In this episode Laura discusses the changing face of radio, building a youthful audience, using social media and the importance of being on the ground in your market.Laura was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia where she attended Georgia State. In college she started out in computer science before moving to a degree in journalism. Laura got her start in radio working the graveyard shift at the campus radio station Album88.“It was a really cool thing being someone who got to introduce people to new music. The radio station used to compete with 99x in Atlanta. Album 88 to this day is still known for that. It’s definitely still on the forefront of introducing people to non-traditional artists and genres,” says Laura.Laura remembers her time working the 2-5 a.m. shift fondly. Saying it was as close as she got to working alternative radio. The station and the time slot gave her the freedom to play bands like The Rubens and Lime Cordial. She interned with Adam Bomb. When Adam was working on the on air portion of the show, Laura would attend local events in his place. “I would go out basically interact, take pictures get audio, do stuff for social and kinda, you know, getting an understanding and a taste of street activation for a radio station. It’s important to keep up that face to face interaction and showing people we are more than people that play music. We interact, we attend local events and support community,” says Laura.After graduation and before moving north Laura worked in promotions and as a board op at the Cumulus stations: Rock 100.5, 99x ,and Kicks 101.5 and O.G. 97.9 in Atlanta. Today she in on evenings in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania. Working at CHR/WBHT which has two transmitters 97.1 Wilkes Barre and 95.7 Scranton (Home of Dunder Mifflin’s top branch).Laura works a time slot that was previously not held by local talent. She says it has been nice to connect with her audience and retrain them to expect a live body in the station on evenings. She notes it is fun to stay involved with all things Gen-Z using Instagram and Facebook live to interact with her audience, but says social media can be very time consuming and that she prefers to schedule it in rather than letting it run her show. Twitter is the platform she uses least and that like it or not, you’re gonna have to use TikTok if you want to capture a youthful audience.Every Tuesday CHR/WBHT does a High School takeover. A bunch of high school students come in and take over programming at the radio station. The station has a pizza party and gets imaging, social and word of mouth out of the deal. “We just hang out get to know them and they really appreciate that,” says Laura. She knows this is helping to build the next generation of listeners and talent."Radio is changing but not going away. It is in changing the way we interact with our listeners that we will keep radio alive." Her message to anyone who dreams of a career in radio: “keep pushing through.”Laura hopes to one day be a program director at an alternative station.Laura and Matt go to the Conclave in Minneapolis every year, along with several others who have been on this podcast. It's an event she calls exciting and inspiring for all things radio. Laura gives a shout out to some of her favorite people that she has met there: (All have appeared on our podcast) Lori Lewis, Jillene Khan, Alyssa from 107.7 The End who was on the podcast.There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you want to get pointed in the right direction to break into voice acting listen to this episode. Matt Fogarty is a name you may not be familiar with, but if you listen to the radio in western Canada you have probably heard his voiceFogarty is currently the creative director for Island Radio a group of 6 stations located on Vancouver Island. Fogarty says he loves going to work and the creative interaction that happens at his day job in radio.Beyond radio Fogarty says he spends what feels like every other waking moment doing voice over work. Matt Fogarty made the jump from radio voice work a few years ago. In this episode of Sound Off he discusses what it takes to make it in the voiceover industry. Shares a list of tips for those aspiring to break into voice acting and talks about the importance of developing a close network.“It starts with an idea, then you’ve gotta execute on that idea by having an awesome script, Then you’ve gotta have the talent interpret and understand that script, deliver and perform that script. And then you need an amazing producer to put it all together,” says FogartyFogarty markets heavily to radio stations and much of his work comes from imaging where he works closely with Hoss Management. ( https://hossmgmt.com/) “He’s a brilliant marketer himself,” says Fogarty. He also shows love for Eric Romanowski for demos, and some of his favorite voice coaches Nancy Wolfson, Mary Lynn Wisner and Dave Walsh.Fogarty has worked for big name national brands including Subway and Kleenex. In this episode he also explains that clients are looking for talent that comes off as “real” and “natural”.