The sports media is an industry full of egos. That means that a programmer, has to know how to get the most out of people that can sometimes bristle at criticism of any sort. I have been thinking about that a lot lately as I look to move into a PD role in the future. The best comparison I have been able to come up with is the player-friendly coach.
Maybe you’re the type that reveres an old school, disciplinarian approach. Perhaps you got a lot out of that kind of treatment from your high school or little league coach. That’s fine. I am not telling you there is no value there, but you were a kid. You had to listen to what the coach had to say. When you are dealing with fellow adults and are in a business out to make stars, it can be a little tougher. You have to be more Ty Lue and less Doc Rivers.
Ryan Haney is a guy in this industry that I lean on a lot for advice. He has been the program director of JOX 94.5 in Birmingham for a long time and has seen the station grow from a niche AM station to one of the market’s top billers and one of the country’s most respected voices on college football.
He told me that so much of that “player-friendly” approach is about knowing when it is time to address a problem. Not every mistake requires a dressing down or even acknowledgement.
“Everyone has an off day,” he told me. “I think we all want a little grace, so we should give a little as well. The goal is to learn from it.”
So how do you address real problems? Remember, these are the kinds of things that reflect poorly on the programmer too. How do you get across the message that there is a problem and something has to change while still being player-friendly?
“If I hear something that is very off, I try to get with the person and see what a root cause is,” Haney says. “Many times it is something going on their personal life. That being said, if you aren’t prepared, don’t have the correct attitude and don’t give maximum effort – then you are falling short. It is actually possible to do those things and have an off day.”
Raj Sharan is a relative newcomer compared to Haney. Raj has been program director of 104.3 The Fan in Denver since early 2019. The station is a ratings juggernaut. That means that if there is a problem that needs to be corrected, he is likely talking to someone that can look at him and say “the ratings don’t think there is a problem.”
It doesn’t seem like that happens often, if at all, but I did want to know how Raj approaches his staff with ideas for what needs to change.
“You have to know your team and develop different tools of communication for each one of them. The way I share feedback with Mark Schlereth is different than my dialogue with Brandon Stokley, which differs from how I talk to Tyler Polumbus, etc,” he said in an email.
He says that he has gone out of his way to learn how each member of his staff likes to communicate. For some, it is short and to the point. For others, there is some massaging that has to happen for the message to be received properly. The same is true for tone. Raj doesn’t care how he has to deliver the message so long as it is understood and put into action.
When he stepped into the PD role, Raj was aware that the station didn’t need to be torn down and rebuilt. If he didn’t touch a thing that his predecessor, Armen Williams, had put in place, the station would be just fine. But just fine wasn’t what Raj was gunning for.
He made it clear to his staff from day 1 that he had ideas. That didn’t mean they were ever going to hear him use the phrase “because I said so” to explain the changes he made.
“I was upfront with as many of our team members as possible about those areas and found the transparency was welcome, particularly when I talked about the motivating factors behind the focus. We’d discuss the things that were already working well, and how I saw an opportunity to tweak things and make The Fan brand even better. Whether it was expanding our digital footprint or adding someone to strengthen our analysis of the Nuggets and Avalanche… whatever the idea was: my approach from day one was to be transparent and explain why I believed it was worth exploring.”
For Haney, there is a needle to thread. He loves being hands on, but knows right now that the best approach might be to take his hands off of JOX from day to day.
Ryan is a big believer in the “blocking and tackling” of sports radio. He doesn’t want his staff to forget the value of even the most basic skills. As tedious as lessons in re-setting and teasing can be, those are things that matter.
“Teasing is a major focus and there is a fine between an effective tease and teasing for the sake of it. If there is no immediate payoff, then it’s a waste of the consumers time. As far as re-setting I don’t think you can do it enough in a diary market.”
Right now though, Haney is playing a wait and see game. JOX just overhauled its lineup with new shows in the morning and mid day. It’s one established show, 3 Man Front, even saw some change thanks to changes in the lineup and run time.
He wants his three shows to learn the playbook and get a few shots in before he takes a long, hard look at what needs to improve.
“With our recent changes the goal was to let it breathe for the first couple of weeks and give and receive feedback in a collaborative way,” Haney says. “So much of content feedback is subjective. Obsesessing about one segment or topic, isn’t constructive in my opinion. I am listening for trends that could form habits, both positive and negative and how to grow from that.”
A friend asked me a question not too long ago. Are the stations that we think of as truly the very best in this format full of elite talent or is it possible for a brand to make anyone a star. I thought about that a lot as I processed Aaron Rodgers’s press conference last week.
The idea that the Packers could wait their star quarterback out always seemed absurd to me. Sure, the team controls his contract, but this isn’t going to be a plug-and-play situation when it comes to finding his replacement. No matter what Jordan Love turns out to be, the Green Bay Packers hit the jackpot in back to back quarterback changes. That yellow helmet doesn’t guarantee it happens again any time soon if ever. Brands, like teams, are only as special as their most special talent in a particular moment.
That is something Raj Sharan thinks about a lot too. I asked him if it was possible for brands to make stars. He says that while hosts can benefit from the following a brand has when they arrive, it is no indication of their longterm success.
“Building a strong brand and goodwill with the audience isn’t easy, but maintaining that brand can be just as challenging. When you’ve established high standards as have on The Fan, our audience has an expectation of quality we must constantly strive to reach and exceed. When assessing anyone on our current or evaluating a prospective candidate, I’m consistently asking myself if that personality’s performance not only fits in with The Fan brand but lives up to the quality our audience has come to expect.”
There is no way to overstate the importance of having a staff that is on your side and buys into your vision. For a programmer, the best way to accomplish that may be massaging your vision and massaging the talent’s ego until each fits the other perfectly.
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.
