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Netflix to Live Stream Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul Fight This Summer

BSM Staff
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Netflix to Live Stream Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul Fight This Summer

Netflix announced today they will partner with Most Valuable Promotions for a heavyweight boxing event on July 20, 2024. The live card will feature former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who will be 58 at the time of the fight, and social media sensation Jake Paul who turned 27 in January . The match will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX and be available to all Netflix subscribers at no additional cost.

 “[Jake has] grown significantly as a boxer over the years,” Tyson says of his opponent, who turned pro in 2020. “It will be a lot of fun to see what the will and ambition of a ‘kid’ can do with the experience and aptitude of a GOAT.”

“It’s crazy to think that in my second pro fight, I went viral for knocking out Nate Robinson on Mike Tyson’s undercard,” Paul told Netflix. “Now, less than four years later, I’m stepping up to face Tyson myself to see if I have what it takes to beat one of boxing’s most notorious fighters and biggest icons.”

Paul vs Tyson will be Netflix’s third live sports event, following The Netflix Cup and The Netflix Slam. Additional information, including the co-main event and undercards, will be announced at a later date. 

Saga Communications Reports 1.8% Revenue Decline in 2023

BNM Staff
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Saga Communications Reports 1.8% Revenue Decline in 2023

Saga Communications has released its 2023 financial results, and while the fourth quarter was a difficult one, the company reported just slight revenue declines for the 2023 fiscal year.

The company reported a 3.3% decline in revenue for the final quarter, dropping from $30.1 million in 2022 to $29.1 million in 2023.

The biggest drop in the quarter came from the political advertising market, as the company only brought in $407,000 from the sector, compared to $1.9 million in 2022. In total, the group saw $3.6 million in political ad spending in 2022 compared to $944,000 in 2023.

In total, revenue at Saga Communications dropped 1.8% in 2023. In 2023, the company brought in $112.8 million compared to $114.9 million in the same period the prior year.

The news of the group’s earnings for 2023 comes after Saga announced it had entered into an agreement to purchase stations in the Lafayette, Indiana market as Neuhoff Media exits the radio business. The company will pay $5.3 million for the five-station group, and expects to close that acquisition in the second quarter of 2024.

It’s Time For News Media to Do a Little Spring Cleaning

Perry Michael Simon
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It’s Time For News Media to Do a Little Spring Cleaning

It’s Spring, right? Like, March 19th is the official first day but we’re all in agreement that once Spring Training is underway, we’ve started Spring? So, it’s Spring, which means not only Spring Training but Spring Cleaning, and for the news media, that means looking at what we do and deciding which elements are unnecessary.

Time to Marie Kondo this thing, and if it doesn’t bring… well, not joy, really, it’s more like whether you’re wasting time or not raising significant revenue or just filling space. We have too much of that stuff.

Like practically all the old benchmarks on radio, for example. Traffic reports are the most obvious. They still exist in the age of Waze because they’re a sponsorship opportunity, but they bring programming to a screeching halt and allow listeners to tune away. There are still exceptions: Major markets with all-News stations and lots of traffic can still do it, because there’s some value in alerting drivers to problems that may not be on the direct route Waze has prescribed but may cause issues later. But in most markets, nah.

Here in South Florida, Miami stations could dispose of traffic by just repeating “Traffic is at a standstill in all the usual areas, and if you’re on U.S. 1 south of downtown, you’ll hit every red light from I-95 to Homestead.” West Palm Beach stations generally have nothing on which to report – we only have two major highways, and 99 percent of radio traffic reports just say everything is going smoothly.

The reports exist to justify sponsor tags. They get in the way of regular programming. Find something else to sponsor.

Does cable news need panels of four to six pundits “analyzing” every political story every day? Do viewers get anything out of them? I watched some of the Super Tuesday coverage and there was practically no content that varied from overanalyzing polls and extrapolating generalizations from results that merely confirmed what we already knew was going to happen.

There wasn’t a single moment on any network when I thought, “You know, I hadn’t thought about it that way.” Is that entertaining? Because it isn’t terribly informative, and “Why am I watching this?” was the primary thought on my mind. (“Because you don’t want to watch the injury-decimated Sixers lose to Brooklyn” was the consensus answer.)

While we’re getting rid of stuff from election coverage, a general ban on interviewing random voters on why they voted and how they voted would be a relief, too. What one individual voter in Colorado Springs thinks about the candidates doesn’t tell you anything worth pondering. Why do it?

