It was a cold and dreary March afternoon in 2023 as I was an attendee of the annual Barrett Sports Media Summit in Los Angeles. The second day of the two-day affair featured a panel discussing the best creative promotions that sports radio has to offer, and I can honestly remember Jason Barrett getting up before the panel began, asking a very simple question.
The question surrounded what those in the room felt was a great annual sports radio promotional event from around the country. It didn’t take long for several people to speak up and say, “The Wing Bowl,” which, unknowingly to me, was last held five years prior, in 2018. The reason for the question was to solidify the point that big events, features, and moments—done right—leave a lasting impression for years following their finale.
Last weekend was Masters Week, and only one item came to mind that didn’t involve Augusta, azaleas, or even Jim Nantz. The Chris Vernon Masters updates are a collective mash-up of mascots, beats, rhymes, and a golf leaderboard that has left a lasting impression on sports media, social media, and golf fans around the world. So, what else does sports radio have to offer?
Where’d You Go? I Miss You So! Seems Like It’s Been Forever
It wasn’t long ago that sports radio was filled with creative talent, eager to break through and make memorable moments using sound, drops, music beds, and social media to create lasting memories for the listening audience. I remember sitting in production rooms hours before the program, scouring the web for the right drop or the right music bed to fit the discussions of the day. There were endless meetings and text chains about concepts for creative ways to tell stories or entertain the audience using current events—aiming to leave the audience with a smile, a laugh, or a memory.
Where have the creative juices that once flourished in sports radio gone?
I used to ponder parody songs in my sleep and creative montages between shifts. I remember a day when there were competitions between programs as to who could make the most creative and memorable moment of the programming week when big news was happening in town.
It’s what drove the young and hungry to feast, placing your flag in the ground as to what made your show and station unique.
Now, after twenty-one years in the industry, the fear I have is that sports radio has lost its confidence for creativity.
What once used to be a format full of memorable characters eager to create memorable moments has now been dulled through a combination of cuts and cancel culture—ending in a sense that there is no advancement to be had by taking risks or attempting to be creative.
How can a format stand out when there’s no one to stand up?
Making Pimento Cheese Into Sports Radio Gold
Welcome in Chris Vernon, who took the archaic model of updating a sports radio audience with the latest from the leaderboard and put a twist on it. While the beat remains the same every year and the green jacket still fits, Vernon incorporates a new way to insert new bars to his freestyle every year.
The idea is to do the same thing that Tiger Woods did: change the game in how people consume golf content.
What better way to counter-program the soft piano of the CBS Sports Masters theme than with a hard and heavy beat from Flocka Flame that anyone can bob their head to?
There’s no more creative way to escape the soft elegance of Jim Nantz updating the leaderboard than Vernon spitting his last-name rhymes with how far under par they are—complete with an air horn sound effect.
Oh, there are mascots too! A dog, frog, bear, and monkey! Sometimes Spiderman makes a cameo as well.
The Masters Updates are nothing new for Vernon. He’s been doing the Masters Updates for years on radio before moving to a television studio, where cameras really brought it to life. Just because TV was now in play didn’t hamper the creativity of the feature—in fact, it broadcast it to the masses.
Every year, it generates buzz and interest from media, athletes, and fans, while earning tens of millions of views—bringing the Chris Vernon Show to be known worldwide by an audience it typically wouldn’t reach on a normal Thursday afternoon talking about the Memphis Grizzlies.
It begs the question: with more radio stations than ever embracing video streaming to distribute their product, where’s the creativity? Now, not only can you entertain an audience with a memorable moment, but it can also now be shown to the masses, cut into short-form videos, and drive engagement on social to tie followers to your show and your brand.
Where is the next Jim Rome Smack Off?
Who is next to try Weekend Observations like Stugotz?
If Top 40 stations around the country still make money and create memorable moments on pre-taped and produced bits like War of the Roses, then sports radio can surely come up with something! Anything?
Sports Radio Will Get Creative Without People If It Has To
Scanning the country, it’s hard to find something as memorable or creative as Chris Vernon’s Masters Updates on sports radio stations. The lack of creativity in sports radio rings louder than any over-modulated microphone on a remote at your local car dealer while you’re handing out koozies with a station logo on it.
If sports radio doesn’t wake up from its creative slumber, let this serve as a warning shot.
Just this week, Variety magazine wrote an article following last week’s NAB conference in Las Vegas that included this quote from a high-level CEO of an artificial intelligence company:
“The other thing we are seeing is it’s putting a spotlight back on the creative vision,” said Eric Shamlin, CEO of AI-driven production studio Secret Level when speaking about how AI is currently in use. “People can now create space operas in their bedroom. I think we are about to see a massive unlocking of human creativity…To be a creative, previously, was a very limited group. This blows that apart.”
If human beings are leaning on artificial intelligence to boost their creative vision, then why do we need human beings in the first place if all the creativity lives in AI? That quote should scare more people than satisfy. Not because I’m looking to create a great space opera in my bedroom, but because it’s another sign that creative human beings are becoming dependent on tech for that creativity to come out.
Who Will Rise Up For The Good Of The Sports Radio Format?
Taking a page from what Dave Greene wrote back in February—and he’s one hundred percent correct:
“Being ‘talent’ doesn’t just mean showing up and talking. It means engaging your audience, developing fresh content, and constantly pushing the boundaries of what your show can be. Somewhere along the way, sports radio talent became complacent, focusing only on content while leaving creativity to others.”
If you’ve read this far, you’re as passionate about this industry as I am. You remember that sports radio is the lone format that can bring people together through games, celebrity, fun, and laughs—and create creative memories for a lifetime.
Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.
If the possibilities are endless, and capabilities are present, then it’s long past time for sports radio to return to what it does best.
Get creative with it!
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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.
