As the NBA trading deadline approached last month, there were significant transactions that took place around the league involving various star players. Yet what may have been the most monumental trade of the year took place shortly before time expired when superstar guard and five-time NBA All-Star selection Luka Dončić was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team deal that sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie and others back to the Dallas Mavericks. Shams Charania, who is in his first year as a senior NBA insider at ESPN, broke news of the trade on social media and recalled the experience during a recent appearance on The Young Man and The Three podcast.
Charania recalled that the Lakers had just defeated the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden and that he was preparing to take a flight to Bristol, Conn. ahead of the trading deadline. At about 11:05 p.m. that night, he received a tip that something was taking place between the Lakers and Mavericks. Charania had heard a few days earlier that the teams were talking about a trade surrounding a player who was ultimately not part of the deal, and he deemed after digging for more information that nothing was going on there.
“Going into the trade deadline, for me, what I don’t like to track is dead ends,” Charania explained. “Waste of time – yeah, I don’t want to waste my time. I want to just track the things that I really have to put my mind to, so I felt like that was a dead end.”
Although Charania originally thought that this tip related to what he had previously heard, he began to hear more information and checked in with sources to glean parts of the deal. While checking in with the second and third sources, he learned that James Hood-Schifino was heading to the Utah Jazz and that Markieff Morris was going to join the Lakers. Charania struggled to comprehend exactly what the trade was and later learned that Dončić and Davis were on the move as well.
“By the time I got to the fourth and fifth person, I got all the details of the trade, made one more call, and I didn’t even say on that call,” Charania explained. “I basically was like, ‘Is this f*****g real?,’ and the person was like, ‘Yeah, yeah it’s real,’ and obviously my hands were shaking. You have to make sure every detail was right, you had to make sure there was no typo, and I just remember my hands were trembling.”
Charania acknowledged that due to the sudden nature of learning about and confirming the trade, he did not have a graphic ready to post. In fact, he articulated the timeline having been five to seven minutes in hearing about the deal, getting five confirmed sources on the move and disseminating it on social media. Charania’s phone promptly began to receive many text messages asking if he had been hacked, but he did not have time to get back to everyone as he gathered more information about the deal.
“I got so many crazy text messages, and I responded to like five people on calls,” Charania said. “One was a SportsCenter late-night producer, Tom DeCorte, because he called me like three times, and I saw his third one because it was like back to back to back calls. By the third call, I’m like, ‘Oh sh*t, I should probably pick up his call because he’s probably wondering, ‘Is this real for us to talk about on the air?,’ so I picked up his call.”
Brooklyn Nets forward Cameron Johnson joined the podcast as well and remembered how the team found out about the deal after a game while traveling. Johnson explained how people on the Nets were going to social media and that there was an initial belief that he got hacked. Rather than trying to process the ramifications of the deal himself, Charania conveyed that he was in “go mode” in trying to gather more details and prepare himself to appear on ESPN to discuss the deal.
“It wasn’t until like the next day when I was on the flight to Bristol – I moved my flight from the morning flight to an afternoon flight – that I was reading all the comments and I was reading all the reaction,” Charania explained.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, wow,’ because I remember – I look back on my first ESPN that I did at whatever it was, like almost midnight my time, and I said, ‘This is one of the biggest trades in recent history in the NBA,’ and I was looking at the reaction. I’m like, ‘This is the biggest trade in recent history.’ I don’t know why I said, ‘One of’ – I think I was still trying to process in the moment.”
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As the college football regular-season slate of games culminated in early December, Joel Klatt watched the quest for glory commence from afar. The College Football Playoff, expanded to a 12-team bracket for the first time, took place with renewed events, fresh rivalries and thrilling finishes. These tangential alterations, however, received mixed feedback from stakeholders and consumers, specifically being critiqued after various lopsided final scores in the first round.
The first-round contests aired live on networks operated by The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery, the latter of which inked a five-year sublicensing agreement for rights to select games. Despite not being involved in the broadcasts, Klatt felt frustration towards the commentary about this early consortium of matchups and indicated how the NFL playoffs usually has identical margins at this time. Even though he avers some changes need to be made to the format, he enjoyed watching the proceedings that ended in the Ohio State Buckeyes reigning victorious.
“I’d love to be a partner,” Klatt said. “I would love if FOX had some of these playoff games. I would do anything to do one of these playoff games, and I think that the playoff was really good for the sport, incredible for the sport. Think of all the teams that had access to this top end of the sport that would otherwise not have access. You look at Indiana and Arizona State and Boise State, and these teams got to have a playoff run and their time in the sun, and rightly so.”
