The national radio landscape experienced an influential change in early January when Westwood One and Infinity Sports Network chose to alter their afternoon drive offerings. Rich Eisen, whose program is distributed by Westwood One as part of a partnership with Audacy, moved earlier in the day, while Jim Rome shifted to afternoons for the first time in the history of his show. Rather than jeopardize becoming stale in the new time slot, Rome has decided to reinvent himself amid shifting industry paradigms and fluctuating consumer tendencies. Expanding his relationship with Westwood One was part of this process, granting the platform the rights to syndicate and distribute the award-winning program on affiliates across the country.
Throughout this process though, Rome wanted to acquire the intellectual property of his show as well. Having worked for media conglomerates throughout his career, he aspired to become an entrepreneur and subsequently reached an agreement with Westwood One to make it a reality. Although the company continues to sell and market the program, Rome is the person keeping the lights on, paying his staff and making key business judgments as industry turbulence renders an uncertain path forward diverging from common practice.
“I feel I need to win for everybody more than ever before,” Rome said. “You see so many good, talented people who are losing their jobs, and are out of work because the business is changing so dramatically. I am more focused than ever before in staying on the air and winning and being successful.”
Instead of staying in middays on Infinity Sports Network and remaining entrenched in his daily routine, Rome has willingly decided to embark on a more arduous trek. Despite the show starting three hours later, he still arrives at his office before sunrise and stays late into the day, working to prepare for the afternoon and further develop the overarching brand. Concurrent with the full-time move to Westwood One as a standalone program and new start time, Rome is aiming to build his radio network back up and serve affiliates, partners and listeners.
“I’m all about delivering a quality product every day so all of these business people are happy, and to do a good show,” Rome said. “If I take care of the show, the show will take care of me and the people who work for me, but it’s not about me. I check that bleeping ego at the door every single day and make sure the people who matter most are happy with me and the show.”
As Rome looks to provide a return on investment for the stakeholders in his radio program, he is committed to reinventing himself and works to manage a plethora of distribution platforms. Over the last year, he has introduced a variety of new elements surrounding the show and granted patrons broadened autonomy over when and how they wish to consume the content. Possessing an audience full with zealous devotees, known as “clones,” Rome recognized the seismic nature of these modifications and the potential of engendering confusion. Nonetheless, he went ahead with the metamorphosis with an unwavering commitment to excellence.
“I thought it was way more risky not to put myself out there, and I thought if they love me that they will find me,” Rome said. “They will find the show and they will find me and they will support me as long as I don’t break my vow to them that I’m giving them good s**t every single day.”
Rome Expanding the Digital Footprint
The transformation started last year when Rome announced that he was leaving CBS Sports Network and working with the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, under a video programming partnership. Utilizing a state-of-the-art production studio in Southern California, he started live-streaming his weekday program for X users as the company continued its foray into sports content. Rome had been on linear television throughout his entire career but saw the hastened rate of cord cutting and shifting business models. The genesis itself emanated from Range Media Partners, which recognized the push from X to move into longform programming and had a successful track record through previous work with Netflix.
“I still thought the show was very compelling and competitive, and I wanted to put it in front of [as] many people as I possibly could and I wanted to establish new platforms, and we had never streamed anything,” Rome expressed. “I had never been a streamer before, so my agency had a relationship with X and we decided that we would put the show on X, that way it was free – it was free to anybody who just downloaded the app – and I had direct access to people who were already using the app.”
Rome had already established a footprint on X before his show started airing live on the platform, and he viewed the wide-ranging exposure, access and immediate reaction as positive factors. At the same time though, he recognizes that the venue can be polarizing and does not resonate with everyone. In the quest to further diversify his media portfolio, Rome revealed last fall that he was launching a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel through a partnership with Range Media Partners and A+E Networks.
“It’s another super competitive space, but we found that the radio show is good visually,” Rome said. “It’s a show more than a radio show, but a radio show, and then all of a sudden now, we have eight other platforms in addition to the X platform.”
In addition to the flagship program and podcasts, Rome also unveiled an exclusive fourth hour that initially debuted with former NFL cornerback Will Blackmon. T-Bob Hebert, a radio personality at 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge, started co-hosting The After Hour with Rome last month as the FAST channel continues to progress. Audience members are able to watch this additional content through various television providers, such as Samsung TV Plus, Amazon’s Prime Video and Sling Freestream.
“Some of my Clones are like, ‘Dude, you guys sound like you’ve been working together for 10 or 15 years,’ which is pretty amazing since I’ve never worked with anybody as a co-host, so I wanted to shake it up,” Rome said. “I wanted to get a little younger, I wanted a different point of view, I wanted something from a different part of the country and I wanted to talk to somebody about different things, and it’s been an absolute home run. I love the guy.”
Consumer participation has always been part of ‘The Jungle’ domain and contributes to building the culture around the show, presenting takes through social media posts, messages and calls. Drawing a clear distinction between a caller and a listener, Rome recognized early on that many people seeking to articulate their thoughts and perspectives were merely offering derivatives of his discourse. Establishing the Smackoff competition has allowed him to be selective in calls, but he also incessantly endeavors to garner interest in the show through creating compelling and riveting content.
“It would be very easy for me to come in, put my feet up with a couple of thoughts and let the callers carry the show, but I knew that I could never have the career that I wanted to have if I entrusted somebody else to do my job for me,” Rome said. “So in short, it’s not a caller-driven show, but if I think a caller’s going to make the show better or elevate the conversation, absolutely, they go to the front of the line.”
