Audio Legend Kraig Kitchin Joins Media Roundtable to Discuss Audio’s Past, Present, and Future; AAPI Podcasts You Need to Know; SAS Knows How to Sel

“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.

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The Classifieds

Retail Therapy Gets Its Own Analysis

We’re continuing our spotlight of AAPI-hosted podcasts in May with friends of the Media Round Table: Kulap Vilaysack & SuChin Pak. In the materialistic world, we find ourselves in, we all have a cart (or carts) somewhere,  ready for the next trendy product or accessory to enhance our lives. Vilaysack and Pak take the time to talk through the pros and cons of these purchases, the must-haves we all crave, and the economics of spending within a budget. The Lemonada podcast has blown up in recent years thanks to the hosts’ easy chemistry, helpful advice, and honest discussions; it also works well for society and culture-focused female skew clients and those interested in targeting young entrepreneurial professionals. Clicking below won’t add this classified to your cart, but it’s almost as good.

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Pop, Sub, Counter, or High: All Cultures Covered

Culture has never been so diverse, varied, omnichannel, and all-encompassing. Comedians Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers know this all too well, as they host the extremely popular and mind-blowingly funny podcast Las Culturistas. Every week the twosome spare little of their oxygen, spending their entire runtime guffawing and gagging over the best of the week in comedy, television, pop culture news, and everything else in between. The tangents are long, the laughs are plentiful, and many advertisers agree, as the Premiere podcast has placed ads for both DR and reach advertisers consistently since it premiered.  Recent episodes have featured guests from all cultural mediums, including Melanie Lynskey, Ari Shapiro, and Brian Jordan Alvarez. Delay any possible culture shocks by clicking the link below.

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This Week in Great Podcast Reads

Stephen A. Smith Knows Hiring

When you make everything sound as compelling as sports commentator Stephen A. Smith does, you’ll never have to worry about getting people’s attention—whether you’re a podcast host or not. There are no off days for a man who’s equally vocal as he is passionate. You can expect that same raw, unfiltered energy every time, regardless of the subject matter.
Check out how Stephen underscores the importance of having the right chemistry on your work team in this Indeed ad read on his Know Mercy podcast, showing how the hiring platform helps businesses create that chemistry from the start. Not every host can drop the sports analogies with such grace, but that’s not even the highlight. He keeps the same energy level throughout this read, hitting the Indeed brand name especially hard when he reads the path—you’ll hear him shout it more than once. These are all choices Stephen made during the read, so you’ve got to appreciate his talent for bringing out the most from the copy.

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