Going to law school changed Amber Wilson’s sports radio career forever. The funny thing, is if you would have told her the first day that would be the case, she would have responded by saying, what sports radio career?
While she was prepping to be an attorney, she never would have guessed her life would take her to sports radio, where, she was a host at 790 The Ticket in Miami for five years and a weekend host on ESPN Radio.
Law school worked out for Wilson. Today, she has a successful law firm with her husband in south Florida. She’s also still doing sports radio, hosting on the weekends on ESPN Radio. Her story is one of those, where, no matter what she did, the universe wouldn’t let her walk away from the microphone.
Wilson is one of the most interesting hosts in the business, because she doubles as an attorney. That benefits her greatly when topics such as Name, Image and Likeness are at the forefront of the conversation, especially since her firm is planning to represent athletes in this new endeavor. It makes her stand out from other hosts. Not just because of her other job title, but because of how law school taught her how to think.
“I think being an attorney ended up helping me tremendously,” said Wilson. “I was in the sports media business for seven years before I decided to go to law school, so I had years without the lawyer experience. When I made the decision to go to law school I wasn’t really expecting it to help me in broadcasting. That wasn’t my goal. My goal was to practice law. But I do think it ended up helping, particularly when it came to sports radio, because they teach you to think differently.
“If you’re a lawyer, you have an ability to see every side of an issue and to take your own emotions and own viewpoints out of it, and sometimes, it can really help you be a lot more interesting in sports radio, where, maybe you can find an angle where people aren’t talking about. It really just gave me a different way of thinking.”
Wilson left 790 The Ticket in June, citing the need to focus more on her law firm. She was initially tasked with filling the vacancy Joy Taylor left behind after her move to Fox Sports. They were big shoes to fill, but she immediately took the reins and showcased her on-air talent.
Wilson did that while battling some of the toughest challenges of her life. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to fit the show around her treatments. She even got pregnant, but then learned her mom had brain cancer and her grandmother had lung cancer all in the same week. It felt like an avalanche, but through it all, she was professional and gave it her all every day on the air.
Wilson had an incredible five-year run at the station before stepping down. She still has her weekend show on ESPN Radio, but is more involved with her law firm than ever.
“I feel great about it,” said Wilson. “I loved my time there, like you mentioned, it was the hardest five years of my life on the personal front with my battle with cancer, as well as losing my mother and grandmother and some of the personal stuff I went through. But professionally it was a great five years. It was so much fun. It’s my favorite job I’ve had up to this point. I’ve had a lot of jobs in broadcasting, but we talked about how I was a sports radio nerd, and radio is something I always wanted to do.
“There’s just nothing else like sports radio, where you show up and just shoot the shit with your friends about sports for four hours and joke around and have fun. 790 was great to me, management was great to me through all those personal struggles, as well, and I really enjoyed everyone that I worked with. I really did.”
As an attorney, Wilson mostly deals with professional athletes. Her firm doesn’t release the names of their clients, but she says a lot of people would be surprised by the players they represent. On the air, Wilson takes on the identity of the city she loves the most when it comes to sports radio: Miami
“I’ve been in the Miami area and South Florida for the past 15 years,” said Wilson. “I’ve been really, really influenced, I feel like those are my formative years as an adult, post college. I feel like during those adult years I really tuned into a Miami brand of radio. Certainly, Dan Le Batard and his show. They’re the leaders there with that kind of radio. Generally speaking, that is my favorite type of sports radio, because it mixes entertainment with sports. Sometimes it’s not so sports heavy and I can certainly do a sports heavy type of radio. On other days I want to be entertained like everyone else. I like funny, I like entertainment, I obviously like sports there as well, but I want everything in my sports radio that’s typically the brand that I gravitate towards.”
You can make an argument Miami is one of the most unique sports radio markets in the country. On a sports radio show, it almost seems like the less sports you talk and the more pop culture you infunce, the better. But how did Miami adapt and develop that identity of sports radio?
“I think it’s Dan Le Batard,” Wilson said. “I also think it is a consequence of the market. I think most markets are honestly more like Miami than New York. I think most markets are not necessarily as diehard as like New York and Boston. I think most places you have to be entertaining on sports radio. Miami is an event town and they certainly want entertainment. You’re not going to reel them in if you’re too stiff or too bored. Dan Le Batard recognized that and obviously he is Miami. He really led the way and influenced the rest of us.”
It’s been quite a ride the past 15 years for Wilson, both personally and professionally. What the next 15 years holds is uncertain, but she’s ready to handle anything that comes her way.
“It’s been a heck of a ride so far,” Wilson said. “Certainly not the ride I would’ve predicted, when I was 23 years old entering this business. I’m 38 now and I’ve been in it for quite some time and I would say that I’ve never really gone according to some sort of plan. People always ask me that, like, what do you ultimately want to do? I’ve learned to kind of go with the flow a little more than that over the years. I went to law school and I had the thought of getting out, and then I got sucked back in, and I’m so glad I did.”
“At the end of the day I love it and being a sports broadcaster was always my goal from the time I was a little girl. I do see myself staying on the radio. I have my concerns about the direction of radio in the future, such as, will we all be streaming and podcasting or will radio cease to exist one day? Obviously, everyone has those concerns in the business but I love the format so much it would be awesome if I can continue on this path. I just want to do more and get more opportunities. I want to do it.”
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.
