As someone who grew up listening to Radio Free Europe under the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia, Robert Kyncl understands the capacity of media to connect, open minds and influence history. On Thursday (May 14) night at the Paley Center for Media’s 2026 spring gala at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, the Warner Music Group CEO accepted the organization’s highest honor with a speech that touched on his upbringing, the power of media and the challenges presented by artificial intelligence and how it affects “artists and songwriters” in the current landscape.
“In the world of abundance and our inability to discern what’s real and what’s not with the naked eye, what will become of the utmost importance is trust,” Kyncl told attendees at the glitzy gala. “In other words, institutional and human provenance. If these tools are built and spread without provenance in mind, we’ll find ourselves in a world that none of us will recognize for the worst. This is one of the areas that we, at Warner Music Group, focus on with our partners in the technology companies. Dialogue and trust are also the qualities at the heart of the Paley Center. The work this amazing organization does is vital to our culture to not only celebrate the power of media to connect, educate and entertain, but to foster dialogue, preserve its history and create trust. When reality is threatened, they are more important than ever.”
Josh Groban, a longtime signee at Warner Records, took the stage prior to Kyncl to “offer some perspectives on what it feels like as an artist to work under such incredible leadership.”
“When I was 16, I was very much shot out of a cannon into the music business,” Groban explained. “I was a high school student, I was signed at 16 years old. David Foster heard my voice and he decided to put me on a stage with Celine Dion at a Grammy rehearsal. It was my first ever professional gig and it was insane. I didn’t realize it at the time but it was a test, and I would eventually be asked to sign a major label deal. As somebody who is very shy, a theater kid, the last thing I thought is that this is something that would be in my future. Suffice it to say, I was not the most obvious signing. I had a voice but I didn’t fit neatly into any of the categories that represented a superhighway to success. But they took a chance on me, and 25 years later, 10 albums later, I’m still with Warner Records, a place I’m so proud to call my home.” (Groban, who has three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, recently stopped by the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast to discuss his latest album, Cinematic, which features his takes on classic movie songs.)
Alongside Kyncl, Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine and Charlie’s Angels stars Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith were feted at the gala, also receiving the Paley Center Honors Award. Cheryl Ladd, their co-star on the groundbreaking TV series, was not present but sent in a note of thanks that her co-stars read out loud.
The Paley Center for Media, which is headquartered in New York City and has a branch in Los Angeles, has an extensive archive of more than 160,000 TV shows, radio programs and commercials, including many cultural artifacts that aren’t available anywhere else. The gala serves as a fundraiser for the cultural center.
