Home Blog Page 1621

Boomer Esiason: ‘Michael Malone’s Response to Reporter Was Ridiculous’

BSM Staff
-
0
Boomer Esiason: ‘Michael Malone’s Response to Reporter Was Ridiculous’

The matchups for both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals in the NBA were solidified on Sunday to narrow the field to four teams remaining looking to capture a league championship. The early game resulted in a 21-point win for the Indiana Pacers over the New York Knicks. Later in the day, the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame a 20-point deficit to eliminate the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets, gaining key contributions from several members of the team. With the Nuggets having a double-digit lead in the third quarter and losing the game by seven points, the swing surprised many basketball fans and left Ball Arena in a state of shock.

After the game concluded, Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone fielded questions from members of the media about the game and season as a whole. One reporter asked him about how it felt to process a loss of this magnitude, especially when the team had held a substantial lead in the second half of the game. Malone responded with ostensible indignation and disappointment, immediately articulating to move on to the next question.

“The season’s over – that’s what’s hard,” Malone said. “F**k being up 20. The season’s over – you don’t understand that. The season’s over – it’s hard. Stupid ass questions.”

On Monday morning, the Boomer & Gio morning show on WFAN and CBS Sports Network played audio of Malone providing the response, something that was met with incredulity and surprise in the studio. Update anchor Jerry Recco explained the paradox of these athletes being tired from playing heavy minutes in the playoffs, yet taking the court over the summer anyway rather than resting. Throughout the series against the Timberwolves, three-time NBA most valuable player Nikola Jokić averaged 40.2 minutes per game and star guard Jamal Murray averaged 38.2 minutes per contest, both in the upper echelon among the rest of the league. Even so, Malone emitted choleric towards the season coming to a close.

“I can’t believe Mike Malone would do that,” co-host Boomer Esiason said. “I just can’t believe it. You’re in the NBA freaking Playoffs. You have to play, you have to be tired. I mean, you just have to go – you got to go 100 mph, and you know what, because you’re the defending NBA champions, you got the target on your back. Everybody wants to beat you; everybody wants to give you their best effort. I can’t believe he said a ‘stupid ass question;’ that’s ridiculous.”

Co-host Gregg Giannotti agreed with Esiason’s point of view, especially when Malone has a team and standout player who is expected by many basketball fans to win multiple championships. The Nuggets finished as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference after hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy last year and were considered as a legitimate threat to secure a second consecutive league championship.

“They got embarrassed in this game because they were up 20, ended up losing the game [by] seven at home, and I think he’s grasping at straws and coming up with excuses to cover his own ass for coming up short,” Giannotti said. “That’s really what it is.”

CNN Will Make June Presidential Debate Available to Simulcast on Other Networks

BNM Staff
-
0
CNN Will Make June Presidential Debate Available to Simulcast on Other Networks

After announcing it would host the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle last week, CNN has decided to open up the event to other networks.

The June 27th event between President Joe Biden (D) and former President Donald Trump (R) will be made available to simulcast a network spokesperson confirmed.

While it would be willing to give up the exclusivity of the event, CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will still serve as moderators.

The June debate will join the September 10th event hosted by ABC News as being available to other networks, should they come to an agreement.

In addition to being available on other networks, the June debate will be available on CNN Internation, the network’s Spanish-language channel, and the Max streaming platform, as well as the network’s website.

Rich Shertenlieb: ‘If This Fails, It’s My Name on It, But It’s What I’ve Always Wanted’

BSM Staff
-
0
Rich Shertenlieb: ‘If This Fails, It’s My Name on It, But It’s What I’ve Always Wanted’

After approximately six months off the Boston radio airwaves, Rich Shertenlieb made his long-anticipated return with the launch of his new program, The Rich Shertenlieb Show, on Monday morning on 100.7 WZLX, an iHeartMedia-owned station. Shertenlieb will bring sports and entertainment talk to the classic rock-formatted station on weekday mornings from 6 to 10 a.m. EST, along with an array of co-hosts from various areas in media.

Some of these include former 98.5 The Sports Hub personalities Michael Hurley and Ted Johnson, who were part of the debut episode on Monday. Other contributors include former NFL Network reporter Mike Giardi and former Sports Illustrated reporter Charlotte Wilder, the latter of whom will also continue working as a contributor on Meadowlark Media’s show, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.

To open his show on Monday, Shertenlieb expressed how much he had missed talking with listeners in the Boston area and stated that there was a lot to discuss. Additionally, he hinted at the return of popular segments that aired during his time at 98.5 The Sports Hub, some of which include audio from Celtics fans on the street and humorous calls to 9-1-1. Shertenlieb previously worked with Fred Toucher on the popular Toucher & Rich show, which first launched on rock station 104.1 WBCN.

