Innholdsfortegnelse for August 18, 2025 i Radio Ink Magazine

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.” Who said it: Benjamin Franklin, Lord Byron, or Albert Einstein? It’s actually HAL 9000, the infamous AI in 2001: A Space Odyssey. We hear a lot today about artificial intelligence and the disruption it has begun to create, especially in the workforce, and how it will even more greatly affect us in the not-too-distant future. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warns that half of all entry-level jobs could vanish within one to five years, potentially raising U.S. unemployment to 10%-20%. But while AI’s capabilities continue to grow, there remain vital realms where it cannot truly substitute for the singular qualities of human intellect, feeling, and creative spirit. Those…

I drove from Detroit to Lansing last week to see my kids. It’s about an hour and a half drive, and the best part of it is that I get to listen to a lot of radio, both in Detroit and the Lansing area. On the way home, I had one of the Detroit stations on. Big signal, and a heritage station. They still do great in the ratings. But as I was listening, this is the conversation that went on between my wife and I: Gary: I remember when this station was a huge deal in Detroit. Well-known personalities on all dayparts. All were local stars. Now, even though it sounds OK, it’s just not the same. It’s not the same vibe as before. BJ: Yes, I remember that,…

Let’s face it: employment at a radio station as we know it is not the glamorous job it once was. It often means multiple responsibilities across multiple stations in multiple markets that are experiencing downsizing and consolidations. The Millennial and Gen-Z generations have for the most part taken their entertainment career paths in other directions like social media, video, and DSPs. This has created a talent search problem for most in this industry. The days of seeking out air talent in smaller markets have just about disappeared due to syndication, voicetracking, and consolidation. Where can you find and develop talent now? How about right under your nose, inside your own cluster? You’d be amazed by the raw talent that exists there. Even as a five-station Operations Manager of a large-market…

Rich Tunkel has many reasons to celebrate. His career at Arbitron/ Nielsen has evolved over the past 30 years, culminating in his current role as Managing Director of Nielsen Audio and a spot on this year’s 40 Most Powerful People in Radio list. Tunkel is a dedicated supporter of radio and the proper use of data to connect stations, listeners, and advertisers. Our discussion covered his journey into radio, how ratings data influences advertising sales and programming, and what keeps him passionate about the industry. Radio Ink: What was your path into radio sales? How did you get into that? Tunkel: I studied television, radio, and film management at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, initially focusing on video production. During internships at a couple of local Fox affiliates, one…

This stylish couple is Bill and Debbie Varecha, broadcasting from WTAO-FM/Carbondale, Illinois, sometime in the 1970s. WTAO was among the freeform stations that thrived as rock ’n’ roll came to FM, and DJs played whatever they chose from the station’s vast library (but no song could be played more than once in a day). The Varechas arrived in Carbondale after pioneering FM rock at CHOM/Montreal and the legendary KNAC-FM/ Long Beach, California. Bill and Debbie and their sons ultimately built and operated 18 broadcast radio and TV stations and founded KKCO/NBC 11 in Grand Junction, Colorado. GOT A GREAT RADIO PHOTO? Send it to ccoats@streamlinepublishing.com, and you may see it on this page!…

Creativity is an essential skill if you are going to be successful in radio. But where does creativity come from? Travel back with me to 700 BC. The Muses of Greek mythology were nine goddesses associated with the arts, sciences, and memory. They were the source of inspiration for artists, thinkers, poets, dancers, musicians, and philosophers. They were the goddesses of knowledge, embodying the wisdom and creative power found in poetry, songs, and myths. This is the point: a muse is never an actual woman. Even when a man chooses a fleshand-blood woman to be his muse, she becomes the symbol of something deeper, wiser, and much more mysterious than herself. A muse is a point of access that puts a man in touch with his feminine side while allowing…

Yep! It is perfectly fine to modify that famous Ben Franklin quote now. AI is no longer just an exciting technology, it is an inevitability. A friend tells you the truth versus giving you the happy talk, so let me be your friend for a minute. I know this will be a very brief friendship, because we humans usually unfriend those who tell us the naked truth. All good. I am willing to take that chance in exchange for offering you this wakeup call. Here are some key facts I’ve learned over the past six months since launching my own AI company. I am sharing these realities after 40-plus years of working in this industry. I refuse to be a spectator at the slow and painful demise of the “human…

Humans cannot tell the future. I don’t have to tell you this; you know it’s true. However, human psychology is such that we often speculate about the future. And sometimes the speculation is negative, getting in the way of our own success. I’m not saying this is happening to you, but we both know that talking about what might interfere with our success is easy. It’s usually the first thing that catches a seller’s attention. But what you listen to guides you toward your destiny. With salespeople, the more we listen to the reasons things might not sell, why prospects may not want to see us, or why we shouldn’t try something new or different, the fewer opportunities we will find, and sales are more likely to decline. The truth…

What truly propels — and sustains — careers is mentorship. Having a mentor, or better yet, a mentoring network, can be the difference between merely working in radio and genuinely thriving in it. From the first day I cracked a mic to the moment I closed my first six-figure sponsorship, the conversations that made the difference were almost always with mentors who had walked the path before me. I’ve been fortunate to lean on remarkable guides: Lori Heeren, who showed me what great leadership and heart look like in this business. Ron Stone, who taught me how to think big and act boldly. Bryan Hollenbaugh and Venus Hammel, who encouraged creativity from the outset. Kevin Musselman, whose operational insights and strategic mindset were a huge influence. And Ernesto Garcia, who…