This column is coming to you straight from Los Angeles International Airport, Gate 12A as I travel home. You may ask yourself why it matters that I am writing a column in LAX. As I type, less than 24 hours have transpired since the ending of the 2024 Rose Bowl, Michigan’s 27-20 College Football Semifinal overtime win over Alabama. The show I co-host, The Next Round, is based in Birmingham and has an intense college football focus. We did a series of shows from Los Angeles leading up to the New Year’s Day game.
The question often asked and never definitvely answered is: How important are shows of that nature? This year’s Rose Bowl drew a grand total of one live radio show from “Radio Row”. The solitary show on the largely abandoned “Radio Row” was the “Ryan Fowler Show” on Tuscaloosa’s Tide 100.9. Fowler has spent over a decade covering Alabama and has historically hosted shows from the location of significant Alabama games.
“I have done radio row going back to the 2011 BCS National Championship game vs. LSU,” Fowler says. “My show has traveled to most of the semi-finals and the National Championships. I guess my listeners just expect me to be there.”
It would be an understatement to say Fowler’s view on the importance of doing shows from the road for important games is not universally agreed upon. The simple fact he was the only Alabama or Michigan based show live from the Rose Bowl is commentary enough that many shows, or media companies, no longer value this idea. One does not need any significant knowledge of the business to understand these trips are not inexpensive. Flights and hotel rooms, even at the media rate, quickly add up. Fowler hosts a show solo, multiple hosts only mean multiplied charges.
In full disclosure, my show also did live shows from LA and Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. We chose not to utilize “Radio Row” for our show since the designated area didn’t provide a desired video background. Instead, we chose to do our shows from several different locations that were a bit more video friendly. As one of the owners of my company, I can assure you a staff of four traveling, sleeping and eating a couple of thousand miles across the country adds up expenses very quickly.
Therein lies the debate; is a noticeable audience bump or image enhancement worth the added expense? Media managers are frequently having to weigh the added expense versus the added return. One other element is the issue of timing. Frequently, decisions on travel bookings, technology requirements and staff assignments have to be made well before a sales package that funds the trip is even on the streets. In other words, the money is almost always spent before anyone knows if any sales support even exists. It is a classic “is the juice worth the squeeze” scenario.
The problem in knowing if the squeeze is worth it is that most of the benefits of doing shows from significant events, outside of additional sellable content, are intangible in nature. If you have conditioned the audience into the expectation, you will always do these types of shows, making the decision not to do them sends a message. Ultimately, the front-facing talent will have to answer the inevitable question of why they aren’t at the event and, no matter the answer, most of the audience will assume the media outlet has “gone cheap”.
The other side of that coin is the invisible bump, imagined or not, that comes in listenership and viewership from doing shows from major events. “I look at the trip as continuing to improve my overall brand, ” Fowler said. “When I can say I’m live on radio row, that adds to the status of my show. I call it “Future Dividends.” It increases my audience and helps me sell more advertising for my show.”
The truth is that the audience bump is just as equally due to the fact that a local team is playing for a championship of some sort. In other words, the audience might increase either way. The only caveat to that is in markets where competition exists. One outlet being live from a big event while the other chooses to stay home can send a very loud message on behalf of both.
It is rare in our industry when a chance to increase ratings, image and sales meet in the same spot. Shows from major events, when executed properly, can do just that. The question becomes; what question do you most want to answer: “How will you pay for this?” or “Why aren’t you there?”
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.