Klatt is on the broadcasts for a marquee sports property as the lead analyst for FOX Big Noon Saturday. FOX Sports recently completed its sixth year airing games in the early afternoon window, and it has allowed the network to better capitalize on consumption patterns and highlight the Big Ten Conference. Klatt credits network executives for recognizing a proverbial void where the company could take advantage and merit significant levels of attention, and the collaborative effort has continued to pay dividends.
“I was really fortunate that I was coming up at the time when FOX was really investing heavily into college football,” Klatt said, “and so in one respect my timing was incredibly lucky, but then it became even better when FOX decided to go all in on not just doing college football, but creating a premium window of college football.”
In reflecting back on the genesis of Big Noon Saturday, Klatt professed that FOX Sports was trying to compete by spending money on rights, but he remarked how the company was having difficulties gaining a foothold in the space. Although there are mixed opinions surrounding the start time, he believes that players and coaches enjoy the games earlier in the day and that the property has developed into becoming appointment television.
“This was a way for us to really jumpstart and be in the space of the pregame world because we were able to put that pregame show on, and rather than just let it lead into nothing, it led into our biggest games,” Klatt said. “And so College GameDay is so good and big, and they have been doing it for so long at such a high level, that it was really the only way to compete in any significant way, and we’ve been able to do that.”
No matter the assignment, Klatt always considers why certain things occur and aims to compendiously articulate his logic in a discernible, entertaining manner. Rather than falling into a trap of elucidating what is taking place, he ensures to talk about the rationale behind certain actions, schemes or calls.
“Everyone loves football, but very few people actually know what’s actually going on on the football field, and if you can unlock what’s going on and take a fan a step ahead and really get into the ‘Why’ things are going on, they feel they’re solving a Rubik’s cube,” Klatt said, “and if I can help them do that, then I feel like I’m doing my job.”
Klatt recently completed a decade working alongside play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson on college football games, a partnership that has thrived based on understanding their roles and embracing differences. Perceiving Johnson as skilled at amplifying the game from an emotional perspective, Klatt safeguards against interference and fulfills his obligation to synthesize esoterica and explain recondite nuances of play. Through embracing their obligations and executing the job with aplomb, the duo has resonated with fans and provided a comprehensive view on the action.
“I think there are too many play-by-play guys that talk football and that’s not their job,” said Klatt. “They pin their analyst into corners and they have to touch on what they just said or give their opinion about what’s happening on the field. I don’t think that’s right. The game, football wise, should be viewed through the analyst’s brain, and Gus allows me to do that. I’m super grateful for that.”
Klatt is preparing to commence game broadcasts for the United Football League, a joint venture between Fox Corporation and XFL Properties LLC entering its second season of play. The spring football entity was created out of a merger between the USFL and XFL, and it presents its games in a nontraditional manner with refined telecast elements and production ingenuity. There are several innovative elements permeated throughout the presentation derived from personnel supplementing in-game audio, groundbreaking camera angles and inside looks at conversations between coaches and officials. Rather than the analysis driving the telecast, Klatt avers that the content is more at the forefront in this setting.
“I talked about that Rubik’s cube from a college football perspective, whereas I view my role in the UFL as more of a translator,” Klatt said. “You’re hearing all of this language that you might not understand, and I’m trying to translate it for you so that you can take that language and be like, ‘Okay, it means that I’m about to see this.’”
As a walk-on quarterback who earned a starting role while attending the University of Colorado Boulder, Klatt brings an invaluable perspective to the airwaves gleaned through palpable experiences. When his playing career concluded, he began his broadcasting endeavors by analyzing high school football games on regional television. From there, he transitioned into studio work for FOX Sports Southwest surrounding Big 12 Conference football, but he regards his experience in radio as most beneficial to his career.
“That did wonders for my ability to communicate, my understanding of what people wanted to hear,” Klatt said. “They didn’t want to hear just gibberish – they wanted a point, and they wanted it backed up with substance, and so those type of story arcs in radio, I think, helped me be a better analyst on TV.”
Concurrent with his time in radio, Klatt continued to gain opportunities to contribute to regional and national broadcasts surrounding college football. A few years before the launch of FS1, he started appearing on FOX Sports broadcasts and growing more accustomed to national broadcasts. The incessant repetitions he had before officially joining the network positioned him to thrive, adopting the excerpt written by bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell that enunciates the need for 10,000 hours of deliberate practice before attaining mastery in any field.
