There are headlines… and then there are headlines that quietly shake the foundation of everything we do.
This is one of those.
Susan Larkin has officially been named President & CEO of RCS.
Now on the surface, that sounds clean. Corporate. Predictable.
But if you’ve been in this business longer than five minutes, you already know—this isn’t small.
This is the company behind the curtain.
This is the engine behind the music.
This is the system that has decided—more times than we’d like to admit—what gets played, when it gets played, and how often your favorite song gets burned into your brain before you even realize it.
And now… there’s a new person in charge of that machine.
Let me make this real personal for a second.
I know Susan.
Not “met her once at a conference and took a picture” know her.
Not “liked her post on LinkedIn” know her.
I’m talking about picked up the phone and called me directly know her.
Back when she was CFO at Entercom (now Audacy), there were a couple of moments where I expected layers… assistants… delays… corporate buffering.
Nope.
Phone rings.
It’s Susan.
And let me tell you something—she was no nonsense.
No fluff. No corporate dance. No “circle back and revisit.” None of that.
She was the kind of leader who said,
“This is what we’re going to do… and this is when it’s going to happen.”
And then—brace yourself—
it actually happened.
On time.
Exactly how she said it would.
Now if you’ve been in radio long enough, you know that alone qualifies as a minor miracle.
Because this business has a long history of “we’re working on it,”
“let’s put a pin in that,”
and my personal favorite,
“we’ll revisit next quarter.”
Susan didn’t revisit.
She executed.
And that’s why this move matters more than the headline suggests.
Because RCS isn’t just another company.
This is Selector country.
This is the software that has been quietly shaping formats, rotations, and entire station identities for decades.
This is where art meets math… and sometimes loses.
Let’s be honest for a moment.
Every programmer in America has had that moment.
You build the perfect clock in your head.
You feel the flow. The energy. The story of the hour.
And then Selector looks back at you like,
“Yeah… we’re gonna need to move that power to 17 minutes past and give you a medium burn there.”
And suddenly you’re negotiating with a computer like it’s a co-host with an attitude.
That’s RCS.
That’s the influence.
And now, the person steering that influence is someone who understands not just numbers… but accountability.
That’s the word that keeps coming back to me.
Accountability.
Because what we’re really talking about here isn’t just music scheduling anymore.
It’s data.
It’s analytics.
It’s revenue strategy.
It’s how radio continues to fight—not just for ears—but for relevance in a world where a teenager with a phone and a vibe can launch a “station” from their bedroom and pull more engagement than a 50,000-watt signal.
Let that sink in.
We’re no longer competing with the station across town.
We’re competing with algorithms.
With TikTok loops.
With Spotify playlists.
With YouTube rabbit holes at 2AM.
And in that world, the tools matter more than ever.
The data matters more than ever.
The ability to understand what works, why it works, and when it stops working—that’s the new currency.
And that’s exactly where this move lands.
Because when someone like Susan steps into a role like this, it signals something bigger than a promotion.
It signals direction.
It says the future of companies like RCS isn’t just maintaining what’s always been done.
It’s evolving.
It’s integrating.
It’s asking hard questions like:
• How does radio stay competitive in a streaming-first world?
• How do we make data serve creativity instead of suffocating it?
• And how do we build systems that don’t just schedule music… but actually help create moments?
Because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re in the business of.
Not songs.
Not logs.
Not clocks.
Moments.
The song that hits at the exact right second in someone’s life.
The break that makes somebody laugh when they didn’t think they could.
The voice that feels like a friend when everything else feels distant.
No algorithm has fully figured that out yet.
And that’s still radio’s advantage—if we’re smart enough to protect it.
So yeah… this is a big deal.
Not because of the title.
Not because of the press release.
But because of the person behind it.
A person I’ve watched pick up the phone, cut through the noise, and actually deliver.
And if that same energy shows up inside RCS?
Then this isn’t just a leadership change.
This might be the beginning of a shift in how the entire system thinks.
And trust me…
The clock is watching.
-Just Plain Steve