Howard Lapides is a veteran of radio. As CEO of Lapides Entertainment, Howard is now managing writer/producers, talk show hosts, authors, comedians, and actors, as well as executive producing a variety of shows, like VH-1’s highly successful “Celebrity Rehab” franchise, Comedy Central’s “The Man Show,” and “LoveLine” on MTV. Among Howard’s first words to the audience: “Radio as you learned it is gone, but radio is not gone.” Howard is a keen observer of the radio space and a

Valerie Geller is a talent coach second to none. She works worldwide, coaching personalities in podcasting, radio, and television. In this standout Q&A from hivio, the audio future festival, I talk with Valerie about how to coach and develop great talent and where to find the future of audio talent. Among the questions we address: How can talent communicate more powerfully? How can talent tell stories without making it “all about me?” How to sustain engagement over a period o

Think digital and radio are two separate worlds and digital learnings can’t make audio content across platforms better and more popular? Think again. Anya Grundmann is NPR’s Vice President for Programming and Audience Development. She leads NPR’s programming center and its strategy for program acquisition, evaluation, and development. In this remarkable presentation from hivio, Anya shares what NPR has learned from its digital efforts and how those digital efforts have enhanc

So you think the future of radio is shutting up to play more songs? Think again. Dennis Clark is iHeartMedia’s secret weapon when it comes to talent development. In this rare appearance before a U.S. audience at hivio 2015, Dennis talks about the future of talent and how talent is at the heart of radio’s and audio’s future. Some of the questions Dennis addresses: How do you see the role of talent in radio and audio? What do talents most need to know that they don’t know What

The number one media brand in Australia is a radio show. Think about that for a second. The number one media brand in Australia is a radio show. So says Southern Cross Austereo’s Craig Bruce as he provides a master class on making great audio entertainment and developing and nurturing talent. There’s a lot U.S. broadcasters can learn from Craig’s keen comments and finely-tuned best practices, which he shared with all of us in his Q&A at hivio 2014, the audio future festival.

What’s the best way to develop new talent? Is it to steal from the switchboard and upgrade to sidekick? Is it to place a blind ad in an industry trade? Is it to hire or voice-track a good-enough talent from another market where that talent’s awareness in this market is zero? You could steal somebody from across the street. Or you could do what Phil Becker did. Phil went to the Internet. But he didn’t recruit just anybody.  He went for the locally-based YouTube talent who alre

Morning Show superstars are something almost every broadcaster wants and only a precious few have.  So how do you get from here to there?  How do transform a show from “good” to “great”? I can’t think of anyone better suited to answer this question than Tracy Johnson. Tracy has a long history as a programmer, manager, talent coach and author of several books on developing radio talent.  His brand new book, Morning Radio Revisited: A Guide to Developing On-Air Superstars has j