I’ve always had a fascination of wanting to try and host a show during the late evening hours. There’s just a different feel behind the mic compared to the other shifts during the day. It’s more relaxed, you can be a little bit more aggressive with your topics and how you present them, the callers are a complete wildcard, anything and everything can happen during those hours which really creates a unique and fun environment.
You should have a deep appreciation for the guys that are able to entertain so many people in the late hours of the night. It’s no easy task to sit with no co-host, talk about the same topics that have been discussed for the past 12 hours, bring an energy that will keep the listener both engaged and awake, while still delivering an entertaining show with few guests.
But as Mike North told Jonas Knox when he was set to host his first ever weekend overnight show: “Jonas, stay focused and f*cking fire away, baby.”
That’s about as solid of advice as you can get.
Jonas Knox – Fox Sports Radio – Friday: 11pm-3am – Saturday 1-5pm – Sunday 5-8 pm – Pacific Time
Tyler McComas: You always want to bring energy to the show, but seeing as you’re on late Friday nights, do you want to bring even more energy during that time slot?
Knox: Oh I think about it every single time the light goes on. I learned a long time ago from Andy Furman and Mike North that it’s all about energy. Guys like that, who have been around for as long as they have, you’d be hard-pressed to find two hosts who bring more energy. Energy can deliver your point of view in a manner that has a greater impact than if you said the same thing but in a quieter tone.
If you emphasize what your thoughts and philosophies are with a certain tone and a certain energy that can be somewhat infectious, regardless if you disagree with somebody, you appreciate the fact they’re bringing it and it doesn’t sound like they’re mailing it in.
One the most frustrating things to me is when you hear a host that sounds like they’re tired. If I’m up in the middle the night and I’m driving around, whether I’m working the graveyard shift as a security guard or I’m throwing papers as a third job or I’m driving a truck across the country, I’m working, I’m really working. I’ve got to be there, because I’ve got to make ends meet. If you can’t find it within you to muster up a little bit of energy and a little bit of excitement to talk sports for four hours, then you shouldn’t be doing this job. We are so blessed and lucky to have what we do and I hear more complaints and more frustration than I do appreciation. That part gets to me a little bit.
TM: So how do you handle the biggest story of the day or what you think is going to be your biggest segment? Do you have a designated time or just lead with your best?
JK: I think you always open up the show with the biggest story. That’s always been my thought. If there’s a 1A and 1B story then you can maybe split up that first segment.
What I try and do is find the biggest stories, so I’m not repeating exactly what my thought is, I don’t have just one take on a story, that story has legs. The topic tree philosophy, to where you have an overarching story and you have branch off segments from each of those. I try to layer those in throughout. Just because it’s the first segment for me doesn’t mean it’s the first segment for somebody else. The first segment for somebody else could be 1:15 or 1:45.
I don’t want to be pigeonholed as just, oh he’s only built for weekend overnights. So what I’ve done and I’ve talked to my boss Scott Shapiro about it, and just said I want my show to be able to play at any time slot, but also to recognize it’s the middle the night and that you can get a little bit edgy with certain things, but still be cognizant of what the ultimate goal is, which is to place it anywhere on the network at any time.
TM: How do you approach the fact the biggest story of the day has likely been talked about for 12 hours before you go on?
JK: One of the things I think is a mistake, when you work on the weekends, people will sometimes go back to something that happened on Monday or Tuesday because it’s been their first opportunity to get a crack at it. I never do that. If there’s not a new element to that story by the time my show comes around, then I’m doing outdated stuff. Unless I have a thought on it that’s unique and a different perspective. So you do have to be a little bit open minded. But for the most part I try not to do stories that are old.
If something comes up like, oh hey, this happened on Thursday, I can say the most interesting part about this is this to me. If it’s unique and a different approach then I think I’m more open minded to it then.
Colby Powell – 107.7 The Franchise – 6-8pm – Central Time
TM: What’s the biggest challenge of hosting a show from 6-8?
CP: Hosting a show from 6:00 to 8:00 is so much different because every take on whatever the big story is has already been taken. It’s 6:00 and our station has been on for 12 1/2 hours. The topics that we’re discussing have already been brushed through 5 to 6 times by the previous shows. For us it’s about trying to have fun and keeping it light for people after their day of work.
