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Jordan Schultz Has a New Role with FOX Sports and a New Football Podcast with Draymond Green

Dave Greene
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Jordan Schultz Has a New Role with FOX Sports and a New Football Podcast with Draymond Green

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.

It’s been quite the run recently for Jordan Schultz professionally. The NFL Insider was recently hired by FOX Sports, and he has a new football podcast. Well, mostly a football podcast. And not exactly a podcast, more of a show on social media.

The show is aptly named, Why Is Draymond Green Talking About Football? With Jordan Schultz, because that’s the first thing people generally think when they hear about it. Draymond Green is known as a star player in the NBA and a burgeoning sportscaster who already has a popular podcast of his own.

Jordan Schultz was known growing up as the son of Starbucks CEO and Seattle SuperSonics owner Howard Schultz. Then he was known as a basketball player through college, then he was a hard-working up and coming sports journalist and then he wasn’t exactly sure what he was. Now, he is known as an NFL Insider.

He has former ESPN talent Max Kellerman to thank for that.

As Schultz explained, “I was at ESPN doing a lot of college basketball coverage for them as well as on their sports betting show on ESPN2, but I didn’t really have a defined role and at one point I was able to get on First Take with Max Kellerman, who became a really good friend and he said, ‘You know, you’re really good, but the producers don’t really know what you are. They don’t know how to identify you. Are you an NBA insider? Are you an analyst? You’re also talking football and college basketball. You’re doing too many things.’ And he said, and I’ll never forget this because it was really jarring for me, ‘I think you just need to focus on one and be known as one thing and just do that really well.'”

Schultz says he decided in the spring of 2022 that he was going to be “just an NFL insider.” He said it hurt to “abandon” his first love of basketball but he “felt like in football there was more white space, more opportunities, more players, more coaches, executives. I had developed some relationships within the NFL space and was able to break some stories in the 2022 cycle. And then once I defined that, it was not only valuable for others externally to see, but it was really valuable for me to know this is all I’m going to do now.”

Schultz, who currently lives in New York and grew up in Seattle, is traveling to Los Angeles each week and contributing on a variety of shows for FOX Sports and then is also on remotely as needed or when breaking news occurs.

In addition to working on NFL scoops, he is now talking NFL each week on Instagram Live with four-time NBA Champion Draymond Green. It’s not a traditional podcast where they record it, and it’s later available on Spotify or YouTube. As Schultz explained, “in some ways it’s a podcast, but it’s more just a casual show, two guys talking about football.”

The idea came up from being connected by mutual friend Michael Rattner of OBB Studios who is producing the show. He and Schultz were wanting to do a project together and Rattner mentioned his relationship with Draymond.

“Immediately when I heard that name, my ears perked up because of who he is, what he’s accomplished, and maybe more importantly, for our sake, how good he is on the air,” Schultz said. “I had been listening to his podcast for quite some time and seeing him on TNT and felt he was really, really good.”

After a couple of zoom calls to brainstorm ideas and then to flush out what they visualize doing, Schultz flew out to Los Angeles to spend a day with Green.

“We all sat in a room and went over exactly what we wanted to do in terms of a weekly show. I realized very quickly how much he loved football and how much he knew about the game. And that’s when it really solidified for me that we had a real show. I was taken aback by how different he was in person than what I saw on the screen…He has a way about him that is so wonderful in person where he’s really listening to what you’re saying. He’s engaging with what you’re saying, asking questions that are important to the conversation, that advance the conversation.

“I just was blown away by him. Not only his humility, but his curiosity. He’s very curious. He’s all about learning, advancing his intellect, and something that my dad taught me that Draymond, I could see, was very comfortable with, and this is something that I’m very comfortable with, and I think it’s why we vibed so well so quickly was he’s very comfortable with not being the smartest person in the room, and I’m the same way. I like surrounding myself with smarter people. I think it’s the best way to learn, and he’s the same way, and so that was super refreshing.”

As Schultz described the show and what it will be each week he said, “It’s not going to be X’s and O’s. It’s not going to be film breakdown. It’s going to be a broader conversation about the NFL, about the game itself, the challenges that players face. We’ve had some really insightful guests on who have created such valuable conversation, whether it’s Pat Surtain a couple days after he signed his record extension, Joe Mixon after he gets AFC Offensive Player of the Week, De’Von Achane talking about the fastest five players in the league and what would happen if him and Tyreek Hill raced, and then Noah Lyles, oh by the way, came along to talk sh– to Tyreek. These are the conversations that we’re having.”

The live show is on Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. ET with the idea that people will tune in before watching the Thursday Night Football game. They talk some basketball, always getting an update on what is happening with the Warriors. Schultz feels the schedule Green and his teammates have on a daily basis is very relevant to the conversations they have on the show. He wants viewers to take away insights on what it means to be a professional athlete in addition to talking about specific football topics.

“I want to get his perspective as a first ballot Hall of Fame basketball player discussing football, a sport that he hasn’t necessarily played a whole lot of. With football, I think he’s really curious to go down that route and learn more about the game through me and through our guests on the show. But, at the same time, offering that basketball perspective that he’s had for so long. Because all professional athletes, I think, go through the same struggles and success, whether it’s injuries, lack of playing time, not playing well, everything. And Draymond has had it at the highest level.”

Green’s unique perspective and the guests mix well with the insider information and the relationships that Schultz adds to the mix. Recently, Schultz broke both big NFL trades involving Amari Cooper and Devontae Adams.

