WWE Superstar Seth Rollins is expanding his ever-growing media profile, as he’s set to join the NFL Network for three days of programming next week. The five-time world champion wrestler will be a featured guest co-host on NFL Network’s flagship morning show, Good Morning Football, next Monday through Wednesday. This comes as WWE ramps up its hype for WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas next month.
Rollins, a devoted Chicago Bears fan, revealed the guest spot in an interview with Front Office Sports published Thursday morning.
“I love hearing myself talk, and I love football,” Rollins explained to Front Office Sports. “It’s something that I’ve always kind of been interested in, especially in the past few years.”
The WWE superstar has been a frequent presence at Super Bowl media row each year and has made numerous guest appearances on NFL-related podcasts. Additionally, he has appeared several times on The Pat McAfee Show, where he has discussed more than just his knowledge of the squared circle. Over the past couple of seasons, Rollins has also been a special guest of the Bears at several home games at Soldier Field.
“I’ve gone down to the Super Bowl and done Radio Row. I found myself guest spots on all these shows, kind of talking about football,” said Rollins. “I’ve really enjoyed it. I enjoyed meeting the people. I’ve enjoyed the process.”
Meanwhile, Good Morning Football co-host Kyle Brandt is a well-known Chicago Bears fan and never hides his passion for the franchise on the program. Over the years, that shared fandom has fostered a strong bond between Brandt and the WWE superstar.
“Kyle and I probably admired each other from afar for a while, and then the opportunity came up to go on Good Morning Football, talk football, and promote [WWE] at some point in the past few years,” Rollins said to Front Office Sports. “And we got to kind of meet and hang out and get to know each other a little bit and talk Bears and talk wrestling. And he’s got the energy that WWE brings to the table, right? He’s already there with it… And I think that him wanting me on the show and then being there and having a rapport with him immediately helped my comfortability.”
In addition to his guest appearances, Rollins has toyed with the idea of creating his own Chicago Bears-themed podcast in recent years. He also notes that WWE is fully supportive of his creative ventures, even those outside the ring.
As for his in-ring future, while a match has not yet been officially announced for Rollins at the upcoming WrestleMania, it is widely expected that he will perform on one of the two nights in Las Vegas.
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The primary radio and television broadcasters for the Giants have all inked new multiyear contracts with the team this offseason, continuing their tenures on the airwaves documenting the action. Giants president and chief executive officer Larry Baer confirmed the news to Alex Simon of SFGATE earlier in the week, which will continue seeing Dave Flemming and Jon Miller on radio and Mike Krukow with Duane Kuiper on television. It is currently unknown how all of these deals last, but Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Krukow and Kuiper signed two-year contracts.
One particular aspect of Krukow’s deal is the ability to shift on the KNBR radio broadcast team for select games. Krukow, who suffers from inclusion body myositis, is unable to make road trips with the team, but he will now be able to call 23 away games in addition to the 81 home games emanating from Oracle Park. Krukow is expected to broadcast the road games from the NBC Sports Bay Area studios while Kuiper works on site. The broadcasters have been calling games for the team spanning over two decades, including when the team won three World Series championships in a span of six seasons.
The Giants recently joined the growing list of MLB teams to offer direct-to-consumer functionalities to access live game broadcasts amid the announcement of Peacock implementing in-market streaming of the NBC Sports regional networks. Consumers utilizing the Premium or Premium Plus plans on the service can view programming on NBC Sports Bay Area through an add-on subscription priced at $17.95 per month. NBC Sports Bay Area also includes live game broadcasts for the Golden State Warriors, Bay FC, the Santa Cruz Warriors and San Jose State University football and basketball.
The radio and television broadcasters for the Giants have a combined 118 years of experience and have also been recognized for their work as the winners of several awards within the sports media industry. Kuiper is the longest-tenured broadcaster for the team as he prepares to commence his 32nd season behind the microphone for the organization, while Miller is second on the list as he moves into his 29th season in the booth.
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Longtime conservative radio host Dennis Prager has announced that he will hand off his Salem Radio Network affiliates to colleague Charlie Kirk and begin hosting a one-hour show in June.
Beginning on Monday, March 31st, stations that had previously aired The Dennis Prager Show will be fed The Charlie Kirk Show. The situation comes after Prager was injured in a November fall that has left him paralyzed from the neck down. After some rehabilitation, he has regained several functions, including the ability to speak relatively clearly and normally which will allow him to return to the air.
Salem Radio Network has shared that Prager will return to the airwaves on Tuesday, June 3rd and will helm a one-hour show from 2-3 PM.
“Dennis may have some physical limitations at the moment, but his wit, wisdom, insights and passion are as strong and as clear as ever and we are delighted at his spirit and resolve to return to his audience,” said Salem Media Group Vice President of Spoken Workd Phil Boyce. “We want Dennis to remain a part of the Salem family and want his millions of loyal fans to continue to hear his voice. Affiliates of Charlie will continue to get the Kirk show with no interruption, and affiliates of Dennis will soon get Charlie Kirk as a strong and able replacement.”
Kirk and Prager have each been broadcasting their nationally syndicated shows in the 12-3 PM ET timeslot since Kirk’s program was added in 2020.
Until Prager is ready to return in June, Jack Posobiec will host the 2-3 PM ET hour for Salem Radio Network.
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Ahead of new 11-year media rights deals with The Walt Disney Company, Comcast Corporation and Amazon taking effect, the National Basketball Association has filed two trademark applications related to NBA Inside Stuff. The highlight show gained popularity among basketball fans throughout its history across three different networks, enjoying a 26-year run across NBC and ABC featuring original hosts Ahmad Rashad, Julie Moran and several others. The program has not taken the air since 2016 when it was hosted by Kristen Ledlow and Grant Hill on NBA TV. Alex Sherman of CNBC was the first to report the news about the show making a potential return.