The show moved to 98.5 The Sports Hub upon the launch of the station in 2009 and was frequently on top of the ratings books, building and sustaining a loyal and dedicated audience. Beasley Media Group said in a statement that it had offered Shertenlieb a multi-year contract extension to which he never accepted, and there was apparent ambiguity surrounding his sudden exit from the station.

“Better opportunity, and it’s that easy,” Shertenlieb said in an interview with CBS Boston. “I really liked where I worked – I liked a lot of the people over there – but sometimes you get presented with something as cool as this and you just can’t say ‘No.’ I know that that’s not what people want to hear, but it’s the truth.”

Shertenlieb explained that the program will discuss sports and a variety of other topics, working to build a new on-air product akin to the beginning of his time with 98.5 The Sports Hub. Toucher had previously stated that he believed Shertenlieb should find an opportunity outside of sports radio through which he would be able to demonstrate his penchant for comedy and simply have fun.

Toucher is now hosting morning drive with Rob “Hardy” Poole in morning drive as part of the new Toucher & Hardy show, which made its debut in early January. On WZLX, Shertenlieb, Hurley and a rotation of co-hosts and show contributors will seek to foster a new sound in the Boston marketplace on the classic rock station as a part of morning drive.

“It’s awesome, but you know all the pressure’s on,” Shertenlieb said. “If this fails, it’s my name on it, but you know what, it’s what I’ve always wanted. It’s what I’ve worked my whole career towards, and I’m glad that [W]ZLX and iHeart were able to give it to me.”

There were other opportunities within the process that Shertenlieb was offered, and he may be open to discussing some of them down the road. There had been speculation that he was being considered for an afternoon drive program on WEEI, with several industry professionals predicting that the outcome would render itself a reality. In an interview with Chad Finn of Boston.com, Shertenlieb explained that he considered other opportunities when previously signing contracts with 98.5 The Sports Hub. In launching something new, he is excited to make an impact and construct a new product in the city.

“We’re going to complain about the Bruins, we’re going to celebrate the Celtics and analyze the new ‘Road House’ movie like it’s the Zapruder film,” Shertenlieb said.

How You Lead a Brand Matters, and KNBR is Finding Out the Hard Way

Jason Barrett
-
0
How You Lead a Brand Matters, and KNBR is Finding Out the Hard Way

Let me start by saying, I don’t enjoy writing columns like this. I love the radio business, and see a lot of good in it. I prefer highlighting great performances and ideas or tackling issues that make people think or help them learn. Calling people out doesn’t excite me, but when someone acts immature, stains a brand’s image, questions my credibility, and costs me hours of time over an uninformed, moronic tweet, I’m going to respond.

I left San Francisco on May 31st of 2015, nearly nine years ago. My four years there were some of the best times of my personal and professional life. The sports scene was electric, the views across the Bay were spectacular, and the list of entertainment options were endless. Living in Walnut Creek remains the best place I’ve ever lived.

Professionally, it was great too. I established a lot of relationships in a competitive sports radio market. 95.7 The Game and KNBR were excellent brands with a lot of talent and quality programming. Each were run by large corporations with strong, executive support. I had a dynamite GM in Dwight Walker, which I felt gave us an advantage. Three years later though, Dwight left the business, and things evened out.

Since then, The Game and KNBR have battled frequently for local bragging rights as the market’s top rated outlet. I have no horse in the local radio race so I don’t spend time thinking about who’s doing better content, who’s producing more revenue or who has a better lineup. I’ll let local folks debate those things.

Based on what I’ve experienced and continue to see from afar, I believe both brands have quality talent and valuable play-by-play partnerships. However, Audacy has one major advantage – local leadership. Matt Nahigian is a strong PD. Stacey Kauffman is a sharp GM. That doesn’t guarantee ratings or revenue success but it assures the brand of not getting egg on its face. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for KNBR.

Last week, I was preparing for our upcoming rebrand on July 15th when a tweet came in to the BSM account. KNBR PD and afternoon host Adam Copeland wanted to know if we’d be reporting KNBR’s ratings win when the sports leader knocked off its counterpart. I was confused because I knew the spring book wasn’t over. Declaring victory over a monthly when there’s still two months left is an odd move, but if the signs are pointing that way for KNBR, good for Adam and all involved. I’m sure the return of Giants baseball is good for station business.

Trying to be professional, I responded to make sure he knew our approach to coverage. I’ve met Adam before on radio row and he’s been cordial. We’ve even featured him and others involved with KNBR on our website. There were zero issues on my end or so I thought.

