines.

The radio industry loves to lean into the “live and local” theme, even as they heap more responsibilities upon fewer personalities. We know – for a fact – that personalities are one of the biggest differentiating factors in how listeners choose a radio station. Personalities are the emotional glue that binds the audience to the brand. Sales also loves these performers for the endorsement dollars they can generate.

And how do we support these intrepid radio warriors? Well, if you’re a big-time morning show like Bert, Elvis, or Charlamagne, you have an ample support staff of producers and talent who can generate strong, enduring content on a regular basis across multiple platforms.

But what of the hundreds of other on-air performers who toil in shifts outside of Morning Drive? Where is their support system?

Years ago, as radio was consolidating and farming talent out to several stations at once, one group head (I forget which one) said that people don’t care where David Letterman originates from. That was true but left out a critical point. Letterman (or Myers or Colbert, etc.) have a talented staff of writers and producers to help create the show.

While it’s true that nationwide radio talents like Rush or Howard made the whole local thing moot, they only covered four hours of the broadcast day. What of the other twenty?

Here’s a thought. What if the major radio groups like iHEART, Audacy, or Cumulus actually hired a corporate writing staff. These people would be responsible for creating stimulating content that would work on the Ac station in Chicago and/or the country station in Dallas. This would be something beyond the generic stuff syndicated prep services provide. Or, maybe one of those services really invested in a high level writing team to provide this kind of product. (I may be yelling at the clouds here as I have zero idea what content services are currently available).

This writer’s room would be providing on-air talent with genuine, interesting, and unique content that could be localized to fit a specific market. Imagine, in this fantasy scenario, if every Midday and Afternoon personality had two stellar, memorable, and emotional breaks every hour. How do you think that would affect listener loyalty? How would that affect listening occasions?

I realize there are many holes that can be punched through this idea. But think of this as a conversation starter: How do we invest in one of radio’s most important assets – the talent that keys the mic every single day?

-Steve Allan, Programming Research Consultant

• Tweet