One of the great things about the sports radio business is that everyone seems to have a different story to how they ultimately achieved success in the host seat. Some, such as Darren McKee of 104.3 The Fan in Denver, had the privilege of a diploma from a high-profile school such as Syracuse attached to his resume in his early 20’s. Others, such as Christopher Gabriel of 940 ESPN in Fresno, bounced around with odd jobs and an acting career before finally pursuing his passion of sports radio.
Jeremie “Pop” Poplin is another that has his own unique story in sports radio. However, he may be one of the few that’s done it via a broadcasting school. In college at Tulsa Community College, Poplin will honestly tell you he was interested most days with the afternoon sports talk in town, rather than his upcoming classes for the day.
“I got bit by the radio bug early,” said Poplin. “Like, I can remember Chris Plank wasn’t in radio for very long and doing his afternoon show here at The Buzz in Tulsa. I would make it a point to listen to that non-stop. I was a huge Art Bell fan at night and Jim Rome during the day. Man, I would skip class, would skip algebra to listen to Rome in the parking lot. I was just fascinated by it. I was young and got to the point where I was done with school and saw a commercial on television for American Broadcasting School. I was like, you know, let’s just go for it and see what happens.”
There’s not just one particular avenue an individual must take to get into sports radio. That’s the beauty of it. Poplin is a living example that you don’t have to go to Syracuse, Missouri, Northwestern, or any other major 4-year institution to achieve success in the field. His rise to show host and PD at The Buzz in Tulsa shows that attending a broadcast school can certainly get you into the business. But with that being said, does it mean it’s still the right way to go?
Maybe you’re 34 years old and have a family but want to finally explore the sports radio format. Or, you could be an early college student like Poplin was when he decided to attend a broadcast school. No matter your situation, this article is intended for the ones that have thought about going with the alternative option of a local broadcast school. Is it worth your time? Can you get a job out of it? Will you learn the necessary tools to be successful? To learn all those answers I asked Poplin himself how much the school serves its students.
TM: Why do you think going to a broadcasting school was the best for you at that time?
JP: At the time? Man, that’s a good question. It’s tough, because I felt that’s what was consuming me. I had this want and this desire…maybe it was ill-sided because I wanted this fast track, you know what I mean?
I wanted it so bad and I knew that once I got involved with it that I was going to be all the way in. I wanted that to encompass everything I was doing. I just wanted a fast track at the time, I was always a talk radio guy and the thought of being on the air on living that life was a magical thing to me. Even when I was in school, I thought that even the music route would be okay, but I always wanted to be in the talk format, specifically sports.
TM: How hands-on was the broadcasting school early on? Did you have to wait long to be doing the things you wanted?
JP: At first, it was a lot of technical stuff, like you’re trying to learn FCC rules and regulations. But then, they basically put you in a production room and you would pretend you were coming out of a song, do a stop set and then throw it back to music. Obviously, for the first week you’re going to be terrible, but you were in front of a mic before a couple of days. To get completed and done didn’t even take an entire year, in a lot of ways it was like a vo-tech.
One thing they did say is that they would help you with job placement, which they never really did at all. The thing is, I figured out once you got in there that the curriculum is driven by all music stuff. You basically had to go and create a scenario to where you would do anything other than music, so I would go in and basically fake like I was in a sports talk produced commercial. I would write my own copy for commercials like that and it’s what got me more comfortable in the talk format. But yeah, everything was pointed towards music.
TM: Did they have quality equipment and professors on hand?
JP: They had equipment, it was pretty basic though because I was learning on CD’s and carts. They would give you a cassette and you would record on it for your air checks. It was very basic at the time, but keep in mind that right before I turned 21, that’s when internet radio was just starting and they had one studio that would broadcast 24 hours a day over the internet and that was it, because that was on the very forefront of that. That kind of gives you an idea.
