It’s been a dream offseason for sports radio in Jacksonville. Sure, the Jaguars had a lousy 1-15 record last year, which gave the franchise its 11th losing season in 12 years, but a new quarterback and head coach has created a content bonanza for on-air hosts unlike anytime the city has experienced before.
The big sell for hosts such as Mike Dempsey, host of Jaguars Today on 1010 XL, is hope. The hope that the combo of Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer can turn the team from worst to first.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot of hope the past 12 years. There’s just been one winning season,” said Dempsey. “Having an accomplished collegiate coach helps, but Trevor Lawrence is the big prize, even more so than Urban Meyer. Jags fans have been laser focused on Trevor Lawrence coming to Jacksonville. So yeah it’s obviously been our #1 talking point. In terms of sports radio, it’s the best one you could’ve hoped for. Trevor Lawrence alone would’ve been great, but having Urban Meyer along with him has created the perfect storm.”
In every NFL market across the country, the biggest talking point leading up to next week’s draft is ‘what will each team do with their first round selection?’. Well, that’s the conversation everywhere except Jacksonville, where it’s a forgone conclusion that the team will select Lawrence 1st overall. With the suspense gone, you might think that could impact local interest since Jags fans already know the name that’s going to be on the card next Thursday. But so far, that hasn’t been the case.
“Well, that’s just about Trevor Lawrence, the Jags still have the 25th, 33rd, 45th and 65th picks in the draft,” said Dempsey. “For instance, Houston doesn’t pick until No. 67. The Jags have five picks ahead of them. There’s a lot of intrigue about what they’ll do with the 25th pick. I think it’s a unique circumstance, this is just one of those times where you know Trevor Lawrence is good. There really aren’t any articles out there suggesting they take someone else with the top pick. Nobody is playing around in the mock drafts.”
“The excitement level that he brings makes it easy. We can talk about Trevor Lawrence every day and we do. It never seems to get old. You had the Sports Illustrated story come out last week, so everyone’s trying to dig into psychological motivation, for how much he loves football and all this kind of stuff. There’s always topics to help pass the time. It’s something that’s been known for a while, yes, but it’s the most exciting thing that’s potentially happened to the Jacksonville Jaguars.”
What’s fascinating is that interest with the Jags hasn’t seen a major dip after 11 losing seasons in the past 12 years. It’s arguably helped content and ratings. Fans always have strong ideas on how to better run the organization. Whether the team is winning or losing, the local sports station’s airwaves are a perfect place to express that passion. If you lose that emotion, that’s when you run into trouble. But amidst the misfortunes, passion remains high in Jacksonville with the lone pro team in town. Creating content off of a losing team has not been difficult.
“I don’t think it’s that hard,” said Dempsey about creating content around a losing team. “I can always look at ways to improve the team or what they could have done differently. I think sports radio is easier when a team is bad, rather than when they’re good. It’s more fun when they’re good, don’t get me wrong, because the whole city is on fire, but people react more when they are unhappy. When things are going great, the phone lines don’t ring as much. Their reaction is to sit back and listen. People want to get on the phone and complain and tell you how they would fix things and I love that. As a sports radio host, you love that passion.”
Jaguars Today is a two-hour show every weekday from 10 a.m to noon EST that focuses exclusively on the Jags and the rest of the NFL. Dempsey, along with Tony Smith, provide a daily escape for the Jaguars fan that’s looking for smart, honest, and informed discussion on their team. But even though the NFL is a content giant, there are times when the biggest story in sports is outside of the shield. That can create a tricky situation. Does a show dedicated to football switch gears and address things that are happening in another league or sport, or continue serving what the audience expects?
“If it’s a major story that everyone in the sports world is talking about, we can touch on it for a few minutes,” Dempsey said. “It’s not like we’re going to get fired. We try not to stray, because we know the people that are coming to us feel like we are their NFL and Jaguars oasis, year round. You’d be surprised with how infrequently I feel like, man, I really wish I could get that in. You can always spin something that happens in other sports and make the equivalent to the NFL. As popular as the NFL is, it’s not an issue for content.”
I don’t think there’s a rule in sports radio where you can talk too much football. That’s why a football-centric show like Jaguars Today will continue to have a strong and loyal audience. The fact that Jags fans are underrated in the NFL when it comes to rowdiness only adds to it. It’s like a perfect ratings marriage, made even more special by a soon to be combo of a can’t-miss QB and national title winning head coach. Hope is once again the sell.
Dempsey loves what he does every day, regardless if Trevor Lawrence is the ultimate bust or the ultimate savior in Jacksonville. He’s patrolled the airwaves during a 1-15 season, as well as when the Jags were minutes away from a trip to the Super Bowl. Dempsey is confident, that, regardless of the outcome, the passion will always be there with the fan base, including outside of football season.
“I don’t know what the perception is around the league, but they’re a rabid bunch and they love talking about their team,” Dempsey said of Jacksonville football fans. “It just goes to show you the power of the NFL. Even a team that’s 1-15 and has had as many losing seasons as they’ve had in the past dozen years, it can dampen the enthusiasm but it can’t put it out. Jaguar fans are a passionate bunch. If nothing else comes across in this interview I hope that does. This is a much aligned fan base in terms of attendance and passion.”
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.
