Approaching The Summit is a series of special interviews created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing featuring speakers at the upcoming 2025 BSM Summit in Chicago, IL. Follow along with this series as prominent names surrounding the event coming up on May 8-9 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) inside the Edlis Neeson Theater and share their insights and expectations for what’s to come in the Windy City.
Scott Shapiro is the senior vice president of FOX Sports Radio and Premiere Networks at iHeartMedia, and he has attended every iteration of the BSM Summit over the years. Shapiro recently reached a decade working with iHeartMedia on FOX Sports Radio and has overseen the programming slate for the national network. Prior to that time, he worked at ESPN as a director of programming across several national shows and produced Mike & Mike in the Morning.
Prior to the BSM Summit in May, Shapiro spoke with Barrett Media about his anticipation for the event and topics that he hopes are addressed on stage.
*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*
BSM Staff: You have attended every BSM Summit event over the years. What are you looking forward to this year as the event makes its return to Chicago?
Scott Shapiro: The thing I look forward to every year, first and foremost, is seeing the people. It is such a tremendous reunion for everyone in the industry. It’s such a rare opportunity for everyone to be in the same place at once, so more than anything, it’s keeping up those relationships, it’s seeing the people who are like minded.
We’re all trying to achieve a very similar goal in this industry, and usually we’re in our own home camps, we’re in our own trenches trying to achieve that goal, and what I always look forward to is hearing the stories, getting caught up with people, learn about the challenges they’re facing and seeing how we can grow the industry together as a whole.
BSM Staff: What is the value for industry professionals to leave the office and attend the BSM Summit?
Scott Shapiro: I love to learn, and quite honestly, there is so much that I learn every year from going. It opens my mind up to hear what others are doing, to learn about some of the challenges of the industry. More than anything, I come out of there so excited to get back because I have a list of to do’s, a list of ideas. And the great thing is even if things aren’t necessarily pronounced at the Summit, from all of the conversations from all of the different seminars, I have ideas frequently three weeks later, a month later just based on the learnings, just based on the creative input from the whole group there.
Really more than anything else, I’m a student of the game, I’m a student of this industry and it’s great to be able to go and learn because no one person or one company has all the answers, and oftentimes, I’m in my own silo operating on behalf of this network and this company, but I’m only one person, so I certainly don’t have all the answers, and it’s a great environment to go and learn and challenge myself to think of new ways that we can be doing things.
BSM Staff: How has the BSM Summit evolved over the years amid changing industry trends?
Scott Shapiro: It’s nothing like it. If memory serves me correctly, it was strictly radio based at the very start, then it continued morphing into television, and now, with all of the different digital platforms, it’s entirely different, and it’s all encompassing, and the beauty is no matter what line of the industry you’re in, there’s so much to learn from other platforms. So if there are people solely focused on TV, they can learn and develop their game to improve across all the different platforms, and same thing.
If you’re just in radio, I think you get a pretty clear understanding of when you attend a Summit like this, the value of social media, the value of YouTube, the value of simulcasts. The goal is to be heard and consumed wherever possible, and attending the Summit, you develop a lot of strategies to reach an audience and how to do it effectively.
BSM Staff: How do you feel the subsets of the sports media industry as a whole can continue fostering additional synergy and work together to ensure growth?
Scott Shapiro: In all honesty, it’s taking the strengths of every group there, the ideas and developing what makes sense for your own brand, but ultimately, there are so many ideas in the room. There’s so many different strategies that have been tried, many of which have succeeded, but also a ton that have failed, and I think it’s important to listen with an open mind, to game plan with with the fellow people.
There’s a lot of smart people at this Summit, whether they’re behind the scenes, whether they’re on the air or whether they’re eager to get into the industry, and I think the beauty is if you go with an open mind, you are going to learn something.
And ultimately in joint conversations at the Summit, even when it’s competing companies, when you’re able to come together with an idea, it can lift the entire industry, and I don’t think we do that enough. My company and this brand is only going to be as good as the industry. The more advertiser interest there is in the industry as a whole, the better all of us are going to perform.
So I think it’s great to be able to come together, and ideally, if it’s going to lift sports media up, if it’s going to be that much more relatable to the audience if our content is that much more discoverable to our audience as a whole, then the industry wins, and we all win in the meantime, because if there’s advertiser interest, if there’s high consumption rates, then we’re all going to win and then there’s a place for us right at the core seat of the table.
BSM Staff: As you view the return on investment with the BSM Summit, what do you hope to take away from the event and bring back to your station?
Scott Shapiro: In all honesty, I don’t have a set goal of what I want to learn specifically because every year I learn about 10 different things. So what I like, I’m a generally curious person and I love to study and learn, and quite honestly, going to the Summit, listening, not going in thinking I’m an expert in any way, shape or form, but just being a student of the game.
There are so many things, whether it be ideas on terrestrial radio, whether it’s social media techniques, there are so many takeaways that I have. I just want to go and be there, listen and learn, because I know I will be better, I will be sharper. I will find different ways to challenge myself and our great team here. But ultimately, I’m going to be the eyes and the ears for everybody at FOX Sports Radio, and my goal is to be able to take home ideas that’s going to make us even stronger.
Purchase your tickets to the 2025 BSM Summit here, and for more information, visit BSMSummit.com.
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