NBC is reportedly considering bringing back a “refreshed version” of the program as the company begins airing live game broadcasts of NBA matchups for the first time since 2002. A decision surrounding the show has not yet been decided, but a source cited by Sherman indicated that the filing is part of the “routine trademark process” by the league. These trademarks applications reportedly request use of the verbiage as the name of a television show and to create branded merchandise. It remains unknown if NBA Inside Stuff would be back on linear television should the show make a return or if it could be leveraged on digital platforms instead.
“Entertainment, namely a continuing show broadcast over television, satellite and internet in the field of basketball; entertainment services in the nature of exhibitions, promotions, and other basketball-related events,” the league wrote in its application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Monday.
The NBA Inside Stuff program first took the air on NBC in 1990 with co-host Rashad inking a two-day contract and playing for the Philadelphia 76ers in a preseason game. Initially working with Moran, the show sought to connect with younger basketball fans by highlighting pop culture, music and providing behind-the-scenes access to players in the league. Willow Bay, the dean of the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, took over hosting duties for Moran after the first season and worked with Rashad for the ensuing seven years.
The program moved to ABC in 2002 and continued to include Rashad with co-host Summer Sanders, who had joined the show four years earlier. Rashad continued his television work surrounding the league after the program ended with his show, NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad, which continued to run until 2011. Over the years, the show utilized highlights, interviews and analysis to highlight the game of basketball, its teams and players.
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AM Radio stations are becoming as endangered as the Black Rhino.
In the past few weeks, both Cumulus Media and Townsquare Media have shuttered more than 20 AM radio brands and signals in cost-cutting measures.
Which feels like a curious decision when both companies — and every radio company, for that matter — are telling the general public and the chuckleheads in Washington D.C. that saving AM radio should be of the utmost importance.
I’m a big “It can be both” guy. The world isn’t as black and white as some would like you to believe. There’s an awful lot of room for gray. But not in this case. It can’t be both that AM radio is vital to public safety and the radio business while simultaneously being so insignificant that dozens of stations are wiped off the map with little fanfare.
That’s competing ideologies. Is silencing the signals best for business? Almost certainly. But those same companies then can’t turn around and shout from the rooftops that the AM band needs to be saved. It’s insulting the intelligence of anyone paying attention to suggest so.
On the flip side of those companies silencing their stations are other radio companies who are speaking out about the importance of the band. For instance, 77 WABC owner John Catsimatidis is taking out full-page ads in New York publications urging citizens to support the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act.
Elsewhere, iHeartMedia has continued to utilize some of its major market AM signals for the Black Information Network. Is it a huge money maker for the company? Doubtful. But at least it’s putting it’s money where its mouth is and saying that it’s an important outlet for communities, and underrepresented communities at that. iHeartMedia isn’t talking out of both sides of its mouth on the issue. At least not yet, anyway.
I don’t know how I feel about the future of AM Radio. Do I think it’s days of widespread usefulness have long since passed? 100%. Are there some success stories still to this day on the band? Absolutely. But overall, AM Radio is on roughly a level playing field as rotary landline telephones to most people under the age of 40, and probably even older than that.
And I don’t know how I feel about the government potentially mandating outdated, largely obsolete technology in new cars going forward.
I can see the usefulness of AM radio, especially in an emergency, but I also wholly recognize that there are plenty of ways to disseminate information that doesn’t rely on the AM band any longer.
All of that aside, it’s difficult for me to see the case being laid out by the radio industry that AM is still an important aspect of the medium and to the business of these companies going forward, when virtually all of the actions put forth show the opposite.
“Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work in 2025. If the radio industry wants to see AM Radio saved, it has to practice what it preaches. It is clear that FM translators haven’t revitalized the AM band. It is clear that there largely isn’t an investment into content on the band, as it’s made up almost entirely of news/talk, sports talk, religious, and foreign-language formats. And almost all of those genres — the overwhelming majority, at least — are syndicated or satellite-fed programs with no connection to the local market those stations were granted licenses to serve.
It’s put up or shut up time. If the radio industry truly believes that AM Radio is worth saving, act like it. And if you act like it, you might not need government mandates to save it in the first place.
But shuttering stations in an effort to save some money shows that the arguments made thus far about keeping or revitalizing that aspect of the business are hollow. It becomes more increasingly likely by the day that the Save AM Radio campaign and the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act are actually “save whatever value our assets might actually still have” campaigns. And when it’s that transparent, it’s difficult to get on that train.
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Meet The Podcasters is a special 9-week series created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing. Our third feature is on President and Executive Producer of Dirty Mo Media, Mike Davis. Follow along with the series, and revisit former conversations by checking out the entire category.
A graduate of Georgia Southern University with a journalism degree, Davis founded Dirty Mo Media alongside NASCAR Hall Of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. He’s overseen its growth from shooting racing recap videos to one of the largest podcast hubs for NASCAR fans and followers of Earnhardt Jr providing insights and in-depth conversations unique to the Dirty Mo brand.
In this edition of our ‘Meet The Podcasters’ series, we explore the humble beginnings of Dirty Mo Media and how it’s translated to the audience since 2013. Also, how Davis made the difficult decision to leave his own role with their most popular podcast The Dale Jr. Download to focus more on growing the business from behind the scenes.
Mike Davis spoke with Barrett Media from the Dirty Mo Media headquarters in Mooresville, NC.
*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.*
John Mamola: Let’s go back to the beginnings of Dirty Mo Media. If could explain how the company morphed over time? If I recall, you were publishing some short video content to start and then you eventually built it into what it is today.
