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20 Brands In 20 Days: Jimmy Brooks, 100.7 The Tiger, Baton Rouge

Jeff Lynn
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20 Brands In 20 Days: Jimmy Brooks, 100.7 The Tiger, Baton Rouge

To support the launch of the new Barrett Media, we’ve created a special series titled “20 Brands In 20 Days.” Highlighting successful stations across the country in various formats by conducting conversations with their brand leaders. Up next is Guaranty Broadcasting Jimmy Brooks. Jimmy is PD of WTGE (100.7 The Tiger)/Baton Rouge. The station we are highlighting today.

Jeff Lynn: I’d be crazy if I didn’t start by asking you how many times a week you play Callin’ Baton Rouge.

Jimmy Brooks: I love that song. I love Garth, and obviously, when we play it, people love it, but it’s a good recurrent category.

JL: You are in a very important big college market. I drove through only once and could feel that the college dominated the city. Is that the right impression, and if so, how do you integrate your station into that other than calling it the Tiger?

JB: Right. I was going to say the name of my station is 100.7 the Tiger. I mean, LSU is the core and the forefront of our city and the entire state, and you were right when you came here. I don’t know if you came on a game day, but it’s electric, something you can’t explain. But you can feel it when you come here. It’s a magical place. They call it Death Valley, and it never rains at Death Valley.

The Tiger has always been around as the name of the radio station. It was a rock station, but they changed it several times. It was Young Country, then Cat Country, and then they changed it to a new country format. They dropped the Cat and the Tiger altogether, and it was called Y-100. When I came back to this role, one of the biggest things was we were the Tiger. People know 100.7 as the Tiger, so I have a Tiger growl only between records in my imaging. Everything is very tiger-focused, and it just resonates with everybody who lives here. Even if you don’t live here, you get a sense that our radio station is exactly what it says it is. We’re the tiger, and we play all the songs that people that live here love, and it’s just great. It’s a great playoff off our team and our school.

JL: I love that you have the freedom to do what you are doing. You can curate a playlist that plays music specifically for your region.

JB: I can pick every single song. We’re a current station, but most of it is 90s. It’s power 90s. It is medium gold 90s. I have some 80s sprinkled in. If you come here, you’ll know every single song that I play. And that’s what makes it special, too: because we’re so different from everybody else in the market. That’ll show, too.

JL: I think many country programmers are not taking advantage of those Power 90 records. 

JB: Those are just like the best testing titles every single day. Yesterday, I downloaded three Susie Bogguss songs. People know Susie Boggess. Why wouldn’t we be playing her?

Every day, I’m finding new songs. There’s more stuff that I’m not playing that I added in or tie-in. Diamond Rio is another. It’s great to be able to work at a place where they trust your vision and know that what I put out is going to be the best thing for the people.

JL: And I don’t think people are necessarily tired of hearing Chattahoochee, The Dance, or Fancy. I think any of those records are very viable.

JB: You will hear songs like Restless Heart on the Tiger. You’re going to hear the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. You’re going to hear The Bellamy Brothers and Janie Fricke. These are songs that people love. At noon every day, I do the Lunchtime Rewind. It’s only the 80s and 90s in a little bit of early 2000. I’ll pick a year, and we’ll play four songs for the year. That’s the hour where you’re going to hear stuff that you never hear anywhere else, something ain’t heard of in 20 years, and it works.

JL: You have Big D & Bubba in the morning to start the day.

JB: Big D & Bubba started here. When we turned on Cat Country 100.7 from Rock in the late 90s, Big D was on the morning show with another host, and Bubba was doing afternoons. So, then they transitioned to putting them together in the mornings; they started in this building at 929 Government Street in Baton Rouge. Then they went across the street. They got syndicated.

They were gone for a few years. We did a few local things here, but they’ve been back, and it’s never been better. They have such an awesome following here. We had a Rock the Country event in April, and it was Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, and Gretchen Wilson.

We had a free listener tailgate, food vendors, and Big D and Bubba showed up. Even though they’re in Nashville, they still have that local connection, and people absolutely love them.

JL: A university is a transient community, and you have both a longtime listener and that. How do you combine them and create this radio station that people like to listen to?

