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Over the previous seven years, Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan had not applied to win a Marconi Award in the category of “Sports Station of the Year.” The distinguished honor, which is given by the National Association of Broadcasters annually, had never found its way to the Denver sports talk radio station throughout the 29 years it has been on the air.
When new program director Amanda Brown learned of the sobering reality that the outlet had instead applied solely in the “Legendary Station of the Year” category, she questioned the approach and refined it. Going into the awards, Brown felt optimistic about the station’s chances and conveyed her sentiments to afternoon drive host Zach Bye. When her prognostication became reality two weeks ago, Brown and her colleagues celebrated the achievement, joining the ranks of many other top stations in the sports talk format.
As the station prepares to celebrate three decades in the format next year, attaining the distinction was meaningful for the team at Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan both behind the microphones and in other departments. For Brown, it represents a significant accomplishment in her first year working as its program director especially since the station lineup underwent recent changes. While she estimates that there were people skeptical about the station’s chances of winning the award, she was elated to have her confidence validated.
“I think we are all super excited that we won the award,” Brown said. “We know it’s a huge accomplishment, but we also know that we still have work to do. The station has been through a lot of change over the last several years, including when I first got here last year.”
The award helped boost the morale at the station, serving as a tangible affirmation from the industry that the consistent hard work and stellar product was being recognized. Although the station does not have any professional play-by-play rights and is in a marketplace with strong competition, it has found a way to stand out and maintain its audience while appealing to the next generation.
“These guys have worked their tails off for a long time,” Brown said, “and to finally see it pay off in an award like the Marconi – I mean, the smiles on their faces made it worth everything.”
The victory comes less than a month after a lineup change that came from a consequential change in morning drive. Three-time Super Bowl champion and former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth agreed to join the new morning television studio program, Breakfast Ball on FS1, expanding his role with FOX Sports and complicating his presence in Denver.
For parts of the preceding eight years, Schlereth’s mornings had been occupied by radio through a show alongside Mike Evans, and it has been a hit with the audience. Despite the new television show emanating from New York City, Schlereth wanted to find a way to continue working with the station and expressed that to management.
“We know that Mark is the biggest name in sports, maybe in all of radio, in the Denver market, and we were going to do everything we could to keep him on the air,” Brown explained. “Between him wanting to be here and us obviously wanting him, we found a way to make it work.”
Under the terms of the new arrangement, Schlereth co-hosts the final two hours of the morning show remotely from New York City. Concurrent with this shift, three-time Super Bowl champion and former NFL wide receiver Brandon Stokley informed Brown that he wanted a new challenge and desired to move from middays to mornings.
“We put him in there and from Day 1 it was instant chemistry, and a perfect fit. I spoke to both Mike Evans and Mark Schlereth and they were like, ‘Yes,’ and four days after we had Stokley in, I said, ‘Hey, you want to do this?.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s do this’, and I think Stokley has reenergized a morning show that’s been together for a while. I think it’s also helped maybe take a little bit of pressure off of Mark,” Brown articulated.
In addition to the new arrangement in mornings, the station added Cecil Lammey to middays with Josh Dover. Brown acknowledged that both hosts share similar interests in movies, music and sneakers. A few weeks after the new show began, they approached Brown and told her that they felt as if they had known each other for a long time.
“Cecil is really strong in football, and Josh is really strong in basketball and hockey, so its energy and depth is the big thing,” Brown said. “Cecil’s worked in this market for a long time, and he’s worked with the station for over 20 years in different capacities, most recently on the digital side. He cares about this station more than any person I’ve ever met, and his passion was really big for me as well.”
These decisions are made in tandem with senior vice president and market manager Katie Reid, who joined Bonneville International two years ago to lead its cluster of stations in Denver. Brown regards Reid as someone who has been supportive and grants her the autonomy and managerial wherewithal to draw conclusions and offer suggestions.
For example, within her first few weeks on the job, Brown realized that the morning show had one person operating the board and producing, whereas the midday show had two people splitting the responsibilities. Recognizing the dichotomy in these situations, Brown met with Reid, outlined the quandary and suggested a way to remedy the alignment.
“Here I am, a new employee, and I explained it to her, and she goes, ‘Okay, let’s do it,’” Brown recalled. “If I go to her and I can justify things, a lot of times it’s a ‘Yes,’ and that’s a great feeling. I’m never worried about taking something to her.”
