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Rachel Maddow: MSNBC Firing Joy Reid ‘A Bad Mistake’

BNM Staff
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Rachel Maddow: MSNBC Firing Joy Reid ‘A Bad Mistake’

MSNBC is making major lineup changes after new President Rebecca Kutler takes over the reins, with Joy Reid exiting the network. It appears as if the network doesn’t have the endorsement of longtime staple Rachel Maddow.

During her primetime show on Monday, The Rachel Maddow Show host addressed Reid’s departure. In her comments, she shared her admiration for her colleague.

“In all of the jobs I have had in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid,” Maddow said.

She continued by sharing her displeasure with the move.

“I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC, and personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door,” said Maddow. “It is not my call and I understand that. But that’s what I think.”

The longtime MSNBC host then argued that the decision by her network to replace both Joy Reid and weekend host Katie Phang “feels worse than bad” and was “indefensible.”

“I do not defend it,” she concluded.

Reid had hosted her MSNBC program since 2020 after the departure of Chris Matthews from the network. Monday marked her final program in the 7 PM ET timeslot. She will be replaced by the hosts of The Weekend, which includes Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez. Joy Reid has shared that she is starting a Substack venture, which she pitched in her farewell message on Monday evening.

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.

Peter Rosenberg: Stephen A. Smith is ‘Always on My TV’

BSM Staff
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Peter Rosenberg: Stephen A. Smith is ‘Always on My TV’

As speculation regarding the future of Stephen A. Smith working at ESPN continues amid reported contract negotiations, the sports commentator continues to appear on a variety of its platforms and fulfill his current agreement. Smith has divulged that his deal expires in July and that the money is there in the negotiations but that the delay in finalizing the deal comes in balancing his contractual obligations with the freedom and ability to execute independent projects and ventures. Smith has continued to serve as an executive producer and featured commentator on First Take and also delivers analysis on editions of NBA Countdown while continuing to host a podcast and manage his Straight Shooter Media company.

Don La Greca expressed that he considers himself to be a motivated broadcaster and believes that people would say that he likes to work and has many different things going on. During the Monday edition of Don, Hahn & Rosenberg on ESPN New York, he questioned whether or not there was something wrong with him in that he frequently sees Smith on television and wondering how the sports media personality does not think that he is good.

Smith’s impending deal has been reported as being worth $120 million over six years, although he denied the monetary figure in late December, and La Greca was curious when he would get to spend that money. Alan Hahn, co-host of the program and Smith’s former radio partner on ESPN, outlined the responsibilities that come with receiving such a salary.

“You’re not new to ESPN, right?,” Hahn said to La Greca. “They make you work – you got to work. This whole notion that the more you make, the less you work, that’s not true. If you watch everybody in our company that make the most, they work the most. That’s opposite in a lot of other facets of life – not at ESPN. That man works, and he works for his money.”

For purposes of the conversation, co-host Peter Rosenberg conjectured Smith’s salary to be $20 million and surmised that 60% of that comes from the value he brings during the day on First Take. The show has consistently achieved ratings prowess throughout is time on the air and has a compelling rotation of contributors who debate Smith on various sports topics, some of whom include Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, Ryan Clark and Dan Orlovsky.

“Everybody can be great on that show, but Stephen A.’s the bread and butter of First Take, the star of that show,” Rosenberg said. “I don’t know – if I was able to make $12-13 million from First Take, would I also want to spend my Friday night doing the ESPN game, my Sunday all day doing the national game?”

Hahn admitted that Sunday was a busy day in the NBA that started with a marquee Eastern Conference matchup between the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics on ABC. There was a doubleheader of games at night as well airing on ESPN, and all of these telecasts featured studio contributions from Malika Andrews, Kendrick Perkins and Brian Windhorst. Smith appeared on the show from Los Angeles earlier in the day and was back in New York City on Monday morning for the live episode of First Take. After the show concluded, Smith presented a new episode of his video podcast where he discussed matters in sports, pop culture and entertainment.

“I’m in different places,” Rosenberg said. “I’ve traveled, I’m in a different part of my life. There’s one thing consistent. Stephen A. is always on my TV. Every hotel I’m in, Don, I turn on the TV, Stephen’s with me. It’s actually very reassuring – I always have Stephen.”

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.

College Football Playoff Drove ESPN Viewership in Latest Nielsen Findings

BSM Staff
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College Football Playoff Drove ESPN Viewership in Latest Nielsen Findings

ESPN’s presentation of the College Football Playoff was the fly in the ointment as The Disney Company led television viewership for the month of January according to Nielsen. The company released its monthly Media Distributor Gauge this morning, providing a snapshot of total broadcast, cable, and streaming consumption through a television screen. This report offers the industry valuable insights into audience viewing habits. 

According to the report, Disney (ESPN) accounted for 12% of all time spent watching television in January. This marks the highest monthly share for any traditional media company since the report was first established in November 2023. 

Typically, streaming platforms such as YouTube and Netflix dominate the rankings. However, Disney’s strong performance was driven by the immense interest in the College Football Playoff, which aired on its broadcast platforms. The report states that these playoff games represented the seven highest-rated cable telecasts of the month. As a result, ESPN experienced an 84% increase in monthly viewership compared to the previous month. 

