Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of High Velocity Radio and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Jen Austin with Riply Media. Welcome.

Jen Austin: Thank you Lee, it’s good to be here. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Riply Media. How are you serving folks?

Jen Austin: Well, it’s a radio problem with a technology solution. We think it’s been in the works for almost a year now. We’ve been developing and testing, but it’s, um, it’s a technological platform to provide local news and information to stations around the country. So it could be hyper local news for Atlanta. It could be community events. It could be, um, country music news, rock music news. But we use AI to go look around the web and bring back information and put it into a script for news anchors locally to read. And so stations can choose that, or they can choose AI voice, or they can choose a human voice. But it really it’s using technology to create hyper local information for radio stations. And I’ve been an anchor for a long time in radio for decades, really. And it’s, I realize how much time I spend just looking around for information, you know, and you might feel the same way, but trying to find content all the time. And this is a solution for that. It speeds up that whole process.

Lee Kantor: So why don’t you share with the listener kind of the lay of the land of radio? Because it’s kind of it’s been around obviously for a long, long time, but there’s so many competing channels where people get information and entertainment and music. Now, where does radio stand in that kind of ecosystem?

Jen Austin: Radio, I think, is really it’s the leader in, you know, personal connection. You can have a music playlist that plays a lot of music and and you can, uh, yeah, there are many outlets, media and entertainment, but really radio, it’s that kind of theater of the mind too. I think of, you know, I talked to a listener and I imagine what they might be doing with their day and they might be at work, or they might be cleaning the garage, or they might be cleaning the house. And I’ve got that connection with them, and they’ve got that connection with me. And it’s just, you know, it’s kind of an organic relationship. You just rely on hearing that person every day and connect, connecting with that audience. And, you know, a lot of people do rely on radio for personal information and local information, especially local information, you know, maybe first thing in the morning during morning drive, but, you know, listening in the car and we’ve got apps now and people listen on apps and on the website and stuff. So, you know, it’s, it’s just a way to connect in addition to other forms of media going about your day. But I think, I think I love radio, I’ve been in it for so long, you know, and it’s really important to me and I, I want to help it along with Riply Media.

Lee Kantor: So now explain maybe some of the challenges of radio station has to execute on its mission of serving their local market. That maybe is different than some of the other kind of forms of media in that local market.

Jen Austin: Sure. I mean, when I started in radio in the 90s, there were 24 over seven. There were people in the radio station, and now it’s been downsized. And a lot of stations are short staffed, and they’re trying to do the same amount of work and reach the same amount of people with fewer people in the office. And so, um, you know, it is a challenge to see staffs shrink and, um, you know, a lot of information can be outsourced and stuff. And so, um, you know, at the same time, there’s that pressure to create local information and to stay in touch with communities. And so radio has that pressure and the people that are there, the 1 or 2, maybe five people, some newsrooms are still staffed with 20 people. Um, but smaller markets especially have fewer people there, and they have the same pressure to write stories and, you know, create news and provide information for people. And so we’re trying to help them out with that. But yeah, it’s radio does face that pressure with, with budgets. And I remember, um, yeah, in 20, oh, well, 2001, like 911, 2001, we’re still doing live news on the radio. And I was, you know, saw the, the trade towers go down. And we were trying to piece all that together. I was working in Austin, Texas at the time, and we did have we were lucky enough to have a newsroom, but there was so much information coming in on that day and were trying to sort it all out. We had to go to CBS news and, you know, we missed them. Cbs news was so instrumental for so many years, but we just popped onto that feed and let them handle it. Um, and they did. So it’s a, you know, radio has been vital for many years, but they’re just now CBS is gone and, and other staffs have shrunk. And so, um, yeah, it’s just, I guess a sign of the times, but radio still has that pressure to connect locally.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that there is a kind of a reorganization of journalism, um, in, in all mediums. Um, do you find that there’s less journalists now? Um, I know there’s maybe less major enterprise level outlets for them to work in, but are there less journalists doing the work of kind of covering whether their beat is hyperlocal, whether their beat is, you know, some topic or niche? Um, are there still people out there kind of doing the work that matters in this area? In your opinion?

