0:00

Bill: And this is where Morgan's got me by, uh, miles and Miles.

0:03

It's social media skills, which I suck at.

0:07

Most of my followers on social media are in Phoenix.

0:11

They're not in Cleveland. The northeast regional sewer district has more Twitter followers than I do , but

0:18

we've talked about balance and, and that's where Morgan balances me out.

0:22

VO: Welcome to Brand with On Demand, your Guide to Rebooting Radio.

0:27

Morgan: ...but I would disagree with you Bill, though, because even though you

0:30

say that you don't have as many followers from Northeast Ohio, what I found from

0:34

the people that follow you from Phoenix is that they now wanna follow our show.

0:39

So I've always thought the best thing that you can do on social media, whether

0:43

you have a hundred followers or 10,000 followers, isis connect with your

0:49

audience and that's what we're trying to do every morning on a morning show.

0:51

Sure. And I found that when you do it on social media, it's almost even more personal

0:56

VO: BRANDwidth on Demand.

0:59

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

1:03

Now your guides through the Mediamorphosis, David Martin and

1:08

author of the book, BRANDwidth, Media Branding, coach Kipper McGee.

1:13

Dave: Well, this time we talked to the morning host who are about

1:16

real life in real Cleveland.

1:19

They're the team that does Q one oh four's Morning show, bill Ryan, a northeast

1:24

Ohio native in Kent State grad, who is now on his second stint with Q 1 0 4.

1:29

He was originally part of the team from the mid nineties to the turn

1:33

of the century, and in between, among other things, he produced

1:36

the National John J and Rich Show, which we featured in season one.

1:41

Morgan Wright, also Ohio native.

1:44

Growing up in Perry, graduating from Marshall University.

1:47

She considers herself and she. A pop culture expert and she's very active on social media where her

1:53

TikTok videos have scored weight for it, almost 8 million likes.

1:58

Wow. We'll link to all of that and more in the show notes.

2:02

BRANDwidth on Demand is proud to welcome a host of Cleveland's Q104 morning show.

2:07

Bill and Morgan. Hey guys. Bill: Hey.

2:09

Wow. Hey, welcome. Thanks for that, Dave.

2:12

I enjoyed that. . I'm going, I'm gonna grab the audio and probably use that

2:16

to kick off a show someday. Yeah. You Dave: resemble those remarks, right,

2:20

? Bill: Absolutely. Kipper: So question for you guys is how did you two first

2:25

get together to become a team?

2:27

Bill: Morgan, I'm going to basically let you answer all the questions first, and

2:32

then I'll jump in and, and bring it home.

2:34

Okay. That sounds good. Yeah. Well, I But Morgan and, and the reason why is because Morgan was there.

2:39

Morgan: I have been at the same station for seven, going on eight years.

2:45

I'm so fortunate to have grown up in northeast Ohio.

2:48

Listen to q and o for my entire life.

2:51

Knew that well, I didn't know that I was always gonna be in radio, so I won't lie.

2:55

But now that I'm here, it just feels like the perfect fit, which is such

2:59

a blessing because you know, radio jobs are few and far between anyways.

3:02

So to find one in your home. With all the things that you know and love and a hot AC station,

3:08

which is also right at my alley. I'm just so fortunate.

3:11

So I've been there for a while. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

3:16

And of course, we've had a couple different cast members in and out during

3:20

my tenure in Q104, but I met Bill in February of this year when a position

3:27

came open for a co-host position.

3:29

And yeah, like we were talking a little bit before, it just has been really

3:33

kind of effortless and you don't get that kind of chemistry with everybody.

3:37

So I'm very fortunate that Bill is the one that my boss chose.

3:42

I mean, I gave him a, uh, glowing review after our first demo.

3:46

So I can't say that I chose it myself, but I will say that, uh,

3:50

bill, you were up there for me too. So I'm glad that it all worked out.

3:52

But you have the much more interesting story about you came.

3:56

Bill: Yeah, so Morgan was already there. She was already in place.

