One of the best tips, I was working with Angela Pirelli and I was like, Our show is so vulnerable. How do I bring this to the air? Because I love vulnerability. And she goes, Share the scar, not the wound. Welcome to Brand With On Demand, Your Guide to Rebooting Radio. Be a voice for people in your audience that may be going through something similar that you can now comment on without being a puddle on the floor

BRANDwidth on Demand Rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be. Now your guides through the MediaMorphos David Martin and author of the book BRANDwidth, media branding coach Kipper McGee

Earlier this year, radio, Morningstar Holly O'Connor, experienced the end of one era and the start of another at Bri Stops in Ohio, Anma City, and a couple of stints in Tampa. She and co-hosts Miguel Fuller, left mornings after seven years at Cox Radio's hot 1 0 1 5 and segued to ihearts. Its 96 1 in Charlotte. Where they first met at a radio conference years earlier. Holly considers Miguel her best friend in Rodeo, Soulmate, and just before their move, Miguel was married to his husband A with Holly performing the ceremony. Whoa. Brandand Van is proud to welcome Holly O'Connor. Hey Holly. Hey

Holly. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. Well, we

are thrilled and for starters, congrats on the new move. Yeah. Oh, thank you. So what can you tell us about the Miguel and Holly show for someone who's never. What's the casting? The. What would he focus on and what do you guys want the show to be famous for?

So right now, the show is absolutely paired down to just the two of us. There's Miguel and me, and that's just the absolute core. Now we have come from bigger shows. In the past when we met, we were actually like co-host and third Mike to our host, that guy Kramer, back in the Panama City Days. And then in Panama City we did, uh, a show that was a four-person show. We had a third co-host. We had a producer. Kind of had to pair back down when we got to Tampa, and then eventually built it with a producer that was also a third mic in Tampa that we sadly had to leave behind. So we're sort of back to basics with just Miguel and I, we are looking and should be adding a producer soon. I can't say exactly when, but it will be soon. But our show is inclusive. Our show is one that tries to. Model kindness and inclusivity, and there's always sort of this, I guess, third seat at the table for the listener, and we try to, even though he and I are best friends, we try to always make it very open and welcoming for anybody that wants to join in the conversation on social media. Just, even if they're sitting behind the wheel of their car, they feel like they're in a conversation with their friends as opposed to just listening to people talk, if that makes sense. So, inclusivity, welcoming, Maybe it sounds kind of cheesy, but just, you know, good vibes raising the vibration in the city that we're in.

Sounds great. Mm-hmm. when did you first decide to become a team and then remain a team as the show moved on, even as you both ended up in different location? What led to that decision? How do you overcome the challenge of not being.

We actually had decided long, long ago to remain together, uh, when we first moved to, well, all, all of our moves have been together. But to give you a little bit of a backstory, when we started working together back in 2008, uh, we also lived together for five years. And so that sort of friendship. Camaraderie. That bond that we developed, it became one that we were on this radio path that we decided we're kind of like ride or die together. Now, that doesn't mean that if one of the two of us were to get some kind of crazy offer to do a solo thing, we, we would applaud each other. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. like if Ryan Seacrest retires and they want Miguel to replace him as just Miguel, I say, Go do it and have an amazing time because I know you're an amazing person. But we feel that our show is stronger together just because we know each other so well. And that kind of segues into the second half of your question because I do split time. So Miguel fully made a move to Charlotte and is settling in, you know, in these first several months of us being on the air. I'm kind of working in the hybrid situation where I split my. And so some of the time we are just remote. I'm in a studio at the iHeart Tampa building and he's of course in the iHeart Charlotte building. Mm-hmm. So a lot of people, and actually I had a fellow broadcaster reach out to me and say, I've done this remote thing. I don't know if you're gonna like it. And I'll be honest, it was weird to adjust to because you're used to the energy of someone else being in the room with you when you do a show. Yep. But I'll go back to our long friendship and all those years of living together and all these years of seeing each other daily and knowing everything about each other. it bridged any physical, any technological gap that we may have. So even though we're not physically in the same room sometimes. We have each other on a video screen, and I can tell even just, even if we didn't have the video screen, I can tell by his tone of voice when something is gonna happen. That's the benefit of having worked with someone for so long. Mm-hmm. you are going on both verbal and nonverbal cues as to this is where we take this. Part, and here's where I'm gonna say this and here's how he's gonna wrap this up. I already know that even though we're far apart. And it took about, um, I think about a month to really settle in and get used to it, cuz of course it was a little bit bumpy at first. But I would say we have a great routine down now.

