Donald Trump is news. But this is not 2016. Both those things can be true at the same time.

When Donald Trump burst onto the scene in 2015, there was nothing like him in modern political history. The billionaire businessman turned media superstar turned frontrunner for President of the United States. We had never seen anything like this in American history.

But it’s 2024. Donald Trump spent four years in office and had a tumultuous end to his term. The American people have suffered through four years of Joe Biden, and now we’re set for the rematch no one really wanted, but it seems like the rematch America deserves.

Now, Donald Trump finds himself in and out of a courtroom. And based on the media’s coverage across the political spectrum, you’d think it was 2016, not 2024. 2024 Donald Trump is not 2016 Donald Trump. Athletes, musicians, and celebrities all lose their shine over time. That doesn’t mean Donald Trump can’t be an effective President if re-elected. He can be. However, the level of general public interest is not where it was nearly a decade ago. 

Yes, it’s a big deal that an ex-President, who also happens to be the 2024 GOP nominee, is a big deal, but the media’s attempt to turn it into O.J. Simpson 2.0 and “The Trial of the Century” is comical.

Every morning, I see cable news with a little box showing Donald Trump’s black SUV as people anxiously await his transportation to the courthouse. 

No. One. Cares. 

To be fair, I shouldn’t say that. The Trump Derangement Syndrome folks care, and those rocking MAGA hats care, but the majority of the population is not nearly as interested as the news media makes this out to be. 

Part of this is because the state of New York and the Department of Justice have incessantly weaponized the law to hammer Donald Trump with lawsuit after lawsuit. People can’t keep track and don’t care enough to. They’ve formed their opinions of Donald Trump, and at this point, there’s little to no curiosity left from the public as to who he is, what he’s about, and whether or not they like him. They’ve made up their mind.

So, if you’re a local host, what’s the play? 

It’s a news story, but you’re not cable news. Spending quarter-hour after quarter-hour obsessing over Donald Trump’s latest courthouse proceedings like you’re FOX News or MSNBC is not the move. Letting your top and bottom-of-the-hour national newscasts (assuming you have them), handle that story, while you inform and entertain your audience based on the happenings in their backyard, brings you closer to them, and vice versa.

Because if you play the hits based on cable news, why wouldn’t your bosses pipe in syndication? What are you bringing to the table at this point? Not much that can’t be done by the plethora of national hosts, many of whom will have resources and connections into the national political scene for perspective that you may not be able to provide.

I’m not trying to discourage you from discussing the trial; I’m just making sure you put it into perspective and use your microphone effectively to inform and entertain your audience about issues that impact their day-to-day lives. That’s why you’re there. And it’s the job you’ve been hired to do. And ultimately, your audience will appreciate you for it. 

I’m an optimist. I insist on it. I don’t like being sad or angry and I sure as heck have no right to inflict my pissy moods on you or anybody else. Nobody likes whiners.

It’s not easy being optimistic all the time, especially now. The pessimists of social and mainstream media are just waiting to dump a load of misery on us every morning.

I see a lot of this in our industry, too, especially from those who worry that Artificial Intelligence is going to end news, talk, and music radio as we’ve known it.

We need to step back and ask ourselves one question: would it really be a tragedy if radio as we know it were to change drastically?

No, far from it. It will be progress in every sense.

Everybody who’s worried about the end of radio is either currently or previously employed in the business. Nostalgia is a nice place to visit but you can’t live there. If you spend a lot of time grieving change you’re going to end up sitting on the porch watching life pass you by without bothering to wave.

Those of you still working in the business are rightly concerned about your future. You need to make plans. We graybeards on the outside looking in are saddened by the loss of our glory days, increasingly forgotten in a world reimagined.

If progress teaches us anything it’s to expect change. The only way to think outside of the box is to burn the box.

Radio as we know it can only target audiences with a shotgun. We can play music of a specific genre and aim talk topics and perspectives to specific demographics but there’s no way to be all things to anybody. You won’t like some of the songs I play or many of the topics I choose to discuss. AI radio will change that. Listeners will be able to choose the content they want to hear. We’ll all be able to make our own music playlists and select news subjects and discussions of topics of specific interests.

Choosing your music sounds something like Spotify, doesn’t it? Have you heard its AI DJ? Seriously, take a moment to read and hear Spotify’s AI deejay. It will give you an early sense of the future of radio. It’s available right now but it’s only the beginning.

Very soon you will be the programmer of your AI radio station. Who’s your deejay? You decide. You’ll select an entire lineup of jocks by dayparts if you like and they won’t all just be pretty voices created by AI. With legal approval, you might have voice-cloned radio Hall-of-Famers. Pick a celebrity, they’ll have their vocal likenesses signed into contracts.

Or, you can do mornings, yourself. You only have to allow the app to get a voice print. Oh, and don’t forget to program topics you’d like to hear on demand: Weather, for example. And traffic, of course, and local events. This is not only conceivable, it’s being developed right now.

News via AI seems like it would be complicated but omg, you’ll finally be able to hear a full spectrum of reports and views to give you a much deeper understanding of current events than we get with the limitations of radio and TV as we know it.

Pick a topic and learn to understand the difference between fact and biased implication. We’ll learn to explore our own beliefs. Once listeners get a taste of the big picture sneaky biases will be replaced by accurately labeled opinions and ignorant social media trolls will be kicked into the gutter. We’ll finally be able to discuss things nicely with a greater depth of knowledge.