I was learning on carts and everything else, and that was older technology. When I got my first job, I quickly realized nobody used carts anymore at all. It was just very basic. They had seven studios you could go in, you had a curriculum throughout the day where you did have instructors. But there was just so many people there, that it was hard for the instructors to give anyone individualized instructions. From what I remember, there seemed to be only one instructor that really put time and the effort to make you feel comfortable with the progress you were making. You were really kind of on your own. They left you to your own and would air check you once a week.
TM: So, the idea behind going to a broadcast school at that time was to be able to skip all the entry level classes at a college and move right into hands-on work?
JP: Yeah, it was. Don’t get me wrong, I made the most important relationship of my life at the school when I met my wife there. She was in radio, too. I don’t want to skip over that process, because that changed my life in meeting her there. But, at the time, yeah that was exactly it.
I would go to a regular class in college and think, what am I doing? This isn’t fun and I was just burned out. I saw the commercials for the broadcast school and it just felt right.
Now, revisionist history. Clearly now I regret not going the other route, but yeah at the time, it was definitely the thought. It was, I’ve already had enough history, I took speech classes at the time that intrigued me, but I wanted to get to it and do it right away.
TM: Do you know of any other successful people in sports radio that were either in class with you at the same time, or went to the Tulsa branch at some point?
JP: No, I mean I know other people in radio that went there, but sports talk wise, no I don’t of any at all.
TM: For instance, let’s say you’re 34 years old, have a family, and wanting to finally pursue sports radio for the first time. Would a broadcast school be the perfect route to go?
JP: I think it’s different, I mean I know there’s the Ohio School of Broadcasting and the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. But I don’t know what the experiences are like at those two places and how different the curriculum is. I’m just going off what my experience was and I feel like it would be okay to get your foot in the door for more of a music format, if you want to go that way. But if you’re just looking a talk format, man, I learned probably more in my first year working at a real radio station than I did my entire time at the broadcast school. Because, quite frankly, I walked into a great situation as an entry level board op, learning and watching guys that have the reputation of being incredible on-air performers.
Guys like Michael DelGiorno who made his name in Tulsa and is in Nashville currently. I still say today that Chris Plank on the air is one of the more incredible talking talents and interviewers that I’ve ever been around. I had a chance to sit back and learn from incredibly talented hosts and really learn the talk format. I learned more as a board op and paying attention than I did at the broadcasting school.
TM: You’ve risen to become a show host and PD at The Buzz, so let’s say you have a position open with two younger candidates. One went to a 4-year college and the other went to a broadcast school. Under this scenario, their talent level seems very similar on an air check. Do you favor hiring the 4-year graduate in that case?
JP: Honestly, I think it comes down to their personality and how they do face-to-face. I’ll you this, I’m not going to sit there and say I’d lean one way or the other if their air checks are similar. I do feel like now there’s no more advantages of coming out of a 4-year university with all the resources they have. What we have in our state with what Oklahoma State and Oklahoma does with their programs, I mean, you get a pretty incredible leg up, in my opinion, now, much more than ever.
I think it’s changed so much in the past 10-15 years. I do feel those kids have a leg up, but by no means anyway geared in favoritism towards someone who comes out of a 4-year. A lot of it for me is still going to depend on worth ethic, drive and personality.
TM: Let’s go back to the kid that wanted to go to the car in the school parking lot and listen to Jim Rome instead of going to class. What would you tell him now? Would you tell him to do it all over again? Yes, your wife was involved, but just in terms of a career aspect.
JP: There are two ways to look at it in my opinion. Obviously not changing anything because I met my wife, but I think now that I have a daughter, and my wife and I have talked about this before, I would tell him to go back into class at TCC. There’s plenty of time for that and there’s some unbelievable things coming down the road, as far as the platform itself. So yeah, I would absolutely tell that person to go back in class and pay attention. Just because you feel like that in the short-term, I think you would benefit much more in the longer run from doing that.
I will always carry it with me that I didn’t finish a 4-year and it’s a chip on my shoulder that fuels me to work harder, but it’s kind of a double-edged sword that’s helped me in so many ways. But yet, I still feel like I carry this giant hindrance that I didn’t do it.
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