JB: After Big D and Bubba, except at 7 midnight, I’m live and local. I was born and raised here. I do middays. Brittany Rose comes on after me. Her dad was an LSU football coach, so they live here; we tell stories about her life. She’s married to a country artist. They have a new baby.

We connect with the locals from a level that our competitors can’t because nobody on that station lives here. So, tying everything together with LSU being three minutes up the road and knowing what our people like down here, we can make that connection with them through the radio. Which I think is good, and a lot of people have lost focus of that. If you don’t connect with your listener, then you ain’t gonna have anybody listening.  I think that we do a wonderful job of connecting with them on all levels because they feel like they know if they come to a remote on a Saturday, they can meet us and hang out with us. 

We’re active on social media. It’s not brain surgery, but it’s something that our competitor isn’t doing because they can’t do it.  So, it’s a huge advantage, and we’re just happy that we’re able to do what we want to do

JL: How important is contesting in the mix of putting this beast together?

JB: It’s a big part. We did a perceptual recently, and there’s nothing more people want to win than free concert tickets. They would rather win tickets to a concert than get money because this is a chance for a young couple with two kids at home under the age of five to get a night out, and the radio station can hook them up with a weekend. An LSU football game, dinner for two, a hotel room at the campus, and tickets to the game. That kind of stuff is so important on the local level. I always have some sort of trip on the air, and I just launched one. I’m sending someone on a Jason Aldean flyway to Salt Lake City.

It’s just something local. The competitors are doing these texts to win, these keyword contests. People know that when they listen to my station, they call in or message us. They know that somebody here is messaging them back, and it’s not somebody all over the country. Every contest we do is local. There’s always going to be a local winner, and you’re not competing with a billion other people, so contesting is a big deal.

We do them on socials. We do them on air. We do website promotions. We do all that stuff, but nothing ever beats the touch of having somebody call in to win something, whether it’s $100 or $10,000

JL: So, it seems the sales team that supports you as well

JB: 100%. The sales team is young but mighty here. We’ve got great leadership, and they’re encouraged to be creative. They’re encouraged to bring stuff to me that makes sense for their business. But at the end of the day, I have a product to protect, and I’m never going just to put something on because it means getting a dollar in the building. It has to have value, and I think that since I’ve been in this role meeting with them and knowing my vision of what works, they’ve all bought into it. It’s very rare that I ever turn I don’t think I’ve turned any promotion down that was tied into a client because it just made sense because they understand the vision of the radio station and what we’re trying to accomplish.

I get a lot of ideas from smaller market radio stations that aren’t having their hands forced to do stuff by a big conglomerate. You listen to my radio station, and it sounds unlike any other country radio station in the country. It sounds hip, and it sounds fresh, and I’ve got a female voiceover. That sounds real, and it’s like you want to know her, and I have John Willyard, who complements her.

JL: So, we’ll end up where we started, sort of going back to the song Callin’ Baton Rouge. Did it really create a seismic event at the stadium that was felt all the way to Lafayette?

JB: Yeah, all the tickets were the same price. I think they were all $85 or something. We didn’t really know where the tickets were when they went on sale; nobody cared; everybody just wanted a ticket. Well, my buddy went online, and he got some tickets. When we got to the stadium, we were on Road J, which is literally it was like 11 rows from the stage, and looking up at the Tiger Stadium that holds over a hundred and two thousand people and having every single seat jumping up and down.

When he played, when you heard the first riff, it was crazy. And he played it forever, it felt like. It was like there was nothing else going on in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Listen to The Tiger here  Find them on Facebook. Connect with Jimmy here.

Communicating and Navigating Ratings Wobbles

Ron Harrell
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Communicating and Navigating Ratings Wobbles

Any financial decisions you make based on this column should be immediately questioned.

The U.S. stock market had one of its best upward movements on July 16th of this year, when it surged more than 700 points. A few days later, the same market saw its worst one-day drop in two years when it dropped more than 500 points. A week later, it jumped 650 points.

Those examples make great headlines and stories for news outlets. Based on those movements, professional analysts, investors, and day traders understand, benefit, and lose. 

The rest of us say, “Wow.” 