Jen Austin: In my opinion, yes, there, there journalists are, are very much alive and well. And like you said, there are fewer places for them to put their work to use. Um, but I feel like the passion is there and I feel like there are a lot of them have become independent writers and they create blogs and they create news that way. Um, whether or not they work for a larger organization is really secondary. But yeah, they’re very talented. And, you know, maybe they just don’t have the platform to put that talent to work like they did. But I think that’s changing. I think maybe we’ll see more independent journalists, nonprofit organizations give journalists a place to work. And like, so somebody has to respond to the pressure to, you know, to connect locally. And so I think that’s going to continue. And journalists will still write and they’ll still create, and they’ll still call city council for quotes and, and, you know, get information out there, but they just have fewer, um, big organizations to work for. It feels like.

Lee Kantor: So now in the way that you’re leveraging AI, is it more of you’re using AI to find kind of that local news and curate it to allow a radio station to then access kind of that feed of hyperlocal information? Or are, is AI kind of Helping you write the actual words that are being said by your system.

Jen Austin: It’s doing a lot of that. It’s it’s finding local information, but it’s not without human guidance. You know, we’re telling it exactly where to go, exactly where to look, exactly what types of stories we want it to look for. Um, and like I live in Dallas, Fort Worth, and so that’s a huge metroplex area. So an example might be, yes, go look in Dallas, but also look in Fort Worth and look in Arlington and Frisco and all the suburbs. And then as a last resort, look at state news. And so that’s kind of the, you know, the parameters we set up for any market. Um, and it’s all it’s being generated right now, you know, every market in the US. Um, and so we tell it where to go, what to look for, and then it brings back stories. It tells, it decides which ones are the most important based on the information and the guidance that we give it. So again, it’s human led every step of the way. And then it writes the stories based on our guidance and our rules that we give it, and our style guidelines at each station that comes on is customizing their writing to and their coverage area, you know, somewhat more, um, police blotter news, somewhat more community events and that can all be customized also. So yeah, AI is doing the work, but it’s like, it’s me and it’s our staff of, of people that are holding his hand. So there’s no worry that it gets out of control or gets crazy or anything. So we’re giving it some guidelines for sure.

Lee Kantor: So where is that initial kind of reporting for that hyperlocal area being generated? Like, like when you’re saying, oh, if it’s going to pull from Dallas and the outlying communities, does that mean if somebody in Maine is writing a story that involves Dallas, a Dallas person, and they use the word Dallas in their writing, then that would be scooped up by the AI to be presented to your humans to then decide if that’s appropriate.

Jen Austin: I think it would probably find that story Dallas in Maine, but it would not use that story because then it would compare it to other things and it would realize, okay, I’m in Maine right now. This is not a good story for Dallas, Texas. And so it would reject that story based on what we have set up. So, so then.

Lee Kantor: So if they said, um, we’re in Maine and this person who grew up in Dallas is now doing great things in Maine, that would not be a story that would be scooped up to be shared with the folks in Dallas that, hey, one of our local people are doing a good thing in Maine.

Jen Austin: It could be. It’s going to be it’s at the very least, it could be a story at the end of a newscast at the very end. But the system that we have set up is probably going to create or rank it less important than some other Dallas centric stories going on. So it would probably not use it. It would pull it, it would analyze it, it would use it for a second and then probably replace it with other stories. But, you know, if it’s a big story, like somebody is running for president who lives in Maine and also grew up in Dallas, that story would make it because it would it would our system would realize that, okay, that’s a big one. But if it’s somebody who wrote a book or something and living in Maine now, it probably wouldn’t. So it’s all based on the scoring system.

Lee Kantor: And then what kind of, um, where does it get its information so that it can score high. So it would be presented to the folks in Dallas.

Jen Austin: Right. It’s, it’s using a bunch of different sources. It could be a police station website. It could be sheriff’s offices, TV stations. Um, any, we don’t go behind paywalls or anything like that. Um, but anything that’s, you know, readily available and can be sourced and quoted or cited, you know, we don’t every script that is generated is stamped with the original source. Every story has its source, it’s linked, it’s credited, and it shows exactly where it came from. So. Yeah. Any, um, any, anything I would use as a human, as a source in a market and I’ve been doing it for years. This is also doing the same thing. It’s looking around the same places.