“Let’s put it this way – if you’re a lot better player than I am and you have a Hall of Fame pedigree, then you’re going to get put out there a lot sooner and a lot quicker in your career,” Klatt said. “Now, [it] works to some people’s advantage – there’s no doubt – but I got to make so many mistakes and learn before anyone really saw my work.”
The previous season of UFL play was among the best spring football Klatt had seen in prior iterations, and he is optimistic that the quality will continue to augment in the days to come. In fact, he appraises the undertaking as a massive success for those at FOX and the players who have concurrently received chances to compete in the NFL. Adding to the spring sports calendar traditionally occupied by baseball, basketball and hockey with 20 games on the FOX broadcast television network, Klatt is a proponent of football at this time of year and welcomes the distinguished approach in its presentation.
“You need to push the envelope in what I would think is a nontraditional league, and we’re going to do the television in a nontraditional way,” Klatt said. “So not only the opportunities for the players – we get to see football, which I love and I just want more of – but then also this pushing forward and from a technological standpoint and a broadcasting standpoint.”
Despite Fox Corporation having an ownership stake in the UFL, Klatt has not been impeded or restricted in his discourse. Over the inaugural season, during which he worked with Curt Menefee and Brock Huard, he offered both plaudits and critiques towards the officiating and aggregate play. Klatt has the utmost confidence in the leadership team at FOX Sports to lead the outlet forward as the inextricable link between college conferences and media helps drive business forward.
“[At] a lot of networks, you don’t get access to those people, but we have access to them because we are a family,” Klatt said. “It’s not a network that has been around for 50 years – it’s fairly new. We try to push the envelope, and they’re going to continue to do that with not only our rights, but the way that we broadcast television, and they’re going to do it in a way in which makes us all feel valued and a part of the success, and that’s a big reason why I love working for them.”
The first year of UFL games on FOX Sports averaged 816,000 viewers, and the company plans to air games on Friday nights as the new season commences. Using his platform to facilitate the growth of the entity, he is going to make sure to keep talking about the quality of the league, stellar play and investments in the broadcasts. For example, The Joel Klatt Show video podcast is one outlet through which he can promote both UFL and college football as he seeks to continue disseminating his voice.
“I felt very strongly that in college football, you needed to speak about the sport globally and have a global voice over the sport if you wanted to be synonymous or [a] top-end analyst in the sport,” Klatt said. “Obviously Kirk Herbstreit does an amazing job, and he’s been synonymous with the sport and kind of the king of college football for a long time, and in my mind, I was like, ‘Okay, well how do I compete with that?’”
Klatt does not see himself moving to NFL broadcasts in his future, but he is not ruling it out either because of the ambiguity surrounding what could come next. While he has called many marquee matchups, he dreams of being on the broadcast for the Rose Bowl Game and divulged that he would do anything to have a chance to be part of that. Packed with various obligations amid the football season, Klatt maintains gratitude and cherishes the platforms on which he gets to appear as he looks to become even more associated with the sport and render value to stakeholders.
“This is a real passion and a love affair of mine, so I might be busy, but I don’t view it as working hard,” Klatt said. “I view it as I get to do this, and I’m super fortunate in order to be in that sport. For me, it’s all about balance though, and as my career has grown, balancing the amount of time I spend on my passion and my career versus the amount of time I spend with my family and I designate for my wife and my kids, I think that’s the important part.”
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After last week’s radio layoffs at Audacy, I heard from several programmers and on-air talent. Concerns about the health of the radio industry, and how its financial challenges may impact future investments, job security, and the responsibilities professionals are tasked with completing weighed heavily on everyone’s minds.
I wondered if those concerns were elevated due to the layoffs or if they were widespread across the radio business. The industry has been nervous for 20 years. It’s no surprise that people reach out after hundreds have lost work, express disappointment in the industry they’re working in, and ask questions related to finding a better way forward.
With some time to think, I decided to create a simple 10-question poll to see how people are feeling about a variety of key issues affecting them in their place of employment. Are people less confident about their job security? Do they feel overworked and underpaid? Have they been trained and given the resources needed to succeed? Do they feel appreciated, valued, and supported by those they work for?
I spent 30 years programming and as an OM where I experienced RIFs from both sides. I’m honestly not sure which is worse—getting canned or doing the terminations. This week I’ve texted with a friend who is experiencing PTSD following the layoffs and people she had to terminate. It is sad to see this person I have admired for many years, who has had much success, feeling this low.
Having covered the radio industry now for both All Access and Barrett Media, I would like to say she is an outlier. But that is not the case. I believe radio has done this to not only the best and brightest but also to young producers and everyone in between. People celebrate on their way home that they are employed another day.