As for newspapers, I’d suggest getting rid of print by now – the circulation figures for the print product have dipped to shockingly low levels – but, living in Early Bird Special country, I still see people having the Sun-Sentinel and Palm Beach Post delivered to their driveways every day, and until that generation is gone, there’s still a market for it and I imagine that having consolidated printing and distribution, there might still be a profit in running the presses.

I wish the product of all that work wasn’t a paper with news that was online two days (or more) earlier, a mostly useless sports section with nothing about the previous night’s games, and comics — the highlight of the paper since the early 1900s – reduced to a page of corporately-selected, nationally-uniform strips.

Many papers have eliminated box scores and game coverage (not worth it when it’s all online and on social media already) and are using AI to “cover” high school and college sports. There’s a market for better coverage of local news and sports, but nobody wants to pay for it. We get what we deserve, I suppose.

Local TV news? With a few exceptions, it’s all crime and feel-good features, plus weather. The crime stories just scare people. The feel-good features are like reading press releases. Just keep the weather – it’s all people really care about, and weather apps really suck.

Seriously, can you rely on Apple’s weather widget? It’ll often predict sunny or partly cloudy weather, then, when it’s pouring, the app suddenly changes its forecast and alerts you to what you already know. Our local TV meteorologists are more accurate. The phones are good for tornado warnings (can’t mistake that eardrum-piercing siren), but local TV does weather better. I’d rather have a half-hour of that than news about a shooting in West Palm and a bake sale in Delray.

You know what? There’s a TL;DR version of this: Do what you’re better at doing than anyone else. Don’t do the things for which technology has provided a better solution than you offer. Put your resources into the good, entertaining, informative stuff. Get your broom and sweep out the rest.

Then straighten up your studio. It’s a mess. And I thought I told you not to put coffee cups near the board.

3 Tips For News/Talk Radio Professionals to Reach Their Peak Performance

Peter Thiele
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News/talk radio salespeople and Account Executives often seek out special speakers to inspire them to perform their best. Professional athletes hire coaches and dieticians to help them reach their pinnacle. What are you doing?

If you are on the programming side of the radio industry, there are constant pressures. Your Program Director may be a pain in the butt. You have been given a second job at the office as part of your duties. 

How do you stay motivated? There is not a talk show host, producer, program director whisperer. You must induce your own enthusiasm. Here are a few tips from old Uncle Peter:

Don’t Get in a Radio Rut

Humans are creatures of habit. It is natural to eat the same things, watch the same shows, listen to familiar music, and do the same things. It is a trap. You may know a geezer who is totally set in their ways. They do the same things. No excitement, just routine. 

If you are a morning host, routine is essential for the job. There is a difference between discipline and routine. Discipline is essential to being successful in life. You push yourself to do things that are good for you, your family etcetera. Routine is a thief of life. It does not allow you to find things that bring you new joys. 

There are many radio shows hosted by talented people that have been canceled. Years ago, the heritage news/talk station across town from where I worked had fired a really talented midday host. 

The upstart station where I worked really admired this host’s talent. The General Manager took that talent to lunch to meet him and gauge his interest in working with the up-and-coming news/talk station. The station that he worked for was stodgy and lost its edge. So, the host was quizzed about the type of show that he wanted to perform. The host said that “he wouldn’t change a thing.” 

Well, he lost his job because his ratings were terrible and he didn’t see the changing radio landscape. He was stuck in a failing routine. This nice man should have recognized that his ratings were slipping and that his job was in jeopardy. His routine ended his career. 

Where are you with the routine for your show? Are you doing a tired bit? Are you adjusting to your market and lifestyle trends? The worst lie that you can ever tell is the lie you tell yourself. If you cannot be truthful to the human in your mirror, tou cannot reach your peak. 

Adjust Your Routine 

If you are married or in a relationship, you will need assistance from your better half. Different things for dinner. Food is such a central part of life for socializing and relationships. Take a cooking class. Are you in a restaurant rut? Or perhaps, you order the same foods at a restaurant. Eat at a different place, try something new. 

We are creatures of habit. Do something different. You may like a certain type of music. It brings memories of days gone by. That is the problem. I heard someone saying that new music is trash. Oh, there are amazing artists today. They make terrific music. A couple of artists that I enjoy right now are Lovelytheband, MGMT, Jelly Roll, and Mumford and Sons. 

