Every journey begins with a single step, and the path is never determined beforehand. While planning and plotting for your following steps is wise, the road to where life grabs your hand and takes you can never truly be planned. For Jeff Austin, a journey which began in Williamsport, PA, now ends in Portland, OR, with many successful steps taken, yet never truly planned for.
Austin, a seasoned veteran programmer for Audacy’s 1080 The Fan in Portland, OR, is ready to begin his next journey, announcing his retirement beginning this weekend — a passion-fueled journey beginning with his humble upbringing as a kid from North Carolina to life experiences to last a lifetime.
“I kind of feel like I was the Forrest Gump of radio in a lot of ways,” said Austin. “I just had great opportunities all the way along. It seemed when I get to a market, whether it was Williamsport, Columbus, Salt Lake City, or Portland, it seemed like I was put in situations where the teams that we were associated with and we’re covering were having unprecedented success at times.”
Austin has served as the brand manager of 1080 The Fan and 910 ESPN Radio Portland since 2008. His previous stops before landing in ‘Rip City’ included time in Salt Lake City, UT, where he was running the Utah Jazz radio flagship — also stops in Columbus, OH, and at WWPA in Williamsport, PA, under programming manager Scott Masteller. While Austin has enjoyed a long run of success, he understands his journey began and continued for as long as it did with amazing mentors like Masteller.
“You have to have the passion, and you have to have the work ethic,” noted Austin. “I was very fortunate early in my career that I was able to cross paths with Scott Masteller, who is my mentor. I replaced him in Williamsport, which was my first job. That’s how I got lucky enough to have Scott hire me a couple times later, and so I learned that from him.”
Finding The Passion For Radio
That passion was born through Austin’s early years being raised in Durham, NC, where a shared love of basketball flows through the town like a river. Growing up in the home of Duke basketball, Austin’s love for radio began as he recalled how his parents took physical record of his growing passion for the medium from an early age.
“I think it was meant to be,” explained Austin. “My parents had a tape recording of me parodying a weather report and a commercial, which probably was something I heard on my mother’s radio in the kitchen when I was approximately three years old. I guess it was destiny that I would end up that way.”
Austin said his interest in the creativity of what he heard through the speakers at an early age led him down a path of pursuing the first steps of his eventual journey. He spoke about his father, who worked at Duke University, inciting his passion for sports as Austin was allowed access to the plethora of options at a major university as a child.
“It was a great place to grow up if you’re going to develop a passion for sports,” said Austin. “I didn’t just go to a basketball game, which I loved. I could go to a football game. I could go to a lacrosse game — you name the sport. It just became second nature for me to be a sports fan and then have that kind of a passion for where I would want to make my life work.”
Moving To ‘Rip City’ And Beginning A Legacy
Eventually, that life’s work would lead Austin to Portland, a town featuring a singular professional team in the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. Since 1970, the Trail Blazers have owned the professional sports passions of the residents of Portland. Although only hoisting one NBA championship banner in their history, numerous legends — including six Hall of Fame players — have taken the court in the red, white, and black.
Austin says his love for the game of basketball made it an easy transition to relate to the Portland sports fan when he arrived in 2008, but he knew success would be sought out in expanding discussions not always in the day-to-day of one team.
“I think I felt comfortable here immediately for a few reasons. As you mentioned, the passion for basketball — I was used to that,” said Austin. “I’ve always enjoyed the sports radio stations that can go off the page and don’t have to exist strictly on x’s and o’s. I think there’s a different perspective on the format on the West Coast that mirrors our listeners here. You might call it a world view, where you can talk about just about anything as long as it’s relatable to your core demo.”
Following his instinct, Austin crafted a dominating sports radio brand in ‘Rip City,’ focusing on local talent and local conversation without the traditional radio broadcasting rights to build dedicated cume. Winning the content game without local play-by-play content has been a model for success for Austin over his years, delivering on being up front both in good and bad times.
“You make sure that you’ve got people working for you who are insiders and have insight. It also gives you a tremendous opportunity to generate credibility with your audience,” noted Austin. “You’re not going to have anybody telling you what the message has to be. If the teams are doing well, you tell your audience that, and you celebrate with the audience. When they’re not doing well, you’re honest with them, and you point out that fact and why they’re not doing so well, and I think that is something that builds trust with the audience.”
Adapting To New Challenges As The Role Evolves
As Austin continued in his role, the challenges of it changed with time. From having day-to-day focus solely on what’s going on locally, the added challenges from the corporate level added a new wrinkle to the craft. Austin stated while many see corporate oversight as a negative, he turned it into a lesson to be learned, adding another layer to his already strong skillset for success.
“I think learning how to not just exist, but also thrive in a corporate radio atmosphere was crucial,” said Austin. “I think you have to be nimble enough to pivot when you think you have your day planned, and all of a sudden you’ve been given a to-do list from the corporate level. The ability to resist seeing that as an interruption and try to embrace it in addition to your plans — maybe even fit it all into the same strategy — I think it’s the key to being able to thrive in the current atmosphere when you’re working for a large broadcasting company.”
The current atmosphere for many in traditional sports radio stations remains a challenge, as job cuts continue to hurt the long-term outlook for the next generation of broadcasters — something which weighs on the soul of Austin, whose life has been dedicated to reinforcing the medium and growing the format. He noted using the examples he has cultivated during his time in Portland makes it an easier task to show the future there is a future.
“For a long time now, the tentpole of our station in Portland has been our afternoon drive show Primetime with Isaac and Suke,” Austin noted. “I think when you have that as a foundation, you can show your other shows as you build. With younger staff, you can try to show them that there is some positive reinforcement there. You don’t have to do it the way those guys do it, but just be the best version of yourself. You work hard and show that you can relate to the audience, then it’s easy to say keep your nose to the grindstone. It’s all going to work out for you.”
The Best Advice Is Often The Most Simple
As Austin’s last chapter of his radio career closes this week, for all the steps he has taken during the journey, he still says the most important lesson he learned was a simple one — and is too far forgotten in the business today.
Always be listening, no matter what challenges pop up from time to time.
“You’re the listener-in-chief,” said Austin. “It’s very easy to be distracted from actually listening, as silly as that may seem. Consume your brand on all the platforms it’s available on — most especially listening to what’s coming out of the speaker. That still doesn’t go away, even if we are a multi-platform business.”
The journey for Jeff Austin was not determined beforehand, and the outcome was never guaranteed. He notes as he wraps up this chapter of his life, he is extremely grateful for all who helped him along the path — with excitement for what’s to come next.
“I have a lot of different interests in life, and I’m looking forward to continuing my passion for audio and for sports,” explained Austin. “I can’t wait for that, and most especially to spend more time with my family.”
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
