Monday Memo: When Anyone Can Make Content, Why Should Anyone Listen to Yours?
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
The Wall Street Journal recently described what it calls, “The Trillion Dollar Race to Automate Our Entire Lives.” Artificial Intelligence is rapidly evolving from something that answers questions into something that does things – researching, writing, analyzing, organizing and creating. WSJ describes a coming world of personal AI concierges capable of everything from executive presentations to filling out March Madness brackets. For podcasters, there’s opportunity here. And a warning.
Podcasting already had a low barrier to entry
AI is lowering it to almost zero. Research a topic? AI. Outline the episode? AI. Suggest questions? AI. Write show notes? AI. Create social posts? AI. Identify clips? AI.
Result: Even. More. Podcasts. So merely having one becomes less impressive. More consequential is how AI changes the value of information. The Journal quotes one Silicon Valley investor saying how travel, vacation research, newspapers, email, grocery shopping, music recommendations – essentially everything he wants to know – now goes through AI. That should make anyone producing an information-only podcast squirm. Why listen for 37 minutes to “Five Ways to Save Money on Your Next Vacation” when I can ask an AI and get the answer in 10 seconds?
As information becomes abundant, perspective becomes valuable
“Here’s what you need to know” becomes less compelling than “Here’s what happened to me.” Or “Here’s what I think everyone else is missing.” Or “You won’t believe what my guest just told me.”
And interviews may actually appreciate in value. AI can synthesize what thousands of people have already said. But if you get someone to say something new, you have created primary-source content. Which makes the skilled interviewer more valuable. Not “Tell us about your new book.” Rather, “Something you wrote on page 173 surprised me…”
There’s another implication for authority podcasts – those hosted by lawyers, financial advisers, realtors and other professionals hoping listeners eventually become clients. AI can dispense enormous amounts of expertise. So simply demonstrating “I know stuff” won’t differentiate you. Instead, the podcast lets prospects audition YOU. Do I trust this person? Does she explain things clearly? Does she understand people like me? Would I want to work with her? That makes personality, empathy, storytelling and point-of-view more valuable, not less.
AI should make podcasts shorter
If it saves hours of research, preparation, editing and repurposing, spend those savings creating 10 compelling minutes instead of 45 windy ones. Because the scarce commodity is no longer content. It’s the listener’s time.
So, use AI aggressively behind the microphone. Let it research, transcribe, organize, summarize and repurpose.
But protect what happens to the microphone. Let AI do everything that listeners don’t care who-did. Protect everything they listen to because YOU did it.
“And thanks…”
…for all the feedback for this month’s series on optimizing commercial copy, the finishing touch on the work that pays for us all. If you missed any-or-all, I have assembled these columns as a free E-book, “The Outcome Method: A Storytelling Framework for More Effective Local Advertising,” which you may download and share: https://getonthenet.com/TheOutcomeMethod.pdf
Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn
at Capital Broadcasting Inc’s WGDJ “Talk1300” airing at 10:00 pm. Pags tells TALKERS, “For the 10 years I’ve been in syndication I’ve always hoped to return to the Capital Region of New York where I was proud to be a news anchor on the CBS affiliate, WRGB-TV. Even though I left TV there more than 20 years ago, I still regularly hear from former viewers there and will always consider the area a hometown. I can’t thank [owner] Paul Vandenburgh enough for putting me on the air there on his great station WGDJ!” 
“Morning Update” program – hosted by Jeff Chidester – brought in AARP New Hampshire state director Christina Fitzpatrick and AARP advocates and volunteers Mary Roberge and Stephanie Schuyler to explore AARP’s “non-partisan voter education efforts, its work with candidates, changes to New Hampshire voting laws, Social Security, prescription drug costs, caregiving, fraud prevention, and the issues voters are raising as Election Day approaches.” Chidester told the audience, “I don’t think New Hampshire is ever out of an election cycle. Governing and elections are our sport. We get it at a very young age, and we are actively involved in it through our entire life.” WFEA program director Michael Czarnecki says, “New Hampshire voters take their responsibility seriously, and our responsibility at WFEA is to give them access to meaningful conversations and useful information. The goal of the ‘Morning Update’ is not to tell listeners what to think or how to vote. It’s to bring the people involved in these issues directly to our audience, ask good questions and give listeners the information they need to make their own decisions. This roundtable is a great example of that.”
named the interim host of FOX News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” – beginning this Sunday (9/27) through the weekend after the November midterm elections (11/8). A new host will be named at a late date. Kudlow succeeds Maria Bartiromo, who exited FBN and FNC earlier this month. Kudlow served as the director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy under President Donald Trump from 2018 to 2021.
Stugotz & The Bear” via iHeartPodcasts. The new show – starring Jon “Stugotz” Weiner and Chris “The Bear” Fallica – drops twice weekly in which they “take listeners on a fun, fast-paced ride through the biggest stories and best moments in college football.”
AM/FM radio receiver. Edison says, “A few weeks ago, we highlighted the fact that among 13–34-year-olds, the majority of their ad-supported audio time in the car is spent with AM/FM radio. This week we widen the picture to look at all listening time among this age group in the car, and instead of noting what they are listening to, we are looking at what they are listening on. Over the history of Share of Ear we have documented the relentless rise of the smartphone as the primary audio-consumption device. Among younger audio consumers, this holds true even in the car.”
