The NFL is back in the spotlight this weekend with the NFL Combine, and the idea of putting college prospects through a series of drills to determine if they’re a fit at the professional level sparked an interesting discussion on FOX Sports Radio.
On The Doug Gottlieb Show on Thursday, Gottlieb and company came up with a combine for radio.
Jason Stewart said one thing he’d like to test a newcomer’s skills on is their ability to improvise, especially if there’s breaking news involved.
“Your ability to improvise in a professional manner and to be interesting while you’re doing it,” Stewart said was what he’d look for specifically.
Gottlieb said in terms of radio, you have to have a certain appeal with your voice.
“There has to be a certain warmth to your voice. It’s an audible profession – media,” he said. “Gotta have a warmth to your voice.”
Dan Beyer came in with humorous suggestions for various events. The first one he thought of was the “Father-yard dash” instead of the 40-yard dash.
“Who your dad is can really get you a spot in radio or in TV,” Beyer said. “It does work out.”
“How well you step on the backs of others to get to the top,” Beyer added as the other event. “If you can learn how to do that at a young age, you’re gonna go places in media. Especially too if you’re stepping on someone’s neck to not allow them to breathe as you’re making your way to the top.”
“Maybe one of our aspiring broadcasters has the ability to accuse the person that has the job that they want that they’re a racist,” Stewart responded. “And then they could just slide into their position after they’ve been let go.”
Gottlieb added that ultimately if you’re going to be in sports radio, you do need to be well-versed on all the big stories and goings on.
“You gotta know the basics to just about everything,” he said. “I don’t need War and Peace on each topic. But you need to know a lot of different topics.”
Stewart wondered how important depth of knowledge of sports is now in this landscape of podcasting and radio. He asked in terms of radio essential skills, where does sports knowledge rank. Gottlieb couldn’t answer definitively.
“I think it depends on what you’re doing, who you’re working for and what your time slot is,” he said. “But I do think you can be a know-it-all and know too much, and that doesn’t help you. But you gotta know the basics, right?”
