JR Jackson, better known to sports fans as JR SportBrief was a very early adopter to the YouTube platform, starting his channel at the end of March in 2009 with his sports blog, ‘JRSportBrief’. Today his YouTube channel has over 100,000 subscribers and has amassed over 80 million views.
Jackson grew up around entertainment. His uncle, the world-renowned artist Fatman Scoop, was a musician who then got into radio and was an on-air talent at Hot 97 in New York. Later, his uncle ended up doing records with the likes of Mariah Carey and Missy Elliott, traveling all over the world. JR was much more interested in the marketing and business sides of entertainment.
“At one point in time, I helped my uncle produce one of his TV shows that aired on MTV. I had TV producer Fred Seibert tell me I needed to start my own show. He knew I liked sports and so my partner, and still my manager today, Charlie Stettler, we started JRSportBrief in 2009.”
Jackson ended up doing work for NBC in New York and was on CNN Headline News as a contributor. CBS offered him a podcast opportunity which was his first entry into their building. Later, WFAN Program Director Mark Chernoff found out about JR and put him on the air. From there he was recruited to V-103 in Atlanta for their morning show and started doing some work for the cluster’s sports station, 92.9 The Game. Eventually, CBS put him on nationally on their sports radio network which is where he is today, on what is now known as Infinity Sports Network.
While he still makes appearances on WFAN, he is also getting ready to add more regular work on 92.9 The Game as he said a new weekly show would launch on the station as soon as February. All of this in addition to recently signing a contract extension with Infinity Sports Network to continue his national radio show.
Getting back to Jackson’s interest in the business and marketing side of things, he has also used his connections from being a content creator to develop new, forward-thinking technology through a partnership with Google and Morgan State University. JRSportBrief Productions has been working in the artificial intelligence space and has created SportBrief AI Solutions. According to the company, the purpose of the technology is “to bring greater efficiencies to traditional sports journalism by creating automated post-game content such as audio and video news reports in multiple languages.”
Because of his long background producing content on YouTube, Jackson was invited to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year and was able to share the work he has done and the work he is currently doing.
“I’ve always been an advocate of being able to utilize digital media and YouTube, specifically, to earn a living which is how I started my career,” he said. Thinking back to his beginning days, he said, “I used to go outside and record myself and people would walk by me in the street like I had an issue. But now, you can’t walk through an airport without a selfie stick or a tripod and now everybody is a content creator, and everybody is vlogging. It’s just the way the world is, but when I started it wasn’t like that.”
About his new project, JR said, “Last year my partner and I were just kicking around thoughts and ideas. We thought about AI and of course everybody’s interested in AI whether they’re afraid of it or they like it or they don’t, whatever the case might be. We thought about it, and we played around with some of the technologies that were there. We said what if we utilize AI to produce more JR content. And then we got to thinking and wondered how do could make it sound like me and think like me? So, we found a part-time engineer who built a spec. So, the basis of what I’m doing is I’ve created a virtual me. It can create and look at a box score. It can understand the game and it can provide commentary in audio and/or video format the same way I would.”
Jackson gave an example of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers coming back to beat the Memphis Grizzlies. He said the AI technology would be able to give the score, tell you what happened, winning or losing streaks, the team’s next opponents and all of the other relevant information. It also can give the information the way JR would deliver it from the sound of his voice to expressions he might use to describe a game in a certain wat.
“We’re developing it as well for baseball and other sports,” Jackson said. “So, eventually you’ll push a button, and you can get a preview or a postgame of a sporting event.”
Ultimately, Jackson said it is more about the advertising inventory which will be connected to the technology which will make it valuable to potential customers. Additionally, it will be like having someone performing sports updates on a radio station for a fraction of what that would normally cost.
“The reality is, this is a tool just like everything else we see…things always change, and I view this as a tool especially in regard to content as opposed to this is something that’s going to just go ahead and replace people.”
As he and his partner looked into the cost of developing something, they realized it would be incredibly expensive to get a prototype developed. However, Jackson used contacts he had made at Morgan State University while on tour with the Special Olympics, to start conversation about partnering on the development.
“I knew Morgan State had a journalism program that I was fond of, and I knew they just started a brand-new AI Program,” he said “I reached out and I told them what I was doing. I wondered if there was a way we could work together on this where I could work with an HBCU, give back and have this be beneficial for everybody. After talking for a few months, the answer was yes. I reached out to Google, and they paid for the completion of this project.”
Jackson said he obviously wants to make money on the project, but that he also wants to have fun and to give back through the school. “I’m already happy that the engineers and students that I’ve worked with, I’ve already been able to connect them with people in the NBA. They’re talking to other engineers, and so the experience that they’ve gotten this year is pretty cool.
JR said he is talking with various teams and leagues about the technology as well as various events and distributors. “By the time we get to the spring and especially the summer we’ll be talking with sponsors. That’s the next step on the launch, we’re just about ready to go and we’re testing it out.
With everything he has going on JR SportBrief is very busy these days, but he says, “I enjoy what I do, and I love sports, so that’s not work. I love technology, that’s not work. I love business, that’s not work. And I really have reached the point over the past few years that I love sharing what I know. Everything is so nasty online. Everybody has to fight with each other.
“AI excites me and it doesn’t feel like work to go do what I do and to know that students at Morgan State are benefiting. And, in the future, with the success of my business, more students will get to do this. Google is very excited about this because they love the model. The model of what I’m doing, a business working with a school in the technology field, I really think it can help set a blueprint for other businesses. This is not just money that goes to Morgan State and the tool is created and everybody goes along their way. This can really change and open people’s minds and I just want to give back. If I can talk and make a living and then help other people out, that’s the end game. I’d be very happy with that. That’s legacy.”
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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.
