Scotty Kay is a Chicago native and a multimedia talent who has made his mark in various fields of entertainment. He gained national attention as a contestant on "So You Think You Can Dance" and later competed on "American Ninja Warrior," showcasing impressive physical abilities.

His radio career hit the major markets at Kiss FM in Chicago, where his syndicated show quickly became popular nationwide. He later worked at Power 96.1 in Atlanta, transforming the show from 18th place to first place in just 20 months. He then hosted the Mega Morning Show on Hot 93.3 KLIF-FM in Dallas but decided to return to Chicago to be closer to his family and pursue new opportunities.

Scotty currently hosts the afternoon drive on legendary country station US99 and is known for his interactive and engaging style. Since the pandemic, Scotty had to adapt to working from home and found new ways to connect with listeners. He is constantly preparing for changes in the industry, exploring new technologies like AI to enhance his content and stay ahead.

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We wanted to be a big show and we knew we had to act like a big show.

And the big shows that we were up against, which in Atlanta was the Burt Show, a

legendary show in Dallas was the Kid Kraddick Show an even more legendary show.

These are the shows that the two of us guys were trying to go up against.

And we knew that we didn't wanna sound like the underdog.

We wanted to sound like the big show.

And to do that, we had to do everything.

We had to find a way to.

Use technology to our advantage to use the cameras in the studio to to get

out on the streets, to be able to do social media on a level that people

weren't doing without a team of people.

Welcome to BRANDwidth on Demand, your Guide to Rebooting Radio.

What are the things that can make your life easier if it's ai?

You know, I'm already jumping in.

I'm using AI for a bunch of things now, still experimenting, but I

can ask it to help me write some imaging, which I spent last night.

I did give me some ideas for imaging or even writing a game for a certain artist,

and there's a lot of complaining about it.

If you don't want to do it, get out.

Don't devalue yourself.

Don't hate it.

Just if you can't change it either figure out how to make it work for you.

Or get out

BRANDwidth on Demand.

Rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be.

Now your guides through the Mediamorphosis, David Martin and

author of the book, BRANDwidth, Media Branding Coach Kipper McGee,

Chicago Native Scotty Kay is a true multimedia talent who is making his

mark in various fields of entertainment.

He first gained national attention as a contestant on foxes, so you

think you can dance later Competed on American Ninja Warrior showcasing

some really impressive fiscal chops.

And he's been recognized as one of the top live entertainers in the country

four times from DJ Times Magazine.

He hosted events all over the world, including the prestigious ambassador's,

ball for NATO and Brussels Belgium.

Scotty's Career and Radio began a KISS FM in Chicago where his syndicated show

quickly established himself as a beloved and trusted voice to listeners nationwide.

Next on to Power 96 1 Atlanta, where he transformed the show

from 18th place to first.

In just 20 months.

Most recently, Scotty hosted the Mega Morning Show on DF W's Hot 93 3 K L I

F F M, but ultimately decided to return to his hometown of Chicago to be closer

to his family and continue pursuing new opportunities, which led him to

the Legendary Country Station US 99, where he holds fourth afternoon drive.

BRANDwidth on Demand Is proud to welcome the one and only Scotty Kay.

Hey, Scotty.

Hey,

hey, hey.

You're welcome.

Thanks for having me.

. Yeah, do, is there a, a applause sound effect.

That's the only applause.

The, i,

I was done the old fashioned way, but all right.

We're glad to have you.

So, Scott, with all the stuff that you've been doing, how and when did you first

know the entertainment and particularly radio was gonna be your thing?

Uh, I'm not sure if I still know for radio's my thing

or not, but we're working out.

No fair.

I I did grow up in kind of the live entertainment industry and,

and even before that, my brother is an entertainer at heart.

I mean, we, we have a, a musical family.

Uh, my mom directed and performed in plays, so there's

entertainment kind of in the blood.

But I think my brother had the biggest impact on me as an entertainer

because he was my older brother.

I wanted to be like him.

He was a dancer and a, a musician and, uh, the life of the party all the time

and me watching a guy five years older than me, like got a lot of attention.

I think I just wanted to be like my older brother and that kind of led

me into the entertainment industry.

Into the live entertainment specifically with DJing bar mitzvah's, weddings,

private parties, things like that, where that is kind of where I got the bug for.

