Bob Pittman, who ran MTV, AOL, and Six Flags before helming iHeartMedia as CEO, weighs in on Burning Man, radio, and why he’s one of the few executives who believes in remote work.

Lydia: Every car in the world can connect to Bluetooth. Now that people have Spotify, Apple Music, and podcasts, why do we still need radio? 

Bob: Actually, radio is as strong as ever.  All the new streaming music services replace products that came before – iTunes, CDs, and even cassettes.  Radio and music collection services are quite different products.  In fact, 80% of Americans agree with the statement ‘I listen to both FM radio and music collections, but at different times, for different reasons.’ We’re not competitive with the music services – we’re synergistic. The consumer uses us both.  

When people listen to their music collection they’re trying to unplug from the world – no on-air personalities, no information, no stories, no interviews – just music. When people listen to the radio, they’re joining the world.  With us, they’re looking for connection, companionship and someone to hang out with, and that’s our purpose – even though we may also be playing music on some of our radio stations.    

Lydia: You’re also competing with big guns like Apple and Spotify and their massive cash war chests? Would you plan to eventually shut down the radio stations and towers? Use the spectrum for other purposes?

Bob: To the contrary – the strength and foundation of our company is our broadcast radio stations.  90% of Americans listen to iHeart broadcast radio stations every month. To put that in context, the biggest TV network reaches less than 40% of Americans and the big streaming music services reach less than 30%.  And we use that massive and unique reach of our broadcast radio to build complementary products like the iHeartRadio digital service and our major events like the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the iHeartRadio Music Awards and the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour, and it’s why we’re the #1 podcast publisher by a lot.  It all starts with using the trusted voices on our broadcast radio stations and creating demand – and with our unparalleled reach we have quite an advantage over the other audio players, regardless of their cash war chests.

Lydia: Where do you see live events going in five years?

Bob: Live events continue to be cultural touchstones for consumers.  Fans gather together with a common love of their favorite music and artists.  For our radio stations, it’s the physical gathering of groups of people who share those common loves, and who want to share that live experience together.  And I think that only gets stronger for everyone in the live events business.

Lydia: You have said you’ll never make employees return to the office. How do you manage employees while working remotely? 

Bob: Our business is all a series of interconnected teams, and we see the office as an important productivity tool for those teams. There are times when you don’t need the office for the work at hand, and there are other times when the office as a productivity tool, ideation tool, or training tool is critical.  And at those times, people should be in the office. 

I’m not sure there’s a set number of days, or set days, or even set weeks that people need to be in the office; we’re letting teams make those decisions based on their own challenges and expecting all the folks at iHeart to focus on and achieve our goals.

Lydia: You are a vocal lover of Burning Man — and one of the more Zen CEOs I’ve ever met. 

Bob: Burning Man is a catalyst for creativity. For all of us who work in creative businesses, if we’re not careful as we age, our world narrows to our own experiences and views. Anything that can open my blinders is always helpful, and Burning Man is a perfect way to open those blinders.  

Lydia: With respect to your business, what keeps you up at night? What do you think is the biggest threat?

Bob: What keeps me up at night is what I don’t know. What is the unexpected that is lurking out there? Are there early warning signs that I am staring at, but don’t see? We can plan for the expected — it is the unexpected that requires enormous nimbleness and a wildly open mind to see and solve for.