In case you hadn’t heard, the Kansas City Chiefs are heading to a fifth-straight AFC Championship Game. Coincidentally, that coincides with the five years I have worked and hosted a News Talk Show in Kansas City.
Some want to give all the credit to guys like Patrick Mahomes. Meantime, I sit back and wonder if I’m the real good luck charm this team needed all along. But I digress…
In my first year, it admittedly concerned me that the Chiefs were making a huge playoff run. I thought it would mean we’d lose all our listeners to sports talk. But in five years of watching this team make deep postseason runs, we haven’t seen any real loss for our station in January/February, in fact, we’ve seen bumps in prior years, as more Kansas Citians may be sampling the AM band looking for the two sports stations in KC (which only reside on AM) and stumble upon our News Talker.
That being said, we’ve also enjoyed getting to tap into the city’s excitement and giving our own spin on one of the most dominant sports teams in recent memory. No, we aren’t going to start breaking down the Chiefs’ secondary against the Bengals’ wide receivers for four hours. That’s not our place or role. But I will, and our station should discuss the energy in the city, the business angles of what hosting these events mean to big and small businesses alike, and more conversations that are appropriate for the format.
If it’s your market that’s next with a big World Series, Super Bowl or NBA Championship run, do not fear. Just own it in the lane that you operate and think outside the box. Your audience will be there.
Two examples come to mind that we’ve tapped into this week. First, we welcomed Patrick Mahomes’ high school coach on the show. Here’s someone who knew Mahomes when he was a teenager. He shared stories about the likely NFL MVP growing up that sports talk listeners weren’t going to get. We turn the story of the week into a human interest story on the biggest star in town that appeals to casual fans, along with some diehards, who may stumble upon our station.
Second, we are having a conversation this Friday with the man who is set to sing the National Anthem before the game on Sunday. He is a Missouri native named Generald Wilson, who is a veteran and has sung at several NFL Playoff games, World Series and more. Anything that combines celebrating the United States of America with a local veteran and the Kansas City Chiefs, is a home run for us.
This is an opportunity for us to lead the way with civic pride as a talk show and talk station. We aren’t going to beat the sports station at their game, and nor will we, or should we, try to. But we can take another exciting opportunity for Kansas City and make it fit our audience’s wants and needs.
Plus, if nothing else, this is a welcomed reprieve from talking about classified documents. This reminds me, I need to go through one more file cabinet in my office… Go Chiefs.
Pete Mundo is a weekly columnist for Barrett Media, and the morning show host and program director for KCMO in Kansas City. Previously, he was a fill-in host nationally on FOX News Radio and CBS Sports Radio, while anchoring for WFAN, WCBS News Radio 880, and Bloomberg Radio. Pete was also the sports and news director for Omni Media Group at K-1O1/Z-92 in Woodward, Oklahoma. He’s also the owner of the Big 12-focused digital media outlet Heartland College Sports. To interact, find him on Twitter @PeteMundo.
