Storytelling is out of almost countless channels and touchpoints now, whereas before we would turn on the TV and we'd get the news, or we'd turn on the AM or FM radio and get the news or the stories of the day. Obviously, social media is an aspect of it where people are going to find their stories. In, in addition to, or instead of those traditional channels, which I still love, and my training is rooted in those foundations, welcome to BRANDwidth On Demand, your Guide to Rebooting Radio.
What I would encourage anyone who wants to continue storytelling or to start storytelling, no matter your niche, no matter what stories you wanna tell, there is an outlet and a place for you to tell them
BRANDwidth On Demand. Rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be. Now your guides through the media morphosis, David Martin, and author of the book, BRANDwidth On Demand, media branding coach, Kipper McGee.
Well this time we peek into the dynamic world of a versatile, multimedia journalist, producer, and radio personality. In the span of two years, she's gone from radio newbie, to assistant brand manager, And on air talent at Nashville's newest country station, Y'all 106. 7. Now as Nashville's multimedia queen, she produces for the grand old Opry and circle country TV and one very special radio station where she's part of the Coffee Country and Cody morning show.
She's the kind of person who can really do it all from production, hosting, to normalizing the fan girl to professional fan pipeline BRANDwidth On Demand is proud to welcome digital wizardess producer and host from the most famed country station in the world. The legendary BRANDwidth On Demand. BRANDwidth On Demand Cooper.
Yeah, that wassurreal to hear you say, holy cow. You're going to follow me every day and wake me up with that as my alarm. Motivate me.
Well, and also CMA nominee. Tell me, tell us about that.
Oh my gosh. Yes. So for CRS, I am one of five folks. The other four are just absolute superstars. I am nominated for the new face of country award, which is. Insane! I still haven't processed it. I'm just so beside myself and honored.
So, besides being honored and pretty soon having a big award shelf to match all your, uh, your records and stuff there that you got, you wear a lot of hats. I mean, how do you manage being Nashville's multimedia queen plus running your own production company working for the big grand old Opry Enterprise and also the stars that visit them all often. How do you do it?
Oh my gosh, it is an acceptable answer. I don't know how, uh, I, I think the only explanation. Uh, as Dave said, I am a professional fan and that's all I've ever wanted to be. I have been obsessed with music and artists and bands and the culture and phenomena around them my entire life. And I never saw a way where I would have a job that wasn't something I loved. They're working in this industry as the two of you know, you can't do it if you don't love it.
And we certainly don't do it for the glamor or the money. Most of the time we do it because we love it. And so when I moved here two years ago without a job, I told myself I have no choice but to succeed. So I fell in love with the process and fell in love with working hard and trying to do what I've always wanted and make my dream a reality. And by the grace of my incredible support system and the powers that be, I am doing it right now.
Right. Well, BRANDwidth On Demand, your background ranges from TV news to sports, CHR radio, digital storytelling. You really have done a lot. How has your approach to storytelling evolved?
Oh my gosh. The one thing that I think has stayed the same is the base of it being myself. Whenever I would go into an interview, whether it be with. A college or professional athlete or coach, or when I worked in news, a local leader or a world leader, and now with artists, you get folks to open up to you and to tell their story by you being just as genuinely interested as you are. You're not putting on an act. You're not putting on a persona. You're you and you're interested and engaged.
So the first part of my answer is by that being the core and that not changing. Buddy. Almost conversely, but also the same, it's evolved by finding my dream and finding my path into music. I have felt more welcome to be myself and leaning into that. Whereas when I worked in news, for instance, although an incredibly pivotal and crucial experience in my broadcast career, I'm too happy. And I'm too fun to cover the oftentimes very intense and upsetting Base basis of new stories.
And I wasn't able to cover the kinds of stories that spoke to me or cover them in the way that I would want to do it, because you have a responsibility to tell stories a certain way when you work in news. And so leaning into being myself and just embracing the excitement and the feelings that I have towards different stories.
So as a. Kind of a one stop shop storyteller. What trends do you see right now kind of shaping the future of multimedia journalism? And how would you suggest those following in your footsteps should be, and how do you suggest those following in your footsteps should be preparing now for what's coming?
Oh, wow. Okay. The obvious answer to that is, is storytelling is out of almost countless channels and touch points now, whereas before we would turn on the TV and we'd get the news or we'd turn on the AM or FM radio and get the news or the stories of the day. Obviously. Social media is an aspect of it where people are going to find their stories in addition to or instead of those traditional channels, which I still love and my training is rooted in those foundations.
What I would encourage anyone who wants to continue storytelling or to start storytelling would be to lean into and embrace these oftentimes free tools we have, whether it be TikTok, whether it be Reels. I need to get more versed in Twitch and those different ways of streaming and broadcasting. I was telling some radio colleagues the other day, actually, Communication has been evolving since the beginning of time.
The way that we talk to each other and tell stories has been the main way that society has evolved forever. And it will continue to evolve us as professional communicators, us as broadcasters, don't we have a responsibility to be ahead of the curve and to adapt to communicating and lead the way and encourage those adaptions, right, or adaptations. I think adaptions. One of those two words.
I would just encourage anyone that is weary of social media or thinks that it's beyond them or that they're beyond it to stay in touch with your ever evolving audience and give it a try.