Despite this success, overall viewership on Disney’s platforms followed the traditional post-holiday decline, as audiences shifted away from normal viewing habits. 

The first College Football Playoff National Championship under the expanded 12-team format saw a slight ratings decline in January. Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame averaged 22.1 million viewers, marking a 12% drop compared to the previous year. The audience peaked between 8:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. ET, when 26.1 million fans were tuned in. Ultimately, this year’s championship ranked as the fourth least-watched title game of the past decade. 

Even so, College Football Playoff games dominated the season’s most-watched matchups. Nine of the ten most-viewed games belonged to the playoff, with Georgia’s overtime win over Texas in the SEC Championship on ABC/ESPN ranking sixth in average viewership at 16.6 million. 

Image via Nielsen.com

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David Samson: MLB and ESPN Will Not Renew – ‘It’s Done’

BSM Staff
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David Samson: MLB and ESPN Will Not Renew – ‘It’s Done’

ESPN and Major League Baseball came to a mutual agreement last week to end their national television media rights deal following the upcoming 2025 season. Both companies released statements explaining their reasoning to its stakeholders, which will ostensibly result in the cessation of the current structure involving Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts, wild-card round playoff presentations and other elements of the partnership. This will also end a 35-year partnership first established in 1990, and former Miami Marlins team president David Samson believes there is no resolution between the two entities in this situation.

During the latest edition of the Nothing Personal podcast, Samson broke down the situation from his perspective and articulated that the exercise of the opt-out was obvious but that it was clearly a one-sided decision. A report from John Ourand of Puck divulged that ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro alerted MLB commissioner Rob Manfred of the decision on Thursday morning and sent a letter overnight formalizing this transaction. ESPN cited “fiscal responsibility” within its statement, something on which Samson elaborated while the network could face a dearth of options in the summer months on its forthcoming Flagship direct-to-consumer service.

“You need to have content, but ESPN is telling you, ‘We’re covered. Somehow, we will find something to show during the summer when we are asking people to pay a monthly fee for our new, unbelievably announced by Bob Iger and everybody else at Disney, this amazing Flagship,’” Samson said. “‘Jimmy Pitaro, we are so proud of what we’re doing. Meanwhile, we’ll do it without baseball.’ Maybe ESPN was saying to itself, ‘No, no. We’re going to opt out of this deal with Major League Baseball, and then we’re going to do a renegotiation.’”

Samson articulated that listeners could “put a pin in that” and proceeded to convey how MLB likely assumed it could do better and decided to find out by taking its rights to the open market. Ourand reported on Monday night that the league has held discussions with Amazon and Netflix while also having informal conversations with officials from Skydance Media and receiving additional interest from NBC. A letter from Manfred to MLB owners obtained by The Athletic divulged that the league expects “to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks,” although it did not reveal any further details.

“Summer has always been the time when baseball’s providing hundreds of hours per team of programming,” Samson said. “A hundred sixty-two games. What used to be three hours, but we’ll still call ‘three hours’ for purposes of this conversation, that sort of inventory is simply the best, so Major League Baseball is out looking.”

Samson utilized a simile to emphasize that baseball to ESPN was akin to the person who someone takes for granted and then realizes that they needed them upon their departure. From there, he emphasized that ESPN would realize that while the grass is the same color on the other side of the fence, it would be something that the network would miss badly.

“For those of you who think that this was simply a negotiation where ESPN and MLB are going to cut another deal and there’ll be more inventory for the same money, more jewel events, more possibly playoff games, postseason games – NGTH, it’s not going to happen,” Samson said. “The next thing you’re going to hear is MLB with a new broadcaster. How interesting that will be.”

In prognosticating how people will be able to evaluate the residual effects of this dissociation, Samson pointed out how MLB would be able to back its decision when announcing a new deal with a value higher than $550 million, which is what it was reportedly receiving from ESPN on an annual basis. Conversely, the success of ESPN in this manner, he stated, would be discernible during future earnings calls if the company gives out subscription numbers or does not provide such information.

“This is not a negotiating situation where they’re going to make an announcement holding hands together saying, ‘Everything’s great. We’re good. We have a brand-new deal coming up.’ MLB and ESPN will not renew – it’s done. The irony is that there are people out there who are going to try to convince you that this means something it doesn’t.”

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.

Spring Tune Up Means Looking At These Five Areas Of Your Radio Station

Kevin Robinson
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Spring Tune Up Means Looking At These Five Areas Of Your Radio Station

In just 23 days, spring will arrive. Think about a wonderful spring day. 

Hiking with friends, you come upon a clearing with spectacular spring flowers in bloom, colors of every hue while smells that would knock a bee off its perch waif past your nose.

It’s a thing of God’s beauty but chocked full of flaws. When you drop to your knees and view a small patch of this wonderful field, you also notice a tremendous amount of – weeds surrounding the flora.