But rather than moving on, Adam retweeted his initial remarks, and then used a public space to question my credibility. I understand that I competed competitively against KNBR from 2011-2015 but I’ve been fair to both outlets as a publisher since launching BSM in 2015. Hell, the person I worked closest with at The Game (Jeremiah Crowe) became KNBR’s PD for 5 years. The next PD after Jeremiah (Kevin Graham) was also a longtime industry friend. Instead of making an assumption, a simple search of KNBR on the BSM website or on social media would show prior ratings success stories and higher Top 20 finishes.

I have a few simple rules when it comes to ratings reports. First, we do full book reports not monthlies. Bonuses aren’t paid on monthly performance, so calling for media respect after one month shows a lack of knowledge of how things work. Secondly, turn in the Men 25-54 data in on time, and be consistent. Some folks show up in my inbox when the news is good but go into witness protection when it isn’t. Advertisers and media buyers aren’t stupid. They know if your brand is up or down. The people in your building and company know it too. It’s ridiculous to think you’re going to be celebrated when you win but not written about when you don’t.

The reason KNBR hasn’t earned positive ratings stories from BSM lately is because the station hasn’t won the local competition in a while. I feel no joy or sadness over that, those are simply the facts. To be fair, most of those results were before Adam became PD. He was promoted in November, which means he’s only led the station for one full book, the tight winter book loss to The Game. That made the public cry for credit more strange. If this is how you respond after one book and a monthly, what happens after two or three?

After wondering why Adam chose this approach, I looked at the tweet that stirred it up. I was beyond disappointed with other responses I saw. Humor or a sarcastic remark over the air or on the socials is fine. Heck, it makes things more fun sometimes. But insulting everyone who questions or criticizes you, is a bad look. If you just got promoted, and are trying to show you can lead, why would you push your audience away? Do you think people in the company are going to see this and say ‘we’re proud of our PD and the way he connects with our listeners?’

When you’re given the privilege of leading a respected brand like KNBR, the audience is going to tell you what they don’t like. They’ll question your decisions. They may even take a shot at you for things you say or that the company does. It comes with the position. If you act like a businessman, and focus on growing your fanbase and revenue, you’ll be fine. If you act like a host who isn’t thinking like a leader, this is what you do.

How you act as a brand leader should be different than how you act as a host. You’re no longer just representing yourself and your show, you are now repping the entire brand, company, and staff. Advertisers want to feel good about who they’re in business with. Professionals in your building and elsewhere in the market are watching to see how you conduct yourself. Your crew is depending on you to set a good example, and have their backs. You may think that stuff doesn’t matter, but it does.

Most large market stations don’t have success with on-air talent in program director roles. That’s because too often the individuals hired to do both jobs focus on hosting, not managing. GMs tend to look at the potential salary savings from combining roles rather than taking into account the importance of strong programming leadership.

Cumulus employs many great people. Some of them are on the air at KNBR, others like Bruce Gilbert, Dave Milner, Pierre Bouvard, Paul Mason, Dan Mandis, Pete Mundo, and Allison Warren are top notch professionals who I hold in high regard. They don’t operate this way nor would they condone it if it occurred on their watch.

I’ve disagreed with many industry people over the years, friends included. Regardless of the issue, I’m always accessible. My phone number and email address are at the bottom of my emails. I’m also on all social media platforms. A quick call or email is preferred to address issues but taking aim publicly on social media and not reaching out is fine too. Just understand that when you go that route, I will bite back.

I live in New York now but I know what it takes to do the PD job at a high level in the Bay Area. Beating your chest after a good month after two years of defeats, and insulting listeners, isn’t what I’d recommend. I disagree with Adam’s social media approach as a PD, but do consider him a good host, and if KNBR wins future books, and data is provided, we will share their story. I’m not excusing Adam’s poor decisions, but the GM’s office shares some blame here too. Behavior like this reflects on everyone involved with a brand, not just the PD. This didn’t just start last week. That means it’s either not been addressed or isn’t being taken seriously.

Hiring a first-time PD to run three radio stations in a top-5 market, and expecting them to also co-host a 4-hour afternoon show is asking a lot. Issues are going to come up. Bruce Gilbert is in the company, and one of the best human beings and developers of leaders in the business, but if a PD is going to embarrass themselves and the brand on social media, that’s not on him. People have to want to listen and adjust, and internal accountability needs to be prioritized.

KNBR is a great, legendary brand with decades of ratings and revenue success. There’s a standard expected from the station that calls itself ‘The Sports Leader’. Unfortunately, that standard isn’t being met. It’s being replaced by an approach that has people raising questions, and listeners wondering why they’re supporting a brand that doesn’t value them.

Barrett Media is Hiring

July 15th is when we officially change our URL to BarrettMedia.com and begin adding music radio, tech, and podcasting content. The additional content means we need more help. I’m going to add a features reporter to conduct conversations with broadcasters, a few experienced music radio columnists, and an editor to tackle daily news. I’m also planning to feature a few guest columns. If you work in music radio and love to write, send a resume and writing sample to JBarrett@sportsradiopd.com.

