We’ve reached the end of our 5 Podcasts in 5 Days series. My thanks to veteran sports radio programmer Gregg Henson for taking his time to evaluate all of these great shows and share his analysis thru a collection of individual columns. Hopefully the feedback has been helpful to the content creators who develop these programs, as well as to the individuals who consume them.
If you missed Gregg’s input on Pardon My Take click here. For his evaluation of The Big Podcast with Shaq click here. To read his review of The Voice Behind The Voice click here. And if you’re interested in his analysis of The Player’s Tribune’s R2C2 with Ryan Ruocco and CC Sabathia click here.
For the final day, Gregg has taken a listen to the MMQB Podcast with Albert Breer. If you haven’t read the previous four days of columns, and are unfamiliar with Gregg, he’s no stranger to the sports radio business. He’s programmed stations in Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne. He’s also spent the better part of the past twenty five years hosting in a number of different cities including Dallas, Austin, Grand Rapids and the others I previously mentioned.
Now that you have a better idea of Gregg’s background, let’s get to the best part of this column, Gregg’s in-depth assessment of The MMQB Podcast!
- TITLE: MMQB Podcast With Albert Breer
- DATE: July 26, 2017
- LENGTH: 1 hour 21 minutes
- CAST: Albert Breer (Host) + Guests
- SPONSORS: ADT Security
- PRODUCTION: Good production. The show starts with a pre-produced commercial which was professionally done; the bumper music transition was smooth and served its purpose.
SHOW BREAKDOWN:
In this episode Albert gets you ready for the start of training camp by welcoming in the one and only PFT Commenter of Barstool Sports, and CBS Sports Radio host Andy Gresh for his weekly segment. Plus a six pack of your twitter questions.
SHOW ANALYSIS:
This show was a revelation. I’d never heard of it before and I am glad I found it.
As a host, Breer is as good as most professional sports talk show hosts. This podcast provides that evidence as Breer is chalk full of opinion, information, insight and entertainment.
During the show, Breer moves from a great, smart take on the Colin Kaepernick situation, which wasn’t the same old predictable take, to an outstanding NFL segment with sports radio host, Andy Gresh. I was shocked by Breer’s comfort level with delivering courageous opinions and backing them up with thoughtful facts. Not many in the media would take as strong a stance that Kaepernick was not being blackballed, and then proceed to give multiple examples of why “politics” wasn’t the reason the former SF QB isn’t working. Many sports talk hosts could learn a thing or two about his thoughtfulness and preparation on these issues.
The thing that really struck me about Breer is his absolute command and depth of knowledge regarding the NFL and the issues facing the league. Facts, stats and information flowed from his mouth as if he was born to report on the NFL. Just great work with an excellent presentation. Gresh is also a perfect foil for Breer with his high energy delivery and occasional twist of a phase, which helped raise the entertainment value.
Between the great content, insight and a fun delivery, the segment with Gresh was a winner. The two were insightful, fun, and told long interesting stories, and that makes for a winning combination. The story on Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva was especially interesting, and illustrated the show’s ability to offer content that not all NFL fans would be aware of.
In particular, football fans will be drawn to this podcast because Breer has insight and contacts within the NFL that ninety eight percent of NFL insiders don’t. He can retell a story and quote multiple players and head coaches, which is invaluable to the rabid NFL fan.
To my ear, Breer is an A-level podcast talent. This program is conversational, entertaining and most of all, you receive great insight from listening to it. It wasn’t hard to follow, and they do a great job of moving from topic to topic and not getting bogged down in the minutia.
CLOSING COMMENTS:
This show has breakout potential. It is really well done, thoughtful, insightful and entertaining.
In my opinion, Breer’s show could easily hold down a slot on terrestrial radio. It checks off all the boxes – passion, excitement, forward momentum, opinion, analysis and a few laughs.
The only criticism I can add is that I think they can give even more hard edged opinions. The great stance on Kaepernick was the only real “hard” opinion on the show. I think Breer and Gresh could have built on that when discussing a few other NFL stories throughout the rest of the show.
From the business side, Breer didn’t handle any of the commercials. There was only one spot in the show so there wasn’t much required of the hosts form a commercial perspective.
My advice, if you like compelling talk, subscribe to this podcast the first chance you get.
Gregg Henson has spent over twenty five years working in sports radio as a host and programmer. He’s enjoyed stints in Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, and recently joined Alpha Media in Lincoln, Nebraska as a program director and morning drive host. He can be reached on Twitter @GreggHenson or if you prefer to send him an email click here.
