Moneyball: What’s Coming in 2026?

In 1977 TM Productions sent out LPs with demos of seven jingle packages on side two and an 18-minute audio drama on side one. The audio drama , entitled Tomorrow Radio, comedically predicted how things would be in radio just a few years later in 1983.  Please note: (1) Tomorrow Radio remains “not safe for…

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Moneyball: Where AI Can Be Most Damaging to Your Station

Last year, NuVoodoo asked a panel of nearly 2,000 radio listeners, “If you found out that the voice introducing songs and giving the weather on a station you like was an AI bot, how would that affect your future listening?” Nearly half that sample said they would listen less to the station – fully a…

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Moneyball: What Keeps You Up at Night?

I haven’t been on the air in over 30 years, but I still have a recurring radio nightmare. In mine there’s less than a minute remaining in the last commercial and I don’t know the station name or format. I’m looking frantically for a song that might be alright in several formats to buy myself…

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Moneyball: A Thanksgiving Message from Carolyn Gilbert

People are celebrating Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.  Over the years, I’ve come to refer to it as the National Butter Festival.  I think I love it because there are no real demands beyond food and family and friends.  No mandatory gifting.  No interminable build-up with parties you might not really want to go to.  No…

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Moneyball: National vs. Local Callout

NuVoodoo founder, Carolyn Gilbert is not known for mincing words. About national callout, she has said, “National music research is great if you’re programming a national format. Regional music research works fine for programming a regional format. And to make the best music decisions for programming a local station, you need local research. Your market. Your listeners. The specific songs you want to…

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Moneyball: The Most Valuable Content for 2026

Funny Siberian Husky dog surprised, Siberian Husky dog muzzle, green blurred background

In addition to “beloved,” the words “authentic” and “relatable” have been consistent across the many, many tributes to WMMR’s Pierre Robert in social media this past week. The words came up among media contacts, but also among “real life” friends here in Philly – people not focused on radio or media, just long-time listeners of…

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Moneyball: How Deep is Your Bench?

(With apologies to the Bee Gees, of course.) Last week’s tragic loss of WMMR’s Pierre Robert is a timely reminder that the most valuable on-air hosts are difficult (some might say “impossible”) to replace. If you were a fan of Pierre’s or work in the radio business, your social media feeds are full of tributes…

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Moneyball: Have You Audited Your Imaging?

Desperate Arab businessman having too much work, making mistake, cannot meet deadline, suffering

Have you audited your imaging and promos lately? This year? This decade? With more responsibilities spread across fewer people in most station programming departments, it’d be completely understandable if the answer is “no.” Yet that’s exactly why it’s so important to make the time. With fewer people doing more work, radio risks losing the elements…

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Moneyball: Remaining Local & Connected in 2026

Shocked funny Basenji dog with open mouth looking on laptop computer display.

While Nielsen’s new 3-minute rules have lifted AQH, revenue remains challenging. It’s understandable to see programming personnel being trimmed back at many companies. It’s sad for the individuals involved and sad for the business as it works to compete with the onslaught of digital competition in the audio space. Managers are left with fewer bodies…

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Moneyball: How Safe is Your Safe List?

When we asked the 2,000+ nationwide respondents in NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study 26 what causes them to change stations, too many bad songs is at or near the top of the ranking among most format P1 groups. Even among the few formats where bad songs are the cause of tuneout for less than half the…

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