It wasn't that I hated the job or that I was particularly bad at it. But after two years of leading a fantastic team in building our reputation and exceeding all expectations, it was time for me to move on and let a fresh set of eyes take the helm. I was emotionally and physically drained from doing 60-hour weeks for two-straight years. It was going to be nice to be a foot soldier again.
Yet, here we are, with those select few people shining up their kicking boots. Today's the last day of my two-week vacation. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new chapter in my career, as I officially begin my transition into the post of news director and assistant brand director for News Talk 770. Back into a "managerial" position. So what changed in the last three years?
To tell you the truth, I don't have the slightest idea. It's not like I woke up one day and said "it's time". When the position came open, I threw my name in the hat, essentially to see how far down the process I could go. Yet, what seems to have been the norm during my career, I went a lot further than originally anticipated. And here we are.
What might excite me the most about this opportunity is being part of a change in the way people view news. Especially the "news talk" format. It's viewed as a bit of a dinosaur that is only listened to be the older demographics. There's a perception that young people (under the age of 40) don't care about news. Honestly, I believe that is completely false. They've simply been handed fewer places to get their information in the "traditional form" (newspapers, TV, radio). They're getting their information in different places (particularly the internet). So the challenge is out for us to draw them back in, but in a different way. In a "multi-format" way. There is a thirst for solid news that they can relate to. Our role is two-fold: be informative and be insightful. Tell people what's going on and then tell them why it's important.
The most important result of all of this (especially for radio) is we get away from being "background noise". Whenever you know a newscast is coming, I want you to stop what you're doing. You deserve and need to be informed. One of the things that happened in Medicine Hat was that people would tell me that we might not have been their station of choice, but they made sure to listen to our news. As news director, that's all I could have asked for.
But I'm not naive enough to think that our industry is changing. People want information now. And they want it in a different fashion than they wanted it a decade ago or 25 years ago. I posted this on Facebook a few days ago:
And asked a simple question. What would hook you back into the world of news? To go one step further, what would get you listening to radio news again, or maybe for the first time?
I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of shenanigans I can get myself into in this new role. It's an interesting time in talk radio. It's time to prove to the world that we can be young AND plugged in to what's going on around us, and present it to you in a way that keeps you coming back for more.
