Rob Anthony “The “Why” of AI”

The following is an excerpt of a private journal entry discovered on the personal electronic device of *REDACTED*, a veteran broadcasting executive.  In the Spring of 2027, the executive disappeared without a trace.  Local and state authorities have an open investigation and welcome any information concerning their whereabouts.

October 20th, 2025

I had a really great idea brewing in my head, since I’ve been using that GPT app a lot lately.  It’s been writing my emails, making me sound so much smarter and more professional than I normally do.  Now everyone thinks I’m a genius!  And with the twins’ birthday party coming up, I had it make up a flyer for the party invites, which looks so good – I’m practically a pro graphic designer now. The app even showed me how I’d look with a low taper fade, which I think looks sharp, but I just know Connie would prob hate it :-P.

There’s so much more potential to this AI thing though.  All the big companies are investing in it, saying it’s going to revolutionize their work and do all this futuristic stuff.  That’s all well and good, but even better is how many billions of dollars they’re saving by laying off their unnecessary workers.  THIS is what really piqued my interest and got the wheels turning in my head.

Every company I’ve run hits this wall at some point.  We grow in so many ways: in our content, our technology, our reach – but for some reason, the profits always struggle to outpace the overhead costs.  Even when we slash the headcount and get our people to cover extra bases, the executive compensation just doesn’t grow like it really needs to.

So, here’s my idea: what if we built a format, like a CCM / inspirational station, but completely AI programmed?  This thing could build the clocks, do the production, analyze the trending and popular music, collect the news and weather updates, even mimic the JOCKS… All AI driven!  It could totally work.  And the best part? NO costly infrastructure, NO wasting time investing in training or learning, and NO having to pay any people!  It’s the perfect way to skirt past all that nonsense and still be successful.  Maybe I could brand this and make an entire network – that would really make a name for myself and set me up for life.

I mentioned this idea to my buddy Danny, but he didn’t seem that excited.  “How would AI do MISSION?  Could it do all the things the BEST stations do IN their markets?” he asks.  I mean, come on.  I’m sure he’s talking about the local partnerships or being out rallying the community to help the charities in town, or being at events and concerts, all that “boots-on-the-ground” stuff.  Which, sure, people say they love that junk, but it’s just SO much to invest!  I can get where he’s coming from, but isn’t it good enough to just have the product on the radio – without having to do the work?  All those other efforts take so much time and energy, and it would be SUCH a grind.  He doesn’t understand: the whole point of AI is to bypass the effort and money and still get immediate results.  Set it, forget it, and let it do its thing.  It’s not like it’s an ART… it’s a CONSUMABLE PRODUCT & the masses won’t know the difference (and probably don’t care where it comes from anyway).

This is the future- and passion doesn’t pay anymore.

Rob Anthony serves as Assistant Program Director and weekend host for the Worship 24/7 network (part of Hope Media Group) in Houston, TX.  He can also be heard on air during weekends for KDUV / Spirit Radio in Visalia, CA.  Reach out to Rob at ranthony@hopemediagroup.com.