Dave Crooks Is Not Coming In to Collect Call Letters He Knows Affiliates Have to Make Money Too
There are syndication hires that look good on an organizational chart, and then there are hires that make immediate sense because the person walking into the job has already lived the problems his affiliates face. The Bob & Tom Show has tapped longtime broadcaster and former radio station owner Dave Crooks as its new Affiliate Relations Director, putting a veteran operator between one of America’s most enduring syndicated morning brands and the local stations responsible for turning that content into ratings, revenue and community relevance. Crooks will work with existing affiliates, help stations find ways to make the relationship more profitable locally and join Westwood One in expanding the show’s footprint. And here’s why we think this appointment is particularly smart: Crooks doesn’t have to imagine what it’s like to be sitting on the other end of that telephone. He’s been there.
That’s an enormous advantage.
Affiliate Relations Should Never Be a Rolodex Contest
Let’s talk about what this job actually needs to be.
Yes, you want more stations.
Obviously.
More affiliates mean more distribution.
More markets.
More listeners.
More national reach.
But signing a station is the easy part.
Keeping it is the job.
A successful affiliate relationship can’t amount to somebody calling twice a year to ask whether the contract has been renewed.
What is the station trying to accomplish?
How is the show performing?
Can the local sales team monetize it?
What promotional opportunities aren’t being used?
Does the station understand everything available to it?
Can the national show help solve a local problem?
What works beautifully at one affiliate that could work at twenty others?
Those are operator questions.
And Crooks comes from the operator side.
Dave Crooks Has Actually Owned Radio Stations
That changes everything.
Crooks spent years associated with DLC Media, the Indiana-based radio company he founded and operated before selling its stations to The Original Company in 2023. His broadcasting career has included ownership, management, sales and on-air work.
In other words, this isn’t somebody who learned local radio by studying an affiliate spreadsheet.
He had to make payroll.
He had to sell advertising.
He had to think about expenses.
He had to worry about programming.
He had to understand what happens when a client cancels.
He had to understand why a station may love a syndicated show editorially but still need that show to make financial sense.
That’s invaluable perspective.
Because Local Stations Are Not Charities for Syndicated Programming
There.
We said it.
A nationally syndicated show can have terrific content, recognizable personalities and decades of heritage.
The local affiliate still needs a reason to carry it.
Especially now.
Every hour matters.
Every unit of inventory matters.
Every programming decision has an economic consequence.
When Crooks talks to an owner in a smaller market, he can speak the owner’s language.
Not:
Here’s why our show is wonderful.
But:
Here’s how we can help make this wonderful show work for your business.
That is a dramatically better conversation.
And Bob and Tom Isn’t Exactly a Startup
That’s the other side of this.
We’re talking about The Bob & Tom Show.
The program has been part of American morning radio for decades, originating from Indianapolis flagship WFBQ and growing into national syndication. Its comedy-driven mix of conversation, characters, interviews, sports and music has made it one of radio’s longest-running nationally distributed morning franchises.
That’s an incredible advantage.
It’s also a challenge.
Heritage brands cannot simply rely on heritage.
The phrase We’ve always been successful may be the most dangerous sentence in broadcasting.
Today’s affiliate needs today’s reasons.
Today’s sales story.
Today’s digital strategy.
Today’s promotional opportunities.
Today’s audience solutions.
Crooks inherits a famous product.
His job is helping stations maximize what they can do with it right now.
This Could Be Where His Ownership Experience Really Pays Off
Imagine the conversation.
A small-market owner tells Crooks:
Dave, I like the show, but I need more revenue.
Crooks can’t wave that away.
He’s been the person needing the revenue.
A programmer says:
We need more local connection around the show.
He’s been inside local programming.
A salesperson says:
How am I supposed to sell this?
He’s worked in the business of monetizing radio.
A manager says:
We’re stretched thin.
Welcome to practically every locally operated radio station in America.
He understands.
And sometimes understanding the problem before trying to sell the solution is half the battle.
There Is Also a Tremendous Opportunity Sitting Inside the Existing Affiliate List
Everybody will naturally watch how many new stations Crooks and Westwood One add.
We’ll be watching something else too.
What happens to the stations already carrying Bob and Tom?