Back to my programming days. It had gotten so bad that if I asked to see someone for a few minutes or set a meeting, the first assumption was that they were being called in to be fired. I felt constantly like the grim reaper walking in the hall. A wrong side glance or walking up to someone’s desk created a stir of panic.
And don’t even think longevity and loyal service are valued. We saw that in the most recent layoffs. I started many paragraphs with “after 25 years,” “after 23 years,” and so on. I’m sure in a few cases, the company is patting itself on the back for allowing people to try to save face and resign instead of getting fired.
In the past two weeks, I’ve met some young people who are enthusiastic about radio. The way many of us were when we broke in before consolidation. I have heard that the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Systems (IBS) held last week in New York was full of excited, wide-eyed young people. It would be a shame to see them go from that enthusiasm to someday feeling like my friend suffering from PTSD.
I keep hearing how we will create the next Stern or Seacrest. The answer probably lies in the rooms of that IBS conference. But where will they get the airtime to cut their chops? How many midday or evening shifts are left? And will they be seen as an expense on a budget line that is no longer necessary?
It’s not all doom and gloom. There are still companies doing good local radio. But I always worry they will experience “The Walmart Effect.” When Walmart comes into town, it undercuts pricing and drives the little guy out of business. Whether it is the intended business model or not, it is cause and effect.
We know that big companies have issues with rate integrity, which impacts local owners.
So where does all this leave us?
To gauge the radio industry’s pulse, we are asking professionals to answer 10 simple questions. This is a private survey, which means that the names of those who provide feedback will not be revealed. Once we’ve received enough feedback, we will present the findings in a future column.
If you work in the radio industry, click this link or the image up above, and let us know your thoughts. You’re also welcome to pass it along to others inside the radio business. If you have any questions, I can always be reached by email at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
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Audioboom will integrate Sounder’s contextual targeting and brand suitability tools for its advertising marketplace. And Triton Digital Executive Vice President of Podcast and Content Delivery Sharon Taylor believes the AI-powered Sounder will continue to be a game-changer for the company.
“This expanded partnership signals that the appetite for contextual podcast advertising and the curation of brand-suitable inventory is increasing in the audio space,” said Taylor. “Publishers are rising to the call from advertisers and leveraging AI-powered tools like Sounder to scale those efforts, while also influencing new standards as it helps provide better value to partners.”
The use of Artificial Intelligence, while not new, in the media space continues to be a hot-button topic. From a management and ownership perspective, many view the technology as a tool that helps streamline operations while increasing efficiencies. On the talent side, however, concerns about the potential use of the technology as AI voices continue to grow.
According to Taylor, Triton Digital is more focused on the metrics that AI can deliver and how it can help potential advertisers navigate important aspects like brand suitability.
“AI is going to continue to help streamline and scale different aspects of the podcasting world, including workflow efficiencies and content creation,” Taylor said. “Right now, Triton is focused on the power it can bring to reducing the amount of time it takes to analyze content insights and put that time and energy into content production and distribution. With Sounder, we’re seeing firsthand the value an AI-powered tool can bring to scaling contextual targeting. AI will continue to play a key role in the growth of this industry.”
Brand suitability for advertisers has been a challenge for many in the podcast space. Some data suggests it is the largest barrier to entry for marketers interested in purchasing advertising with the medium. The Sounder solution from Triton Digital not only makes suitability for brands easily identifiable, it also allows contextual targeting and inventory packaged together to help both podcasters and advertisers find the best matches.
And that collaboration between podcaster and marketer, with the use of the artificial intelligence-powered product from Triton Digital, helps both content creators and advertisers reach their desired goals.
“Every brand wants to ensure its values and identity align with the content they’re appearing in or alongside. Podcasts offer advertisers highly targeted opportunities to advertise within content that specific audiences have chosen, creating alignment between brand values and listener interest,” she said. “This is why podcasting has been such a powerful medium for advertisers for so long. As the medium evolves and more brands step into the space, they’re also looking for the same information and guardrails that exist in other mediums they advertise in.
“Sounder is built to enable an advertiser and a publisher to work collaboratively, finding the best episodes across a network of shows and curating content that matches brand goals – whether that’s topics they’d like to avoid or content they’d like to lean into.”
The use of Sounder by Audioboom is an expansion of a partnership that saw Audioboom participate in Triton’s Podcast Reports. According to the U.S. Podcast Report for 2024, Audioboom’s network reported 13.2 million average weekly downloads.
