If you’re not a college football fan, you may not be aware just how good the Wisconsin Badgers are this year. They’ve beaten up on everyone they have played. On Saturday, that continued with a 38-0 drubbing of Michigan State.
After the game, Spartans coach Mark Dantonio was asked if he regretted not taking the opportunity to overhaul his offensive staff in the offseason. His response was standoffish to say the least.
That isn’t an ideal response and if you’re a Michigan State fan, it should tell you that this isn’t a guy that is interested in making hard decisions to change his fortunes.
The Spartans are 0-3 against ranked opponents. In those games, the team has been outscored 72-17, and when asked if he is willing to make changes or offer solutions to this problem, Dantonio calls the reporter asking him the question a dumbass.
How does this relate to sports radio? Imagine Dantonio is the program director of a station that was once the market’s dominant sports voice. Back when there was little to no competition and all it took to win was follow the playbook he learned from, things were good. Dantonio wrote a few jingles, decided where to place billboards, and sat back and watched the bonuses roll in.
Now, the landscape has changed. There is more legitimate competition, and it isn’t just other radio stations. It’s podcasts. It’s social media. It’s SiriusXM.
If Dantonio’s radio station is going to stay on top, he is going to be honest about what is no longer working for him and be willing to make changes. That might mean having to confront the fact that strategies that served him well a long time are no longer working. It might mean hosts that used to be his stars no longer resonate with the market.
In real life, Mark Dantonio has a staff that has been with him for a long time. His offensive coordinator Brad Salem has been at Michigan State for ten years. His quarterbacks coach (and previous play caller) Dan Warner has been on his staff since 2007. Loyalty is admirable. It isn’t always the smartest move professionally.
Listeners don’t chose stations based on call letters or heritage. That heritage might shape the way listeners think about a brand, but whether or not the listeners stick with your station depends on how you’re meeting their needs. It doesn’t matter how long a host has been on the air in a certain day part or the way a show has always sounded. If the host or show is no longer performing in a more competitive landscape, a PD has two choices. He/She can either shake things up or do nothing and risk being replaced.
Mark Dantonio hired three new assistant coaches before the 2018 season began. After those three, the next shortest tenure on his Michigan State staff is seven years. He has equity with these guys and on a human level, it makes sense that Dantonio would want to give them every chance to get this right.
In reality though, it is clear this isn’t working anymore. The 2015 Big Ten Championship and trip to that year’s College Football Playoff is well in the rearview. Mark Dantonio can either swallow hard and take a long, hard look at who is and who isn’t helping him or he can keep swearing that people pointing out that something needs to change are dumbasses. Neither approach is guaranteed to save his job, but the former at least gives him a chance.
Maybe the halcyon days of your station are in the rearview. It can certainly be a frustrating position, but that past success isn’t coming back if your game plan is to stay the course. Look at Michigan State. It’s 2019. Offenses have evolved and are moving faster and scoring more points. Some of the programs that were struggling five years ago are back on track now. Doing “what we’ve always done” isn’t good enough for Mark Dantonio anymore.
Don’t take for granted that an audience cherishes your history and traditions as much as you do. Certainly your audience might, but your audience is shrinking. If that’s the case, you need to figure out which of your traditions are no longer yielding the desired results and ask yourself if they are worth keeping, or if there is something better you can be doing.
Loyalty is a good quality. I am not telling you to start handing out pink slips or shuffling your lineup after one or two bad books. Really examine where you are versus where you want to be. If you determine that the same old, same old isn’t working the way it used to, you aren’t showing loyalty by not making a change. You’re being stupid.
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.
