If you are a fan of the NBA, you are familiar with the term ‘load management’ which has become popular in the last couple of seasons. I should say, if you are a fan of today’s NBA, because the NBA I fell in love with in the 80’s and 90’s had players who played unless they were hurt. Somehow I don’t think the thought of just sitting out a game here and there because it is a long season ever occured to the ‘Showtime’ Lakers or ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons.
Look, if the season is too long for today’s pampered players, we need to figure out how to shorten them. If not, maybe the players can sit out any game they want, they just don’t get paid for it (bet we see a change in behavior then).
I would love to spend this whole column writing about ‘load management’ from the player and fan side. Since I don’t have an NBA team in my city, I have to travel to see a game or two each year. I don’t even want to think about spending the kind of money it takes for me to get to an NBA game and then add in having to wonder if the player or players I am really wanting to see sit the game out for ‘load management’ purposes.
But, I digress. We cover sports media, not sports, so why am I bringing up the topic of ‘load management?’ Well, if you are a fan of The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN, you know that the show is taking a two-week break until March 4. The whole show. Just not happening. For two weeks. Instead, those that tune in to ESPN looking for McAfee, are getting SportsCenter. So, now, we have ‘load management’ going on with talk shows? I’ll come back to this.
Over the last decade or so, it has also been happening in the play-by-play booths of our favorite teams, especially in baseball. Recently here at BSM we have covered some stories of play-by-play talent being hired by baseball teams as Spring Training broadcasts get set to begin. If you are paying attention you are starting to see more announcers referred to as the “primary” play-by-play voice and then there is someone who serves as the backup. In some cases, there’s more than one backup.
What in the name of Vin Scully is going on?
Now, not only are our athletes managing their loads, but our broadcasters are, too?
What happened to the days when you would tune in to a team’s broadcast and you knew unless someone was sick or had a major life event, they would be the voices you would hear? In most cases you had one play-by-play announcer and a color analyst and they stayed in their lanes. After all, the two jobs are very different.
Today, you listen to a baseball game on the radio and you have play-by-play announcers switching off, you have color analysts doing a few innings of play-by-play, you have some innings where people disappear altogether. It’s like one of those lightbulb jokes, “How many broadcasters does it take to call one Major League Baseball game?”
Look, I get that people need breaks. I understand the grind of these seasons, especially baseball. So, perhaps you miss a game here and there during the 162 game (at minimum) season and the fill-in person sits in for you. Every once in a while, that’s understandable.
However, the nonsense that goes on now with people needing multiple innings off every game is a joke. Let’s put some consistency back in to our broadcasting.
The same can be said about your favorite sports television show, radio broadcast or podcast. Pat McAfee works his tail off. He is more than entitled to take some time off. What I don’t understand is why does the whole show need to shut down? Why does ESPN allow their programming lineup to be completely disrupted?
I think it is a bad decision by any content creator to not have consistency. It is so tough these days to pull audience away from their other habits. Letting them look for other programming for a couple of weeks while you take time off is a terrible idea and, in my opinion, shows little care for the people writing the checks.
Fans tune in to The Pat McAfee Show because they like the mix of sports talk, humor, bravado and all that comes with the show. I doubt many of them flip on the station, see SportsCenter running in place of the show they tuned in to see and leave it on. What percentage go somewhere else to find what they get from PMS in another show? What percentage of those discover something new they like? What percentage doesn’t tune back in because the habit was broken?
You can’t tell me The Pat McAfee Show couldn’t put together some great ‘Best Of’ shows or find a suitable fill-in host. Taking time off to refresh, spend some quality time with your family, take a vacation or just sit around and do nothing is great and needed. I just don’t get why the whole show has to do it at once. Give your audience something in place of your normal show that gives them a reason to stick around.
In my radio station management days, I always required programming to have a plan for vacations and if there was more than one host on a show, they couldn’t take the same time off unless it was a holiday. It never even occured to me we would ever allow a show to just take a few weeks off, throw the network on and just hope everyone came back when vacation time was over.
Consistency is huge in this business. Whether you are tuning in a game broadcast or turning on your favorite radio or television show, podcast or other digital content, you should expect to be delivered what you are there for, at least in some way, shape or form.
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The Best Thing I Heard This Week
This past Thursday Kevin Clancy, better known as KFC from Barstool Sports, was a guest co-host with Gregg Giannotti on WAFN, filling in for Boomer Esiason (who notably took some time off without shutting down the whole show!). One of the conversations Gio and KFC had was about the behind-the-scenes nature of Barstool Sports. Clancy used the term “reality TV” to describe what viewers feel like they are watching whenever Barstool teammates start arguing with one another. It is like a family and it all plays out for the audience to see. This is great content for any talk show host to hear. Your audience wants to know what is happening behind the curtain.
You can hear the full conversation by clicking here.
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In Case You Missed It
On Thursday, Barrett Sports Media founder Jason Barrett announced the addition of Paul Heyman from the WWE as one of the speakers at the 2024 BSM Summit. If you follow wrestling at all, you know how big this is already. However, I know many of you have an aversion to sculpted men rolling around in their underwear in matches that are predetermined, so for those you that don’t know Paul Heyman from Paul Molitor, let me play Jason’s hype man and tell you, this is BIG.
Paul Heyman may be the best on-screen character in the history of pro wresting, he is certainly in the conversation. He is also one of the most gifted speakers on the planet and he flat out knows how to get a reaction from an audience and create great content. He has done it all, in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Bottom line, don’t miss this year’s Summit. Paul Heyman is worth the price of admission alone, and oh by the way, you also get insights from some of the brightest minds in broadcasting and content creation. Hope to see you in New York!
You can read Jason’s full announcement by clicking here.
You can also get just a taste of what Paul Heyman is all about by watching this preview of his WWE Network biography:
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