GREAT radio stations are much like this field. The talent is on cue, executing with genuine communication. Imaging flows flawlessly, both painting the station and generating momentum. 

Inside the details – you find the weeds.

Once, while inheriting a tenured staff who was charged with nothing more than guarding a jukebox (their station), we challenged them to put their unique personality into each break. 

Put their personality into the promos. Build a personality break every quarter hour. The trained ‘line-readers’ eventually embraced the concept, and record ratings followed.

No radio station is perfect. You need change in order to grow your station – with every change, ‘weeds’ will sprout.  We can pull them, but like dandelions, they tend to grow back with veracity.

Plus, with proper perspective, weeds can be good. 

The late legendary programmer Dave Robbins once noted in his weekly All Access Success Tips – “…The only difference between a flower and a weed is the attachment of a judgment…”.

As you grow your talent, challenging them to attempt new, creative content, you’ll get ‘weeds.’  It’s a natural human trait.  No one is perfect the first time – or ever.

Places inside your brand where ‘weeds’ are growing, and you don’t see it:

Coaching

Radio has always been reluctant to coaches. Even more foreign, radio does not – practice.  It’s difficult to understand why – when the suggestion is floated to a colleague, the look resembles a head-cock like Nipper, the RCA dog.

Our sellers receive more coaching and more training than our air staff. Yet, air talent still thinks that the way to improve is to go live to iron out the ‘burrs.’

Try putting your new morning show in a studio and running through several practice rounds—a ‘scrimmage’—before going live. This exercise knocks the rust off and builds timing before you go ‘life,’ avoiding rookie ‘weeds.’

Music Matrix Design

Getting a near – perfect music playlist design is effortless with market – leading G Selector and Music Master. Other lesser – known programs (and not nearly as expensive) are on the market to also assist.

Yet we have programmers who spend hours weekly massaging music logs to their idea of ‘perfection.’  Here’s the reality – it matters little. The listener only knows song–to–song programming. Here’s a test. As you’re reading this – without looking – what were the last three songs you heard on your – or any – radio station?

Set up a solid program to manage music and let it run. Have your programmers invest fewer hours on music management and much more time on the first bold point above and the three that follow.

Recorded Copy

The calendar reads 2025, and we’re still ending commercial copy with a phone number (which no one will remember) and the phrase “… for all your (insert company line of business) needs.” Bad copy is far worse than a bad song—and a huge Time-Spent Listening killer.

Poor copy is a by-product of lack of training among sellers or – worse yet – allowing the client to write the copy. Listeners don’t care about you or your problems. They ONLY care about themselves. Telling a story about how a product changes THEIR life attracts buyers.

At last week’s Country Radio Seminar much anxiety was spent on the steamroller that is A.I. and the effect on Country Music. Used wisely, A.I. significantly improved local radio copy. Embrace it.

Live Copy

There is no equal to The Legend that was Paul Harvey when it came to live copy. He crafted stories when delivering the endorsement that pulled you close to the radio, and before you knew it, you were picking up the phone to buy a Leatherman or Bose Radio. He even sold us a bong.

Why do we allow talent to read emotionless bullet points during a premium-sold live endorsement? Many among us bark out product data like they’re late for a much-needed bathroom break.

Put a critical ear to your talent when they air live copy this week. If you’re a seller, ask if the talent is earning their fee handling the critical points of the story they’re telling about your client. If you’re a programmer, coaching talent to be passionate about the client’s story will build longer listening periods.

Remote Broadcast Presentation

When did it become cool NOT to wear gear on location that identifies you and the brand you represent? Yet we see talent on location at a local bakery or mattress store time and again without a station-identifying logo.

On-location events are perfect for solidifying listener relationships and connecting with new listeners. Stationality should be everywhere, as most who attend won’t know you or where to find you.

Market Managers, Sellers, and Programmers pop into an event your brand is hosting in the coming weeks, taking inventory of station exposure to visitors. You’ll surely be making future improvements.

A great quote – “What you allow, you endorse.”

Better yet:

“What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. What you tolerate, you deserve.”

Do you have confidence that YOUR brand is on solid ground, projecting a sound that’s big and confident? Perhaps – beautiful and grand?

Find ‘weeds in the field,’ and you’ll discover opportunities for improvement.

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.

Sports Radio’s Mistake From the User Generated Content Boom

Demetri Ravanos
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Sports Radio’s Mistake From the User Generated Content Boom

User generated content has changed everything. Shows created for YouTube, TikTok and other democratized platforms are held in the same “can’t miss” regard that the biggest names in sports and news media used to be. 

I don’t think that’s a bad thing because sports and sports content is supposed to be fun and frivolous. Not every debate or discussion of how a team should manage the salary cap needs to be so serious and packaged with graphics that look like they took hours to render. There is a place for goofballs to try things that may not work.

When companies that have resources start to play copycat though, we all suffer. People creating content for those companies are asked to do more with less. Viewers are asked to accept inferior versions of the same shows they fell in love with as suitable substitutes. Top to bottom, it makes sports media worse.

I have been thinking about this ever since ChatGPT was introduced and every hack thought they were the first to publish an article about AI written by AI. 