“You’re an actor there’s no doubt about it. You’re not a radio DJ coming down to voice a mattress blowout sales spot black Friday in between breaks. You are conveying a brand message and that brand has probably spent a whole lot of money figuring out their targeting and their demographics and they want to make sure when they hire somebody they’re gonna be able to deliver on all those brand pillars.” He says this can be as simple as adlibbing once in a while or altering the pace of your speech to avoid sounding sing-songy.At this point in the episode Matt Cundill tries to sell Fogarty a mattress.There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Shannon Burns is a familiar voice across Canadian radio. Her show iHeartRadio Nights with Shannon Burns airs nationally on 14 iHeartRadio stations, and she does evenings on the legendary radio station she grew up listening to, CHUM 104.5FM.On the podcast she talks about her career arc, how to plan a nationally syndicated show and suggests a name for the former Power 107 in Edmonton (Unicorn 107?).Shannon grew up in Burlington Ontario. She says that she has always been mildly obsessed with pop culture and so when it came time to apply for college, radio was the natural choice.A career in media was a choice her mother supported and helped her to achieve. “She is a firm believer in not chasing the dollar and going after what you’re interested in,” says Burns.After her time in college Shannon went out west to hone her radio skills. In 2014 she landed a job in Medicine Hat on Rock 105.3 (Rogers) where she worked as a morning show host and news anchor. In 2015, Shannonn moved to Virgin 104.9 in Edmonton where she worked her way up the ladder from 2015-2018 eventually becoming a midday announcer and assistant music director.Shannon loved her time out west, but she says the goal was always to work her way back to the Toronto market. Today she gets to interview some of the biggest names in music from Shawn Mendes to Katy Perry. “My goal is to make them my friends,” says Burns with a laugh.On the future of radio Shannon is very upbeat. She came into radio at a time when it was fusing with social media, and that the medium of radio allowed producers to become early adopters of social media and digital marketing strategies. The story is ongoing with the content produced in radio being about so much more than what goes out over the airwaves.There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Darrin Harvey and I met in late 1989 when he was going to fill in on some Christmas shifts on Magic 97 in Kentville, Nova Scotia. From the get go, I knew we would be friends. And while we never lived in the same time zone after I left in 1992, I never lost touch with Darrin. He ascended to mornings, was later fired in the early 2000's, only to return the when region got a new FM in 89.3 K-Rock. Once again, he ascended to mornings and he is the quintessential morning man for the region. Darrin has the playbook for connecting with listeners and yes it involves being involved. In this day and age when the practices are "Move all the small stuff to Facebook and promote it there so we can get another record in", Darrin not only puts it to air but then hosts the event outright.Sometimes the best marketing is just getting really involved.What is success in radio? After speaking to Darrin in this episode, I realized that it's about the number of people you touch, and the number of smiles you leave behind.Darrin made mention of my blog post from a few years ago called "The History of the Death of Radio" which you can feel free to read.There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I met Ross Davies briefly on two occasions. Once in Montreal in the 90's and a second time in the 2000's again in Montreal. It was little more than a "Hi! How Are You?' but there was work to be done and the radio stories were going to have to come later. Fast forward to 2018 and we finally got to have that chat. Ross spent a good chunk of his career working for CHUM in the programming, operations and senior management positions. We went back to the beginning where he started his career with Moffatt Communications. He moved to Toronto in 1979 has worked with Standard Radio, Canadian Satellite Radio, Astral Media Radio and (as mentioned) CHUM Ltd. More recently, Ross served as Director of Member Engagement/Radio for Numeris, the leading provider ratings to broadcasters and advertisers. Ross was also part of the executive team at XM Satellite radio that launched Canada’s first satellite radio service in 2005. (The merger with Sirius came much later) We also dug into him co-creating the original Jack/Bob variety hits format with the launch of Bob-FM in Winnipeg in the spring of 2002.Ross is putting together some of the radio panels at Canadian Music Week this year and provided some intel into what we can expect May 20-22 when it all takes place. He also welcomes your feedback so shoot him an e-mail - but only after you listen to what he has shared. (It's towards the end of the podcast by the way)There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Justin Dove is really good at radio imaging. (He also admits he is an audio nerd) He started in his home province of Newfoundland and worked his way across Canada for companies both big and small. Then he started his own company, Core Image Studios. We may have used the term "radio imaging" to describe his work, but it goes a lot further than that; as Justin calls it Sound design. In this episode I asked him to define it and share some of