There is a motto that exists in the family of Seattle-based sports broadcaster Jason Puckett, one that encourages individual growth. Puckett frequently advises his children, “You do you,” meaning that they should not worry about what other people are doing or saying. Instead, it is pursuant on them to try and catalyze their own path.
Yet as the media industry endures changes and evolves into the digital age, this may be perceived as old fashioned. Opportunities for aspiring professionals are evidently becoming more difficult to discover, in part because of burgeoning technology, cost-cutting initiatives and optimization of core business practices. Puckett, however, holds true to this way of thinking despite the fact that others may be quick to classify it as irresponsible.
He recently came to a realization that he was not embodying this logic, part of what contributed to his decision to leave Sports Radio 93.3 KJR after working at the brand for over two decades. It was not the only factor though within the cascading series of events that ultimately led Puckett to transform what had merely been a hypothetical thought amid the global pandemic into a reality with growth potential and long-term strategy.
“People were barely doing it back then about four or five years ago, but some people were and I just kind of thought about whether it would work,” Puckett said. “‘What would it take to work? What kind of following would you have to have? How would it look? What would the style of the show be?,’ and so I just kind of filed it back then and had off and on just kind of thought about it, but nothing pressing until probably the last few months.”
Puckett had started contract negotiations with iHeartMedia to remain at KJR in December 2023 ahead of the official expiration of his deal on Jan. 22, 2024. The two sides were unable to come to an agreement by that date, but Puckett ultimately did sign short-term extensions to ensure he could remain on the air through their discussions. Through both of those deals though, there were still several impediments resulting in further delay, one of which Puckett said was waiting for approval. Nonetheless, he remained optimistic that an agreement could ultimately be attained so he could continue co-hosting the Puck & Jim Show in the midday timeslot.
“We just agreed to a paid vacation,” Puckett said. “I would just be off the air for a few days, we hoped, and then I would come back fairly soon, but what turned into just a paid vacation for two days turned into almost two weeks.”
Although Puckett was originally hired by Sports Radio 93.3 KJR as a reporter for its Baseball’s Best Postgame Show, he made the transition to radio hosting after approximately four years. The experience he garnered interviewing members of the Seattle Mariners and reporting on the team from then-named Safeco Field precipitated his move to the air where he began to work with Ian Furness. Since joining the hosting lineup, Puckett has worked with several different partners, including Chuck Powell, Cliff Avril, Matt Mikolas and Mike Gastineau, seamlessly blending information and entertainment on these programs. While he enjoyed his time with his colleagues, the opportunity to host with Jim Moore represented somewhat of a full-circle moment.
When Puckett was in high school, he made time to read Moore’s columns, titled ‘The Go 2 Guy,’ in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. No matter if he received a newspaper before or after his classes, it would always be the first editorial he would read. The column was appointment viewing and fostered an affinity to Moore, turning into an eventual friendship when Puckett moved to Seattle. Moore had assimilated into sports radio and was laid off from his job at 710 ESPN Seattle after a decade, leading Puckett to start having him on his show as a weekly guest.
“For a few months, he would just come on every Friday and we would just have a blast,” Puckett said. “It was about 20 minutes, and hardly any of it was about sports. It was just about his adventures and watching his kids play baseball and all that kind of stuff.”
Shortly thereafter, Puckett began to advocate to station management that KJR should hire Moore as his co-host on the air. The outlet obliged to his aspirations and decided to hire him, giving them the chance to work together in middays for parts of the last three years. When they were on the air together, Puckett evinced that the show had a unique tenor and was an ostensibly different sound on the air.
“Our joke was, ‘It was the show about nothing,’ kind of stealing the line from Seinfeld. [Moore] was so easygoing and had such a good nature to him and a great sense of humor [that] just made it easy to work together because we thought the same and we looked at sports and life the same and had the same kind of sense of humor.”
No matter his colleague on the air though, Puckett always sought to convey authenticity to his audience. Evidently so, he did not want to be perceived as someone who would craft his opinions ahead of time or as a radio host who was fabricating his true persona. Contrarily, he sought to foster an environment with laughter and humor that would ultimately bring a sense of levity to the listeners.
The paid vacation Puckett had agreed to amid contract negotiations looked to finally have an end in sight when the two sides were able to come to a resolution. After several delays and close calls, he was poised to sign a deal that would have brought him back on the air with the understanding that he would continue hosting middays with Moore. Everything changed, however, when iHeartMedia conducted a round of layoffs the very next day that impacted Moore. The situation caught Puckett by surprise, especially since he had entered contract negotiations with the understanding that Moore would remain on the air through the end of the year.
“I tried to see if we could get his job back [and] tried to understand why that decision was made,” Puckett said. “[I] was told the decision was made above the local level; it was made at the national level, so when it’s made at the national level, there’s really no one for me to talk to.”
