MannGroup Radio

04/04/2026

We're all ready to send radio to the graveyard. It's hard to find in new cars, it still disappears in tunnels, so many of the jocks are talking to you from someplace else, some corporation is running things and force feeding us music we've heard a thousand times.

But we've been here before. The early 80s were frightening for those of us on the air, and for one big reason: MTV. But we lived together, and grew together, just like television did with radio years before, just like movies did with television, just like Elvis did with the Beatles. One changed the other, but they didn't go away.

It was all so innocent when I first got on the air back in the late 70s. Radio was the original social media, the rabbi, the priestess of music and entertainment, and it was personal. The jocks were ours, the music, ours. The times, unique.

A few years back, I published a novel centered on a jock who fell into the madness and flew in circles trying to find out where he fit in, and from those innocent beginnings grew adventures that would have gone untold were it not for brave souls like ME, ready to spill the beans and tell all. Except, it's a novel. It's simply not true. LIes, I tell you, all lies! But hey, it could have happened, and the stories will ring true to anyone who lived then, or now, or now and then.

Grab a copy before someone in the government burns it. Ask Bob Newhart, or Shadoe Stevens, or Gary Bryan, or Broadway Bill Lee. I think you'll love it, too. And maybe you'll keep listening to radio!

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Radio-adventure-media-crazed-sex-obsessed/dp/1952483077

03/20/2026

Insulting to listeners, harmful to democracy, awful for employees. Way to go, Bari Weiss.

• CBS News is shuttering its nearly century-old CBS News Radio division, part of 6% staff cuts as announced by Bari Weiss, Editor-In-Chief of CBS News and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, in the latest round of cost cutting under new management at Paramount Skydance. As reported by Variety, the s...

03/03/2026

For the last two decades, I've been working with Paige Nienaber of CPR Promotions, who started as radio's greatest promotional consultant, now does it all from linking sales to programming, and to stuff like this: Troop support during times just like these. This is a read, but well-worth going through, radio brethren or otherwise. It's what radio does best, and Paige is the best of radio:

Family Support Office - Most bases and units have people who help the family’s deal with crises and needs during deployment. Reach out and offer the power of the station to help.

USO - If you had something coming up that could become a fundraiser. Hopefully something more than a banner ad.

Adopt A Family - I knew I was old when a girl who snuck me a six pack of beer on my 18th birthday during a class trip to DC, became the First Lady of Minnesota. She created a program where you could adopt a family. “Family #16 needs someone who could come and grout the leaky bathtub.” “Family #23 needs someone to mow the grandparents lawn”. "Family #31 needs someone who is good with math to tutor twice a week." Not money. Time and services.
Letter Writing - A couple of the Audacy stations have had listeners write Valentines cards to little kids in the hospital. In Denver, they just had an event with 600 people doing it. Do it with people writing letters to deployed locals.

Operation Baked Goods - Power 96 in Miami shipped a ton and a half of cookies to local men and women serving overseas. How monstrous is that? Either have people bake them and include notes, or drop off packaged store-bought cookies.

Get Clients Involved - Offer specials and discounts to military families who have people deployed. KLUC in Vegas did a version of that in 2003.

Show Of Support - One of the Citadel stations had listeners dip hands in paint and it became a billboard. When I worked with Erik Bradley at Kiss 102 we got a mobile billboard with a giant card on it. It got hauled around to appearances and then driven to Kannapolis where a Guard unit was getting deployed.

Operation Dog Tag - The morning show at KGGI in Riverside got a hand stamp press thing for like 20 bucks and a box of blank dog tags and a list of locals from the IE who were deployed. For 5 bucks you got a dog tag on a chain and wore it in support and a donation went to the USO. A veterans group took it and drove across the country in an RV doing it. They presented a check to the USO for 30,000 dollars on the freaking Letterman show. Get a dog tag and wear it to support someone you know or someone from the market.

01/21/2026

Super happy to welcome WWWQ, Q997 Atlanta to the Paige Nienaber CPR fold! Also, Hubbard No. Minnesota is on and apparently happy. Good to be growing in a business that doesn't often grow.

09/11/2025

From our friends at Edison Research. Dig it!