We scan a story about the meaning of the market swings to be aware. You never know when it might come up in a meeting or a party conversation. Here’s a tip if you find yourself unaware. Do what I do and say, “Crazy, right? What do you think is driving it?” Now the ball is in their hand and they will dribble it until you move to another topic.

Audience Volatility

July’s stock market roller coaster made me think of a topic I understand much more than stock indexes, treasuries, currencies, and commodities—radio audience ratings.

Ratings volatility isn’t the focus of this post. It’s about our response.

What do we do when the best and worst results are in the same quarter? In the Nielsen PPM world, we can get those extremes in one month if we subscribe to weekly reports.

Programmers and Brand/Content leaders would have better blood pressure and fewer forehead wrinkles if we could respond to the wobbles as we react to the stock markets by saying, “Wow.”

Wouldn’t it be nice to say, “Crazy, right?…,” and move on in the conversation? 

However, managers and sellers want explanations, especially during negative moments. 

Here’s an A-List to help us prepare for the wobbles:

Advised

Know what you’re promoting or defending.

  • If it’s the wonderfully wonky world of radio/streams/podcast/video consumption, do we know enough data to interpret our strengths and weaknesses? 
  • Can we explain why or why not confidently? Not in a defensive manner.
  • Do we know when the trend is moving positively or negatively so we can prepare our communication? 
  • Bonus: Read the room. I prefer to say, “I don’t know the answer, but I’ll find it.” Truth triumphs. But your audience may have someone of importance who wants you to know the answer. We can’t over-prepare for the critical presentations and explanations.

Aggressive

Communicate results and trends.

  • Sales managers are good at communicating pacing and realities. “We’re kickin’ it!” “We’re getting our butts kicked!” 
  • Programming and Content managers don’t like the last option, so they tend to communicate only the good stuff.
  • Tell it like it is all the time. Your transparency will be respected. 
  • Bonus: Find a story. We’re not ignoring we didn’t hit the goal we wanted to achieve, but there’s usually something we can glean from the data to show momentum. This is the benefit of more data sources. Streaming, podcasting, and social media give us more stories. However, don’t make the story-finding a new strategy. If we’re #1 18-34, it shouldn’t change our goal of being #1 25-54.

Attentive

Listen to the needs.

  • We’re focused on our audience and clients. Keep that focus primary.
  • However, understanding the team’s moods and needs helps us create and sell our brand’s results. The most repeated line from a sales rep in a radio station is, “I’m not a program director, but….” My response was something like, “Yes, you are. Everyone is a program director, but I have the job title. I want to know what you think.”
  • Confidence of direction is essential in leadership, but we need to ask questions and seek insight to challenge our assumptions.
  • Bonus: Make sure the questions aren’t an attempt to check the box in the employee relations and culture-building categories. If we don’t want to know, then don’t ask. It will backfire. If we don’t want to know, figure out what we need to change to be comfortable and authentic with a desire to hear input from our team.

Alone (Don’t be)

Find a partner to support us.

  • We’re good at many things, but not everything. 
  • Find partners and team members who fill the gaps. It’s someone who can explain and project differently to compensate for our weaknesses and disinterest. 
  • When I say ‘partner,’ I don’t mean someone who always agrees with us. We don’t want to be on an island alone, but we need a reasoning voice or a dissenting voice to challenge our strategy behind closed doors and closed Zooms.
  • Bonus: Typically, this is a direct report. However, I encourage us to extend this partnership to adjacent departments. We’ll get different feedback and support from non-typical contributors.

Finally, listen to our hearts and our souls. Brand turnarounds and improvements take more time in today’s noisy world. It shouldn’t be an excuse, but we need to feel the momentum before we see the momentum. 

Strong radio brand leaders know it feels better, sounds better, and looks better before Nielsen indicates the change. They also know when they got lucky one month because of a panel change. Those are the Mondays we send out the report, high-fiving the staff. It’s the same Mondays we stay late and start preparing for next month’s report.

By the way, the stock market has changed since you started reading this post.

