The life of a sports radio host is easier with football. That is one of those things that any idiot knows is true, but if you say it with enough conviction, sounds like you are making a bold declaration. Just look at what BSM’s own Ryan Maguire wrote earlier this month about just how much training camp alone can mean to a station.
We are one week into the preseason now. That means fans have seen games and have something they can overreact to, which is something you know they are dying to do.
I asked three hosts just how much easier their jobs are this week.
Nate Kreckman hosts Kreckman & Lindahl on Altitude Sports Radio in Denver. He says that thanks to a sustained run of mediocrity, his head is full of ideas for the next show after every Broncos’ game.
“There are a slew of them, both micro and macro,” he told me in a text. And the thing about the Broncos being as bad as they’ve ever been for a sustained period of time, every detail can be repurposed into a broader context.”
At the heart of the Broncos discussion on most days is what the team can, should, and will do under center. Kreckman told me that hosts in the city have been able to build entire shows around the quarterback situation for over half a decade.
“The Peyton Manning decline was huge, Broncos fans spent all of 2015 complaining about the offense right up until the second the clock hit 0:00 in Super Bowl 50, the Elway-Brock Osweiler divorce, the Paxton Lynch whiff, the weird signings of Case Keenum and Joe Flacco, and the mostly down roller coaster that has been the Drew Lock tenure. Pepper in a fair amount of criticism for the most popular sports figure in the state’s history (Elway) and the ownership debacle, and the Broncos have been one of the NFL’s biggest soap operas for going on 6 years now.”
Things are a little different in Charlotte, where Nick Wilson hosts WFNZ’s mid day show Nick & Stan. Things are still pretty easy for him the morning after a game. He says pre-season or regular season, a host should come in with the same mindset.
“You have a wealth of topics and sound,” Nick says. “Your job is to not screw it up.”
Charlotte doesn’t have the appetite for the Panthers that Denver does for the Broncos though. In fact, Nick says that he is noticing a real shift in the Queen City’s sports hierarchy.
“This is the least Panthers interest I’ve seen yet,” says Wilson, who has been in the market since 2019. “They haven’t been to the playoffs for 3 years, moved on from Cam Newton & Ron Rivera last year (and virtually all other veterans) and their quarterback selections have been less than desirable or not-at-all exciting. This is the first time I’ve seen Hornets excitement surpass Panthers excitement.”
Look 180 degrees from where Kreckman and Wilson stand on doing a show after the first preseason game and you will find Philadelphia’s John Kincade.
“I don’t find it that easy,” the morning host on 97.5 The Fanatic says.
Kincade doesn’t like talking about individual games. He prefers looking at storylines and the storylines that excite himself and his listeners involve players that they are going to see with regularity during the season. He says the sample size of content featuring those players is too small in the preseason.
“When we started the show on Friday, because the Eagles played Thursday night, I asked did anything you saw change what you think this team is going to be.”
He, rightfully, didn’t put much stock in seeing the team take the field for the first time. Jalen Hurts took a total of ten snaps. Rookie running back Kenneth Gainwell touched the ball four times. Fletcher Cox made a single tackle. It is fair to say no one outside of the Eagles’ building knows anything about this team yet.
“I said if your opinion moved one way or the other by any more than a single game, you are overthinking it,” Kincade says.
This is Philadelphia though and we are talking about the Eagles. John Kincade may not take as many phone calls as other hosts in the market, but you can bet there were things he paid attention to and wanted to tell listeners. He shared thoughts on Nick Sirianni’s personnel groupings and how the first time head coach divvied out playing time.
No matter how you view the preseason, football absolutely makes our lives easier in this business. It is America’s great unifier at the water cooler. Maybe not everyone has the same opinion, but everyone wants their opinion heard because they know everyone else has an opinion too. It’s a virtually guaranteed point of connection!
Nate Kreckman knows his audience wants to find reason for hope. Nick Wilson knows he has the tools to make a burned out fan base react. John Kincade is going to talk you off a ledge until he can’t find a reason to. Football makes Americans nuts, and when Americans are nuts, they need someone or something they can shout at, to, and with. That’s when we shine!
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.