New ideas, fun takes. You may not like these choices, but if you have never listened to them, you will never know if they suck or are great.

Read More

In news/talk radio, we read. It is part of our show prep. Sometimes, it is tough to read for fun because that is all we do for work. When I was doing an airshift, I wanted to get away from reading before bedtime. Now, I am digging into books. I love it. In your show prep, read sites that you may not agree with. 

Occasionally, I would read The Nation or Mother Jones. I agreed with very little, but it made me think through an issue or idea from a different perspective. 

I enjoy the mind of Bill Maher. I rarely agree with him, but his thought process is intriguing.  Noam Chomsky is the same deal for me. Chomsky and Maher often share similar concerns with me.  I disagree with the solutions. 

Hearing or reading their takes is instructive and causes me to think through things in a different way. It takes me away from confirmation bias. When someone tells me that everyone thinks a certain way about an idea, issue, or concern, I know that they are full of crap. By the way, we have to change our clocks one hour ahead this weekend. That sucks, it is a terrible practice and should be fixed immediately. More people die of heart attacks after a time change statistically. 

Ok. Get out of your routine. It will allow you to feel fresh every day. Your personal motivations allow you to perform at your peak. If you have a child, they get so excited about something new. A childlike wonder is created by seeing something new. Your view on the world is based on enthusiasm. Leave routine behind. Thrash anchors to your show’s progress. 

What is The State of the Union of News/Talk Radio?

Garrett Searight
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As has long been the tradition since George Washington sent a letter to Congress in 1790, President Joe Biden will hold his State of the Union address this evening.

In what will likely be more than an hour-long speech, the 46th President will speak on a number of issues, including both the opportunities and challenges that await our great nation in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.

The President’s words will be heard and viewed by millions of interested Americans, and something he will or won’t say is likely to drive topics throughout the news media industry on Friday.

With the President’s annual address on the near horizon, it begs the question: What is the State of the Union of news/talk radio?

The medium — like our country — can be divided on certain issues. Everyone — whether it be the executive in the corner suite or the producer in the booth — has an opinion on where the industry is headed and what challenges await.

“Well, the number one challenge I think for not only…radio in general and news talkers for that matter is that the post-COVID hybrid working situations,” said WTOP afternoon news anchor Shawn Anderson. “I mean, our audiences have been very much car-based. Washington has been hit probably as hard as any city in the country as far as number of people who have stopped commuting to work.

So, when you’re going from having a large, large listenership of people who commute five days a week to people who are only commuting a couple of days a week, two, three days a week, or not at all, it’s a challenge for all of us to figure out where the audience is and try to bring our product to that audience.”

Anderson continued by adding that he believes news/talk radio must provide what listeners have grown accustomed to, while also being available in different avenues and platforms.

“It’s important not only to maintain what we’re doing as far as things like traffic and weather, but we have to be relevant to people who are now going to be at home and maybe want to listen to us or want to listen to something,” he said. “We have to be in places, we have to be on apps, we have to be in social media. We have to be on every platform where people are to bring our product to them.

“So that is, I think, the number one challenge for all news, radio, and news talkers for that matter. I think trying to rebalance that audience in a new America that isn’t driving in the community as much.”

It is no secret that the attention span of the general public has waned in recent decades. What was once acceptable from a radio perspective has been completely reshaped by PPM ratings and the advent of social media apps like TikTok, which command a user’s attention for short periods.

Is news/talk radio in a position to capture the shorter attention spans of listeners?

“That’s an excellent question,” admitted Anderson. “I’m a contrarian about a lot of things in news radio and one of them is story count for the sake of story count. There’s a philosophy that you should jam six stories into two and a half minutes. One of our big concepts at WTOP is providing compelling content and answering the question of every story we do, ‘Why should I care?’

“And I think if you do six stories in two and a half minutes and people only don’t care about three or four of them, you’re not really doing the audience much service even if you’re ‘paying attention’ or if you’re placating their attention span. I think that you’re better off if you spend two and a half minutes on a topic that is of great interest to a large segment.

“I think that people are going to stay with you even in a shorter attention span era. That doesn’t mean you want to waste their time,” Anderson continued. “You want to make sure that the questions are relevant. You want to make sure that you are hitting all the points, but I think people still want context. I think the context is still important, even in a TikTok era.”

