Three months after joining forces in middays, Sactown Sports 1140AM hosts Kevin “Whitey” Gleason and Chris Watkins are being split up to complete the station’s daytime lineup.
Effective Wednesday, The Drive Guys featuring Gleason and Sacramento Kings studio host Kyle Draper take over afternoon drive from 2-6 PM. Watkins remains in middays. He had been hosting the Chris Watkins & Co Show in a fill-in capacity from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM since April.
“We are excited to continue to elevate the Sactown Sports brand with the addition of The Drive Guys,” Bonneville Sacramento SVP and market manager Steve Cottingim said. “Kevin has been a fabric in the Sacramento community for four decades now and pairing him with Kyle Draper, who is a familiar voice to our listeners through the Sacramento Kings broadcast, just highlights our commitment to Sacramento sports.”
Gleason confirmed the move on Monday evening, and Watkins chimed in expressing his thanks to Kevin for all he had done the past few months. Watkins joined Bonneville Sacramento in 2018 and went from assistant promotions director to producer and podcast host to midday host in a five-year span.
Whitey has been the best co-host I could've ever wanted. You’ve made my first experience in radio an incredible one.
The full daytime lineup for Sactown Sports begins at 6 AM with The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross and concludes with Gleason and Draper.
Gleason is no stranger to Sacramento listeners. He has been regularly featured on the air in town for more than four decades, primarily as a part of The Rise Guys morning show from 1999-2011. He also hosted on ESPN 1320 for five years with Mark Kreidler.
Draper has been hosting for NBC Sports California’s Kings coverage since 2020. Before arriving to California’s capital city, he served in a similar capacity for NBC Sports Boston for 11 years.
The Sactown Sports 1140AM lineup has gone through a few changes in 2023. Dave “Deuce” Morgan and Morgan Ragan left in April. Nick Cattles and Ramie Makhlouf followed over the summer. Sactown Sports is hoping Gleason and Draper can add stability and a drive time show that local fans enjoy tuning in for.
If you think the discussion on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is going away in sports talk anytime soon, you’re sorely mistaken. Swift was in attendance at MetLife Stadium for Sunday Night Football as Kelce and the Chiefs took on the New York Jets. And as Shan Shariff and RJ Choppy noted on Shan & RJ on 105.3 The Fan on Monday, NBC and the NFL couldn’t avoid making Swift’s presence at the game a part of the SNF coverage.
“They went all in,” Shariff said. “NBC, the National Football League, going all in on Taylor Swift.”
Choppy responded saying when arguably one of the biggest celebrities in the world suddenly takes an interest in your product, you embrace it.
“She’s taken over, she really has,” Choppy said. “And the NFL putting her on their Twitter page, I mean she is bigger than the NFL. Like she’s more popular globally than the National Football League.”
Taylor Swift sports 273 million Instagram followers and 94.5 million Twitter followers. The NFL only has 33.7 million followers on Twitter and 28.4 million on Instagram.
Shariff pointed out that while Swift is a massive superstar with a massive superstar following on social media, it doesn’t compare to the followings of soccer stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Regardless, the NFL is going to milk it for what the league thinks it’s worth.
“Everyone is looking at her as the golden goose. She craps success,” Shariff said. “It’s just gold flowing out of her veins. Attach yourself to it, and you will make money.”
Norm Hitzges is considered an industry pioneer, helping establish morning sports talk radio in the Dallas area. Spending a total of 48 years in the format, he made an immense contribution to the field. When Hitzges officially retired in June, there were questions surrounding who would move into the midday slot on Sportsradio 96.7 and 1310 The Ticket to work alongside host Donovan Lewis. The station eventually made the decision to bring one of its own home in Matt McClearin, and he has excelled in the assignment since officially taking over in August.
McClearin, a Texas native who grew up listening to Hitzges and other programs on the outlet, is living his dream with the medium he set his sights on from the time he was young. Over the years, he had a chance to be around Hitzges and saw his elite level of preparation and congeniality firsthand.
