Your Brand Speaks Louder Than Ratings
The most valuable asset you have as a talent isn’t your last Nielsen trend; it’s your brand.
The most successful hosts extend their brand well beyond the studio. They launch podcasts, host live events, write books, create businesses, and build personal platforms. Why? Because stations flip formats, companies downsize, merge, or sell. You can’t wait for the station or syndicator to define you.
Dave Ramey took a local talk show and built it into a national financial empire with books, live events, and a podcast network. To thrive in today’s gloomy radio revenue cycle, you must create, grow, and own your brand.
Ratings Won’t Save You
Your show could be #1 18–34 or 25–54, but revenue can be down 25%, and that top ranking won’t always protect your job.
How can you expand your brand and boost your value beyond ratings? Consider these 8 strategies:
1. Define Your Brand
Decide what you want to be known for, and ensure it remains consistent across all platforms. Is your superpower Humor? Heart? Controversy? Community?
2. Control Your Digital Presence
Don’t rely only on station pages. Create your own show website. Make it your digital home base with show audio, podcasts, videos, blogs, and event links.
3. Endorsements = Revenue & Job Security
When your contract comes up, you better believe GMs look at endorsement revenue.
- Jeff Wicker of Richmond’s Wicker & Wilde on Mix 98.1 has as many as 10 endorsements. He builds strong relationships with clients by remembering birthdays, dropping by with popcorn, and connecting with staff, from managers to admin assistants.
- You don’t have endorsements yet? Get to know the sales and promotions people. Attend sales meetings.
- Use AI tools to create spec spots for potential clients.
4. Podcast Your Personality
Posting your full show, top benchmarks, and highlight moments daily is now fundamental to your brand. But don’t stop there.
- Josh Spiegel from Justin, Scott & Spiegel (98 Rock, Baltimore) just launched Lunatic in the Newsroom, an original podcast outside the daily show.
- Have a hobby or interest? Launch a second podcast to widen and deepen your brand. Bob & Sheri’s Sheri Lynch has a podcast outside the show called True Weird Stuff.
5. Create Events and Use Other Media
Events extend your brand and create revenue opportunities.
- 2 Guys Named Chris, a syndicated show in the Southeast, created the Comedy All-Star Show, taking comedians on the road to boost brand awareness and drive new income.
- Baltimore’s Justin, Scott & Spiegel host a WBAL-TV show after SNL called Justin, Scott & Spiegel Shouldn’t Be on TV, and it pulls big ratings.
6. Start a Blog or Newsletter
Share free creative tips, show prep ideas, or your personal interests to broaden your character. Many successful blogs later become books.
7. Experiment with Video
From fun shorts like Tino Cochino to thoughtful commentary to passion projects, video builds equity in your name and creates new touchpoints for your audience.
8. Your Brand is a Business
Endorsements, podcasts, events, and partnerships are all brand extensions. Ask yourself: Does this align with the image I want to project?
The Wrap
Radio stations and companies come and go. Formats change and ownership shifts. But your brand follows you wherever you go.
If you build a brand to last, your audience will follow.
Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash