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The date was March 30, 2011—almost 14 full years ago—when then-Entercom, now Audacy, took a news talk station in Kansas City and put it on the FM dial at 98.1, finishing off its run as a soft rock station by playing Bonnie Raitt’s Something to Talk About. KMBZ-FM would initially simulcast what was already airing on their AM news talk station, but a few years later, it would split off and become its own as the local news talk station while the AM station aired nationally syndicated talk shows.
Bottom line: the station became a powerhouse in the market, both from a ratings and revenue standpoint. You couldn’t ask for a better, more consistent product than what that station delivered to the company year in and year out. I know because I saw it firsthand as a GSM for Audacy in Kansas City. And the entire time I was there, all I could think about was my friend Steve Moore at KMOX in St. Louis, whom I would eventually end up joining.
Now, let’s give proper context. Until recent times, KMOX never had a problem with revenue. That station has made a lot of money. But, oh, what could have been. And what should have been.
You probably saw the news this week that KMOX has (FINALLY!) added a full-market FM signal on 104.1 and will start broadcasting on the station on March 24. Congrats to Steve—he has worked long and hard to make this happen. He just never could have imagined it would take this long to make for Audacy to make the world’s easiest decision. And, of course, in typical big media fashion, it was done in the absolute worst way possible.
There are a hundred different reasons KMOX should have had a full-market FM signal a decade ago. Had they made that move, the company might not be in the position they are currently in in St. Louis. That position? A distant second place to Hubbard—as in, whatever a country mile is. And it’s all their own fault.
The same company saw what would and could happen less than 300 miles away. As AM listenership declined over and over again, Audacy and David Field sat on their hands, holding onto some really average FM stations that could have become KMOX and generated multiple times the revenue of whatever those formats were bringing in. Then, eventually, KMOX AM could have had more sports programming, becoming a de facto sports station—you know, the format Audacy thinks they are the masters of.
At a corporate meeting, I made the stupid decision to ask David Field and Susan Larkin a question about AM stations in a Q&A session. I did it because I genuinely wanted to hear what the company had in mind for AM stations—especially KMOX. Let’s just say, I’m still wondering.
Field blew off my question like it was ridiculous. He said something about the life left in AM and how Audacy wasn’t going to be the company that led the end of AM radio. I should have known that would be the answer—because Audacy would only do it after iHeart did it anyway.
Meanwhile, KMOX—the biggest, baddest radio station St. Louis has ever known—is finally going to be on a legitimate FM signal (it had previously been on a smaller FM station). And you know what’s interesting? It’s not nearly as big of a deal as it should be.
First of all, Audacy only did it because they can no longer afford to run the station that was on 104.1—an urban contemporary station whose entire staff was let go to make room for KMOX. Always great PR. That part of the story received more coverage and has come up in more conversations.
This should be major news and something the market is truly excited about. The station still does a great job with content and covers St. Louis better than anyone. They have St. Louis Cardinals baseball. And all of that is now on the part of the dial where the most people listen. I can’t help but think how this same story would have been covered had it happened ten, eight, six, or even just four years ago. KMOX
Instead, because Audacy hesitated (and hesitated), it could just be another footnote in the history of a mistake filled company.
The Best/Worst Thing I’ve Heard/Watched/Read Recently
I love a good road trip and a podcast series, especially when it is a true-crime story which involves mystery, intrigue and the Mafia! If you are like me and have seen Goodfellas seven hundred times, you will love the podcast Crook County from Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts.
The podcast is the story of Kenny ‘The Kid’ Tekiela who was a Chicago firefighter, a husband and a father … who also happened to be living a secret double life as a hitman for the Chicago mafia. Tekiela was able to keep all of this a secret from his family and friends for 20 years.
The story is told from the very unique perspective of one of Tekiela’s sons who learns all of this information about his father, in detail, for the first time. If you have a Spring Break road trip coming up I highly recommend checking this one out and you can do so by clicking here.
Earlier this week Derek Futterman had a profile on David Samson, the former President of the Miami Marlins for 16 years. Since leaving the Marlins in 2017, Samson has transitioned into media, hosting the Nothing Personal with David Samson podcast amongst other media roles.
I liked when Samson talked about his credentials as someone who doesn’t just know the game and the behind the scenes information, he lived it. Samson said:
“All I’m telling [the audience] is the truth as I have lived it, as I’ve experienced it and as I know it to be because I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve done press releases that I know are misleading. I’ve spoken to the media about injuries or about performance or about revenue or about money in ways that I knew were misleading but were necessary from a P.R. standpoint.”
That is the kind of insight sports fans look for and Samson provides it on the daily.