“One of the kindest humans I think that I’ve ever met,” McClearin said of Hitzges, “especially in this business, and that says a lot, I think, about how to carry yourself. Even when you have success and get to a certain level, [knowing] the right way to treat people and the right way to go about your daily business.”
It is safe to say that Hitzges had an impact on everyone at The Ticket, and it is a legacy that McClearin hopes to further perpetuate. Every time he walks into the studios, it is not lost on him the magnitude of the assignment he has been entrusted with, and he remains focused and driven on realizing his full potential.
Reaching this point took endurance and patience, but the timing ultimately ended up working out in his best interest. Growing up in the metroplex, The Ticket was a fundamental part of the sports sound and represented McClearin’s innate ambition.
McClearin was selected by station management to work in paid positions for two years while attending Texas State University – production director and program director – which entailed 20 to 25 hours per week within the offices and studio. In addition to working on job-specific functions, he also used the time to perfect his editing skills and board operating procedures and gain on-air repetitions. By the time he graduated and sought to apply for a job, he surmised that possessing versatility would engender a larger swath of chances to become immersed in the craft.
“Originally, [I was] kind of practicing the craft as much as [I] could and learning as much as I could,” McClearin said. “I could increase [my] value, I think, of being able to walk into a radio station in Dallas in a Top 5 market and say, ‘I can run the board; I can do production [and] I can do on-air stuff,’ but not just talk.”
By happenstance, he learned that The Ticket was looking for a part-time sports anchor to fill in for various shows, leading him to send his demo reel to the outlet. After some conversations with station management, McClearin officially joined the team and became immersed in refining his on-air skillset with guidance from program director Jeff Catlin.
“He’s very hands-on [by], early on, giving you a lot of constructive criticism and helping you to learn the ins and outs and proper formatics and how to set up each segment correctly,” McClearin said of Catlin. “Doing things like that and having those opportunities [are things] I always enjoyed.”
McClearin eventually began working as a pregame and postgame studio host for Dallas Stars broadcasts. Moreover, he would attend Dallas Cowboys games and collect audio from the players and coaches to edit and send back to the radio station to be used across its programming.
Working hard and going the extra mile helped separate McClearin from his competition both inside and outside of the radio station, ultimately earning him a weekend show with Scot Harrison. His candid assessments of the local teams and ability to delegate on the show, indifferent towards whether or not he is the center of attention, have rendered his hosting abilities conducive to success.
“I’m just a big believer in being who you are and being real and presenting that on the air,” McClearin said, “so no matter what you’re going through or what’s different about you, there are listeners out there that can connect with that and understand that you’re being real.”
The program remained a fixture on the weekends before both hosts were offered the chance to become part of the weekday programming lineup, following sports radio luminary Paul Finebaum. This opening, however, would require McClearin and Harrison to pick up and move to Birmingham so they could broadcast from the studios of Jox 94.5.
Both hosts eventually agreed and spent the next three-and-a-half years on the outlet, growing a new audience and becoming an indispensable part of the evenings in the area. There are certain instances in any business that are fugacious and unexpected in nature though, and the show cancellation in 2016 was an example of such.
McClearin returned to Dallas to work as a part-time radio host on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM, an extraordinary circumstance in that he was in the same building he used to work in with The Ticket. The station was operating under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Cumulus Media and competing with the very outlet they were sharing the building with, cultivating a professional atmosphere mired by the ratings. The onset of the global pandemic caused the station to shutter.
“It was one of those things where you’ve just got to believe in what you’re doing and believe that there’s an appeal to what you’re doing,” McClearin said. “You get hired for a reason, and you continue to perform and try to grow what we were doing at the time.”
Catlin continued to serve as a mentor for McClearin during his years away from The Ticket, a venerable radio professional who has helped further build the outlet into a local powerhouse. The station frequently posts stellar ratings each quarter, representing a place where McClearin feels he can grow his brand and show to unrealized heights.
“The goal is to be No. 1 in the ratings in our [demographic] and to continue that,” McClearin said. “That’s something that I think drives me every day. When you’re not No. 1, you want to know, ‘Okay, well why aren’t we No. 1?,’ and when you get to that point, the question then becomes, ‘Okay, well how do we maintain this and continue to go and be better and bigger than what we were the previous month?’”