3:59

And then she talked about the cast changes on her show in Cleveland.

4:03

And I was a victim of similar changes.

4:06

Uh, I was in Phoenix and I lost my job in November of 2020 during the pandemic,

4:12

but when I moved back to Cleveland, it wasn't for this job that I have.

4:18

It was before the job even was open. I was already there.

4:20

I, I moved back home for personal reasons because I am from here originally.

4:25

My family is here, my closest friends still live here.

4:28

And at the time my dad wasn't doing well health wise and we had just put

4:33

him into full-time assisted living. So without anything tying me to Phoenix.

4:39

There was this strong pull for me to come home and I did in July of last

4:46

year and spent a few months here getting re acclimated and figuring

4:50

things out, and then the job opened up and the rest is just luck or fate

4:54

or whatever you want to call it. And like she said, Morgan was gracious enough to sign off on it.

4:59

So here we are. Kipper: So it was certainly not a shotgun wedding?

5:03

Bill: No, no, not at all. I do believe in the.

5:07

Pointing you in the direction that you're supposed to go if you're just,

5:10

if you're wise enough to pay attention. Kipper: So for someone who might be joining a new show or considering

5:16

a new situation in mornings, what are some of the things they should

5:20

be looking for, deciding to do it.

5:23

Bill: For me it was, it's, it's pretty much all chemistry, you know?

5:27

It's the feeling that you get when you're around that person.

5:30

Um, do you have the same sensibilities that they do?

5:34

Do you think similar things are funny? Can you tell from the first couple of meetings what their work ethic is like?

5:41

I, I learned that lesson. Early in my career.

5:44

So I think I have a good idea now on how to look for it.

5:47

You know, you can have the most talented people all together in the

5:51

same room, but that does not mean and and does not guarantee they can

5:54

execute a successful show together. If you're not on the same page or if the, the personalities don't gel, you

6:01

could have disaster on your hands. And with Morgan, it just hasn't been that way.

6:05

You know, we're on the same page. A, a scary, good portion of the time.

6:10

Uh, considering we've only worked together for a few months, you know, a lot of times

6:14

she knows exactly where I'm going on the show and can even finish my sentences.

6:18

Megan: Yeah. I'm a, I'm a full blown work wife at this point.

6:22

Now, don't tell Paula, Bill . Dave: And Morgan, what, uh, what struck you?

6:28

How did you, uh, feel, what were your instincts, uh, about this show working?

6:33

Morgan: Yeah, I've been really fortunate, you know, throughout my time to never

6:36

really have, uh, a disaster story when it comes to, you know, cast members that

6:42

I didn't necessarily get along with. And I feel like for the most part, I try to be easy to work with because

6:48

it's the best job in the world, right? Like, it, it shouldn't be causing stress and chaos and tension.

6:53

It should be actually the opposite. It should be bringing joy and happiness and laughter into your life.

7:00

For me, like Bill said, I just feel like we both kind of, I wouldn't say

7:03

that our sense of humor is exactly the same because I feel like I'm very, I

7:08

don't know how I would describe it. Uh, extra talkative, bubbly.

7:12

And I feel like bill's more dry sense of humor.

7:15

But we get each other in that sense, and I think it's a great balance.

7:18

So something definitely that I was looking for in a new partner is that balance

7:24

Dave: well as a leading morning show in a really competitive market.

7:27

Guys, what do you two look for from a good program director or

7:32

coach, what are the qualitities? Bill: For me, it's someone that is a, a champion for your show and will

7:40

spend time thinking about ways that they can help advance the show somehow.

7:44

You know, somebody who, who's like me, who lies awake and bed and I'm thinking

7:48

about the show, if somebody else who's in charge of you is also thinking of

7:52

the same things, uh, that's incredible because critiquing a show and, and

7:57

criticizing a show, uh, that's fine.

7:59

But if that's all that you're doing for your show, that's certainly not.

