Tim Roberts is one of radio’s most famous decorated programmers—National Country Radio Hall of Fame inductee, multi-time CMA/ACM/Marconi winner, and Radio Ink’s #1 Country Programmer for multiple years. He leads Audacy’s 23-station Country Network while overseeing Detroit’s WYCD & WOMC.

In this episode, Tim shares how he’s kept Detroit radio fresh and profitable through changing eras—by championing creativity, coaching through trust, and aligning every idea with brand value and advertiser ROI. He explains why fun beats funny, how to empower talent without smothering originality, and how today’s PDs must think like CEOs of their own brands.

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I asked myself, would I like to take a four hour car ride with this person? And if so, would I be wanting to get out of the car after an hour?

I mean if you're asking them to be your companion for four hours on a radio show, it's the same thing.

BRANDwidth on demand, rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be.

The most important thing about our business is revenue.

So is this worth the investment and are we going to make money off it? So how are you going to make this brand more valuable of an asset for whatever company you work for?

Or even if it's just sole ownership, how is this brand going to be making more revenue, be more lucrative to advertisers? How are the things that we're thinking of going to pay off for advertisers and still have the wonderful sparkle and magic of radio?

Now your guides through the mediamorphosis, David Martin and author of the book Brandwit Media branding coach, Kipper McGee.

He's not just programming stations, he's programming what's next. We're talking about Tim Roberts.

He's vice president of music programming and country format captain at Odyssey, leading 23 country stations, the Odyssey Country Network and their exclusive country channel's coast to coast. He also happens to be brand manager for WYCD and WOMC in Detroit. And if there's a major event in Motor City Radio, well, the odds are he's behind it.

From the WYCD hoedown to the Woodward Dream Cruise, this guy knows how to put the big in big market. He's a national Country Radio hall of famer, multi time cma, ACM and Marconi winner and happens to be radio Inc's number one country programmer.

More years than most PDs last in the business. He's really seen it all, adapted to all of it and he's still way out front. Branglam On Demand is proud to welcome Tim Roberts.

Thank you gentlemen. After that intro, I'm ready to take the curtain call. Already? I can't do better than that.

I think you can. I hope you do because we got some big questions for you, Tim.

Starting with what separates the talent who last in the biz from those who just sound good. In other words, what traits do you look for in someone that you're willing to bet on?

I think it's someone who has a great personality, someone that's relatable, someone that connects emotionally with other people. I think I'm not going to say you're born with it because you can definitely learn how to be better at it, for sure.

But I think you have to be a likable person. You know, it kind of starts there.

I can tell you that after having interviewed literally maybe 10 or 15,000 people in my life for on the air, I get a good sense about it. And I don't know if it's because I'm old or because I've interviewed so many people, I'm not really sure, but I get a good sense of it.

Just the first time I ever talk to them, like, this is going to work out. And some people you can just see that are diamonds. And usually it's because they're also creative. They have fun ideas, they like to have fun.

I think we all got into the radio or entertainment business to have fun. And I think that trait is still incredibly important as well as being funny, which sometimes can be learned.

But sometimes people are born and they're just funnier than other people.

So as you're working with people, what do you find really makes someone malleable? What makes them coachable?

I ask myself, would I like to take a four hour car ride with this person? And if so, would I be wanting to get out of the car after an hour?

I mean, so if you think about it, if you're asking them to be your companion for four hours on a radio show, it's the same thing. Could you ride in the car for four hours with this person, not have them driving you batty? And I think that's kind of a side way of looking at it.

But I think there is some sense to it. And I think the fact that there's a couple of punch words that I look for in people and tell it interesting, entertaining, fun, funny.

If they have the comedic sense, they don't have to. I think more people are fun than funny.

You know, over the years, there's probably just a handful of people that you could truly say, man, that guy is or that girl is really funny. I mean, because they have like a comedic sense of timing. And some of that is just innate talent. Some of it can be learned.

You can learn to be funnier. But nothing is worse than trying to be really funny when you're not. And there's a lot, a little bit too much of forced humor, I think.

I think natural funniness and laughter is contagious as opposed to forced laughter where you feel like, okay, it's like watching a bad sitcom with a laugh track. It's not that great.

Yeah, yeah,

Tim, how can those new to the business stay Relevant in a format that values familiarity. I mean, what's the secret to bringing fresh energy to heritage brands?

I think you have to be creative. That is just absolutely essential. And because of social media, we have so many more platforms to be creative in.

So you can try different things and different tactics with each different social platform. Instead of posting one size fits all to every platform, which was what a lot of people do, sometimes you need to custom it for the platform.

That's sort of a little tip. But I think the other thing that you need to think about is like a strategy. It's like, where are you going?

