Each Tuesday after Labor Day, it’s common across the country to find sports media professionals entering their buildings with a new found energy and focus. Kids and teachers go back to school signaling an end to the summer, the NFL returns, and brands turn their attention to the busy fall sports calendar, hoping to take advantage of increased fan interest in order to close out the year with positive momentum.
But for yours truly, Tuesday after Labor Day matters a little more. It represents the anniversary of Barrett Sports Media. I try to take a few minutes at the start of each September to appreciate the past year in business and reflect on how far this brand has come since being launched in 2015. I mean this when I say it, I appreciate every person and company who has utilized BSM for business over the past four years and look forward to future opportunities to work together. To those who haven’t utilized us yet, I hope we have a chance to change that in the near future.
When I left San Francisco for New York four years ago, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. David Field, Rick Scott and a few others raised the idea of consulting to me while I was still programming 95.7 The Game but I wasn’t sure if it was the right path for me. I saw the industry rapidly changing, and most of the consultants at that time were older, radio-focused, and not publicly visible. If I was going to go down that road, I knew I’d have to do it differently, but I didn’t think my age and approach would serve me well in the consulting space. Thankfully my read on the situation was incorrect.
As I talked to industry friends about the possibility of consulting, the consensus from everyone was that it’d be a hard space to make a living in. The sports format was nearly eight hundred stations strong, and the four largest radio companies (CBS, iHeart, Cumulus and Entercom) rarely used outside help for their sports brands. The national players (ESPN, FOX Sports and SiriusXM) had a similar philosophy. That wouldn’t exactly give you a lot of confidence to enter the space would it?
Most also assumed I’d miss the daily competition and thrill of programming a local sports radio station. They felt I’d do what many do, promote myself as a consultant to keep my name out there (it sounds better than unemployed radio guy), and then change direction when a great programming gig opened up. But that was never part of my thinking. If I was going to do this, I was going to go all-in. If it didn’t work out, I could always chalk it up as a loss and do something else.
When I got back to New York in 2015, all I cared about was gaining custody of my son. I took a few local meetings to see what was out there, but as I thought about the idea of going back into a building to run another radio station, I found myself less excited than I was when I accepted PD jobs in 2006 in Philadelphia, 2009 in St. Louis and 2011 in San Francisco. I felt I was capable of more than just growing one station’s ratings for one company in one market. The possibility of overseeing all sports brands for a company had some appeal to me but that type of opportunity didn’t exist so it left three options: take the safe route and return to a building, leave the radio business, or carve my own path by trying something new.
Having just spent the past twenty years in radio including the previous ten programming stations in San Francisco, St. Louis, and Philadelphia, I felt I had knowledge to share. I was also passionate about the present and future of the sports format and couldn’t fathom the idea of not being involved in it. But how do you make a living if you’re not working inside of a building? There was only one way to find out – I had to take a risk – and I’m so glad I did.
It’s not an exaggeration when I say that the past four years have been some of the most enjoyable and rewarding years of my career. I’ve worked with over 20 radio stations since venturing down this road, and get to travel to different cities to help and learn from people, plus listen to a wider variety of sports radio than practically anyone. To play a small part in the growth of a program director, assist someone with landing a job or creating a brand story to strengthen their business, help a client grow their ratings and earn industry accolades, and form relationships with executives and market managers who I didn’t know a few years earlier is personally satisfying.
Part of this journey has included building the BSM website into a daily destination for sports media professionals. I’m proud that we’ve helped elevate the industry’s knowledge of the sports radio and television landscape while offering professionals career advice and specific examples to help them improve at their craft. It still amazes me that over the course of four years we’ve somehow generated more than three million page views and two and a half million visitors to this website.
Equally as fulfilling have been the connections formed across the country, the daily engagement on social media, and the support from media folks who attend our annual BSM Summit. To get industry people from twenty different companies into one room to learn from each other for two full days isn’t an easy feat but somehow we pull it off. Speaking of the Summit, our 2020 event takes place February 26-27 in New York City and I’ll have some speaker announcements to share in my next column. A reminder, tickets are on sale at a discounted rate thru the end of September. They increase on October 1st.
Though I may be the face of the BSM brand, I couldn’t do this without an awesome team. Demetri Ravanos has been a true partner since becoming my Assistant Content Director. Brandon Contes has worked his tail off writing news and features and traveling for select assignments. Brian Noe, Matt Fishman, Dave Greene, Tyler McComas, and Andy Masur have all delivered powerful columns on their professional areas of expertise, and Andy Drake, Clarissa Magliochetti, and Jack Ferris have gotten involved within the past year to help make us even better in other areas. My fiance Stephanie has also been a huge help with the BSM Summit while having to endure the daily roller coaster ride that comes with me operating this business.
What’s crazy is that as of today, I’ve now operated BSM longer than I served as PD of The Game in SF. That four year run was my longest PD stint which is how I preferred it. Some people are built to be coaches like Bill Belichick and spend fifteen years in one location. I was wired more like Bill Parcells. Parcells would take a team that wasn’t having success, grind non-stop to turn it around, and within four years they’d be competing for a title. Then he’d move on and leave the franchise in great shape for someone else to take it even further.
As I started to write this column I flashed back to recent conversations with industry friends who mentioned how impressed they’ve been with the growth of BSM. Though I’m thankful that the perception of our brand is positive, I don’t think we’ve hit our peak yet, and I don’t take anything for granted. I understand that it starts with continuing to learn and working hard for great clients. Without them, this whole thing could crumble. Whether I’m helping a major market or smaller market station, when I take on a project I’m fully invested in it. That won’t ever change as long as I’m active in this line of work.
If there’s a point to this story beyond it being the four year anniversary of BSM, I’d say that it’s about not being afraid to roll the dice and bet on yourself. Change is hard for some people, but you learn a lot about yourself when going thru it. You will experience doubt along the way, and the light at the end of the tunnel may not always be bright, but if you have talent, love what you do, and are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to succeed and be happy, there’s no reason you can’t have it. I’m just lucky that I took my own advice four years ago.
On behalf of the entire BSM team, thanks for your continued support. Here’s to year number five!
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
Congratulations, Jason. You’ve truly blazed a trail – and that’s not easy in this environment. Happy 4!