Thumbs Up:

Doug Gottlieb/Fox Sports Radio: Dave and Garrett raised valid questions last week, but when else have we seen a college basketball coach do FT sports radio? We haven’t. That means there’s a chance for history to be made. Doug hosts a 2-hour daily national show. Can he do both well? Time will tell. But if I’m FSR, why wouldn’t I wait and see how it goes before moving on from a key talent? Doug used to work on a 6-hour nightly radio show while balancing TV work, travel, family, etc.. Maybe he’ll fail but he has tons of energy and knows how to engage an audience. I give him props for trying. Given the rise of remote broadcasts, if Gottlieb’s prepared, FSR will be just fine.

Pat McAfee: The level of entertainment from Pat and his team is impossible to not get sucked into. Earlier this week they bought a car through an Indianapolis auction, and on paper, it had nothing to do with anything relevant, but if you were watching, it was impossible to turn away from. It reminded me of Anchorman 2 when Ron Burgundy decides to do stories about America being the greatest country in the world. Sometimes, the entertainment is just really damn good. Last week, that was the case on the McAfee show.

Marc Ryan: How does a host ingratiate themselves effectively to a new city and audience? By leaning into the things that they appreciate. Ryan may be guilty of a Dave Portnoy imitation, but wisely took a simple moment and turned it into a smart, social connection with Detroit fans. Judging by the responses, he’s making new friends quickly. Great to see that.

Thumbs Down

ESPN NBA Broadcast Team: Individually, Mike Breen, Doris Burke, and JJ Redick are talented. Collectively, they lack chemistry. Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson had it, and made NBA playoff games feel big and fun. If solid is the new standard, I guess this is fine, but I expect better from ESPN. The current crew is not on par with the network’s other broadcast teams for big sporting events. Hopefully it gets addressed during the NBA offseason.

NFL: VP of Broadcast Planning Mike North said this week that the league took into account Taylor Swift’s U.S. tour dates when making the 2024 season schedule. Having Taylor at games is good for league business. I get that. But this is the largest, most lucrative professional sports league in America with every television and streaming outlet interested in airing its product. The NFL shouldn’t be working around anyone or anything let alone admitting that publicly.

Google: If you’re not following what’s happening with the company’s plans for search, you need to educate yourself. Read this. The company’s plans are to incorporate AI into search, creating big issues for publishers. If search and social media continue to make it harder to find content, brands better embrace the outlets they own and operate (radio-television) and make sure a direct relationship is established with their audiences or they risk losing relevance.

Eavesdropping: McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, JOX 94.5

Dave Greene
-
0
Eavesdropping: McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, JOX 94.5

Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic are two names that are very familiar to college football fans. McElroy led Alabama to a national championship, spent a few years in the NFL and then signed on at ESPN in 2014 and has become one of the top analysts in college football. Cubelic grew up in Homewood, Alabama and was a team captain at Auburn before making a name for himself in sports radio in Huntsville. He joined the Sun Belt Network in 2009, ESPN in 2011 and since then has risen to being one of the top field analysts in college football, working the SEC Network’s marquee matchup on Saturdays with Tom Hart and Jordan Rodgers.

Both make several other appearances on ESPN properties throughout the year inside and outside of the college football season, which now extends well beyond the August through January timeframe.

Their weekday mornings are spent together and have since July 2021 when JOX Roundtable signed off and McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning became the new morning show on JOX 94.5 in the college football capital of Birmingham, Alabama. For college football fans, especially in the SEC, this show is the motherload. So, I eavesdropped in on the show as I was curious what it sounds like when there isn’t much going on in college football.

The day I chose to listen happened to be a very unique day and ultimately proved this show is much more than just college football talk. With the PGA Championship going on I expected a little golf talk, maybe some scoring updates. I certainly didn’t expect golf to take up almost the entire first half of the show. However, I nor anyone else expected to wake up to the news that the No. 1 player in the world had been arrested.

Immediately as the show began, they brought the listeners up to speed on what happened and continued to update the story, literally as it happened. Sometimes these stories are difficult to cover as you don’t have a lot of information, but these ‘football guys’ did one heck of a job of covering this breaking news.

As ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington posted a video with audio from the scene, the show turned the audio around quickly and played it as well as what Darlington was saying on SportsCenter. Like most people, McElroy and Cubelic, or ‘G-Mac and Cube’ as they are known, thought this was one of the most bizarre stories and believed a lot of the blame here was on the PGA of America and the golf course.

