Baltimore’s 98 Rock is Comedy, Rock, Ravens and Orioles. The station is owned by Hearst Television. A gigantic company, but one that only has a radio portfolio of two, 98 Rock and WBAL AM in Baltimore.
Rick Strauss, the Program Director, spoke with me about the DNA of 98 Rock, today’s featured brand.
“We’re 48 years old, same format, same brand, same ownership. So, a lot of stability and a lot of people say it, but I think this company and this station really walk it in terms of local personality-driven community-engaged radio.
“We have a lot of exclusive high-value content that you can’t get on a digital streaming platform. We look at the bigger audio marketplaces as the competition.”
The station is anchored in tenured personalities.
“We’ve got a dominant morning show, ‘Justin Scott and Spiegel’ have been here for 12 years. Our midday host, Amelia, has more than 20 years with the radio station, formerly a morning host herself.”
“We have a high-powered afternoon show that’s been in place now for over eight years. ‘Kirk and Marianne.’ Kirk is kind of a market legend. He started at 98 Rock in the early 80s. He’s come and gone a few times, but he’s been back for the last ten years.”
“We’re the flagship station for the Baltimore Ravens, and we’re the flagship station for the Baltimore Orioles. And in between that, we play great music. But it really is driven by the relationship that our audience has with these very talented shows and this content that you can’t get anywhere else.”
98 Rock is a mainstream rock station with a broader music base.
“I think that our heritage allows us to have maybe a broader musical tent than some other stations in the format. We consider ourselves more Mainstream Rock, where you can hear some older Classic Rock. And you hear straight ahead Active Rock, and we are not afraid to cherry-pick from Alternative stuff that works for our station.”
Is the company’s small radio footprint an advantage or a disadvantage?
“Advantage. We’re part of Hearst Television, and the small radio footprint is exactly two stations. They give us phenomenal support. I will tell you that they do not operate these radio stations like a lot of other companies are operating their stations these days.”
“Having our sister station in the building with WBAL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Baltimore, the number one TV station in the market, is a real advantage for us. We collaborate on many things together throughout the year. Our morning show has a show on WBAL-TV that airs after ‘Saturday Night Live’ during certain weeks of the year called ‘Justin, Scott and Spiegel Shouldn’t Be On TV.’ That gets huge ratings.”
Sports make up a significant part of 98 Rocks’ station identity.
“I can’t remember the exact year that the Ravens came over here, but it’s been at least 15 years or so, and it’s a great partnership. In addition to just carrying the games during the season, we have other programming surrounding it.”
“We have the Purple Power Hour with a couple of former Ravens, Super Bowl champions, who have a great rapport with our afternoon show. And just different events that we partner with throughout the year. It’s great.”
“The Orioles, I think, we’re in our fourth year of being the station for them, and that also gives us a lot of opportunity to be engaged. We obviously go to spring training every year, and we have a 98 Rock Night, which is one of the biggest theme nights of the year. Our personalities are all over the place. We’re planning this year’s coming up in August. Last year, Joan Jett was part of it.”
“We knew that Joan Jett lives and dies for the Baltimore Orioles. I called, and I basically pitched why don’t you do a call-in every week and talk about the O’s. And so, for the last three seasons, every Tuesday afternoon at four o’clock, Joan calls in and talks Orioles with ‘Kirk and Marianne.”’
One of the things that jumped out at me listening to the station was BYOB “Bring Your Own Band.”
“Rather than doing a local music show where we play half a dozen different bands at 11 o’clock on a Sunday night. We wanted to give some real, meaningful exposure and handpick a different band each month in the market. We film a video show that usually runs about 20 to 25 minutes.”
“That includes a performance by the band, and then Kirk and Marianne host it, and they do an interview. It’s all cut together, and it goes up on Hearst’s streaming platform called ‘Very Local,’ which every Hearst television market has.”
“Also, once a week in afternoon drive time, we’ll play a song from the band. They get a really nice exposure out of the program. And we’re very pleased with it. And again, it goes back to being engaged with the community and supporting the local music scene. That’s why we’re doing it.”
What social media is most effective for Mainstream Rock and specifically 98 Rock?
“98 Rock has always done a pretty good job with video. We have a multi-camera system in the studio, so we stream the morning show, ‘Justin Scott and Spiegel,’ and ‘Kirk and Marianne’ in the afternoon live every day.”
“We put together video highlights every day from these shows. Some of them are longer form, and some of them are on the reels, and they’ve been really effective pushing out on Instagram.
“We’re really focusing on YouTube right now, growing our YouTube audience, which is already doing pretty well. But that’s important for us. And obviously, Facebook is still an important platform. YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram are our big three.”
The station doesn’t shy away from big undertakings to be where the listeners are.
“We just did a big one in May. We took the whole radio station essentially down to Ocean City, Maryland. It’s about three hours away from Baltimore. But there was an inaugural rock festival called Boardwalk Rock, a two-day festival, on May 17th and 18th. And we took down ‘Justin Scott and Spiegel,’ Amelia and ‘Kirk and Marianne.”
“And some promotions people and producers, and we broadcast live for four days from down there all day long. It was a really ambitious undertaking, but everybody just killed it.”
Check out highlights from the four days here.
Strauss is retiring from the station and relocating to Florida at the end of August. He is appreciative of the support that 98 Rock has had from ownership.
“The support we get from Hearst is phenomenal, and the people, everybody here. It’s not uncommon for people to be here for 20-plus years. People get here, and they realize they don’t want to leave. That’s a really nice thing.”
“This is my second tour of duty. I was here for eight years, my first time. I left only because I had a little kid at the time, and I wanted to get back closer to family. Then I had the opportunity to come back ten and a half years ago and jumped at it because this is the best job in the country.”
What advice would Strauss offer his successor?
“Appreciate what you have. It’s all about our people—a phenomenal team.
Reach Rick Strauss by email here.
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Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
