Taking our eyes off of news/talk for a moment, over in the sports talk world this week, one of the top stories was the back-and-forth between WFAN hosts Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata and their weekly guest Carl Banks. Following a heated debate last week, the former Giants linebacker and current radio color commentator resigned from his weekly guest appearance with the midday show.
On Thursday morning, Boomer & Gio co-host Gregg Giannotti chimed in on the situation, saying, “And for anybody that’s sitting there going, ‘Man, what a loss for WFAN’, stop! No one really liked that spot. It was only still on because there was a sales play attached to it. That’s it. Nobody wanted it! The hosts? They didn’t want it. Management didn’t want it. Nobody wanted it.”
Giannotti hit on something far more important than whether or not Carl Banks was wronged by Tierney and Licata, and that’s the fact that when sales is running programming, a problem is inevitable.
If true that the Banks spot was still only a sales play that nobody on the programming side actually wanted, then it was only a matter of time before it exploded with two strong personalities co-hosting and conducting the interview. As someone who used to work at the station years ago, Giannotti is right to note that the spot has been underwhelming for years.
All that being said, everyone in radio understands the current economic climate that exists across media. It’s tough. And I’m not suggesting programming shouldn’t work hand-in-hand with sales to try and hit budgets and land clients. However, there’s always that fine line between helping the bottom line and doing what’s in the best interests of the station, and ultimately the listener.
To flip this over to the news/talk format, we are even more susceptible than sports talk to this balancing act. That’s because we often find ourselves with brokered programming during the weekends. Those clients may have an interest in other appearances on the station. You may be subject to sales selling people into your show in prime dayparts since news/talk can cover a broader range of issues and topics that sales may use to their advantage for clients. Remotes can be done that may include interviews that aren’t always a fit. Any of these and more are possible.
That being said, while every station and situation is different, I’ve always been of the belief that working with sales as teammates, while also always communicating, will result in the best possible situation. As markets get smaller, this becomes easier as there are fewer layers of corporate bureaucracy. But it’s doable at any level.
Like a marriage or any relationship, there has to be give and take, within reason. But rather than saying “no” to sales on any of these types of ideas that may not ultimately be the best programming, finding ways to help everyone win, to some degree, is usually the best solution.
Can you keep any news/talk sales-driven interviews to a finite amount of time? Can you limit their frequency? Can you spread the frequency between shows to not have a potential show-stopper in the same show every time?
Also, if the client/guest isn’t compelling, we should work to coach them up. Especially when we are talking about clients who are not broadcasting for a living. They don’t know what they are doing wrong. But we can make them better, and I guarantee they want to get better, just like we try to do with our talent every day.
We coach up our hosts, we coach up our callers (ideally) before letting them on the air, so why wouldn’t we do this with our guests? Especially if they are already clients who have a relationship with the station.
The best-case scenario for news/talk is when you get clients who turn out to be great guests with personalities and information. And oftentimes that doesn’t happen overnight. Just like a host it takes time to develop that level of comfort and insight to reach that point. And if we can expedite the process, we should. Then you get a potentially frequent guest who the audience learns to like, while also making the station money.
That’s the ultimate win-win.
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.
