Some hosts will always be tempted to make their show all about themselves. I’ve written about that before. Hosts that prioritize their interests and ego over what their listeners want are constantly creating opportunities for those listeners to tune out.
Usually this mistake is the result of disregarding what you know about the market. It’s a waste of time to talk hockey in a market that isn’t passionate about the sport. It’s a waste of time to talk about the baseball postseason in a market that is locked in on college football.
There is one subject though that is a loser no matter where you are. The only reason hosts talk about it is their own ego.
It’s us. Your listeners care about you. They don’t care about the industry at large.
I’ve never understood why so many broadcasters think the average Joe cares about gossip and news in an industry they have no real connection to. It would be like going to a bar, starting a conversation with the bartender about the home team and then him pivoting the conversation to what company makes shoddy pint glasses.
Who the hell cares?
There is a whole segment of this business that I’ll call the “stick to sports unless you agree with me” crowd. For them, ratings prove something. People are still mad at Colin Kaepernick. The NBA is too worried about making a political statement and not worried enough about the quality of its product. You know the type.
I’m not going to tell you they are wrong. What I am going to tell you is for the most part, the audience doesn’t give a damn. Sure, there are plenty of people that agree with these hosts and enjoy a good confirmation bias bubble, but the larger slice of your audience pie would rather talk about last night’s game instead of how many people watched it and what that means for “the real America”.
ESPN is another fascination of some hosts – and this is all over the place. In some cases it’s the old “is ESPN too liberal?” argument. For others, it’s financial stories. “Does Disney want to dump ESPN”? “ESPN has another round of layoffs coming”.
You’re asking an awful lot of your audience when you go down that road. Most of them view ESPN executives and talent as rich celebrities. It’s hard enough to care about anyone else’s financial well-being or job security when you’re in the midst of the kind of economic uncertainty we are, let alone a millionaire’s.
When it comes to the biggest name in sports media, there is only one thing you can talk about that connects with your audience – what that talent had to say about the action on the field. Use audio. Call an analyst an idiot. Have someone from the network on to talk about a big story or upcoming game. Literally anything else is a waste of your listener’s time.
Let’s make one more thing perfectly clear. This is really important, so everyone huddle up and take a knee. Remember, helmet’s not a chair.
Unless you are in New York, YOUR ???? LISTENERS ???? DO ???? NOT ???? CARE ???? ABOUT ???? MIKE ???? FRANCESA!
Is he a titan of our business? Yes. Is he past his glory days? Obviously. Is it always fun to make fun of old people? Of course! I enjoyed the Funhouse video clips as much as anyone else.
Here’s the thing though. Twitter isn’t real life. Hyper-targeted accounts can gain huge followings, because that is just sort of what the platform is. I grew up in Alabama. Most of my friends from back home, even the ones who listen to sports talk radio religiously, don’t know who Mike Francesa is.
We used to work with a station that was nowhere near New York. Literally, it was on the other side of the country. Every week they would do a bit highlighting something inaccurate or out of touch Francesa said. Every week I would make a note that basically said “what the hell are we doing?”. And every time I’d tune in the next week, there was that same bit.
All good stations do perception surveys to figure out what is working for them and what is not. If you’re a talent or a producer, your job is to pay attention to the results of those surveys and try to put their findings into practice.
Yes, it is important to be passionate about your content, but isn’t it more important to create content out of what your listeners are telling you they are passionate about?
There is a major difference in you and “you” to our listeners. You, as an individual, are someone that matters to them. You, as an individual, are who they turn to learn about the team or sport they love. You, the sports media, is just an industry that isn’t their own. If you don’t want to talk about shoddy pint glasses with a bartender, what makes you think they want to talk about NBA ratings with you?
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.