Initially, I thought that there was no reason to be scared for jobs in the media industry. Particularly in sports media where so much of the value comes from unique personalities delivering their opinions, but then there was a shift in thinking at the top. I feel like a fool for not anticipating it, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Grainy video from webcams and tinny, hollow audio that came from using Airpods as microphones stuck around. Even if popular talents used their power to leverage not having to return to the studio, there was no effort given to make their home setups look and sound more professional. Truly excellent production quality wasn’t worth the effort, so “good enough” became good enough. 

The lesson corporations took from the democratization of content wasn’t that they should be rethinking where they search for talent or what makes someone qualified to work in this industry. Many of them decided that quality isn’t worth the necessary investment.

Did none of these people see Ratatouille? It ends with the food critic Anton Ego realizing that a rat being a great chef is not impossible and rethinking his disdain for a famous chef’s motto “anyone can cook.”

“I realise only now do I truly understand what he meant,” Ego says in a voiceover closing that Pixar film. “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.”

I have written before that user generated content makes it hard for something like Pardon the Interruption to have the value it once did. I still believe that is true. There are just too many options for me to find people that know more about my favorite teams and hear them talking about issues relevant to me. 

That doesn’t mean the way to win over a new generation of fans is for ESPN to make their shows look like they’re filmed in someone’s home office, or to sit at a desk while they scroll through comment sections of other YouTube videos. 

You can find this kind of thinking across all types of media. Actually, you can find it across all forms of entertainment.

Recently, I took my teenagers to see the new Captain America movie. It wasn’t as bad as reviews might suggest, but there’s clearly a different focus on storytelling quality at Disney than there used to be. This movie felt like it was made with a focus on what the Disney+ algorithm prioritizes.

Maybe the director was allowed to make whatever movie he wanted, and the writer was able to tell whatever story he wanted. Disney wanted a two hour movie, and made its cuts without considering how it would affect the overall story.

When everything’s a math problem, creativity and quality don’t matter. If creativity and quality don’t matter, then why employ anyone at all? Maybe that’s the point.

I recently read Alex Sherman’s report that Disney executives are obsessed with YouTube and the threat it poses to its business, particularly ESPN. That’s why when ESPN Flagship launches, there’s a very real chance it will have a place for user generated content. 

I don’t hate the idea. In fact, if ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro really wants his OTT version of the network to truly be a gamechanger, I think it’s a wise move. Nothing would be a more drastic shift from the linear TV model to the digital age than saying that ESPN is not going program 24 hours of live, original content every day.

Sure, some of the very biggest stars will still have their shows produced by ESPN, but is an hour of PTI really better than thirty minutes of PTI and time for your audience to explore what else the platform has to offer?

The idea has merit, but there are two things that ESPN and Disney need to do to make sure they create something that is worth the reported $25-30 monthly price tag and does not hurt their own brand with this new approach. 

First, if you want to lure the best talent away from YouTube, you need to pay them like YouTube. Offer content creators drawing a real audience the same 50/50 ad revenue split and the opportunities to make even more money with shopping integrations and selling their own sponsorships.

Next, Disney cannot let those user generated shows shape the entire visual identity of ESPN. Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith and Mike Greenberg get Disney-level paychecks. Their shows should have Disney-level production. They should look different and feel special compared to the stuff anyone can upload to the platform. Otherwise, what value will ESPN Flagship offer to both the audience and creators over the platforms they already know, especially considering that YouTube and TikTok can be accessed for free?

A lot of user generated content is good. Some of it is great. All of it deserves respect. None of it should set the bar for what is acceptable from big companies in the media industry. If we want to sell the idea that professionally produced content has a higher value, then we cannot be racing to the bottom just because amateurs spend less money.

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.

Sports Radio’s Advice on How To Navigate the ‘Dead Period’

John Mamola
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Sports Radio’s Advice on How To Navigate the ‘Dead Period’

In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t tuned to sports radio lately, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX to win their second NFL championship in franchise history. The game action, the halftime show, the commercial breaks, and the forever-long pre-game and post-game content all geared to put on one last toast to football as we wrap up another exciting NFL season. 

As the game comes to a close and the Vince Lombardi trophy is raised in a sea of confetti, sports radio talent across America are thinking the same idea in unison, much like Mariah Carey rings in the start of the holiday season. 

“It’s time.” Welcome to the dead period of sports talk radio. 

Every year, immediately following the conclusion of the Super Bowl, sports radio talent are tasked with entertaining their listeners coming off of an NFL hangover. It’s the toughest game for talent to play, making the day-to-day listening experience interesting by diving into sports conversations that don’t garner the attention and connection like the NFL does. 

“I’ve always looked at the Holiday Ratings Book (early Dec–early Jan) and February as opportunities to explore,” said Laurence Holmes, who co-hosts Spiegel & Holmes on Chicago’s 670 The Score. “It’s a good time to engage the audience differently.” 

Not to say there aren’t sports fans who enjoy regular season NBA, NHL, college basketball, and golf. From a sports radio content perspective, however, the impact of those discussions with the audience doesn’t come close to anything week after week NFL-related. 