Lee Kantor: So then it just is going to be able, because it’s AI is it’s just going to be, uh, do a better job of scouring everywhere faster to present the information. So there’s, um, just a higher probability that it’s going to be generated and it’s happening in its current and makes sense for this, uh, specific locale.

Jen Austin: Exactly. And it’s something that you would take me an hour or so is doing in a matter of a minute or two. And it’s just, but it’s, it’s good. It’s just the wonders of AI can just do it much faster. But then we’re also looking at it after it does that to make sure that everything is as it should be. You know, we’re putting human eyes on it. We’ve got human editors that review the scripts and we’ve, we’ve taught it with humans. And we’ve also got human eyes looking at it to make sure it’s it’s the right date. It’s not from two years ago. It’s, you know, not too far out of the area. It’s not a a Springfield, Illinois, when it meant Springfield in a different town or a different state, you know? And so, um, all of that stuff is reviewed after it’s generated to make sure.

Lee Kantor: Now talk about kind of the genesis of the idea. Like you talk, you mentioned that you were, if you had to do this yourself and which you did do it yourself for a long time, it was frustrating and took a lot of time. And, um, you were probably going to regular places to look for all this stuff just to be efficient in finding all this stuff. What was kind of the aha moment for you when you said, look, AI superpower is analyzing data. This is data. How do I get it to help me, you know, help myself solve this problem?

Jen Austin: Mhm. Yeah, that was the aha moment because I realized, uh, and I, you know, as a radio personality and an anchor news anchor, and I was, when I first heard about AI, I’m like, okay, don’t take my job. I don’t want taken my job. And I think a lot of radio personalities and just people with a voice. Wonder if that’s going to happen. And then I realized, okay, this can be beneficial more than it is harmful. And so if I can figure out how to help it work for me, and yet I am holding its hand the entire way, then it can really be a time saver. And I feel like every industry, you know, whether it’s medical industry or automotive or government, everybody’s using AI in some way, but we’re still at that point where we’re trying to figure out how to use it and how to make it work in the best possible way to save time and to. I think everybody’s figuring out too, it’s not going to replace humans. It’s better when humans are involved and humans are guiding it. And then then it can just make us all more efficient. We can go on to other creative tasks when it handles some of the redundant tasks. So I think that was the aha moment last fall when I realized, okay, let’s use it, figure out a way to, you know, we got a dev team together and marketing and everything to form the company. Riply. But, um, that was that was it pretty much just to realize that it could be beneficial more than harmful in radio.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, you aimed at initially at local radio because that was your background or did you find that was the place that had the biggest need for this?

Jen Austin: It was my background. I, I’ve been in radio since the, since the 90s. I started out as an intern in Lincoln, Nebraska, and then as a country station and then went to Austin and Dallas. And I worked for many radio stations along the way. And yeah, every step of the way, I just realized, okay, this we’re all, we’re very creative, you know, and radio stations are, um, serve a need for the community, but there’s just got to be a, a better, faster way to do it. So, um, yeah, especially with technology now, you know, stations use their apps and websites and, and, um, many of them are coming up with AI tools. And this is a good one for news.

Lee Kantor: So when did you kind of then say, okay, now this is a business by itself. This is not just helping me individually. This is something I can share with other folks in radio. And then you had to go about selling it in. Can you talk about that journey and how you got kind of your initial users and how you’ve been able to grow?

Jen Austin: Yeah, we came up with a pilot group and we there were six pilot stations in the group. Um, and, you know, we’re backed by a, um, an investor platform. And so they really believe in it and they saw the light and, you know, so they, um, we teamed up together to make it happen. And then during the development process, we thought, okay, we need people to test this and help us point it in the right direction and tell if it’s, tell us if it’s on the right track. And so those six pilots were really helpful this spring and they’d come back with sometimes, you know, okay, this is let’s focus more on this area of our community. Um, Hudson Valley, New York is an example where they were really spread out with, you know, Poughkeepsie and White Plains and Kingston and. And every once in a while it would bring a story back from Brooklyn or Long Island. Like, no, we’re going to get over to the Hudson Valley. And so we had to, you know, rein it in. And. But all those things were very helpful. And sometimes the writing they would the way we write an age or the way we write a title, you know, fewer commas. And just so they were helpful in helping us come up with the right broadcast writing style. And I’ve got my experience too, but we put all that together. Um, but yeah, it was really a combination of the right investor group and my experience and then working with those pilots to help us shape it this spring.

