Many of us involved in selling sports radio have an athletic background. We played sports as a kid, in high school and maybe even college. It is not uncommon to find radio sellers who played on a successful high school or college team and then went into radio sales in that town. I think it is a good pool for sales managers to recruit from for new account executives. I have known quite a few who have been very successful and some I did not know but for what an impact they left on others
After I played college football at Boise State University, I moved into radio sales at KIDO AM/Q104 FM in Boise, Idaho in 1984. I was hired by a former Boise State football player, Larry Polowski, who had played for a few years in the NFL. I was replacing a former Boise State football player, Bob McCauley, who was moving out of state.
Get the picture?
Let me tell you about the late, great Bob McCurdy
Bob was not only a former college basketball player at the University of Richmond, but he was also a star. In fact, he was an All American and the nation’s leading scorer during his senior season of 1974-1975, averaging 32.9 points per game. David Thompson of North Carolina St. had nothing, when it came to scoring points, on Bob McCurdy.
His Milwaukee Bucks career never happened because of injury, so Bob went right to work in sales at WLEE-AM in Richmond, Virginia. He went on to become the President of Katz radio, a Regional President for Clear Channel and finally, a VP for Beasley Media Group. He had an incredible 44 year run before he died July 29,2020 from cancer. He meant a lot more than that to many.
“Bob was a tremendous influence on many in the industry. His competitive drive, his thirst for knowledge, his discipline and his work ethic impacted everyone who had a chance to work with him.” – Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley
“Bob McCurdy led the way in using data to form compelling insights about the power of radio, American radio has lost its sales teacher, life coach, and fierce advocate of reading more, learning more and turning that knowledge into useful counsel for our clients.” – Cumulus Media Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard
“Bob was always about preparation and practice…my favorite ‘Bob Rule’ was ‘work as hard on Friday afternoon as you do on Tuesday afternoon and you will be enormously successful.’ He also used to give out a gold coin which says ‘What ever it takes’ and when Bob and I were talking about a hard fought win we had in sales…he would always say ‘whatever it takes, Johnny. I still carry the coin.'” – John Sheftic, Dick Broadcasting Market Manager
Mike Agovino, a close friend, and co-founder of Triton Digital worked for McCurdy at Katz spoke at McCurdy’s funeral. He said “Bob spent 5 years dedicated to becoming the first real data driven storyteller in the radio business. He tirelessly dedicated himself to memorizing every individual radio station in the top 50 US markets. He stayed on top of every media trend, every technological threat, every strategy and established his thought leadership industry wide. In my opinion, Bob had a greater impact on establishing the value of radio advertising than anyone over the past 40 years.”
I never knew Bob but I can see the influences sports had on his approcah to working with others. He was a leader, inspiring, relentless, disciplined and effective. I hope you think about hiring a former athlete when you go recruiting for account executives. You may just find the next Bob McCurdy.
Jeff Caves is a sales columnist for BSM working in radio and digital sales for Cumulus Media in Dallas, Texas and Boise, Idaho. He is credited with helping launch, build, and develop Sports Radio The Ticket in Boise, into the market’s top sports radio station. During his 26 year stay at KTIK, Caves hosted drive time, programmed the station, and excelled as a top seller. You can reach him by email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com or find him on LinkedIn.