Sean Salisbury, host of The Sean Salisbury Show on SportsTalk 790 in Houston, believes there is an opportunity to show a program’s range and depth during the time immediately following the NFL season. 

“My process for my show is always simple. Adjust, adapt, and prepare. It’s only a slow time if you lean on football as a crutch,” said Salisbury. “We don’t approach February and March as ‘slow times.’ We are even better with other sports. We consider it a strength.” 

Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post once wrote that the month of February is the worst month on the calendar for sports. Many sports talk hosts take vacation time following the NFL season for this reason. It’s difficult to find the passion of the sports fan with conversations about sports that are not as consumed as much as the NFL. 

Unfortunately, this tends to lead to some discussions that make sports radio talent cringe to fill time, and sports radio listeners consider finding other alternatives. 

“The number one topic around this time to avoid is Mount Rushmore talk,” said Joe Murray, who hosts weekday evenings on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston. “No one cares about your Mount Rushmore of blank. It’s boring, and I would push away as fast as I can if it gets brought up. I’ll pivot to anything else.” 

Just a simple search for ‘sports radio Mount Rushmore’ on any search engine, and you’ll find that topic is discussed amongst the biggest names in the industry and on nearly every platform. For sports radio hosts and their perspective, the discussion is considered repetitive and predictable. 

“I hate Mt. Rushmore topics,” added Holmes. “It’s the laziest thing we do as an industry.” 

With the lack of NFL action and storylines during the dead period, sports fans are constantly salivating for anything NFL-related to hold their attention through the offseason. It’s required that sports radio talent get creative with ways of continually feeding the beast while no game action is happening. 

“Don’t kick football to the curb,” says Marc Ryan, who hosts programs on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit. “Ninety-seven of the 100 most-watched television programs in the United States last year were NFL games. Your show should feature daily football content, whether you’re in Detroit, Michigan, or Fairbanks, Alaska.” 

With a hunger for football content from listeners, talent must also keep a sense of balance when it comes to getting too far ahead with NFL Combine discussions and NFL Draft hype. 

“Listeners can only handle so much mock draft fatigue,” adds Salisbury. 

The Sports Hub’s Joe Murray agrees with this notion. 

“Some listeners aren’t college football fans, so it’s hard to talk about the players in the draft,” Murray added. “The way to steer away from it is to keep the conversation on best player available or biggest upgraded spots.” 

Another idea to push through the dead period is for sports radio talent to put more focus on the college basketball season as March Madness nears. The annual basketball tournament continues to draw massive viewership and garners the attention of millions of sports fans around the country. 

However, when asking several sports radio talents about their own shift to discussing college hoops, there’s plenty of hesitation to play in the paint. 

“I truly believe most hosts, and more importantly fans, have very little familiarity with college hoops teams/players at this point,” says Chris Russell, who hosts mid-days on The Team 980 in Washington, D.C. “With conference tournaments and a good chunk of the season left, none of it really matters.” 

Marc Ryan of 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit agrees with that sentiment. 

“Avoid a plethora of regular season college basketball,” Ryan said. “That sport has ruined the interest in its regular season with its all-inclusive tournament.” 

Laurence Holmes of 670 The Score in Chicago believes that the dead period instead should serve as an opportunity for sports radio talent to re-engage themselves with the sport, instead of avoiding it completely. 

A photo of Laurence Holmes
(Photo: Laurence Holmes)

“It’s a good time to challenge yourself to find out what’s going on with college basketball,” Holmes noted. “Often hosts don’t, and then the tournament comes around and we get the trope of ‘…well, I haven’t watched a game this season, but here’s my uninformed bracket.’” 

The length of the dead period is also difficult to define for sports radio talent. Some debate that the end of the dead period is the start of the NCAA basketball tournament or Opening Day in Major League Baseball. Others argue that, in some markets, the dead period could extend into the early summer months as NFL training camp and college football near. 

The challenge is never easy to navigate through this annual spot in the sports calendar for any sports radio talent. It takes patience, vision, imagination, and the willingness to prove your worth as a talk talent. 

“I actually enjoy this time of year,” said Chase McCabe, who co-hosts The Chase & Big Joe Show on Nashville’s 102.5 The Game. “It lets your creativity flow and always shows a PD just how talented his staff can be!” 

Many sports radio talents approach this time similar to the 2020 shutdown of sports during COVID. The dead period allows talent to open doors, connecting with listeners on a different level than ever before, introducing conversations they typically would not have on a daily basis. 

“We consider this time ‘moving time,’ just like a Saturday at the Masters,” added Salisbury. “My show also leans on laughs and real talk that are not sports-related, and it has served us well.” 

Chris Russell of The Team 980 finds this time to dive into more niche topics of conversation to connect with his audience. 

“The only thing I will do more of this time of year is talk about WWE a bit more and less sports,” stated Russell. 

“I’ve found that talking to our audience about youth sports experiences is eye-opening,” added Laurence Holmes of 670 The Score in Chicago. “It’s an underserved topic that is worthy of more discussion. Our audience is going through it with their kids. There are so many branches off that tree: helicopter parenting, lack of refs, what makes for a good youth coach, the money parents are paying, etc. Topic development doesn’t just have to be red meat.” 

