BIN Launch Was Rushed Because The Need Was There

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic media companies were forced to halt all operations and cut as many costs as possible due to the sudden drop in advertising revenue.

However, after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, Division President of iHeartMedia's Metro Division Tony Coles pushed for the Black Information Network (BIN) to launch immediately.

“We knew there was a need for this network before," he said. "Now we (had) a responsibility to put this network on.”

The network had been in development for some time, and as Coles told iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman, it could not have been possible without the talented BIN team jumping into action.

“Had we not had so many creative minds in place and so many people thinking about this and thinking about the possibilities, we would not have been able to launch as quickly as we did,” said Coles. “Even during the pandemic, the people we had already been interviewing and talking to before we had to pause on the project were calling me and saying, ‘Hey are you seeing the disproportionate impact that COVID is having on the black community from mortality to hospitalizations to the economic impact?’ ”

As Coles explained on Math & Magic: Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing with Bob Pittman, BIN is a full-time news service by and for the black community. The network is dedicated to telling stories that are often overlooked in the average newsroom due to a lack of diversity among reporters. The team working on BIN believed in the project so much that even when the project was stalled, they kept working to make it happen.

“What surprised me was, conversation after conversation, they hadn’t stopped working on this network. They hadn’t stopped thinking about this network,” Coles said. “So many people were emotionally invested in bringing this network to life, they just needed the okay to do it.”

One unique aspect of BIN is how it builds mentorships into its business model. Mentoring is something Coles believes strongly in and benefitted from in his own career, so it makes sense to have every new journalist in the newsroom paired up with a veteran reporter. The rookies bring a fresh perspective, and the veterans bring experience.

“I know for a fact that I would not be here today if it wasn’t for a powerful group of mentors in my own life,” Coles said. “I realize quite often that when I mentor someone else, I am learning in the process, and I am becoming a stronger person because of that relationship.”