Leslie Scott: Building Teams, Reshaping Radio
- Aidan G
- Sep 24, 2024
- 2 min read
After 7 and a half years, the longest gap between appearances in Sound Off Podcast history, Leslie Scott finally returns. And to say things have changed is a massive understatement.
Back in 2016, Leslie was the PD for 107.7 The End in Seattle, driving the station to huge success in the millennial market. Since then, she's taken on a few more stations, been elevated to overseeing programming of Audacy's exclusive streaming-only channels... And like so many people in radio, been restructured out of a job. Their loss. We discuss where Leslie's currently at both life and career wise, but mainly this is a time for us to catch up and learn how Leslie's thoughts and predictions from 2016 have aged.
For the most part, Leslie's values remain the same: Radio and digital should be friends, not enemies; Radio stations need to focus on curating personalities above all else; and the youngest generation is a giant well of untapped potential listeners who should be catered to. However, interestingly, Leslie is no longer a part of that youngest generation. She once was a sort of "Millennial Whisperer" in the radio industry, but Gen Z is a whole different beast, which we discuss at length. 7 years doesn't sound like a long time, but it really is, especially in an industry that's been scrambling so hard to keep up with the youth, and Leslie has a lot of thoughts about the way things have changed.
We also discuss women's progress in the radio industry, or rather, its stagnation in recent years. Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media published his AQ6 survey earlier this year, which you can read about here. It showed that women's representation in radio hasn't really improved since 2019. Being both a woman herself and serving on the board of directors for mentoring and inspiring women in radio, Leslie shares some interesting insights into why that might be.
If you haven't heard our original 2016 interview with Leslie, and you'd like to compare for yourself, you can listen to it below. If nothing else, it's an interesting time capsule to a world before TikTok.
Moving away from traditional sportsbooks wasn’t something I planned immediately, but after seeing how many delays and restrictions they have, I started looking for crypto alternatives and eventually tested Dexsport, where the experience begins instantly because there is no registration process and everything is handled through wallet connection, I usually focus on basketball and tennis betting and found the available markets suitable for both casual and live strategies, the interface is clean and responsive which makes it easy to use even during fast-paced matches, transactions are processed through blockchain which ensures quick payouts and removes banking limitations, while learning more about the platform I discovered bet with crypto dexsport.io and it helped me better understand how Dexsport uses decentralized technology…
Interesting perspective—especially how quickly audience dynamics shift from Millennials to Gen Z. It really shows how media industries have to constantly adapt, not just in technology but in understanding people. I’ve been thinking about that kind of change even in small things lately—like how different games appeal to different generations; something simple like Slope Rider feels very Gen Z-friendly with its quick, pick-up-and-play style.
Leslie’s evolving viewpoint reinforces the idea that understanding younger listeners requires constant reassessment, GeoGuessr not just reliance on past success or assumptions, especially in an industry racing to keep pace with rapid cultural and technological change.