During a panel featuring execs from iHeartMedia, Walmart and TalkShopLive at last week’s Advertising Week in New York City, iHeartMedia Executive VP of Digital Marketing Jeff Cucinell shared some thoughts on the power of today’s radio personalities, and how they’re the backbone of all of the company’s audio extensions.
“Before there were social media platforms, you had an authentic voice on an authentic platform — radio — speaking to communities,” Cucinell during the panel, Variety reports. “The radio personality is the original influencer, [and] personalities are the lifeblood of what we do as a company. As we evaluate talent and shows, we want to make sure we still live to those principles, that this is a trusting voice communicating to you like a friend.”
Citing results of a survey showing that eight in 10 listeners trust their radio hosts and podcast personalities, Cucinell noted, “That’s a staggering number at a time of media distrust, platform distrust, [and] misinformation.”
For iHeart’s audio media, it begins with radio and, Cucinell said, “it all comes back to storytelling. Whether it’s on our terrestrial radio stations, app, internet, or digital platforms, storytelling is key. We don’t need a ton of visual assets to tell a good story and to have a really good conversation, so [we’re] utilizing our digital platforms to emphasize re-purposed content that is happening on broadcast radio stations every day.”
Cucinell also reminded attendees, “We’re in the companionship business. That’s where that trust comes from. If you’re on a platform like broadcast radio that builds trust with your audience, everything that you’re talking about and endorsing you believe, and that’s what our audiences know is true after spending time on their morning commute with a talent or spending time in their earbuds on an afternoon walk. You start to trust your radio talent and podcast personalities just like a friend, and those host-read ads, those opportunities for brands to extend into these spaces, is going right into the ears of these loyal audiences.”
As to whether AI will ever take the place of live personalities, Cucinell said, “Talent is our lifeblood. AI-generated voices are never going to replace that connection that our talent has with their audiences. We very much are in the foundation of keeping those authentic relationships and personalities, because with that level of trust that we’ve seen with our personalities, there’s no way we want to get in the way of that.”
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