Before he ultimately returned to The Ticket to work with Lewis in the midday time slot, there was a bit of irony in that he, once again, called Birmingham home. When McClearin’s original program was canceled, he felt as if he had assimilated into the city and found his niche. He was disappointed in the outcome and always thought of the area in a favorable light, which then led to his phone ringing with a call from program director Ryan Haney.
As fortune would have it, Haney asked McClearin if he would be interested in returning to the station to host a solo program as part of a refreshed local lineup. Without hesitation, he conveyed that he would be interested in making a comeback in the locale, a full-circle moment filled with feelings of both satisfaction and gratitude.
“I never thought that I would go back to Alabama, much less work for the same station that, five years prior, had made the decision to let, at the time, Scot Harrison and I go,” McClearin said. “….I never wanted to leave in the first place, [so] I was really, really happy and I’m very fortunate that Ryan believed in me and gave me that opportunity to come back.”
The dynamic of the show differed the second time around in that he was the primary host, yet he also had help from John Saber and Conrad Van Order. Being around the Birmingham audience for a second time gave him more chances to talk about college football, basketball and other sports topics dominating the local and national scene.
Moving from one marketplace more focused on professional teams to one that was dominated by college sports, he furthered his abilities and worked to finish at the top of the ratings.
“I say the things that I actually believe in and I talk about the things that I really do to where, yes, sometimes I think I probably do some weird things and I’m a different type of person, but that’s just my personality and I have my quirks and my eccentricities,” McClearin said. “Again, I think if I present that and that is me, then the audience understands that and I think it comes across that way.”
Just as he thought during his initial stint in Birmingham, McClearin was prepared to stay in the marketplace for the long haul and try to further cement his name in the radio airwaves. Being able to reconnect with the audience and discuss meaningful, impactful topics was validating and worthwhile for him, and he was especially steadfast to the outlet. After all, he never had a particular interest in voyaging to television and still, to this day, concentrates his efforts on growing and maintaining the sports radio format.
“My brain just doesn’t think like that in those three-minute little quips that you do,” McClearin said. “TV is just so much more structured and short than radio, where we can have a 15-minute segment and have a real conversation.”
The only way McClearin was going to leave the station was if The Ticket came along, and sure enough, an opening became available concurrent with Hitzges’ retirement. While he enjoyed his time in Birmingham, he doubled down on his commitment to the Dallas-Fort Worth marketplace for the long run in making this move and conceding a solo program for a new co-host.
“When I got the call and went through the process with Jeff Catlin, [it] was a little bit surreal because it truly is a dream coming true,” McClearin said. “I found out that they’re going to put me with Donovan Lewis is kind of when Norm Hitzges decided to retire and I was going to walk in, [and] it’s really such a new show. Donovan and Norm had had such success for a while.”
As soon as McClearin took the air with Lewis for the first time, he felt an instant connection. Just a few months into the program, both hosts know there is plenty of room for growth and consistent improvement to create enthralling and proprietary content that will amplify cume and serve the community.
“We both are just two people, I think, that really care about the listener [and] what we’re putting together each and every day to make it the best that we can,” McClearin said. “So far, it’s been really easy and it’s been just – as much as I dreamt about this opportunity, it’s even more so than I probably could ever have dreamt.”
The Ticket is in competition with 105.3 The Fan in the Dallas-Fort Worth marketplace, along with other media outlets across various platforms. Whereas the Birmingham market releases its ratings through quarterly diaries, Dallas has monthly figures through PPM, but he makes sure the influx of quantitative data does not command his mindset.
“We can all see the ratings that the two main sports stations here have – they’re very healthy ratings and I think there’s a real hunger,” McClearin said. “A lot of that is football-driven – the Cowboys, nationally, are crazy relevant. All the [networks with] NBC and ABC and FOX and everybody; they always want to put them on because the Cowboys drive the needle. Well, they also drive the needle in Dallas very, very much so.”
Understanding and capitalizing on the reach and relevance of the Cowboys helps these local programs gain further traction. Arriving unprepared equates to marketplace malfeasance.
