Congratulations to Danny Parkins and Mark Schlereth who were recently named co-hosts, along with Craig Carton for FS1’s new morning show. A show which has had a lot of people talking about its name and not in a good way.
I have always been someone who thinks we put way too much time and emphasis on the names of shows. I’ve written about this before, but whenever someone is struggling to name a show or podcast, I tell them the same story from when a show was struggling with a name and called a very well-known local sports executive, considered by many to be a sports marketing expert.
“What time will the show air?” he asked. The answer was the show would be on from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. “Call it, ‘The One to Three Show’ that way whenever you say it you’re also promoting what time it’s on every time you say it. So, it’s the name, but it’s also marketing.”
Hundreds of names had been tossed around. Hours had been wasted. The absolute simplest name in history is the one they went with because it actually served a purpose. Which is why sometimes it’s just easiest to say the people’s names and move on. It generally doesn’t mean a hill of beans.
With that said, I think FS1 has swung and missed from the get-go here with the name ‘Breakfast Ball.’
Yikes.
It is just a name and should ultimately have no bearing whatsoever on the show itself, but I fear it’s a bad sign. I reached out to several people after the announcement was made, looking for feedback about the mix of the three hosts. Almost every single person I exchanged messages with said something about how bad the name was before ever getting to what I really reached out about.
Putting aside the name, which is just so, so hard to do, it’s a bit of a weird mix. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a bit concerned radio just lost good talent going to TV (Schlereth of course has done plenty of TV before) and I’m not sure they’re necessarily being set up for success.
The news became officially official yesterday that Parkins who was at 670 The Score in Chicago and Schlereth from Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan would team up with Craig Carton and be the 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET show in the revamped FS1 lineup. Call it the post-Skip Bayless era.
I cringe when I think of the three guys sitting on a zoom call being told, “Hey, congrats! Huge day! So excited to have you guys. And we can’t wait to tell you guys what we are going to call the show… BREAKFAST BALL!” They had to be dying inside a little.
I don’t even get it. What does that mean? It sounds like a really bad, low-budget, comedy movie. Or maybe that’s just because I think of BASEketball whenever I see or hear it? Or it could be a new breakfast menu item at Hardee’s – just a big ball of pancake with eggs and bacon and cheese oozing out of it. “This update is brought to you by Hardees and the all-new Breakfast Ball…”
I sure hope the show is a lot better than the name, but that concerns me, too. Three white alpha males of various ages, but other than Schlereth having played in the NFL and the other two not having played in the NFL, they all seem … similar. I’ll be curious to watch and see what makes each of them different on the show. It feels like they could end up really fighting each other for talk time. Two guys used to talking with one person for four hours per day, now on with two other people and half the time.
Individually, each of these guys is a good listen. I hope that I’m wrong here and this is just me not being able to get past the brutal name. These guys are pros and have many years of sports talk experience amongst them. From what I understand the money is great and nobody can question anyone wanting an opportunity to better themselves and their family. And what’s the worst thing that happens? It doesn’t work? Ok, that would be bad, but none of them would be unemployed long, so there’s really little risk overall.
A longtime sports radio executive made the point to me that it takes a bit of courage in 2024 to have as little diversity on a new national show like this one. The same person also made the point that clearly FS1 needed to make some adjustments, and they brought in some fresh faces along with some veterans and are looking for something to click with different groups of people. The other option was to stick with things that weren’t working, which they couldn’t continue to do. Applaud them for recognizing it, trying to fix it and give the shows some time to develop.
In other words, tune in and judge the show by what we see and hear when it comes on the air and has time to work out the kinks.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, no matter how bad the cover might be.
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The Best Thing I’ve Heard/Watched Recently
This past week we celebrated National Radio Day and one of the things I appreciate about radio is the passion a lot of people in the business have for it and have had for it since a young age. I had the chance to reach out to several people from different areas of the business to ask them, ‘What does radio mean to you?” So, my pick for best things I heard this week are the answers I was given to the question.
My favorite answer came from Mike Hulvey, the President/CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau:
“I was an eight-year-old little boy walking into a high school gymnasium with my father when I saw my first radio broadcast. I looked up to the top row of the bleachers and I saw two broadcasters sitting behind a small table with a felt banner and headphones on. And my life has never been the same since. Radio has truly been a part of every day of my life since that moment. And I have seen it change communities. I have seen it change businesses. I have seen it change people. I’ve seen it connect in ways that you could only imagine. And radio is so important to the fabric of our country and our communities. To me, radio is just about everything.”
To see what everyone said, click here.
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In Case You Missed It
I am throwing you a little bit of a curveball this week, because normally I post about one of our sports stories, however, this week I want you to take a look at an article from one of my colleagues on the news side of Barrett Media, Dave Williams. Dave wrote about the WCBS situation and what it symbolizes. Frankly, I think this goes for radio, in general, and is not just limited to news when he says:
“As an industry, we’re a bunch of old folks sitting on the porch watching the parade pass by without even bothering to wave to us. We sit and rock, silently wishing we could join them though the only things stopping us are our wistful memories, and foolish pride.”
If you want a strong dose of reality, check out Dave’s article by clicking here.
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.