Mike Davis: The beginnings of Dirty Mo Media were out of a sense of obligation to a really big fan base to make Dale (Earnhardt) Jr and the world around him as accessible and as transparent as possible.
We were always blessed, the fact that Dale Jr comes with a lot of people that follow him and like him and really know a lot about his career. Back in 2009-2011, you get into that era where Dale’s on the back end of his career and the digital age was really sort of taken root. We had opportunities from a media standpoint to invest and do things through third parties. But there wasn’t a real good sense of control or impact in that.
There was a lot of the same stuff where Dale Jr does an interview or Dale Jr does something with somebody else in the reputable media. But then the story is told through them. We were looking at ways in the digital age of doing something ourselves and feeding a fan base. The sides of Dale Jr and the Junior Motorsports world around him that otherwise they just wouldn’t get from anybody else. That’s how the seeds were planted.
Over a few years, we started doing content. We started doing video series here at the race shop. To be honest with you, we did it horribly. We did not know what we were doing, and we don’t mind saying it. I’ve always said we were a company that doesn’t mind our owning our flaws and making our mistakes and being very public about it.
The fact is that’s where Dirty Mo Media started.
I believe we started The Dale Jr Download podcast without Dale Jr by the way. He was in the throes of his racing career. I was his road manager and then his brand manager with a sister Kelly (Earnhardt Miller). My job was to manage a calendar and a schedule It wasn’t to go make that more complicated. I wasn’t looking for ways to eat up more of Dale Jr’s time.
Starting Dirty Mo media in 2013, I’m sure we talked about it with Dale Jr. ‘m sure he knew about it, but he was not involved in it that first year. It was me and another guy, a friend of mine who was a local radio personality and still is a prominent guy at SiriusXM. At the time, that’s how we started Dirty Mo Media. It was really recapping Dale Jr’s races. That was our identity. Recapping races no matter where he finished, like a good transparent look into unpacking that.
Then a series of events created new opportunities, and they weren’t necessarily opportunities at first that we that we could recognize.
Dale Jr’s concussion, that was a pretty dark time in the in the story of Dale Jr. What it did is it opened a new opportunity for Dale to talk directly to his fan base about what was going on with his head injury. He was missing races. We didn’t even know exactly the extent of the injury. We had questions, so we knew that the fan base had questions. Eventually we realized we got this mechanism in which we’ve created, and it has a bit of an audience.
We told Dale we can tell this story ourselves, and you can talk directly to your fans. That’s what we did, and that’s where the next level up was. Where it’s, oh wait, Dale Jr can be quite eloquent in talking about himself better than anybody else can, myself included.
Who’s better to talk about what Dale’s feeling than Dale? He’s the only one that can. It turns out that this was getting towards the back end of his career, Dale started wanting to be more involved in the podcast and he was just naturally good at it. It just made too much sense.
When we started Dale being on The Dale Junior Download was our next kind of phase, and then we started adding shows that we felt represented our core values and the Dale Jr brand. Things that we thought were interesting for us, it’s not more complicated than that. What do we want to hear, and who do we want to hear from?
John Mamola: I worked in radio for 21 years and we always talk about owning the moment. When your local team wins a championship or goes to the postseason, it’s about owning the moment.
Being that the company started back in 2013 and then Dale Jr wins the Daytona 500 in 2014, obviously that was jet fuel for the company grow that much larger. Talk about how Dirty Mo Media capitalized on that moment?
Mike Davis:Amazing opportunity. So blessed that in 2014 not only did he win the Daytona 500, which absolutely was jet fuel, but he had four wins that year. He was partnered with a guy named Steve Letarte, who happens to be very personable and great for podcast. You had a very personable, talkative crew chief who had no problems unpacking any of his races, which they happened to be winning and doing quite well.
This was a resurgence in Dale Jr’s career after a pretty lengthy slump, and now he’s winning races again. He won not just the Daytona 500, but then he won twice at Pocono that year. He won Martinsville, which is a very cool and prestigious race.
Dale was back, so yes. We were riding this wave.
I’ve been with Dale since 2004. He won six races that year, and contended and should have won a championship. We kind of go through these peaks and valleys, and I realized. You take for granted when you’re in the throes of success in racing, or any sport for that matter. You take for granted these wins, or championships. But when you’ve gone through some pretty lengthy slumps, you appreciate the ones you win. You never know if you’re going to get them back.
So in 2014, I don’t know if this is it, but we like it as long as it lasts. It absolutely brought attention to the podcast that we were producing in a way that we just could not have replicated anywhere else.
John Mamola: Scrolling through the website and looking at the guests you’ve had on the podcast. Also, Denny Hamlin on the on the product now too. Some prestige names for the sport too. In your opinion, as the executive producer of the company, what makes a conversation with Dale Jr lean in type of listening?
Mike Davis: This is the thing we would have all lost bets on. To appreciate what you’re asking, you have to understand that Dale was an introvert for his entire life.
We would have lost the bet if you would have asked me 20 years ago if Dale Jr would be this conversationalist. Where people really get deep in talking about their feelings. Drivers don’t talk about their feelings. Athletes don’t talk about their feelings. They go to distances to not talk about that stuff. You don’t want to talk about your injuries, none of that stuff.
For a sport that is as dangerous as it is, they’re notorious for not going to funerals. Why? Because you don’t want to be reminded about the dangers that you’re facing every week. Then you throw in the fact that Dale’s an introvert and he just doesn’t like talking about himself, he’s very humble that way. How did he become such a conversationalist where people want to unpack their feelings?
To be honest with you, I’m not sure I know the answer to that. I just know that he has emerged as a good person to talk to. When I was doing the podcast with him for all those years on The Dale Jr Download, I would sit at that table with these guests, and would think what is going on here?
