97.1 The Fan is adding some firepower to help its weekday talk shows. The radio station has struck a deal with former Ohio State Buckeyes linebackers A.J. Hawk and James Laurinaitis to appear weekly during the NFL off-season.
As part of the arrangement, Hawk will visit with midday host Anthony Rothman every Monday for “Off-Season with AJ Hawk” starting May 8th. The show will air from 12p-1p and focus on the Buckeyes, NFL, and other hot sports topics and opinion. Hawk will remain involved as a weekly contributor when the NFL regular season rolls around, moving to Friday’s and joining Rothman and his former Buckeyes teammate Bobby Carpenter.
During his football career, Hawk has been a Lombardi Award winner, a two-time All-American, and Super Bowl Champion with the Green Bay Packers. He played his college ball at OSU and in 51 games, had 394 tackles, 15 ½ sacks, seven interceptions, and 13 fumbles recovered. He was part of the Buckeyes national championship team in 2002.
In addition, The Fan is in the process of completing details for James Laurinaitis’ weekly appearance. The recently retired linebacker spent 8 seasons in the NFL, recording 743 tackles, 15.5 sacks and 9 interceptions while playing for the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints.
Jason Barrett is the Founder and CEO of Barrett Media. The company launched in September 2015 and has provided consulting services to America’s top audio and video brands, while simultaneously covering the media industry at BarrettMedia.com, becoming a daily destination for media professionals. Prior to Barrett Media, Jason built and programmed 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He was also the first sports programmer for SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, which later became 97.5 The Fanatic. Barrett also led 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY, and worked on-air and behind the scenes at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years at ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT producing ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ and ‘GameNight’. JB can be reached on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