For sports radio to continue to grow, talent must use opportunities like the dead period to remove themselves from their comfort zone. Jason Barrett wrote about this last week, imploring media executives to do the same to become more effective in their business. It’s no different for sports radio talent approaching the dead period as an opportunity to branch out and embrace a new path of connection with the audience. 

Every step forward is a leap towards a bigger goal, and success—even in the dead period—awaits those who dare to try. 

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.

Aircheck: Elvis Duran, 1990, Z100 New York

Jeff Lynn
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One of the great and not-so-great things about the Internet is that once something is out there, it’s out there forever.

And that allows us to dig up this gem. It’s Elvis Duran, rocking a mullet at Z100 New York in 1990.

Elvis refers to himself as “the incredible edible Elvis Duran” and presents in a very high-energy style that is quite a contrast to his current morning show.

He is constantly working the phones and notice, in particular, how he gets the caller to say what he needs for the phoner.”

I was always a fan of “The $10,000 Shortcut To Cash” promotion and, over the years, executed various versions of it, including a version that just lifted the word “radio” out of the songs.

All pre-Shazam, of course.

Here’s Elvis Duran at Z100 New York 1990 as he appeared on California Airchecks.

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.

Alt 98.7 Detroit’s Julia Lepidi Strives To Standout From The Others

Charese Fruge
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Alt 98.7 Detroit’s Julia Lepidi Strives To Standout From The Others

Julia Lepidi is the Morning Host of “The Julia Show” on Alt 98.7 in Detroit. She also hosts Middays for most of Audacy’s Top 40 stations across the country. She started in radio in 2012 as a promo kid, literally on the same frequency as she’s on now in Detroit, except back then, it was “Amp Radio.”

Lepidi got her on-air chops doing overnights there, where she said she found who she really was as a personality. That led to her securing the night show; the rest is history.

The two formats she’s on now literally and traditionally target completely opposite demos, one predominantly male and the other female, and yet, really by accident, they’re kind of the perfect fit.

“I’m so equally interested and listen to both formats,” she says. “I think my personality is a combination of what both of those worlds require.” Which is, by default, very similar to everyone else in her generation, male or female.”

“Work-wise, I have a pinned note in my Notes app for ALT and one for Pop. I just funnel content throughout my day in whatever place it makes more sense, and there is often crossover.”

When it comes to balancing both formats and focusing on so many shows, Lepidi admits she was intimidated at first. “I won’t lie,” I was,” she says. “But I rely on my systems/playbooks. Having structure helps me keep my brain from wanting to crumble and helps me focus.”

“I know what I’m doing every day. It’s just my producer, Rachel, and I. And throughout the course of the years, as it does for anyone, life happens. So, creating a plan for every instance: normal day-to-day, a day full of meetings/station events, when someone isn’t feeling well, emergencies, work travel, etc. We know exactly how we handle pretty much every circumstance at this point. My twenties were a hot mess. My thirties are about planning and leaving little to be a surprise. The better I plan, the better I feel.”

Lepidi is also newlywed, so finding a work/life balance is also important. “Currently, I am incredibly lucky that my husband and I are on a really similar schedule. He also hosts mornings,” she explains. “During the week, we stay pretty work-focused and have an embarrassingly early bedtime. For example, we eat dinner at 4 p.m. the way my 80-something-year-old grandparents did. But hey, it’s great for digestion.”

“Anyway…The weekend is where I get my fill of life. I love doing something on a Friday. I’m big on traveling right after I’m done with my workload on Friday and coming back on a Sunday afternoon. Or just making sure I have something fun planned throughout the weekend, whether it’s hitting a show, trying a new restaurant (I love food), or my friends and I coming up with a theme party to celebrate something minuscule because we love dressing up.”

As for the Detroit community, Lepidi says she strives to be different from everything else in the market. “I grew up as a massive fan of morning radio in Detroit. It’s what made me want this career. The market is full of really great, long-running, full-cast morning shows. However, I’m proudly the only female-lead, music-intensive morning show. Our station thrives on having our own lane.”

Over the years Lepidi says career growth has been incredibly rewarding for her. “I’ve always wanted to be a part of a morning show since I was a kid, so hosting my own in the market I grew up in feels special,” she says. “Lately, I have been lucky to be a part of a few different movie junkets through Netflix, and that has been really special and fun.”

“But I always say the hardest thing about this job is having things go on in your personal life and having to show up and perform through it. Throughout the last few years, I’ve dealt with loss and other particularly tough moments in life. Ya know, like anyone, things happen. And it’s weird because sometimes my brain will go into overdrive like I have this backup generator, and I’ll surprise myself with how much stuff I can come up with and use as fuel to work through it.”

“But other times, if I’m navigating something tough, I’m just really making sure I’m taking care of myself and doing what I have to do to get back to as healthy of a brain as I can. That’s why what I need from management to continue to be successful is frequent communication so we’re all on the same page and help funnel my 100-mph brain of ideas at times.”