Yeah. Excellent. So at this point in your career, what do you look for in a good coach or program director? What are some of the best tips that maybe you've gotten so,

Mm. At this point in my career, I, I'm glad you say that cuz it's different now than it even would've been five or 10 years ago. At this point, I look for a little bit of trust that we have been doing this for long enough together with some pretty consistent results that I look for a little bit of trust that if we have an idea or we wanna try something, We're given the space and the opportunity to go ahead and try it. And I mean, if it fails, it fails. This is radio, we're not performing brain surgery. You know, there's no life or death on the line, so we're given a little bit of space and a little bit of trust. I think that's super important. I also think. Constant feedback that's always available. Uh, my favorite PDs have always been ones that are both a sort of a friend, a mentor, and a PD all rolled into one. And it's a hard line to walk. I've never been a pd, but I have to imagine it's a hard line to walk to fulfill all those roles. But the best ones know how to do it without. Seeming tyrannical or without seeming like, Well, I have an agenda. I'm coming in and this is how I want your show to sound. Mm-hmm. because they've hired us for a reason. They like the way our show sounds, and they let us do it. Now, of course, if they've got suggestions or if there's either hearing something that's not jiving or something, we will always be the first ones to. Teach us. We're never done learning. That's why we go to Morning Show Bootcamp every year. We want to learn the newest stuff. Uh, if there's a better way to do things than how we're doing them, let us know. I will say one of the best tips though, This is just personally that I've gotten from, It was a coach actually, and this was years ago. I was working with on the side, by the way, paying her myself because she also life coaches. I was working with Angela Perelli and I was going through a lot of stuff in my personal life and you know, I had all this stuff going on and I was like, our show is so vulnerable. How do I. Bring this to the air because I love vulnerability. I think that's key in today's radio landscape. Mm. But I said, I don't know how to talk about this problem yet. And she goes, Well, if you feel like it's too raw, it's too soon. It probably is. And the advice she gave was, Share the scar, not the wound. So if you are still wounded, if you are still bleeding, if you are still in pain from whatever it is, then it turns into you asking your audience to support you and hold you up, which they can do. And they, we've found our audience to be just this incredible family, but it's also not their job. Mm-hmm. So once you can heal yourself a little. Show the scar. Then you can come with a lesson about what you learned about what this journey has taken you through. Be a voice for people in your audience that may be going through something similar that you can now comment on without being a puddle on the floor. That's a great way to put it. It changed my, changed my world. I was like, Huh. Okay. Well, I'm not going to come and cry and sweat and bleed on this mic. Let me take my time and then bring what I've

learned. That's good stuff. You know, your show is known for having a strong online present social media podcast, the McAllen, Holly Uncensored thing. How does your team divide responsibilities? I mean, you handles all that stuff. And what criteria do you use to decide which content goes.

I give a lot of this credit to Miguel and I was trying to think of a delicate way to say, Miguel does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to social media, but he does, This is how we, we split things up. He's more on, he's more able to do some of that easily, and I think he really, truly enjoys it too. But we split things up in a way of. Our strengths. You know, like I said, he is good at social media. He's up on a lot of the latest trends. I'm really good at writing. So if we're needing, does any of descriptions for the show, like listing stuff for the podcast or online condensing, what would be two paragraphs worth of information down to two sentences? That's my job. So I'm a good communicator for social media as far as writing goes, and of course, being on myself, but as far as scheduling things out and knowing which one of our radio bits is gonna translate well to social media, Miguel's really good at that. He's got a good handle on what's gonna translate well. And so our biggest, I think success as far as social media goes, and that's. For our personal social media, the show, the Uncensored podcast, is to be consistent and also, again, be transparent with the people that you're on social media with. Mm-hmm. Because unlike radio, especially radio in the past when there was sort of this invisible wall between the talent and the listener. Social media has broken all of that. So you're seeing you, or at least who you want people to see you as, uh, directly. Now, there's this direct connection, so whatever you put out there is going to have real time responses where our job is no longer just on. The air in the studio, it's 24 7 answering, uh, you know, dms or, uh, replying to comments. And so we split it up in a way that just works for us. He has a lot of the, I guess, the planning phases of it. He'll let me know what he thinks is best. I'll do an execution on a video or a post. And so we just, we balance it out that way for wherever our strengths. So

with everything kind of changing right now, and certainly radio is no exception to that, besides moving markets, what would you say has been one of the biggest industry changes you've seen in the last few years, and what do you anticipate moving forward?

