Consultants Corner

Whether on the air, in sales, or in management, we live in an industry powered by storytelling.

For the most part, Alternative stations have stopped chasing after one-off TikTok artists and gone back to what the format is best at: finding and exposing talented new musicians who will (ideally) have long careers.

We are in a period where the economy is generally good, but we are in a traditional advertising recession. Dollars are leaving linear media for digital, and many stations (and salespeople) don’t have the capability or content to compete properly.

Scott Husky is President of RWPC, a Corinth, Mississippi-based consulting firm focusing primarily on Country radio.

There are a lot of dull, boring “paint by numbers” stations, though. I don’t want to hear the exact same music and Content in Dallas as I do in Milwaukee.

When I was in high school, I asked my dad if he knew anyone at a local radio station. I’d just been fired from Burger King (yes, it’s a story) and wanted to do something different to make money.

Radio has been challenged by technology and societal changes since Marconi, but this time, radio’s survival depends on making smart choices.

Radio is searching for a new story. The book is an all-time best-seller full of audience-engaging dramas, thrillers, and advertising celebrations.

I listen to a different country station every day in my home office and there are days when I think I’m hearing a station from the day before. Lots are programming not to lose rather than to win.

It is mandatory to follow science with a dash of gut instinct. Data isn’t perfect all of the time and it requires a “sniff test” that must come from the gut.