Tuesday was an unforgettable day in sports radio. First, you thought you had a gift dropped in your lap with the news Aaron Rodgers was heading back to Green Bay. Then shortly after, the biggest story of the offseason hit the wire.
Raj Sharan, PD at 104.3 The Fan in Denver, had no idea a trade was coming between the Broncos and Seahawks for Russell Wilson. But as soon as the news broke, he started focusing on how to maximize the opportunity for his station.
Sharan is notorious for quickly getting station promos on the air shortly after breaking news hits. Jim Cutler even pointed this out at a previous BSM Summit. I’ll one-up Cutler and put Sharan’s imaging skills against anyone else in the business.
When the news dropped that Denver was acquiring an elite quarterback, I turned to The Fan to hear the live reaction. As I listened, I wondered when I would hear the first station promo with Wilson. It didn’t take long.
It felt like less than 15 minutes and Sharan already had something on the air. The booming voice of Cutler saying “Let Russ Cook! Let Russ Cook!” filled the airwaves for an exciting and timely drop. But he wasn’t done. Far from it. It was the biggest news in Denver sports since the Broncos last hoisted the Super Bowl. Heck, maybe since Peyton Manning signed in 2012. He was out to out-do himself.
“We had no idea the trade was going to happen,” Sharan said. “But once it did, I knew we had to make the most of the moment.”
His idea was a billboard in the city that celebrated the breaking news. There were steps that needed to take place, most notably getting the green light from his bosses. Once that was taken care of, Raj quickly turned around billboard designs like one of the many promos you hear on The Fan.
“I made some calls to get approval and find out the location,” Sharan said.”It was so awesome. I received so much support from our guys.”
As you can imagine it was an instant hit. Broncos fans all across Denver were tweeting out pictures of the new billboard that read, “Let’s Cook, Russ! Welcome to Denver, Russell Wilson.” Then at the bottom of the billboard was the slogan and logo of The Fan. It was a brilliant idea. But even more impressive was the execution by Sharan to make it happen in such a timely manner.
“I thought it was awesome that we could embrace the moment so quickly,” said Darren ‘DMac” Mckee, co-host of The Drive. “Raj had mocked it up. He comes to me and he goes, what do you think? I go, wow, it looks great. I looked at it, thought about it for a second, and went, well, will people understand it’s Russell Wilson?
“We all know it in the sports landscape, but I’m wondering if the person driving around will understand it’s Russell Wilson, because it did say his name, it just didn’t stand out as much on top. Raj goes, hold on a second, let me look at it. Five minutes later he comes back and says, what about this? It had Russell Wilson on the top in a bigger way. I go, wow, it’s crazy you can make it look so different so quickly. I told him both designs looked great. He said, yeah, I’m going to use both of them.”
That’s the advantage of a digital billboard. If one design wasn’t impressive enough, Sharan had two designs up in front of Denver traffic before the evening commute home. But then it got even bigger. As pictures of the new billboard made its rounds on social media, one of the most well-known media members in the country tweeted out a picture of Sharan’s creation.
“The first text I got from my wife was, wow, nice billboard,” Mckee said. “I said, oh, did you drive by it? She said, no, I just saw it on social media.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and a regular contributor to The Fan, shared a photo of the billboard with his 9.2 million followers on Twitter. Instantly it went viral.
“I had no idea Adam was going to do that but it was really cool that he did,” Sharan said.
“Adam isn’t doing it just because he does spots for us,” McKee said. “I’m sure it doesn’t hurt. But there’s an element of look at this. I thought it was pretty amazing.”
What’s funny is Sharan sounds like a humble quarterback when you ask him about his forward thinking idea. He’s quick to give credit to his staff and deflect all of the praise elsewhere. The reality is that it was an incredible idea with exceptional execution. It’s also something his station will benefit greatly from. Sharan will tell you he was just doing his job, but his above and beyond idea should be celebrated.
It should also be a shining example of how teamwork at a radio station can make something special happen. Breaking news hit Denver and everyone at The Fan pulled on the same rope to capture a special day.
“I have such an incredible team around me,” Sharan said. “It almost brings tears to my eyes when I think about it.”
“Give Raj a ton of credit for being a boss that actually thinks like that in the first place and wasn’t so set in his ways that he had to have it his way,” added McKee. “You have to understand, the second mock-up happened in minutes.”
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.
