Media Insultant
Keith Samuels and Jackson Weaver, two media executives opine on all things media - radio, TV, cable, print, and digital. Both have long careers in radio, TV, digital and print and are not short on opinions in this tumultuous time. All opinions are theirs but happy to hear yours too! Video version available on Vimeo. New episodes each Wednesday. jackson@intownmedia.com and www.intownmedia.com
Episodes
309 episodes
Media Insultant - 6.17.26 We update some better info on OPS. A radio station that literally is covering almost NO one. And stations going dark may be good news for the business.
A MYSTERIOUS RADIO STATION SALEWARSHAW WALKS FROM MORE RADIO STATIONSWE CLARIFY OUR RADIO STATION OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE SETTING.
Media Insultant - 6.10.26 We ask for a redo on Byron. FCC continues to make investment in radio/TV tougher. Hubbard rebrands...kinda.
WE MAY HAVE UNDERESTIMATED BYRON ALLEN’S EFFORTS TO TAKE ON YOU TUBE…BUT IT WON’T BE EASY…FCC ADDS EXPENSIVE BURDENS TO RADIO AND TVHUBBARD REBRANDS…OR BRANDS…OR IS JUST STATING THE OBVIOUS…WE AREN’T SURE…...
Media Insultant 6.3.26 - BuzzFeed to challenge You Tube? A compelling sales tip ! And turns out radio might be the problem!
WHAT’S THE DIGITAL SALES TIP HIDDEN IN BORRELL’S RECENT REPORT…?BYRON ALLEN SAYS, WHAT THE HELL. LET’S TAKE ON YOU TUBE.THE IHEART SIRUIS TALKS HIT A SNAG…AND THE ENEMY MAY BE RADIO....
Media Insultant 5.27.26 Turners garbage. More radio restructuring. Tonight Show earworm and What was Cox thinking??
JOHNNY CARSON HAS AN ANNIVERSARY.COX MEDIA GROUP APPARENTLY IS ASLEEP AT THE WHEELTED TURNER TAKES OUT THE TRASHSBS/SALEM RESTRUCETUREWTOP’S EXTRAORDINARY LEADER RETIRES…...
Media Insultant 5.13.26 Should a GM carry a list? How much did Ted do? Urban One doubles down on radio.
LOTS OF JUSTIFIED TRIBUTES TO TED TURNER…WHAT IS URBAN ONE DOING BUYING MORE RADIO STATIONS THIS CLOSE TO BK. IS A SELLING GM A GOOD IDEA?
Media Insultant 5.6.26 Will the NFL over play their hand? Objection to radio Part 2. Audacy expands sports in LA and Cumulus in a death spriral.
NEVER ONE TO BE BASHFUL - THE NFL PUTS THE SQUEEZE ON!CUMULUS IS SADLY ABOUT OVER…AUDACY BOOSTS IT’S SPORTS PRESENCE…AT THE EXPENSE OF LEGENDARY RADIO.WHAT TO SAY WHEN SOMEONE SAYS, NO ONE LISTENS TO...
Media Insultant 4.29.26 - General Motors ditches HD radio. Handling that objection. And is iHeart merger with Sirius a real deal?
YIKES…GM HAS PULLED HD RADIO FROM THEIR CARS.OUR AUDIENCE CHIMES IN ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THE #1 OBJECTION FOR RADIO SALES PEOPLE…IHEART AND SIRIUS HAS US SCRATCHING OUR HEADS…
Media Insultant 4.22.26 - A great FCC story. The NAB Convention is back. AI is killing Google's golden goose.
NAB SPRING SHOW -LOOKING FOR BUYERS!ANOTHER SAD RIP FOR A GREAT BROADCASTER AND GUYAI PANIC IN THE STREETS AT GOOGLE.FCC STORY YOU WON’T BELIEVE
Media Insultant - 4.15.26 Streaming will save local TV. Really? SBS hits the BK route. And we think MediaCo missed the point.
CAN STREAMING SAVE LOCAL TV STATIONS…?MEDIACO EGO GETS IN THE WAY OF A CLIENT FOCUSED MESSAGE.SBS FILES AND MARY GETS ANOTHER YEAR AT THE HELM OF A SINKING SHIP!
Media Insultant - 4.8.26 - iHearts new Radio Head is trying to catch a falling knife. Old CBS radio stories. Audacy takes a serious management change. Warshaw turns to a a buyer.
iHEART GETS A NEW RADIO HEAD—-finally!WE SHARE A COUPLE OF CBS RADIO STORIESARE WE BEING JUST ANALOG GUYS OR IS AUDACY’S NEW STRUCTURE VIABLE?JEFF WARSHAW IS REALLY SHAKING UP THE RADIO BIZ FROM SFO ...
Special Edition - Media Insultant. 4.1.26 - Is programmatic selling killing the local sales staffs?
A couple of weeks ago…we talked about Amazon and Yahoo offering programmatic inventory for iHearts audio products. We see this as further breakdown in the traditional sales role that radio stations have with their clients…But maybe...
Media Insultant 3.18.26 Is in-car radio listening hot? Will CBS TV stations benefit from the Paramount purchase? New folks in Management. Radio finishes last year in the dumps. And why is Salem moving 860 AM to 1640?
IN CAR RADIO LISTENING IS UP….IS THAT GOOD NEWS?WHY DO WE HAVE TO SIT THOUGH ‘WE’LL BE RIGHT BACK' BREAKS IS THE PARAMOUNT DEAL WITH SKYDANCE GOOD FOR CBS TV STATIONSLOTUS ADDS A NEW GM<...
Media Insultant 3.11.26 - New earworm! iHeart dives into progammatic. Cumulus bankruptcy and the sad demise of a couple of legendary AMs.