You know, I think about Taylor Swift at the beginning of her career and how she was getting creative and trying different things. And I'm proud to say we were one of the first radio stations ever to play her music. And I was just reminiscing about that the other day.

But more importantly, she was a creative force, like thinking of new things to do in concert.

Like every time I saw her before the show, which was frequently when she was, you know, 15, 16 years old or 17, and she'd be like, tim, I'm going to do this. Like, she would tell me the new thing that she thought of. And she thought a lot about it. It wasn't like she thought of it that morning.

She planned it out way in advance. Like, I'm in this city, we're at this venue, I'm opening for this person and I'm going to do this.

Wow.

And I think being educated really helps that.

So reading a lot, you know, whether it's books, you know, your Internet sources, your show prep, all of that, and obviously local sources being primary, I think, to radio success for the most part, if you're, unless you're on a network syndicated show, which is a different thing. But all of that adds up to funneling into the creative juices and watching other people that know what they're doing.

I'm always amazed about how little talent listens to other talent. Especially when you're. You can listen out of your day part, you know, you might not be able to if you're doing a morning show.

It's hard to listen to other morning shows. But thanks to podcasting and all these other great tools we have now, yes you can.

And not only that, I mean, you know, there's things like rewind and there's all these other things, but you could even listen to an afternoon show or highly successful syndicated show or a really funny stand up comedian and you can get ideas. I'm not saying copy but use them for inspiration.

Great point.

So shifting gears to your role as format captain and coaching all of the young programmers or even experienced veteran programmers that are out there, what skills are you leading them to today that you think that PDs have to master? That really wasn't, say on the charts, wasn't all that critical five, 10 years ago?

I absolutely think the most important thing are people skills. You're managing people and you're trying to get the most out of them.

And I think in an era when we grew up where it was almost tyrannical leadership at the top and a lot of radio stations like scary leadership, kind of like, if I don't perform well, I'm going to get blown out tomorrow.

And I think you have to empower people to have the courage to try new things and be creative, because if you have a stifling environment, you're not going to get there. It ultimately is not going to work.

And I think it's super important to be creative and make work fun and let people try things and be part of the brainstorming creative strategy to help them. So as the format captain, I try to empower my brand managers and their teams to be in that environment.

So, Tim, do you see the role evolving beyond the strategic end of coaching talent?

And what other things should a program director or brand manager be thinking about now in terms of staying relevant for their job three, four, five years down the road?

Well, the most important thing about our business in commercial radio is revenue.

So I think you have to look at everything a little differently than we ever did before from the standpoint of, like, is this worth the investment and are we going to make money off of it? That includes talent, the brand strategy. I like the fact that we call our program directors now brand managers, because that's really what it is.

Yes.

So how are you going to make this brand more valuable of an asset for whatever company you work for? Or even if it's just sole ownership, it's still the same thing, Right.

How is this brand going to be making more revenue, be more lucrative to advertisers? How are the things that we're thinking of going to pay off for advertisers?

And how can we make it all work together synergistically to be incredible on the air and still have the wonderful sparkle and magic of radio? So I think it's all tied together, but I do think that strategy is something that we were not prepared for.

For those of us that got in on certain years that I don't even want to mention long ago and far in a land far, far away.

Yes.

But I do think that we came into like a pure programming setup. Like just think about this and don't worry about anything else. We'll take care of that part.

And obviously it's massively evolved as, you know, other mediums became more prevalent, the birth of the Internet, all the social media, you know, you can get music in a million different places, but how is it packaged and presented on the air to make it a synergistic, beautiful product that people want to consume? And that's really where we're at now. So we're competing against everyone in the entertainment business.

Well, Tim, how do you balance station strategy with giving some creative freedom to your talent? I mean, how can newer talent build their brand without stepping on the format?

Well, that's where social media really can help because you could be doing a podcast that has completely topics and content that isn't on the air, that is reaching a different set of audience. So you could touch people with that.

You can have a different strategy on Instagram or TikTok than you would on the air and then be serving a different type of presentation there. So obviously in most of our markets we're PPM and we're trying to be very efficient on the air.

So it comes down to being concise, entertaining and effective in short bursts. Except in morning drive, obviously, where you're having more content in most cases.

So there's different strategies and different ways to develop your talent. I encourage young talent to try doing improv and stand up comedy on the side.

That has nothing to do with anything other than giving them entertainment experience. If they do theater, it's also magical.

If they're singers and performers, it's another way to reach people, but it's also another way to understand how to be an entertainer.

And the more tools you have in the toolbox these days, the better it is. I think you really do have to be multifaceted. And look, you gotta start somewhere.

So you might have just started and took radio classes in college or something, or whatever trade school you were at, or even worked at the high school radio station, but you need to then branch out and do other things. And one of the things I'm super proud of in my career that I did when I was younger without even knowing I was doing it was I did everything.