A new Share of Ear report highlights that AM/FM radio continues to command the largest share of in-car audio listening among Americans 13+, even as connected car platforms such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto gain traction.

As of the second quarter of 2025, just over one-third of Americans now have CarPlay or Android Auto available in their primary vehicles. Edison Research data shows that 83% of adults 18+ with access to these systems use them regularly, signaling a shift in consumer listening habits.

Despite that shift, traditional broadcast radio remains the leading in-car audio choice. Among drivers with CarPlay or Android Auto, AM/FM still accounts for 47% of daily listening time. Streaming audio and SiriusXM are the primary beneficiaries of the new dashboard technologies, each capturing 20% of listening in equipped vehicles.

06/16/2025

I've been reading, of late, fellow radio pros putting together what amounts to a PowerPoint presentation—call it a whiteboard—of what makes radio great. Telling people over 40 why that is, it's preaching to the choir. Telling people in their 20s and 30s is like talking to a stop sign. The problem remains ease in finding radio in automobiles and creating a place for it in the home. So far, those efforts are not resonating with or helping people who need to discover radio. And to mention that radio is programmed by people who know what they're doing, that it provides the best music discovery platform, and that it gives you personalities you can love and feel a companionship with, means nothing without station outreach.

Radio will remain a backwater until there's a generational push to find new listeners, and that takes wild promotional ideas, brave music choices, insanely funny radio personalities, and management that can marry it all together. Sorry, but I'm not seeing it yet.

06/11/2025

This. THIS is the stuff that our Paige Nienaber does so well, here with our Tampa affiliate large and in charge alongside the great Tommy Chuck

• For The Greater Good -- Everyone knows that when it comes to reacting in real time to events or circumstances as they unfold, radio is the best medium to accomplish that goal. Such was the case in Tampa this week, as a local mom reached out to THEjoeSHOW on iHeartMedia's WFLZ (93.3 FLZ) to share the big news about her 13-year-old son Josiah, who was in the final stages of beating cancer. On Monday, Josiah rang the ceremonial bell marking his final chemo treatment.
As SVP of Programming Tommy Chuck explains to RAMP, "On Tuesday morning, we invited Josiah into the studio to celebrate his milestone and surprise him by renaming THEjoeSHOW as THEjosiahSHOW. The station converted all the regular show imaging and visual branding over to the new name. We also had great partners like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Rays, Lightning, Rowdies, Busch Gardens and more provide Josiah with some awesome experiences."
That's Josiah wearing his custom No. 13 Tampa Bay Bucs jersey, personally delivered by a couple of Bucs' cheerleaders (standing, left and right). The Bucs also gave him VIP tickets for an upcoming game and a front office tour. Universal Orlando provided Josiah with free tickets and parking passes, and Busch Gardens Tampa provided him with tickets and front-of-the-line passes.
Also pictured: Members of Josiah's family, along with Joe Carballo, Ashley Nics, Teri Gerrish and Jed Shilling from THEjoeSHOW. [Special thanks to Tommy Chuck and Paige Nienaber]

05/09/2025

SO happy to announce that Pamal Broadcasting in Albany, NY have expanded with us, adding the fabled Randy Lane to consult three of their morning programs. Welcome back to the MannGroup, Albany!

We're here to help you, too!

Found on Google from radioink.com

04/29/2025

One hour from now!
It's the perfect Pairing for PROFITS! We are finding HUGE success with Programmatic Audio campaigns, using the same commercial audio running on your stations.

Learn how to sell and distribute that campaign on Your Station and Pandora, Spotify, Podcasts & beyond!

15 Minute Training session

When: Tuesday 4/29
Time: 10AM Pacific, 11AM MT, 12PM Central, 1PM Eastern
Where: Your Living Room / Virtual (link below)

04/06/2025

We are here! 10am, W224, LV NAB Las Vegas Convention Center Come digitize yourself!

We are here! W224, LV Convention Center. 10am. come digitize yourself! #

03/26/2025

My man in action!

There's a great April Fools bit about to pop where the Mayor and at least one TV station are part of the conspiracy. This is from Mix in Cincinnati where a regional carrier was part of the stunt when they initiated nonstop service to a market that was 13 miles away. The airstaff went along for the very bougie junket and posted about the meal service and vast inflight entertainment offerings.