CUMULUS ENTERS THEIR 3RD BANKRUPTCY...this is A SAD ENDING?A TRIBUTE TO TWO LEGENDARY RADIO STATIONS THAT ARE NO MOREDOES IHEART HOLD THE FORMULA FOR THE NEXT LEVEL SALES EFFORT FOR RADIO? eVEN LOCAL RADIO?&...
Media Insultant - Special Edition - 3.4.26 - Lucy Rice on how radio sales can better compete.
We’ve got a special edition of Media Insultant for you today. And much of what we will talk about today is Evergreen…worth listening to a couple of times…My old friend Keith Shipman - he’s the retiring head of WSAB and is a broadca...
Media Insultant 2.25.26 - Are we too hard on radio? The Olympics deliver GOLD for NBC. If Saga goes up for sale, who will show up to buy? And Entravision leadership changes.
IF SAGA COMM. IS IN PLAY…WHO’S IN THE POOL?OLYMPICS? THE TENT POLE THAT IS DELIVERING FOR NBC.WE ARE ACCUSED OF GIVING RADIO A HARD TIME. AND THAT IS CORRECT….ENTRAVISION OUSTS A 25YEAR LEADER…...
Media Insultant - 2.18.26 Radio gets to 25% in digital. Really? Or just shell game? Nexstar and TEGNA merger is back on or is it? What's up with radio.com?
RADIO GOT 25% DIGITAL….BUT WE THINK, MAYBE NOT.RADIO.COM URL SOLD…BUT WHAT FOLLOWS IS JUST WEIRD.TEGNA/NEXSTAR BACK UP TO THE PLATE BUT ARE THE NETWORKS BEING ACED OUT?<...
Media Insultant - 2.11.26 - New earworm! How'd Radio Row do? WTF is the deal with Eastlan and Cumulus? Tentpoles seem to be sagging on TV.
WE ALL WATCHED THE SUPER BOWL BUT HOW DID RADIO ROW PERFORM…?CUMULUS LEAKED AND NIELSEN IS PISSED ABOUT IT…GRAMMYS RATINGS - OLYMPIC RATINGS FOR BETTER OR WORSE
Media Insultant - 2.4.26 - Why would an iHeart exec jump ship to a sinking one? Is Radio Row dying? Audacy reorg is different this time. And Jackson bitches about OTA reception on his home TV.
WITH OUR FAVORITE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS PLAYING THIS WEEKEND IN THE THE BIG GAME…KEITH TAKES A LOOK AT THE DEATH OF “RADIO ROW” FOR SUPER BOWLLE GRETT TO BEASLEY? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? AUDACY’S NEW REORG HAS S...
Media Insultant 1.28.26 How good is Bobby Rich's new book...? Cumulus to consolodate. What is GEO?
Bobby Rich’s Life in your radio…worth reading?MediaCo is getting the old band back together.Another acronym you’ll have to memorize….GEOConsolidation continues…as Cumulus centralizes Kansas radio.
Media Insultant - 1.21.26 - Earthquake story, Cumulus winning in court, Sinclair doubles down and MediaCo is still MIA on HD channels in LA.
WHAT WOULD EPHRAM ZIMBALIST JUNIOR SAY ABOUT DAN BONGINO - OUT AT THE FBI BACK TO PODCASTINGMEDIACO TRYING TO SPREAD THE BUZZ… STILL QUIETSINCLAIR RAMPS UP THE PRESSURE ON SCRIPPS…AND CUMULUS WINS A ...
Media Insultant - 1.14.26 - We share an earworm! Audacy consolodates newscasts in two markets. Your next fortune is at YouTube? Not! The Oscars are the next tent pole that goes to streaming.
BROADCASTING SHARING RESOURCES - EVEN WITH THE EVIL COMPETION. THE OSCARS SAY BUY-BYE TO ABC TV. CAN ANYONE MAKE MONEY ON YOU TUBE?WE SHARE AN EARWORM. WARNING! <...
Media Insultant - 1.7.26 - Don't forget QR codes. How does Cumulus negotiate with Nielsen? SFO gets a new manager from Bean Town. And is MTV really gone?
SCRIPPS KINDA EMBARRASES SINCLAIR...HERE COMES THE JUDGE...AND HE SLAPS NIELSEN.MTV. RUMORS OF YOUR DEMISE ARE GREATLY EXAGERATED…IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE HOLIDAYS...BUT NO GRASS GROWING UNDER JE...
Media Insultant - Holiday Edition 12.17.25
This week we deviate from our normal format and resurrect our annual Ode to the Holidays with our poet lauret, Tony Bollen. If you're a regular, you've heard Tony's tributes to both radio and the holidays in the past. Well this year...
Media Insultant - 12.10.25 - More on getting radio out of the data ditch. Even we have a comment on the Netflix acauistion. And Mediaco seems confused. Or clueless.
MEDIACO IS TRIPPING UP AGAIN…OR JUST DON’T KNOW HOW THIS WORKS?VALIDATION OF MY UPPER FUNNEL SALE MODEL FOR RADIO - I PROMISE i WON’T SAY I TOLD YOU SO…CONNOISSEURS RECENT SUCKING UP ALPHA MEDIA GOT US THINKING AB...
Media Insultant - 12.3.25 - Is the TV M&A activity in jeoprardy? Trump makes useless threats. And iHeart is guaranteeing us a human experience.
TRUMP IS CONFUSED ABOUT LICENSES FOR TV NETWORKS…TWO BIG TELEVISION M&A DEALS ARE IN SOME JEOPARDY…IHEART ISSUES A WEIRD AI GUARANTEE.