Winners of the competition and other steadfast callers have built formidable sports talk radio careers, some of whom include Sean Pendergast of SportsRadio 610 and John Tournour of Raider Nation Radio 920AM. Rome is also proud of the lineage of producers who have come through his show and gone on to have continued success, such as NFL Network host Kyle Brandt and ESPN LA 710 personality Travis Rodgers. At the moment, he is in the process of bolstering the FAST channel, and it is entirely plausible that longtime callers could end up hosting their own shows on the platform as part of its overall strategy.
“I would love to find emerging talent, mentor them and create other programming on the Rome FAST channel, not to do the work that I’m already doing, but just to create other content so it’s not just four hours on a wheel but we have other shows,” Rome said. “That’s the ultimate goal with that FAST channel.”
Evolution in The Jungle
Early in his career following a bad experience in broadcasting, Rome gave up on his dream and started working for the family business before later being fired by his father. After a stint selling telephone systems that ended in him being thrown out of an office building, he called John Palminteri at KTMS-AM and poignantly averred his failure in life and asked if he had any job openings.
A few days later, he was working as a traffic reporter filling in for a student on Christmas vacation earning $5 per hour without benefits.
“I packed up the car, went up there, did good enough work for 30 hours that the kid didn’t get his job back, but my point was I literally did burn the boats,” Rome said. “I had no Plan B, I didn’t know how it was going to work – I just knew that I had to go all in.”
As Rome continued in this war of attrition, he started giving sports updates and eventually started a one-hour talk show in the format. Upon landing a job with XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego, Noble Broadcasting Group owner John Lynch Sr. recognized that Rome’s style of sports talk could work outside of California and started syndicating the show. Brian Purdy was part of the grassroots effort in discovering outlets interested in carrying the programming, and the show continued to grow to the point where Premiere Networks purchased Rome’s contract one year later. Kraig Kitchin, a recent inductee into the Radio Hall of Fame who currently serves as Rome’s manager, was the president of the conglomerate at the time and proliferated the impact of the program.
“I’ve always been surrounded by super-high achievers, starting with Kraig Kitchin,” Rome said. “I would never have had the career I’ve had without Kraig Kitchin, so he is one of my dear friends, but also one of the most important people in my business life. I mean, who can say they’ve got a world-class executive as their manager? It’s amazing.”
Balancing Tradition and Innovation
Rome always took it as a compliment that listeners thought he was from New York, but he has never tried to conceal the fact that he broadcasts from Southern California. Even so, he did not want to turn on the cameras and instead sought to cater to the imaginative depictions and sensibilities cultivated through the medium. Although Rome has endured during changing times, he still retains his trenchant, forthright approach no matter the destination.
“I thought objectivity was the most important thing about the job, but however, I was a die-hard sports fan as a kid growing up, but when I started to pull a paycheck, I no longer rooted for anything other than something to talk about because I had a four- and five-hour show every night,” Rome said. “So my favorite team was not the Dodgers – it was Team Content. Whoever gave something to talk about was my favorite team, so I had to fill it.”
Since enacting the move to afternoon drive, Rome has gradually become more accustomed to his new schedule, although he admits it was not as facile a change as he expected. Finding time to ride his Peloton bike and engage in cardio has been difficult due to the copious studying and planning that occurs before a new episode premieres live the next day.
“When the show is off the air, I’m not done,” Rome said. “Games happen at night, I run into people at night. I do my prep at night, so I’m still trying to figure out, ‘[What] is my sleep pattern, my workout pattern, my eating pattern?’ When we book guests – that changes now – when we do our podcast. We’re still trying to figure it all out.”
Once Rome started hosting in the new timeslot, executive producer Tom Di Benedetto started fielding deluges of daily phone calls inquiring about difficulty finding the show on SiriusXM. Even though Rome always knew having that presence was important, he discerned the gravity of the situation over the two months off the satellite channels. Earlier in the month, Rome resumed his broadcasts on the platforms and is thrilled to be back, implementing another means of consumption for the fervent audience.
“I try and manage all of it by doing the best possible show every single day and creating the best content, and again, if I take care of the show, the show will take care of itself,” Rome said. “The other challenge that I have [is] I still really want to be in that reinvention space, that inspirational space, that motivational space, so I’m trying to work that in there too.”
With The Jim Rome Show now available on the X platform, Rome FAST channel, Westwood One affiliates and SiriusXM, Rome understands the various forums and hopes to continue accumulating the benefits associated with several initiatives. Having evolved from terrestrial radio, he is still bullish about the medium and affirms that none of these innovations would be possible without its imprimatur.
With knowledge of these different spaces, Rome is aiming to stay embedded in the cultural zeitgeist by solving an intricate labyrinth commensurate with cross-platform integration and industry consolidation. In order to effectuate sustained success in these ventures, he needs programmers, clients, sponsors and listeners to all see the value in doing business with the show. In the end, he hopes to prove that his best years are in front of him and combating impediments with aplomb sans regrets.
“If you write an article right now today saying, ‘You know what? Old Rome’s had a pretty good run, but man, he does not have anything new to say, nobody gives a damn. It’s about that time that old man just hung it up,’ I’d be like, ‘You know, I don’t agree with you, but I’ve had a hell of a run and I know I gave it everything I had,’” Rome explained. “But what I’m here to tell you is I’m doing everything I possibly can to stay as relevant and competitive for as long as I possibly can because I still love doing it, man. I love the grind, and I love the challenge.”
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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.