Before joining Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan as its program director, Brown worked in the same role at ESPN LA 710 in her home marketplace. Being able to make the move back to Los Angeles took place after five years in Bristol working as a producer for the ESPN Radio network. After starting as a producer, she became the assistant program director at 710 in 2016 and was subsequently promoted to the lead role three years later. Earning the role was a dream come true, and it afforded her a chance to work with talented hosts and local teams on programming and play-by-play rights.
“I hope that people would say that I definitely changed the way that they did things,” Brown explained. “We focused more on turning it into a station that was more about entertainment – really entertainment then sports with the Mandy Awards and the way that we approached the shows.”
As a part of cost-cutting measures at The Walt Disney Company, Brown was among the professionals subjected to layoffs that ultimately eliminated 7,000 jobs. Having worked for the company for two decades and surviving several rounds of layoffs in the past, she expressed not having thought about when it would be her turn. Yet she and other colleagues in the audio division all lost their jobs and were suddenly separated from their longtime audio home.
“I was still living in LA, but I stopped listening,” Brown said. “I couldn’t listen. It was too difficult. It was hard to have some relationships with people that still worked there because I didn’t want to hear about the things that were going on there, so I just fully removed myself and became a fan of the teams at that point. I kind of went back to just being a fan.”
In the ensuing months, Brown examined her future in sports media and had conversations with several companies, including Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. Additionally, she identified her passion for play-by-play having worked with teams at ESPN LA 710, leading to a conversation about a potential role with Westwood One.
Through it all, she found it difficult to be watching the games from afar rather than being there and working in her job. She continued to press on and evaluate the marketplace, and even though she was willing to work in television, she wanted to find a way to stay involved in sports media and ultimately received the chance when the program director role in Denver opened.
“I think it was a blessing in disguise,” Brown said of the layoff. “I landed on my feet working for a great company, and now I’m in a city that I absolutely love, working with a team that I absolutely love. Working here has been a great challenge for me. [I am] learning new skills that I didn’t get working for ESPN, and have more opportunity to truly run the radio station.”
While the focus spans beyond radio, the traditional ratings play a factor in reviewing overall station performance. Moreover, metrics from streaming, podcasts and digital-only shows are also included within these quantitative numbers. Brown emphasizes to her staff that no matter what the ratings say, if the team feels it’s doing the right thing, building their shows in the right way and having good broadcasts, that is what genuinely matters.
“I have monthly meetings with each of my shows,” Brown said. “Certain talent I meet with consistently, but I like to empower them to do what they think is best, and then obviously I spend a lot of time listening and providing feedback, but the guys have to feel good about the product that they’re putting out, and for me, it’s about helping them feel good about what they’re doing.”
Brown still sees a future of possibility and potential. She said most revenue from advertising still comes from terrestrial radio, something she does not see changing soon, and she believes that the Marconi Award victory illustrates that the business is still thriving.
“So what if terrestrial radio goes away someday?” Brown surmised. “We can put shows on streams; we can do podcasts. There are so many other ways that we can provide content to the audience, and by the way, sports are never going anywhere, and people are always going to want to consume sports content.”
The station seeks to continue thriving in an industry trying to garner shares of attention from consumers with arguably more choice than ever before, and Brown is appreciative of her team being receptive to coaching and feedback. Throughout her years in the business, she has always been passionate about mentorship and elevating operations to the next level. The lineup change is in its early stages, and she is interested to see where it will go as the local teams continue to compete for championships with each passing quarter.
“When I first got here, I inherited a lineup that was already in place and had been in place for a couple of months,” Brown said. “I feel like I’ve been able to make my mark on the station with the lineup tweaks, and I’m optimistic that these were the right decisions and that we’re going to be successful.”
As Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan approaches its third decade on the air, the team understands there is more work to do. Brown hopes that the distinction is not its ultimate flourish, instead thinking ahead of what else it can achieve. Being on the verge of completing her first year with Bonneville International, she is proud of her team but has bigger aspirations going forward.
“Next year, we want to win ‘Legendary Station of the Year’ at the Marconis,” Brown said, “and I’m not kidding.”
Derek Futterman is an associate 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, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.
