Why the Next Generation Doesn’t Look Like Us (And Why That’s Not a Bad Thing)
From MTSU to Alabama, I’ve seen firsthand how media, ambition, and communication are changing—and what it means for the future.
🎧 Listen to today’s episode of Show Pony’s Wildfire below:
The last couple of weeks, I’ve dipped my toes back into academia.
And I love it.
A college campus is like my version of Disneyland.
(Although, let’s be honest… Disneyland is still my Disneyland.)
Recently, I had the chance to speak to students at Middle Tennessee State University, guest lecturing a digital media class centered around the NCAA Tournament.
The class was running a live Twitch stream during the tournament—and at one point, it became one of the most-watched streams during that window. They even monetized it a little, donating the money to a snack fund for the College of Mass Communication.
That may sound small.
It’s not.
That’s ownership. That’s creation. That’s the future.
It hit me sitting in that classroom…
Just across the hall was the room where I took my final exam in media law—more than 20 years ago.
Think about that.
Same building. Same dream.
Completely different world.
When I was in school, the goal was simple:
👉 Get into legacy media
👉 Start small
👉 Work your way up
Local TV. Local radio. Small markets.
If you were lucky, you climbed.
For me, the dream was Chicago. I wanted to be like Tim Weigel or Mark Giangreco. Local TV legends. That was the path.
Now?
That path barely exists.
Today, it’s about:
YouTube
TikTok
Building your own platform
Creating your own lane
Influencers are the new anchors.
Entrepreneurship has replaced the ladder.
One student asked me what social media was like when I was in school.
I laughed.
It didn’t exist.
Facebook launched after I graduated—and you needed a .edu email just to get in.
None of us had any idea what was coming.
Platforms like that didn’t just change media—they replaced it as the primary source of information.
👉 If you want more on where all of this is going—and what it actually means for media and business—I go deeper on this kind of stuff regularly at ShowPonyMedia.com. Subscribe today!
What stood out most wasn’t what had changed.
It was what hadn’t.
The students still had:
Drive
Ambition
Energy
But success looks different now.
When I went back to get my master’s at the University of Alabama, the curriculum reflected that shift.
It wasn’t about getting hired.
It was about:
👉 building something
👉 creating something
👉 owning something
In fact, an entrepreneurial journalism class is what led me to start ShowPonyMedia.com in the first place.
That perspective carried into my first Board of Visitors meeting at the University of Alabama’s College of Communication & Information Sciences.
An incredible experience.
I’m honored to be part of that group.
I met alumni, students, and leaders—and the students blew me away.
They had the “it” factor. You could feel it.
But the most interesting part wasn’t the networking.
It was the conversation.
Topics kept coming up:
Artificial intelligence
The modern workforce
Communication gaps
Generational differences
Many business leaders were frustrated.
They said:
Young workers want more money faster
They want work-life balance
They want flexibility
Things my generation never even considered realistic.
And then something else came up that stuck with me.
A professor at MTSU told me they only do live news two days a week now.
Not because of budget.
Because not enough students want to be on camera.