Eavesdropping: Kincade & Salciunas, 97.5 The Fanatic

Dave Greene
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Eavesdropping: Kincade & Salciunas, 97.5 The Fanatic

Back in mid-March, 97.5 The Fanatic made lineup changes which saw the formation of a new morning show team consisting of hosts John Kincade and Andrew Salciunas along with producer and update anchor Connor Thomas. When the show was announced, Scott Masteller, who was named Program Director for the station in January, said he was excited to pair Kincade and Salciunas together for a show “that will reflect the energy and passion of the Philadelphia sports fan.” And that is a pretty good description of what I found when I eavesdropped in on the Friday, July 26th episode of Kincade & Salciunas.

Kincade is a sports radio veteran who spent many years on the air in Atlanta and also hosted national shows on ESPN Radio as well as CBS Sports Radio. Salciunas has worked at the station for over 10 years, starting out as an intern and working his way up the ladder.

If the beginning of the show were an Olympic athlete, it would be a sprinter. Salciunas hits the airwaves like he was shot out of a cannon and Kincade and Thomas were right there with him. It is 6 a.m. and these guys are bringing a lot of energy to the air, and it is not too long before they are off and running on what will be one of the main topics for the day, new Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

Fangio, who is about to turn 66 years old, is old-school football and when he talks to the media he tends to not hold back. He is very different than the usual coach who will make everything sound positive no matter the circumstance. Fangio spoke to the media the day before and Salciunas and Kincade were admittedly, “falling in love with him.”

As the guys gave their opinions on the type of coach Fangio is and how some athletes today might not like his style, Salciunas turned this into the first question of the day for the audience.

“Did Fangio’s honesty instill confidence or concern?” Salciunas asked the audience.

After discussing the topic and giving their opinions, they played audio clips from Fangio and talked through them and how different the answers were from the usual ‘coach speak.’

Kincade believes Fangio and the city of Philadelphia are a perfect match together and with someone who has the experience Fangio does, “Makes me feel like we have an adult in charge,” Kincade said. “I believe he isn’t just gonna blow sunshine up our skirt. He’s telling us the truth.”

With the MLB trade deadline less than a week away, that became the second big topic for the show. The Phillies are at the top of the standings and have a nine-game lead in the NL East. Kincade wondered, “Do you make trades when you already have the best record?” That topic was kicked around, and Kincade continued along the same lines saying he didn’t want to “mortgage the future to try and win one year.”

This led to Salciunas throwing out the second question for the audience, “We are five days away from the trade deadline, if the Phillies don’t make a ‘move of note,’ how ya’ feelin?” Very simple. Very Philly.

After Kincade circled back to not wanting to see the team make a “splashy move,” he recalled big moves that had not worked out in the past and said sometimes smaller pieces can make a bigger difference. Salciunas called him out on this take saying, “Wait a minute, you’re the one who always says, “Don’t let the past scare you.'”

As with most major market sports talk shows these days, it all kept coming back to football. After some more talk and re-playing the Vic Fangio audio, Kincade brought up the history of the team and saw how the old-school defensive coordinators had had success. “In Eagles lore, we’ve done well with old coordinators especially on the defensive side of the ball…Jim Johnson, Buddy Ryan, Bud Carson. Old, crusty defensive coordinators, it fits this market and it’s what we want. We don’t want coddling.”

What Kincade talked about next was very surprising to hear about the Philadelphia sports fans, especially since they have long had the reputation for being a very tough bunch.

“The fan base has certainly changed,” Kincade said. “We are much more worried about feelings…what we obsess about and worry about is, ‘are we too tough on people?’ I can promise you this, having done sports talk radio in the 90s down the dial starting out my career, there was never a discussion on ‘are we too tough on people?’

“…It’s a different day…you gotta adapt. if you don’t adapt, you die.”

Analytics and the use of analytics by coaches and managers was another topic which came up. Both hosts agreed there has to be some part that is the feel of the game and again used audio from Fangio who said you can show him any analytics and he will look at it, but he is always going to use his experience and ultimately make his own decisions.

This led to a great analogy from Thomas who said, “Analytics are a hammer. You’re not going to build an entire house with a hammer. It’s going to be an important part, but if you use it for everything, you’re an idiot.”

As the show continued there was plenty of more Eagles and Vic Fangio conversation. They also used a fun bit called ‘Questions Out of a Hat,’ to break up the hard-core discussion. The first one on this day asked about your “all-time, I was wrong moment in sports.” Kincade confessed to not believing Tim Duncan would have much of an NBA career.