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One thing the Alternative format has traditionally been known for is supporting the local music scene in its respective markets. I’m pretty lucky to have programmed in a market like Las Vegas, where a little band named Imagine Dragons was the winner of our local “Battle of The Bands” for our annual concert, “Bite of Las Vegas,” back in the day.
The first-place winner got to headline the local’s stage. Ironically, the headliner of our “Big Show” that year cancelled the day of the show due to the Swine Flu, and the line-up “moved up.” Blue October moved into headlining position, and Imagine Dragons moved up to the main stage. I could go on with stories about how The Killers, Panic! At The Disco, and many other Las Vegas bands got their first exposure and radio airplay on X107.5 and Mix 94.1.
One of my favorite “New Music” shows has always been KXTE’s “It Hurts When I Pee.” (IHWIP). I’m not necessarily a fan of the show name per se…. but the show itself for sure! It’s been around most likely since the station launched in 1996 and supports not only up-and-coming bands but also local bands.
For as long as I can remember, the show has been hosted by Pauly Kover who’s been on and off with the station for 21 years. It pre-dates him, but that’s as far back as I can remember. This guy has been on and off of KXTE due to budget cuts, Covid etc., but he always manages to end up right where he belongs, back at X107.5 in Vegas. I get it, having moved back here at least four times thanks to the radio thing.
Kover has hosted the show since 2014. “My guess is that the name was created while in a drunken state, but definitely fit the ‘Xtreme Radio’ attitude,” says Kover. Most likely created by Dave Wellington and Ripley who pre-date us both. “Plus, how can you forget a name like that?” he asks. The station’s history includes years of being an Active Rocker, which they referred to as “Xtreme Radio” (and recently brought it back despite still being Alternative). It allows them to be a little heavier than most Alternative stations, which is good since Vegas has always been a “Rock” market.
Kover’s criteria for the show’s playlist is strategic: “First, I like to make sure I’m playing the songs that are about to hit the regular playlist,” he says. “That way I can claim they were heard first on ‘Pee.’ But it’s also where I can showcase some of the ‘Rockier’ tunes & also the songs that are on the fringe of Alternative. The stuff that will not make regular rotation but deserves to have ears on it.”
“Second, each week, I feature 2-4 local bands. We are lucky in Vegas because some hometown bands are very popular, while others are virtually unknown and looking for their first bit of exposure.”
“Bands that hear their music on the radio for the first time tend to be very grateful and turn their family & friends on to the show, which hopefully creates new weekly listeners. I LOVE watching their reaction videos on social media… I should make reaction videos, reacting to their reactions. Hmmm……”
“The Killers got their first radio play on IHWIP. Same with Imagine Dragons and several other successful Las Vegas bands. The most recent example of a local artist going from ‘Pee-List’ to Playlist would be EKOH. I first saw him back in 2013, when I was hosting the Hard Rock Rising: Battle Of The Bands competition. He impressed me so much that I started playing him right away on Sunday nights. For many years, I was his only local support in the media. This past year, EKOH started picking up steam and producing some bangers. I urged management to really consider supporting his journey and playing his track ‘Good Things’ on X107.5… and we did. As a result, several other stations in the country followed suit. As a station, we should be proud of our track record for breaking bands and artists on this frequency!”
When it comes to curating the list, Kover looks at charts to see what’s working elsewhere. “That’s safe,” he insists. “But I also spend HOURS listening to absolutely everything that is sent my way. I really want to play the virgin stuff that is begging for a chance. Just a sip of water in the desert…… I may not have any water, I like beer, but I do have ‘Pee.’ (See what I did there?)”
According to Kover, the show’s draw is discovery. “I want people to discover something fresh, the next ‘thing’ that will grab your ears for weeks, months, and possibly years to come. It’s something different. A pallet cleanser, after hearing the same songs that are in regular rotation all week long.”
Pauly Kover – Photo Facebook
As for the music flow, Kover says, “I am not afraid to play two female vocalists back-to-back. We have to hear dudes one song after another all the time. The world will not crumble into the ocean if we hear women doing their thing, especially if the songs are good! Take, for example, Poppy’s ‘New Way Out’ into Momma’s ‘I Want You (Fever).’ The first is loud and fast. The other has a mid-90s vibe. So even though they both have female vocals, they do not sound at all the same and I think that works for the show.”
Kover has the perfect strategy for promoting IHWIP before it airs. “I like to blast out the playlist before the show starts on socials and tag the bands. Many of them respond and repost. Because of that, we get several streams from all sorts of places outside of Las Vegas. In fact, IHWIP and my regular weeknight shift are the ‘Morning Shows’ for an office full of Alt/Rock lovers in Perth, Australia. They listen and communicate regularly. I love it!”