Lee Kantor: Now you mentioned earlier, like, uh oh, is AI going to replace the journalist? Um, is it going to replace kind of the voice of who says this? Because you mentioned an AI, I can have an AI read the what’s being reported.

Jen Austin: Mhm. Yeah. And that’s just one option. And stations who want it can have it. Stations who don’t want it don’t have to have it. So it’s you know, there are live anchor staff can can read what’s there. And the scripts are on a dashboard in our website and they’re also emailed to the station. Uh, PDF files and there’s an RSS feed. And so stations can use it completely without an AI voice if they want to. Um, and some of the, the AI streams and things, they’re more, I think, more likely to use the AI voice because they’re already using a lot of AI voices. Um, and they can put one more in. Um, but, you know, but yeah, race stations certainly don’t have to. And we also have human anchors through a news partner, virtual news center that, you know, we can send to the station to for another option if they’re short staffed on, on voices. So it’s the main thing is the scripts and just saving people, saving radio stations, time with those. And then they can add a voice if they choose.

Lee Kantor: So it’s kind of choose your own adventure, whichever way you’re trying to meet people where they are.

Jen Austin: Exactly. Yeah. Tell us what you need and we can make that happen. Whether it’s a script at 6 a.m. or a script plus AI voice at 6 p.m. it’s completely customizable, uh, around the clock.

Lee Kantor: So now are you finding that kind of maybe in the smaller markets that radio is hurting a little bit and that this is a way to kind of shore up their business that can really keep them floating for a while longer.

Jen Austin: I think so. I think it’s, you know, I think it could be any market, small, medium, large market that could be a little bit. Um, I, I don’t think hurting is the right word, but just trying to find a different way to do things to remain efficient and remain, um, on top of their game and able to reach an audience. So yeah, if they, if they do have cutbacks, it can certainly solve a problem. I think, you know, especially smaller markets may have even a better connection with local advertisers because they’re right there in the community and local car dealerships. They all know each other like, yes, we’ll advertise on your radio station so they maybe in a little bit better position even, but, um, but it can help anybody on, on any level. I think radio is still very viable. I’ve heard, you know, both sides of it, but I think that from a consumer standpoint and a connection standpoint, and just the viability of, of having a voice in the car with you and, you know, and providing local information, I think radio is still and it’s probably the most plugged into the community of any media form. And so I think it’s still got a good future.

Lee Kantor: So if there’s a radio, um, station leader out there listening, can you share what it, what it’s how difficult is it to say, okay, I’m in Jen, what do I have? Like how, how do I get this operational in my station? And what, what has to change in my systems? Uh, if anything, in order to start using your service.

Jen Austin: Yeah. Really, nothing has to change again. It’s all laid out@media.com. And if I can certainly help, you know, customize a package if they need that or they can, they might know exactly what they need. And news at 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. and noon. Um, but, you know, I don’t think they have to change anything. It’s just an addition of, of the product and they just decide if they want local news, local sports, uh, rock music, news or pop news. There are a lot of, um, a lot of options. Um, and then just customize that@media.com. And then we can start with, it takes us about three days or so, 3 or 4 days to let the system run and look at the scripts. And we want to really, you know, make sure, make sure it’s targeted and hyper local and it’s running exactly as it should. Um, but then once all that happens after about three days, then it’s just we turn over the keys. And any customizations, of course are necessary after that, we’re happy to do it. And happy, happy for the feedback after that. But, um, yeah, it’s pretty simple process to get that started.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share a story about one of the stations that you work with that and like, maybe share? What was the challenge they had when they came to you and how you were able to help them maybe get to a level that they didn’t even think was possible?

