NEW YORK — “We are in an exciting time,” Cox Media Group President of Radio Rob Babin shared as he was joined by Nexstar Networks President Sean Compton to offer opening remarks at the Forecast conference presented by Radio Ink and the Radio + Television Business Report on Wednesday morning.
With Babin and Compton serving as co-chairs, the benefits to marketers and advertisers of “one-to-many media” played out across the entire day of panel discussions and executive leadership chatter.
For Babin, the reach story remains significant for broadcast media and is something that should be embraced. “It is critical to our democracy,” he said.
That set the tone for an Economic Forecasting session moderated by Miller Kaplan Partner Andrew Rosen that saw Beasley Media Group Chief Revenue Officer Tina Murley share insights and thoughts with Futuri founder and CEO Daniel Anstandig, WPP Media North America Executive Director of Channel Solutions Jen Soch, and Hearst Television EVP and Group Head Eric Meyrowitz.
This session offered Forecast attendees a plethora of fresh insights as to what marketer desire and how local media factors in to the media buy, with Soch noting that packages are being developed that haven’t ever been done before due to Olympic crowd-out. Interest is increasing, and “it is a great time for us” at WPP. She also offered commentary on how broadcast media can “fix the core” and address measurement and data concerns that persist with marketers. Soch also talked of household addressability — a key talking point this week given Amazon Ads’ recent announcements with Roku and Sirius XM and Prime Video’s rollout of geotargeted interactive video ads.
Morning conversations also included a very animated chat focused on the prospects for broadcast media as an investment in 2026 with Kalil & Co. EVP Todd Hartman, Circle City Broadcasting owner and President/CEO DuJuan McCoy, RBC Capital Markets Managing Director and Global Head/Communications, Media & Entertainment investment banking group Marcos Torres, Connoisseur Media founder/CEO Jeff Warshaw, and moderator Randy Michaels, the former Jacor and Clear Channel leader who now heads radio station licensee Radioactive LLC.
Michaels had the panel energized, with McCoy stressing how “you have to double-up” if you’re a broadcast TV operator, as the future will see two operators in every market once deregulation transpires. He also sparred with Michaels over the revenue differential in Indianapolis between broadcast TV and radio, as Warshaw offered insights into how Radio “has done so many things wrong” as an industry, leading to deleveraging.
Following this panel discussion was a group conversation focused on the fiscal health of independent and small-market broadcasters led by QUU CEO Steve Newberry and panelists such as Jeff Ziesmann, CEO and General Manager of WAKY in Louisville and “The Oasis” in Southern Ohio; Norsan Media CEO Natalia Sanchez Alvarez; and Lilly Broadcasting founder and co-owner Brian Lilly.
The morning sessions concluded with a lively conversation on AI, data and the new media mix moderated by MediaRadar SVP of Product GTM & Growth Brett House and as panelists Hearst Chief Data Officer for Consumer Media Jessica Hogue and Rio Longacre, Partner/Advertising and Ad Tech for Omnicom’s Credera.