Kover says his personal playlist is bipolar. “Everything from Classic Rock to classical. From Country to Hip Hop. Even Showtunes. But the core of the playlist will always be the Alt/Rock I grew up on in the 90s. It is still the root of the genre and draws the most ears to the speaker, including my own.”
Follow Pauly Kover on all platforms @ThePaulyKover and at @X1075LV.
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Fox News has continued its ratings success since the election of Donald Trump last November. Now, the network is besting the network television competition like ABC, CBS, and NBC in primetime. The performance is especially notable in late-night with the program hosted by Greg Gutfeld.
Through March 11th, Fox News is averaging 3.63 million total viewers in the primetime ratings. That tops CBS (3.57 million), NBC (3.13 million), ABC (3.1 million) and the FOX broadcast network (1.63 million). Not to mention, Fox News is nearly tripling the primetime ratings of MSNBC, which has averaged a total audience of 1.26 million, and CNN which sits at 635,000.
During the week of March 3rd, Gutfeld!, the late-night program hosted by Greg Gutfeld, averaged 3.7 million viewers, according to figures from Nielsen. That more than doubled the next closest challenger — CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — which sat at 1.8 million viewers. Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1.5 million viewers) and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1 million) were well behind.
In the 18-49 demographic, the show from Greg Gutfeld averaged 488,000 viewers. That topped the other network shows, which were much closer in that category with Colbert (272,000) topping Kimmel (246,000) and Fallon (235,000).
It is worth noting that Gutfeld! airs at 10 PM ET, while the other programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC begin at 11:30 or 11:35 PM ET.
Nightly Network Newscast Ratings Steady After Exit of Norah O’Donnell, Announcement by Lester Holt
The anchor desk of the nightly network newscasts has become surprisingly volatile in recent weeks, after the departure of CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and the announcement that NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt would depart that network’s anchor chair later this year.
With those developments, we’ve seen the total viewership categories begin to steady.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir continues to dominate the sector. That program averaged 7.9 million viewers during the week of March 3rd, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The NBC News program chaired by Holt remained in second with 6.4 million viewers. Finally, the CBS Evening News earned 4.4 million viewers, just over a 2% increase compared to the previous week. Both ABC News and NBC Nightly News were relatively flat for the week compared to the previous week.
In the Adults 25-54 demographic, ABC News led the way with 1.1 million viewers. NBC News slightly shrunk the gap, averaging 952,000 viewers from the sector, while ABC News was down by the slightest of margins.
The CBS News broadcast earned 623,000 viewers from the key demographic, a 3% decrease from the previous week.
Kudlow Sees Large Jump From Elon Musk Interview
Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow hosted X owner and DOGE Director Elon Musk for a sit-down interview on Monday, and it led to a strong ratings showing for the channel and show.
During the conversation, 445,000 total viewers tuned in to hear the questions from Kudlow to Musk. That represented a 13% increase week-over-week, and a 64% increase year-over-year.
In 2024, Kudlow averaged 299,000 viewers, which means the conversation with Elon Musk earned a 49% increase compared to last year’s average. The year-to-date ratings for the show have rested a 326,000 total viewers, on average, with the Musk discussion representing a 37% uptick.
During the 4 PM ET hour on Monday, Fox Business Network more than doubled competitor CNBC with its Closing Bell program. That show earned 214,000 total viewers for the window.
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The stock market is riding a roller coaster (mostly a down one this week, at least), while tariff news is getting threatened left and right by President Trump against multiple foreign nations. It’s undoubtedly a positive for our news cycle, but whether or not it is a positive for the country, I’ll let you decide on your radio shows.
But the point to drive home is how these two are related. The markets are clearly getting spooked by what they see as inconsistent policies that don’t have a specific timeline, a wing-it mentality that doesn’t appear to have as much planning behind it as is needed, and businesses that are paralyzing themselves as they try to figure out how to best navigate the current climate.
If your radio show is the President and your audience is the stock market, you can learn from this. You want to make sure your audience always knows where you’re going. Never allow them to guess. Don’t let them guess what’s coming up the next day, the next hour, or the segment.
If you’re doing something out of the ordinary in a certain daypart, pre-promote, tease it, and explain why. If you have a great guest coming up later in the show or in the next segment, tell your audience why they don’t want to miss it. Over-communicate.
They want to know exactly what they get when listening to your station.
This doesn’t mean your opinions or angles have to be predictable. In fact, keeping your audience on their toes can be a good thing. But it’s important to know that when they turn on your station, they will hear a familiar voice discussing familiar topics on-brand with the station. And all of the imaging, promos, liners, and even spots will have a certain sound, feel, and cadence that work well together and feel like they fit.
