It’s not easy to compare a scene in Star Trek to a national sports radio network, but Rob Parker feels like he’s Captain Kirk on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise when he’s sitting in the new Fox Sports Radio studios. It’s easy to see why, when you look at the complete revamp the Los Angeles studio for FSR unveiled late last month. It’s something the sports radio world has never seen, as it combines state of the art technology with improved sound quality.
After hosting shows in the same studio for multiple decades, Fox Sports Radio decided it was time for a revamp. But the network didn’t want the improvements to extend to just a few new microphones and a backdrop. Fox Sports Radio was committed to going all in to help improve both its terrestrial radio and video presence.
“We’ve outgrown the studio. We’ve outgrown it based on the caliber of the network, whether it’s the people on the air or behind the scenes,” said Scott Shapiro, Senior Vice President, Premiere Networks Sports & Fox Sports Radio. “We’ve outgrown it and we’ve also outgrown it from a technology standpoint as well. This has long been in the making to get an upgrade and really a great upgrade.”
The upgrade wasn’t made to the existing studio at the time, rather just steps away in another studio has no shortage of history within Premier Radio Networks.
“What we did is we renovated the old Rush Limbaugh and Steve Harvey studios,” said Shapiro. “They were right down the hall from our existing studios. So literally steps away. It’s actually directly next to Casey Kasem’s old Top 40 countdown studio. It’s pretty hallowed ground, when you’re able to renovate Rush Limbaugh and Steve Harvey’s studio.”
The unveiling has been received incredibly well by the talent at Fox Sports Radio. So much so, the comparison to a “new car smell” has been frequently used to describe the excitement that hosts have.
“It’s slick, it’s fancy, it’s beautiful,” said Parker, co-host of The Odd Couple. “I just think it makes you more comfortable. It feels big time. You feel like you’re broadcasting to 400 stations across the country. It’s the best studio I’ve ever worked out of.”
The original vision for the new studio was to incorporate a digital media component that’s unrivaled across the business. Fox Sports Radio has a deep understanding of the importance of being on multiple platforms and wanted to emphasize that understanding with a commitment to its digital media presence. The old FSR studios didn’t have that capability. That’s now significantly changed.
“The digital video presence was a top priority when making this move,” said Shapiro. “Largely, these studios are now internet based and they’re powered by technology, where the old one was set up before all of that.
“It gives us all sorts of tools to broadcast our shows, whether it’s live or whether it’s on-demand clips for people to see us. What’s great is we now have technology where our great video digital team, they don’t have to be there themselves in studio and they can capture clips. They can stream what we’re doing and they’re able to do it from home.”
The new studio has seemingly injected a ton of positive morale across the team at FSR. That excitement is felt by both Steve Covino and Rich Davis, who co-host Covino and Rich.
“It’s state of the art,” said Covino. “It looks good, it smells good, it smells fresh and it has that new car, new studio scent to it. I just think that helps provide for a good mood and a good workspace. You want to feel good and you want to feel positive and be energized and fired up about going to work. Especially now that people are reluctant to go back to work. This just makes us want to be there.”
“For all the great success FSR has had I think we were due for a studio upgrade,” said Davis. “You go to work and have fun doing a show but Covino is right, when it feels fresh and it feels new, like every radio studio, everyone was throwing their coffee off the backboard and the backboard was the wall. Much like other places we’ve worked at, SiriusXM, ESPN, Fox, it’s nice when you freshen things up.”
Though the obvious advantages are the video component and excitement amongst all the hosts, there’s also big improvements to the terrestrial radio side of things.
“Even the sound quality is better, being in a new studio for our audio listeners,” said Shapiro. “There’s better microphones, there’s better sound proofing and there’s even more thought to the entire audio element. That’s an upgrade in itself, which is fantastic, even for folks who can’t see what we’re doing.”
Covid delayed the unveiling, but Fox Sports Radio never wanted to unveil the new studio until it was completely ready to go. FSR wanted to allocate every resource to ensure it was the new standard in the business.
“It was really important for us to responsibly make our product the absolute best it can be,” Shapiro. “ We saw a great opportunity to grow, and the quality of our new studio is certainly reflected on the air. Many thanks to Fred Merkel and Kiris Coburn who worked around the clock to make it all happen.”
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.
