TJ Taormina hosts The TJ Show currently on nearly 130 affiliates. For 7 years, he hosted mornings at “103.3 Amp Radio” in Boston and before that worked for Elvis Duran at “Z100” in New York for over a decade.

Earlier this year, I aired a phone call from a mom in Hawaii. She shared that she took her 13-year-old son to a garage sale in town. The son was surprised to find a device called a “radio” on sale and asked his mom if he could have the dollar it cost to buy it. She agreed and, after getting home, he powered it up. Flipping through the stations, he discovered The TJ Show on his “new” favorite toy.  For approximately $262 less than it costs for a yearly subscription to some audio streaming services out there, that kid found a community.  And both he and his mom keep coming back to be a part of it.  What an honor that they invite our radio show to be a part of their lives.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been navigating these choppy radio waters for twenty-five years.  In this time, I’ve witnessed radio’s identity continue to erode.  It’s become easier to be deceived into thinking that “social” media has community-building covered in our current media ecosystem.  Some wonder how radio could possibly stand out in an ocean of online social “connection” opportunities. Many radio stations have allowed themselves to become so synonymous with social media (and honestly, often being a bad reflection of what social media already does well with its own delivery system), that radio programming becomes a background priority. 

While broadcast radio is a great place for content creators, I would argue it’s an even better place for community servants who also create content. In a social media world where many creators are so “me” focused, I think there is something in our human nature that has gotten fatigued by it. If one was looking to stand out in today’s cluttered media space, radio might now have its greatest opportunity to do so. The self-serving promotion that social media often gravitates towards eventually feels repulsive. The best broadcasters master the art of spoken word content and simultaneously care about adding value to the lives of the people regularly tuning into their daily radio shows. Today many radio broadcasters increasingly rely on A.I. to write their shows. Putting more effort into whatever we hope will make money in social media spaces, and neglecting necessary personal time and effort to develop our craft, kills the golden goose. And it is these misdirected initiatives that will continue to put more great radio performers out of jobs.  

While hosting my local morning show in Boston, I eventually came to the realization that radio didn’t need to be re-invented, I needed to re-invent my own heart. In the summer of 2018, my boss asked me to pick a charity to partner with in the local community.  I was annoyed by the thought of going through all of that, asking for donations, and then posing with a big check.  It felt like we were forcing listeners to know “we did a good thing!”  (Side note: at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what a station’s motives are. If an organization that serves the community is getting much needed support, that’s the headline!). For some reason, I felt this was a battle worth fighting. Well, thankfully I lost that battle.  My boss forced me to “do a good thing.” (I know. How horrible, right?) I’m so glad he did.  I’m convinced it’s one of the biggest reasons I’m still passionate about doing radio today.  

The station connected me with Boston Rescue Mission. This is a homeless shelter in Boston that has been transforming lives for over a hundred years.  I walked into this place to meet their team and was blown away by the people who had given their lives over to their community.  I was stunned by their genuine love for the clients who they served.  I became invested in helping to tell their story. I started to care about this more than any other “bit” I was preparing for my show. I saw one of the local radio hosts (Sue Brady Hartigan) from another station hug a man who was covered in dirt. I would’ve never thought to hug someone like that before that moment. Witnessing the love shown for this community brought tears to my eyes. While previously  I was deeply convinced about why I was even doing my radio show to begin with. It started to click: Of course this is what the radio is for. It’s to be available to our community, however big or small.  

I asked the shelter for permission to interview their clients and capture their stories of transformation in their own raw and powerful words.  We did hours of interviews.  The conversations were inspiring, thought-provoking, fun. We had hilarious interviews with people who were grateful to still be alive and celebrating a second chance at life.  I aired those interviews and it was exciting radio. I started to think, ‘Maybe this is what I was looking for in radio all along?’  As we aired those interviews, listeners began donating socks to the shelter. They came flooding into the radio station in huge bins on wheels! More socks than I’d ever seen in my life crowded our station because our listeners were suddenly connected to real people with real stories who had real needs.  

Listeners mailed in tens of thousands of pairs of socks. I found out the socks we collected during those years supplied the shelter through the entire pandemic in 2020.  The way our team, our listeners, the radio station, and the local shelter all came together during those years showed what a unifier radio can be for our communities. It can get everyone on the same page to love and care about one another. In this world?! 

