The Local Marketing Trends Podcast

If you feel overwhelmed by the latest phantasmagoria -- Artificial Intelligence -- Corey & Gordon have the remedy. Give them your ear over the summer, and they'll get you smart fast by interviewing the best, the brightest, and the most influential in the field of A.I. The first of six podcasts features Kate Scott-Dawkins, Global President of Business Intelligence for Group M. In this episode, she...

Twenty years ago, Knight Ridder had $3 billion in annual revenue, a 19% operating margin, and a relentless determination to conquer the digital world. It was the second-largest newspaper company in the U.S. and perhaps the most focused on building a digital empire, even moving its headquarters to Silicon Valley. Within a few years, everything fell apart. In this episode, Gordon & Corey ask the man...

While everyone races toward niche local content, many seem to have forgotten the most-demanded content of all. From GenZ to Boomers, this topic is at the top of everybody's daily list. Gordon & Corey explore why everybody talks about the weather, but nobody seems to do anything about it. The podcast features an interview with weather advertising expert Justin Tuggle from The Weather Co. Stay in th...

An influencer who calls himself Antenna Man is calling out companies such as Nexstar, Sinclair, TEGNA, and iHeart, amassing a quarter-million YouTube followers. This episode features an interview with the notorious Antenna Man. Despite the fact that he's urging investors, "please do not fund these multibillion-dollar" companies and claims that radio conglomerates are "almost bleeding the industry...

Digital focus hasn't been a hallmark of Saga Communications. Among publicly held radio broadcasters, Saga has been at the bottom of the heap in digital revenue. But something has changed, and the company's stunningly successful digital experiment in Tennessee is being rolled out to other markets. In this episode, Gordon & Corey interview the new CEO, Chris Forgy, to learn how Saga will change unde...

Corey interviews three media-savvy students from the University of Miami who say they and their GenZ friends do, indeed, check local news regularly. And you might be surprised to learn which media outlet has snared their attention by pushing stories out on social channels like Instagram. In this episode, the 20-somethings offer frank advice to media companies trying to reach them. Stay in the loop...

Seems like everybody is selling the same digital marketing products. And that makes them low-margin commodities. Gordon & Corey wonder if it's time for media companies to go back to doing what they do best -- selling higher-margin O&O inventory. They get some insight from omnichannel marketing expert Oliver Jacob, president of Frequence. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our R...

Local publishers stand to lose more than $4 billion in annual revenue if third-party cookies disappear, but Corey and Gordon aren't buying the sky-is-falling mentality. The podcast features an interview with two executives from a media consortium that has launched a project that could solve the cookie issue altogether. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our Research Alert Lists...

With more than 1 million TV programs available, our hosts wonder about the opportunity -- and about the effect on good ol' broadcast TV. This episode features an interview with Simulmedia founder and CEO Dave Morgan, who utteres a fearful word when asked about TV ad budgets. He also talks about how the phase-out of third-party cookies are likely to affect advertising-dependent online publishers. S...

Corey and Gordon maintain their record of having neither attended nor gushed about the annual gadget-fest in Las Vegas, but they did decide to do something other than poke fun at it this time. In this episode, they ring up two other smarties -- Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media, and media disruption expert Todd Handy -- to get their impressions. What did this year's CES foretell for media and advertisin...

As local businesses expand their "owned media" platforms, our hosts wonder how they'll feed the feed the voracious content monsters they created. This episode explores the mysteries of content marketing, and features an interview with the CEO of one of the companies at the forefront, RevContent. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our Research Alert Lists. As always, thank you f...

By now, the radio industry was expecting a full pandemic recovery -- back to 2019 operating levels. But that hasn't happened. Revenue continues to run below 2019 levels, radio stocks are trading at or near all-time lows, and Audacy is in danger of being delisted. Our hosts look for insights from Jeff Warshaw, the radio CEO who attempted a $1.2 billion takeover of Cumulus last summer. Warshaw, the...

The state of next year's economy is a big questionmark for some -- but not for our intrepid hosts. Corey & Gordon have got it all figured out, including how wide local ad-buyers will be opening their wallets next year. The podcast features forecasts for local advertising in 2023, plus an interview with Shari Bower, an executive with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Stay in the loop with all th...

