Long before anyone used the radio airwaves to share their opinions on coaching decisions and free agent acquisitions, there was play-by-play. There is no sports radio today if someone at KDKA had not had the brilliant idea to set up a table and microphone at Pittsburgh’s Motor Sports Garden in 1921 so that fans at home could follow the action in a boxing match between Johnny Dundee and Johnny Ray.
Play-by-play on the radio is as old as sports radio gets and yet, for Good Karma Brands, it is seen as the key to the business’s future.
GKB has thirteen play-by-play partnerships across Major League Baseball, MLS, the NBA, NFL and NHL. Evan Cohen, the company’s VP of Content says each one of them is about more than just the games. Any partnership that a Good Karma station has with a team is built on the idea that it is a 365-day-a-year relationship.
“What team does not want their brand out there during the off-season? They love it,” he says. “We’re willing to do it during the off season as well and we want to do it. That doesn’t mean it’s taking over all of the shows, but that means if you’re going to tune into one of our stations, you’re going to go to one of our apps, or you’re going to go to our digital and social media channels, you’re going to know we’re partners with the team regardless of the time of year. So from a teams perspective, ‘Wow, we could be partners with this station in this company, and we’re really partners and we’re partners 365.’ They have enjoyed that.”
The company is trying to build relationships that benefit everyone they touch. So, in a play-by-play partnership, listeners get the games, but they also get access to players, coaches and other personalities on their favorite shows.
Cohen is quick to point out that advertising partners get a lift too. He uses the company’s relationship with the Lakers at ESPN Los Angeles as an example.
“In one partnership with us, you get to be associated with ESPN LA, GKB and the Los Angeles Lakers. One partnership, three massive entities altogether. I’m not going to put us on the level of the Lakers, but you get the point, right? So I think if you just look at it as an 82, 162 or 17 game season, that’s short-changing the beauty of a play-by-play partnership.”
Debbie Brown, the company’s Executive VP, notes that the clients are not alone. Her stations get the same kind of benefit. It changes the way they are viewed by listeners and the community they serve.
“When a partner associates with sports, it elevates their brand. By us working with each of these individual teams, whether it’s the Lakers, the Knicks, the Rangers, the Bears, or anyone else, it elevates our brand. There’s an automatic brand lift by having those team associations,” she says.
The lift in advertising revenue and the goodwill built with those partners aren’t the only benefits that Good Karma sees in play-by-play relationships. There are also tremendous networking and educational opportunities.
The Chicago Bears are the newest play-by-play acquisition for Good Karma Brands. It is a team with passionate fan bases across Illinois and into parts of Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri. Cohen says that GKB is benefitting everyday from conversations with the stations that serve Bears fans in those areas.
“I believe there are somewhere between 15 and 20 radio stations that we’re now partners with. We didn’t purchase a radio station, we don’t own the radio station, we don’t program the radio station, but as a result of the acquisition of the Chicago Bears partnership, we are now partners with 15 to 20 radio stations. So now we are legally, morally and ethically exchanging ideas. How could we not get better as a result of that? It’s impossible.”
There is a commitment to that benefit too. Good Karma Brands isn’t just looking to inherit a network built by whatever company was the team’s previous partner. The company is adding payroll as part of its commitment to its play-by-play mission.
“We have added two GKB teammates who just work on play-by-play, one who is the Director of Play-by-Play Partnerships and one whose role is exclusively to build affiliate partnerships,” Debbie Brown says. “I think as Evan was talking about, the way we’re trying to build our affiliate footprint and having that bigger network of stations that we’re working with, is unique.”
The Chicago Bears and White Sox, the New York Rangers, Islanders, Knicks, and Jets, the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers, the Los Angeles Lakers, Rams, Angels and LAFC all call Good Karma stations home. None of them have as unique a relationship with the company as the Cleveland Browns do.
Cohen says the company approaches any meeting with a team honestly. GKB isn’t out to overpromise and underdeliver. It also isn’t going to tell a team why they shouldn’t be working with a competitor.
Good Karma’s relationship with any team is based on both sides evaluating how needs get met and how problems get solved. He says Cleveland is a great example of that.
The Browns wanted to be in business with ESPN Cleveland, but there was a problem. The team desperately wanted to be on FM radio. The station is on 850 on the AM band. It could not offer the team an FM stick.
“Our management team at the time was Craig Karmazin, Keith Williams and Sam Pines,” Cohen explains. “Not only did they find an an FM station, they found what is deemed in the radio world to be our direct competitor (Audacy’s 92.3 The Fan). Why? Solutions to Problems. So Craig and Keith and Sam said to the Browns, ‘We think the best way to brand this is to put you on both sports stations. One of them is not even our company. But we are so confident in our ability to develop a partnership, and partnership really means finding solutions to any needs.’
“If the Browns had a need of an FM station, it wasn’t any FM station. These are the Cleveland Browns. This is this is life and death for people in Cleveland. They live off of this stuff. So let’s prop it up as best as we can. When the Browns hear us suggest that – if we’re Coca-Cola and we’re suggesting Pepsi – they know how serious we are about this.”
So much in the radio industry is changing so quickly in 2023. That doesn’t mean the old, reliable products of our industry don’t still have plenty of value to our businesses and our listeners.
Good Karma Brands prides itself on being as innovative as anyone, but innovation isn’t the only way to find and create value in broadcasting. Radio play-by-play is a time-tested and well-worn business model. So is starting business relationships with the idea of customer service in mind. Combining two things with long, rich histories has helped GKB develop a plan that leaders believe secures the company’s future.
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.
