There are so many media outlets “in the wild,” with new ones sprouting up every day. And yet, why do studies show that we’re less accurately informed about the world around us? Yes, I italicized “accurately” because of the growing difficulty we all share in informing ourselves of the truth – those facts that explain a story, or a problem.
Social media is a great example. More and more of us use our social media feeds as discovery tools or as sources for stories as well. And yet, we reluctantly agree there’s so much blather and misinformation rotating around on our social pages. How often do we read a story and wonder about its truth? Some will argue this filtering process is a healthy sign – that it’s important to check our sources and perhaps even dig deeper ourselves.
Our new Public Radio Techsurvey is comprised of more than 17,000 respondents, an actual majority of who hold graduate degrees. There is no better educated audience in all of media. And yet, they share some of the same struggles to discover “truthiness” as the masses. And a growing number of them are using social media as a news source:
But who has the time? In a world where we’re being assaulted by media coverage of myriad types, checking every story, feature, and news item we come across is laborious and even pointless at times. There are times where we’re not able to discover a story’s truth. When news becomes a commodity, it becomes challenging to know who to bank on.
That’s why it often comes down to trust in the media sources we frequent, whether it’s a news organization or a rock radio station. I often find myself zeroing in on the people who actually run media organizations to glean insights from them about the type of service they’re charged with running.
Today, I’m highlighting three legacy media people each with an important story to tell. One operated one of the iconic news operations in the U.S., if not the world. The second ran what is arguably the most successful radio station in the country. And the third owns and operates one of the most amazing smaller market stations in America. Despite coming from very different worlds, all three have a similar take on the state of the industry at this cataclysmic moment in time.
First up is Dean Baquet pictured), former executive editor of The New York Times back in the years
when the organization was painfully trying to transition itself from a major news daily that was hemorrhaging cash to the digital media colossus it’s become today. I’ve blogged about Baquet’s travails over the years because The Times endured many of the same challenges many broadcasters and legacy media players have experienced.
Every time I mention The Times, readers scoff about their treasure chest of cash and staffing resources. But the organization was clearly on the ropes back in the teens, reducing legions of experienced journalists and other long-time employees as they attempted to right-size.
Baquet’s experience also reveals the success of The Times turned out to be more about adopting and applying the right strategy than it was having financial resources. To that point, many once deep-pocketed media players have failed mightily, despite their riches.
Recently, Baquet spoke at a journalism conference, offering up his “take” on how the Old Gray Lady (a fitting Times nickname) from the early 1900’s transitioned to the media powerhouse it’s become today. His appearance was covered by A Media Operator’s Christiana Sciaudone.
For Baquet, the secret is building a moat filled with “original, deeply reported journalism that others can’t easily copy.” That’s been part of The Times’ formula for filling its “media moat,” and it has led to the hiring of many investigative reporters.
The key to The Times comeback success is providing media content no other brand can offer. It doesn’t have to be journalism. Great content consumers need they cannot get anywhere else is “moat material.” For The New York Times, that could be online recipes or Wordle.
So, what does that look like for a radio station, whether it’s licensed to Philly or Paducah?
Fortunately, there is a handful of operators in radio that are as qualified as Dean Baquet to offer advice. The name that comes to mind is Joel Oxley (pictured), the guy
who’s run the mighty WTOP in Washington, D.C. for the past three-and-a-half decades. This week, Joel will receive the coveted NAB National Radio Award. He was interviewed by the NAB’s Summer Johnson for their “Airtime” podcast, covered by RadioInk.
As D.C. denizens will tell you, it often helps to get out of the bubble and rediscover the rest of the country. Oxley just had that experience, thanks to a recent cross-country car trip. Not surprisingly, he ended up listening to a lot of thoroughly disposable radio that sounded a lot alike, regardless of where he was.
Joel’s observation and prescription? Radio needs to get more local. The way he sees it, every dime invested to support a station’s connection to the community will produce a solid return on investment. Admitting this pathway has a high degree of difficulty, Oxley laid out the only approach he thinks is viable:
“You really got to work hard to tying back into your market in every possible way…your local market. It takes time and it takes creativity, but you (have) to track back how often your product really ties back into your local market. And then what do you have to do? Double or triple it…It will pay off.”
We’ve had the honor of doing work over the years with WTOP, including their regular participation in our Techsurveys. Oxley, Julia Ziegler, WTOP content executive, and the entire team is committed to doubling down on their community. That mindset has kept the brand dominant in both the ratings and revenue rankers.
