From Fear to Resilience: Steve Reynolds helps you navigate Radio's changes

have to support and give them the resources to elevate them there. It's no longer good enough just to be great on the radio. You have to be great on the radio, but you have to have a television presence, a community presence, uh, you have to have a social media presence, and they all have to Interact with one another in a, in a way that is generated by content bandwidth

He's known for his innovative and effective strategies that improve radio programming and get good ratings in all kinds of formats. And he's helped launch and relaunch many successful radio stations. He's written for the big media publications, a frequent speaker at industry events. And this time around brand with on demand is proud to welcome back the top 10 talent coach, Steve Reynolds.

And what we learned in covid was Though the numbers were down, listening was less, people were at home, most of our listening is in cars. People are desperate to connect with other human beings. I don't know if you guys, you guys both have the internet where you live now, don't you? The interweb

As we tape this, in the last week wrote an op ed in the New York Times about something I talk to shows on all the time, the epidemic of loneliness in the world. We're all on social media, we all are texting all day long, and you know, I check Facebook 45, 000 times a day, and most people feel lonely, they feel alone. And I would say the opportunity that has presented itself in this, this new normal that you reference, Kipper, is for us.

To be that companionship with the listeners without ever sacrificing our relevancy, our sense of humor, our honesty. We do it through our authenticity. If we don't take advantage of that in all the ways in which we can have a relationship with this listener, we'll never build that, that loyalty through connection that will make us relevant and powerful again. In this fractured media landscape, Steve,

We had gone back to her workplace where my contract was faxed. And I had never seen anything like this before. And I'm an insecure 25 year old and I'm reading this contract in the car and I get. More and more worried about what am I signing here? This seems serious and my mother said well, what's the worst that could happen? And I said I could fail and she said so what so what if you fail in Raleigh you pick yourself up?

You dust yourself off you move on to the next thing She said Stephen because she's one of very few people who called me Stephen So if either of you call me Stephen before the end of our Time today, I'll, I'll think you're channeling my mother. She said, she said, Stephen, the only thing that can't be undone is jumping off of a building. You jump, you're obligated. Gravity takes over. You can't undo that. So why don't you embrace the change in your life and go and see about this job in Raleigh?

Well, here we are guys. I don't even want to give you how many years later. It's measured in decades. I love where I live. I see great opportunity here. I tell talent, if you don't like change, then you will really hate Irrelevance because the world around us all day long is changing and you have to change and modernize and update your show all the time because it's art.

It's living and it's breathing and the biggest, the biggest mistake I hear are shows that are frightened of change and we as managers of those people have got to do the work to take that fear away so that our shows. Stay in constant connection with wherever the audience is in that moment, emotionally.

So what would you recommend for them to distill, not so much for their show prep, but for their life

I remember getting a letter from a program director who turned me down, and he said, you sound like you're trying to find your ways as a, as a morning person. And they were right. And then this line that I've never forgotten. To copy one is plagiarism, to copy six is research, go do your research. I've never forgotten that line. The benefit of what I do as a talent coach now is that every hour I'm in the face of a different show.

And I see how different they all are and how they make decisions and how they use strategy and what their take is on the world and their sense of humor. I think you have to find people smarter than you. It's kind of trite to say that. I think you have to do the work to be comfortable, to be open, to be influenced by a handful of people you trust. Who will challenge how you view all of this, so your thinking is evolving. And how you view it changes back to that change. Again.

I think that's what you do. I'm, I'm super lucky that over the span of my career, I mean, I always say that Steve Reynolds as a person doesn't really exist. I'm, I'm a Frankenstein. That's I'm a Frankenstein. All I am is an amalgamation of all the smart people that I've been lucky enough to run into. And then I, Suck them dry of everything, you know, that I find to be great. And that becomes part of my ethos as a, as a radio professional.

I mean, there are days that John Coleman can't get out of bed. I've taken so much from John. I mean. John might be, you know, my, my, one of my, I call him my rabbi when I'm in trouble, I call him my rabbi. But there are, there are many that I've surrounded myself with, and then I try to remember that when I'm talking, I ain't learning. So just ask a lot of questions, take in the input, sift through what's important and not, and that becomes part of your philosophy.

And that's what I try to do with shows as well, is just find smarter people and ask lots of questions and be influenced by them so that my thinking doesn't fall into a rut. That's a good

You have to be great on the radio, but you have to have a television presence, a community presence. Uh, you have to have a social media presence and they all have to interact with one another in a, in a way that is generated by content, wherever that audience is. Why do they choose to interact with you on that platform in that way? It's because of the content that you offer.

So you can't do great content on the air and then say, Hey, on Facebook, we're going to tell everyone what's coming up on the show today. That's blah, blah, blah to Facebook users, and they're going to do what they do to a break. They're just going to scroll past you. So there needs to be a content strategy that is married under what your brand represents, what your show is about. And it needs to permeate all of these platforms, and you have to have a presence everywhere.

I look at, I'm fascinated, I would love to have an inside seat in iHeart. I have a zillion questions about what was done. I'm going to use this word. I think it's crass. I don't mean it in a crass way. So I apologize. I can't think of a more delicate word. What was done to create Ryan Seacrest and Bobby Bones? Because both of them are more than just radio stars. No matter, if I turn left and right, that's where they are. I mean, I've always believed that there's a Ryan Seacrest.