8:03

. I think that, um, a good PD or brand manager needs to also help come up

8:08

with ideas to give you resources to achieve your success as well.

8:12

So that's something that, uh, that I would always look for.

8:15

Morgan: Yeah, I agree. And, and then again, just having a respect for each other and a respect for the show.

8:20

Bill: And, uh, you know, like I've said, I've been fortunate in that to,

8:24

to be at one station and feel those things from my program director and

8:28

even, I mean, Bill's not my program director, but I'm on the younger side

8:33

of my career, you know, seven years in.

8:35

And there are a lot of times where a young female might feel like their ideas

8:40

aren't as heard as much as others or just that whole dynamic, but I really

8:44

feel like my ideas are always heard.

8:47

Um, I'm always encouraged to put my best foot forward and Bill kind of gives me

8:52

the creative freedom to come up with new things and, and be true to myself,

8:56

which I think in turn makes for a great.

8:59

Kipper: So I'm gonna point this one to Bill, cuz Morgan, you've pretty much

9:03

been there the whole time, but without naming names, bill, unless you want to!

9:10

What are some of the management traits or characteristics that a PD or brand

9:15

manager might not realize they're doing or they really, from a talent

9:19

perspective, should just plan a void or trim or tailor do differently?

9:25

Bill: The biggest trait that I cannot stand is instant negativity

9:32

or maybe shooting something down in a meeting or a brainstorm session.

9:37

Uh, you know, for instance, if you're talking about ideas for the show

9:41

that week or something you want to do in a couple of months for St.

9:44

Patrick's Day or whatever it is. And you're getting responses from your pd, like, oh, we'll

9:50

never be able to pull that off. Or, we've never done that in this market before.

9:54

It'll never work. And it's like, okay.

9:57

I mean, we're not even gonna try. Should we just all pack it up and go home right now?

10:02

So that can be very frustrating.

10:04

But the, the reality is a lot of times it's not realistic that you can choose

10:09

everyone that you can work with. And with Morgan, I've, I've lucked out, but I can't pick and choose

10:14

everybody that's in the building. So, Sometimes you just have to deal with the bad and take the negativity and still

10:21

try to find something good out of it. Something positive.

10:24

Yeah. Good advice. Dave: Besides your on air performance guys, what are some of the biggest

10:28

considerations in creating that great winning radio show that you've got?

10:33

What are you doing outside the, being on the radio?

10:36

Bill: I think one of the most important things is, uh, creativity and trying

10:40

out new things that no one else has ever tried before to make yourself

10:43

stand out in a crowded morning place.

10:46

I think every year that goes by, it becomes more and more difficult to

10:50

be innovative, especially in, in on a show like ours where we're starting

10:54

out, we have a certain amount of songs that we need to play, so we, you

10:57

know, we're inside of our box, but, You know, the challenge is up to us.

11:02

How creative can we be in our box and how can we do it more entertaining

11:08

than, than anyone else can? I think work ethic is important.

11:11

The desire to wanna be the best and not being afraid to, to work hard for it.

11:17

And, uh, and probably, and this is where Morgan's got me by, uh,

11:21

miles and Miles, it's social media skills, which I suck at, uh, to be.

11:27

Most of my followers on social media are in Phoenix.

11:31

They're not in Cleveland. I have been unable to get any traction on social media in Cleveland so far, and

11:38

I, I look this up today, the Northeast Regional Sewer District has more

11:43

Twitter followers than I do . So I am an embarrassment on social media so far.

11:50

Uh, but we've talked about balance and, and that's where Morgan balances me out.

11:54

But are you saying Cleveland wants more? They, they loved, they loved that Twitter account.

12:02

I don't know what it is, uh, with me, they couldn't care.

12:06

But Morgan: I would disagree with you Bill though, because even though you say that

12:10

you don't have as many followers from Northeast Ohio, what I found from the

12:13

people that follow you from Phoenix is that they now wanna follow our show.

12:17

So I've always thought the best thing that you can do on social media, whether

12:21

you have a hundred followers or 10,000 followers, is connect with your audience.