What a hidden treasure that kid in Hawaii got for $1!  A little machine that can unify people?  Have we forgotten what this radio can do and has been doing for over a century?!  A special thank you to Steve Salhany and Steve Reynolds for challenging me and opening my eyes to something I didn’t see before. 

A few years ago, when I interviewed with local broadcasters in Chattanooga, TN, they mentioned a radio host I hadn’t heard of. Luther Masingill was on the same radio station (WDEF) for over 70 years. He was broadcasting on that same frequency during both Pearl Harbor and 9/11.  I was so intrigued by his story that I bought a book about him.  Luther was a guy who would ride around with his lawnmower in his flatbed truck.  On his drive home from the radio station, if he saw someone’s grass got a little too long, he’d famously pull over his truck and mow it for them.  In my office, I have a large picture of Luther doing this.  Every day it reminds me: doing this radio show is not about me. It’s about the kid who bought the $1 radio, his mom, and the people he brings into this community.  

Let’s fulfill our lives by  continuing to build community through the radio. Luther’s stories are a manual that epitomizes how radio performers can still choose to importantly serve their community.  The wild radio dude who’s mowing lawns stood out then and I bet he would certainly stand out today (maybe even more so).  Based on what I’ve read about Luther, I wonder what he, a public servant who mowed one person’s lawn at a time and helped people find their lost pets, would think about focusing on Tik-Tok while he was broadcasting. I suspect Luther wouldn’t care if the station posted it online, as long as it didn’t impede his primary focus: serving the community by helping people. 

Is social media serving our communities?  I would argue that it has become a wedge that often divides and pollutes us.  I would also argue it has weighed down so many of our into attract and build a large local following. 

I remember many years ago when I was working for Elvis Duran at Z100 in New York.  Every day at work I walked past a different legendary radio performer from one of the many stations in the building. In the earliest days of social media, I overheard some of them complain about the initiative to focus so much on social media.  They were frustrated with the “tail wagging the dog.”  At that time, a lot of people ignored their concerns as if they were hanging onto a “sinking ship” called radio.  Since those earliest days of social media consuming our radio industry, how many times has a program executive directed a radio performer to give their time over to Zuckerburg’s creation? 

We now have a nice stretch of data to look back on to observe how that’s been going for radio. More radio jobs?  More shows thriving on the air? Bigger ratings and cume? Radio companies rolling in the dough? It is time to re-think how much time we’re putting into hitting the moving target?  Is it the perfect time to re-focus on what sets apart and showcases the radio broadcaster? Can we learn to use social media to support the communities we love and stop allowing social media to use radio?

Is it possible that when a radio station’s heart points towards adding value and building community with our listeners first, a by-product of that choice will bring in the resources we need to rebuild a radio station into the strong community unifier it can still be?   The latest Spiderman movie is headed towards the $3 billion mark. It seems people are drawn to stories about sacrifice and loving and serving a community well.  Maybe being forced to “do a good thing” will have an unexpected turnout?

As an industry, can we prioritize equipping those performers who are motivated to both learn the craft of broadcasting and are willing to serve their listening community? Every time we add a new TJ Show affiliate, I share with the local programmer that if they have anyone at the radio station that would like to join in on our show, to please have them submit an idea or local story because we consider everything. I hope someday when I hang up my headphones, I can look back on our time in this space and see that it somehow helped to equip the radio performer. I’m grateful we’ve had the time and support to build a radio show that is a resource and unique puzzle piece for local radio stations in this time.

No one is asking for radio performers to fight powerful villains or abandon the people we love. We simply need to show up and give our community something valuable.  Develop a friendship. We’re all looking to belong. It’s part of our nature to want to be a part of something larger than ourselves. Radio performers can choose to be the new radical content creators that are not vampires to their audience. Radio at its best is willing to give to its audience and not take from them.  That’s different.

If this resonates with you, here is some info about what we’re doing with our show:

• We broadcast 16 fresh segments each day in multiple formats.
• The same segment does not replay multiple times in one show.
• I don’t subscribe to prep services.
• We do whatever we can to serve our audience and our affiliates.
• We want the show to be as “in the moment” as possible and to focus on the real things happening in our world that we’re all going through together.
• We take phone calls from our listeners all over the nation.
• I love that someone in New England can hear how someone in the South is living and vice versa. I hope our show helps listeners to discover that they have so much more in common with their neighbor than they might think.
• I personally produce weekly demos of our show and I’m happy to share as many highlight reels as you want. Also, each day we post the majority of our show in our podcast. You can listen to what we’re up to there as well.