Before I got into racing, like when I was in college and high school, I was a NASCAR fan. I was in college when Dale Earnhardt died, and I was in college when Dale Jr went very famously back to Daytona and won the race. There was all this healing taking place and I see him and his teammates hugging and crying. It was an amazing moment.
I just assumed that the teammates and the teams are all talking to each other at the same time. Now fast forward to all these years later. What I learned is nobody’s talking to each other. Nobody’s helping each other grieve. A lot of the things that I see happening on The Dale Junior Download were conversations that should have happened years ago, but they’re just not wired to be talking like that.
Inadvertently, I wouldn’t take credit for this. We created a mechanism in which Dale Jr is comfortable talking in a long form format about things that could have been said or talked about years ago, but just never did. I’ve seen a lot of places where people have been waiting to tell Dale Jr their perspectives of situations that Dale may have been involved with, but they just never had a chance to talk about. It happened even this week. Yesterday we had Carl Edwards on the show. Dale Jr and Carl Edwards had a run in 2006 or 2007 where Dale Jr bumped him out of the way on a last lap. Carl notoriously came in there, grabbed him in victory lane and threatened him.
They’ve never talked about it until yesterday!
It’s like lightning in a bottle sometimes. A lot of people say that’s an amazing thing that you built. I didn’t build that. That’s a thing where Dale Jr becomes a good conversationalist, and there’s a lot happens to be a lot of untold things that needed to be said a long time ago that otherwise never happened and now it is.
John Mamola:Dale turned 50 back in October, his father unfortunately passed away when he was 49. How do you continue to keep Dale Jr motivated to keep going with the podcast even at the age of 50?
Mike Davis: When people ask me what’s your business strategy? My business strategy is to make it fun for Dale. If I didn’t make it fun for him, it’d be a pretty pathetic business strategy, wouldn’t it? Burnout and the fact that when you enter new phases of life. He’s got two young kids right now that he wants to spend time with. We very specifically make decisions that allow him to have that.
He has bought in so much to this company and to this whole platform. He’s really found a comfort level in it that it’s not hard to make it fun for him. What’s hard is to get him to take time off. The NASCAR offseason, while it’s short, it allows for you time during the holiday season to be off. Yet he’s focused on keeping the momentum up and we got to do this stuff.
Good problem to have, but we do try to keep it fun. Some of the battles that you might face on a day-to-day basis, we may intentionally keep that away from him. Let me deal with that. Let me take the fastballs to the head so that this continues to be a fun thing.
If there’s a guest on The Dale Jr Download, you can bet every dollar you have that that’s a Dale Jr wanted guest. If I started planting people who I wanted to hear, who I know would pull a big number, Dale can’t fake that. He can’t fake interest and it would chip away against the very thing that I’m trying to do, and that’s keeping it fun for him.
Simple things like that, it’s not complicated.
John Mamola: You’ve known Dale Jr ‘The Driver,’ and now Dale Jr ‘The Business Partner.’ How different is your working relationship, or is it similar?
Mike Davis: Dale, the business guy, is certainly more astute about the implications of good business practices. We are strongly benefited by the presence of a sister, Kelly Earnhardt Miller. She runs Dale’s businesses, and you can’t have a business conversation about Dale Jr without Kelly being mentioned. He would be the first one to tell you that.
When you talk about Dale Jr, the driver. When I started with him in 2004, he has already emerged as NASCAR’s most popular driver. We had Budweiser as a sponsor, we got to go to cool events. It was just a blessing to be a part of it, right? We became pretty good friends, but we’ve never been the type of friends where the business relationship was in any way undermined or jeopardized. That’s always been the forefront of our priorities for me and him. I wouldn’t work with somebody for as long as I have that didn’t have a strong sense of humility and understanding of their place. Dale Jr epitomizes all of that.
All that aside, to watch that guy race from a front row seat every week like I did. He was such a talent, so talented. It was an amazing opportunity for more than a decade for me to be able to watch that, even when we weren’t winning. Just to watch him race and to see how he impacts a large fan base every single week was just awesome. He was never impressed by his stardom, and that was also kind of an endearing quality.
Fast forward back to the ‘business’ Dale, his priorities haven’t changed at all. He still is a race fan. He always was and can now look at it from a different lens where he can appreciate things that otherwise he never would have appreciated because he just couldn’t see it from the driver’s seat. That’s been really kind of cool to see how he’s evolved.
‘Business Dale’ is as much fun, and I would even go and make the argument as impactful as the ‘driver Dale.’ Impactful more so in the media landscape, but just in the in the industry. He’s as influential impactful as he’s ever been.
John Mamola: The podcasting space just continues to grow and grow. Revenue continues to grow and grow. Any concerns on your end with your position with the company? Is the podcasting space getting too big? Maybe getting too big, too quick? Is there new ways to capitalize on how big the podcasting space is becoming with Dirty Mo Media?
Mike Davis: It’s getting more crowded every day, no doubt about that.
I think that I go back to why do you do it? Why are we in this space? A lot of times in this ever-crowded space where every single day there’s somebody new popping up with a podcast. Even media companies, they’ll come ask me for advice or suggestions.
I always kind of go back to the same question. Why are you doing it?
How they answer that will tell me right away if it’s going to be a fruitful or fruitless venture. I know why we’re doing it. Why we’re doing it gives me the confidence that I don’t care how crowded it gets. I know what our reasons for doing this are, and it’s not to just turn a huge profit or make monster revenues. I’m not saying we would turn it away. I’m saying is that we’ve got other reasons to do it. Maybe I’m naive but I’m unbothered.