his secrets in imaging that have landed him some top notch imaging contracts at radio stations like WEEI in Boston and Sirius XM. (We may have provided some examples too)Core Image Studios has been a supporter of the show for the last few years and we had the chance to meet for the first time at Canadian Music Week last May. Justin will be making a few appearances over the next few months including at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters this month, and the Barrett Sports Media summit in New York in February.There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every year since 2013, I have loaded up the car for a football trip to see the Green Bay Packers. The team has a special relationship with the town that is unlike any other in sports. That extends to its local radio partner which clearly doesn’t behave like other radio stations in a medium or small market. WIXX 101.1 is staffed 24/7 with live personalities. The program director is Corey Carter who also pulls the 1-3pm shift on air. He spoke to me about his employer, Midwest Communications, the relationships developed with team members, the team, and the formula that has kept the station at number one since 1977.in this episode, we spoke about the difficulty in getting a decent hotel on game days. We solved that problem this year by staying with Kirsten and Gary. There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Todd Cochrane can speak to it because he was there in the early days. In 2004, he jumped into podcasting; long before Apple became involved. As time went on he began to find ways to make money at it, including an early sponsorship deal with GoDaddy, and creating the podcast hosting company that we know as Blubrry.We try to address two very large questions in this episode: Where is podcasting headed, and what will radio's role in it be? We tackle a number of the podcast news stories, asking if the RSS Feed is in jeopardy, what radio can do to best invest in podcast, and is iHeart really number one in podcasting? (Depends how you want to count) We also ask to explain the importance of IAB Certification and if Soundcloud is a legitimate podcast host. (Again, it depends how you want to count)Todd is the host of the New Media Show with Rob Greenlee (who appeared on our podcast back in August of 2017), it airs live roughly every Saturday at Noon Eastern - but feel free to catch the podcast version or the video version on your own time.If you are looking for a podcast host with IAB certified metrics and web integration (and Todd explains why that's important in this episode) contact him here.There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Don Kollins is kind of an ideal guest for this podcast. He is a Canadian living in California. He has worked in radio on both sides of the border. And he is innovative enough to use his experience to see a path to the future for radio. When he was the program director of Toronto's pre-eminent sports radio leader, the Fan 590, he found himself having to juggle a radio show on TV - which later became a TV show on radio, in the Bob McCown show. He sees an opportunity for every radio personality to have a digital relationship with Twitch. Once solely a gamers medium, radio personalities like Bubba the Love Sponge, Humble & Fred and The Milkman John Mielke have embraced the platform and build out their brands using Twitch.During the show, mention was made about the blog Fred Jacobs wrote about President Donald Trump using Twitch. You can read that here.We spoke to Don about his early days at Rawlco and Rogers, his move to Sports Radio and later to The Game 95.7 in San Francisco. I got to ask all about sports radio from the program director who succeeded Jason Barrett at that station. (Yes we will be having on a few more Sports Radio PD's over the next few months as the format is at the forefront of digital integration with radio)If you would like to get in touch with Don and know more about using Twitch for your radio station, please contact him here via LinkedIN. There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jim Harold began podcasting on the paranormal in 2005 and is among a handful of pioneers of podcasting. His programs have stood the test of time and The Paranormal Podcast and Campfire remain among the most popular in the genre. He also developed a premium tier and much to his surprise... worked! He started out in radio sales after originally considering television. When he was let go from CBS, he pushed all-in on Podcasting and he is now the host of a number of podcasts beyond the two aforementioned ones.As a result, he has also become a published author with his Campfire series. The first book was originally published by traditional publisher New Page Books, and since then Jim has taken the books independent. All five books are available in eBook and paperback at JimHaroldBooks.com and via Amazon.com.Jim lives in Ohio with his fantastic wife and two daughters and I had the pleasure of meeting him at Podcast Movement last August.We did the show using Squadcast instead of Skype. If you liked the sound quality, let me know. I might actually open my pockets and spring for it.There's more about this episode on our show page!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxNLogicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.