As for the life of being an insider, Schultz said, “It’s a fascinating life decision. For me, I’d say I fell into it more than anything else…But then I really attacked the space in terms of growing, cultivating relationships, putting myself out there. And by 2023, I broke Rob Gronkowski’s retirement, which was a big plus for me. I think it really validated me and helped put me on the map. And then another year goes by, 2024, and it was an incredibly successful free agency cycle for me, trade deadline, et cetera. I just felt like I really had put myself in a super positive position to create noise and disrupt the space because it’s a very small space to operate in. It’s extremely competitive. But I think I’m the most competitive person I know.

“[To want be an insider] I think you’ve got to have a little crazy. You’ve got to have a lot of competitiveness. And you have to be okay with being told no because a lot of times a story is already spoken for, and you have to be okay with that. And I’ve accepted the fact that there’s so many scoops to get that I’m not ever going to get all of them, and I’m totally okay with it. As competitive as I am, I’m also really realistic about how it is and how hard it is to get these scoops. I’m really dedicated to it, but I’m also, I think, crazy enough to do it.”

Meet The Leaders: David Kantor, Radio One and Reach Media

Demetri Ravanos
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Meet The Leaders: David Kantor, Radio One and Reach Media

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David Kantor will retire at the end of the year. He says he is ready for a new challenge. That is understandable, because he hasn’t found one yet at Radio One and Reach Media that he wasn’t ready for.

This is the guy that helped make Tom Joyner a force in the world of syndicated morning shows. He was the man in charge in the early days of ESPN Radio and Radio Disney. Kantor is proud of what he has done and thinks he’s earned a new, less stressful life, and who could blame him?

Radio saw plenty of innovation and evolution during Kantor’s career. David shares what he was happy to see, and what he wishes he had seen the business accomplish during his tenure. We also discuss the state of syndicated radio, how broadcasting has responded to the emerging digital ad market, and so much more in our Meet the Leaders series courtesy of Point-to-Point Marketing.

Demetri Ravanos:  When you announced your retirement, you said there are other things you still want to do. Is it all personal or do you have other professional goals in mind?

David Kantor: Oh, not professional. They’re mostly personal. I want to travel. I also just bought a brownstone in Brooklyn, so I’m looking forward to spending time in New York City. There are three children up there and several grandchildren. So, it’s almost all personal. I think, business wise, I’m pretty much done.

DR: As you look back with the end in sight, what innovations for the radio industry are you thankful to have been around to experience both the before and after?

DK: Well, there are a couple. I think some are governmental. Clearly, I was around from before consolidation and after consolidation. I think that that was certainly the most impactful thing going from days when we could only own 7 AMs and 7 FMs to pretty much unlimited ownership now.

The technology has really driven the industry significantly. I mean, both in the studios, where everything is computer oriented now, and also in terms of how we program content. We can now do voice tracking. That’s one of those things that was certainly not available when I started my career.

DR: I want to circle back on regulation. This is something that you hear a lot on the TV side. Studios and TV companies argue that it might be time to revisit some of those laws now that the big tech firms are competing in this space as well. Certainly, that’s true in radio, too, when you consider all of the streaming options. Do you think it’s time to go back and look again at what should be and should not be allowed in terms of ownership?

DK: I don’t think there should be any. I mean, I thought that there should have been ownership limitations years ago. I think we went maybe a little far at first, but at this point, I think we should allow complete deregulation. 

As long as we’re competing with the Internet companies and the streaming companies of the world, we need to be on a level playing field. They obviously have no barriers to whatever they want to do, and broadcasters do.

DR: So, the flip side of that first question I asked you would be, is there anything that you wish you had gotten to see radio either rethink or get its hands on before you walk away?

DK: I’d like to see it get to a complete digital solution, which I don’t think we’re at yet. TV is going through that now with television converting from broadcast to clearly digital delivery and streaming delivery. I think radio still has a way to go, mainly because of the way we distribute through cars and offices.

The whole advertising medium has gone the way of individualization, whereas I grew up, and most people in radio and TV grew up, in an age where you were at one point reaching as many people as you can. I think the nature of advertising, because of the digital and Internet companies, has gone from you’re one person that can reach as many different spots as you want to those companies addressing you individually. That is a complete opposite of how things used to be. I would have liked to have seen that through in audio, but I think it’s going to take audio a little more time.

DR: I do wonder what the state of the radio syndication business is today. It isn’t what it was when you and Tom Joyner were together at your peak, but clearly, it’s still a sector that Urban One remains invested in and wants to keep innovating.

DK: It’s more accepted now because of the economics and because of the success, particularly shows like Tom’s, which were able to get to number one in a marketplace. I think station owners are much more open to running syndication. 

I remember a time when nobody would run long-form syndication unless it was talk. Now, pretty much in every format, music or spoken word, there are successful syndication products.

On the flip side you have that same one show reaching lots of people versus reaching individualized people. I mean, I’m sure that that will change with streaming. 

Streaming is probably what? Double digits? Let’s say ten to twenty percent are listening now. At some point in time it will be closer to 80, 90%. It may be 20 years, but it will get to that point. And I think then you’ll see a real resurgence in radio because they could compete on a much more level playing field than they have.

DR: You’ve been with Radio One for a while now, and you have seen the company go from being largely focused on Urban and Urban AC formats to acquiring a much more diversified portfolio of brands. I wonder from your position within the company, what are you doing when the company prepares to enter a new format, whether through a flip or an acquisition?

DK: Well, most of my career was non-urban. All my years with ABC and with AMFM were primarily non-urban. So, I have a lot of experience in that arena.

