It’s been almost two years since Nick Wilson left a successful run in Charlotte to return home to Cleveland to replace Adam “The Bull” in afternoon drive at 92.3 FM “The Fan.” Wilson had some big shoes to fill and now the chemistry has been building with Dustin Fox to the point where it has been a seamless transition.
“Now that we’re almost two years in, okay now we can push that throttle a little bit more,” said Fox. “Now we can see we’ve built the trust and laid the foundation. Now let’s go ahead and really examine everything we do and see what’s working for us and what isn’t. It’s been a really fun journey and I really like where we are.”
The scenario that Wilson returned home for was unchartered waters for him during his radio career. When he moved to Charlotte, he was new but so was his co-host. When he was paired with a new co-host, he was the established host. And now after returning to Cleveland, Wilson was the new guy.
It would not have been appropriate to step into the huddle like a quarterback and bark out the signals.
“I couldn’t just come in and be like we’re doing these five things differently and this sucks and this doesn’t work,” said Wilson. “That show had been the backbone of the station for 11 years. Adam and Dustin did a good show so I didn’t want to disrupt that rhythm for the audience.”
Much like the Cleveland sports fans and the teams they root for, Wilson brings a lunchpail type of work ethic to his show each and every day. Like an athlete who doesn’t take a play off, a game off or a season off, Wilson goes into each and every show with the same intensity and the end goal to win each day.
And that’s his objective every day when he comes to work.
“I look at every show as a living breathing entity,” said Wilson. “You have to treat it with that kind of reverence. I am in the business of making things as fun as they possibly can be.”
A native of the Cleveland area in Ohio, Wilson was working for his hometown sports station when he made the quantum leap to go to Charlotte for a new and wonderful opportunity to take his sports radio game to another level. He loved working in Charlotte, but when the chance to come home came about, he jumped at the opportunity.
For Wilson, that opportunity was there because, to steal a line from “The Who”, the new boss was the same as the old boss.
“Andy Roth has been the brand manager since day one,” said Wilson. “He was the guy who hired me. He’s the guy who hired me again. He’s the guy who was very cool in letting me explore the Charlotte option when he didn’t have to.”
Charlotte was good to Wilson, but there’s no place like home so he clicked his heels and came back to Cleveland to talk to his hometown listeners.
“With all due love and respect to the good people in Charlotte, it is much easier,” said Wilson. “I’m speaking to myself when I’m talking to the audience.”
But coming home still came with an adjustment period of getting used to a new co-host, to make sure the show continued to produce good ratings and to make sure his work life was in concert with his family life.
“It took a hell of lot more energy than I remember it taking either time in Charlotte simply because it was a completely different approach,” said Wilson. “It was probably at some point in this second football season that I looked around my work and my life mirrored each other.”
And Wilson, being an Ohio native, certainly was aware of the audience he was coming home to talk to. Cleveland is a very unique and special sports town. The fans rally around the Browns, Guardians and Cavaliers to the point where it’s more than just fans rooting for a team and sports radio hosts talking to the fans about those teams.
It’s a community effort.
“It’s family,” said Wilson. “It doesn’t mean that other sports towns don’t have this, but maybe the sports towns I’ve encountered don’t have it to this degree. Clevelanders really take pride in their loyalty to the Cleveland sports teams. It’s like your family. I can bitch about them so you better not say it if you’re not from here. If you have not lived these wars, I don’t want to hear you talk about it.”
Wilson’s approach each and every day he hosts the show with Fox is to make sure that the audience buys into what they’re talking about. It’s sports radio but it has to be both entertaining and informative. You can’t fool Cleveland sports fans so the content has to jive with what the listeners expect.
And that’s what Wilson and Fox deliver on a daily basis.
“My North Star is pretty much I just want to walk out of that studio feeling like I just delivered something that nobody else can but is something that is up to a standard that people can trust and respect,” said Wilson. “To me, that begins with having fun and being energetic and being on point with what people are talking about at a bar with their buddies.”
And now that Nick Wilson has established that chemistry with Dustin Fox and afternoon drive continues to be the anchor of “The Fan,” there is a buzz as to what lies ahead.
“I’m really excited to see how the next 18 months evolve,” said Wilson.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