Among the honorees are Premiere Networks president Julie Talbott. Also being honored are: Marilu Galvez, general manager of WABC-TV, New York; Tina Perry, president of OWN TV Network & OTT Streaming; and Erin Underhill, president of Universal Television. Zenia Mucha, chief brand and communications officer at TikTok, will receive the inaugural Gracies Vanguard Award. Kristen Welch, chief financial and operations officer at Illustrative Mathematics, will receive the AWM Legacy Leadership Award, recognizing her longtime commitment to AWM and its mission of advancing women in media.
from iHeartMedia’s Black Information Network. WQLL market manager Andy Grimshaw says, “Sports are woven into the fabric of Baltimore, and we’re excited to bring some of the biggest voices in sports broadcasting to our listeners. From the biggest stories and games to expert analysis and the latest in sports betting, ‘FOX Sports 1370 AM’ will give Baltimore sports fans something to follow around the clock.”
The KCMO, Kansas City-based “Mundo in the Morning” show hosted by Pete Mundo is now airing on Cumulus Media’s KFRU-AM/K255DJ “NewsTalk 98.9 FM & 1400 AM” in Columbia, Missouri. Earlier this summer, Mundo’s morning show was added to the company’s news/talk KTOP-FM, Topeka, Kansas. KFRU’s local morning show hosted by David Gaines was cancelled last month during the recent round of layoffs at Cumulus Media. 
another massive media consolidation deal that could raise prices for consumers, reduce content diversity, and weaken editorial independence. This settlement does nothing to resolve the FCC’s own unprecedented decision to approve near complete and unchecked indirect foreign ownership of one of America’s largest media companies from some of the most repressive governments in the world. Setting aside that worrisome arrangement, this transaction still represents a troubling new stage of media consolidation, with real consequences for consumers and for a free and independent press. The editorial independence protections included in this settlement remain untested, and there is good reason to be skeptical they will hold up once the ink is dry. Whether these commitments actually protect newsrooms inside CBS and CNN from political, financial, or regulatory pressure, or simply provide cover for further editorial interference, remains to be seen. I will be watching closely to see whether these promises translate into real protections or will be just words on a page.”
piece that goes against what many in the radio industry are saying about the AM Radio in Every Car Act that recently passed the House. His piece states, in part, “My employer and I don’t agree on this one. The federal government is about to impose a new rule on private enterprise, forcing automobile manufacturers to keep installing AM radios in cars and trucks…
paid ads among 182,500 TikTok users and connected that to in-market brand lift data. The study covered eight global markets and $71 million of media spend, which generated 23.6 billion impressions. The best practices revealed by the research include: 1) Host-read ads generate greater impact: System1 and WPP Media find creator ads (a.k.a. “host reads”) drive greater brand memory lift, which is the combination of brand awareness and ad recall; 2) Two best practices: Say the name of the advertiser within the first two seconds and ensure strong positive emotion via entertainment; 3) “Say it and show it”: Saying the brand and showing it in the first two seconds of the ad drives the strongest brand recognition; 4) Conduct a “brand early and often” creative audit: Watch/listen to all your ads. Check off if your brand is mentioned in the first two seconds and if there are at least five or more audio track brand mentions in 30-second ads; 5) Use both salesmanship and showmanship: Emotion-based creative that is funny and entertaining builds stronger brands and generates greater business outcomes; and 6) Utilize right brain elements such as characters with vitality, story unfolding, clear sense of place, sounds of the living, dialogue, word play, distinctive accents, and music with discernable melody. 
9.4 million views, while TikTok delivered nearly 1.4 million. GETTR Live added 545,800 views, X generated 644,500 impressions, and YouTube and Rumble contributed nearly 250,000 additional views. The company goes on to say its core broadcast and streaming operations remained strong, reaching more than 220,000 terrestrial radio listeners while producing 240,140 internet radio and JFMN.TV streaming sessions. JFMN’s mobile apps generated another 17,535 sessions. JFMN co-founder John Fredericks adds, “This is an absolutely phenomenal milestone for our company. We built JFMN from the ground up – without the corporate media establishment, without billionaire gatekeepers, without Wall Street gangster-banksters and without compromising what we believe. More than 12.7 million in monthly reach proves that Americans are hungry for bold, independent media that respects its audience and tells the truth.”
evening (9/22) at 8:00 pm ET. Bush currently hosts the digital show “Hot Mics with Billy Bush.” He was working for “Access Hollywood” in 2005 when he infamously caught Donald Trump on a hot mic saying about women that he could “grab ‘em by the p*ssy,” and that “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” Trump subsequently said the recording was fake. Regarding his new gig, Bush says, “I’m excited to join FOX News Media and its loyal audience to share my perspective on the people, ideas and moments shaping today’s culture…. as well as the ones trying to undo it!”
“Throughout its 36-year history of service to the talk radio and associated talk media industries, TALKERS has maintained a strict policy of non-partisanship in its coverage of the field and its players. However, the single ideological orthodoxy practiced by TALKERS through this period has been uncompromising support of the First Amendment – the prime principle and foundation upon which all American freedoms and values are built. Over the years, we have bestowed our prestigious Freedom of Speech Award upon a wide variety of broadcasters from all ends of the political spectrum, and we have gone to bat in support of hosts, stations and networks – popular and otherwise, Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative – when under fire from presidents and other governmental forces determined to quell that fundamental right. For the sake of our industry and our country, we stand in protest of the current White House press ban imposed against our colleagues and strongly encourage all practitioners of American talk media, regardless of political persuasion, to unify in opposition to this egregious aggression against our fundamental right to fulfill our core duty and promise to the people of our nation.”