What we decided was to compete locally, we needed to have bigger footprints. Nationally, we compete very effectively. We’re the number one urban player. We’ve developed a lot of business that’s proprietary to us because of that position. But locally, it’s much harder to compete if you’re not the number one, two or three player in a marketplace.

We made the decision in the markets we were in, where it was economically viable, meaning you had sellers selling good stations at what were reasonable prices that we would fill out our footprints like we have done in Charlotte, Indianapolis, and in Houston. We would love to fill out more of our markets so that we can be more competitive on a local basis with iHeart or Audacy, who are primary competitors in those markets.

DR: When you talk about filling out the footprint, you guys are acquiring in a time when not many other radio companies are. Is that luxury or necessity?

DK: I think if you look since Covid, outside of EMF, which has a totally different strategy, we are the largest acquirer. I mean, we’ve made three relatively good-sized acquisitions in major markets over the years. It was to complement our holdings in those markets that we already have in Urban, but also to expand into other formats, so we could be a full general market competitor locally. Most of the dollars are still local.

DR: As I’ve been getting ready, not just for our chat, but for other conversations within this series, this Nielsen study keeps coming up as I do my research. The gist of it is that the loyalty of Black radio audiences is not just to the station, it is also to the brands that they hear over and over again on the station. How much do you think that information, that reality about the kind of audiences that are there, is reaching the sort of businesses that don’t think their advertising belongs on Urban and Urban AC formats?

DK: You know what the funny thing is? Fifteen years ago, I would have said I hear that a lot. There were a lot of businesses who had a “no urban” preference. We’ll leave it at that. 

It’s really diminished over the last ten years. I don’t hear much of that argument anymore. I think we have, like any narrow-focused format, one that focuses on just a segment of the population, it could be us, it could be Hispanic radio, it could even be news/talk. We all have a core audience that are very loyal to both our stations as well as our personalities. Ultimately, they work very effectively for advertisers. 

Our most successful stations are probably the news/talkers and the urban stations where there are strong personalities involved because most advertisers want to be associated with one of them.

DR: Has the aversion to any narrow-focused format been replaced by more businesses saying that they have an overall radio aversion now?

DK: I don’t think it’s an aversion. It’s that there are so many more choices for where they can advertise. I mean, if you’re a smaller business, you know, the Internet is very effective and very efficient in allowing you to define who your target is. We are not. 

When you buy an ad or match, you’re going to reach a lot of people, but we can’t say you’re going to reach the guy ready to buy a Lexus, living in this zip code, who makes X amount of money, which Google and Facebook are able to do. We aren’t able to have that many variables yet, but I look forward to the day, it may or may not be in my lifetime, certainly won’t be in my career, but the day when we have the ability to facilitate those advertisers better.

I think that’s the nature of advertising. It’s to go for more and more qualified leads, and qualified leads means being able to define who you’re reaching with your message.

DR: Because you brought up how effective digital advertising can be for small businesses, has radio responded appropriately to how low some digital companies are willing to take their advertising rates?

DK: Well, I think the leaders in our industry have unfortunately followed the pricing downward. That obviously means we have to sell more ads to make the same amount of money, which means then there are more ads on radio. That ultimately has, in my opinion, a negative effect on programing. 

Look, you can’t stop progress. I mean, the digital companies, the Internet companies clearly created, in some ways, a better entertainment distribution pipeline than we ever had, because ours was just one pipeline. And not just us. Television was that way, newspapers were that way, magazines. All old media was that way – one place to lots of people. You had a lot of control.

Now it’s lots of programing. And then the individuals pick out what they want, whether it be audio, TV, video, even print. There are just so many more choices for the individual at this time that it was inevitable that time spent listening on radio was going to go down. Same with television, it’s no different. I’m a broadcast person and I watch very little broadcast except for news and sports, because everything else is much easier to just stream.

To learn more about Point-To-Point Marketing’s Podcast and Broadcast Audience Development Marketing strategies, contact Tim Bronsil at tim@ptpmarketing.com or 513-702-5072.

Tale of Two Boston Sports Media Personalities: Tony Massarotti and Dan Shaughnessy

John Molori
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Tale of Two Boston Sports Media Personalities: Tony Massarotti and Dan Shaughnessy

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.

On the surface, Boston-based and nationally known sports personalities Tony Massarotti and Dan Shaughnessy seem quite similar. Both men have parlayed print journalism popularity into television and radio stardom. Both men have achieved national appeal for their coverage of sports, and both men are highly talented and respected authors and raconteurs.

Still, despite similar resumes, Massarotti and Shaughnessy differ in one significant way – one is beautifully beloved while the other is dastardly detested. Massarotti who along with Michael Felger, hosts the ratings colossus Felger & Mazz show on Boston’s 98.5 The Sports Hub, is seen as a playful sports mite with a canary voice as high as his passion for the games. Conversely, Shaughnessy is viewed as a smarmy know-it-all with a palpable air of arrogance.

Massarotti is a non-stop, fireball of sports knowledge, a baseball writer by trade who has effortlessly delved into other sports. His trademark soprano voice belies the deep thinker within – outspoken, yet introspective, fearless yet thoughtful.

Like many media types, Massarotti parlayed a successful career as a Boston Herald columnist and baseball writer into national TV, radio, and Internet stardom. Once he made the commitment to the electronic media, he became a regular contributor to SportsRadio WEEI, ESPN’s First Take, and NBCSports.com.

