JAMAICA | The Great Media Correction: Why Efficiency Alone Won’t Save Radio

By Cordel Green

KINGSTON, Jamaica April 13, 2026 - Industries sometimes reach the edge of their own cliff. RJRGLEANER’s decision to shutter Power 106FM and HITZ 92FM is one such moment.  In the past, media strategy meant “occupying the dial.”

Owning multiple stations offered advertisers multiple entry points. Today, those points resemble costly toll booths that audiences and advertisers bypass. RJRGLEANER’s logic is clear: better to operate fewer profitable stations than maintain several struggling ones.

Global Signals of Correction

This is not merely local restructuring. It reflects a global correction in media and technology. Scale, once a guarantee of survival, now becomes a liability when costs outpace value. The US$1 billion Disney–OpenAI partnership called Sora, which collapsed after only ninety days, proved that even global icons cannot endure unsustainable economics.

Yet efficiency alone is insufficient. Survival requires mutation. For over 100 years broadcasters operated by the Reithian mantra that their purpose is to “inform, educate, and  entertain”. Within the last decade those pillars have been democratised, commodified, and globalised by social media and algorithms. This is an era of infinite noise, where the challenge is not content creation but content discovery.

The Discovery Crisis

The media must solve this  “Discovery Crisis” by transforming studios into human‑led intelligence hubs. Machines may simulate playlists, but they cannot replicate lived experience or moral discernment

So, Trusted Navigators -personalities who interpret events and contextualise impacts, become firewalls against AI noise. Their role is not to fill hours but to guide audiences toward deeper engagement. Their intelligence must avoid both banality and elitism.

This is a return to original radio, where on‑air talent were not just ‘voices’. They move beyond reporting the weather to explaining its impact on local markets. Successful stations now act as gateways, not conveyor belts. A host might say: “We just did a deep dive into the Kingston housing crisis; hear the full interview on our app.”

The broadcast highlights compelling segments, then drives engaged listeners into the digital ecosystem where data and revenue are maximised.

International examples abound:  LBC (originally London Broadcasting Company) has become a multi‑platform hub whose hosts create clippable debates for TikTok and YouTube; Amazon’s Wondery syndicates investigative series from apps to radio; and  iHeartMedia turns hosts into multi‑platform brands such as Charlamagne Tha God and Bobby Bones.

Pool in the Ocean

Globally, radio’s trajectory is toward talk, not music playlists. Streaming platforms dominate music discovery, and iHeartMedia has already abandoned attempts to compete with Spotify. Jamaica, however, must chart a different course. As a cultural super‑state whose reggae is enshrined by UNESCO as intangible heritage, radio should serve as the amplifier of local creativity.

The strategy is to transform radio from an “ocean” of playlists into a “pool” of curated culture. Stations must evolve into cultural launchpads; ecosystems where machine efficiency filters content, but human artistry is celebrated and rewarded. One innovative pathway is to premiere music first on local radio before it reaches streaming platforms.

In this model, broadcasters would offer premium royalty rates for exclusive first release, ensuring artistes are compensated at levels that reflect cultural value, instead of settling for the pennies paid by global apps. Jamaican radio would position itself as the gateway to meaningful early earnings, turning exclusivity into both prestige and sustainability.

“Phygital” Immersion

This hybrid model sets the stage for a new deal between artistes, broadcasters, and listeners. Crucially, it is not just about digital delivery. It is about “phygital” immersion; real‑world experiences that algorithms cannot replicate. Imagine a radio station using the airwaves to orchestrate real-life community events like city-wide scavenger hunts or exclusive street-side premieres and cultural activations where physical and mobile audiences interact in real time. In this way, radio becomes the “anti‑isolation” platform.

Distrust and the Cost of AI

As legacy media  navigate their fragility, digital platforms face their own reckoning. Distrust is the Achilles heel of AI‑powered social media. The March 2026 jury verdict against Meta, affirming deliberate addiction engineering, marked the collapse of the ‘engagement‑at‑all‑costs’ era. The model is ethically unsound and morally broken.

 Meanwhile, the environmental and financial costs of AI are reaching a flashpoint. Powering data centres now echoes the over‑investment of the dot‑com bubble and risks courting economic collapse. With 80% of Americans supporting regulation of AI, the pressure is mounting.

This creates an opening for traditional media. Their comparative advantage lies in trust. By doubling down on verification, transparency, and community anchoring, legacy institutions can reclaim relevance and stand as the antidote to distortion. Trust, as the new currency, is earned daily, defended deliberately, and sustained as strategy. Even so, more turbulence lies ahead.

Extinction or Mutation

The next wave will not relent. Disruption will intensify before stabilising. This article itself illustrates the point. It was conceived by a human mind.and synthesised by AI in seconds. Machines are mastering cognitive labour, threatening professions built on monetising complexity and uncertainty.

Broadcasters, journalists, podcasters, and influencers face obliteration if the human–machine relationship is left unmanaged. Extinction is the fate of those who resist; survival belongs only to those who deliberately harness technology for human flourishing.

RJRGLEANER’s move is a bet that concentrated offerings outweigh diluted presence in the fight for attention. Yet it is doubtful that this alone will suffice. Radio must be rebuilt, not merely repackaged. Its formats, economics, and cultural role must be re‑engineered for an age defined by rapidly advancing artificial general intelligence, neurotechnology, and fractured attention.

But one logic is undeniable: if the numbers fail, you close the door, whether for legacy media or big tech.

Cordel Green is an Attorney‑at‑Law and Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission. He is also a member of the AI Task Forces for Jamaica and the Caribbean.

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