When the Barrett Sports Media Top Mid Market Midday Show category was posted on the site on Tuesday, Anthony Rothman and Matty ‘Ice’ Hayes, hosts of Rothman & Ice – the show voted No. 1 in the category – were on an airplane on their way to cover Super Bowl week in New Orleans. Program Director/Operations Manager Matt Fishman was back in Columbus, Ohio, already celebrating the recognition for the show before its hosts even found out they had landed in the top spot.
“These are terrific guys who have worked really hard to create the show that they have,” Fishman told me about his midday show before they landed in Chicago for a layover and were told the news.
I caught up with Anthony Rothman and Matty ‘Ice’ Hayes as they had just completed their first full day of coverage in New Orleans.
Dave Greene: What was your instant reaction to hearing the news your show landed at No. 1?
Matty ‘Ice’ Hayes: It was a tremendous honor. Working with Anthony has been great, and we put in a lot of work to try to put out the best radio show, so any honor is always great, but to see that number one next to your name, it’s humbling, and I know we want to continue that success.
Anthony Rothman: I’ll tell you, there was a little bit of shock and awe. We know that this business is very subjective and so while we measure ourselves by our own expectations every day, to know that there are people out there that listen to the show, that feel like it had value with guests or consistency or insight or entertainment. Matt and I pride ourselves on bringing variety and consistency to every day and I think this is a great lesson that you never know who’s listening.
DG: Matt, how meaningful is it to you knowing that it is people inside the industry who vote on the results?
MH: You liken it to what you hear from athletes all the time, like they’ll take all the honors and all the awards, but I’ve heard plenty of athletes say, ‘the respect you get from the guys lining up across from you is the respect that holds the most value’, so this is definitely similar to that and just a big thank you to all the guys that are in the industry doing the same thing, that respect what we do because I know we’ve got respect for what they do as well.
DG: Anthony, you and Matt are very different in a lot of ways but have developed great chemistry. Tell me about that chemistry.
AR: We have kind of leaned into old school, new school. Matty and I are generations apart. He grew up here locally in Columbus, Ohio and I’ve been in Columbus, Ohio doing TV and radio for 30 years and he was the producer of the show and when they promoted him, not only was it well-deserving, but I was as excited to work with him as anybody because, as they say, sometimes you have to reinvent yourself to kind of stay along in this business and Matt really forced me to have a fresh new look at a lot of things.
I love when we do battles over old school versus new school and I think it brings an edge to the show, a fun edge to the show, where he can debate me on any topic because he’s so knowledgeable and then I have just in my old bag of tricks some experience and some things that I’ve learned over the years and teams I’ve followed and players that I’ve gotten lucky enough to cover. So, the old school, new school may sound like a cliche, but it fits our show tremendously well. I think it makes our show very unique.
DG: Matt, with all the new ways to put content out, older hosts can now learn as well from younger hosts. Has the old dog been ok with learning new tricks?
MH: Oh, the old guy has all the tricks in his bag. He’s got new tricks, he’s got all the old tricks and it’s just awesome working with him and learning his ways and he’s been there for me right out of the gate when I started hosting and I’ll always be grateful for him for having conversations off the air.
So, tricks he’s got in his bag, but it’s been humbling to work with him and looking forward to what’s to come because I feel like we have some good years left in us.
DG: Who are some of the people that help you guys the most with the show and keep you on track?
AR: I’m really happy you asked that question because we have our producer Colin Barringer who has helped us, who has great connections. He works with the Ohio State Radio Network as well with Learfield. So, he travels with the team, he’s at the games, in the booth.
And then the other guy that we really have to pay some homage to is Matt Fishman, our new program director, who came in and always believed we were a number one show. He knew ratings are always cyclical, but he heard something in us as well and I think he helped refine us a little bit, start paying attention to what he calls ‘the interesting’ and have some real critical thinking on everything we put in the show.
‘Fish’ has really brought a new energy to our show and the best part about it is he wants us to succeed as much as we do, and he’s brought a real fresh approach for us and it’s kind of cool. In sports terms, we got a new head coach, and he’s got new schemes and new ideas, and we were very open to it. I think that’s the most important thing and he’s got us really thinking about keeping the show fresh and moving forward with different ideas and we put those into play.
DG: What’s the future of the show? What do your goals look like for 2025?
MH: I think we take pride in evolving and growing as a show and maintaining what we believe is a good show day in and day out. ‘AR’ and I love to come in and put in the work and I don’t think that’s going to change. I think he and I are hungry for success so whatever we can do to put out the best product through the airwaves, I know that’s going to be our main focus and we’ll get back into the lab and focus on putting out the best product as possible.
We wouldn’t be able to do it without the listeners, everybody involved and we’re just going to try to take this thing to another level in 2025 and beyond, that’s for sure.
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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.