But they tried their best to look at this from all sides. McElroy pointed out in the video that the police officers were wearing raincoats and looked more like security at an event and also pointed out that due to the tragic accident that had occurred earlier, the people on the scene were most likely on high alert and a bit tense. They mentioned a few times that there was a lot of blame to go around and not to go too crazy blaming any one person or side.

When Scheffler’s mug shot was posted and he was listed as 6 foot 3, 170 pounds, the hosts were able to have some fun with that without losing the seriousness and insanity of what was happening. As the official charges came out, again it was interesting to hear the hosts respond in real-time to what was happening.

“Days like today are what social media is made for,” Cubelic said as he read some of the memes and jokes that were coming across.

As Scheffler was making his way back to the course, McElroy and Cubelic had a hilarious conversation about how now that Scheffler is a father, he has to get used to this kind of golf. “This is true ‘Dad golf’ that he is going to experience today,” McElroy said. “No warmup, no putting green, no breakfast, no stretching, no gym. Welcome to fatherhood, Scottie, this is what golf looks like when you have children.”

The show then brought on James Colgan, a writer from Golf.com who was live at Valhalla. Colgan gave great descriptions about the scene as far as the traffic even before the tragic accident had taken place. He made good points as well about being surprised the traffic was such a problem with Valhalla having hosted major tournaments before. I am always a fan of a strong guest who adds to the conversation, and this was a perfect example of it working out well.

Another great example of how well they covered the story was when Scheffler’s attorney, Steve Romines, was shown and Cubelic saw KSR host Matt Jones post about him on X. Cubelic texted Jones and asked what they should know about the attorney. Cubelic read Jones’ response, “Best lawyer in Kentucky for criminal defense. If I got arrested, he’s the first person I would call.”

As they started to wrap up their coverage of what was happening, Cubelic asked McElroy what his prediction was for Scheffler’s round that day. “Under 67.5,” was his answer. Scheffler would end up shooting 66.

I cannot stress enough how good of a job McElroy and Cubelic did covering a story for almost two hours when driving to the station that morning, they expected to spend most of the time talking about Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s thoughts on taking players out of the transfer portal. Pivoting the way they did and covering the ongoing story at the level they did, shows these guys are true pros. They even used their own experiences trying to get into busy football stadiums and the traffic issues that can arise. Sometimes the best live radio comes from unexpected topics and stories, and this was certainly the case here.

“It’s been absolutely mind blowing,” McElroy said about the show. “I can’t even believe how much there is to even discuss. Never in a million years did I think we were going to talk this much about golf.”

“Just an unbelievable situation,” Cubelic added.

The show would continue to keep an eye on Scheffler and the golf tournament as they moved on to other topics such as the hockey playoffs, which was the second biggest surprise of the day. Cubelic has adopted the New York Rangers as his team, and the guys had a fun discussion breaking down the team as well as all the potential Game 7’s that could happen in both the NHL and NBA.

Finally, they got to what I expected to mostly hear, a discussion about Dabo Swinney’s comments and a breakdown of the Clemson football schedule for the 2024 season. As you can imagine, McElroy and Cubelic talking college football is pure gold. It helps they have excellent chemistry and not many stations can say they have two of the best analysts of a single sport on the air together five days a week.

The show has plenty of laughs and quite a few endorsement ads, which is a sign of a healthy show. I like they do some of the ads together and play off one another. They have fun with the ads and work to tie them into programming.

A fun listen, I look forward to popping back into McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning during the heart of college football season. Hopefully on a day where nobody else ends up in handcuffs.

How Lee Harris Went From Polka Station Owner to Radio Hall of Fame Nominee

Krystina Alarcon Carroll
-
0
How Lee Harris Went From Polka Station Owner to Radio Hall of Fame Nominee

For 30 years, if you gave him 22 minutes, he gave you the world. Those of you who live in the tri-state area have probably heard Lee Harris’ voice on 1010 WINS. If you haven’t, chances are his innovative technology is helping your radio news reporters “do it live.” These are just some of the reasons Harris was nominated to the Radio Hall of Fame this year.

“I got interested in radio because, one day, I broke my glasses and you couldn’t get them in an hour back then. I couldn’t really watch TV. So I put on the radio and I was just fascinated by what I was hearing and kind of took it up from there,” Harris told BNM over a Zoom call.

As a pre-teen, Harris — who now works as the Director of Integrated Operations at NewsNation — had the added bonus of friends developing an interest in the medium as well. “So we did the pirate radio station thing. Then when I was 14, I took the test so I could get the third class license with broadcast endorsement.” The license was needed at the time to work at a radio station to turn the transmitter on and off.

While in high school, the native Long Islander began working at the Hofstra University station, “because they didn’t have enough kids who could pass the test. So they reluctantly let me and my friend Phil come in to be board operators.” Soon after, Harris grabbed the mic at WRHU and hosted their classical radio show.