Another topic I like to cover in these features is the use of AI in the radio industry. It’s one of the things that concerns us all the most. I asked Lepidi about it.

“The only form of AI I’ve utilized is Chat GPT. I’m creative, and honestly, I will just type out a bunch of nonsensical thoughts and idea starters and have it help organize and make sense of them for me. It helps!” she insists.

“I’ll have it organize prep and make show sheets. It’s nice for a personal assistant tool. As far as how it will impact the industry? Who knows. I know it’s been experimented with in terms of on-air, but I do really think people want a connection with a real person, so I am hopeful that will remain the same.”

About her impact on the industry? Lepidi says, “As a huge fan of audio-based content myself – whether it’s radio, podcasts, audiobooks, or music, I always use it as a way to make the things I don’t want to do more tolerable. Enjoyable even. That’s what I want to provide for listeners. If I throw something on, and it makes things suck a whole lot less, then it’s a win for me and the audience.”

“The Monday episode of my favorite podcast, hearing the familiar voices I love, makes me a little more excited to take on the week and what’s ahead. That’s the impact I want to have. Of course, I want to connect with the listeners. That goes without saying.”

But we all have to do things we don’t want to do all the time, and I hope the audience will bring me with them, and maybe I make their commute or day a little less of a burden. To hear the feedback, or see it on socials, is when I am most rewarded, and I know I am doing things right.”

Follow Julia Lepidi on Instagram/Twitter @theradiohag 

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.

Social Studies: Aaron Spielberg, OutKick

Garrett Searight
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Social Studies: Aaron Spielberg, OutKick

OutKick — the digital media company founded by Clay Travis — has seen strong growth on social media under the direction of Senior Producer Aaron Spielberg.

On YouTube, the outlet has nearly 1,750,000 subscribers. The company’s Facebook page has more than 375,000 followers, with its X account sitting at 338,000 followers. The digital media entity is just under 300,000 subscribers to its TikTok account, while the OutKick Instagram account is not far behind, as it rests with more than 200,000 followers. In total, the outlet had 1.6 million social actions between Facebook, X, and Instagram last month. That represented a 65% increase compared to December 2024. It also featured 21.2 million total video views between Facebook, X, and YouTube, up 129% compared to the previous month.

During the second installment of our Social Studies series, we asked OutKick Senior Producer Aaron Spielberg about the company’s growth in the space, how it has attracted so many followers with its digital video products, and how it has grown engagement on Facebook when the platform has shown such an interest in cracking down on publishers.

*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.

Garrett Searight: Let’s start on your thousand foot view of of social media as it relates to OutKick. What are the things that you guys prioritize the most from your social media efforts? 

Aaron Spielberg: Well, I think from our social media side, it’s really two things. It’s user-generated content that features viral videos. And then it’s original show content. So we get people into the door with either one or the other, and they like what they see, they stick around, and that’s really the premise. I think, really, it goes the premise of everything, whether it’s user-generated content or it’s the show content. It really kind of all goes back to you.

What Clay (Travis) constantly talked about forever — and I think people lose sight of this — when they try to create content or they’re running after clicks, the most important things that we do is just be funny, be smart, be original. But, really, the most important thing is just be authentic. If you can do all those things, the algorithm doesn’t have to be this crazy thing that people look at and go ‘Wow, the algorithm’s working for us’ or ‘It’s not working for us.’ People find it because it’s smart, original, funny, or authentic. 

GS: Speaking of the algorithms, especially Facebook and Twitter have really made it clear they don’t necessarily love publishers anymore. and yet you guys get more engagement — especially on Facebook — than virtually anybody else. What has been your secret sauce to drive that engagement that so many other people have not been able to crack that code? 

AS: Well, I think that’s easy. And it really does go back to what I was saying about being authentic. A lot of content that we do with the host, it’s reaction type of stuff. So if there are things that are happening that are going viral, we lean into that. If there are things that are happening — you’ll know this from radio — I remember talking to a lot of the talent that I used to work with and I was like ‘Hey just throw your feet up on top of the desk.’ I had talent that actually did that. Just speak to one person.

Let’s just say Clay’s watching the USA hockey game and there were moments in there that he really felt compelled and moved by. He turned around and created content. That content ends up on our social platforms. People like Ricky Cobb or Dan (Zaksheske) or Riley Gaines for that matter will turn the phone on themselves and just speak to whatever is moving them at the moment. That’s not something that they’re setting up and thinking ‘Oh, I’ve gotta do this.’ They feel compelled for this, and we turn the content around and it really resonates because people follow people. They follow brands.

Yes, they will follow OutKick as a brand as a whole and they want the talent that are on there, but they’re following those individuals. We really lean into the individual aspect of it and lean into the authenticity of what they deliver. 

GS: When you get content like that or content from your shows, what does the process look like for you of going through and deciding what content works best for which platform? 

AS: That’s a good question. I think that the process first starts out with what is in the mindset of what everyone is thinking. I don’t mean our producers or host — and yes, it’s important for our hosts, they’re the ones who have to be authentic about it — but we really try to tap into what we think is trending at the moment or is on the top of people’s mind.