I got a strategy, I have a vision. I don’t think that anything that I’ve seen around me is going to shake me off any of those things or deter me from what I think that we’re after. If people are grounded in that and know who they are, what their identity is and what their purpose is. You can evolve in the media landscape.
For instance, let’s just take podcast specifically. First of all, podcasts have gone through cycles for various reasons over the last 20 years. Podcasts at first were heavy audio, but these days a talk about podcasts you don’t even talk about it more as an audio medium. You talk about it as video medium, and there’s so many extensions to that.
We don’t even refer to them as podcasts anymore when we’re talking about them, whether it be in casual conversations or with partners. We just call them shows because there’s the podcast, video, and all different ways in which we produce these things. Podcasting will be like everything else. It’s going to hit waves and taper off at times. It’s going to go through cycles, but I’ve got to be honest with you. As long as there are stories to be told, and if there are perspectives to be heard. I think there is a place for podcasts.
I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface. Every day there’s a new perspective, and every day there’s a new thing that compels me. I could be naive, but I’m undeterred by all the noise and the commotion. I’m still looking for the stories that we need to hear and that I think my audience wants to hear.
John Mamola:Last year you signed a sales and distribution partnership with SiriusXM. Explain why that partnership was important to secure for Dirty Mo Media?
Mike Davis: The SiriusXM relationship is deeply important to us. We are all benefiting from that, and I think they are too. I think it’s a good relationship. We’ve learned a ton just in the first several months of the of the thing, so we’re still relatively early because we signed a multi-year deal.
SiriusXM is a monster company, they’re huge and they’ve got resources that I can promise you we don’t have in a race shop in Mooresville, NC. They call it “Race City USA,” but it’s not “Media City USA.” This is something where we have something to offer SiriusXM that they were interested in, they certainly are bringing a lot of heavy artillery to the thing for us. I I’m deeply appreciative of it, and we also like each other. I really like the Sirius XM people.
Listen, we’re an acquired taste. There’s a lot of people don’t know what to do with us, especially if they’re from New York or Los Angeles. A lot of our content and focus is just telling human interest stories. I don’t care if you’re in hockey or the Iditarod, there are stories to be told. There are human interest components that just that are good to hear.
I think what happened is SiriusXM understands us and understands that we have some compelling things to tell. Dale Jr moves the needle, so let’s not undermine or undercut that. I think we can start there, but you have to understand us a little bit. SiriusXM to their credit, for a company that is as big as they are, they have some fantastic people.
John Mamola: We mentioned the partnership with SirisuXM. Dirty Mo Media has video, podcasting, events, partnerships with BetMGM and FanDuel. You have your own line of merchandise. For you as the person spearheading the whole operation, what are key metrics that matter to you as far as growth moving forward?
Mike Davis: I’m learning every day, and the metrics change for us year to year. Most recently it’s engagement, let me tell you about engagement. I think if you go back to the fact that it’s a crowded podcasting space, we do aspire to be able to connect on a deeper level with our audience. Which is why that podcasting by itself probably does it to a degree, but not fully.
The merchandise tells a story, right? Everything about it is in a way to connect to our fans. The engagement metric is important to us, but in terms of growth? This may be the wrong answer, but I just go back to a strong sense of identity for us on why, who we are, and where we’re going. I’m not forcing anybody to listen to our stuff or watch our stuff. I think you have to relate to us in a way, or understand what we prioritize, or what we find as valuable.
You said the conversations between Dale and whomever he’s talking are informative. Well, not everybody does but there’s something for everybody. I’m trying to create a platform that does hit you somewhere that you’re trying to be and meet you where you’re trying to be. It’s not every one of my shows. If I can find one show that does that, I’ll consider that a success and consider that a growth strategy.
When I think about new shows that I want to put on our platform, that’s what I’m really looking at. Shows that I think can connect to an audience that otherwise I’ve not been able to reach yet. You know the opposite side of that would be just crowding it with a bunch of racing shows with a bunch of different perspectives. That doesn’t seem to really jive with what my strategic vision is.
John Mamola: This past January Dirty Mo Media went through some personnel changes, one of which was you stepping away from The Dale Jr Download. From your perspective, moving away from the download for the first time, and the planning, curating, and constantly thinking about content. How has that helped your role, where you’re currently at with Dirty Mo Media?
Mike Davis:It’s meant to everything, John. I’ve been wanting to be in a role where I can take a holistic approach to building a company and building a platform populating it with content that I think that represents our core values and the Dale Jr brand.
I’ve been wanting to do this for so long unimpeded. I found that The Dale Jr Download as big as it grew, it was preventing me from doing that. What happened is that I was doing neither very well.
I wasn’t growing our company or putting focus into the team of people, or the employees that I have. I wasn’t able to do that very well, nor was I being very good at The Dale Jr Download being a co-host of it. The way I would prepare for a show required a ton of time and attention like it did.
I never really talk about that. The fact is if you prevent yourself from giving what you think you need to do towards the show, I expect no different from any host that we have working for us. You better come prepared, and if you don’t you get exposed easily.
I felt exposed. I also felt like I was not doing the best job for either the download or its audience, or The Dirty Mo Media company and the employees. I had talked to Dale early in the year and told him that this is kind of where I was at. Obviously, I need to download to keep going, it’s still deeply important to us. I never did the download because I wanted to be on a podcast. I never once made the mistake of assuming my voice mattered that much.
I do think Dale Jr fans found value in it being that my proximity to Dale was compelling enough. In terms of where the delusion or download is now, which is really having strong perspectives on the state of the sport or the races and really unpacking it. I wasn’t providing a huge value in that area and therefore it was time. It was just time. I was there to keep it fun for Dale and tap into our relationship, but the fact is TJ Majors has the same, if not better, relationship. It was a pretty easy decision for me, and it’s one that I haven’t regretted at all.
