Let me start by admitting my bias. I am a lifelong fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. My Uncle John didn’t work for the team, but he worked for IBM and the team was one of his clients in the late 80s and early 90s. He didn’t have a son, so any time he would get kids-sized swag from the team, it got sent my way.
Between that fandom and being a Southerner, I have always considered WDAE something special. As far as I was concerned in my college years, the tent poles of Southern sports talk were WJOX in Birmingham, WFNZ in Charlotte and WDAE in Tampa.
Since we started the Meet the Market Managers series in conjunction with Point-to-Point Marketing, I have wanted to highlight Chris Soechtig and the job he does at iHeartMedia Tampa Bay.
In our conversation, we hit on the importance of play-by-play as a marketing tool, unconventional competition, and how the world of independent media has influences his sales staff.
Demetri Ravanos: Around the sports world, we know the impact that Tom Brady had on the Buccaneers as a team and as a culture. But what about on the broadcast? What did you see happened to advertising and interest in the Buccaneers’ radio broadcast when he came to town and played those three years?
Chris Soechtig: The Brady effect was absolutely huge. Before Brady, I want to say we didn’t make the playoffs for 12 consecutive years.
DR: I grew up a big fan of the Buccaneers. I felt every bit of the drought.
CS: Exactly, so you get it. Brady elevated the standards and the expectations for winning on that team. From day one, that was contagious. This is a football town. When he came to Tampa, it changed everybody’s perspective. Even on the broadcast side, there was an air of confidence and swagger that came along with having Brady in our market. Whether it was on the team or just in the community, he demonstrated he’s a champion in so many ways. People wanted to emulate that, from the way he trained to his work ethic to self-care.
On the business side, there was a lot of excitement around the Bucs with Brady on the team. Businesses wanted to be a part of it. We’ve got a unique broadcast relationship with the Buccaneers. The flagship is 98ROCK. The partnership is a marketing play for us. The team owns and sells the inventory on game day. But we also carry a players/coaches on sports radio 95.3WDAE. And that’s where listeners go throughout the week to get their Buccaneer football fix.
DR: Are we too early to know how that changes going into next season or are there things you already know about the broadcast that you can see “Oh, yeah. That wonderful three-year period is definitely over”?
CS: Well, before the season starts, we’re all number one, right? That being said, there are realistic expectations of what the season could look like. We’ve got Baker Mayfield at the helm and Kyle Trask is still on the radar. We just don’t know how that will play out. But we’ve got a very good team. As far as I’m concerned, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are a couple of the best receivers in the league. And we’ve got a great defense with Vita Vea, Devin White, and LeVonta David; go through the list.
That said, even when they aren’t leading the division, there’s just a high level of enthusiasm around the Bucs and the NFL in Tampa Bay. How that affects broadcast? It’s interesting, during losing seasons you can see a higher level of engagement with sports radio. People love to call in and critique our team and talk about what we need to do to improve and what are the moves we need to make.
On 95.3 WDAE, we’ve really built a strong local lineup. That’s unique compared to a lot of other markets. We’ve got live mornings, middays, and afternoons. With our team, there’s definitely a bit of realism in 2023. But there’s a bit of optimism as well.
DR: You hit on this earlier. You guys are the only major dedicated sports station in town. But you do have a competitor that I don’t think many other markets have to deal with in that hot talk format that Cox has on 102.5. They do have some play-by-play, but they aren’t a sports station.
Tell me a little bit about what kind of competition that is for sports radio when you have something that may be focused on the same audience in a different way.
CS: The station you are referring to is not a sports station. It’s a “guy talk” format. They simply air the Tampa Bay Lightning play-by-play and do not offer that same type of content integration you can get with stations like WFLA and 95.3WDAE.
We have enjoyed a phenomenal relationship with the Lightning for the past 30 years. It was a mutual decision to dissolve the rights deal. I have nothing but great things to say about that organization and will continue to support them in many ways, outside of play-by-play.
We just recently signed long-term rights deals with both the Buccaneers and the Rays and have every intention to foster those partnerships for many years to come.
DR: So when they’re not doing play-by-play and it is that hot talk content, do you and your program director, John Mamola, emphasize that it is really important that WDAE stay pretty X’s and O’s sports talk rather than venturing out? I mean, forget trying to do what The Bone is doing, just the fact that you guys are dedicated sports talk. Is it important in your mind that that is always what listeners find when they turn on WDAE?
CS: We definitely stay true to our mission of delivering high-quality sports programming to Tampa Bay fans with up-to-date scores and news combined with a healthy balance of on-air talent opinion.
But every show has its own personality, too. A perfect example is Pat & Aaron in the morning. They refer to their listeners as “the goon squad.” They connect with their fan base in a tongue-in-cheek, personable way. They absolutely recognize a large portion of our cume tunes in to get caught up on the latest news and/or what happened in the Rays game last night. So they get that news. Maybe more importantly, listeners are looking for compelling takes. They want to hear opinions of the different things that may have taken place in the game.
There will be times where they go off script and have fun and talk about whatever. They want their personalities to connect with their listener base, but it’s always going to be aligned to sports in some way, shape, or form.
Another important differentiation between us and a “guy talk’ format is that our content is appropriate for a father and son on their way to school. They can lean in and listen. You don’t have to worry about inappropriate content coming out of our personalities’ mouths.
DR: I do want to jump back real quick to what you said about the relationship with the Buccaneers and it being more of a marketing play. How does that play out in terms of value? Is it in getting in-stadium recognition or is the promotional value more about being able to say to clients and listeners “This is the Bucs’ station”?
