The “Transmission” Problem in Public Relations
Shownotes
Communications has always been built around a sender mentality. We decide what people need to know, we package it, we push it out. That model came from journalism and broadcasting, three networks, eleven o'clock news, one message for everyone. It made sense then.
The infrastructure has changed completely since. Audiences have become producers. People choose what they consume, when they consume it, and they unsubscribe from what no longer serves them.
That transformation happened entirely in the outside world. Inside organizations, almost nothing changed. And the question this episode keeps coming back to is a simple and uncomfortable one: why are we still broadcasting when everything outside us has already moved on?
This episode was recorded ON LOCATION at IABC World Conference in Toronto in June 2026.
Listen For
4:34 How did audiences become producers of their own news and information?
6:16 Why does internal communication need to become recipient-driven?
9:33 How can communicators create identity moments that cut through white noise?
11:28 How did opening in Spanish create a powerful diversity and inclusion moment?
16:51 How is AI changing the communicator’s role from creator to prompt strategist?
Guest: Brad Whitworth
The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication
The IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer
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