The news/talk radio world has seen dynamic shifts in recent years. The format is no longer found strictly on the AM band. With the advent of on-demand audio and video — both with podcasts and video simulcasts on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and Rumble — what was once relegated to evening airtimes and the AM dial are now as accessible as ever.

But harnessing those platforms for brands will be one of the biggest opportunities, outgoing KDKA Brand Manager Dave LaBrozzi believes.

He shared that “embracing digital and making it work for you,” which he believes Audacy has done a great job of, is one of the biggest opportunities for news/talk in the future. Getting a better “understanding how it works and how we can get younger people to these properties,” remains at the forefront of the industry’s possibilities.

However, the younger audience that LaBrozzi mentioned has long been a challenge for the industry to capture. The perception of the average news/talk radio listener is an older, white, conservative male, which can make finding future stars a challenge.

“Finding the next generation of talent,” LaBrozzi said when asked what the biggest challenges in the industry are. “A lot of the smaller markets aren’t there anymore. That was our ‘farm system,’ so I think that’s a challenge for us moving forward is where are we going to grow the talent and where is it going to come from.”

Former CBS News Radio Vice President Craig Swagler currently serves as General Manager of Baltimore Public Media — A Your Public Radio Company. Swagler made the jump to public radio last year after 22 years at CBS News Radio, and shared that while public media has similar challenges to that of commercial news/talk, the State of the Union for public radio shows there are some different opportunities for the sector.

“I think that public radio has challenges that are no different than commercial radio does, in the sense that we’re affected by ad rates in a different way,” said Swagler. “But I actually think we’re in somewhat of a better position and that mainly is that we have diversified forms of revenue that come in the door.”

He mentioned that while public media is mainly listener-supported, it also relies upon donations, both one-time and major, as well as corporate underwriting. And that diversification makes it a unique situation compared to other commercial news/talk stations.

“We want to make sure we’re healthy as a company. And then we have the longevity to be here for the long run so that we can continue to make that impact. I do think that public radio is probably in a much better position, as community broadcasters, than some of my brethren across the street in the commercial world are facing the challenges as market conditions affect them more directly. They don’t have a lot of other mechanisms or levers to pull.”

The State of the Union address will be held at 9 PM ET Thursday. President Joe Biden’s speech will be carried by every major news organization both on television and on radio. Let’s hope, however, the news/talk radio State of the Union is more universally received.

Broadcasting Can Be a Cold Business for Legendary Voices

Andy Masur
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Broadcasting Can Be a Cold Business for Legendary Voices

It’s hard to say goodbye. No announcer wants to do it. Sometimes the decision is made for them by a team. Other times, the announcer comes to grips with reality and steps aside from broadcasting willingly as to not tarnish a legacy. The line is a very fine one. The longer a broadcaster is with a team, the more they are usually beloved by the fan base. Teams don’t want to alienate fans, but also don’t want a broadcast that isn’t up to standards.

In the last month, two prominent and long-time voices left their posts. Eli Gold, who called Alabama football for the last 35 years, was forced out by the university. After 30-years as the Pittsburgh Steelers play-by-play voice on radio, Bill Hargrove announced that he is retiring.

Two similar tenures, but their departures couldn’t be more different and agonizing.

Ultimately the school or whichever broadcast partner they work with have the say so on who is calling their games. It’s a cold business as we all know and some decisions are baffling. There are seemingly better ways to handle things if an employer thinks the employee isn’t able to do the job anymore. Heading it off earlier is better than ending it abruptly. There are other examples of mishandling these situations, so Alabama is not alone.

After the 2023 baseball season ended, the Minnesota Twins said goodbye to television broadcaster Dick Bremer. He’d been in the booth for 40 years and at first the decision seemed to be a mutual one for him to step aside. The team seemingly wanted a fresh perspective on the more modern aspects of the game (analytics) and Bremer was viewed as ‘old school’. Bremer was moved into a new role as a ‘Special Assistant’ and will remain part of the team. As time has gone on, Bremer has made it clear that this was not a mutual decision and that he wanted to remain.

