One of the country’s largest sports radio success stories will be changing its model for success next week. TEGNA’s 97.1 The Fan in Columbus, OH, announced changes to their weekday on-air lineup, impacting three different shows between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Last week, I wrote a column entitled “How Changes at 97.1 The Fan Could Test Fan Loyalty,” where I questioned the moves and the motivation behind them, while explaining why I’m excited to see the results for the growth of the format.
Matt Fishman has been program director of 97.1 The Fan since arriving in September 2023. He is the brainchild behind crafting the changes and how they will be implemented beginning next week. When I reached out to Fishman to talk about the changes, the very first question most certainly was a simple word: Why?
“I think the why is a little bigger than the radio station,” stated Fishman when asked about the thought process behind the changes at 97.1 The Fan. “We got together to figure out, after the football season, where do we want to grow. The number one place is digital.”
Fishman has served in the sports radio format professionally for over three decades, with stops in Chicago, Kansas City, Cleveland, and a ten-year stay with SiriusXM. He arrived in Columbus embracing the prior success of The Fan with a plan to continue to grow both on terrestrial and—especially—digital platforms. The first step for Fishman in his new role was setting time aside for all his staff at The Fan to see where they wanted to grow as well.
“Some of my first conversations with people were, ‘Where do you want to be in two to five years? If you’re working in a certain daypart, are there other dayparts you’re open to?’” Fishman noted.
Those conversations spearheaded the framework for what The Fan will be embarking on officially beginning May 12. Fishman understood that working for TEGNA, the task was to find a way to grow digitally.
“If we don’t embrace digital and we don’t bring what I believe to be a great talent like Bobby Carpenter to a digital-first platform, then we’re just never going to grow it,” said Fishman.
Moving The Morning Juice to YouTube
Bobby Carpenter and Brandon Beam have hosted Morning Juice on The Fan since August 2020. A former Ohio State Buckeyes legend, Carpenter has expanded on his role in morning drive, most recently working with TEGNA partner 10TV covering the College Football Playoff as Ohio State went on to win its first national championship in a decade.
“I think Bobby showed during the College Football Playoff that his presence is bigger than radio,” Fishman complimented.
Carpenter’s new role, beginning on May 12, will be another venture with TEGNA’s television partner as Morning Juice moves to an all-digital platform. The former Buckeye will be joined daily from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. by Jeff “Tito” Thitoff. The two-hour program will air live on The Fan’s YouTube channel and HD3 signal, and then be replayed on the 10TV+ app from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
With Carpenter’s move to a digital morning show, Beam has moved to evenings to host The Buckeye Show.
“For us, The Buckeye Show isn’t just like a night show,” said Fishman. “It’s as important a show as any other major daypart, because of the partnership with Ohio State and Learfield. Having someone that is going to do a good job on that show is really important. That’s the reason why ‘Beamer’ is going there.”
When a Station Change Gets Juicy
When presenting the news to their audience on April 22 about the changes coming to Morning Juice, both Carpenter and Beam made it very clear that the upcoming changes were not their choice.
“I want everybody to know that this is not a Brandon decision. This is not a Bobby decision. This is not a ‘Shark’ (Mark Howell) decision,” said Beam last month. “For whatever reason, they don’t see us as maybe or maybe not a good fit together. This morning show, as you currently know it, is going away. So, our last show together as a group will be May 9.”
Carpenter then added to Beam’s comments, saying that there are “forces here that are behind” the moves that were announced that morning. The former Buckeye has not been shy on his personal social media accounts, engaging with upset listeners about the upcoming changes—referencing Morning Juice’s success in the ratings—even joking when the station went off the air early one morning that “only good things” are happening at the station.
“I trust these guys to do a show. I’m going to trust them to do the announcement,” said Fishman. “I asked these guys to be real, human, and three-dimensional. If the morning show comes on and they’re real, human, and three-dimensional about a change that’s affecting their daily lives, how can I then go, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing?’ I think people appreciate authenticity, and they were being real for their announcement in their own way.”
Competing Against Yourself?
Taking the place of Carpenter and Beam in morning drive on The Fan is another local morning show featuring Jonathan “T-Bone” Smith and former Ohio State Buckeye Tyvis Powell, which will air at the same time as the new all-digital Morning Juice program.
The program will air on the radio station and stream on the station’s YouTube page, where Carpenter and Thitoff’s Morning Juice will also be streamed live.
By providing The Fan listener an option in the morning—albeit one on traditional radio and one online—how could anyone not see this as placing competition against your own brand?
“People think we’re crazy in some sense. Look, we’re going to have two morning shows competing against each other,” explained Fishman. “If we can throw two morning shows at the market and dominate men, some listening to Morning Juice, and some listening to T-Bone & Tyvis, great! I’d rather have more ammunition than less.”
Fishman notes that the reason for choosing Carpenter to host the new Morning Juice on the digital platform was because he has a built-in audience that the former Buckeye could lure to the digital program, creating a larger audience on digital and reaching some people who may not be traditional radio listeners. Fishman noted that he plans to have the shows cross-promote each other in the daypart organically at first, where it feels natural, but believes during football season there will be more of a scheduled routine.
Keeping Afternoon Drive Common
While a lot of the focus has been on the unique setup for the changes coming to morning drive, afternoon drive is also changing as T-Bone departs afternoon drive after 12 years of hosting Common Man & T-Bone with co-host Mike Ricordati. Tim Hall, who has hosted The Buckeye Show in the evenings for over half a decade, will be elevated to co-host afternoons with Ricordati on Common Man and Timmy.
When the changes were announced on Common Man & T-Bone last month, the duo presented the news differently to their audience.
“We’ve been here long enough, and we have enough success and—air quotes—‘pull’ where this type of stuff doesn’t happen unless we give it the okay,” said Ricordati last month. “We both felt like this was a good time to try other things.”
Fishman agreed there was a difference in presenting the news when comparing the two shows but noted that he understood people handle change differently.
“If you know your people well enough, you can kind of expect where things are going to go—positively and negatively,” said Fishman. “The important thing is to share the reasons why we’re making changes. I’ll do that with fans that shout to me. I’ll explain to them the vision and what we’re looking to do. Look, the proof will be in the pudding.”
As Fishman nears completing his second year with 97.1 The Fan, this is his opportunity to place his stamp on a sports radio titan from the Midwest. While he looks forward to the challenge, he is confident that the results will be a positive for all involved.
“We think we’ve got as strong of talent as anyone in the country,” Fishman noted. “We have the right people at the right time to help us grow in radio and also in digital.”
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John Mamola is the sports editor and columnist for Barrett Media. 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. Honored to be a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Media and honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL). Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
The program Director may have thought it was a good idea, but for those of us who do not have streaming capabilities in the mornings we will no longer be able to listen to the Bobby Carpenter show. Morning Juice’s original format was my favorite show on The Fan and I’ve listened to the station for a long time even since Spielman and Common Man were in the morning. They’ve lost a loyal listener, but it’s their choice. I would suspect there are many that feel the same.