Just imagine: personalized music, news, conversations, ideas, and thought-provoking philosophies will be yours for every mood and whim.

This isn’t going to be free, is it? Yes, or no. I expect we’ll have tiers of choice ranging from free with ads, to no commercials for a premium price.

But the original question still hasn’t been answered: would it really be a tragedy if news, talk, and music radio as we know it were to change drastically?

Tragedy? No. It will be bittersweet for those of us who love to remember our good old days but as listeners, it will be a nearly perfect experience. We’ll hear what we want to hear when and how we want to hear it.

We old farts will still miss the wacky deejay days but let’s be honest, those memories are more about a time in our lives than the spirited colorings of hit-and-miss deejay patter. And there’s no reason to assume that AI can’t provide personality as part of its content excellence.

Nor will live radio end altogether.

Live and local radio will survive in the world of AI information and entertainment because there will still be individual owner-operators who insist on it and will adapt their business models. The tall towers behind brick studios will be gone but live human content will be created and streamed from homes, cafes, and on the streets of Everytown, USA. It will remain a huge part of our social fabric.

After 54 years in the business, I still love driving back roads and searching “the dial” for small-town radio where I can hear local people talking about local things. Today in small towns I’m much more likely to hear the same syndicated shows airing in hundreds of markets than passionate beginners learning their craft.

Like many of you, I miss my good old days, too, but that’s how life works. We need to get off the porch and embrace progress.

Radio will never be what it once was, it never has been. It has always gotten better.

As the industry marvels at the latest innovations coming to a TV or radio station new year CTO and Executive Vice President at the NAB, Sam Matheny believes there is one outstanding figure: Artificial Intelligence.

Matheny noted speaker Hao Li’s company Pinscreen as one of the most innovative. “Li has a company called Pinscreen, they’re talking about instead of just dubbing it and offering a different language. You can actually manipulate the video to make it look as if that person is speaking that language. So you’re not distracted by it.

“Now, I think that is more important in an entertainment and movie or television show environment than it would be necessarily in a news environment. But the underlying, I’m going to take one language, I’m going to instantly translate it to 19 other languages. Not only can I provide it as a ticker text, but then I can do a speech-to-text back, or a text-to-speech back and provide it in my native tongue. That is really exciting.”

However, he does have concerns about AI being misused by the media saying, “Absolutely. I mean, it’s a tool, right? And it’s it’s all about how you use it. If you were a bad actor or a nation-state or, someone who wanted to sow discontent, you could absolutely use AI in that way. And for us as broadcasters, we have to be and already are exceptionally aware of that.” He added verifying information and maintaining content provenance is key to good reporting.

Matheny’s North Carolina roots in local news showed him what good reporting looks like and also exposed him to the importance of local media. His grandfather published the local paper in Zebulon and had a radio show which aired across the state. Matheny believes his family roots in media gave him a unique perspective on the industry.

“I think what it gave me was two things one was going back to the real appreciation of the importance of local media and accurate information. The notion of being able to reach people, to be enabled, to communicate with them, to entertain them.”

As technology has grown, Matheny has seen smaller and more local outlets closer their doors. Preventing this is something the NAB is “very focused on.” While technology may help small outlets stay open, Matheny believes there is a second prong not being as closely monitored to aid outlets from closing.

“What it requires is, what I’ll just call business and regulatory innovation. It requires a willingness to say that this is important, and we have to ensure that we have a regulatory and business environment that enables these local outlets to succeed.”

There are other innovations outside of AI, Matheny is keeping his eye on, including better sound and better visual quality. “It may evolve into a more 3D type of experience. Or at least a 180-type view as opposed to today. Everything is on a flat screen. And I think the most famous example of that right now is the Sphere as a place that you can go in Las Vegas and experience a new type of viewing.”

Another innovation was spatial computing. “I just call it facial computing. And it’s the idea that I have to put this thing on my face, but it gives me an immersive experience. I think that will evolve too.”

Matheny noted today we are in a clunky world where “You either have to have this bespoke sphere environment that’s built or you have to wear these goofy goggles.

“But I think that’s going to continue and you’re going to have different types of experiences, that are ultimately enabled by this notion that I can have better compression, I can have better network connectivity.”

He made note to say it’s not just one technology but a combination of different technologies which is making these innovations all possible.

Over his nearly 10 years at the NAB, Matheny says there are three pillars they have focused on: “advocacy, education and innovation.” What is essential for the organization is working together as a team, “not just internally as staff, but also with our members, and the way that we pursue an advocacy agenda. But we also do something like NAB Show where we provide global level education not just to our members, but also, to the entire media and entertainment industry.”

Matheny plays a significant role in innovation, not just passive innovation, but actively getting in and doing things to help encourage innovation. “We do a lot of research and development and early-stage engineering projects to explore what some of the possibilities might be.”

With their global consortium of members from Japan, Europe, Australia, and many others they look at operating systems like Android Automotive.  He said of the technology, “[It is] supposedly going to be adopted by many different automakers. We looked at how is the radio going to function in this new operating system.”

The most important note Matheny made about his work was, “Through NAB’s innovation initiative, to say we’re going to develop real, frameworks and software and ideas that can be adopted to make sure that broadcasting prospers in the future.”