As we close the book on 2023 and enter an election year, I wonder if we are ending an era in sports talk. The format’s roots are in the nighttime hours on talk radio stations, but can that still exist today? Is there room for sports talk shows on a news talk format anymore?
Sean Baligian’s exit from WJR in Detroit could spell doom for that station’s Sportswrap. The show will continue with co-host Lomas Brown flying solo for now, but I’m a little skeptical about just how long “now” is.
There is certainly some crossover between the audience of news and sports talk stations. That’s kind of the reason Barrett Media works in both spaces. In a polarized political climate though, how much do the people who listen to both formats want their peanut butter mixing with the chocolate?
Have we been told that every presidential election is the most important of our lifetime? It sure feels like that has been the case dating back to at least 2004, and to be fair, when the winner is colloquially known as “the leader of the free world,” of course the outcome is important.
In 2024 though, there are so many factors pushing the right and the left into their corners. Democrats have to justify running a candidate that is literally older than commercial television. Republicans may have to justify running a candidate from a prison cell. The majority of partisans don’t want information. They want confirmation that their side is right and the other side is foolish. With all of the debates, stories, and shouting, will any owner of a news talk station see sports as a valuable use of their air time?
Don’t take that to mean that there won’t be room for sports. The dollar amounts may not be the same, but live game rights matter just as much to radio as they do for television.
Examples can be found across the country in all four major sports leagues. The Mets are heard in New York on WCBS. The Broncos are on KOA in Denver. The Cavs play on WTAM in Cleveland. The Lightning’s games air on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa.
Games matter in a different way than talk shows. They are destination events. A die-hard Ravens fan may never miss a game on WBAL, but never give the station a second thought outside of Sunday afternoons. It’s no different than me, who has never watched a show on TNT that isn’t an NBA game.
American culture is fragmented, and not just politically. You won’t see a sports report, let alone a highlight and talk show on CNN or FOX News anymore, but this isn’t limited to how we consume news. It’s across the entire entertainment spectrum.
Look at AMC. The network’s most successful streaming service is Shudder, which houses nothing but horror movies – the ones you cannot see anywhere else. It isn’t trying to cast a large net to catch everyone. It’s super-serving the people that REALLY want to be scared shitless.
I don’t think it makes sense for radio stations to operate differently. Pick any news talk radio station. Its listeners want grievance. They want to hear who is screwing up the country and what those people deserve. If the station is airing a talk show, that better be what it gives them.
Sure, there will be exceptions. The aforementioned KOA essentially turns into a sports station in the afternoon. The same is true of New Orleans’s WWL. But how much of that is about what the listeners want versus what the listeners know? Heritage and habits are powerful things in radio. Would WWL stick with sports in afternoon drive if Bobby Hebert decided he was ready to hang up his headphones?
I’m in my early 40s. People my age and older were likely first exposed to sports radio in the nighttime hours of our local news talk station. It’s sad to think those days are coming to an end, but it is foolish to think they aren’t.
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.