The cool thing about Clay or Riley or Tyrus or really any of our hosts is that they look at something and it’s like they’ve unscrewed their head. They’ve turned 45° and then they screw their head back on and they give you this unique take that maybe hasn’t been thrown out there. It’s really just common sense stuff. So we’re not looking to try to twist something or create a narrative. We’re just trying to capture what is in the mindset of everybody in that given moment of time.

We’ll then go out and look for guests that might be able to speak to that, or people that we think the audience are interested in. You’d be surprised. I mean, not just because we are a center-right leaning platform, but we speak across the board to many different people. You wouldn’t think Bob Costas, or Charles Barkley, or Dan Patrick would be in the situations where they’re like ‘Oh, I’ve got to be afraid to go on with them because of whatever kind of content is.’ They’re coming on because they want to talk about the common sense pieces to the puzzle, whether it’s transgender athletes playing in women’s sports or what have you.

We will then take that piece of content, churn it out, clip it up, and take the longer form content — obviously, that plays better on YouTube because that’s where folks are going to watch in more of a long for format — and then we’ll clip things for X that are shorter more bite-size. It could be polls. Ricky Cobb has really done a great job with that from his roots of where he comes from Super 70s Sports.

And then Instagram, we have people like Tomi Lahren and we thrive in that area. We spread all those things out so it touches every touch point and the more you’re in those different spaces and on those different platforms, it all kind of combines to ‘This is the Tomi Lahren experience. This is the Dan Dakich experience.’ People see all of that.

They see the great content and they’re more likely to come back to OutKick.com to get as much of that as they can. Because if you’re a fan of any of those people, you really are searching out wherever you can find it. So you may be very specific to a certain platform, but if you know that there’s more content that exists elsewhere with those people that you like, you’re gonna gravitate to it. 

GS: Speaking of YouTube, I wonder what you have found that definitely does work on YouTube. What drives video retention rate? What drives click-through rate and also maybe what hasn’t worked on YouTube? 

AS: The things that work really well on YouTube for us are we don’t throw out 50 different things or just say ‘Ok, we’re gonna talk with so and so. We nail it down to one specific topic that folks are going to gravitate to because people want very specific things. When we think about YouTube, we think about the process of the topic first, then we think about the thumbnail. The thumbnail is probably the biggest driver from a visual standpoint. We want that to stand out, and don’t want that to be something that’s just a picture of the host or screenshot of the show. And we want that to engage.

Then, the tiling of it’s very important because people are searching for very specific search words. Having the person’s name is a very important aspect to work with evoking an emotion. I can’t overemphasize that enough that. You want people to have a specific feeling or an emotion to be reached. That is the thing that gets people to click on it.

Once you get them to click on it, then the key with YouTube is that first 30 seconds. You have to really engage, whether it’s a show, or a clip, or whatever it is that you do, they have got to be brought in. If you can grab them for that 30 seconds, the likelihood the combination of duration and click-through rate is what drives the algorithm to saying ‘Let’s share this with somebody else.’

So if we can capture those two things, that video most likely is going to takeoff and it’s going to hit the algorithm in a way that gets it shared and in the recommendation folder for other folks. Those are the key things that we do. It helps resonate and push not just that individual show, or product, or clip. It really helps resonate it across the board and helps resonate OutKick across the board.

GS: We talked about algorithm’s a little bit ago. How much have you seen — whether it’s YouTube Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. — changed in the social media world in the last couple of years? 

AS: I could argue that it’s changed quite substantially in the last few months. Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg and kind of the way they’re doing their fact-checking and sort of being biased towards one side. That has been a challenge across some of the platforms. There have been censorship issues that we’ve dealt with, highly publicized specifically with an interview that we had with Tyrus and Donald Trump. That’s something that continues to be a challenge.

We’re not necessarily always playing on the same field, so we have to navigate and figure out what it is that we can and can’t do. It’s not because we’re saying anything that’s wrong or factually incorrect. The content that we put out is straight common sense and I think everyone who watches it would agree with that. You might not necessarily agree with every take like you wouldn’t agree with every columnist or radio show host, but it’s still good content.

That is probably the one thing that is probably our biggest challenge but in the end, it’s just putting out great content and then it takes off on its own. If we can do that on a consistent basis, it really doesn’t matter what an algorithm tells us. It’s just got to be fun, entertaining, and informative for the audiences that we’re reaching out to in the platform we’re reaching out to. 

GS: I think that was everything I wanted to tackle with you, Aaron. If there’s anything else you want to share, I’ll give you the floor.

AS: We’re really just trying to capture the attention the same way other startups and other places have done it. We’ve done a good job of it and I give a ton of credit to our entire staff for being able to do this on a regular basis. I’m pleased at the progress and I really do think that we are on the precipice of doing something that very, very few companies have done. And I really honestly do believe that we’re changing the narrative for the way people are looking at sports media, where culture and sports meet. I think we’re doing something that will eventually be looked back on and thought of in very, very high regard.

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.

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