CS: The Buccaneers have their own sales team that goes out and represents game day inventory. When I say marketing, it’s about introducing 98ROCK to that large Buccaneer audience that tunes in on gameday. There’s a lot of people that may never have listened to 98ROCK, or maybe haven’t listened in a long time.
It was 2017 when we moved the Buccaneer broadcasts from US 103.5, our country station. Ever since then, we have steadily watched 98ROCK’s overall ratings climb. We are consistently a top radio station Men 25-54 and top-five adults 25-54, which is a substantial growth over where we were before having the Buccaneers. That’s not the only reason for our success. But it speaks to the value of having play-by-play on your radio station.
We also get a lot of merchandise through our partnership, including a suite and additional tickets. We’ve got a promotional relationship as well. There are different activations that we do together throughout the season.
The Bucs control the inventory, but it’s great content that draws listeners to our radio stations. On the business side, we build football programs on WDAE and use that merchandise to build phenomenal marketing campaigns, including access to games.
DR: Let’s talk about WFLA and John Mamola. That is a very busy guy, right? Both WDAE and WFLA are full-time jobs on their own. What did you need to know or hear from him sell you on the idea that he was capable of taking on both of these big responsibilities?
CS: John Mamola is phenomenal. He is extremely detail-oriented.
The reality is, when you compare the two radio stations, WDAE is the more complicated of the two. WFLA is a massive brand; a top three biller in the market. But we have a lot of syndicated programming on the radio station, without a lot of promotional activations. There are some nuances associated with News Talk that needs to be managed, but not it’s not the same as managing all of the live and local content we have on WDAE and all activations associated with sports in Tampa Bay.
We did put a new morning show on WFLA. John has a lot of experience working with teams on delivering good content and staying aligned against the mission of the radio station. That certainly applies to both brands. It’s spoken word, and the beauty of working with a company like iHeartMedia is we’ve got a lot of brand expertise throughout the company.
We’ve got folks like Grace Blazer, who is the company’s VP of National News Talk. She provides a lot of coaching in terms of the actual content. John is definitely the guy to manage all the moving parts of business.
DR: This is an age with digital and on-demand media, when anybody can start a show any time they want to – podcast YouTube, whatever the case is – and they go sell it themselves. Has that influenced legacy media in major markets at all? How much are you asking the talent to really go out and lead the way in terms of acquiring new clients?
CS: We don’t really deploy our on-air talent to go and sell on a one-to-one basis. But I will tell you, our sales and programming teams are more aligned than ever against a common vision and a common goal. And they work hand in hand to achieve those goals, whether it’s driving ratings or driving revenue.
Also, social media has helped with the power of influencer marketing. It’s just grown exponentially. When you think about it, radio cultivated the first true social influencers, before social media ever existed. I say that because of the way radio talent connects with their listeners. It’s a very personal relationship. And that’s what makes influencers influencers.
The frenzy around influencer marketing has given us the opportunity to leverage the relationship our talent has with their listener bases. It is very common for talent to join a sales rep to go out and meet with clients to help tell that story. In some cases, they might even prepare a communication via e-mail or video that our account executives use to secure a meeting. It might be… “Hey, this is TKrass. I just wanted to let you know that I’m familiar with your business and I’d love to talk about it on air”. Using their star power on the front end gets people excited about doing business with us. But like I said, we’re not really having them out there pitching business and closing business, you know what I mean?
DR: I understand that. Alright, last one for you. A little bit more general about the industry. Where do you see opportunities for revenue growth in 2023 and beyond? Is it new sectors and clients or is it finding new revenue streams from the folks that have been with you for a long time?
CS: It’s a little bit of both. A big part of iHeartMedia’s expansion is with our digital platform. That’s a massive part of what we’re doing today. We are the world’s largest curator and provider of podcast content. From the moment podcasting took off, we enthusiastically expanded at a rapid pace and bought a couple of the biggest podcast companies that were creating content. Those purchases combined with all the audio on demand we were already doing, made us the largest player in that space. That’s one of the hottest things that we have in the market right now. Podcasting offers so much value. It’s lean in listening. It has the lowest ad skip rates out of just about any digital media out there and it delivers fantastic results. So, when we just look at this year and next year in terms of growth opportunities, that is a massive one for us.
When you look at our core platforms, I go back to what I said before. We can do a better job representing the marketing power our influencers have with their audiences. We’ve got a very collaborative environment here in Tampa. I’m actually responsible for Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. So, it’s the west coast of Florida. We foster a collaborative environment between sales and programming in all of my markets. We’re finding ways to make that connection even stronger and lead with our talent.
As far as new sectors, there are certain categories of business that were absolutely huge for us 20 years ago that are relatively small now and others that are on the rise, in a more non-traditional sense. So, it’s about staying on top of trends. And a lot of the trend requires us to look at are where are businesses are spending money in digital and approaching them with our collective assets.
We all know, there’s been massive growth in digital marketing. When you combine digital marketing with broadcast, the results grow incrementally, and we’ve got the data to back that up. Just think of all the businesses that target you on your personal social platforms. It’s amazing, the type of companies we’re calling on now and generating a lot of success.
Unlike any other broadcast company, we offer the opportunity to leverage our entire platform to super-serve any marketer coast to coast. We’re in every market except for Buffalo and Kansas City, and still reach those populations through digital extensions. That is one of the greatest competitive advantages we have.
At iHeartMedia, our account executives are no longer restricted by geographical boundaries. They generate business from emerging companies – even foreign companies that are making their way into the United States. They leverage our entire platform, both broadcast and digital to meet their needs. That’s been a great growth opportunity for us.
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.
