What Now, Radio? The Attention Economy Is Here
It has been a brutal summer for radio. Layoffs at Cumulus, iHeart, Rogers, Audacy, Corus and others have dominated industry headlines—and filled the social feeds of talented people whose final station post is often the announcement that they are no longer there.
That should matter, because radio has always been at its best when it is built around people. Not just formats, clocks, promotions, songs and spots—but personalities who create a relationship with listeners. When that relationship is cut off, listeners do not wait around. They have a phone full of choices.
The uncomfortable truth is that radio is no longer simply competing with other radio stations. It is competing in the attention economy. Jules Lund put it beautifully on Craig Bruce’s Game Changers Radio: the old flywheel was broadcast, audience and ratings. The new one is attention, participation, community, trust and then commerce.
That order matters.
Trust is difficult to build and incredibly easy to lose. Participation requires more than asking listeners to text a keyword. Community means being relevant to the people where you live—not just filling a shift from somewhere else. And attention is now spread across radio, podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, streaming platforms and wherever people choose to spend their time.
Radio personalities need to be thinking beyond the broadcast signal. Bobby Bones has made this point for years: if you are creating great long-form content, it should be able to live in more than one place. A great conversation on the air can become a podcast segment, a video clip, a social post, a newsletter item or a piece of content that helps someone discover you for the first time.
That does not mean every radio show needs to become a video-first podcast. It means the work needs to be good enough—and intentional enough—to travel.
Radio's Attention Economy is Local Too
There is also a real local opportunity opening up. While radio companies continue to remove local talent and local programming in many markets, the algorithms are increasingly delivering content based on where people are. Local businesses still need customers. Local audiences still care about what is happening around them. And creators who can make useful, entertaining, trusted local content have a chance to build something valuable.
Yes, there may be too many radio stations in some markets. Yes, AM radio has a difficult economic future. Yes, news is expensive. But the answer cannot be to remove the people, the local connection and the reasons listeners cared in the first place.
Whether you are in radio, podcasting or building your own platform from scratch, the opportunity is the same: join the attention economy and make content people want to spend time with. Earn their attention. Invite their participation. Build community. Protect their trust.
Then figure out the money.
This was recorded from a cabin somewhere in Manitoba.
Promised in the show notes:
The Broadcast Dialogue podcast with Connie Thiessen, Matt Caine, and Rob Brown about buying and running an AM station
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