With the exception of Kincade getting Duncan’s career wrong, these guys know their sports. Eagles and Phillies talk ruled this day, but when it came time to start their third hour, they did ‘Today’s Headlines’ and got into a little bit of Flyers and Sixers talk as well.

During that segment things also got a bit heated as Kincade was not backing down from his take that Joel Embiid needs to not go out of his way to “wrap himself in the [United States] flag,” noting that a few years ago he was close to signing a commitment he would play for France where he also has citizenship.

Sometimes, the best part about a sports talk show are the unexpected thngs that become hot topics. On this day, it was how you like to keep your bed sheets, tucked or untucked. This became the third big topic of the day and ultimately the one that drew the most response. In a rather hilarious moment at one point in the show, Kincade wanted to see what the feeback was from the text line on the topic of Vic Fangio and whether his honesty instilled confidence or concern. Thomas reported back that most of the texts were about the bed sheets question.

At one point Kincade said people who preferred their sheets untucked were, “serial killers,” however the text line was proving most people actually preferred to untuck the sheets. As one texter said, “you gotta keep the dogs nice and cool.” A social media poll ended up strongly in favor of ‘untucked.’

Eventually, they got back into a solid trade deadline discussion and generally did a very good job throughout the show of bringing it back to the main topics of the day and resetting the show when it needed it. Salciunas is very good with both the resets and the teases into breaks. I liked that he would mention things like the Fangio audio and, knowing he has a new audience listening later on, he told them when he would play the audio again.

No matter the topic, the back and forth between the three was really well done. There is an interesting dynamic which Salciunas even brought up at one point where he said that when it comes to sports topics, it tends to be he and Thomas against Kincade. In essence, the two younger guys versus the older host. He did also say that when it came to “life,” it was generally Kincade and Thomas who teamed up against him.

Listening to the show for the first time, one would have no idea the show has only been together for five months. In a short period of time, Kincade, Salciunas and Thomas have developed strong chemistry together. Salciunas runs a strong point-guard, keeping the show moving, bringing energy and constantly telling the new audience members what has been discussed and what is coming up. Kincade is the veteran player who can still fill out the stat sheet. Strong opinions, very knowledgeable and knows how to make the audience think.

Less than six months after starting together, Kincade & Salciunas are indeed bringing the energy and passion that Philadelphia sports fans are known for.

David Santrella Remains Optimistic About the Future of Salem Media Group

Krystina Alarcon Carroll
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David Santrella Remains Optimistic About the Future of Salem Media Group

As car makers are looking to tune out of the AM dial, media outlets are unifying to save a major part of our industry. “[Removing radio from cars] presents some really significant problems, certainly to the radio industry, but more importantly, to the general public because our entire Emergency Alert System is based on AM radio,” Salem Media Group’s CEO, David Santrella told Barrett Media.

There are 95 stations certified by FEMA, 77 of them broadcast on AM radio. “So, for the general public, AM radio is the backbone of our EAS system. Losing [AM radio] from the vehicle is negligent.” While many mention the effect AM radio has on our country’s emergency system, Santrella noted there are several other niche stations which would be negatively impacted from losing the AM dial.

“There’s just so many formats on the AM band that will never find a home on the FM band. They just don’t make enough money. A lot of African American programing, gospel programing, Latino and Hispanic programing, programing that may be less profitable, but is very much in the lifestyle of certain groups that won’t find a home with AM radio out of the vehicle.”

These specialty AM stations could be placed on an FM-HD station, but Santrella doesn’t believe these simulcasts are effective, especially for outlets like Salem who don’t have an FM cast.

“I don’t have an FM that I could make a decision and say, ‘Instead of putting that music format on the app, I’m just going to simulcast what I’m doing on the AM there.’ I would have to buy an FM radio station. So, I would have to go through tens of millions of dollars of expense to buy an FM radio station just so that it could do what I’m doing on the AM band. So that’s really not a feasible solution.”