Through it all, Massarotti remains one of the most candid gabbers in the business and has traveled a media road that has not always been smooth. After losing out to the late Bob Neumeier for WEEI’s midday cohost slot in 2002, he left WEEI and joined Boston’s AM 1510 as a regular guest. Eventually, he hit the jackpot pairing with Felger at 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Massarotti does not take himself or the games too seriously, while providing energetic and emotional takes on all topics. He often agrees with the volatile and sometimes vicious thoughts of his cohort Felger but has the gumption to consistently challenge Felger when warranted. In truth, there are few sports talkers with Massarotti’s depth of intelligence.

While Massarotti has fostered near universal appeal among his multimedia fans, one of his colleagues from the print and electronic sports scene has created quite a different personae. If there is a polarizing figure in Boston and national sports media, it is the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy.

My personal experiences with Shaughnessy are fairly brief, but give interesting insight into his personality. From 1997 until 2001, I co-hosted a New England sports radio show and always wanted to have Shaughnessy on as a guest. His controversial style was a good read, whether I agreed or disagreed with his viewpoints.

I called Shaughnessy at the Globe and began my usual intro. “Hi Mr. Shaughnessy, my name is John Molori and I have a sports radio show.” Before I could continue, Shaughnessy sarcastically shot back, “Yeah, you and everyone else!”

I knew right then that the rumors about Shaughnessy’s attitude were not far from true. He could be a bit prickly and unsettling. Shaughnessy agreed to the interview and, to be honest, it wasn’t great. He seemed to be put off by the whole endeavor. I never held it against him. We all have bad days.

When I started writing a syndicated sports media column, I mentioned Shaughnessy often and actually established a good rapport with him. He was regularly trashed by talk show hosts and other media commentators, but I developed an odd admiration for his antagonistic and alternative viewpoints.

With the success of Boston sports teams over the past quarter century, much of the Boston sports media have become all too sycophantic with the local franchises. Shaughnessy has no such desire.

He has been accused of being both a homer and a hater, and remains a much sought-after guest on local and national sports talk shows and documentaries despite being frequently criticized by sports talk callers and Internet media types.

Shaughnessy has no shortage of nicknames including ‘Curly Haired Boyfriend’ courtesy of ex-Red Sox malcontent Carl Everett, ‘Scoop’ courtesy of his terrific early career NBA coverage, and ‘Shank’ courtesy of SportsRadio WEEI, but no matter what you call him, you cannot ignore him.

Since joining the Globe in 1981, Shaughnessy has been a lightning rod in sports media. His work is marked by skepticism bordering on cynicism, but his longevity and vitality are indubitable.

This old guard writer is a constant in our new media world where the line between fans and professional journalists has become blurred. No one has ridden the writers-on-TV movement more effectively than Shaughnessy. He is pointed and sarcastic, elicits response from his audience, and is never boring. Shaughnessy is completely unafraid.

Like Massarotti, Shaughnessy is strongly opinionated and always willing to take an unpopular stand. His writing and chit-chat is informative and entertaining, and he lives by the credo that if people like or dislike him all the time, he is not doing his job.

In short, no one tells Dan Shaughnessy what to write or say except Dan Shaughnessy. His opinions are his, take them or leave them. You have to give him props for that.

For more than four decades, Shaughnessy has inspired a love-hate relationship with readers, listeners, and viewers. Massarotti is outspoken and controversial, but in a more passionate and emotional manner. Both men have their fans and foes, a credit to their often red hot takes on sports.

Markets like New York, Philly, Boston, and Chicago require toughness, thick skin, and straight up balls from its media. Audiences live and die with their teams. Criticism gets personal, and over-the-top agendas and campaigns against media personalities come with the territory.

When asked about Shaughnessy, Boston Globe writer and ESPN personality Bob Ryan once told me, “Dan knows he’s going to tick people off and he can live with it. I don’t think he deserves the kind of venom he has received. He’s a good person. I wouldn’t want what he takes on.”

Neither would Tony Massarotti, who has followed a similar career map, but has never ventured into Shaughnessyville, a town populated by angst, anger, and animosity. Don’t get me wrong, as part of the Felger & Mazz powerhouse, Massarotti takes his share of hits. The duo appears to seek out a negative or sarcastic take on most sports subjects – a knack that often angers listeners and viewers. Still, if you really listen, there is also a strange balance to what Felger and Massarotti do. With the aforementioned success of Boston teams since 2001, they expect greatness and expectorate on teams and individuals when it is not achieved.

It is easy for Shaughnessy and Massarotti to develop persecution complexes especially with a lot of the media becoming boosters, fans, business partners, and product pitchers with athletes. Certainly, they both feel the heat, but in truth, they crave it.

For decades now, Shaughnessy and Massarotti have been churning out opinions like Dunkin’s churns out coffee, and similar to that brew, they are visceral and varied, running hot, cold, sweet, strong, or flavored.

News Talk Radio Hosts Need to Avoid Post-Election Blues

Peter Thiele
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News Talk Radio Hosts Need to Avoid Post-Election Blues

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.

Many, if not all, News Talk stations are focused on the election. November 7th begins a new chapter. How do you keep all that cume? Talk show hosts frequently continue the election coverage, even if it is over. The format’s Super Bowl is finished. November 6th, you better be focused on the results. I once had a syndicated host who was on a couple hundred stations at that moment in time. He actually left mid-show the day after the election because he was speaking to a college class. His producer who was not very good, took over the show. Total lack of respect for his affiliates, audience, and employer. Be ready to rock and roll with big guests and bigger takes.

