Three areas.
One throughline:
your listeners.
Fundraising
Assess your drive.
Craft your messaging.
Train your hosts.
Monitor and adjust.
Debrief and measure.
A fund drive that's improvised, unfocused, with the wrong voices and no clear sense of who you're talking to is an interruption listeners wait out. The messaging, the structure, the host performance are decisions made before the first break ever airs. I help stations get those details right from the start.
During a drive, I work directly with hosts between breaks, making real-time adjustments that keep the drive on track. You may never be able to attribute a single change to the outcome, but the difference between a drive with experienced eyes and ears and one without is usually obvious by the end.
Case Study:
WVTF, Roanoke, VA
The Spring 2024 campaign exceeded its revenue goal by 12 percent and brought in 33 percent more new members than the previous year. The eight-day drive included crafting and updating all messaging, host scheduling, and real-time feedback to on-air staff.
The bigger story is what happened after. Working within staffing and budget constraints, we built a fundraising framework and coaching model the station could sustain on its own. Once fully staffed in 2025, the team achieved a year-over-year giving increase of more than 100 percent from spring 2024 to spring 2025.
“The real value of working with Michael is that your team may not just improve, they may transform, thanks to his thoughtful advice and counsel. Michael’s easy-going demeanor made it easy for our entire staff to warm to him personally, but it quickly became clear that he knew exactly what it took to get results. While it’s been a short while since he has worked with us in fundraising, the benefits continue to resonate. We’re still applying his strategies and techniques in all our drives.”
— Roger Duvall, General Manager, Radio IQ/WVTF, Roanoke, VA
Airchecking
Listen and make initial notes.
Transcribe the breaks.
Diagnose together.
Build resources.
Practice and refine.
Measure and revisit.
Meaningful change on the air is gradual, and that’s normal. You’re retraining your brain, and that takes repetition, patience, and a willingness to keep going even when it doesn’t click right away.
I’ll listen to every break, and when I hear opportunities to better connect with listeners, we’ll talk about how to proceed. This won’t turn into an overwhelming list of fixes. We’ll focus on what matters most in the moment and build from there. Your relationship with your audience is built on trust. That's the asset we're working to strengthen, not the thing under scrutiny.
Every station is resourced differently. Some hosts work with a producer; others are on their own from the moment they sit down. I take that into account.
“Michael really helped me to hone my style—he amplified my strengths and helped me feel more confident in areas I needed improvement. One of my biggest challenges was pronunciation and keeping my high register low. Michael helped me to develop techniques to keep my voice grounded while dramatically cutting down on word stumbles and mispronunciation. What I learned from Michael was immeasurable. He was my biggest advocate while also remaining a guiding light for how to become a better host.”
— Miranda Fulmore, former WBHM Morning Edition host
Programming
Most programming problems aren’t about the programs, they’re about the absence of intention at the station level.
Programming decisions touch nearly every aspect of a station. Change one thing and it affects operations, underwriting, hosts, marketing, and staff. I’ve been there.
I work with stations on sound stylebook development, schedule refinement, on-air promos, editing, listener-focused communication, and program development.
For scheduling and program decisions:
Does this program fit your schedule, your audience, and public radio’s core values?
Will it make your station more memorable and indispensable?
For promos and listener communication:
How can we make it easier for listeners to enjoy the station?
What do we want the listeners to do?
And how can we do it using the fewest most powerful words?
Personal preference replaces listener data. Nobody asks the hard questions before a new program launches. The easiest decision is to leave things as they are. It’s rarely the right one.