For those who prefer the convenience of streaming, Santrella says radio is easier. “Today, I get in my car, and I wanted to listen to something that I started listening to in my home, on my iPhone and I want to listen to it in my car. Well, I got to my car. I go to the infotainment system. I have to find and connect Bluetooth. Now, I pick my car, and five minutes later, finally I’ve got this thing up and running so I can listen to it. But to be honest, it’s kind of a pain in the butt. Radio you just hit the button and it’s there.”

This is not the only legislative challenge Santrella sees for the industry’s future, “The copyright royalty board coming up next year in 2025. That will be the next kind of thing on the agenda that we’ll be dealing with.”

Another issue which the industry fights annually is the Local Radio Freedom Act, “Which has been an ongoing battle for years with every new Congress, we have to go back in and we have to get multiple cosigners of a bill to make sure that there’s no additional fees from publishers, or from labels, to keep terrestrial listening of radio free and at a fair rate, that we pay to those performance rights organizations.”

On the business end, the CEO says there are significant pivots happening today. “As listening habits change there’s great fragmentation that’s going on in our industry because people are listening to more audio than they ever have. People are watching more video than they ever have, but there’s just a lot more places to consume.”

Not to be brought down by a challenge, Santrella’s optimistic outlook foresees endless possibilities. “The flip side of that coin is all of those challenges are also great opportunities right now. And I don’t mean that in a Pollyanna every challenge is an opportunity kind of a way.”

An opportunity which Salem is now taking full advantage of with the Salem News Channel, “What we’re doing is we’re making sure we’re offering our content on all of those different ways that you can watch or listen. We have teams of people that are designed to specifically sell [specific advertising] for us.”

Santrella’s expertise and wisdom took years in the business to learn, with his path starting in Chicago in 1982. Today, for the fourth time in a row, he’s been recognized as one of the most powerful people in radio by Radio Ink. However, Santrella is a big believer in not “believing your own press,” and advises people to “fire themselves” annually and most importantly be “humble.”

“I’m very honored that Radio Ink recognizes me as one of the most powerful people in radio, and that’s great. But my advice is do what you need to do, all the things that you need to do to work really hard, and then don’t stop doing them.

“There are a number of people that work really hard to get to a certain level in their profession and then the minute they get there, they stop working hard. Like somehow, they’re entitled to this.”

Santrella believes if you work hard (and smart) and never stop, people will always want you. “You’ve got to stay hungry. You’ve got to stay really hungry in this job and then you also have to stay humble. That’s why I say, ‘don’t believe you’re all here at your own press because I think humility adds the opportunity for you to really be honest about where you are.’ Here’s where I am good. But where am I bad? What are my weaknesses.”

Santrella doesn’t just suggest this to his managers, he asks this of himself. “When I come back to the office after the 4th of July holiday, I’m going to be the ‘new’ CEO in the door at Salem. But I need you to tell me what the old CEO was doing that drove you crazy. Tell me what that old guy was doing that was not productive and not helpful for you that would be very helpful [for me to know so I can do better].”

To make his team feel even more comfortable submitting suggestions on what he can do better, Santrella had his assistant collect the information and give it to him anonymously. “So, that is me as a leader, recognizing that you have weaknesses and being humble enough to realize you don’t corner the market on wisdom.”

One other thing he continues to push for himself and his team, keep innovating. “We just came off of two days where we did strategy sessions, where we talk about what are the things that we should start doing? What are the things that we should stop doing? What are the things that we’re already doing that we need to double down on and do even more of or better than we’re doing right now. So that’s all part of what we do.”

Juan Velasco, 92.3 KRST Country Afternoon Host Has Died

BMM Staff
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Juan Velasco, 92.3 KRST Country Afternoon Host Has Died

Juan Velasco, afternoon host at Cumulus Country KRST/Albuquerque has passed away at the age of 60.

Velasco had been with the station for 30 years in middays and afternoons.

Former colleague Kris Abrams said on his Facebook Page, “People you love can be here one moment and gone the next. Juan Velasco passed away today. I can honestly say he was one of the most genuine, caring people if have ever known. He will be missed by many. Rest in peace, Juan”.

Aside from his on-air work, Velasco was known for event DJ and emcee work across the state.

He is survived by his two sons.

