You Can't Consolidate Human Connection
Walk into a radio station at 1:30 on a Tuesday.
There was a time you’d hear phones ringing, production in progress, a sales rep sprinting past the studio with a spec spot, a jock laughing in the hall, somebody arguing about the next promotion, somebody else trying to fix a printer that should’ve died in 2009.
Now? Silence.
Buildings built for twenty people are running on four or five. In some markets, a cluster of five stations might have one local personality holding down the only truly local show. Everything else is voicetracked, syndicated, or automated.
And here’s the question nobody wants to say out loud.
In a business built on relationships, how do you “consolidate” human connection?
How do you downsize the one thing that made radio valuable in the first place?
Local connection is the advantage streamers can’t duplicate. A jukebox can play songs. It can’t tell you why the bridge is backed up, what the high school team did Friday night, how the community is feeling after a storm, or why that local business matters because you actually know the people behind it.
Unfortunately, a lot of local radio is now one layoff away from eliminating that advantage altogether.
I know this isn’t how a venture capitalist talks. I talk like someone who built a life on the love of an industry. Yes—radio is a business. We all agree on that. Where we disagree is what that business is supposed to do.
To me, radio’s job is simple:Create a magical connection with local audiences and elevate local businesses through creative marketing.
But here’s what downsizing really did. It didn’t just shrink the staff. In many cases, it shrank the craft.
I hear stations every day with one or two voices doing all the commercials. Spots that are rushed, cliché-heavy, and written like they were typed with one hand while the other hand was hitting “export.” Imaging that lacks structure. Promos that don’t build, don’t pay off, don’t make you feel anything. Everything sounds like it’s being made in a hurry… because it is.
And the deeper issue is this:
When experienced people left, the basics walked out the door with them.
There are stations with nobody left who truly understands how to build a clock, balance a format, create flow, write tight copy, or produce imaging that sounds like it belongs next to today’s music. Not because people don’t care—because there’s nobody left with the time, training, or reps to learn the craft properly.
Meanwhile, the big consolidators—love them or hate them—often still have systems. Their playlists are tight. Their production sounds polished. Their spots are syndicated and clean. They understand repetition, structure, and consistency.
The tradeoff is obvious: a lot of it isn’t local.But here’s the part that should scare all of us:
If “local” becomes sloppy, rushed, and amateur… then local loses its value.
And if local loses its value, the one thing radio still has that the jukebox streamers can’t copy disappears. So what’s the solution when budgets are tight and staffs are small?
It’s not pretending 1997 is coming back.
It’s rebuilding quality and connection with the tools we have now.
That’s where I come in.
At SonicAttention.com, I use modern tools to help stations and sales departments produce high-quality imaging and spec spots on a realistic budget—without charging agency prices and without stripping out the human part that makes radio work.
I write custom jingles—lyrics, melody, the whole concept—and I use AI as a production partner to nail the sound and style your client wants. Not “press a button and hope.” I’m talking about intentional creative: writing, shaping, revising, and delivering something that sounds like it belongs on a major-market station.
I also use AI tools to enhance real human voices—keeping the emotion, warmth, and connection—while giving it the polish that makes a piece cut through.
And here’s the key: I’m obsessed with getting it right. Every project gets my time, my ears, and my full attention—because in radio, details are the difference between “background noise” and “I just turned it up.
”Best part?There’s no risk.
If your client doesn’t buy, you don’t pay.
If you don’t think it works, you don’t pay.
We move on to the next prospect.
You can hear demos at SonicAttention.com, but honestly, the best demo is the one I’ll build for your exact situation—your station, your client, your voice, your market.
If you want your station to sound bigger than life on a budget—and if you want to protect the one advantage radio still owns—reach out.
Because sounding great isn’t vanity. It’s strategy.
Better sound helps you close more business.
Closing more business gives you the chance to invest again.
And with enough investment… maybe those empty halls don’t have to stay empty forever.