Do you ever find yourself feeling a little blue about the radio industry? Spend a few minutes reading Dave Sturgeon, especially if you work on the commercial side of our biz.
“Radio is the only medium that still respectfully assumes you’re busy,” Dave wrote recently in a LinkedIn post.
“Every other medium today demands your attention: Watch this. Click that. Don’t skip. Stay till the end.”
Radio, Dave wrote, does the opposite.
“Radio assumes you’re living your life: Driving. Working. Making dinner. Running a business. Thinking.”
And instead of interrupting you, he wrote, it shows up alongside you.
“That’s not a weakness. That’s radio’s superpower. Because the people with the least time are usually the people with the most responsibility. Decision-makers don’t sit still. They move.
“Radio meets them in motion. It doesn’t fight for attention — it earns trust through repetition, familiarity and presence. Day after day. Week after week.”
In a world obsessed with “engagement,” Dave concluded, radio still understands something fundamental: Busy people buy things.
“That’s why radio doesn’t need to be flashy. It needs to be consistent. Clear. Human. The more demanding media becomes, the more valuable a medium is that respects your time and attention.
“Radio doesn’t nag. It accompanies. If your advertising only works when someone stops what they’re doing, it’s built to interrupt — not influence.”
I liked that post and asked for his permission to share it with you.
Dave is the founder of Radio TV Agents; he has spent more than four decades as a morning show host, market vice president, director of sales, trainer and public speaker.
He describes himself as “a Canadian by birth and Californian by residence” who “still believes in coffee-fueled morning shows, a great jingle, and the magic of live, local radio.”
If Dave’s kind of thinking energizes you, check out his book “The Truth About Radio: A Myth-Busting Guide for Today’s Media Buyers and Sellers.”
I asked him to share a few more of radio’s superpowers with us for this column. He sent this list:
- Radio is free
- Radio ads are unskippable
- Radio doesn’t watch you back or follow you around, it respects your privacy
- Radio is word-of-mouth advertising on steroids
- Radio is the original platform for social media influencers (personality endorsements)
- Radio audio entertainment and advertising is “crowd-delivered” — thus radio’s ultra-affordable CPM
- Audio triggers emotions: Emotions make memories and branding stick
- Digital is delivered one-to-one. Radio’s crowd delivery makes all digital advertising work better
- Radio isn’t just music, it’s companionship — music discovery on radio is random and exciting
- When disaster strikes, cable, Wi-Fi, phone service and all other utilities stop working, radio is the last remaining medium that keeps people connected.
- Radio is the soundtrack to your daily journey — the most used in-car medium where people are on their way to spend money
I love Dave’s boulder-smashing energy. You can follow him on LinkedIn. His book is sold on Amazon, and he has a podcast called “The Truth About Radio.” You can also hear an interview with him on The SoundOff Podcast at www.soundoffpodcast.com/dave-sturgeon.
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