During his senior year of high school, Harris had jobs at two commercial stations on Long Island. “One before school and one after school And not too much school in the middle but enough to graduate,” he joked.

Harris moved on to the University of Wisconsin and worked at a few local stations before a Program Director hired him in Chicago at WFYR for five years. “I picked up a few tricks of the trade. Chicago was really cold and so when they decided maybe a 12-person news department at an FM station wasn’t that great an idea, I went to Phoenix.”

KTAR was home to Charlie Van Dike’s morning show, where Harris was known as “The Squeaker.” From there he became the Managing Editor at KMOX in St. Louis before heading to WGN in Chicago. “Then, I — with a partner — bought a radio station in Wisconsin which had an all-polka format. And it was reasonably successful for a number of years.”

It was the late 1980s when Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Prince were headlining the airwaves, yet Harris’ polka format in Madison was grabbing ears. “The people really appreciated the programming. Older people, for the most part.” Ad revenue was scarce except from one trustworthy group. “Our biggest account on the station were some people who paid us to play the rosary every night at 20 minutes to seven. They paid us like $80,000 a year cash in advance. I was thinking like L. Ron Hubbard: The real money is in religion.”

Harris, a visionary armed with an idea, couldn’t change the format overnight by himself. “I went to my partner and I said ‘Look, we’re beating our heads against the wall here for nothing.’ Madison, Wisconsin did not have a paid religion station. And I said, ‘This is what we ought to do.’ And he didn’t want to do that, so I had him buy me out.” Today, the station Harris once owned is a 24/7 Catholic station.

Soon after, Harris came home to get out of radio and into business with his brother. “That lasted about three weeks,” he admitted.

While driving Harris heard what would become his radio home, 1010 WINS. “Listening to the people on the on the air, I said, ‘I bet I could get here. I could get a job on weekends here and I’ll do that until I get my next management job.’ So I faked up a tape because I hadn’t been on the air in about ten years. Dropped it off. And next thing I knew, I was on morning drive for the next 30 years.”

In keeping with the typical morning show lightness, Harris often brought levity to his listeners amid the typical New York murder and mayhem. “One thing I knew from having been out of news for about ten years before I went back to work at WINS, is that people tended to make fun of the news a lot. So what I did is when there was an obvious joke in a story, I made sure to include it so that the audience knew that we knew that it was funny. And some of these things became tentpoles in the tradition of morning radio.”

After his morning show, Harris would head to his 9-to-5 job as founder of Control Room Pro. Their software includes Anchor Dashboard, QGoLive, and Motion Mixes. Most notably QGoLive eliminated the clunkiness of wires, microphones, and transmitters. His innovative software gives reporters air-quality sound and playback ability just by tapping an app on their phone.

Over the years the radio veteran covered a vast range of stories but when the unthinkable happened, it was Harris’ voice which New Yorkers turned to on September 11, 2001.

“It started out as the most boring, ordinary day. [There was] a primary election where the outcome was known and it rapidly turned into something else,” Harris recalled. “I thought my job that day was to be calm and sound calm and convey the information. I think I did. People who have come back to me over the years say ‘I was listening. You sounded calm and that helped.’”

On his potential induction to the Radio Hall of Fame, Lee Harris was quite humble noting, “Should it come to pass that I get inducted [into the Hall of Fame] it will be on behalf of the hundreds and hundreds who have toiled largely, I don’t want to say unrecognized, but uncelebrated in, all news radio.”

How Can Commercial Radio Support College Radio?

Dr. Ed Cohen
-
1
How Can Commercial Radio Support College Radio?

The demonstrations, encampments, disruptions, and more that have taken place on college campuses over the past couple of months have garnered major headlines. Whatever your take on the war in Gaza, there hasn’t been much positive news with perhaps one exception: college radio.

The kudos have been handed out to WKCR, Columbia University’s student radio station.  While I’ve not personally listened, the ability of the station to cover the events on their campus has been lauded. When radio people wonder about where the next generation of talent will come from, college radio operations give us some hope.

My own background includes a full decade of college radio, both at Michigan State in the AM carrier current days before MSU finally was given the license for WDBM-FM (the former owner of then-analog channel 6 in Lansing fought the application for years on interference grounds) and also at WUSC-FM at the University of South Carolina. I was a program director twice and a general manager once as a student. 

While I didn’t like everything we put on the air, college radio was a wonderful experience and I’m still in touch with some of the people I worked with decades ago.

There are still plenty of vibrant college stations out there. Both of my alma maters have great student-run stations that cater to all kinds of tastes and bring in plenty of students as talent and administrative staff. To some extent, the mix of volunteers has changed. When I was an undergrad, the mix was about 50/50 between those who wanted a career in radio and needed experience versus those who loved the music and, in some cases, wished to impose their superior taste on the listeners. Today, I suspect that the percentage who are there for experience as a stepping stone to our industry is far lower.