November 7th… Do you have a strategy to keep those people sampling your station? Is the imaging ready to go? You MUST get off election talk unless there is a tie for President. I have already started seeing prognostications of who will be in the cabinets of Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. No one truly is interested in the cabinet of the next President.

If your strategy is to break down the choices for the Secretary of Commerce, you are missing the boat. You must be on the biggest topic of the day. The cabinet nominees must be only involved as a news story. Of course, that can change if a nominated cabinet member attended a lot of P. Diddy parties. As Lebron James says, “There is no party like a Diddy party!” I don’t know about you… I am beginning to think that P. Diddy was not that good of a guy. It may just be me. There is enough in the news cycle to keep News Talk radio occupied.

Don’t focus on legislation. If you want a radio station that is defined by declining ratings and older demographics, start speaking about Senate Bill #325. Please, dear Lord, no one cares about bill filings or potential legislation to be filed. If you have a big issue over legislation, never open up with bill #325.

Discuss the legislation that will raise gasoline taxes by 25 cents per gallon. If you interview one of our employees (Politicians), when that individual brings up bill #325… Tell that employee that real people have not memorized the legislature’s calendar.

Hey, what is going on with actual listener’s lives? Did Uncle Gordy get drunk at Thanksgiving and yell at his wife? What is the most embarrassing thing that you have seen at Thanksgiving Dinner? It could be a frustrating moment when your sister turned off the TV so you can’t watch the game. It could be the aunt who can’t cook who was charged with making the turkey this year. Did the blizzard close the office and force your listener to be home with the family all day?

Lots of people love going to the office to enjoy the solitude away from the fam. No judgement here. Why can’t streets be plowed more efficiently? Do we give snowplow drivers too much respect. What is the hot toy for the kiddos? When was the last time that you mentioned the big sports team on your show? I guarantee you that the majority of your listeners are focused on the trials and tribulations of that local pro football team or pro college players. It’s a big deal.

Why is it that if the husband gets the wife the wrong gift it is a crime worse than the Long Island Serial Killer’s murders? Why is it no big deal that the husband gets socks for the third year in a row? Should you give your kid too much stuff? Did you get your kid an iPad as a babysitting tool? At what age is it appropriate to let your kid to explore the neighborhood? My parents let me out to play at the age of 4. My parents were considered helicopter parents compared to some of the kids in my neighborhood. Bad weather in the winter, how do you keep from going stir crazy? Did you have an argument with the spouse and use it as a show topic? FYI, Stand Up Comedians have been using this as a platform for humorous jokes and stories for generations.

Remember, News Talk Radio is about entertainment. Yes, talking about current events is fun. But it begins with the opinions and the experiences of the host. There is no question that the competitive pressures on our industry are immense. Your radio show or station has something working for it. Your station connects people to their communities.

We live in an isolated society. Check out the census data for your area. I bet that the average household is around 2.5 people. There are a lot of families that have two or three children. There are more people living alone. Your radio station provides connection to the community. Traffic Reports give vital information for commuters. Weather Reports give needed information. The local news is essential.

A News Talk show host is a human that the audience connects to in an intimate way. It is a cosmic connection that allows belonging. Everything on the air should create unique experiences for your wonderful listeners. That is a listener-focused experience.

Listeners Are Missing The Good Old Radio Wars

Robby Bridges
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Listeners Are Missing The Good Old Radio Wars

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters, and get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox.

I love and respect Pat Sajak for his impeccable talent, his genius finding the best gig in show business for five decades and for his pragmatic cynicism about show business. I recall seeing him interviewed on a documentary about the history of late-night TV in which he pointed out, “show business is full of frightened people, and they’ll worry about things like the color of the host’s socks.”

A very forthright truth and no corner of show biz seems to be more populated with frightened people than radio. Radio once carried a different banner as part stalwart/media cornerstone and part renegade party zone. The fun is largely gone and it’s been replaced with fear and loathing and while they wouldn’t know it specifically nor it’s cause, listeners experience with terrestrial radio is poorer for it.

This past week, a listener (yes, a heavy, passionate radio user I’d never heard from before at my station in New Jersey) urgently reached out to alert me the signature benchmark of my show for the past eight years: “He Said She Said” was being used by a competing station on a competing show granted in pm drive (I host a morning show) and while ours is a topic-driven feature theirs a guessing game contest.

Nonetheless, we sprang into action and my co-host called into the other station and managed to get on the air and call them out as our afternoon host aired these shenanigans live. This competing show immediately dropped the call and tried to ignore it, denying they knew they’d taken the name of a competing station feature and quickly moving on to spots, clearly flustered.

The following morning, we aired it again and spent much of the morning lambasting their content and parodying their show. A good old-fashioned radio war, like a heated sports rivalry or celebrity feud: harmless, silly, and faux dramatic. I welcomed their retaliation, expecting prank phone calls and, of course, that they’d keep using the name as we began calling our feature “the og, original, official, originator, never they imitator, “He Said She Said.”

They’d mention it again (and again we were alerted by a listener) and call us pathetic losers and “cringe” for the “radio war”. They again moved on quickly. Clearly, a personal attack from a place of defense by two hosts desperately afraid of anything that could draw real attention to them, as their ultimate goal is to hang on. I addressed the personal nature of their response on the air and announced I’d drop the issue mostly as they clearly are too frightened to be in on the joke. They, to date, haven’t done the game again.