If this disciplined philosophy sounds familiar, it’s because we share Joel’s view from one of the finest and most successful stations in the U.S. over the past several decades. It’s what we continually see in our Techsurveys, our research for individual station brands, and in the umpteen focus groups and one-on-one interviews we conduct. It is also a consistent theme in public radio’s RUN study conducted by City Square. Committing to the local piece was the top finding from their extensive research initiative from 2024:
It is also desirable in research we conduct in the commercial sector, including our flagship Techsurvey.
And the more the biggest companies go the top-down voicetracked, syndicated route, the bigger the opportunity for the other players to commit to reflecting and covering their communities. If you grew up in radio way back in the 20th century, this shouldn’t sound foreign to you. Most of us were taught the intrinsic value of “going local.” And because of the deluge of undifferentiated news coverage, now often written by AI, there’s even a greater need to building that trust bridge between your audience and your station.
The part Joel didn’t talk about is how WTOP has made itself perhaps the “trustiest” station in a news panacea like D.C. Of course, that trust comes from stellar performances over the long haul. As he points out, this is not the easiest road, but it certainly has the potential of producing a franchise, which is precisely what WTOP has become.
And here’s the dirty little secret that many simply aren’t aware of – producing great local content is especially appealing to the youngest consumers. For a medium whose audience continues to age, the local route provides the best opportunity to connect with younger consumers, as showcased in the just-released Public Radio Techsurvey:
This is no fluke nor is it a wobble – we see it in every research study we design and conduct, including our commercial radio Techsurvey, loaded with core fans of music stations. In fact music partisans are more apt to strongly agree with this statement than are fans of spoken word stations.
And finally, Julie Koehn (pictured below), president of Lenawee Broadcasting Company here in Michigan. Her geographic area receives dozens of radio stations from Detroit, along with several other Michigan markets, Fort Wayne, and Toledo.
So, what’s in her moat? It’s about being hyperlocal. RadioInk covered her recent appearance at the National Association of State Broadcasters Association’s (NASBA) podcast. As she explained, “Everything we do is focused on connection to the community” and that means serving audience, advertisers, and those who live in her region.
Koehn noted her stations donate north of $1 million in cash to area nonprofits each year. And they’re always on the lookout for an opportunity to respond to community needs, whether a natural disaster or residents who have fallen on hard times.
And like The New York Times and WTOP, trust plays a role in Lenawee’s ability to maintain this role,
year after year. As Julie explains, “We are cautious about how many times we go to the well (and ask for donations) so that people do trust us. And also transparency in where money and items go.”
As a result Lenawee Broadcasting Company creates an annual “report to the community,” a video that is distributed to officials in hometown Adrian, the state, and on the federal level. This effort underscores their commitment to walking the walk. For Julie Koehn and her team, it becomes instinctive.
As a young guy coming up in radio in the 70’s, I was fortunate to learn from some of the best programmers of all time: John Gehron, Larry Berger, Alan Burns, Tommy Hadges, Tom Yates, and others who were the architects of some of the best music stations of that day. All these pro were part of the ABC Radio programming team.
And while there were philosophical discussions about many different aspects of content strategies, there were never arguments about community focus and exemplifying their stations’ connections to the local market. It wasn’t a point of debate – it was implicit in their missions to serving their cities of license.
We were all required to do community ascertainment interviews with local leaders at area organizations and government agencies. The interviews were regularly updated in the station’s public file. As a result, we were in touch with community needs specific to our market regions. All the FM rock stations built a “Community Switchboard” feature that worked on and off the air to provide listeners with timely local information and resources.
Sadly today, not everyone’s on board. And the radio medium is paying the price, watching a number of its key performance indicators flag and diminish. Not enough stations (and the companies that own them) are thinking about that impossible-to-duplicate content that will bullet-proof them against today’s competition and the unknown players in the future. Sadly, they’re just trying to score a decent Fall book.
Today, we looked at three legacy brands we know will survive the challenges posed by an expanded media landscape, emerging new technologies, and changing consumer demands. They are busily building their content moats, confident they’re focused on the right stuff.
What is your brand’s proprietary content even the biggest players in the media space cannot duplicate? What do you do that makes you unique?
What’s in your brand’s moat?
Thanks to RadioInk this morning for doing some heavy lifting for today’s post. – FJ
President & Founder at Jacobs Media
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched – a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created – a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the “connected car” and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media’s commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