I love talking about Dirty Moe Media. I love talking about the industry, and I love talking about podcasting. Now I’m able to go to places. We have a very important consulting agency in Los Angeles that I’d I rely on deeply. Now I have time to go do that without getting back to the show again. That just wasn’t helpful.
John Mamola:Final question for you. What’s one element about the podcasting space that you wish you knew earlier?
Mike Davis: I got advice early on from a very prominent podcaster. I sought out his advice when we were starting, and he told me something. I listened to him, but I wish I’d have done it more.
Know your identity. What is your identity? You should do that before you ever start episode one. Maybe we were a little guilty of this ourselves, but you start the show and say it’ll you’ll figure it out once you get going. That’s a mistake.
I think you got to know before you start what your identity is. Another way of putting it is why would somebody listen to you and not the million other options that they have What’s going to set you different? That’s not a great answer to your question because I did get told that early on. I’m telling you that’s the best advice I’ve ever heard, and it still holds true to this very day.
We’ve produced a ton of shows that we didn’t take that advice, now I don’t make that mistake. I will start a show that I know is a very niche audience, and it’s not gonna crash any servers by any stretch of the imagination. It’s not going to be your best performing, but I got my reasons to do that show. It doesn’t have to be in just downloads or listens or views on YouTube.
I’ve got reasons to start, and I know what the identity of that is, and I know what its purpose is.
I learned that lesson early on and I’m still putting it to practice every single day, and it’s still the best piece of advice that I would give anybody trying to start a show. Know what you’re about to do. You can figure it out in time, you probably won’t make it very far.
To learn more about Point-To-Point Marketing’s Podcast and Broadcast Audience Development Marketing strategies, contact Tim Bronsil at tim@ptpmarketing.com or 513-702-5072.
The NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament, aka March Madness, has become one of the most anticipated sporting events in America. People who don‘t know a dunk from a door knob tune in to see this dramatic, long running soap opera on the hardcourt.
There are certain guarantees each year to the miniseries that is March Madness. There will be surprises, upsets, beat downs, statements, history, and excitement.
March Madness is not just about basketball. It is about personalities, players stepping up, NBA Draft positioning, fired up fans, coaches on the rise, and boisterous broadcasts. This yearly tournament got underway this week with team selections, bracket preparation, and First Four games. They were of course the yearly questions. How did my team not get in this year? Who was snubbed? Who will emerge as National champions?
truTV featured several March Madness preparation programs. On March 18, following North Carolina’s South Region First Four victory over San Diego State, I tuned into an NCAA Post Game edition of Inside March Madness. The 2024-25 weak sister version of the Tar Heels were criticized for even making the tournament, but after this win, they seemed as loud, proud, and unbowed as any team in the country. That is the beauty of March Madness. If you make the tournament, it does not matter what happened from November until now. Everyone starts out 0-0.
Deep Dives With Statistics That Matter
Inside March Madness began with a look back at the night’s games and a look ahead to upcoming matchups. Host Adam Lefkoe offered some historic numbers saying that this is the 86th men’s NCAA tournament and that the North Carolina-San Diego State game was the 3704th game in the history of the event. He had added funny line, saying that studio cohort and ex-Villanova coach Jay Wright has seen all of those games.
Davis has been an absolute mountain of a broadcast journalist, talking college hoops seemingly forever. Rose was part of the fabled Fab Five at the University of Michigan and had an excellent NBA career before a stellar stint at ESPN. Wright won two National Championships with Villanova and is a Naismith Hall of Famer. The group provided a wonderful opening salvo of March Madness analysis.
Lefkoe is a real talent. He has done yeoman’s work covering the NFL and as a fill-in host for Ernie Johnson on TNT ‘s Inside the NBA. The latter is not an easy task given that Johnson has achieved iconic status on that show. Lefkoe was joined on this Inside March Madness set by Seth Davis, Jalen Rose, and the aforementioned Wright. This was a truly terrific college basketball on-air lineup.
Lefkoe jumped right into highlights of an incredible matchup between 16 seeds Saint Francis and Alabama State. Davis chimed in with some analysis as Lefkoe narrated action from this pulsating game. There were some crazy shots and wild plays in this tilt, and Lefkoe brought the action to life for viewers. All three of the desk analysts chipped in with their thoughts on this excellent game that came down to the final seconds. Rose even threw in a reference to the fabled Grant Hill to Christian Laettner pass from the 1992 Elite 8 matchup between Duke and Kentucky.
Alabama State won the game 70–68 earning the opportunity to play number one seed Auburn in Lexington, Kentucky. Lefkoe threw to postgame comments from Alabama State head coach Tony Madlock, who orchestrated the first ever NCAA tournament win in school history. This is one of the best parts of March Madness. The average hoops fan may not know who Tony Madlock is, but with his distinctive voice and detailed descriptions of the game, he could emerge as a real personality.
March Madness Makes Fresh Faces Instant Superstars
The NCAA Tournament is a star maker for sure. Players and coaches move up the ranks if they can pull off upsets and make an indelible mark. Saint Francis head coach Rob Krimmel showed the tough side of March Madness. In a very dour tone, he quoted his dad as saying that the two worst days of the year are the day after Christmas and the day after vacation. He said that Saint Francis’s 6-game winning streak was like a vacation and that the loss to Alabama State ended the ride.
The ups of Madlock and the downs of Krimmel are what March Madness is all about. Each game is a season unto itself – one bad pass, one dribble off the foot, or one missed free-throw can bring finality. That is why this tournament is equal parts beautiful and brutal. The broadcast crew on Inside March Madness gets this. They know what it takes to win, and what it takes out of you to lose.