Being able to make someone's day and being an entertainer and see people, how, how

they can react to how you're worth and how you can change somebody's moments,

even if it's for a moment at a time, you can change their emotions and, and

make a day very, very special for them.

So I think the entertainment bug got to me and that led to the dancing and the DJing.

And, uh, hosting live events and, you know, I try to go back all the

time and think about the specific moment where I decided radio was

the key or was the place to go, but I don't really know when that is.

That kind of transferred me.

As I think about it, just right to Columbia College, I

don't know how I got there.

I feel like I skipped a season or two of my life in, in my memory.

But I remember wanting to put everything together, the music,

the DJing, the entertaining, and then putting it on a large scale.

And radio seemed to be something that was able to put the, all

those things together for me.

And the more I learned and fell in love with the power of radio, it just

got stronger and stronger from there.

Well, Scotty, being a hometown kid, turn media star.

When you finally returned to your hometown after your road work, did

you find the market had changed?

And what did you do to get yourself ready for the transition back to Chicago?

Yeah, well interesting about the time that it happened,

the world changed at that time.

Um, one of the things with Chicago, The city changes it feels like by the

minute too, and not just the people that live there, but I mean, you name it.

The bars, the clubs, the restaurants, the way the city operates in general.

It changes by the minute.

So I think every time that I came back and, and the interesting part about

when I was away, I was always back.

So my son still lived in Chicago.

So while I was away for six years, I was actually back every other weekend still

experiencing, you know, what, what, what was kind of happening and, and claiming

it as my hometown at the same time.

And so when I came back, that was, you know, the main reason that I, that I

came back was to be closer to family.

But you know, when I came back in 2019, it was only a couple months before the

world shut down, so everything changed.

Yeah.

And so when you ask what's different, I mean, everything and that, and

that was kind of actually refreshing.

You know, obviously Covid a terrible thing, but the restart was.

Refreshing for me because it gave me a way to look at this and go, okay, this

is a new beginning on so many fronts.

Not just me, but for everybody.

And now we can start and figure out where do we go from here?

How do we rebuild it for the way that the world is now and what it

might look like years in the future?

So everything was different to me to answer that question on

a simple, on the simplest form.

Mm-hmm.

Well, that kinda leads into my next question because you've

been doing this for a minute.

And you've been in certainly different markets and you've lived pre, during,

and post covid and survived, thank God.

But what are some of the biggest changes that you've encountered

in the, uh, industry so far?

Um, I think there was a big shift in.

Content delivery and also what I think the listeners want from

radio, or at least the perception of what listeners want from radio.

I think that as PPM was introduced, there was a lot of fear that was installed

within radio and people cut back on talk and play the music, play the hits.

Uh, what are people getting from radio right now?

They get their favorite song.

Don't interrupt that.

And then podcasting grew and came along, and Spotify came along and Amazon Music

and Apple, you know, the, all these digital screening platforms came along

and the music became something that was still important, but also something that.

Had more options.

You know, there was an abundance of places that could get the music, and

I think the shift is now starting and a little bit farther along, and the

fact that content has become important again, and the way it's delivered and

how it's delivered and everything in between, the music is starting to come

to the forefront that it's a lot more important than it was over even the past.

10 years, I guess, you know.

Mm-hmm.

When PPM really started to hit and people started making those shifts.

So I think the pendulum is starting to swing, and I think it swung,

especially with the pandemic and people were out of their cars, and I

think it showed what people wanted.

They wanted that connection.

They, they, they were in their houses with nobody to.

Connect to physically.

Mm-hmm.

So how do they get that connection?

How do they feel?

Still involved.

Feel like they can interact with human beings, like they know what's going on

in the world, but also be entertained in a way that the news isn't gonna

give you because the news was heavy.

Everything was hard and sad.

And, uh, fights doom.

Yeah.

And negative.

And so I, I think the importance of talent just, uh, completely

exaggerated from that point.

The need for it.

Absolutely.

So with Covid, one question, did you guys end up working from home or did, were

you coming in and how'd you handle that

physically?

Yeah, so that was a shift for me too, because when I first

came back to Chicago, I was helping out with a morning show and through

Covid that whole show was dissolved.

So I was the only one that was still working at the station.

And so at that point there were only three of us covering the whole station,

and that included somebody not on the air, that was our program director.