Factory somewhere that just churns out Ryan Seacrest to go do all of the things that Ryan does but each feeds on the other And they're each of them are bigger Perceived as bigger stars and more valuable to their companies because they have a presence everywhere and I want to know how did that happen?

That talent need to have a business manager who will help them put that together and our our forward thinking companies need to find their talent who can have that persona and help them develop that business plan, a model by which they ascend to that for as God rest your soul. Day Medina used to say a gigastar so that they can be gigastar.

He was host of a number of shows. We still have New Year's Rockin Eve named after him, years after his passing. I guess one question I would ask you is, why do you think there aren't A few more Bobby Bones and Ryan Seacrest or have been over the years. And is that an opportunity for people to really strive to have more of a global 360 plan for their career rather than just a radio show?

We have to have, um, we have to commit resources to do it, and I think because of In, in some respects how the industry has changed, we've not had that resource necessary to create them and we've become maybe shorter term thinking than we should in, in, in some instances, um, and not every talent has the money to employ these people to help them become them. And then we all, we become about tomorrow's show or next week's show and not what I want my career to be. And so.

In no way is this an indictment on any company or any talent. We just have not thought about this. And I think if we're going to continue to stay relevant into the future, and I think our industry is immensely relevant. I think if we are going to stay relevant, and we're going to do it through talent, and we're going to do it with long term game plans to create. These, these giga stars, if I might, for the benefit of the radio station and the cluster and the company,

Why don't you go to Therapist? Figure yourself out. And I'm always game for many new adventures, although kind of safe, but that's, you know, it's kind of dangerous. Let's go and learn about Steve. And so every Wednesday at noon, I hopped in my car when I programmed WRAL in Raleigh, and I'd stop at a subconscious sub shop on Hillsborough Street by NC State's campus. And I picked up a sub and I'd drive to Durham where I visited with Dr. Katherine Fulkerson.

Every Wednesday at noon for seven years. Probably four years longer than I needed to go. Every great thing in my life came from that work. And I think if I were on the air today, I would be much more genuine and authentic and real with the audience. What I learned about me brought me so many good things professionally that I share with talent. Um, there are talent 20 years of coaching, where I've very softly said, maybe, maybe you should see someone.

About that, all that they're upset with their partner consistently or they can't break through or they're very scared about their work environment. I was that typical. I was that guy that when I was on the air that I would walk by the boss's door was closed and I had absolutely convinced myself that I was the topic of conversation on the other side and they were discussing how I was going to be fired. It's delusional. I look back on, I'm embarrassed that I thought that, but I was that guy.

I mean, it's therapy, I think, that brought me to the ability to share that with you. I'm a big fan of Brene Brown and her conversation about vulnerability, all of this, for me to understand me better so I can be a better professional for the shows I work with, and if I were on the air to be a better talent. So to the person who gave me that personal advice, I don't think they realized what impact it would have on me professionally.

I received a lot of professional advice when I started the company. That I can share with you, but the one that I wish to in this conversation came from Pierre Bavard, who right now works for Westwood One, great guy at the time he worked for Coleman Research at the time and that Coleman Insights. And I said to Pierre, okay, gonna start the company. Give me a piece of advice. And Pierre said to me, this, I've held on to this for 20 plus years. Pierre said to me, whatever you have, give it away.

And I'm like, hmm, what does that mean? He said, not going to tell you, and you'll know it when you see it. And what he was telling me was, to create value from a business perspective, but more so, just because it's the right thing. If you have a skill set, and someone knocks on your door, Give it to them. Just give it to them. And I've had that, um, as part of my philosophy as a person, that I, in my time in doing this work, I've never taken money but twice from talent.

And, and I won't share who they are. You know, both of them, they are. Multimillionaires, both of them, and they had the resources to pay me. And so I made exceptions generally. It's like, I want the company to pay me because the company has the larger upside of the ad revenue if we make the ratings go up. So if a talent calls and says, Hey, I want to employ you. I say, nope, you don't make much and I'm not going to take your money. I'll work for free.

So if talent comes knocking on my door and asks me to review a break, listen to a show, um, give them a piece of advice. My answer 100 percent of the time is yes. Because it means they're not getting it in their building, uh, they're not getting it because probably their program director or managers are just too busy managing a zillion other things. And so they've come to me because I might've said something that intrigued them.

So I'm going to give it to them for free because that's the right thing to do. And that piece of professional advice. Has impacted me personally because I feel like when I wrap all this up, I've done my share of making the industry better. And I feel better about Steve because of that. Good stuff. So Steve, since

I think from a practical standpoint, the one piece of advice I would give Kipper is get to know people. We are an incredibly small industry and the people who are in this industry still are great human beings at the highest level of all of these companies. Some of them get bad raps because they're the big bad suit, but we. I know them because my company is sort of designed to know them and they're all smart and great human beings.

They may not be able to return an email or call you back because they got a billion things going on, but if you go to a convention, pull one of these people over. They'll give you all the time in the world because they're good people. Go network. And if you get to know those folks at the highest level, you'll learn something and opportunities will open for you.