Davis brings an air of sophistication and experience to any broadcast. This is the 21st NCAA Tournament he has is covered. The New York Times best-selling author knows the game inside out and has contacts beyond belief. Davis always brings solid commentary and in-depth knowledge to the proceedings. He is as ensconced as part of this tournament as historic names like Dick Vitale, Al McGuire, and Billy Packer.
The Impact Of Jalen Rose, The Analyst
Similarly, Rose is always on point. To me, he is one of the top four or five basketball analysts in the business. What I like most about Rose is the feeling and emotion that he brings to the discourse. The University of Michigan star from 1991-1994 made two final four appearances as a player and was a 1993-94 all Big Ten First Team player.
As a member of Michigan’s Fab Five along with Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson, Rose wasn’t just part of a team, he was part of an iconic group of young players who changed the game forever. Michigan was the first team to start five freshmen in a game and set both social and sartorial trends with their outspoken comments, baggy shorts, and black socks. They were one of the most influential basketball teams at any level in the history of the game.
Rose is about more than hoops as exemplified in his Detroit-based Leadership Academy. His wide-ranging scope came to the forefront when Lefkoe asked him about the close game between Saint Francis and Alabama State. The first thing Rose said was that this is why he encourages young people to play sports. He talked about how athletics can teach life lessons, pointing to the fact that Alabama State got off to a really slow start, but persevered and achieved victory.
The erudite Wright laid down some insight saying that Alabama State practices end of game situations constantly. He and Rose both talked about Alabama State’s ability to get a huge defensive stop, and then score. Wright is a 6-time Big East Coach of the Year who has made a natural transition to television. He is clear, concise, and captivating. Wright said that Alabama State’s victory was proof of a good coach having his team prepared.
In a nice exchange, Lefkoe stated that Saint Francis shot 50% from the floor and 45% from three point range, but lost because of turnovers, rebounding, and number of shots. Wright took Lefkoe’s pass and then scored, saying that Madlock’s coaching philosophy is similar to that of legendary Temple coach John Cheney – taking care of the basketball, getting offensive rebounds, and taking a lot of shots. Rose added that Alabama State was also playing full court defense, setting up traps, and playing half court zone. “They were like piranhas when the basketball was on the ground,” said Rose.
The quartet of Lefkoe, Davis, Rose, and Wright comprise a remarkable host, journalist, player, and coach combination. Inside March Madness on truTV is unique in that we get Davis’s information, Lefkoe’s charisma, Rose’s background, and Wright’s experience. Their varied perspectives and strengths meld perfectly to give viewers a fine foursome of facts.
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Cumulus and Townsquare turning in multiple licenses and taking radio stations silent is both depressing and disgraceful. The company line stating that these are limited signals with few listeners, few if any employees, and zero revenue, allocating their associated costs to still viable stations is bull.
Oh, I do believe it’s true these signals had zero ratings or revenue, and staff had long been removed. Make no mistake though, radio companies have devalued these smaller signals by gutting them, neglecting them, and now silencing them.
Like most of radio’s present-day conundrums, these are self-inflicted wounds. These, in particular, are now fatal, apparently, for these once vital signals. Local over-the-air stations are licensed to serve the communities they reach. These stations weren’t doing that, so perhaps, in some ways, it is better than allowing them to continue to shrivel. However, while the expanding media ecosystem is a factor, offering a garbage product is a certain failure.
These moves have repercussions for the industry as a whole. Much like the endless terminations of radio talent, they drive a narrative with the public, advertisers and local communities that radio is dying or dead, unviable, and sad. If the loss of people and brands continues to be inevitable as these companies trudge along, crippled by mismanagement, debt, and private equity pressure, does local radio owe explanations?
Usually, talent simply disappears without an opportunity to say goodbye and sign off. Stations simply go dark, with the only narrative being, “They went belly up,” like an old-time Main Street mom-and-pop business.
I think it’s yet another question of the need for steady leadership and the too-frequent lack thereof today. Managers can recognize the vestige a talent casts or the imprint a station brand has. And at times, no public explanation may well suffice. Other times, a mutual handshake OR a public goodbye and so long is necessary and good business.
There is a reason humans throw celebrations of life, such as wakes and retirement parties. Celebrating what was and being glad it happened rather than upset it’s ended is part of the life experience.
Rather than damaging terrestrial radio’s overall brand and image time and again in these uncertain times by respecting the relationship stations and talent have with their local communities would go a long way.
What would go further are owners not interested in being good broadcasters to cut their losses and get out, selling to others who do as it’s becoming too late to turn the ship around with public perception. The cume is still there now, though shaky. The point of no return is up ahead.
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Erick Erickson is the international man of mystery with a “spiritual gift” that he does not take for granted.
“I’m just living life with [my audience] on the radio,” Erickson told Barrett Media.
He believes he’s the luckiest man in radio, and its not just because he loves his job. The former attorney fell into the media world by accident.
“I was a lawyer in Macon, Georgia. The local morning show host on the local Cumulus talk station got arrested and they needed a fill-in. I was doing some political commentary on CNN at the time and started the political site RedState.com. So they called and asked if I could try my hand at radio. I’d never done it.”
He tried it for a day then, “They wound up firing the guy [who got arrested]. I did it two more days, and [Cumulus] asked if I just keep coming back. So I did…for 3 months.”
His luck doesn’t end there. During his fill-in radio stint, “The president of Cox Media Group was driving through Macon, Georgia, on his way to Disney World. Heard [me, and] thought it was my show. He liked what he heard.”
Looking for a replacement for Herman Cain, Cox asked “Rush Limbaugh and several others who were all friends, and they vouched for me and said I was a radio guy, even though I’d never done radio before and the rest is history. It’s now the longest job I’ve ever had.”