One of the alternative outcomes that Puckett proffered was to let Moore remain on the air through his severance pay so the program would have more time to deliver its farewell. Moreover, he broached the idea that they could phrase it as a retirement rather than his being laid off. Management ultimately did not pursue this route though, something Puckett assumed was not possible because of legal issues surrounding the fact that they terminated his employment.
Resulting in his feeling frustrated, Puckett began to consider his future with the outlet and whether or not he was making the right decision. It resulted in many sleepless nights and extensive thought about what was the best next step for him to take.
“I personally just did not like how the situation unfolded and was presented to me,” Puckett said, “and I know that a different decision would have happened at the local level if they truly could have made the call, but the national level has their decisions.”
Puckett explained that he did not want to return to the air and tell listeners that he had agreed to a new contract after being off the air for three weeks while his partner was terminated because of nationwide staff cuts made by iHeartMedia. The entire situation, he feared, would be exacerbated by speculation from listeners about the negotiating process and purported animosity between him and his colleagues. Despite Moore himself telling Puckett to sign the new contract and remain at the station, he remained true to his moral compass and decided that his days were through at KJR as well.
“I think there would have always [been] this thought and my narrative that in order for me to get my contract, my partner had to be fired so I could get paid,” Puckett articulated, “and I just ultimately said to myself that I couldn’t let that be the narrative and I didn’t want it to be the narrative, so that’s what ultimately led to my decision to walk away.”
Once Puckett officially made his decision, he posted a statement on social media and shared that he was unable to continue doing the show in good conscience and would miss communicating with the listeners. After several weeks of calculated silence, he felt that it was necessary for the listeners to hear what was going on firsthand so they would not be confused as to how things occurred.
“I just thought it was important for the people that follow me and people who supported me and listened to me that they got a chance to hear it from me because we never get a chance to say goodbye on the radio, and hardly we ever get a chance to kind of tell our side of the story,” Puckett said, “and I just thought it was, you know, I have a real personal relationship with the listeners, and I just felt that they deserve the right to know.”
While it was an unfortunate predicament, Puckett had an idea of what he wanted to do with his career. During the initial stages of the pandemic, he was apprehensive about those on the midday show potentially losing their jobs. Recognizing how he cherishes being able to blend sports and entertainment and did not want that to go away, he came up with the idea of starting his own digital platform with sports commentary and content. A few years later, Puck Sports became a reality and is rapidly growing its presence online.
At the moment, Puckett is recording a “Daily Puck Drop” and other content that is released both in audio and video form. Jim Moore is not currently permitted to appear on the program while receiving severance, with Puckett explaining that iHeartMedia defines his venture as competition. He is hopeful that concludes in July and anticipates Moore being part of the endeavor down the road. Incorporating the video component and preparing for a daily live element on Puck Sports, he believes he will be able to resemble how the midday program looked and felt on KJR.
“There’s a certain type of energy and juice you get from going on the air on whether it’s live radio [or] live TV that I think is unmatched, and it’s hard to replicate when you just record something because it’s a performance art,” Puckett said. “That’s not unlike someone doing a Broadway show every single night. You’ve got a new audience – sometimes it’s the same – but you’re out there and you may make a mistake and there’s no edit button.”
Over the last several years, Puckett has evinced a growing dissent between national companies and local outlets in terms of appealing to the audience and content creation. Deciding to add video to Puck Sports was borne out of adapting to the digital content landscape and granting advertisers another medium with which to display their companies, products and other messaging. Puckett earnestly values the loyalty his guests and advertisers have demonstrated to him and received further confirmation of his professional worth as a host in the meetings that ensued.
“They all said this independently that, ‘We trust you. We’re here because of you, not necessarily who you work for,’” Puckett said, “and that was a message that when I heard was [one that] made me feel extremely confident that I was going to make because they were buying into me and not exactly the umbrella that I was under.”
As Puckett seeks to build Puck Sports over the coming years, he envisions other people in the broadcasting industry joining the venture and creating several program offerings. For example, Puck Sports recently added Seahawks Draft Blog writer Rob Staton, and he will host his own weekly show.
Although he never wants to forsake it entirely, Puckett does not see himself ever returning to traditional radio. Instead, he is committing his time and energy to constructing a new destination for consumers to find locally-focused sports content in the Emerald City. Puckett is energized and motivated to follow through on his idea of assembling Puck Sports, and will still always promise to be better.
“I like the creativity and the challenge of working for myself and not having to answer to anyone anymore, and I just think it’s the way of the future media, and I like the flexibility that I now have, and it has reenergized me [with] the creative juice that probably has been missing for a bit that has [been] rekindled,” Puckett said. “And I think now that I briefly have had a taste of it, I just don’t think going back and working for someone who I just don’t think from a national perspective has a grasp on what people do locally would be a good decision on my part.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