Because growth doesn’t always require another pin on the affiliate map.
Sometimes growth means making an existing relationship better.
More local promotion.
Better advertiser integration.
Stronger digital extensions.
More interaction between the show and affiliate personalities.
Better sales materials.
Shared success stories.
Ideas that worked in Indianapolis being adapted for Indiana.
Ideas that worked in Indiana being adapted for Iowa.
Something discovered in Iowa being useful in Ohio.
That’s where affiliate relations can become a programming and revenue laboratory rather than an administrative department.
And Westwood One Gives Crooks a Big Machine to Work With
The Bob & Tom Show already has national syndication infrastructure through Westwood One.
Crooks doesn’t have to invent the distribution network.
He gets to work with it.
That’s potentially a potent combination:
A legendary morning brand
plus
a major syndication partner
plus
an affiliate-relations leader who understands local ownership
Now turn those three pieces into growth.
That’s the assignment.
Here’s the Part We Really Like
Radio desperately needs more people moving between different sides of the business.
Programmers should understand sales.
Salespeople should understand programming.
Corporate executives should spend time inside small markets.
Syndicators should understand what station owners are confronting.
And people representing national shows should understand that the local affiliate isn’t simply a call sign on a map.
It’s a business.
That’s what makes Crooks interesting.
He’s seen radio from enough different chairs to know that everybody at the table has a different problem.
Great affiliate relations means finding the place where those interests overlap.
Don’t Just Add Affiliates Build Partners
That’s our challenge to Crooks.
Don’t chase numbers simply because The Bob & Tom Show now has X affiliates makes a nice headline.
Find stations where the show fits.
Help those stations win.
Make the relationship valuable enough that when renewal time comes, nobody needs a twelve-slide presentation explaining why the affiliation should continue.
Make the local owner say:
Of course we’re keeping Bob and Tom. It works.
That’s success.
And when you produce enough success stories?
Recruiting gets considerably easier.
Bob and Tom Has Survived Because It Became Bigger Than a Radio Show
That’s what great syndicated brands eventually accomplish.
They’re not merely programs.
They’re habits.
Listeners know the voices.
They know the rhythm.
They know the recurring characters.
They know when they’re supposed to laugh before the punchline even arrives.
That’s intimacy.
Radio still does that exceptionally well.
The challenge in 2026 is converting that intimacy into a business model that works for the network and the station carrying it.
Dave Crooks now gets to live at that intersection.
This Hire Makes Sense
Not flashy for the sake of being flashy.
Not somebody learning local radio from the national level.
A broadcaster.
An operator.
A former owner.
Someone who knows there is a tremendous difference between getting a station to clear a show and getting a station to believe in the show.
Congratulations, Dave.
You’ve got one hell of a brand to work with.
Now take all those years of sitting on the affiliate side of the desk and use them.
Help stations make money.
Help them create local excitement.
Share the ideas that work.
Listen when something doesn’t.
And then go find the next group of stations where Bob and Tom can make sense.
Because the best affiliate-relations director shouldn’t simply know how to sell the network to the station.
He should know how to sell the station on what the network can do for them.
And after owning radio stations himself?
Dave Crooks already knows exactly what that station owner wants to hear.
An On The Dial Perspective
The smartest thing about this appointment may have nothing to do with how many stations Dave Crooks can add to The Bob & Tom Show. It’s that he understands what happens after the affiliation agreement is signed. Local broadcasters need programming that performs, relationships that work and ideas that can be monetized. Crooks has sat in the owner’s chair and understands those pressures firsthand. Put that experience behind a heritage franchise like Bob and Tom, combine it with Westwood One’s distribution muscle, and this could become much more than an affiliate-recruitment play. It could become a lesson in how national programming and local radio can help each other win.
#OnTheDial #BobAndTom #TheBobAndTomShow #DaveCrooks #WestwoodOne #AffiliateRelations #RadioSyndication #SyndicatedRadio #MorningRadio #MorningShow #RadioAffiliates #RadioOwnership #LocalRadio #RadioSales #RadioRevenue #RadioProgramming #RadioManagement #RadioPeople #RadioTalent #Broadcasting #RadioBusiness #RadioIndustry #TerrestrialRadio #SupportLocalRadio #RadioStillMatters