Marcy is a beast in her own right, but it was me and Drew

holding for the whole station.

And that came with some interesting challenges because for the first.

Six months, I guess it was, I guess until August.

So from March till about August we were working from home.

And so now at that point I had moved to afternoons and I had never done a

show in the studio afternoons period.

Wow.

I was starting, yeah, a new journey.

In afternoon drive in in my home city.

Kind of a place of dream that I've had since I started in radio and I was

doing it from my two bedroom apartment.

So there were some challenges with that.

I think I had some experience, cause I've done a lot of voice

tracking for a lot of stations.

So the ability to have fun and be live and do it without some of

that color interaction that I love.

Was, it was a challenge, but it was also a welcome challenge to go ahead and innovate

and try to figure out how to connect with the world in a place where we are

all disconnected in every single way.

So we were home.

I was able to go in, like I said, till about August, start going into

the studio and even then it was still a reimagined way cuz there weren't

as many people in their cars and calling in and things like that.

So, while.

I pride myself on being a very, very interactive, probably the most

interactive show you'll find in especially an afternoon drive in Chicago.

There was a a chance to go ahead and grow some other skills at that point

too, which I think benefited me down the long run and kinda walk away

with a bag full of skills, you know?

Yeah.

So having survived that, what are some of the things you're

preparing for in terms of.

Tech content, all of the above.

What are some of the things you're preparing for in changes moving forward?

Uh, that's a hard one because I think there's so many different

things people are talking about.

People are talking about ai, people are talking about still syndication,

they're talking about downsizing, they're talking about social media.

So it's kind of like I believed I had to set myself up to be a jack of all

trades, and I knew that going into that, and that's kinda something that.

You know, isn't new for me, especially going into morning drive.

When I had my first morning show, there was only two or three of us

work in doing everything right.

We didn't have a social team, and then we worked in Dallas.

Luckily my best friend, you know, and Brett Mega, and we did everything.

I mean, there was two of us that.

We wanted to be a big show and we knew we had to act like a big show.

And the big shows that we were up against, which in Atlanta was

the Bert Show, a legendary show.

Mm-hmm.

And Dallas was the Kid.

Crad Show an even more legendary show.

These are the shows that the two of us guys were trying to go up against.

And we knew that we didn't wanna sound like the underdog.

We wanted to sound like the big show.

And to do that, we had to do everything.

We had to find a way to.

Use technology to our advantage, to use the cameras in the studio, to, to

get out on the streets, to be able to do social media on a level that people

weren't doing without a team of people.

You know, we had to figure out how to do that and, and we did.

And I think that prepared us for everything going forward.

So when you talk about going forward from here on, I think

it's continuing to pay attention.

What are the things that can make your life easier?

If it's ai, you know, I'm already jumping in, I'm using AI for a bunch

of things now, still experimenting, but I can ask it to help me write some

imaging, which I spent last night.

I did give me some ideas for imaging or even writing a game for a certain artist.

AI actually helped me do that.

So when you're talking about moving forward, we are all expected to wear

a lot of hats and there's a lot of complaining about it, and I just

don't, don't believe in that, right?

Everybody wants to complain.

Everybody, if you don't want to do it, Get out, don't devalue yourself.

Don't hate it.

Just if you can't change it either figure out how to make it work

for you or get out, because the negativity is not what, uh, I think

is gonna be the true power of radio.

So moving forward, I think it's just embracing all of those different

things and figuring out how to use.

Use it for yourself and one thing at a time.

Honestly, that's the biggest thing, is take take on one thing at a time.

If you're trying to learn TikTok, don't try to learn TikTok AI and

do podcasting at the same time.

Just take one thing at a time, you know?

Right.

Yeah.

Well, Scotty, with all your experience and all the learning

that's happened, which between TV and video and onstage entertaining

and all kinds of stuff, you've gotta.

One hell of a skillset.

Hmm.

But what does it all have in common?

What?

What can you boil it down to in terms of the trait or characteristics

you really need to be a star?

Oh, great question.

I think the biggest thing for me is how can I do.

What I love to do at the highest level I can and still enjoy it.

And so I think I have an advantage in the fact that I, I actually

enjoy learning all those new skills.

So those are, those are things for me personally, and I think in an industry

where it breeds so much insecurity within creative people on a constant level,

whether that's from leadership, whether that's from financial stability, whe

whether it's from the world changing around you, you kind of have to find.