The strange case of Ken “Hawk” Harrelson fits in this mold, well, sort of. The White Sox had a plan for the man who spent 33 years in the booth. The Sox started to scale back Hawk’s schedule in 2016. The plan was for Jason Benetti to call home games, while Harrelson continued to travel. The ‘sunsetting’ of a veteran broadcaster can work well, if all parties are on the same page. It seemed like that was the case, Harrelson still got to call games, while the White Sox groomed his successor. A fan base got to say goodbye to a legend, and hello to an up and comer that has done pretty well for himself.

Harrelson though, did not agree with the way it was handled. During an interview on the Foul Territory podcast with Scott Braun and former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski early in 2023, Harrelson alleged that while he publicly retired, it was the organization pulling the strings.

“I didn’t retire. I got retired,” said Harrelson. “I got fired, is what it boils down to. I’m sure they will deny that, but what led up to that and everything else is going to be interesting.”

The Cubs had a similar plan with Harry Caray. In December 1997, Caray’s grandson Chip Caray was hired to share play-by-play duties for WGN’s Cubs broadcasts with Caray for the following season. However, Harry Caray died in February 1998, before the baseball season began, leaving the expected grandfather-grandson partnership in the broadcast booth unrealized.

My arrival in San Diego back in 2007 involved a similar plan. I joined an established booth with Jerry Coleman and Ted Leitner. Coleman was getting up in age, so I was brought in to help lighten the load. Coleman wasn’t a big fan of the move to bring me in. He felt like he could still carry the demands of a 162-game schedule. Before our first Spring Training broadcast, I walked up to him and told him, “I am not here to replace you, I’m here to help out and make sure you’re able to work as long as you want to work.” He softened his stance on my presence and I couldn’t have asked for two better guys to work with in my time there.

There are a very few broadcasters that know when it’s time to go. Hargrove is among them. The hectic schedule of doing the NFL and also calling Pitt football and basketball, made it a year-round gig. While he will stop calling Steelers games, he plans to keep going with Pitt. Hargrove gave himself the gift of time and family.

“As to the next chapter of my life, I’ll do Pitt football, and I’ll do Pitt basketball because my brother is the engineer, and we room together on the road,” Hillgrove said. “Like we did as kids growing up in Garfield, we’re sharing the same bedroom, only this one’s bigger. I have all of July almost all of August to myself now.” Hargrove said in a statement released by the Steelers.

Vin Scully also comes to mind in a guy knowing it was time to leave. He seemingly could have worked a few more years, but after 67 seasons with Brooklyn/Los Angeles, Scully stepped aside with grace and dignity. Scully called his shot and deserved to do so. He is probably the exception more than the rule, since he was still calling games at a very high level late in his career.

I always talk about preparation in this column. Usually it only pertains to broadcasters, but this time, organizations are the ones that need to be ready. It is so important for teams to have a good plan in place as a broadcaster starts to age. It is a delicate situation for both the team and the announcer. Teams need to respect the announcer’s legacy and meaning to the community, ballclub and fans. Just abruptly showing someone the door is not the way to go about it. Conversations need to be had in the years leading up to the eventual end. Honesty and transparency need to be at the top of the list.

Sometimes the truth is something that needs to be said and heard. It’s not an easy talk to deliver or hear. There are organizations that allow a broadcaster to work a few more years than maybe they should. Either due to the power the broadcaster holds, due to longevity or just not wanting to have a talk due to fear of blow back from the announcer or fans. That can’t be the way to approach it. Many organizations, like noted above with the Twins, will offer an outgoing broadcaster a ceremonial, ambassador type role with the team. Sometimes these positions require the person to make appearances, or sign autographs at games. It usually pays fairly well making it worthwhile. Though it’s not the same as calling a game, the broadcaster is still around the ballpark and fans.

I understand the “grip” some of the veterans in the industry have on the job. Is it really helping when mistakes are constantly being made? Is it helping when you can just hear confusion in their voice? The answer is no. Sometimes the band-aid just needs to be ripped off.

Veteran Jay Recher & First-Timer Terry Ford Share Expectations for BSM Summit

Demetri Ravanos
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Veteran Jay Recher & First-Timer Terry Ford Share Expectations for BSM Summit

Since the BSM Summit became open to the public, I have been to every one. Two in Los Angeles and two in New York. Between my changing role here and projects with my new full-time job, this will be the first time I am not in the room.

I could tell you why the event matters to me. Everything I say, whether it’s about networking or education would be sincere. I think we put on a great event. However, there are plenty of you that would think “Demetri was JB’s right hand man for five years. Of course he is going to sing the praises of the event.”

