Ryan Brown, Jim Dunaway, Lance Taylor and Sean “Rockstar” Heninger may never host a show on terrestrial radio again. That’s a jarring statement, seeing as the group spent a collective 77 years at WJOX 94.5 FM in Birmingham and hosted one of the most popular shows Alabama sports talk radio has ever seen. But if the group never does another show on the radio dial, it just might mean their new venture turned into a massive success.
The former hosts of The Roundtable are betting big on themselves by leaving one of the most established radio stations in the south and creating their own digital platform. No, they weren’t pushed out of JOX, in fact, the station offered the show an extension. But the crew wanted a new challenge, a new format and a chance to change the landscape of Alabama sports media. Thus, The Next Round was born.
“We’re beyond excited about this,” said Taylor. “There’s just so much we can do with it. We really wanted autonomy, equity and to create our own thing by building a digital platform. We’ve seen very talented people in the industry that are going this route..”
Taylor is right. Talented hosts such as Clay Travis, Pat McAfee, Dan Le Batard and Joe Rogan are doing incredible work with digital platforms and they’re only getting more popular by the day. The Next Round is hoping they’ll be the next to prove you don’t need an AM or FM signal to be a popular sports talk show.
“Obviously we’re light years away from those guys,” said Taylor. “But I’m really good friends with Clay Travis and what he’s been able to do at Outkick has been incredible. I have no idea where this thing is going, it’s truly limitless. But it’s also a little sad, because I spent so much time in radio. The elements of everything were going to do, it’s going to include everything but terrestrial radio. That’s the only thing we won’t be doing.”
Starting in August, The Next Round will air every weekday morning from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm CST. That means they’ll be changing their time slot from morning drive to mid-morning and the middle of the day.
“Part of our desire was to get out of morning drive,” said Dunaway. “Not all of us were big fans of waking up at 3:30 in the morning.”
Several options will be available to both listen and watch The Next Round when the new show debuts next month. Initially, the website, nextroundlive.com, will be the easiest way to listen to the show. However, a mobile app is on the horizon and will give listeners the option to stream directly.
The option to watch the show will also be easy, as The Next Round will stream on YouTube, Twitch as well as Facebook and Twitter.
“We’re going to stream our show 24 hours a day,” said Dunaway. If you’re on the app, we’ll always be on the air. If you want to listen to us from 9 to 1 or 2 o’clock or 5 o’clock in the afternoon, if you work late nights driving a truck, you can get the app and it’ll be like streaming live with us.”
As exciting as this new venture is, there’s a big risk that’s involved. The obvious question to ask, is why? Why leave one of the most popular radio stations in the south, where each guy had security, a good paycheck and a wildly popular show? Why risk all of that for a massive unknown?
“I was really comfortable at JOX and I had a really good client list,” said Taylor, who also did sales at JOX. “I had a lot of security there but it was the right time, at this stage in my life, we were just ready for a new chapter and a new challenge. I think this digital platform is it.”
“It’s climbing up a new mountain for us,” said Dunaway. “I’ve done 20 years of television and jumped into radio, because it was a different challenge and I love that format. I’ve always liked trying new things and this is the next mountain to climb. I wanted to make sure all four of us are together for the rest of my career.”
This won’t be the first time listeners have been asked to follow the show during a switch. At JOX, the show moved from the middle of the day to morning drive after nine years in the lunch slot. The listeners followed and the expectation is that they’ll do the same thing this time around. The good news for those who loved The Roundtable is that the show will sound very different than it did on terrestrial radio.
“My view is that we’ll continue to focus on Alabama and Auburn,” said Brown “Those are the local teams that the mass majority of our listeners and viewers care about. I think the TV numbers show this, there’s people in Birmingham and all across Alabama that love college football. Alabama and Auburn are going to be the focus, naturally, but college football is going to be the focus, overall. “
The fact the show has worked for so long is what gives the group the most confidence The Next Round will be a success. Granted, Taylor’s ability to sell advertising and Heninger’s understanding of how to produce the show are major pluses, but the chemistry between all four guys is what truly shines.
“We’re basically like brothers, because we mess with each other a lot,” said Heninger. “We’ll comment on each other’s shoes or clothes, really anything. Everyone has something we like to rag on. The chemistry just works.”
Heninger doubles as a musician that plays local gigs in the Birmingham area. Taylor swears he’s the most talented in the group and notes his impeccable timing of often only saying one thing an hour, but making it so funny, it’s often the most memorable thing said the entire hour. Rockstar is truly the comedic relief of the show.
FCC regulations are no longer a worry, due to the show not broadcasting on terrestrial radio. So how might that change things?
“That’s a very popular question,” laughed Taylor. “We have three layers to the show. Brown is very conservative. Very witty, but very conservative. Dunaway is kind of middle of the road and I’m the guy they kind of peg as El Diablo. We’re not going to be dropping F bombs left and right, just to do it. It’s amazing I made it 23 years in the business without ever breaking an FCC violation. Now I just don’t have to have the guard and filter up that much. There’s not a filter but we still want it to be authentic.”
There are some unknowns with The Next Round. Taylor has never sold digital media, product placement or YouTube. There’s also the fact that so many different viewing and listening options could create confusion and/or headaches for the audience, and no one knows yet if the listeners will follow the show to a new platform or just stick to their comfortable routine of listening to sports talk on the radio dial on JOX.
But big rewards come from taking big risks. These guys are well aware of the challenges they’re facing and they’re betting on themselves. If it breaks right, the return could be massive.
“I have complete confidence in the guys I work with,” said Brown. “We all have the same vision and we’re united in it. I have confidence in those who have always followed us. They’re loyal and fans of ours. The people of Alabama love college football and sports. We do that and in an entertaining fashion. That’s what we do.”
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.