What do you wanna do?

What impact do you wanna make?

And what kind of radio do you love doing?

Because then when you start doing it for the validation of yourself as

opposed to the validation from the outside, the collective, the bosses,

you're gonna one, do it better, and two, you're gonna enjoy it more.

And I think that's been the biggest shift in mindset for me, is to go,

okay, what impact do I wanna make?

And I do believe radio has such a powerful stream.

To make an impact on a community, on an individual, even if

it's for moments at a time.

And that's kind of where my basis goes back to every single

time of the why I do this.

So all those skill sets, like I said, one, are a culmination of all

those are very fun for me to learn.

I like to learn new skills, but also it allows me to do my best work for.

The bottom line, which is to entertain people and make people happy for a

couple minutes at a time or connect, you know, in any way possible.

Great stuff.

So Scott, over the years we've seen other radio people break out into

other media, kinda like you're doing.

Ryan Seacrest, Carson Daley, recent examples.

Howard Stern America's Got Talent plus his movies.

Sean Hannity, I mean, he's just to name a few.

And of course Dick Clark is a guy who parlayed a Philadelphia radio

show into TV and a production empire that ended up doing game shows and

music specials, and heck, a New Year's Rock and Eve that's still on.

What do you see happening with you?

It seems to be a question that keeps coming up.

Uh, where do you see yourself in five years?

What do you want to come for this?

You know, it's always been a really, really hard question for me to do

that because I think things change by the minute for me and in the world.

They change.

Honestly, you know, I think my priorities change a lot too.

I think when you're young and in your early twenties, you're okay,

do I want the big syndicated show?

Do I want to turn this into a TV show?

Do I want to create a digital product that goes viral and, and have

millions and millions of dollars?

And I think as you get older, and I know for me it has, it's okay, what?

What do I want to do that every day I can be happy, provide for my family,

and build the things that I want?

And some of that has to do.

For me is having a foundation here in Chicago, which I, that was the

first goal to go out and build.

And then the next step I think for me is to be able to give

a platform for other creators.

And that's really what I, what I wanna build in the future.

You know, I have this dream to do a show that allows, it's

a very shark tank style show.

But for digital creators, how are you going to invest it in people that have

the next big idea on YouTube, on TikTok, on a podcast, and allow them to do that?

Because I, I think it's so saturated and the market is very saturated

in a good way because it's so easy to do whatever it is you want.

If you wanna do a podcast, you can literally just do it anytime you want.

I think there's a lot of people that will have these big ideas and are

afraid to figure out how to do it.

And.

Forget that you can just do it.

You can learn anything on YouTube, right?

You can do any, you can really learn all these skills and,

and go ahead and jump in.

But I think for me, when I look at the future, it's about the next big ideas.

And I don't think the next big idea comes from me.

I think the next big ideas comes from giving somebody else an

opportunity and a voice, and whether that's on radio, whether that's,

uh, on a podcast, whether that's.

On a YouTube channel, whatever that looks like.

And I don't know, I don't know yet where that comes from, but I want

to be able, somebody that keeps my mind open to go, okay, how can I

help this person achieve a goal?

You know, how can I help this person reach the next level in

whatever they're trying to do?

So I look for those opportunities.

And, and that's a big thing for me, I think it is to really help culminate

the next generation of entertainers.

Terrific guy Kipper.

Scotty Kay from US99 Chicago.

Hey, somebody you'd like to hear from.

We'd love to hear your suggestions.

Just email him.

To show at BRANDwidthonDemand.com

And another way to get in touch and stay in touch, just

follow BRANDwidthPlus we're on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, or LinkedIn

Coming up, US 99.

Scotty Kay shares some of the best advice.

He's ever gotten.

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We are with Scotty Kay, the star of afternoons on US, 99 Chicago.

Hey Scotty, after having done a whole lot of stuff and been very

successful, what's the one best piece of advice that you've ever been given?

Can I break that down to four pieces of advice that Sure.

I think it's really, yeah.

It's really hard for me to find one piece of advice because there's so

much to learn and so much to grow from.

But the one I'll start with is, uh, there's two from outside of radio

and then there's two from people that are inside of radio, which I

think are important to pull from.

So I, the first one from outside of radio is I had a conversation with,

Somebody that told me If it's never been done before, how would you do it?

