Summertime radio can be really frustrating. You prep all day, come up with great topics, deliver those topics in an entertaining manner, and then…flop. It feels like there’s nobody listening.
During this part of the year, it may take more than just great content to pull the listener in. Sometimes, it requires thinking outside the box and coming up with an idea the station has never tried. With great ideas come great results, and there’s no better time than now to take a chance on the air.
During the MLB All-Star Break, nobody may have done a better job of this than Brady Farkas and Arnie Spanier of 101.3 The Game in Burlington, Vermont. While most sports radio stations struggled to keep listeners involved during the slowest time period of the year, Farkas and Spanier had a unique idea that brought the listener to the station like never before.
For an entire week, a listener would get to experience what it would be like to be a sports radio host.
“It’s been something we’ve kicked around for a while,” said Farkas. “Arnie has worked in a lot of places and he always has zany ideas, doesn’t matter what it’s about, he always has something creative. He’s always been joking around about, hey, let’s bring the interns on, or hey, let’s bring a listener in. I said, okay, we’ll take it a step further and bring one listener in every day.”
The Friday before the All-Star Break, Farkas mentioned on the air that listeners were going to have the opportunity to co-host for an hour each during the following week. Seeing as Rich Haskell, one of three voices on the show, was on vacation, it made sense to fill the empty chair with someone else. Interest to be a radio host for a day came in bunches. So much so, that tryouts were held to decide which listeners were talented enough to be on the air with Farkas and Spanier.
“It was funny because I read an article on Barrett Sports Media that said listeners tune out during the All-Star Break,” said Farkas. “I played that up and said, ‘hey, this article says you guys aren’t going to listen next week, so we’re going to come up with something that makes you listen and allows you to become a part of the conversation.’”
Farkas and Spanier decided on seven listeners to be on with them during the entire week. Travis in Milton, Andrew in Richmond, Jay in Essex, Harry in St. George, Vince, Rams Fan Ralph and Beth Spanier (Arnie’s wife) all had their shot last week to showcase their radio chops. The selection process was easier than normal, seeing as Farkas started a podcast that had already featured many of the listeners on the station.
“I started a podcast where it was bringing on our listeners to give them a voice,” Farkas said. “Our listeners have become a character on the show. We get a lot of texts, calls and social media engagements, so our listeners know who our listeners are. You find out quickly who’s good and has the chops for it.”
At 4:00 every day, a new listener would take the third chair in studio with Farkas and Spanier. Seeing as seven were picked, two listeners a day were featured on Thursday and Friday. Farkas told each listener that the hour would run largely the same way the show normally runs. At the top of the hour, a Top 4 at 4 would be the feature with the listener getting a chance to sound off on each topic. The second segment, was used as a one-sport topic of the day and then a ‘get to know you’ segment for the listener.
“Our listeners already know each other, we just wanted to give them each an opportunity to tell us more about themselves,” Farkas said.
The last segment was dedicated to the listener and any questions they had to Farkas and Spanier. The logistics of running a radio show, how to book guests, even sports related questions were asked. Anything and everything was open for discussion. For the final segment, it was about the voice of the listener.
The idea was an absolute hit and only bolstered the loyalty each listener already had to the station.
“I think they’re definitely P1’s and they’ll remain P1’s,” Farkas said. “I think our listeners appreciate that we have a podcast and a show that’s really interactive. It’s one of the best complements we get. People feel their investment in listening to us is valued. It was good for us because it was a chance to challenge some of our listeners and go back-and-forth. We invited some of the ones that are the most contentious with us on social media. It was fun to get them in person to see if they would back down or get aggressive. They even got the experience of being heckled on the phone line and text line. All that was great.”
Some listeners took the opportunity to hammer the show hosts they listen to on a frequent basis. But even though it was all in good fun, it didn’t always end well for the new co-host.
“We had one listener who accused of us having way too many hot takes,” said Farkas. “But when he tried to define what a hot take is, he really struggled to do so and the text line hammered him for that. That was really fun. We had another listener who was hammering our third host who was on vacation and wasn’t there to defend himself. This guy was really giving him the business.”
The highlight of the week may have come when Spanier’s wife came into the studio. Though Beth is hardly ever on the air with her husband, she’s become a character on the show.
“He complains about her cooking, inheriting money from her mother, how irritating her voice is, all the things marriage relates to,” said Farkas. “But it was great. Arnie and Beth have a very interesting relationship. They’re constantly bickering with each other, but at the end of the day, they love each other maybe more than any couple I’ve ever seen. They talked about how they met. We even got the story of how she proposed to him. Then she asked some questions, like if he ever regretted leaving one of the many jobs that he had, which brought an emotional side to it. It was a really cool moment.”
For 101.3 The Game, taking a chance provided a boost in listenership and a week that many listeners will never forget. That’s gold if you can produce that type of results in the middle of July. The versatility of the on-air staff was shown during last week’s shows and now gives the station confidence they can pull of more original content ideas to get the most out of their programming.
“I’d definitely do it again, for sure,” said Farkas. “I would do it again during the All-Star Break and even outside of the All-Star Break. The thing I would do differently is I wish I had planned this about a month earlier. We could have blown it up into a content and a sales opportunity. If certain people had already tuned out during that portion of the sports calendar, they would have had no idea we were doing it. If we announced it earlier we really could have made some money from 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.
