Sean Ross

3 weeks ago | radioinsight.com | Sean Ross

Almost everything about the Summer 1993 issue of Media Studies Journalis in some way resonant or ironic now, and rarely in a reassuring way. Former NPR VP Adam Clayton Powell III, while noting that radio has created unwired communities — if not quite the original social network that we like to brag about — also declares, “Radio mirrors our own fragmentation.

3 weeks ago | radioinsight.com | Sean Ross

In December 2020, I interviewed radio/TV veteran Wink Martindale and writer/producer Gary Theroux about their syndicated holiday special, The 100 Greatest Christmas Hits of All Time. The following year, the pair teamed up again to create a new two-hour weekly version of Theroux’s History of Rock & Roll, the syndicated special he created in 1978. Martindale died April 15 at age 91. He had updated Greatest Christmas Hits last December and completed 154 evergreen episodes of History.

1 month ago | radioinsight.com | Sean Ross

After struggling to find a lane, Audacy’s WNEW New York has become a market force in recent years as “New 102.7,” emphasizing “upbeat variety” and playing a heavily library-based version of Hot AC (although the format overall has largely followed its lead in recent years). In February, it was at a 4.3 share 6-plus, ahead of iHeart rival WKTU’s3.7 share. WKTU’s current rhythmic-based Hot AC coalesced more than 15 years ago under PD Rob Miller.

1 month ago | radioinsight.com | Sean Ross

For the last few years, the glacial progress of new music at current-driven formats has been interpreted to mean that streaming siphoned off the new-music fans, leaving Top 40 in particular with only the most passive, hit-driven users. But what if the streaming audience wasn’t so adventurous either? There is already evidence of this. Streams aren’t leading even the most open-minded programmers to a cornucopia of great new music.

1 month ago | radioinsight.com | Sean Ross

I never want to schedule “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias. It usually brings to mind 9/11, when it became a hit, often interspersed with audio from the tragedy. I am never quite sure whether to gradually slow down the radio station to keep the transition from being abrupt, or hope a jingle alone lets people forget they were just listening to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”In general, the ’00s category is, if not the weakest moment of the hour on an AC station, the most challenging.