The former RedState.com editor first got in contact with Rush Limbaugh after the prestigious host read something Erick Erickson had written. “I emailed and got an email back from him from his private email and we started a friendship. He got me into radio.”
Erickson added, “In fact, when all this happened with Cox Media Group, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it because I was already running Red State and I was on CNN and I was a lawyer. [Rush] told me he would never talk to me again if I didn’t get into radio. So not only did I [stick with radio], I got to become one of his guest hosts as a result.”
Erickson worked at both RedState.com and 95.5 WSB for 10 years until the online outlet was bought by Salem Media Group. “I could very clearly see that they were a radio company [and] I was on a competitor in Atlanta. There was going to be a conflict eventually. So I stepped back from Red State and just started writing my Substack and running a website called The Resurgent for a time and started letting my radio show grow.”
Long before his radio tenure and stint at RedState.com, Erickson worked in political campaigns. Including working on President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004, local races, judicial races, and getting himself elected to his local city council. “The most miserable job I ever had was being a city councilman. You just always got ambushed. Local politics is far nastier than national politics.”
This experience helps not only differentiate his show but also how his listeners listen to political strategy. “I take a more analytical approach to stuff. For example, during the 2024 campaign, I could explain what the Democrat and Republican strategies were. How to read a poll, and whether the poll was actually worth believing or not, understanding how they needed to target voters, how the campaigns were targeting voters. I could take the partisanship out of it and relate to a broader audience.”
He added, “You may not like Donald Trump, or you may not like Kamala Harris, but pay attention to their strategy, who they’re reaching out to, the messages they’re doing, how they’re targeting people. I find it very fascinating. It’s just at a strategic level, how they target and being able to explain it. At one of my jobs, I had to do polling. So I understand how is a poll good, is it not good, are the questions written well.”
Erickson grew up around the world and has spent time in 55 countries. This upbringing gives the former campaign manager a greater perspective when it comes to the world outside of the Washington D.C. mindset.
“I’ve still been to more countries than States. So I expanded that approach to the news in general. I don’t just talk about Washington, DC, and the raw politics of DC. There’s a whole world out there that affects us and being able to explain stuff [is key].”
Part of his approach to the mic includes, “Let me give you the actual analysis of here’s what’s happening, and then I’ll tell you my opinion on it. But let’s all get on the same page on what’s happening first.”
Like Erickson, his show is more than just politics. “There’s a cultural malaise. I guess you could say out there, people feel like, maybe the world is against them. I’m actually working on a degree in seminary right now. And I spend a lot of time talking about cultural issues, even spiritual issues, and I live life [with people].”
Part of this ‘living life’ mentality includes sharing, “probably more than anybody else on radio about my family and I try not to be transactional with listeners. I’m exactly on the air like I am off the air.”
He added, “There’s more to life than the politics in Washington, and we should talk about that stuff as well. I’m a little frustrated with just everything’s got to be an obsession about Washington when there’s so much more out there. And I mean, I’m raising kids in this world. So I try to be a little more multifaceted than just what’s happening in Washington today. Life is not all politics. If I can help you put your meatball together, I’m happy to answer that question, too.
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Shout out to “Hawkeye In The Morning” at New Country 96.3 in Dallas. The show is hosted by Mark “Hawkeye” Louis and Michelle Rodriquez. The duo is seizing the egg price moment with Hawkeye and Michelle’s Great Egg Giveaway.”
During the morning show, listeners have the opportunity to win $100 worth of eggs. The show will wrap up the promotion with a morning show broadcast from a local Kroeger and a giveaway of 96 cartons of eggs. Kudos for a timely, easy-to-execute, and memorable promotion.
Does your station do office lunch deliveries? One of my favorites was working with a sports station that had a lunch delivery program that I named “Eat My Sports.” Lunch deliveries are a simple yet effective way for your morning team to meet listeners and make a lasting impression.
Team with Uber Eats and a local restaurant to provide food and delivery. Show up with station gifts and take lots of videos and pictures for social media. There’s always someone off work that day, and you will be told how disappointed they will be that they missed it. Have a gift certificate with you to leave for that person.
Be The Voice Of Waze
Lots of people use Waze—a community-driven traffic app. The app provides navigation, traffic reports, speed traps, and more. The turn-by-turn directions can be customized to celebrity voices such as Morgan Freeman and even Sesame Street’s Elmo. Did you know that you can offer your morning team as an option in your market? What a great way to extend your morning team to other dayparts and have them giving turn-by-turn directions, “slow down speed trap ahead,” etc. Get started here.
Mega Madness
Powerball and Mega Millions have been getting attention lately with big jackpots. I live in Las Vegas, and Nevada does not allow the lottery. During a recent huge Powerball, I got caught up in the fever and drove the 40 miles to cross into California to purchase a ticket.
There is a lottery store not 100 yards across the border. Imagine my surprise when the wait was about four hours to purchase a ticket. I passed and saved my money. The point is that people are interested, which presents a timely opportunity.
I have never been a fan of listener pools. Where listeners put in money with the morning team to purchase a large block of tickets. There are just way too many things that can go wrong with that.
Instead, how about a second-chance lottery remote? It can be sold to a lottery retailer or really any client. Listeners bring their losing tickets to enter a drawing for a prize provided by the client, the radio station, or hopefully both. Don’t make the prize a pack of station swag. Give them a good reason to come. The state lottery is often generous with lottery bucks, so check with them.
Just ensure you are careful not to run afoul of the local gaming laws. Turning in a purchased lottery ticket could violate prize, chance, consideration. Just put a registration box out where people who didn’t purchase a ticket can also enter. This will keep you out of trouble.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