And that's the way I wanna to kind of look at everything I start to do as a bit, or

as in radio or just in life in general, is to forget about your expectations of what

it should be, which is actually the second piece of advice from outside of radio.

So the person that told me, The first piece of advice was a guy from marketing,

um, a marketing guy from Google, and he said, you know, the best thing you can

do when you look at something, and if you want to create something that's your

own, you can look in and say, if it's never been done before, how would I do it?

And then you take pieces from.

Ways, maybe it has been done before and you put different things together,

but then your own spin on it, you know, to make it innovate it.

The second piece that I started to allude to was actually from my brother,

who, this is something that I think helped me grow exponentially and I

think will for a lot of people too.

But he said, don't let your expectations of what you think something should be,

get in the way of what it could be.

Meaning that if you think something should be a certain way, you go a

hundred percent into that and you're blocking out all of the other ideas

that can make that idea great.

The brainstorming and the culmination of other people's input to be, mm-hmm.

To get to the bigger idea because you are so stuck on what you think something

should be, you are missing all of the other things of what it could be.

The other two are from people that are.

Two very important people in my life that also happen to be in radio,

which I, I've talked about before, is my, uh, best friend and co-host for

a long time, Brett Mega, who always said, you might be more talented

than me, but you'll never outwork me.

And that is something that has always stuck with me, is

the hardest worker I know.

And.

And always reinforce the idea that radio has a power to tell a story,

and it's, whether it's our story or a listener's story or a community story,

the power of radio is, is just so strong.

And that will never change no matter what other streaming or technology

or other platforms come along.

The power of radio to tell a story is going to always be special.

And then the last thing is from another person who, you know, oddly

enough, the people inside radio.

That give me the best advice and taught me the most are also some of my best

friends, which is Ty Bentley, who is now the uh, host on Apple music country.

And he was somebody that I watched meticulously do his

job in a way that taught me.

So many other ways to do it.

Everything was fun and relatable and his brain instantly, I don't

know, directed something, directed something to what seemed to be this,

or he dissected it, I should say.

His brain instantly dissected something into what would break it down to maybe

the molecular level to rebuild it.

Instantly to something that was entertaining and relatable and fun.

And, and with Ty, the way he moved every single day, he talked to people and

created these meaningful relationships with people on the air, off the air.

Looked at things a million times and said, and there was always, what else?

What else can we do with it?

Can we take this bit and go on the street?

Was it a twist and a topic?

Was it something that was, uh, more importantly, uh, How do you

create emotion from this one thing?

So it wasn't necessarily one piece of advice, but it was watching

somebody every day that did something on a level that was unmatched at

that time and really still is.

And I think that that's actually maybe the biggest piece of advice from him

is that somebody's always watching it.

While that started out as a radio thing and a business thing, it also became.

It's much more as we evolved and we grew up and now we're dads and we noticed

that our kids are always watching.

And so you think of what example are you setting for them?

Who are you trying to be so that they are watching you every day and learning that.

Cause they're not gonna learn from what you tell them, but they

are going to watch you and learn from everything they see from you.

So those are kind of the four people.

And I know that was a, a lot of advice in one question.

But I do think that you have to take so many pieces from different places

and put 'em all together and they're not, one sentence is gonna change

your life or change it, change the way you do it, but has to be consistency

within your actions every single day.

So, Well, that wasn't PPM friendly.

It's, it's kind of the, it's kind of the truth, you know, it's things

that go through my head every day.

Our thanks to Scotty Kay, the star of afternoons on US99 in Chicago.

You'll find more in the show notes.

Just scroll down on your phone.

As always, thanks to exec producer Cindy Huber and to Hannah B, our associate

producer who handled the booking.

And coming up next...

Hey, it's Steve Reynolds, talent coach.

Excited to be on the next.

BRANDwidth on Demand.

With this new normal, what is the one thing you can do as a talent

that will make you more successful?

The one thing that is radio's superpower, I'll tell you on

the next BRANDwidth on Demand

that's a wrap, Kipper.

Consistency.

It's really important.

Along with discipline.

We'll talk about that in the one minute Martinizing.

Find it in show notes at BRANDwidthonDemand.com.

I'm Dave Martin...

and I'm Kipper McGee at all Your BRANDwidth Be Wide!