“Prep is very important to me, and I like to try to come into the pre-show meeting that I have with Donovan and our producer Travis every day with my own ideas, but also, ‘Okay, Donnie, what do you think?,’ and then, ‘Travis, what do you think about that?,’” McClearin said. “From that and our own individual prep, we kind of do the show prep together [to present] the in-depth segments that we roll out.”
The majority of content focuses on the Cowboys since they are the team that exhorts the most interest in the area, but there are plenty of other storylines within the landscape. The Texas Rangers are headed to the Major League Baseball postseason for the first time since 2016, while the Dallas Mavericks organization enters its first full season with superstar guard tandem Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Sometimes, sports fans do not want to solely listen to discussions about the teams themselves but rather hear about other pertinent topics in which they may be interested.
“I like to call them, I guess, lifestyle segments because I don’t think anybody, even the most passionate sports fan, only does sports in their life,” McClearin said. “We all have relationships and we have TV shows that we like to watch, and we went to the store and [some] random thing happened. We incorporate that, I think, into the show, and I think that’s The Ticket itself. It’s a very real station that has real conversations with a focus on sports.”
Everything throughout McClearin’s professional journey has centered on reaching this moment, and he wants to maximize the opportunity he has earned by bringing his best to the air on a daily basis.
From the onset, he knew where he wanted to end up and took the necessary steps to get there, even if it meant enduring some difficult setbacks. By taking advantage of every opportunity in his purview, he has made it in front of the microphone, and he has no plans on going anywhere at any time soon.
“I want to continue to grow the audience and have as many people enjoy doing what I love to do as possible,” McClearin said. “I get a lot of motivation from that [and] just the excitement of driving into the station every day and the excitement of when that light comes on and it’s time for the show. It’s like being on stage to me; it’s almost like you just get kind of high off of that feeling, and I love it.”
It’s been a minute since I managed the editor’s desk for our websites but as we look for the right leader to execute our strategy, I’m back involved assisting my team. The positive is that it gives me a chance to get further connected with our writers and see what’s being produced. The challenge is trying to balance website duties with consulting work, conference building, content creation for two newsletters, and tabling ideas until we’re at full strength. We already made a few tweaks to BNM with the addition of a Media Stock Ticker on the website and the addition of On The Record and Job of the Week in the newsletter. If you haven’t checked them out, please do so.
This seems like a good time to remind you that I am looking for a full time editor/writer to help lead BSM and BNM. A passion to write, manage people, provide ideas, and execute the vision is important. I’m looking for the equivalent of a digital program director who enjoys creating content. Covering the media industry is different than writing about sports or news. If you don’t love the broadcasting business and understand the brands, people, issues, and challenges and opportunities facing those involved, this won’t work. If you do, and you have the ability to manage a writing team and editorial calendar, dig for stories, expand relationships, and understand SEO and how to grow traffic and influence, then let’s talk. My email is JBarrett@sportsradiopd.com. Please include your resume and a few writing samples.
In the short term, you won’t notice much different on our websites. Our columnists will keep delivering timely opinions and insights, our features on broadcasters will remain thorough and interesting, and our daily news will occupy most of the space on both home pages. However, starting in 2024 we will begin placing a greater focus on original storytelling, expert insights, and creative features and benchmarks. This was a bigger focus during our early days but we’ve done less of it over the years as news began to dominate our daily content focus.
Though we will continue to relay industry happenings, personnel changes, and key details involving sports and news media brands and professionals, our sites perform best when they are original, creative, and going beyond the surface. That’s why our annual conferences are a hit. They educate, celebrate, and investigate key issues with the right people. I know that in today’s media climate aggregation is impossible to avoid especially when we’re seen as a resource for relaying key stories that others may not have seen but my hope is to do less of it and place a higher premium on original material. This means examining more of the radio, television, podcasting, advertising, and social media business from all angles not just reacting to things said on the airwaves.
I’ve already assembled a content plan for BSM and BNM for 2024 and am fired up about it. Stephanie Eads and I will share some of those plans with existing and prospective partners during Q4, and we’ll start rolling things out little by little once the new year rolls around.
