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Over the last several years, 97.3 The Game has held an annual event dedicated to listeners of its local midday show featuring former Green Bay Packers fullback John Kuhn. Nooner Day, as the event has come to be known, involves broadcasting the radio program live to an audience before proceeding to American Family Field, where the group takes over an outfield section at a Milwaukee Brewers home game. In previous years, the station has welcomed between 200 and 300 attendees, providing a means for Kuhn and his colleagues to meet the listeners and receive authentic feedback in real time.
The station has prioritized engaging its public in a variety of ways, which also includes a football game selection contest featuring a grand prize of dinner at a steakhouse alongside the show cast. Outside of these efforts, the Nine 2 Noon midday show regularly implements callers and text messages.
Media entities often use a variety of quantitative and qualitative metrics to gauge overall performance. While traditional ratings provided by Nielsen Media Research have conventionally formed the basis of the proverbial scorecard, digital outlets have fundamentally altered the equation.
“I want everybody that listens to us to be able to have a say because if we’re not listening to our listeners, then how do we ever know if they like, don’t like, agree [or] disagree?” Kuhn said. “The easiest kind of sampling you can do is actually listen to what they have to say, so I’ve always wanted to interact with our listeners.”
Kuhn broadcasts the midday program alongside co-host Billy Schmid and producer Armen Saryan, both of whom bring unique backgrounds and skillsets. Schmid went to school to work in sports media and is someone who Kuhn views as the glue of the show. Conversely, Kuhn regards Saryan as “somewhat of a neurotic fan” who is given prominent airtime because of his personality. Combined with his perspective as a former athlete, Kuhn believes the trio presents fans with informative and entertaining conversations.
“The more reps you get with a person, the more you understand them,” Kuhn said. “The more you know and you can feed off of their cadence, the more you can tell when you’re needed to jump in and help drive a situation or when to sit back and let somebody else go on a little bit of a run, and I think the three of us have really figured each other out and do well with that.”
Working in one of two midday dayparts on the station, Kuhn realizes that it is essential to have energy and elicit an emotional response in consumers predicated beyond traditional statistics. Bringing personal elements and contextualization to the airwaves assists in fueling listenership and maintaining interest during the workday. Kuhn does not hesitate to express his personality, nor is he perturbed by negative feedback or criticism, depicting the tenacious resiliency reinforced as a football player through his coaches.
“Even if you have a game where you rush for 100 yards and score three touchdowns, they’re going to find the one, two or three things that you need to clean up from that game, and they’re not going to let you miss an opportunity to get better,” Kuhn said. “I think because of that, I’m always open minded to what people might have to say, things that they don’t like about what I say or have to do, but for the most part, it’s very easy for me to be myself.”
Throughout Kuhn’s 13-year playing career in the NFL, which followed a four-year stint at Shippensburg University, he attained longevity and success as a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Additionally, he earned two Super Bowl championships in his career, the second of which came as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Kuhn tries not to consider his opponents as bonafide competition, an approach he adopted as an athlete.
Audacy recently announced that it relaunched The Fan on 105.7 FM, providing the audience with a new way to hear its content. With another sports station back on the FM airwaves, Kuhn is focused on the factors associated with his job that he is able to control. Part of that is candidly evaluating the shows when complete.
“Some people can say, ‘Careers are at stake here,’ or, ‘You got to look at competitors so that you don’t lose [to] your competitors,’” Kuhn said. “To me, maybe I’m lucky in the fact that I played a professional sport, and this is my second career, but I’m having a blast doing what I’m doing, meeting the fans that I’m getting to meet and talking with my co-host that I get to talk with. I’m having too much fun to worry about what any other station is doing.”
After attending the NFL broadcasting boot camp, Kuhn and former teammate Mark Tauscher started hosting their own radio program, titled Kuhn and Tausch, and pitched it to a radio station in Milwaukee. Furthermore, he took part in editions of the Clubhouse Live webcast from Gannett and tried to get in front of the microphone as much as he could.
By the time his playing career came to a conclusion, he received several offers and figured there was no reason not to move into sports media full time. The advantage he holds is in the ability to convey his firsthand perspectives in a discernible manner. At the same time, he is open to hearing other opinions even if they come from people without equivalent or greater playing credentials.