‘CJ & Jenn’ Set To Debut in Mornings on Mix 105.1, Orlando

BMM Staff
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‘CJ & Jenn’ Set To Debut in Mornings on Mix 105.1, Orlando

Clint “CJ” Robinson joins Jenn Lopez for “CJ & Jenn” in the morning on Audacy Hot AC WOMX (Mix 105.1)/Orlando. Robinson joins from afternoons where he had hosted from 2012-2020 in addition to APD duties. Robinson will continue to host mornings on Audacy’s LGBTQ+ “Channel Q” and PM drive on Classic Hits WMXJ (102.7 The Beach)/Miami.

Lopez began her second run on WOMX in February 2021, when she was teamed with Jay Edwards, Dana Taylor, and, most recently, Danny Serrano.

Sharing the news on Instagram, Robinson said, A friendship 10 years in the making deserves its time to shine.

Howard Eskin Returns to 94WIP; Apologizes Publicly to Victim of ‘Unwanted Advance’

BSM Staff
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Howard Eskin Returns to 94WIP; Apologizes Publicly to Victim of ‘Unwanted Advance’

Howard Eskin, who has been missing from the 94WIP airwaves over the last several weeks, returned on Saturday and briefly addressed the incident that caused him to not be on the air. According to a story in June from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Eskin was banned from Citizens Bank Park for the remainder of the Phillies season. This, after an investigation found Eskin had made an unwanted advance toward a female Aramark employee back in May.

Eskin was sitting in an exclusive area behind home plate known as the CP Rankin Club and The Inquirer reports their sources indicated the Aramark employee accused Eskin, 73, of giving her an unwanted kiss.

Since the time of the report, Eskin has not been on the air in his usual Saturday slot and had not made any appearances on the station. That ended on Saturday and Eskin spoke on the matter.

“I’d like to briefly address the recent reports about an incident at Citizens Bank Park,” Eskin said at the beginning of the show. “Now, I’m not going to get into specifics other than to say that I recognize my actions have offended and upset her.

“I feel awful about that. I really do. I apologized to her at the time of the incident, and I apologize again now. I’m truly sorry that this did occur. I know a lot of you want me to say more about this, but I don’t intend to comment on this any further and hopefully you understand.”

Eskin, 73, was in attendance for the opening of Philadelphia Eagles training camp this week. Eskin is an Eagles insider for the station and takes part in Eagles Radio Network broadcasts.

Nielsen 12+ June Monthly And Spring 2024 Quarterly Ratings

BMM Staff
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Nielsen 12+ June Monthly And Spring 2024 Quarterly Ratings

Nielsen has released the next round of June Monthly and Spring 2024 quarterly ratings.

Monthly

Columbia, SC.

Top 40 WNOK moves 3.5-4.1

Country WCOS drops 6.8-5.3

Urban AC WXBT falls 4.4-3.9

Des Moines

Country KHKI has a huge jump 5.7-8.2

Variety KDRB up 6.8-7.3

Hot AC KSTZ up 4.6-5.1

Country KJJY gains 4.2-4.6

Greenville

Country WRNS up 9.7-10.1

Urban AC WERO grows 3.4-3.8

Classic Hits WQSL drops 3.4-1.9

Little Rock

Urban AC KIPR drops 11.4-9.5

Country KSSN up a full share 5.9-6.9

Top 40 KLAL up 4.1-5.7

Monterey

AC KWAV is up 4.1-4.6

Mexican Regional KLOK off 5.4-4.0

Classic Rock KHIP gains 3.0-3.5

Spokane

Classic Rock KKZX falls 7.7-7.0

Country KXLY drops 6.6-5.9

Hot AC KISC up 3.9-4.3

Springfield, MA

Classic Rock WAQY off a share + 9.4-8.3

AC WMAS up 8.1-8.3

Country WRNX flat at 3.8-3.7

Spring Quarterly

Gainesville/Ocala

Country WOGK down 10.1-7.7

AC WKTK drops 7.0-5.3

Classic Rock WYND up 4.4-5.0

Rhythmic AC WTMG up 2.4-4.7

Hot Springs

Country KQUS falls 12.2-9.8

Hot AC KLAZ flat 8.5-8.5

Classic Hits KLBL 4.9-4.9

Stockton

Country KATM leads the way 9.3-9.1

AC KJOY has a huge gain 2.8-6.3

Classic Rock KHKK off 7.5-4.7

Dan Bernstein: ‘Maybe the NBA Wants to Control Their Message a Little More’

BSM Staff
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Dan Bernstein: ‘Maybe the NBA Wants to Control Their Message a Little More’

As more news comes out about what will happen with NBA and its media rights after next season, many hosts around the country have given their thoughts and opinions about the 11-year, $77 billion deals from Disney, NBC and Amazon. Others have also talked about the company that lost out on being a part of the party, Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT Sports. 670 The Score hosts Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes talked about both on Bernstein & Holmes.