By the way, you can — and should — absolutely have topic variety, but it all has to be relatable to the mindset of the listener you are talking to on the other side. This doesn’t mean you do hard news and politics all day. But it means your other topics are ones that are also going to still be interesting and relatable to your P1, while widening your umbrella to gain more cume and TSL from your P2’s and P3’s.
To bring this conversation back to the tariffs and markets, there’s a strategy from the President when it comes to creating fair and equal trade, while also hoping to leverage America’s super power status to get certain concessions from various trading partners, be it economic or foreign policy.
Those could be communicated more effectively in a manner that would ease the markets and some of the jitters that exist. In fact, there’s a strong case to make for what the President is doing, even if it comes with some short-term pain.
But just like with your radio station, human beings don’t inherently like change. So over-communicating the why behind a move, and consistently signaling to your citizens, or in radio’s case, your listeners, that everything is going to be OK, is an important part of the equation.
Donald Trump is making a bet that he was elected, in part, to get Main Street back on track, not Wall Street. The markets had great years in 2023 and 2024, gaining 23% and 24%, respectively.
And the American people rewarded Democrats with absolutely nothing. They lost the House, Senate, and White House.
It’s a high-stakes game of poker the President is playing. And he can absolutely win this game, if he plays his cards right.
But from our perch hosting radio shows and/or full stations, there’s no benefit to us playing that game. That’s not our job. Consistency and transparency will win the day for us. It actually might be something the President could learn from us. Go figure.
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Radio and television personality Matt Pinfield is out of a coma and expected to make a full recovery. The well-known radio and television personality suffered a stroke in January.
Since that time, he has been in ICU until being released in February to a Los Angeles rehabilitation center.
Through his agent, Pinfield told Barrett Media, “I am so grateful to be alive. The general consensus was that I wasn’t going to make it, and here I am! I am overwhelmed and humbled by your love. I am beyond grateful for those that have stuck by me.”
“My radio family includes my listeners, my dear friends and the wonderful radio companies that continue to support me. It means the world to me. I cannot wait to get back to hosting Flashback, KLOS and SoCal Sound.”
Adding, “We were told I might not speak or walk again, and my voice is back, and I am doing five hours of physical therapy a day, and my walking continues to improve. There is nothing like my radio community. I love you all.”
Pinfield is known for this time hosting “120 Minutes” for MTV, a weekly music show, “New & Improved w/ Matt Pinfield” on KLOS Los Angeles, and Westwood One’s “Flashback.”
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Scripps Sports and the Las Vegas Aces have announced a multi-year agreement, making Vegas 34 the official broadcast home of the WNBA franchise. This exciting partnership means that all Aces’ non-nationally televised games will now be broadcast locally on Vegas 34, a Scripps-owned television station.
As part of the agreement, the Aces and Vegas 34 will collaborate on the award-winning weekly program In The Paint, a 30-minute show featuring highlights, interviews, and exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the Aces.
“We are beyond excited to partner with Vegas 34,” said Nikki Fargas, Las Vegas Aces president. “Looking at the upward trajectory the Aces are on—winning two WNBA championships over the past three years and playing in front of sold-out crowds night after night—this partnership with Vegas 34 will allow even more fans the opportunity to watch this incredible team as we strive for our third championship.”
Meanwhile, the Aces’ local television schedule on Vegas 34 will be announced at a later date, as the new WNBA season is set to begin on Friday, May 16.
“The Las Vegas Aces are one of the best teams in the WNBA, and their passionate fan base deserves to see the Aces on the largest available broadcast platform,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Scripps Sports. “Scripps Sports couldn’t be more thrilled to bring the exciting action of Las Vegas Aces basketball to Vegas 34 as this team pursues its third WNBA championship.”
Historically, the Aces were originally founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before the WNBA’s inaugural 1997 season. After relocating to San Antonio, the team eventually moved to Las Vegas before the 2018 season. Today, the franchise is owned by Mark and Carol Davis—current owners of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders—as well as Tom Brady, best known for his time as a seven-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Notably, the Aces are one of three WNBA franchises that play in a market without a current NBA team.
Additionally, Scripps owns KTNV, the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas, which will serve as a strong marketing platform for promoting Aces telecasts.
“Vegas 34 is proud to be the home of champions—as the place to turn in Las Vegas to watch the Vegas Golden Knights and now, the Aces,” said John Cook, vice president and general manager of Vegas 34 and KTNV.
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