We want to talk about sports, but we want to give people a reason to laugh. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’ll make fun of ourselves, get a little self-deprecating, all that good stuff. By the time 7:30 rolls around we’re just trying to have fun with the listener, we’re not trying to hammer OU football down their throat.
A couple of weeks ago Russell Westbrook got traded at 7:20. That’s probably the one exception where you go full sports. But other than that you’re just trying to have fun with the listener at that point of the day.
TM: What about Thunder games that start at 7:00? You’re on from 6-7 with the pregame show and then the final hour is your regular show. How do you handle those nights?
CP: On those nights, whenever there’s a Thunder game airing on our rival station, at that point, we keep it even lighter and even more off the rails. We’re talking about fun sports stories, non-sports stories, if anything crazy in the game happens we might mention it, but our thing isn’t doing play-by-play for the on-going Thunder game.
We don’t really talk much about the basketball game while it’s going on. Whoever is with you at that point, those are the diehards and the people that listen to you regularly. We get pretty decent engagement at those times when the basketball game is on.
TM: So is the thought, well, whoever wants to watch the Thunder is probably doing so on TV? Is your goal during those times to serve the listener that doesn’t enjoy the NBA?
CP: I should probably split it up because I was talking only about Thunder season. But let’s say it’s the last week in October and OU has a big game on Saturday but the Thunder play Friday night at 7:00. We’ll do our Thunder pregame from 6:00 to 7:00, but from 7:00-8:00 we now have the advantage of being able to hammer OU football for an hour.
The OU football fan, who hasn’t switched their brain into basketball mode yet, those people aren’t going to be listening to the basketball game, they’re going to be listening to us talk about OU football. Until December 1st that’s a huge advantage, or I should say a week later because OU wins the Heisman every year. When it’s just basketball season, we’ll talk NFL because it extends well into a basketball season. And then, of course, we’ll talk about some general NBA things, as well.
Joe Ostrowski – 670 The Score – 6-10 pm – Central Time Zone
TM: You have the transition segment with McNeil and Parkins before your show actually begins. Do you like being able to tease what’s happening for the next four hours on the show, seeing as it’s not during peak hours? How much does it really help?
JO: I think it’s a good thing. If you don’t have it it’s just kind of weird, when you have that cold ending and you really don’t know what’s going on in the next show. You have this opportunity to pitch your show and you should take advantage of that.
A lot of people probably hear me during those transition segments that don’t normally listen to the show. If they like what they hear they’re going to hang out. There can even be, oh, you have a guest at this particular time that I want to hear. I’m going to make sure I tune in for that segment. It’s important to sell your show doing the few minutes that you have.
TM: Since you’re on from 6-10, have you found it harder to book guests compared to an afternoon show host?
JO: I don’t think it’s that difficult. Most media members understand that it’s not just a 100 percent favor that they’re doing, they’re getting some publicity themselves when they come on the air. But I did forget how tough it is on Friday night to book a guest. Even if I’m the one that’s reaching out, it was always a struggle as a producer and it’s a struggle now is a show host.
It’s a Friday night so I completely understand it, so I’m not opposed to coming into studio a couple of hours before to do a pre-recorded interview. As long as it still going to be timely by the time I re-air the interview. But that’s really the only time I’ve seen it as a challenge
TM: Let’s say you’re on the air this year during a Bears game on Thursday night. How will you handle it?
JO: (Laughs) I’ve done those shows before, I’ve gone against playoff games, NFL games, yeah, you’re up against it. This goes back to not treating your audience like they’re a bunch of idiots. They know what’s happening. But I’m not just going to sit around for four hours and focus on it the entire time, we have a sister station that broadcasts all the Bears games. But on nights like those I do have enough counter programming to get through the shows. You just have to except that not a whole lot of people are listening.
TM: What do you enjoy most about your time slot?
JO: It’s an interesting position being, for the most part, the first show that’s really on after Cubs afternoon games. But how am I going to take a topic that’s been beat to death all day on our station and spend it with a fresh view point by the time I come on the air? That’s a challenge every day and something I certainly appreciate.
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.