Jen Austin: Yeah, I would say again, I go back to Hudson Valley, New York. They were they were without local news, um, for a long time. And then we worked with them for it took about a month or six weeks, probably, um, of just, you know, refining and sending scripts and, and getting the coverage right and, and targeting the right area. Um, and it doesn’t usually take that long, but it did in the pilot group, but we’re developing the whole product at the same time. So it took a little bit longer. But yeah, that’s one good example. Um, and then just to see the stories that came back, like first I mentioned it would go to Manhattan and Long Island, and then it would start getting Poughkeepsie and Kingston and and those kind of cities. And I would learn something every day. I could probably not find this on the web myself, looking around or take a long time, but the stuff that it was bringing back was interesting. And another example too, I’m looking at, um, just Minnesota state news. Even in the past couple of days, there’s a school, a whole school that’s on the market for $1.7 million closed three years ago, and it’s pre-K through 12th grade, and it’s a 200 zero square foot building and hockey arena. And like, I would not know this stuff if I didn’t see, you know, Riply bringing it back. And so, um, the stories are interesting. It’s not just, you know, standard car accidents and drug deals and stuff like that, but it’s interesting stories that are important to the community. And Illinois right now, 140 tornadoes this year, um, so far. And that’s closing in on a record set in 2024 of 142 tornadoes. And I would not have known that about Illinois. I don’t think of them as a, you know, a hotbed of tornadoes. But, you know, it does bring back interesting news. And, um, it’s customizable for every, every community. So stories like that can come, come through or you can just get state news and, you know, have a broader coverage too.

Lee Kantor: Now in these examples, are you sharing, does this help them generate more revenue? Is there now more advertising? They can sell around this because it’s happening. It’s new information and it’s being shared more frequently. Like, can you share how that impacts a local stations way to make more money?

Jen Austin: I think that they, the more local they are and connected to the community they are, the more listeners they have, and therefore the more advertising revenue they can achieve when advertisers come to them and, you know, want to put their commercials on the radio because they know people are listening, because they’ve got the good local connection. And so that’s one way and they can sponsor the news itself. And so those couple stories I just read, it could be that’s news on B 104 or whatever. The station’s call letters are brought to you by Pepsi or brought to you by the car dealership. And so then they can add a sponsorship and it’ll pay for the news. And plus, you know, then other advertisers come on because they’re connected to the community. Um, and they have that perception. And so that can, that can be helpful. Yeah. The more local you are, the more connected you are, the more valuable you are to the community. And then the more revenue you can achieve.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share maybe your thoughts about what the ramification is in a local station? If they allow kind of local news to just atrophy or disappear.

Jen Austin: I think it becomes very generic. The station becomes very generic and it’s anybody can get a playlist anywhere as we know, you know, there’s a lot of streaming options, um, besides radio for music. And if that’s what people want, then if there’s I mean, they can get that anywhere. So, I mean, you’ve got to have something different as a radio station, something unique, a connection or people. Oh yeah, I heard that story on that station or. Oh yeah, they were talking about that the other day on the morning show or and you become a conversation piece in the community rather than another playlist. And so if, if they do let local news atrophy and just let it go, then there’s nothing unique about them anymore that gives people a reason to connect. And so I think local news is vital. And, you know, I’m in the radio industry now still. And I that’s one of the things I hear all the time. It’s like, you guys have to be local. You have to be, um, think of interesting things to say. Anything you talk about Nashville, make it a local break, tie it into something local so that that makes it important for people.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, what is the best way to connect? Is there a website?

Jen Austin: Yes, we’re we’re at riplymedia.com and we have a phone number there. Very human guided customer service, but riplymedia.com and stations can learn more about, um, how many minutes of news they want there, the packages that they can customize and the our reach, how we were founded, all of that. So that’d be great.

Lee Kantor: riplymedia.com and that’s RIPLY media.com.

Jen Austin: Yes, we left out the E and we wanted that ocean theme like ripples of water. And we spelled it a little different. Yes, differently. But riplymedia.com. No E.

Lee Kantor: All right. Well, Jen, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Jen Austin: Well, thank you for having me, I appreciate that.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.