The conversation started with ‘Roundball Rock’ making its return to NBC and the nostalgia part of it and Holmes saying, “It makes sense for NBC to bring it back, but I don’t know if it means as much as maybe people might make it out to mean.”

Bernstein countered with, “I think it means more that we may be in the last season of Inside the NBA.”

“I’m not sure how much that means either,” Holmes replied.

“Well, I would lament its demise,” Bernstein said. “Primarily because it blows past my very lax standard for sports broadcasting, which is just don’t make people dumber. And I think too often other networks’ NBA coverage decides to allow people to get dumber. And I don’t know if they do it on purpose, but it’s a low common denominator. And the one thing that Inside the NBA always did was they always worked at the highest level of their intelligence.”

While Holmes disagreed a bit and pushed back, Bernstein recognized that the show could have fun and go a bit off the rails. However, he said, “Even their comedy, even that stuff, they worked at it. And there were graphics involved. There’s a whole bunch of silly stuff. But those guys all, they’re proud NBA vets…who love the NBA.

“And who have unpredictable, strong opinions about the league. And I would miss it so much.”

“Let me ask you this,” Holmes said. “Does the league want that?”

“Well, I think [Charles] Barkley thinks they don’t,” Bernstein said. “To hear some of the stuff that Barkley’s saying about how eagerly, how Adam Silver loved the fact that David Zaslav said, ‘We don’t need the NBA.’ And then he used that as a cudgel and exacerbated it, used that as a dividing point. To say, ‘oh, you don’t need the NBA.’ Well, maybe the NBA doesn’t need you. And just maybe, just maybe, that this can’t miss crew who players, coaches, GMs, everybody understood that their conversations often set the tone about how the league is discussed and how people feel. Maybe the NBA wants to control their message a little more.”

Dan Patrick: There Are Very Few Sports Media Personalities That Actually Move the Needle

BSM Staff
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Dan Patrick: There Are Very Few Sports Media Personalities That Actually Move the Needle

With the signing of new NBA TV deals, it certainly appears as if TNT’s Inside the NBA is on its last legs. Dan Patrick believes it’s one of the few sports media shows that has power to move the needle.

After talking about the likelihood of the program ending with longtime panelist Charles Barkley on The Dan Patrick Show Friday, the host noted that many sports television entities are attempting to replicate shows that were so unique they couldn’t actually be duplicated.

“ESPN still trying to recreate SportsCenter. That ain’t gonna happen. It’s done. Pardon the Interruption won’t be the same. Around the Horn, they’re gonna get rid of. TNT and Inside the NBA. I mean, these shows have a shelf life,” said Patrick. “And we got one more year with those guys.”

He later added his belief that there are very few sports media members and shows that move the needle enough that average viewers will tune in because of the personalities involved.

“There’s only one Charles and there’s only one Shaq. Out of any of these analysts, any of these personalities, there’s only a few of these people who move the needle. Now McAfee moves the needle. Steven A. (Smith) moves the needle. Dick Vitale, in his prime, moved the needle. Chris Berman moved the needle,” Patrick continued. “There’s only a few of them where you go ‘I’m tuning in for that person. Doesn’t matter what game they’re doing.’ And we tuned into TNT not for the game. I tuned in for the pregame or halftime.”

Patrick also said he’s often viewed as a critic of ESPN — his longtime home. He said that isn’t the case, but he does tell analysts or hosts interested in joining the network the difficulties involved with working at the Worldwide Leader, including the long hours and the expectations from the company that if they’re giving you a great salary, you’ll appear on a variety of platforms in a variety of timeslots in exchange for that compensation.

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