Decoding Radio's Past, Present, and Future with Industry Titan, Kraig Kitchin
"Don't be in a hurry to rise to the top so quickly. Feel free to take a little bit more time, because the slower and steadier your rise, the more stability every one of your decisions and every one of your new trusted listener relationships will have."
-Kraig Kitchin
This week on the Media Roundtable, Dan Granger speaks to Kraig Kitchin. In 1987, Kraig redefined broadcast syndication as a Co-Founder of and President of Premiere Radio, and today is the Chairman of the National Radio Hall of Fame (and a long-time friend and Advisor to Oxford Road). While much of today's audio industry behaves as though our field was created by the launching of Serial, there are lessons learned from the 100 years before it that we can all profit from today. Kraig has been in the room where it happens for two generations and makes his wisdom available to us all to help us navigate the changes ahead.
Kraig’s been an on-air talent, was a sales manager of the Katz Radio Group in LA, managed and worked with high-profile radio hosts like Jim Rome, Rush Limbaugh, and Steve Harvey, Co-founded Premiere Networks, and has served as President of Sound Mind, a talent management firm since 2008.
If there’s a part of radio that Kraig doesn’t have experience in, we sure haven’t found it. Add to that that he’s singularly insightful, humble, and generous, and you can see why we’ve wanted to get him on the show for such a long time.
We sat down to talk about the rise and fall of radio in this expansive conversation. Was it a eulogy or something else? Join us as we cover:
The One Rule ☝️ - Kraig has an impeccable track record of working with huge talent. His guiding principle for who he partners with? “I want to work with people who are trying to improve themselves every day.”
Rethinking Radio & Riding the Digital Wave 🌊 - We break down 5-plus decades of industry changes as digital platforms disrupt the traditional AM/FM dominance. The one reason why audio still matters? It’s all about choice.
The Fairness Doctrine & Rush ⚖️ - How relaxing one key FCC rule led to the creation of political talk radio and changed the industry landscape and the country.
Playing The Long Game ⏳- Building an audience takes time. Building trust takes time. Kraig leverages his experience to show why it pays to be patient in audio, especially when everyone’s thinking short-term.
NO ONE has had a better seat for the last half-century of audio changes than Kraig. To understand where we’ve been and where we’re going, hear the full episode by clicking the link below