I literally have worked every job in the radio station. You know, from general manager down to trying to fix parts. Right. And I think that rounded background helped me be a better coach in the end.

Oh yeah, Our thanks to Tim Roberts. He's one of the Odyssey brain trust, vice president, country format captain, and the main guy at Detroit's wycd.

Know someone we should interview or a topic we ought to cover? Well, let us know. Email your suggestions to showrandwithondemand.com or reach out on social brand with plus on Instagram, Facebook and X.

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Coming up, Tim talks advice

Gee boss.

I can't believe how bad our ratings were again. Me neither. Super Duper Johnny D. Let's go grab a bite. Turn the radio off. Sure thing, program director. Dude, your show sounds great.

I just don't get it. Ladies and gentlemen, Bump Meatless.

Oh, your music's a disaster. I hope you understand that you need Music Master just as fast as you can.

Not that one. I just wish the answer would come to me.

Your station sounds so bad it sound great. If you had Music Master, please wake up today.

Why do the other stations sound so good?

Well, your ratings just tanked and your owner hates you. You better get Music Master quick before the next book comes out or you're on the chopping block. Call today. It's so easy to do.

I don't know man. I wish there was an easy button for ratings.

Oh boy.

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On Demand

Tim what's the one single best piece of advice that you've ever gotten.

You know, it's funny. Everyone can't be like you, Tim. Was something that one said to me long ago, and I didn't really understand what they meant at the time.

But I think too often young programmers try to make other talent in the building be like them. In other words, I'm doing this, they need to do that.

And this kind of goes with the book which I implore everyone to read, called Soaring with youh Strengths. It was a book that was written a long time ago, but it's so relevant.

And even though some of it's sort of cheesy and outdated, it really is an incredible book because you have to look at every single person and go, what are they good at? And then try to amplify that in a million different ways so that they can thrive and be great. And what do they like to do? What are they into?

What are they into that the audience can relate to?

Because when you try to force people, it'd be like taking someone that knows nothing about football and saying, we want you to talk more about football.

So unless they're going to get educated about football and come to like it, someone talking about football that doesn't know about football, you automatically can detect it, right? It's just like someone that.

And we've all heard air talent on formats where that you can tell they don't know anything about it and they suddenly sound like a fish out of water, and that's what you don't want.

So I think from the standpoint of, like, don't try to make everyone like you is a really good piece of advice that I got a long time ago because I think I was trying to get people to be, I guess, more like me on the air. And then after I realized what they were talking about, I'm like, oh, yeah, they don't off. It's better when they're not like me.

And then we have a completely different, very attractive magazine of talent and people that makes people interested in the brand and everyone is different.

That's great advice.

So, conversely, Tim, what's the best advice you would give to somebody who's hoping to maybe run a major market brand themselves someday?

I would advise them to talk to the management and find out about the revenue goals. There's not a market manager alive that's not implicitly tied to that.

So I think you have to understand the business side first and realize that you're running a business and it's not just you know, fun and games and. Or let them worry about it. And I'm just going to worry about the fun and games.

And then once you understand the business side, you kind of compartmentalize that. And then you're down to fun and games because it's your job to provide the entertainment value.

But you do have to understand that it's a business and you have to understand the pressure that's on the management side of the business.

And then you have to figure out how to increase, as I said earlier, the value of the proposition that you're involved with the brand and how do you increase the brand strength? What can you do to make that brand stronger in your market? What can you do to make the brand stronger with advertisers?

What can the talent be doing to ally themselves with more advertisers, more which ultimately will make them more money and everyone more money? So I think there's that side of the business that's easy to forget about.

And it's kind of the side of the business that when I was younger I'd be like, I don't really want to think about that. It's going to mess my brain up.

But I think you have to have both of those elements, the fun side and the business side playing together and figure out the happy medium. And that's ultimate to survival in any situation.

Wow.

What a pleasure to have Tim Roth Roberts, the guy from Odyssey, the vice president, country format captain and Kemo Sabe links to Tim stations and more all in the show notes. Just scroll down on your phone.

As always, we want to thank our exec producer Cindy Huber and associate producer Hannah B for booking. And coming up next.

Hey, it's Fred Jacobs. Join me on the next episode of of Brand Width. We're going to be talking radio from A to Z.

What's working, what's not working and how we can continue to make this business be great. So, hey, join me.

It'll be fun.

That's a wrap, Kipper. As Tony Moe famously said, the future lies ahead. We'll talk about the future in the one minute martinizing.

You'll find it in the show notes@brandwithondemand.com I'm Dave Martin.

And I'm Kipper McGee. May all your BRANDwidth be wide.