AC Mike Goes Back to School at Stockton University

Hey Folks,

I had one of those nights that reminds me why I enjoy doing what I do. I had the opportunity to head over to Stockton University and spend some time with students in a Principles of Marketing class taught by Brian Cahill. And yes, for one night, AC Mike went back to school — only this time I wasn’t sitting in the back of the classroom hoping the professor didn’t call on me.

Taking Marketing Out of the Textbook

Brian invited me in to talk with his students about something I’ve spent a good part of my career doing without necessarily calling it by its textbook name: marketing. We talked about radio, podcasting, social media, building an audience, creating a recognizable brand, working with local businesses and organizations, and what it takes to connect with people in a world where everybody is fighting for their attention.

That’s the part I really enjoyed. You can learn the principles in a textbook — and you need that foundation — but eventually you’ve got to see what happens when those ideas meet the real world. When you’re behind a microphone, interviewing somebody, promoting an event, helping a local business tell its story or trying to convince somebody scrolling on their phone to stop for 30 seconds and pay attention, marketing gets very real, very quickly.

Brian Cahill Brings the Real World Into the Classroom

Brian is a great person to be teaching that lesson because he’s living it himself. He’s an adjunct marketing faculty member in the Stockton University School of Business and serves as Administrative Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Shore Medical Center in Somers Point. So when he talks to students about marketing, he’s not simply teaching concepts from a textbook. He’s putting those same ideas to work every day right here in South Jersey.

That’s also one of the reasons I appreciated Brian inviting me into his class. There’s tremendous value in giving students a chance to hear from people working in different parts of the business world and showing them that there isn’t just one road you have to follow after graduation.

The Students Came Ready to Talk

What impressed me most was the class itself. They were engaged, they listened and they asked good questions. It wasn’t me standing there giving some long speech while everybody watched the clock. We had a real conversation about what I’ve learned through radio and the AC Mike platform and about how much the media and marketing landscape continues to change.

Part of that conversation was also about the road I took to get here, because it certainly wasn’t a straight line. Before AC Mike, before the podcast and before radio, I spent 25 years working in corrections. I wasn’t trained for any of what I’m doing today, but those years taught me something that has carried into just about everything I’ve done since: how important it is to communicate with people and build relationships. In corrections, I dealt with people from every walk of life — from those in the system to judges, attorneys and family members — and you learned quickly that to get the job done, you had to be able to talk to people, listen and communicate.

That’s one of the messages I wanted to leave with the students. You never really know where your career or your life is going to take you, so take chances, meet people, go to networking events and ask questions. Every experience can teach you something, and sometimes the skills you pick up in one career become incredibly valuable in a completely different one years later.

If you’ve listened to my radio show or followed AC Mike for a while, you know that so much of what we do comes back to relationships. Whether it’s a radio listener, podcast viewer, local business owner, casino executive, entertainer, community organization or somebody I bump into walking down the Atlantic City Boardwalk, those relationships matter.

And that’s something I wanted the students to understand: good marketing isn’t simply about selling something. It’s about telling a story, building relationships and earning people’s trust.

What Building AC Mike Has Taught Me

We also talked about what goes into building a local media brand today. A radio show is no longer just a radio show. A podcast isn’t simply two people sitting behind microphones. You’ve got video, social media, websites, email, events, sponsors, partnerships and a dozen other ways to reach an audience. The trick isn’t being everywhere just for the sake of being everywhere. It’s knowing who you’re talking to and giving them a reason to come back.

That’s been a big part of the AC Mike journey. We’ve tried to create a place where we can talk about the people, businesses, entertainment, Atlantic City events and Jersey Shore attractions that make this part of South Jersey special. Some stories are big. Some are about a person or business you might have driven past a hundred times. But if there’s a good story there, I want to tell it.

Next Stop: The AC Mike Podcast Studio

Here’s the part I’m really looking forward to: the conversation isn’t ending in the classroom. We’re planning to invite Brian and the students into the AC Mike Podcast Studio in the next couple of weeks so they can see firsthand how everything comes together.

They’ll get a chance to see what happens on the other side of the microphone — how we prepare for a show, conduct interviews, create content, work with sponsors and partners and use social media to take one conversation and reach people across multiple platforms. They’ll also get a little behind-the-scenes look at how I work with my management and marketing team at JEBTAM to keep all those moving pieces moving in the same direction. And believe me, with AC Mike, there are usually plenty of moving pieces.

Maybe we’ll even put a few students behind the microphones while they’re there. After all, you can talk about podcasting in a classroom all night long, but there’s nothing quite like seeing that red light come on and realizing it’s your turn to talk.

A Great Night With the Next Generation

I’ve been fortunate over the years to meet a lot of interesting people and have some pretty incredible experiences through radio and the work we’re doing with AC Mike. Being able to share a little of what I’ve learned with students right here in South Jersey is something I don’t take for granted.

So thank you to Brian Cahill for inviting me, and thank you to the Stockton students for making me feel welcome and for asking some great questions. I enjoyed the conversation, and I’m already looking forward to round two when the classroom comes to the studio.

Who knows? A few years from now, one of those students could be running a marketing department, launching a company, producing a podcast, building the next great South Jersey brand or sitting behind a microphone of their own.

That’s one of the best things about sharing what you’ve learned — you never know where somebody else is going to take it.

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AC Mike