If you’re ever lucky enough to have a dream job in the sports media industry, count your blessings and consider yourself one of the lucky few. But if you’re like Bram Weinstein and have had three dream jobs in your career, just go ahead and consider yourself the luckiest person on earth.
Weinstein will be the first to tell you how lucky he’s been during his career. Granted, it takes a ton of talent to be awarded opportunities such as a SportsCenter anchor, an afternoon drive radio host talking about his favorite teams and the play-by-play voice for the Washington Commanders, all before age 50, but Weinstein has lived a career where he’s enjoyed three jobs most people would consider a dream. So much so, that the 7-year-old version of himself would have aspired to be the broadcaster he is today.
“I knew I wanted to do this when I was a kid,” said Weinstein. “I was one of those kids watching games and pretending to call them. I knew early on. Even when I was in high school I wrote for the school newspaper, I was the PA announcer at the basketball games, I only applied to broadcasting programs, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Like everyone else, it’s hard to break in but I had a couple of really great internships in college.
“One was at SportsTalk 980 in Washington D.C. It had only been around for a year or two when I interned there and when I graduated I ended up working for them. First I went off for a couple of years for my first job in Nebraska. That was my first on air TV job after college. I spent two years there and I came back home to D.C. I ended up working at SportsTalk 980 and that’s what really got the ball rolling. It was incredible being 24 years old, back home and covering the Redskins.”
You have to respect Weinstein’s willingness and ability to put himself on multiple fronts of the sports media industry. He did TV out of college at a small station in Nebraska and later on was a beat reporter in D.C. covering the Redskins. When you combine that with his past duty as a SportsCenter host and his current positions as a play-by-play voice and radio host, he’s done and seen it all. That has undoubtedly helped shape him as the broadcaster he is today.
“Very lucky, first off,” Weinstein said. “Most people don’t get the opportunities that I’ve gotten to do. To be an afternoon drive radio host, to be a play-by-play voice of an NFL team and to have been a SportsCenter anchor, I’m very fortunate that all of those things actually happened. I would say it’s made me appreciate my career. It’s made me appreciate the very different ways in which we communicate. Doing highlights for SportsCenter I think helped me understand what it would be like in a live situation to call games, which is ultimately what I always wanted to do.”
“I’ve loved all the jobs I’ve had, but I value being the Voice of the Commanders in a way I can’t really put into words. It means so much to me, that was when I was a kid, seven years old, watching television. I was turning off the sound, turning up the radio and listening to the famous voice of the Redskins at the time, Frank Herzog with the two legends Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff and I was pretending I was him. To really be doing it now and texting him and thanking him for being a mentor to me. There’s nothing like it.”
The Bram Weinstein Show on ESPN 630 The Sports Capitol allows him the freedom to bring analysis and opinions to the NFL team he spends Sunday’s calling games for. But as much as he loves football, he also loves the other local teams in town and the radio show affords him the opportunity to show his fandom for the Caps, Wizards, and Nationals.
However, Commanders talk is what most of the content centers around, seeing as it’s easily the largest sports entity in town. There’s certainly benefits to being the play-by-play voice of a team and hosting a local show, but there’s also a fine line you’re probably going to have to walk.
“It’s tricky,” said Weinstein. “When I was a beat reporter I also had radio shows and so there was a reporter aspect, but I was also giving my opinion, so that got tricky. The key for me is I believe I have a very good relationship with the organization. I believe as long as you don’t get personal about things, that everything is fair game.
“And I know the rules. Being the play-by-play voice allows me some access that most other media don’t have. I don’t want to take that for granted and I don’t want to make them think they can’t trust me. So there’s a lot of things I know and see that I’m never going to disseminate publicly.”
“When it comes to analyzing the game, I think I’m in a pretty well positioned place to do so from a pretty educated background. I don’t pretend to be a player or know it like they will, but I’m not far off, just based on access and the players and coaches I talk to.
“I feel empowered to speak my mind but there are limitations and certainly with this organization, just Google what’s going on with them to know, I have to walk a fine line about what I really want to say about what’s going on with a lot of things.”
D.C. is like most NFL cities, in that the local football team is almost always the biggest story, regardless of where the calendar falls. Weinstein knows this, but also doesn’t want his radio show to be one that will only talk Commanders. He wants to spread the wealth.
“The Commanders are the biggest entity here, so they’re the biggest story,” said Weinstein. “Them signing a major free agent will trump any game the Wizards, Caps, or Nats are playing. That said, I’m a huge sports fan. I’m a homer and I love all of our home teams. I go to a lot of those games.
“My first love was football, but it doesn’t mean I’m not really into what the rest of the teams are doing. Even at this time of the year, we dedicate a lot of time to the other teams. Clearly the Commanders will dominate the coverage, but we don’t ignore anyone in this town.”
Think about the daily duties required to be the play-by-play voice for an NFL team and also host a three-hour afternoon radio show. During the season, Weinstein probably doesn’t know what a day off looks like. So if the workload wasn’t enough, a few years ago, he started a podcast company that focuses on covering local D.C. sports and beyond.
Ampire Media has several podcasts under its umbrella that focuses on the local sports team in town and beyond. ESPN NFL Nation Reporter John Keim hosts The John Keim Report. Former agent Joel Corry explains the ins and outs of the NFL salary cap on Inside the Cap and former Terp Kevin McLinton hosts College Parc, to just name a few. There’s close to 20 podcasts with Ampire Media, with the hope of adding even more.
“The reason why I started it a few years ago was I always had an entrepreneurial bug,” said Weinstein. “This was something I wanted to try and find out if I could start a network, run a network, be a producer, could I be an executive producer, I do feel like there’s space for really good, educated, entertaining talk about the local teams.
“Initially when I started I thought I’d have a few more national shows, but I’ve realized my lane is this area. I know these teams the best, I know this area the best, I know who the best people who are plugged into these teams would be, and I’m consistently reaching out and trying to build out the network.”
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.
