WEBVTT

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Radio loves reminding people that when disaster

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hits, broadcast still works. And that's true.

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But if we're only asking people to remember us

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when everything else has broke, we're admitting

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we stopped giving them reasons to show up for

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the rest of the year. Now, I grew up in the Southeast,

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Florida, so Hurricanes were just part of life.

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You watch the forecast, you watch the track move

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around, and you watch the meteorologist stand

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up there on TV in front of the map and draw another

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cone that somehow managed to include your house

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again. And when things started getting really

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serious, I remember listening to AM620WSUN and

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AM970WFLA. That's where the information was.

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Weather, closures, what was happening and what

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was coming next. Radio was part of that routine.

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And I think that's the part that we keep forgetting.

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This is the Tyler Woodward Project. I'm Tyler.

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I'm a broadcast engineer in the industry. And

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today I want to talk about this idea that Radio

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needs to stop selling itself like the thing you

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use when everything else has failed. The last

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ditch option out there. Because I think we have

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a lot more to provide. Quick disclaimer before

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I get any further. These are my opinions. This

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is me thinking through an industry I've worked

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in professionally. since 2014 and cared about

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way longer than that. And yes, radio absolutely

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matters during emergencies. I'm not saying it

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doesn't and I'm not arguing against that. FEMA

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still describes local radio and television as

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part of the emergency warning system and specifically

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points out that broadcasters can remain available

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When other communication systems You know have

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failed Radio is built into real public warning

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infrastructure. That is still true That's not

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some slogan the industry came up with some marketing

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Jargon to get you to depend on radio. It is true

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The problem is what we do with that truth because

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Every time radio starts having to defend its

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relevance, especially AM radio, we seem to immediately

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reach for that disaster argument. What happens

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when the cell towers go down? What happens when

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the internet goes out? What happens when there's

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a tornado? What happens when there's a hurricane?

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Okay, you know, it's all valid questions. But

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that's a hell of a business plan, don't you think?

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Use us when everything you actually use stops

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working. That's what we're basically saying as

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an industry. We're positioning radio like the

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fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink. Very

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important. Yes. Absolutely should be there. Also

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something you sincerely hope you don't need tonight.

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That's not where I personally want radio to live.

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I want radio to be useful on Tuesday. A boring

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old regular Tuesday. No tornado warnings. No

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hurricanes, no wildfires, no cell tower failures.

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Just Tuesday. Tell me what happened at the school

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board meeting. Tell me why that road has been

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closed for three weeks. Put the high school game

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on. Talk to the owner of the restaurant that

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just opened. Tell me there's a fundraiser happening

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on Saturday. Tell me the water department screwed

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something up Let somebody call in because they

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lost their dog Play music somebody in the building

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actually picked because it sound right for the

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town that you're broadcasting in Be from somewhere

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then when the tornado comes You don't have to

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convince anybody that you're actually useful.

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They already know where you are. That's the relationship

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we're supposed to be building here. And the numbers

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are actually kind of interesting here. Pew's

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2025 local news research found that 52 % of Americans

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said they at least sometimes get local news and

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information from radio stations. I mean, that's

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not nothing. But only 8 % said radio was their

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preferred way of getting local news. Just a measly

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old 8%. That should really bother. this industry

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more than I think it does right now. Because

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the audience, I mean, they haven't completely

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disappeared. A lot of people still encounter

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radio, but encountering something and choosing

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it are very different things. And you can't build

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an emergency relationship out of something people

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don't choose. You can't spend 11 months of the

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year giving somebody no reason to ever think

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about you then When the storm rolls in say hey

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remember us. Yeah, we're essential. We're here.

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We got you Essential to whom if I don't know

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Who's on your morning show if you haven't told

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me anything about my town lately? If your website

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looks like it's been abandoned, if your social

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media account is just national contest posts,

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if the station sounds like it could be coming

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from literally anywhere in the country, what

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relationship exactly are we calling on during

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the emergency? The transmitter? Fine, I guess.