This is something really missing from radio today, fierce competition, a little smack talk, fearlessness, swashbuckling. And worse, when it’s tried, an opponent crying foul and running to tattle tale to Mommy. Radio used to have an edge, guts grounded in the pride felt by those given the privilege to take to the air. We seem to have forgotten that, as evidenced in my experience, the listeners haven’t. But alas, the business misses opportunity again out of fear of having to hang on.

Julie Guy’s Keys to Success: Chemistry, Community And Authenticity

BMM Staff
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Julie Guy’s Keys to Success: Chemistry, Community And Authenticity

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters, and get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox.

Those 2 Girls in the Morning and More

The “Those 2 Girls in the Morning” show on WLYF in Miami sounds like a conversation between friends because it is. Julie Guy co-hosts the show live from 5:30 a.m. to noon on Lite FM 101.5 then voice tracks the 12 – 2 p.m. slot as well as Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. She calls her long-time morning show co-host, Tamara G., the yin to her yang. They’ve been on the now Audacy Adult Contemporary station for eleven years.

Co-Hosting Chemistry

The pair, who are well-known for their chemistry, worked together previously as “Those 2 Girls in the Morning” from 2006 to 2013 on Cox Media’s “97.3 The Coast” WFLC, then an AC station.

“You can’t create chemistry,” says Julie. “If it’s not there, people know.”

Working with Tamara G., she says, is “almost kismet.”

“I run the board, and she does the traffic, and we are a team. We each bring ideas and talk about our lives. If she’s mad at something, I say, ‘Okay, hold it, let’s talk about it on the air.’ We pick up each other’s slack; we know each other’s rhythm. I know when she’s going to say something. We don’t step on each other’s words. Our roles really just defined themselves.

“Tamara came up in an urban radio culture, and we have both been in the business a long time. We bring a lot to the table, and our work ethics are the same. She’s a really great person, a kind human being. I see other shows that don’t have that dynamic, and it causes friction, but we don’t have any of that. We are a black and a white woman and it’s fabulous. Don’t let it end,” she says.

“’ I love how you guys love each other’ is one of my favorite comments from listeners,” says Julie.

Despite her success, Julie suffers from “the imposter syndrome,” even after all these years, wondering whether she’s connecting with the audience from her isolated perch in the studio.

“When I leave work, I beat myself up and say they won’t want me back tomorrow.”

She has hard evidence that her message is getting through, though, in the form of listener testimonials.

“Last weekend, I was emceeing a 5K Race, and a young lady who was 26 (which was great because our demo is women 35-60) was almost in tears and said, ‘You’re the sisterhood I never knew I needed. You got me through my divorce.’

“I’ve had more women come up and say you guys got me through this and that, and all we’re doing is being ourselves. That’s what’s missing in social media, with everyone putting their best foot forward. When you show people that you are also in the human race, and you are vulnerable, it resonates so much. The best compliment I ever got is that I sound exactly like I do in person as I do on the radio. What you hear is what you get.”

Radical Change from Rock Radio

Julie’s been working long shifts starting very early in the morning for over two decades, but all along, she wanted “a cushy midday job.” That’s what she had applied for when she snagged her first morning show gig at 97.3 The Coast. The Program Director had a different path in mind for Julie.

“I never got middays. Make plans, and God laughs. They said they were going to put me on mornings even though they advertised middays. I said, ‘I’ll just see how that works out.’ Well, that was 22 years ago. My son was five months old. I also decided it’s the only shift I want to do. It’s the best for having a family because my kids’ dad took them to school, and I picked them up and took them to activities. I was able to be a full-time mom and a full-time radio personality, and I learned I really love it and I’m kind of good at it.”

The morning show AC format and audience was a radical change from rock radio, where Julie had cut her teeth as an intern and then worked for ten years.

“A male-dominated audience is a lot different. Rock radio lent itself to what do you look like? Is she hot? Can I go out with her? When I got married, they said don’t talk about being married or being pregnant when I was pregnant. You’re supposed to be this idea.

“AC female-oriented radio was a big game changer. I realized immediately that I needed to be myself. I needed to step up the game, and I couldn’t just phone it in. We’re women; we’ll call you on your nonsense. We want authenticity; we want you to be like us, and we want you to be funny. It required me to be vulnerable, and it’s scary when you share a piece of yourself. But you realize that so many people are just like you. I learned I really love it.”

Early Days

Now a U.S. citizen, Julie was born in Montreal, Canada, to Italian immigrant parents. They moved to Hollywood, Florida when Julie was five years old. Her parents, Augusto and Lucia, owned the 8-unit Ivy efficiency motel and the Bella Napoli bakery, where she worked from an early age. She says she inherited an incredibly strong work ethic from her folks and that she doesn’t like to sit still.

She read the announcements at school and was always very comfortable being in front of people. She volunteered at the Special Olympics. She graduated from South Broward High School and went to Florida International University in Miami.

“I took public speaking. I took education and sociology, but I loved radio and loved music and thought, there’s an internship open, and I walked through the door and said I feel so alive in here. This is where I want to be.”

She interned at the station, her favorite, for two years while in college: heritage rock station WSHE, “She’s Only Rock n Roll.”

After her internship ended, she stayed.

“In 1990 and 1991, I worked on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from midnight to six for free while I was going to school and while I worked at Pier One Imports. I would get paid in CDs. We would bring them to the CD Exchange and get five bucks.

“Then I was weekends for about three months, and I was so excited to get paid to work there. Then somebody got sick, and they offered me full-time midnight to 6. And then I worked my way up,” she recalls.

