MAY 6, 2019 RADIOINK•COM 37
thousands of dollars and toys each
year with a live broadcast from Toys for
Tots. They’re on site for 24 hours dur-
ing the American Cancer Society’s Relay
for Life, walking the track and playing
the music for hundreds of walkers.
Our morning personality on News/
Talk 101.5 and 970 WKHM, Greg
O’Connor, interviews local newsmakers,
politicians, and celebrities daily, and
takes his show on the road every month
for Good Morning Greater Jackson in
conjunction with the local Chamber
of Commerce. He also hosts a daily
show on ESPN 101.9 and takes that to
local restaurants and watering holes
on a regular basis. There’s no special
secrets; it’s good old-fashioned interac-
tion with our listeners.
Radio Ink: How does podcasting fit
into what you are doing?
Patrick: We are doing some limited
podcasts with our personalities. We
have found some early success with
some short-form as well as long-form
sports podcasts — so much so that one
of our hourlong podcasts has picked up
six sponsors and is now live on one of
our stations on Friday afternoon driv-
etime. Although drivetime in Wyoming
may have more to do with cattle than
cars.
Becker: Podcasting has not fit into
what we are doing at this time. We have
not found that there is much of a rev-
enue stream in podcasting compared to
the time it takes to produce. We do not
have enough people in our market size
to do podcasting well, so we have cho-
sen to not do it at this time.
Goldsen: We’ve been offering “on
demand” snippets of our local shows
for quite some time, but we’re just
beginning to work with podcasts. Our
K-105.3 morning talent, Scott Clow, has
embraced podcasting and is passion-
ate about developing interesting new
offerings in that space. He’s terrific at
encouraging others to develop ideas for
podcasts of their own, and I know we’ll
be expanding those offerings in the
next few months.
Stone: We are doing some podcasting,
but we are nowhere near figuring this
one out, how to make money with it.Perkins: We only have one show cur-
rently that could be uploaded for a
podcast of interest. It will be something
we will gradually improve on.Davenport: It’s new to us and is some-
thing we began a little over a year ago.
The SuperTalk Mississippi Network is a
Talk format, so podcasts are a natural
for us. Podcasts are something we want
to expand on in the future.Fuss: Not currently doing podcasting,
but that may change.Radio Ink: Do you worry about radio
losing its dominance in the car?
Goldsen: Radio remains the preemi-
nent entertainment choice for today’s
consumer. It’s also obvious that there
are more choices of entertainment
available than ever before, and more
options for transportation. I view those
things as opportunities to change the
way we do business, to expand our
platforms and reach and provide our
local information and entertainment to
more people than we’ve ever reached
in the past. That’s why I’m serving on
the NAB’s Auto Initiative committee to
partner with manufacturers and OEMs
on solidifying what we do and main-
taining our dominance.Stone: Yes. That is my biggest fear,
quite frankly. When I think about how
radio has dominated the dashboard
for 100 years for free, I find it hard
to believe it will continue when auto
manufacturers have countless other
digital opportunities to replace us with,
many of which, or maybe all of them,
are compensating the auto manufactur-
ers for the space.
I see it as similar to shelf space in a
grocery story. Pepsi and Coke at one
time enjoyed 50 to 60 feet of the bev-
erage aisle. I challenge anyone to find a
grocery store where Pepsi or Coke have
this dominance today. Grocery stores
figured out how to sell shelf space to
vendors and no longer give it away. I“When I think about
how radio has
dominated the
dashboard for 100
years for free, I find
it hard to believe it
will continue when
auto manufacturers
have countless other
digital opportunities
to replace us with,
many of which, or
maybe all of them, are
compensating the auto
manufacturers for the
space.”— Ron Stone