Back in mid-March, 97.5 The Fanatic made lineup changes which saw the formation of a new morning show team consisting of hosts John Kincade and Andrew Salciunas along with producer and update anchor Connor Thomas. When the show was announced, Scott Masteller, who was named Program Director for the station in January, said he was excited to pair Kincade and Salciunas together for a show “that will reflect the energy and passion of the Philadelphia sports fan.” And that is a pretty good description of what I found when I eavesdropped in on the Friday, July 26th episode of Kincade & Salciunas.
Kincade is a sports radio veteran who spent many years on the air in Atlanta and also hosted national shows on ESPN Radio as well as CBS Sports Radio. Salciunas has worked at the station for over 10 years, starting out as an intern and working his way up the ladder.
If the beginning of the show were an Olympic athlete, it would be a sprinter. Salciunas hits the airwaves like he was shot out of a cannon and Kincade and Thomas were right there with him. It is 6 a.m. and these guys are bringing a lot of energy to the air, and it is not too long before they are off and running on what will be one of the main topics for the day, new Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
Fangio, who is about to turn 66 years old, is old-school football and when he talks to the media he tends to not hold back. He is very different than the usual coach who will make everything sound positive no matter the circumstance. Fangio spoke to the media the day before and Salciunas and Kincade were admittedly, “falling in love with him.”
As the guys gave their opinions on the type of coach Fangio is and how some athletes today might not like his style, Salciunas turned this into the first question of the day for the audience.
“Did Fangio’s honesty instill confidence or concern?” Salciunas asked the audience.
After discussing the topic and giving their opinions, they played audio clips from Fangio and talked through them and how different the answers were from the usual ‘coach speak.’
Kincade believes Fangio and the city of Philadelphia are a perfect match together and with someone who has the experience Fangio does, “Makes me feel like we have an adult in charge,” Kincade said. “I believe he isn’t just gonna blow sunshine up our skirt. He’s telling us the truth.”
With the MLB trade deadline less than a week away, that became the second big topic for the show. The Phillies are at the top of the standings and have a nine-game lead in the NL East. Kincade wondered, “Do you make trades when you already have the best record?” That topic was kicked around, and Kincade continued along the same lines saying he didn’t want to “mortgage the future to try and win one year.”
This led to Salciunas throwing out the second question for the audience, “We are five days away from the trade deadline, if the Phillies don’t make a ‘move of note,’ how ya’ feelin?” Very simple. Very Philly.
After Kincade circled back to not wanting to see the team make a “splashy move,” he recalled big moves that had not worked out in the past and said sometimes smaller pieces can make a bigger difference. Salciunas called him out on this take saying, “Wait a minute, you’re the one who always says, “Don’t let the past scare you.'”
As with most major market sports talk shows these days, it all kept coming back to football. After some more talk and re-playing the Vic Fangio audio, Kincade brought up the history of the team and saw how the old-school defensive coordinators had had success. “In Eagles lore, we’ve done well with old coordinators especially on the defensive side of the ball…Jim Johnson, Buddy Ryan, Bud Carson. Old, crusty defensive coordinators, it fits this market and it’s what we want. We don’t want coddling.”
What Kincade talked about next was very surprising to hear about the Philadelphia sports fans, especially since they have long had the reputation for being a very tough bunch.
“The fan base has certainly changed,” Kincade said. “We are much more worried about feelings…what we obsess about and worry about is, ‘are we too tough on people?’ I can promise you this, having done sports talk radio in the 90s down the dial starting out my career, there was never a discussion on ‘are we too tough on people?’
“…It’s a different day…you gotta adapt. if you don’t adapt, you die.”
Analytics and the use of analytics by coaches and managers was another topic which came up. Both hosts agreed there has to be some part that is the feel of the game and again used audio from Fangio who said you can show him any analytics and he will look at it, but he is always going to use his experience and ultimately make his own decisions.
This led to a great analogy from Thomas who said, “Analytics are a hammer. You’re not going to build an entire house with a hammer. It’s going to be an important part, but if you use it for everything, you’re an idiot.”
As the show continued there was plenty of more Eagles and Vic Fangio conversation. They also used a fun bit called ‘Questions Out of a Hat,’ to break up the hard-core discussion. The first one on this day asked about your “all-time, I was wrong moment in sports.” Kincade confessed to not believing Tim Duncan would have much of an NBA career.
With the exception of Kincade getting Duncan’s career wrong, these guys know their sports. Eagles and Phillies talk ruled this day, but when it came time to start their third hour, they did ‘Today’s Headlines’ and got into a little bit of Flyers and Sixers talk as well.
During that segment things also got a bit heated as Kincade was not backing down from his take that Joel Embiid needs to not go out of his way to “wrap himself in the [United States] flag,” noting that a few years ago he was close to signing a commitment he would play for France where he also has citizenship.
Sometimes, the best part about a sports talk show are the unexpected thngs that become hot topics. On this day, it was how you like to keep your bed sheets, tucked or untucked. This became the third big topic of the day and ultimately the one that drew the most response. In a rather hilarious moment at one point in the show, Kincade wanted to see what the feeback was from the text line on the topic of Vic Fangio and whether his honesty instilled confidence or concern. Thomas reported back that most of the texts were about the bed sheets question.
At one point Kincade said people who preferred their sheets untucked were, “serial killers,” however the text line was proving most people actually preferred to untuck the sheets. As one texter said, “you gotta keep the dogs nice and cool.” A social media poll ended up strongly in favor of ‘untucked.’
Eventually, they got back into a solid trade deadline discussion and generally did a very good job throughout the show of bringing it back to the main topics of the day and resetting the show when it needed it. Salciunas is very good with both the resets and the teases into breaks. I liked that he would mention things like the Fangio audio and, knowing he has a new audience listening later on, he told them when he would play the audio again.
No matter the topic, the back and forth between the three was really well done. There is an interesting dynamic which Salciunas even brought up at one point where he said that when it comes to sports topics, it tends to be he and Thomas against Kincade. In essence, the two younger guys versus the older host. He did also say that when it came to “life,” it was generally Kincade and Thomas who teamed up against him.
Listening to the show for the first time, one would have no idea the show has only been together for five months. In a short period of time, Kincade, Salciunas and Thomas have developed strong chemistry together. Salciunas runs a strong point-guard, keeping the show moving, bringing energy and constantly telling the new audience members what has been discussed and what is coming up. Kincade is the veteran player who can still fill out the stat sheet. Strong opinions, very knowledgeable and knows how to make the audience think.
Less than six months after starting together, Kincade & Salciunas are indeed bringing the energy and passion that Philadelphia sports fans are known for.
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.
