Happy Memorial Day and welcome to Mt. Rushmore Season.
Unless you’re in a market that has a team in either the NBA or Stanley Cup Finals, is wild about its Major League Baseball team, or just can’t get enough college baseball, chances are you are looking hard to find relevant material this time of year.
Hell, just turn on any of the ESPN networks. It’s wall-to-wall college baseball and softball. That is truly a sign that there isn’t much going on in the world of sports if there ever was one.
This is the time of year that sports radio tries to sound a little more fun. The debates get a little more irreverent and the topics are a little less immediate. The NFL Draft is firmly in our rearview mirror and we are still too early to get into too many NFL and college football stories with real meat on the bone.
Sports radio starts to sound like the conversations you have when you’re smoking pot. Better yet, it starts to sound like the debates we had when we were kids and argued over who would win in a fight between Spider-Man and Luke Skywalker…obviously Luke.
Since this is the time of year in most markets where silliness reigns supreme, let’s make the most of it. Inject some creativity and new blood into these segments. You can’t declare “in with the new” until you have committed to out with old, so in the spirit of the season, here is a Mt. Rushmore of topics that sports radio has run into the ground during the silly season.
MT RUSHMORES OF ANYTHING
This time of year has facetiously earned the nickname “Mt. Rushmore Season” for a reason. This topic has been rolled out for talking about moments, players, coaches, and more in the sports world. It’s also been a useful tool for naming the top four of categories outside of sports.
Here’s the thing though, all of these Mt. Rushmore only debates go one of two ways. Either you pick a topic with an obvious top four and every tweet and call mentions the same four coaches or rappers or whatever, or a host picks his top four with one glaring “one of these things is not like the others” entry and phone call after phone call sounds the same. The caller says the host is nuts, he insults the guy he doesn’t think belongs, and then passionately makes his case. It sounds like chaos and it’s boring.
THE ULTIMATE BASEBALL MOVIE LINEUP
By this point we all get it, right? Crash Davis is your catcher, Kelly Leak is in your outfield, and Marla Hooch is at second base.
There are so many baseball movies that it is easy to feel like this is a topic everyone can get behind. The truth is only one baseball movie has ever broken $100 million at the box office (A League of Their Own). They may be hits with our listeners, but baseball movie topics don’t really cast the wide net we think they do.
Baseball lineups are long. You’re giving at least nine names if you jump into this topic, and buddy, that is boring as hell. Even if you are passionate about your picks, at the end of the day you’re just making a list and reading it.
GOAT DEBATES
Michael vs. Lebron. Brady vs. Montana. There is no shortage of “greatest of all time” debates amongst sports fans. They’re great for meeting people when you’re sitting alone at a bar. They are useless on sports radio.
Now keep in mind, saying one guy is better than the other and offering facts and stats to back up your opinion isn’t the same as a GOAT debate. Using a statistical comparison of this year’s Raptors against all four Cavaliers teams the Warriors faced in the NBA Finals is timely and it makes sense. Asking listeners if the Warriors’ dynasty is better than the Bulls’ dynasty is pointless.
GOAT debates are weirdly like discussions of politics or religion. Rarely can you change someone’s mind and hardly anyone walks away from one feeling good. As a listener, I hear you say that we are debating Brady vs. Montana today and I know this conversation is going to go in circles for the next twelve minutes, and God help us all if you open it up to phone calls.
MEMORY LANE INTERVIEWS
Unless you’re getting Barry Bonds to talk candidly about his career in the 21st century, there is no major name in the sports world that your listeners haven’t already heard tell their story. I am not saying there is never a good reason to take these interviews, but if all you’re planning to do is relive a play or a game that happened twenty years ago, there isn’t much of an incentive for the listener to tune in. If it’s a player from the home team talking about a championship moment, the listeners lived it and experienced it. Even a first hand account from the man or woman at the center of the action doesn’t compare to their memory.
We’re a timely and topical format. Unlike rock and hip hop, there is no “classic” version of the sports format. So focus on what is happening right now. If there is a legendary name that still keeps up with his or her sport and can mix good stories in with keen analysis, that is good content. Troy Aikman and Charles Barkley fit that bill.
Sports radio doesn’t win with history lessons. Remember that no matter how big the name, reminiscing is an invitation for the audience to tune out.
I am not going to lie to you. I love the slow season in sports radio, because I love hearing shows and hosts flex their creative muscles without the NFL content schedule to fall back on.
What I really would love though is you taking this Mt. Rushmore to heart. Don’t choose laziness when the opportunity to be unique presents itself. If we can weed out these well-tread topics, maybe we can help Mt. Rushmore Season become known as Creativity Season.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
