Rich people buying media properties or getting involved in adjacent media businesses is not necessarily a bad thing. We’ve seen some great media brands come out of visionary artists such as Oprah (OWN, Oprah’s Book Club). Below, I would like to talk about artists supporting local media businesses. Specifically, author Stephen King who quietly helped local broadcast media in Maine for decades.
You’ve probably heard about super rich businessmen from tech and finance and biopharma purchasing marquee media brands to extend their influence or fulfill some sort of 20th-century news mogul fantasy. Amazon titan Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post. Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong purchasing the Los Angeles Times. John Henry and The Boston Globe. That Facebook executive who bought The New Republic. These men may have been brilliant in their respective fields, but almost always fail as media owners.
Importantly, despite their business chops, these gurus from other industries are shockingly bad at understanding the fickle needs of media audiences, developing great creative talent, or recognizing the intangibles that lie at the heart of all great art and media. They can’t help themselves from injecting their brilliant views into the creative teams and final product. They assume that quantitative insights always trump creative decisions, which invariably leads to cloying, shallow media experiences and disenchanted audiences. Quoting Le Monde from June 2024:
The Post has lost half its audience, with 50 million unique visitors by the end of 2023, compared with 101 million in 2020, while its subscriber base has fallen from 3 million to 2.5 million, according to the New York Times. It accumulated losses of $77 million (€71.7 million) last year.
Author Stephen King is different. In the 1980s, after his success as an author was established with books like Carrie and The Running Man, he got involved in local broadcasting in Maine. He not only loved rock and roll radio, he recognized that the airwaves were the lifeblood of far-flung rural communities and the spirit of the Great State of Maine:
“While radio across the country has been overtaken by giant corporate broadcasting groups, I’ve loved being a local, independent owner all these years,” King said. “I’ve loved the people who’ve gone to these stations every day and entertained folks, kept the equipment running, and given local advertisers a way to connect with their customers. Tabby and I are proud to have been a part of that for more than four decades.”
King’s investments in local radio stations were investments in local communities and small businesses in Maine, subsidized by his own global media empire. Good on him and wife Tabitha King for keeping them going for 40+ years. While one of the stations was rescued from closure in early 2025 by a Portland businessman, the others were slated to cease broadcasting without a buyer.
I would love to see a new generation of successful creatives get more involved in local media businesses in New England and further afield. It could be broadcast outlets, online journalism, performance venues, or other projects. There are a few other examples that spring to mind such as “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” author Jeff Kinney’s bookstore and downtown revitalization project in Plainville, Mass. But there’s a lot of room for other successful creatives to get involved.