Tonight on my drive home I was flipping around and heard some of the worst and most incoherent sports radio I have ever heard. This wouldn’t have been acceptable at a college or even the station I worked at in high school. It was so poorly produced I’m not actually sure what the name of the segment or show was.
So what was wrong with it? Literally everything. But I will break it down with the hopes that this is not happening or won’t happen on your station going forward:
- Purpose: Not sure what the purpose of it was. I would guess it was some sort of update on the local NFL team. No one told me what it was or it’s purpose.
- Locker Room audio: There was an interview which I presume took place in the locker room, because there was a ton of background noise from other players. I couldn’t really make out what the subject of the interview was saying or, in fact, who the subject of the interview was. Additionally, the host of this show did not reset at all during the lengthy interview. Running back a long interview? Pause it for a minute and re-set so the listeners know who is being interviewed, why, and by whom. Better yet, just pull the best cuts and have the host weave in and out of them. Gives much more context and allows you to put only the best stuff on the radio and keep the crap on the cutting room floor.
- Press Conference audio: Following this interview there was some press conference audio from the Jets. I feel like it was from their coach Adam Gase but, again, due to how poorly this was anchored and produced I don’t know. Like most press conferences, the questions were not mic’d so you just heard answers to questions you could not hear. This reminded me of comedian Brian Regan’s bit about sports press conferences, which would have been WAY better programming than what I heard. (If you haven’t heard it, check it out)
Normally I would turn off radio this bad, but it was like watching (or in this case listening) to a total train wreck. This is a station in a Top Ten market owned by a major radio company that has successful sports stations in other top ten markets. The company owns and operates some of the best sports stations in the country. Clearly the apple has fallen very far from the tree here.
I wanted to title this piece “Get Your Shit Together,” but JB and Demetri wouldn’t let me. Still, I wanted to title it “Get Your Shit Together” because crappy radio like this makes everyone in sports radio look bad. It doesn’t matter that it was one station in one market, but it makes it seem to the listener that after 6pm local radio can put this crap on the air and no one will mind. In the ever competitive audio world no station, sports stations included, can afford to take a segment or two off.
In conclusion, I plead with every host, producer, board op, executive producer and program director to protect your station, your brand, the format and the radio industry as a whole.
Matt Fishman is a former columnist for BSM. The current PD of ESPN Cleveland has a lengthy resume in sports radio programming. His career stops include SiriusXM, 670 The Score in Chicago, and 610 Sports in Kansas City. You can follow him on Twitter @FatMishman20 or you can email him at FishmanSolutions@gmail.com.