This year is ending with a lot of uncertainty, but Gordon & Corey aren't fuzzy at all on what 2023 will look like. Wrapping up a survey of thousands of local ad buyers and on the eve of issuing their local advertising forecast, the hosts offer a peek at the ups and downs they expect for the new year. The podcast also features an interview with Spectrio's Jimmy Hunt, who's tapping into a new and in...

Could the phase-out of 3rd party cookies turn into a comeback for local print and broadcast media? Longtime media and advertising executive Shawn Riegsecker thinks so. Not one to pull punches, the founder and CEO of Basis (formerly Centro) says media made every mistake in the book dealing with the Internet for the past 20 years. But they now have the opportunity to turn tables on the tech giants....

Local B2B publishing remains a print-centric business without all the pain and suffering. In fact, it's experiencing just the opposite -- growth in print circulation and ad revenue. In this episode, Gordon and Corey explore why. The podcast features an interview with the president of Arkansas' biggest business publisher and board member of the industry's trade association, the Alliance of Area Bus...

The Great Geographic Dispersion under way. Small cities are getting bigger, and big ones smaller. And that should greatly benefit local media, according to The Washington Post's Ethan Selzer, our guest for this episode. Selzer offers a long-term view of the media industry -- newspapers in particular -- as the pandemic subsides. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our Research Al...

Stories about Gannett selling or shuttering newspapers and laying off hundreds of staffers have dominated the headlines. So how can the nation's largest newspaper company survive the next decade? This episode poses that question to CEO Mike Reed, who offers his vision for what Gannett will look like in 2032. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our Research Alert Lists. As always...

In this episode, Gordon & Corey turn to one of the most influential executives in the media industry and ask, "How will radio survive the next decade?" iHeart CEO Bob Pittman offers his perspective on how radio will remain unique over the next 10 years, whether its dependence on advertising revenue might need to change, and whether we should be calling it "radio" at all. This is the seventh in a s...

How will out-of-home advertising fare in the coming metaverse? Clear Channel CEO Scott Wells offers his vision. He talks about the role of 3D, AR, and VR, and addresses the question, "Because Outdoor can now deliver real-time messages, is the industry getting into the news business?" This is the sixth in a series of interviews asking industry CEOs the question, "What's your vision for 2032?" Stay...

The 10-year-challenge series continues with the top executive at Hearst Television offering his vision on what 2032 looks like for the industry. Keying off Hearst's 135 years in the business, Jordan Wertlieb sees TV stations' success depending on one key thing -- and it's not technology or distribution. Gordon & Corey offer their usual pithy assessment. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell whe...

Gordon & Corey issue the 10-year challenge to David Chavern, CEO of the newspaper industry's trade association, News Media Alliance. Chavern posits that while the printed version of today's newspapers may be smaller, their audiences are larger than ever. By 2032, newsroom staffs will be larger and their largest revenue stream won't be advertising. This is the fourth in a summerlong series asking C...

With OTT already siphoning money from radio & TV budgets, is local broadcast media about to suffer its most troublesome decade? In this episode, Gordon & Corey take their summerlong "10-year challenge" question -- what does 2032 look like to you? -- to Curtis LeGeyt, the dynamic, new CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters. Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join our Researc...

After interviewing Nexstar's visionary CEO in our last episode, Gordon takes the "10-year challenge" to Salem Media's CEO, Dave Santrella. Where does he see Salem -- and the radio industry -- in 2032? This is the second in a summerlong series where Gordon & Corey are handing the mic to media industry CEOs and asking, "What's in your future?" Stay in the loop with all things Borrell when you join o...

Gordon & Corey hatch the bright idea of seeing if any CEOs might be willing to take the "10-year challenge." What's their long-term vision, and what will their companies look like in 2032. Kicking off a summerlong series of CEO interviews is Nexstar Media Group's Perry Sook, a guy with a long reputation of not only having a long-term vision, but also making it happen. Stay in the loop with all thi...