Over the past decade or so, some colleges and universities have sold their FM licenses to either public radio operations or non-commercial religious broadcasters. In some cases, the schools did well financially. In 2010, Rice University in Houston sold KTRU for nearly $10 million to the University of Houston, allowing UH to have a second public radio station. KTRU eventually returned to the air as an LP in 2015. Vanderbilt University collected over $3 million from the sale of WRVU to Nashville Public Radio in 2011.

WRAS at Georgia State University in Atlanta was partially sold off. Georgia Public Broadcasting took over the station and began airing public radio programming from 5 AM until 7 PM while the students kept 7 PM until 5 AM. While public radio programming is on the air, the student-run Album 88 format is broadcast on the station’s HD2 signal. WRAS has a great signal and I was amazed when I visited in 1977 compared to the 10-watt WUSC-FM (we occasionally referred to it as 10,000 milliwatts on-air).

There are other instances of college FMs being sold, mostly from smaller schools (Bucknell, University of Evansville, Trine University, Castleton University). While the amounts generated by the sales have been far smaller than what Rice received, these schools decided that it wasn’t worth keeping the on-air frequency alive and an online version would be a suitable replacement.

To put it mildly, selling off student radio stations is short-sighted. The industry needs more talent and college radio is a great place to learn, make mistakes, and either fall in love with radio and audio or just meet new people. College radio also helps build a sense of responsibility. It’s your show, you need to be there on time, be prepared, and be responsible for what goes out over the air. Even the mild restraint of what can be said or played on an FCC-licensed frequency versus the free reign of the internet is a great lesson for students.

College radio also gives students a chance to operate an organization as a business. A station needs marketing which is a golden opportunity to use social media, it needs sales much like any noncommercial operation, and it needs promotion. Since most college operations run on shoestring budgets, that should prepare anyone who goes on to work in commercial radio. The students probably know more about social media than most of us and this is a great opportunity to put the knowledge to work which can translate into professional skills.

Further, while I doubt any school would want to shut down the student newspaper, writing for “print” is not the same as writing and gathering news for audio or video.  Without a radio station, there is no opportunity for the repetition needed to become good at producing information content for the electronic media. And with a college station, you have a way to promote off-air content as well which can be on the station’s internet presence.

Here in Bowling Green, I give a number of quarter hours to WWHR, Revolution 91.7 at Western Kentucky University. Unfortunately, the station has been almost entirely automated since I moved here which is sad considering there is a broadcast communications curriculum at WKU.  The station has a good signal, sounds fine technically, and has a solid history. My fear is that WKU may be looking for a payday by selling the frequency. No, I don’t have any evidence, but if it happened, it would be a sad day.

Let’s support college radio and let’s meet again next week.

‘NFL Total Access’ Comes to an End After 21 Years on NFL Network

BSM Staff
-
0
‘NFL Total Access’ Comes to an End After 21 Years on NFL Network

‘NFL Total Access’ has been a part of the NFL Network since 2003 and today it is set for its final episode. The news of the show coming to an end came down earlier this month. Many of the current show participants took to social media to post their thoughts including hosts Mike Yam and Kimmi Chex along with analyst Chase Daniel.

“Tonight marks the last ever episode of NFL Total Access,” said Chex. “I was 7 years old when this show aired meaning that I spent my life watching. Co-hosting our flagship program this past season has been the honor of my career. I’m not going anywhere but for now, it’s goodbye TA.”

Yam said, “It’s been an absolute thrill hosting NFL Total Access. Today is our last show and while our team is disappointed, we are excited about what’s next for us at NFL Network. “Thank you” isn’t nearly enough to express the gratitude I have for the team. See you at 7est for 1 more run.”

A report from The Athletic said the show would be replaced “at least in the interim” by Insiders with Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero.

John Skipper: ‘I Do Not Believe TNT’ Had Right to Match in NBA Media Rights Contract

BSM Staff
-
0
John Skipper: ‘I Do Not Believe TNT’ Had Right to Match in NBA Media Rights Contract

Throughout the New York Knicks playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Warner Bros. Discovery president and chief executive officer David Zaslav has been seen sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden with a Knicks hat on watching the game. Zaslav and the company are reportedly in negotiations to try and retain media rights to the NBA, with whom the Turner Broadcasting entity has done business since 1984. Yet subsequent reports have stated that the likely outcome is in Comcast’s NBCUniversal receiving the final rights package, thus granting them NBA rights for the first time since 2002 and presumably shutting Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT Sports out. NBCUniversal was reportedly preparing a bid of $2.5 billion for rights to the NBA, according to The Wall Street Journal.