Julie’s a workout fanatic who says exercise keeps her sane and awake. The energetic 54-year-old is extremely fit. She wears her workout clothes to work, so she has no excuse not to hit the gym right after.

On evenings and weekends, though, she’s frequently glammed up as the emcee of numerous charity events.

Community Conscious

She recently hosted a candidates’ forum for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, her first foray into the political realm. “It was a whole different ball game. I thought I was informed, but I learned a whole lot more, and they said we’ll have to ask you back. It was such a privilege. “

She is often the face of galas, 5K races, and many other events for the Hollywood Chamber and for numerous charitable causes, including Paws 4 You Rescue, The Embrace Girls Foundation, scholarship funds, and especially for cancer-related events, as her family has been personally affected by the disease.

“My dad died of bile cancer, and my sister survived breast cancer. I’m involved in the Downs Syndrome organization because they were friends of my family, and I loved how they treated their kids so normal. I have the M.S. fashion show next week, and an event for the Lighthouse for the Blind is another important cause.”

“Helping with these events takes you outside of your life and your problems,” she explains.

She says she loves emceeing and feeds off of the energy of a live crowd, but what she most appreciates is how much she has learned about the many challenges others face in their everyday lives.

Julie’s son, Bobby, is all grown at 22. Her 18-year-old daughter, Lucy (named after her late mother) just left home on a softball scholarship to Rollins University. Julie, who’s divorced, is struggling as an empty nester. “It’s really, really hard,” she reveals. Her activism helps her deal with that while helping others.

Granted an On-Air Goodbye

She’s never been outright fired, and when she was let go due to a format flip, she was allowed to say goodbye.

“They let me do the impossible. They let me say goodbye on air, which was wild. I’ve always been pretty well-liked by my bosses, so they knew I wasn’t going to say ‘go to hell’ or drop an f-bomb. I had been at 93.7 The Coast as morning show host for almost twelve years, so I said, ‘Goodbye. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life and your routine all these years, and I started to cry. It’s huge. I don’t take that lightly. Then I landed at Lite FM, and it’s been eleven years.”

The Evils of Comparison

Julie’s been working for an audience of women for twenty years, for an audience of men prior to that and is immersed in community events. She’s learned lessons.

“I just saw this great quote by Matt Haig: ‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ That’s our problem. So many of us are anguished because we are comparing ourselves to one another and we must stop. Social media, for all the wonderful things it can do, can also do a lot of damage. It’s one thing if you get inspired by somebody but it’s quite another to feel like you’re ‘less than’ because you haven’t accomplished XYZ that someone just put on their Instagram.

“You look great right here, but how many times did you take that picture, and how much makeup are you wearing? Enough. Do what you gotta do, and don’t worry about everybody else.”

Get in touch with Julie on Instagram

Erick Erickson Can Use Pre-Radio Career Experience to Explain 2024 Election to Growing Audience

Garrett Searight
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Erick Erickson Can Use Pre-Radio Career Experience to Explain 2024 Election to Growing Audience

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.

As the 2024 election looms, most attention is centered on seven key battleground states. In Georgia, Erick Erickson has become a news/talk radio staple, as he’s heard in every market in the Peach State.

Based in Atlanta on 95.5 WSB, and distributed nationally by Compass Media Networks, The Erick Erickson Show has seen tremendous growth in the last two years. With that expanded reach, Erickson can share his political insight with a much wider audience at an important time.

“In a former life, in addition to being an election lawyer, I ran political campaigns around the country,” said Erick Erickson. “I’ve got an obligation, I think, to the entire audience to play it more straight than just partisan talking points. What’s actually happening? What the data actually says? I know how to read the polls and read the early voting turnout numbers, and not just give everybody the spin they can get from any talk show host. I want to give them the actual ‘Here’s what’s happening on the ground’ facts.”

Being in Georgia — one of the most hotly contested states in the race for the White House — gives Erickson a different perspective from many other hosts that might reside in deep red areas around the nation.

“Georgia is where people are interested in,” he said. “I get people on stations out west saying ‘We actually are interested in your state. Our state’s not a swing state. What’s happening?’ So I can cover the minutia of a presidential campaign in Georgia from a perspective of someone who’s run campaigns, been a lawyer for a presidential campaign, and also being somebody who the partisan shtick isn’t really something I do.

“Even though everybody knows I’m a conservative, the who, what, where, when, why and how fascinates me. And being able to cover that and let people come to their own conclusions has been fun. It’s also very liberating that I don’t feel like I’ve got to carry water for anybody … I have a little more liberty to not just tell the base what they want to hear,” Erickson continued. “I can say what my side’s doing is dumb or smart, and what the other side’s doing is smart or dumb and here’s how I think it’s going to play out as someone who knows how to run a campaign.”

That deep campaign knowledge gives Erickson the ability to analyze the strategies both Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris have employed in the final weeks of the race. But, for someone who believes they have a duty to be honest and truthful about the happenings in American politics rather than spin things to favor one side, it can often be an issue for The Erick Erickson Show host.

“I have a sense to some degree that probably the way I do radio, a lot of people who are used to putting traditional talk shows on stations maybe don’t quite understand it, because it’s not the red meat raw conservative politics that you can get from anyone else,” he shared. “I think I have an obligation to my audience to be as informed as possible, and oftentimes that means saying what everybody else is saying isn’t true. And I do think there’s probably a penalty for doing that by not being in the traditional box of conservative talk radio.