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The transmitter is... useful, but radio could

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be more useful than its transmitter. That's where

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something like WELY up in Eli, Minnesota gets

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really interesting to me. If you haven't heard

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about WELY, let me tell you about them. Also,

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I would recommend You go watch Eric Bernstead's

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this week in radio tech guest appearance when

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he was on there with Kirk Harneck Gets way more

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in depth on how they rebuilt that radio station

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Now WELY was off the air for a few years and

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came back in 2025 Look at what the station talks

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about now and it's not just trying to be an emergency

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service. You know, there's local news. There's

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community information, local sports, a trading

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post, personal and emergency messages for people

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around the boundary waters. And yes, when wildfires

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threatened northern Minnesota, the station leaned

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hard. into evacuation zones, road closures, and

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fire information. But the emergency service makes

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sense because it's attached to everything else.

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It's part of the place. That's what I keep coming

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back to. We talk about radio being local, like

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quote unquote local, is some sort of technical

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specification. Tower located here, studio located

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here, city of license over there. That's not

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what people mean by being local. Local is knowing

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what people in the town are talking about before

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the emergency happens. Local is having the phone

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number somebody already knows to call. Local

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is showing up for the stupid little stuff. Especially

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the stupid little stuff. Because that's how trust

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gets built. Nobody starts trusting you at 417

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on a Tuesday afternoon because the tornado sirens

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just went off. You had to do that work at 10

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12 Tuesday morning when absolutely nothing was

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happening yet And I know I know I know oh my

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god, I know the pushback that Yeah, that takes

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people Yep It takes payroll. Yep it takes somebody

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answering the phone and somebody going to the

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meeting and Yeah, somebody covering the game

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and somebody paying attention to the place, a

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place that may not generate a giant quarterly

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return. You'd be correct. That's the problem.

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You can't automate community presence down to

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almost nothing and then Expect the community

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to feel some deep civic attachment to your transmitter.

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Those two things don't go together. Radio absolutely

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has technical advantages during emergency. I'm

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not saying it doesn't. Keep talking about it.

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That is a true advantage, yes. Fight to keep

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radio in cars, yes. Maintain the emergency infrastructure,

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of course. maintain backup power, train people,

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test the EAS equipment, all of it. But that can't

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be the entire argument for the entire medium.

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Because if the strongest pitch we have left is

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that radio becomes useful only After the newer

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technology fails, we're not really making a real

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good case for radio, at least in my opinion,

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again, as all these episodes are based on my

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opinion. We're making the case for being the

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backup equipment. And I think radio can be way

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more than just a piece of backup equipment. I

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still think. There's a place for this medium

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Maybe yeah, maybe smaller than it used to be

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but that's not a bad thing. I Think that's a

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good thing We can be more niche. We can be more

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Yeah niche niche, whatever however you say So

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I don't think being smaller is a bad thing we

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can be more hyper local then Apple Music One

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or anything on TuneIn or your iHeart competition

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down the road who has nobody left in that organization.

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So probably more local than a lot of companies

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would like it to be. Probably less efficient

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on a spreadsheet. But, but after all of that,

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still useful. actually, genuinely, truly useful.

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Every day. Every week. 365 days a year. 24 -7.

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The emergency piece should be the extension of

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that service. Not the substitute for it. When

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the hurricane came when I was growing up. I knew

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where to turn on the radio because the radio

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was already there. Even the TV stations at the

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time would say you can hear coverage if your

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power goes out. Battery powered radio you can

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tune to X, Y and Z stations. That's the lesson.

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Not that people suddenly discover radio when

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the lights go out. It's that when things go wrong,

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people reach for the things they already know,

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they already trust, and they already have a relationship

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with. I think, again, my opinion, We need to

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spend a lot more time on earning that trust and

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building those relationships back up because

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regardless of what the media industry publications

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online or at the NAB or at any state broadcasters

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association would like you to believe, Radio

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is slowly being forgotten here. And I think we

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can turn it around. We're way more useful than

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just being a conduit for the emergency alert

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system. So that's the show. That's the episode.

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If you want to keep up with it, subscribe wherever

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you listen. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube

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Music. Grab the RSS feed directly from tylerwoodward

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.me. You can also connect with me on the social

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so you can find all the links there at tylerwoodward

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.me. And if you like the message, if you like

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what I'm preaching, buy me a cup of coffee. That's

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all I ask in return. tylerwoodward .me. I'll

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catch you guys next week.