I think actually one of the bigger changes is, is everything with social media, especially once the pandemic hit, because radio went from being a little bit like. People looked at it, I think, or you know, talked behind people's backs, that it was like, Oh, this dying medium. And it certainly was not. We found that with the pandemic where people connected more than ever because they needed that human connection. And so what we saw was really the advent of the TikTok generation. Mm-hmm. where you had all of these people making these connections and feeling less alone on TikTok. Um, we certainly utilize that to the best of our ability by incorporating it weekly into our show. We used to do a TikTok Tuesday bit, which we probably will start again once things get a little calmer in Charlotte, but I think that's been one of the biggest. Changes to, in order to keep up with the way that the radio landscape looks, you need to keep up with the way the social media landscape looks, even if it's not your favorite thing, You at least need to know and be aware and have a small presence somewhere so that you're always on your listener's minds. And it's not just during that six to 10 drive time that when. Pop on TikTok or when they pop on Instagram during a break at work or when they get home from work and they're trying to relax, there's their favorite person that's their friend that they hear in the morning, giving them some kind of content in the afternoon, and I think that is, Probably the biggest thing to look forward to in the future, aside from just continuing to be vulnerable on the air. Holly

O'Connor, the Star of Charlotte Morning Radio. Hey, somebody you'd like to hear from. We'd love to hear your suggestions. Email us, show at brand with on-demand dot com, and now we've

got a new way for you to stay in touch too. We've gone social. Just follow brand. Plus on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. We look forward to hearing from you online brand with P L U S brand with Plus

coming up. Holly shares what she knows now that she really wishes she knew way back when.

What is it that makes Music Master. Favorite choice of radio programmers all around the world? Ask CK. RMS column, Love Quiz. Music Master has just eased the workload and the stress given me more time. Spend with the community. The real question is, why will you choose Music Master? Find out@musicmaster.com.

Uh, stuff we know now we wish we'd known Then Brand with on Demand.

Holly, thinking about traditional broadcast radio, what's the. Thing you know now about your career that you really wish you knew? Way back

when. Myself, I wish I had known who I was when I first got into this business. It took a very long time. I, I can't speak for anybody else on why they get into radio, but when I was, you know, very young and getting into radio, all I wanted to do was entertain people and make people laugh, and I thought that was the ultimate goal. What I know now that I didn't then was that I have a greater understanding of who I truly am as a. How I work, why I do the things I do, why I say what I might say, why my opinions are the way they are and where they come from. And it really took me into my mid thirties to figure that out, to figure out who I am. And it took a lot of therapy, so definitely don't be shy about that. But what it brought me was such a greater sense of. Understanding the listener and why they might listen, why they might wanna talk with us. Mm-hmm. and being able to show up to the job, not just for the listener or with Miguel, with my coworkers, with any bosses that I have to show up and be authentically me and say, Okay, here's who I am and this is what you're gonna get. And I try to be me all the time. It took a long time to get there, but my career. Took huge leaps and bounds. Once I figured that out, once I was comfortable with who I am as a person, the career really, it, it broadened, It got wider and I felt so much more comfortable. Mm-hmm. being open, being vulnerable, knowing that I have something unique to offer. Great. We'll

take it. Good job, Holly. Yeah. Our thanks to Holly O'Connor. What a terrific talent. You'll find links to their show, their social media accounts, and a lot more all in the show notes. Just scroll down on your phone. As always,

thanks to our exec producer Cindy Huber for putting this all together and to associate producer Hannah B, who actually introduced us to Holly and does the booking. Thanks,

Hannah. And

coming

up next. Hey, I'm Lon Hilton from Country Air Check and Country Count on usa. And next time we're gonna talk, uh, radio and more specifically country radio, what's going on, what's right, what's wrong, and maybe what we need to do to be, um, more responsive. That's next time on Brand with On

Demand. That's a wrap. Tipper, the opposite of a good idea. Maybe a great idea and we'll talk about it in the one minute Martinizing. Find it in the show notes@brandfunddemand.com. I'm Dave Martin. And

I'm Tipper McGee. May all your brand with be wide.