“But at the same time, everywhere I get put on, the audience has grown because I just don’t think we’re in traditional red meat politics territory anymore. There are a majority of Americans who don’t like either candidate running for president, even though they may be voting for one or the other. And I, quite frankly, am in that position, but also have an interest in I want one side to win. But that’s not going to mean I’m not gonna say Trump did something stupid if I think he did something stupid I’m gonna say so.”

“There’s a lot of anger,” continued Erickson. “And I know program directors around the country get angry people who call them when I tell people stuff they don’t want to hear, but the ratings keep going up … Longtime listeners know that I’m not just going to BS them. I’m going to tell them exactly what’s happening, and then I’ll tell them what I think. That, I think, is something I’ve tried very hard to do differently since 2016, let me tell you what is happening. And then I’ll tell you what I think about it once I’ve told you what’s happening. But let’s all get on the same page about the facts first.”

When asked if the content of his show changes as the election nears, Erick Erickson admitted that, at least for him, it absolutely does.

“We’re now within 14 days of the race. And so every single day, I come on and say, ‘Here’s how many days till the election, here’s what a campaign that is winning does 12 days from the election, here’s what a campaign that’s winning does 11 days from the election. Which side do you think is doing this?’ And the audience can make up their mind, but I mean, I have a very successful record of running campaigns,” Erickson said.

“I know what you do. And you get to seven days out, and there’s literally nothing a campaign can do except turn their base out and pointing those things out to the audience in a way that nobody else really can. And then, when the legal issues come up about the election, how do you challenge? What does it look like? What appears to be legitimate? I was one of five total election lawyers in the state of Georgia for almost a decade before people got interested in doing election law.”

Gayle Troberman iHeartMedia CMO To Step Down

BMM Staff
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Gayle Troberman iHeartMedia CMO To Step Down

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters, and get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox.

After ten years with iHeartMedia, Chief Marketing Officer Gayle Troberman is moving into a senior advisory position.

In a joint statement email to staff CEO Bob Pittman and President/COO/CFO Richard Bressler wrote, “iHeart has built our reputation with major national marketing and advertising partners through our commitment to constant innovation, and Gayle Troberman, our Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in those efforts. However, the most creative people often thrive on change, and with that in mind, we want to let you know that Gayle has decided to transition from her role as our CMO to serve the company as a senior advisor, actively continuing to lead thought leadership projects like our groundbreaking ‘New American Consumer’ studies.”

Troberman will continue to be actively involved in iHeartMedia’s industry and B2B events, including the CES and Cannes Lions. She will continue working with company clients and sales teams “to develop creative ideas and unique solutions that maximize all our assets and platforms to solve their most important marketing needs,” Pittman and Bressler continued.

Adding, “Gayle has had a major impact on this company as its first CMO, and we fully expect her impact to continue in her new role,” they said. “We’re truly appreciative of her innovative thinking, insights, and the work she has done for us as our CMO, and we’re pleased Gayle will continue her contributions to the company in this new role.”

Prior to her decade-long tenure at iHeartMedia, Troberman served as Chief Marketing and Ideas Officer at IPG Mediabrands from 2012 to 2014. She also had a notable 16-year run at Microsoft, where she was Chief Creative Officer.

Sports Media Reacts to the Death of Fernando Valenzuela

BSM Staff
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Sports Media Reacts to the Death of Fernando Valenzuela

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.

The sports world continues to mourn the passing of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitching great and longtime Spanish-language radio analyst Fernando Valenzuela. Valenzuela died at a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 63. The cause of death is unknown at this time, however Valenzuela had recently stepped away from his broadcasting duties to “focus on his health.”

Dodgers Hall of Fame Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin was a guest on SportsNet LA and talked about the man who he saw both as a player and as a partner in broadcasting. He said in part, “I was so fortunate to spend many years with him, and I appreciate the fact that he trusted me, and he was trying to help me as much as possible. He will always be with us because of what he did for baseball, what he did for Los Angeles, what he did for Mexico. Mexico had in Fernando, it’s best ambassador. There are three names in Mexico in sports, Hugo Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Fernando Valenzuela. But among the three, I am 100% sure that Fernando was the most beloved of them in Mexico and in Latin America.”

Others weighed in on the loss via social media:

MLB Network aired the following tribute today, as reported by Jon Morosi:

Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche Owners Launch Altitude+ Streaming Service

BSM Staff
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Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche Owners Launch Altitude+ Streaming Service

Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.

In September, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) announced a broadcast rights agreement for Altitude Sports with TEGNA for 20 Denver Nuggets games and 20 Colorado Avalanche games to be shown for free over-the-air on Denver’s 9NEWS (KUSA-TV) and My20 (KTVD-TV). At the time, it was said a subscription-based direct-to-consumer platform would be coming soon and today, Altitude+ launched to consumers.

The company says all live Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche broadcasts not designated as exclusive to a national network can be found on the new subscription-based platform, which is also available online.

Subscriptions are priced at $19.95/month within Altitude’s nine-state territory. KSE said versions of Altitude+ for connected smart TV apps such as Roku, Amazon Fire, and Android TV will be available soon.

“When I joined KSE last March, I said the most important thing we can do with Altitude Sports is give it a fresh perspective so that our fans can see our amazing teams and the generational players we are fortunate to have here in Denver,” said Kevin Demoff, KSE President of Team and Media Operations in a release. “Thanks to the leadership and support of Stan Kroenke and Josh Kroenke, our team was able to give our fans an opportunity to watch all Nuggets and Avs games in a variety of ways.”

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