12:27

And that's what we're trying to do every morning on a morning show.

12:30

Sure. And I found that when you do it on social media, it's almost even more personal.

12:35

And that really resonates with people. That gets people invested in you, invested in your story, invested in your life, and

12:42

eventually invested in your morning show.

12:45

Yeah, it takes Bill: time. I just need to be more patient.

12:48

I'm sure it's only been eight months. I I absolutely have to be more patient.

12:52

You're right. You're right. See, see why she's, we're so great together.

12:56

She talks sense into me to me every morning.

12:59

Kipper: Talk you off the ledge. That's great.

13:02

We understand now that with BRANDwidth, which is what we do, we take the media

13:08

brand and use all the bandwidth that's out there to get ourselves out there.

13:13

But the question is now that we know we got video, we know that we've

13:17

got audio, we know we've got text.

13:21

What skills would you recommend someone starting out in radio today?

13:26

Start developing like yesterday to be ready for tomorrow?

13:31

Bill: That's good. Um, I don't even know if I'm qualified enough to answer that

13:35

question yet because, uh, what is so exciting about me is I.

13:38

I've been doing radio for a long time, but I'm actually doing something

13:41

that I've never done before, and that's being a co-host of a show.

13:45

I've worked with morning shows since 2000, but it's always been as

13:49

behind the scenes producer or the third mic, or the fourth mic and,

13:52

and to be doing what I'm doing now. It, it, it's something brand new for me, but just my initial thoughts are what

14:00

we just talked about is making yourself stand out on social media, whether

14:03

that's learning how to edit video.

14:06

Learning some advanced digital skills.

14:09

Morgan: Mm-hmm. Bill: ...you know, I'm behind the curve on that, you know, just because of my age

14:13

now and how technology is coming so fast.

14:16

And then just challenging yourself to come up with great ideas for content outside

14:20

of the radio show, uh, whether that's.

14:23

Again on social media or creating unique on-demand podcasts that

14:28

will compliment your radio show. Just finding more ways for you to stand out in a crowd outside of the radio show

14:36

because man, it is crowded out there. Yeah, and

14:39

Morgan: I'll say from my experience with social media is that, yes, of course it

14:43

requires skill and you have to learn, but also a little goes a long way.

14:48

You know, I'm not, I'm not by any means like a social media mastermind, but I

14:54

have learned the basics of how to make a TikTok video, the basics on how to then

15:00

turn that TikTok into an Instagram reel.

15:03

And you know, just knowing those basic things has really helped me

15:06

grow, uh, a brand outside of the show, but also a brand that I use in

15:11

the show, you know, because on the morning show I do the Hollywood Dirt

15:15

Sheet, we talk about pop culture. Obviously we're a hot AC station, so the two really go hand to hand.

15:20

So it's like whatever brand I'm reflecting on my own social media, I'm

15:24

also reflecting it on our morning show.

15:26

Dave: Wow. They are terrific. Bill and Morgan from Cleveland's Q 1 0 4 Morning show.

15:32

Doing something different in radio, something new, something innovative.

15:36

Well, maybe it's you that's doing all that.

15:39

We'd love to hear your suggestions on guests for our show.

15:43

Email them to show brand with on demand.com

15:47

Kipper: And if you're finding this interesting or helpful,

15:50

please spread the word. Tell your friends in while you're at it.

15:54

Please leave a five star review wherever you get your podcasts

15:58

Dave: coming up. Morgan and Bill share things they know now they really wish they knew way back when.

16:05

VO: Hi, this is Dave from Musicmaster Scheduling here with

16:08

another music Master Raving fan.

16:10

Hi, this is Jake Neiman with 96 7 KRAM.

16:13

With Musicmaster, crafting a a log is like driving a manumatic car.

16:17

You can leave it in automatic or drive manually.

16:19

Musicmaster has the tools and analysis to perfectly adjust rotations.

16:24

I enjoy the ride no matter how I drive.

