When’s the last time you shared a personal story on the air? Maybe it was something good that happened, maybe it was something bad, heck, maybe it was even something super embarrassing that everyone made fun of you for. Regardless, I’ve found that I’m drawn to the hosts who do an exceptional job of living their life on the show.
To me, there’s something special about being more than just a talking head that rattles off sports opinions. Let me know who you are and what you’re about that. Tell me humbling or embarrassing stories that humanize you. Connect with me on a personal level. That’s what will keep me coming back to the show every day.
Jay Phillips of 107.5 The Game in Columbia, South Carolina is of a similar mindset. He wants you to know his favorite band of all-time is Phish. He wants you to know what it’s like raising four daughters as the only man in the house. He even wants you know what he had at his tailgate before the South Carolina game on Saturday. He likes to share his world with the audience.
“I feel like there’s some people in the business that just take a certain position or be a thing because it’s expedient from a money perspective or something like that,” said Phillips. “I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t think I could do that, because I am who I am. I’m local and you’re going to know me. I really feel like it’s important that you know where I’m coming from, you know what I’m about and why I feel about things the way that I do.”
For me, there’s some reliability here. Life alert, but I told a girl last Friday night, who I’m newly dating, that I’m going to marry her someday. Maybe it was the White Claws talking, but it was a pretty damn bold move on my part. As embarrassing as it might have been to admit I said that, and trust me it was, I instantly realized I had to share the story on my show. No matter how much crap I got from my co-host, other co-workers or the listeners, I knew it was best for the show.
So I told the whole story Monday during the first hour. Maybe I was naïve, but I never imagined the response it would end up getting. That segment generated more calls, texts and tweets than maybe any other we’ve ever had on the show.
Now, we have a personal story our listeners have become extremely interested in that we’ll use frequently on the show. I’m even letting my co-host interview her live Thursday afternoon to get more info on just how I completely went overboard over the weekend. All for good content, right…?
The good news is that you don’t have to completely embarrass yourself like me to live your life on the show and make it entertaining. Phillips is a prime example of that.
11 and a half years ago, he and his wife found out they were pregnant with their fourth child. About a month after that in the early spring of 2008, Jay’s wife found out she had Stage 1B Cervical Cancer. Soon after, the Phillips family was making routine trips to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which meant doing radio shows from the conference room of a hospital.
The Phillips’ fourth child was born six weeks early and suffered complications. Not even 90 minutes after the delivery happened, his wife had surgery for her cancer to be fully removed.
“That story I shared a lot,” said Phillips. “Even now on the anniversary of my wife being cancer free, which is obviously also our daughter’s birthday, too, I’ll mention that on the air. I don’t want to say I commiserate with other people who’ve been through it, but a lot of people have been touched by something like that. So from that perspective, I don’t want to say I enjoyed sharing, but I think it’s important to reach out to people and give them a sense that, oh hey, I’ve been through that and so has that guy. That was rather personal and I don’t want to say I went out of my way on it but it was a pretty big deal, you know? I have appreciated the opportunity to share that from time to time.”
As great as living your life on the show can be, it’s like everything else, in the sense that there needs to be balance. There’s a fine line on how much sharing is too much, but it does exists.
A couple of people have told Phillips, “Okay dude, you have four daughters. We get it.”
“That’s people that just want to stick to sports,” Phillips said. “Those are the types that want to hear about the next offensive line recruit. I know that’s a small percentage of a listener base but I’m just going to tell you where I’m coming from and I’m also going to operate on the mindset that you may have never listened to my show before. I can’t assume that everyone listening to me every day is always there three hours a day and five days a week. I also want to relate that because it’s not like I’m the only dad out there who is going with the family to take the kids on college visits. I want people to know that that’s part of who I am. You know, things like what I’m going to make for a tailgate meal, what I had at the Super Bowl, something like that.”
You’ll periodically hear Phillips mention his love for Phish. Whether it’s hearing the band being used as bumper music for the show or mentioning how many times he’s seen them in concert, it’s become just another way he shares with the audience what he’s passionate about. It may be subtle, but it could go a long way in building personal relationships with the listener.
“I don’t want to say I model off of it, but how Dan Patrick and his guys run their show with a nice mix of sports, food, beer, music, movies and TV shows, that’s who I am,” said Phillips. “I like to cook and I like good beer. I enjoy being out with people, I enjoy live music and we talk about those things a lot. I don’t want to say we do it too much, that’s more of a subjective feeling, anyway, but when I can bring them up, I like to bring them up.”
What are you passionate about? How is it being single? How is it being married? There’s so many ways to show your audience just what kind of person you really are. Whichever you choose, it’s important to remember to let the audience know you on a more personal level.
Sure, I’ll come for your sports takes, but I’ll stay if I feel connected to you as a host.
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.