Instead, I will turn it over to people that chose to spend their money and use some PTO in order to be in New York next week. Why does the BSM Summit matter to our industry? Let’s hear it from people in the industry.

Jay Recher is a regular at the event. He’s seen it staged in both New York and Los Angeles and will keep coming back for as long as he can.

“To me, it’s all about the education,” the midday host and APD of WDAE in Tampa says. “To learn from some of the best in the country and bring that knowledge back to our station in Tampa, it’s really invaluable. The do’s, the don’t’s, what the trends are looking like across the nation, how to adapt to an ever changing medium, I really do get so much out of those two days.”

Listing the advantages of being there is easy. Recher notes that he relishes the connections he has made, touting Freddie Coleman as “a true professional” and Jake Asman as “easily one of the fastest rising stars in our business.” Recher became friendly with both of them through attending the Summit.

There is a challenge though. How do you take the excitement of the room and bring it home with you? 

Recher and his boss John Mamola will be in New York, but part of attending the BSM Summit is taking all of that knowledge you gained back to your market and using it to make your station better. 

Since they attend as a duo, Recher and Mamola put their heads together and come up with a plan of how the information from the Summit makes its way into the iHeartMedia building in Tampa.

“What [we] have done is take the notes we’ve compiled during the Summit, combine them together & then highlight the parts that would make the biggest impact on each of our three shows on WDAE. For example, last year we took what we learned from the digital discussions to completely revamp how we attack our presence on social media,” he says adding that last year’s knowledge made an immediate impact.

“I implore you to check out 953WDAE on socials and compare it to last year, it’s like night & day!”

The story is different for Terry Ford. He is making his first visit to the BSM Summit this year. All he has to go on is what he has heard.

“Jason has been telling me for years to get my butt to the BSM Summit! And he’s not the only one who has said that to me,” he says. “Folks who have attended are always excited about the things they learned, took back to their brands and applied those lessons. So, it was about time for me to see for myself. I am very stoked to attend.”

Ford may be new to the Summit, but he’s a radio veteran, spending time on air in Seattle, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Baltimore before landing in South Carolina, where he programs 107.5 The Game in Columbia.

He may be representing one of the smaller markets in the room, but Ford has high expectations for his station and staff and he wants to know how he can help them meet those and get ready for even bigger ones in the future.

“We are in market 85 but everyday we attempt to swing above our weight class,” he says. “I want to pick the brains of people smarter than me in medium markets like mine on how we can do anything and everything better with the resources we have at our disposal.”

Ford runs a unique product and he is looking for unique ideas and solutions. He wants to hear all that comes from the stage, but he also knows that going to the BSM Summit is the only way he will have access to people that have faced the same challenges The Game does.

“I do want to zero in on video streaming since we just launched The Game TV. Also, I want to find programmers who dispense content to multiple markets so we can better serve The Game Network that we started last fall in three markets.”

Since I started working with Barrett Sports Media, I have been to NAB events, NSMA events and more. All of them offer something interesting, but what I always took pride in is that the BSM Summit never had filler. In two days, everything coming from the stage was going to be interesting and useful. Nothing was a sales pitch described as education. There were no twenty minute sessions designed to answer a made up problem.

If next week will be your first BSM Summit, soak it all in. You’ve heard it from plenty of powerful people in this industry. It’s just as much your event as it is theirs. Go say hello. Ask questions. Share opinions.

If you’re an old pro, go out of your way to introduce yourself to people you haven’t met before. Make them feel welcome. Growing this event is good for our industry and the best way to grow it is to make it clear that in the audience, there is no hierarchy. We are all buying tickets and booking hotel rooms with the hope that we leave New York just a little bit better than we were when we arrived.

WDAE Announces ‘Ronnie and TKras’ to End After More Than Nine Years

BSM Staff
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WDAE Announces ‘Ronnie and TKras’ to End After More Than Nine Years

iHeartMedia Tampa Bay and WDAE announced changes to its programming today. Beginning March 28, WDAE’s Ronnie Lane will take on a new role as host of the Tampa Bay Rays pre-game show “The Inside Pitch.” As he takes on this new role, he will step away from The Ronnie & TKras Show, ending its nine-year run. Co-host Tom Krasniqi will host an all-new sports program, maintaining the afternoon drive slot.