16:26

With Musicmaster Dave: Ready to become a Musicmaster raving fan?

16:30

Get in touch at Musicmaster.com/sales..

16:33

VO: The stuff we know now we wish we'd known then Brand with On Demand.

16:39

Dave: We're with the amazing Morgan and Bill Cleveland's

16:43

Q 1 0 4 Morning Show stars.

16:45

Hey guys, what's the one thing you know now that you really

16:50

wish you knew way back in Bill: that first?

16:54

When anyone sends you an email that says, free food in the break room, , you need

16:59

to stop what you're doing at that second.

17:02

Get up. And go get it because the jackles in the sales department will get there first

17:10

. And by the time you get there, it's just bones , all the good stuff is gone.

17:16

It's, it's all picked over. You can't wait.

17:19

You gotta get up and go get that food. Megan: Well, my answer is gonna be a lot more serious than Bills,

17:25

but I mean, I guess that's why we compliment each other so well.

17:28

But I would say, What I wish I knew back then is that good things take time.

17:34

You know, you can't just get into a job and, and expect the

17:37

whole world to open up to you. And I mean, I started at the very bottom, like doing promotional

17:43

events, setting up the big tents by myself, you know, work in the table.

17:47

And I've done every shift under the sun, whether it was overnights,

17:51

the night show middays, and now being on the morning show.

17:55

I, looking back on my career, have always felt like I've been in a bit of

17:59

a rush to get to where I am right now.

18:01

But looking back, I needed to do all of those things to now be in the

18:07

position that I am and to do my job well enough to have a winning morning show.

18:11

Dave: Great, guys, what's the one thing.

18:14

You really wish you knew now

18:17

Bill: about the future. It's gonna be interesting to hear our answers here, Morgan, because, uh, I,

18:22

I wonder just because we're in such different stages of our life, if it's

18:25

gonna be different, um, when I was starting out 20 years ago, I bet my answer

18:30

would've been so completely different.

18:32

But looking ahead now, I just want to know that everyth.

18:36

Turned out okay. And I will be happy if I know that my kids are living their best life and I've

18:45

given them every single opportunity that I possibly could make available for them.

18:51

You know, despite all of the challenges that we've gone through in the past years.

18:55

I guess that, uh, I would want to tell myself it's gonna be okay and then,

18:59

and then know that it's gonna be okay. I think that would take a lot of pressure off,

19:03

Megan: I would say. Something I wish I knew now would honestly just be the future of radio.

19:09

You know, we've seen so much downsizing over the past couple of years and I feel

19:13

like the pandemic really accelerated that.

19:16

Mm-hmm. , and on one hand, I feel like working all of the different positions

19:21

that I have have really prepared me for this moment because, With two

19:25

people, that's your full time staff in the morning for a whole show.

19:30

I feel like I'm well rounded enough to help Bill do production or help

19:34

come up with bits or voice track the midday show if I need to.

19:39

Uhhuh . Dave: Bill and Morgan from Cleveland's Q1 oh four Morning show.

19:43

We have links to their station, their daily show, podcasts,

19:46

social media accounts, and more, including Morgan's, TikTok.

19:50

Gotta see that and more. All in the show notes, just scroll on down.

19:54

As Kipper: always, we wanna thank executive producers Cindy Huber,

19:57

for putting this all together. And Hannah be our associate producer who actually booked

20:03

these folks and coming up next.

20:05

Lee Abrams: Hi, I'm Lee Abrams. Join me next week on BRANDwidth On Demand.

20:10

We're gonna be talking about the future of and the state of radio

20:13

and it's gonna get pretty wild. No holds part.

20:16

Hope you can join. Dave: That's a rap Kipper.

20:18

Lee Abrams: It's all about company being good, company, a good companion.

20:23

It's uh, really a secret to success in the show [email protected].

20:28

I'm Dave Martin. Kipper: And I'm Kiper McGee.

20:31

May all your BRANDwidth be wide.