There has been discussion, however, as to whether or not Warner Bros. Discovery has the right to match a competing offer and if it would do so with NBCUniversal or potentially Amazon, which reportedly has the framework for a streaming package for $1.8 billion annually.

John Skipper, who was the president of ESPN at the time the company signed its existing nine-year media rights deal with the NBA, recalled that the two media rights deals the league signed were quite similar. He does not believe that it had the right to match, however, which led to subsequent discussion on the latest edition of The Sporting Class because of the ambiguity and intrigue surrounding the Warner Bros. Discovery contract. The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC) has also reportedly reached a framework for a media rights package for approximately $2.6 billion a year, which would include keeping the NBA Finals on its networks.

“I am puzzled and don’t understand how they could have a right to match, and I really have a hard time understanding how they could have a right to match Amazon because that is not even the same package,” Skipper said. “You get a right to renegotiate your own package – an exclusive negotiating window. I never had much luck getting a match right because that dramatically decreases the rightsholders’ chances to get the most money, so I’m puzzled, and I do not believe we had that right.

“I do not believe TNT had that right, which would mean that subsequently somehow when there was this consolidation of these assets into Warner Bros. Discovery, they got the NBA to agree to let them have a matching right.”

Meadowlark Media personality and former Miami Marlins team president David Samson was seen on camera ostensibly mouthing the word ‘Wow’ as Skipper provided this explanation. After Skipper concluded, he said that the people in the booth would know which part of the show to clip because of what was said. Samson referred to Skipper stating that Warner Bros. Discovery had been lying for the last two months, an accusation he refuted. Instead, Skipper articulated that he was stating what he knew to his knowledge.

“It’s not for me to accuse anybody of mendacity, but I am puzzled by it,” Skipper said, referring to Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT Sports.

“Puzzled because you have signed a deal that is supposed to be quite similar to the deal that they are also working with and doesn’t have the thing that they say that they have?,” Samson questioned.

“I can’t be privy or read anybody’s mind as of what may have happened subsequent to those signatures,” Skipper replied.

During the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront on Wednesday in New York City, TNT Sports division chairman and chief executive officer Luis Silberwasser addressed the situation surrounding the NBA. Within his remarks, he stated that the company was looking forward to another season and reaching a deal that makes sense for all of the parties. WBD CEO David Zaslav has previously stated that he believes his company has the right to match. Both Warner Bros. Discovery and The Walt Disney Company have one year left on their existing NBA contracts, which expire at the end of the 2024-25 season.

“They will do ad business in the next year,” Skipper said of the message at the Upfront, “and they’re just reminding the advertisers in the audience not to change their budgets yet.”

Mike Florio: Giving Teams Too Many Prime-Time Games ‘Compromises the Integrity of the Game’

BSM Staff
-
0

Mike Florio spent time on his Pro Football Talk Live show talking about the NFL schedule which was released in full earlier this week. The focus of the discussion was on the New York Jets schedule, however the topic related to many of the top teams in football. With the league wanting to maximize revenue there are more stand-alone games, which Florio says have “an extra layer of stress and strain.”

The Jets will have six prime-time games over the team’s first 11 weeks of the season. This includes an opening week Monday Night Football road game on the other side of the country against the San Franciso 49ers, two Sunday Night Football games, a Thursday Night Football game, one other appearance on Monday Night Football and a trip to London to play the Vikings.

Florio believes it is unfair to have teams with this much travel and this many featured games. “See, this is a TV show,” he said. “This is where the pursuit of money, the pursuit of maximum ratings, laying the foundation for putting all of the TV contracts out to bid again after the 2029 season, it gets in the way of giving teams a fair shake.”

He later added, “The truth is, the broadcast partners are clamoring for Aaron Rodgers…so they loaded it up early before the Jets have the wheels come off…The problem is they’re kicking the wheels off by doing this. By having them hopscotch the country and play short weeks twice and all of these prime-time games. There’s an extra layer of stress and strain that goes into all of these stand-alone games and all of this travel early in the season.”

Rodgers is coming off missing an entire season due to an Achilles injury and will turn 41 in early December. “Let’s be realistic about it, you’re putting him in a position where this 40-year-old body is going to be strained beyond reasonable limits from all these games on short [rest],” Florio said. “…It’s dangerous to Aaron Rodgers and its disadvantageous to the Jets and it compromises the integrity of the game.

“You still have an obligation to balance things out. It can’t be ‘let’s have the best possible TV audiences, that can’t be the driving factor…It should be a fair balance for all teams…At some point it’s just going to be whatever we think every week is going to lead to the biggest ratings and the biggest numbers and the most money, that’s what we’re going to do and it’s unfair to certain teams to do that.”

1...1,6201,6211,622...2,890Page 1,621 of 2,890