“We couldn’t be more excited for Ronnie and Tom as they embark on their new opportunities at WDAE,” said Program Director John Mamola in a release. “These programs promise fresh content and compelling, engaging experiences for our listeners. We will continue the legacy of high performance the hosts built as a duo and the voice of Tampa Bay sports fanatics everywhere.”

Lane will also continue his seasonal hosting duties with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers radio network.  

Krasniqi will remain in the same timeslot, working on a new program currently in development. Executive Produced by Chris Mathis, the new program will air every weekday afternoon from 3pm-7pm ET. The yet-to-be named show will be the lead in to WDAE’s evening play-by-play programming.

The announcement was made live on their show followed by an appearance from PD John Mamola. “November 3rd, 2014 was our first show right here on this here radio station in the 9 a.m. to Noon hour,” Krasniqi said. “…Then a couple of years later we moved to morning drive and then, of course, a couple of years ago they moved us to afternoon drive.”

In making the announcement, Lane said, “Here’s the thing, I’ve always been nuts about baseball… This was something I have wanted to do. They have been looking for a dedicated host for that particular show and that gives you an opportunity to get even more creative with what you want to do in afternoon drive.”

Lane added, “It is the end of the Ronnie and TKras show. We have had a great run, we have had a lot of fun, all good things must come to an end.”


Five Million Viewers Tuned into NFL Scouting Combine Coverage on NFL Network

BSM Staff
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Five Million Viewers Tuned into NFL Scouting Combine Coverage on NFL Network

The NFL truly has the Midas touch when it comes to televising events (outside of the Pro Bowl, at least) and the NFL Scouting Combine is just another thing that has turned to gold. Five million people watched a portion of the Combine, which aired from Feb. 29 – Mar. 3 on the NFL Network.

On NFL Network and NFL+, the Combine averaged 251K viewers, making it the most-watched Combine on NFL Network alone since 2018 and up +12 percent versus last year. The NFL provided viewership data for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday:

  • Thursday’s coverage of the defensive linemen and linebacker on-field drills averaged 185K viewers, up 23 percent versus last year
  • Friday’s coverage of the defensive back and tight end on-field drills averaged 175K viewers, up +7 percent compared to 2023
  • Saturday was the event’s most-watched day — the quarterback, wide receiver, and running back on-field drills averaged 399K viewers, ranking as NFL Network’s most-watched Combine Day 3 on record.

Sunday’s viewership data of the offensive lineman was not made available.

Next up for the league will be the NFL Draft, airing live from Detroit on April 25-27. The 2023 NFL Draft saw ratings growth across all three days, a trend that will no doubt continue. The NFL rode a massive wave of momentum throughout the 2023-24 season and ended with Super Bowl LVIII becoming the most-watched telecast ever.

KFI PD Robin Bertolucci: ‘We Don’t Have a Political Agenda as a Brand’

BNM Staff
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KFI PD Robin Bertolucci: ‘We Don’t Have a Political Agenda as a Brand’

As the 2024 presidential election begins to heat up, news/talk radio is likely to return to its partisan corners in preparations for defending or tearing down the candidate from the other side of the political aisle. KFI AM-640 Program Director Robin Bertolucci says it isn’t in her station’s DNA to operate that way, though.

During an appearance on the Conversation.Buzz series with former KLIF morning host Dave Williams, Bertolucci was asked about the upcoming Trump vs Biden Presidential election. She shared her belief that while many listeners may have their chosen side, the brand will not.

“KFI is a live, local station, and we will cover the news that we need to cover so people know what’s going on. But we don’t have a political agenda as a brand. Our job is to talk about the news, what it means, why it matters, and to explain it to people and to connect with them about it,” she said. “But we’ll cover it when we need to, and probably not a lot more than we need to, because our first focus is being live and local.”

She continued by noting that KFI will continue to have other priorities in spite of the presidential election dominating the headlines on other outlets.

“I think to some degree, most of the country is not thrilled with either choice. So to whatever degree we can just be direct about explaining what we believe, and why we believe it, and not getting into the the team sport of politics. I think that’s the real win.

“I think a lot of brands are very focused on Who is the R or the D, and we try and be a live local brand. We cover politics, we cover traffic, we cover local news, we cover crime. Yeah, we cover a lot of things. So that is not our only focus.”

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