“I like to try and be positive upbeat while also giving others the opportunity to interject and debate with me,” Kuhn said. “I love to debate, [and] I love to play devil’s advocate and [have] just thought-provoking conversation.”
Athlete-driven media has perpetuated in the marketplace over the last several years and includes linear and digital content. Kuhn’s former teammate and current New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers appears weekly on The Pat McAfee Show, an outlet for discussion that has produced several viral moments. Kuhn perceives these appearances as an opportunity for Rodgers to clarify things and explain himself in a comfortable atmosphere, and there are several other athletes who take part in similar ventures.
“These guys are making the money to go on here and do these shows or have a podcast and all these different things,” Kuhn said, “and they should because it’s their free time they could be taking either relaxing from their profession or taking to study some more film and make their profession even better, so it’s also a source of income.”
After retiring from the NFL in March 2019, Kuhn began contributing to Packers television broadcasts during the preseason and recently started doing color commentary. While he is on the sidelines as an analyst during the regular season, being situated in the broadcast booth grants him a distinct vantage point and ability to readily communicate his thoughts. Larry McCarren, who works in the role amid regular season play, is someone who has been an inspiration to Kuhn in the way he performs the job and learned the craft through tangible experience.
“I think that type of learning – it teaches you something that somebody can’t just come in and learn in a boot camp or something like that,” Kuhn expressed. “So, leaning on him and having him give advice on what it’s like to recover after a mistake, what you should be paying attention to, what you should be listening to, I think it makes a world of difference.”
Through his role at 97.3 The Game, which serves as the flagship radio station for the Packers, Kuhn has had the ability to work with accomplished and supportive colleagues. Tim Scott, who serves as its program director, is someone who he considers to be among the more talent-friendly bosses to have. Kuhn averred that Scott is someone who wants to hear input from numerous sources and demonstrates a commitment to grow the talent while retaining their individuality.
“I think he listens to very well to what his talent needs, what his talent wants,” Kuhn said of Scott, “and he’s able to adequately ride that fine line of, ‘Okay, we can’t let the cart get in front of the horse, but we can definitely make sure that the horse and the cart are adequately supplied so that they can make it a long, long way.’”
Over the course of the football season with hosting a radio show and working on the sidelines for Packers radio broadcasts, Kuhn does not feel fatigued or overwhelmed. On the contrary, he is looking for more work to add within his overall routine. Upon assuming and subsequently mastering a schedule as a professional athlete, Kuhn tends to yearn for more and create a better overall product.
“There gets to be a point of diminishing returns in sports, and I believe there probably is in media, but I don’t think I’ve reached that point just yet, so I got a lot of free time that I get to spend with my family, and quite frankly, if I wasn’t doing this, I’d be scouting or coaching in the NFL and I’d have less time to be with my family,” Kuhn illuminated. “That gives me a lot of joy, and that really refreshes me in-between any type of work situation that I have.”
Kuhn is encouraged by the consistent global interest in joining professional sports leagues and the new storylines that creates, providing more topics to discuss on the show. Going forward, he hopes to tell those stories as a color commentator in a broadcast booth, and he ideally would want it to be with the Packers organization. Over the last five years, he has continued to remain tied with the organization and remains motivated to stay active while eschewing complacency.
“I’d love it to be as a part of the Packers,” Kuhn said, “so eventually, hopefully one day, I can get to work my way up into a position where I can call myself a ‘true professional’ like my mentor Larry McCarren has.”
As Kuhn stays geared to continue demonstrating an indefatigable work ethic and avidity for the craft, he receives a palpable amount of joy from his professional endeavors. Professing that he is having “about as much fun” as possible in the current moment, he is grateful to have the flexibility to balance his work with family time. In considering the impact of the show, he hopes it brings listeners jovial sentiments permeated with effervescence through the chemistry, awareness and acumen fostered daily.
“I probably get more people that come up and talk to me now about Nine 2 Noon than I ever did when I was a Packer player, which might sound surprising,” Kuhn said. “Maybe it is coming off that I am a little bit relatable to some of the listeners, but I like to believe that they are having as much fun listening to me as I am talking to all of them.”
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.
