By John Perras, Master Sales Consultant

Notes from someone who refuses to write the eulogy for radio

Every few months, another “radio is struggling” post makes the rounds. And every time, I’m reminded how much selective amnesia this industry has.

For more than a decade, radio has:

Gutted local staff

Eliminated training

Cut sales teams to the bone

Syndicated everything that moves

Reduced PDs to spreadsheet managers

Bet the farm on digital as the saviour

And then — with a straight face — we act shocked when revenue declines. This isn’t a mystery. It’s math. You can’t remove the very things that create value and then blame the market when value disappears.

The Part Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud

Radio didn’t lose revenue because “the medium is dying.”

Radio lost revenue because the product was hollowed out.

When you stop sounding local

When you stop being interesting

When you stop training sellers

When you stop investing in talent

When you stop showing up in the community

You stop being worth paying for.

This isn’t a technology problem. It’s a leadership problem.

The Counter‑Example: GO BIG FM

GO BIG FM didn’t get the memo that radio is dying. They invested in local, built original content, trained their people, and treated the medium like it still matters. Revenue followed. It always does.

When you:

Invest in local

Create original content

Give talent room to breathe

Train sellers properly

Act like radio still matters

…revenue follows.

It’s not magic. It’s fundamentals.

So when I read posts painting radio as a helpless victim of market forces, I push back.

Radio didn’t get here by accident. It got here by choice.

And the stations that are winning right now?

They’re choosing differently. The question is whether the rest of the industry will choose in time — or keep writing posts about how unfair the weather is. If you want to talk about what winning looks like in 2026, my DMs are open.