I think social media, although it can be very polarizing and controversial, I personally believe that social media has a place for everybody and it's a very inclusive environment and that's why I love it so much and no matter your niche, no matter what stories you want to tell, there is an outlet and a place for you to tell them
Well spoken, Eryn, you know, let's talk for a moment about the institution that is the Grand Old Opry and your experience there. How do you see digital strategies like social media, which you just spoke of and interactive? Experiences, amplifying the magic of that historic venue.
Oh my gosh. I see it as, as the way to continue to pass down the history of it. I just helped launch the Tik Tok for WSM a few weeks ago. And now, with the account only existing for a short time, we have about 3, 000 followers, which granted is small in the grand scheme of social media accounts, but that's 3, 000 potentially newer people that didn't know about the Grand Ole Opry.
And even if it's not all 3, 000, there's got to be at least one person that now knows about WSM and might've become curious about the brand. Researching it more and wanting to learn more. The Grand Ole Opry is the most historic place for country music and social media is going to keep carrying that history forward and tell that story in new ways.
Well, we can tell by your website and social channels that you're into a lot of stuff. And by the way, we will link to those in the show notes for the podcast. But the question is. Other hobbies help you maintain the balance and creativity in your busy world. What do you do to relax? What else happens there?
Oh my goodness. Well, I know the both of you can entirely relate as can many people that, that work in this industry or in any industry that you're in. People bring home with them and because they love it, uh, oftentimes the hobbies bleed into it. Uh, I would say going to concerts, but I feel like that's related. I love live music. It is a huge reason why I wanted to go into this.
I think concerts and live music is one of the most uniting experiences, but if we're gonna talk outside of music and outside of listening to my records, which as you can see, just cover my wall here, it would be. running. I love to run when all of us were cooped up inside during the pandemic and the gyms were closed. My apartment gym was closed back when I was in news in Chattanooga. How was I supposed to exercise? So I started just running outside and I went from running.
What was previously maybe two miles at a time on the treadmill to running about seven and a half miles outside in the span of a couple of months. Yeah. My hips are going to thank me for that here in a few years. They already kind of do, but
my ice cubes keep bouncing out of the glass when I try that. So,
oh my gosh, but I love to run. I actually live. Right by a national park here in Nashville. That's a big hill. And I torture myself by running up and down hills any day that it's not monsooning or tundra ing here in Nashville, which has been a trend as of late. So I love, yeah, I love to run and I have a kitty cat. Her name is Sugar. She's white and fluffy. I'm surprised she hasn't made an appearance yet.
So I like to spend time with her and she's a great, um, Calming presence in my life as someone who is naturally extremely energetic. Having a cat that just sits there really brings you down. Yeah, I'd say running my kitty cat. And then every once in a while I'll bake some desserts for my friends.
BRANDwidth On Demand Cooper, professional fan girls. Somebody you'd love to hear from. We'd love to hear from you. Email us show at BRANDwidth On Demand. com or reach out to us on social BRANDwidthplus on Insta, Facebook, Twitter, that's X BRANDwidthPlus plus P L U S BRANDwidthPlus.
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Coming up, BRANDwidth On Demand shares the one opportunity that she sees for station people that's hiding in plain sight.
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Listen today, lead tomorrow BRANDwidth on Demand.
Eryn Cooper, professional fan girl is with us today and Eryn, from your multimedia vantage point and living as you do in that multimedia world, what is the one opportunity that you see for radio...for station people, that most miss, because it's 'hiding in plain sight'?
I would say it's providing additional storytelling resources that we're all encouraging each other to use, but maybe aren't something that we all just naturally are subscribed to or have. For instance, I was, this is a great question because I was talking To a bunch of my radio colleagues in a group text about this the other day, things like Adobe suite 55 a month, I think, and that gives you access to Adobe Audition, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and numerous other.
Adobe apps that allow you to edit audio, video, and make graphics, motion graphics for different things. If radio stations really want to embrace social media and bring people in through that way and establish a larger and newer fan base, providing the resources for your talent, who are often the people, not only being your talent.
But creating and thinking of and posting these social media things, giving them the resources to do that, to edit their things, and maybe even having a workshop where if there is one talent in particular who seems to really have the social media thing down, during that staff meeting that you have once a quarter or once a month, Make that a workshop for that talent to really shine with their skills and show other talent or producers who may not be as well versed and encourage them to learn from
each other and take that time to grow your talent. And their abilities on the clock and using that, those resources. Cause one of the number one things I hear is, Oh, I've never used that tool. Or I don't know how to use that tool. Or how do you think of these things? I think if we're going to encourage people to do these things, then the station should fill it, facilitate time to learn. And then. Those tools that can make the highest quality products for those skills.
Our thanks to Eryn Cooper. She is amazing. Kipper. We have links to all of her stuff and more in the show notes. Just scroll down on your phone.
As always, thanks to exec producer, Cindy Huber, and to our associate producer, Hannah B, who suggested that we had to talk to BRANDwidth On Demand and boy, are we glad.
You bet. Great stuff.
Now
coming up next.
Hi, it's Chris Kelly and Chris Dimm. We're members of the Two Guys Named Chris show and great to be on BRANDwidth On Demand. Coming up, we're going to talk about our history in radio.
And this is my first ever podcast. So if a cat jumps on my lap, don't be surprised. Watch for it.
That's a wrap, Kipper. In the new One Minute Martinizing, we'll take a look at the professional art of Practice. While athletes do it, musical acts are at the top of their game, practice, just two examples there, pros who practice. Uh, do you? I'm Dave Martin.
And I'm Kipper McGee. May all your BRANDwidth be wide.