Having shared that, I mentioned when we celebrated our 8 year anniversary that this year has been harder than others. The more we grow, the more we have to manage, and that’s why it’s so important to find a strong editor to help me maximize our websites while I remain heavily involved with our clients. One thing I haven’t done in a while that I’d like to take advantage of while I have you here is ask you two simple questions: What is it that you enjoy reading most on our sites? What would you like to see more and less of? Your feedback is appreciated at JBarrett@sportsradiopd.com.
On a daily basis, we publish 14-16 pieces of content on BSM and 10-12 on BNM. That’s a ton, and let’s be honest, you’re not reading all of that. We constantly provide a full menu of options and try to avoid it feeling like we’re throwing up content to fill the page but truth be told, sometimes it feels like we’re filling the page. I don’t want to invest time and resources in busy work that is less relevant. I want to create stories that are worth your time to help you stay informed, entertained, challenged, and inspired. I realize readers have different opinions and pleasing everybody isn’t possible but we’re trying deliver more of what you want and less of what you don’t. It’s why I’m asking questions, interviewing candidates for our editor role, and reviewing our analytics to make sure we have the right content plans in place.
If there’s one lesson we’ve all learned it’s that the rules are constantly changing. What worked 5 years ago on Twitter isn’t the same today on the X. What was a guaranteed way to produce ratings on the radio a few years back is more complex now with video and podcasting part of the overall sum of success. It’s no different for BSM and BNM. If we’re writing about stations, networks or people that others don’t care to read about, we change our focus. If our ability to generate interest through social media platforms changes due to an algorithm adjustment, then the content and amount of posts we had planned changes too. Is it inconvenient sometimes? Yes. But if the winds of change are blowing, it’s on us to adapt or risk getting blown away.
I’m going through these next few months of 2023 making sure we stay focused on what matters each day while also inspecting our brands to make them the best they can be for 2024. In between all of that is hiring an editor, creating our annual BNM Top 20 (December) and planning a 2024 BSM Summit (March). One thing I’d like to do entering the new year is add 1-2 additional columnists on BSM and possibly another reporter/features writer for BNM. I’m also planning to bring back The Jason Barrett Podcast in April except with guests from both formats, sports and news.
We’ve come a long way since September 2015. This started as a one man show with a thousand people reading each day, and it’s turned into a talented team producing quality, relevant industry content read by 10-20 thousand people per day. Our challenge moving forward is figuring out what we need more of, what we need less of, diving deeper into the original content pool, adding more support, and seeing just how far we can ride this train. As always, thanks for reading and supporting our journey.
Tom Tradup, the Vice President of News and Talk Programming at Salem Radio Network, has recently become a Contributing Editor at All Israel News. He is passionate about journalism and making connections between different cultures. Tradup’s expertise in news and talk programming has prepared him well for this role.
Despite managing the coverage of major political events and nationally syndicated talk shows, Tradup is excited to work with Joel Rosenberg, a New York Times bestselling author known for his extensive knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs.
Through All Israel News, Rosenberg aims to promote understanding and communication between Israel and the evangelical world. His role involves performing consultations, providing guidance, and writing columns to support this mission, and he describes it as a “match made in heaven.”
Tom Tradup also plays a crucial role in overseeing both talk and news programming on Salem Radio Network, with a focus on developing engaging shows and meticulously supervising the news operation.
This dual responsibility has played a substantial part in Salem Media Group’s impressive achievements and its unique way of delivering news through Townhall.
Tom Tradup doesn’t shy away from discussing the challenges that conservative media outlets face when it comes to attracting advertisers and forming partnerships, especially in the face of concerns about censorship.
Despite these obstacles, he stands firmly in his belief in radio’s enduring importance and effectiveness as a medium.
During an interview with Barrett News Media, Tom Tradup shares his dedication to All Israel News and explains how he plans to balance his responsibilities to Salem Radio Network.
He also talks about the growth of SRN and how the network manages to present impartial news while featuring engaging hosts on a single dynamic platform.
Ryan Hedrick: Let’s start by talking about your new role with All Israel News. What are you most excited about for this new opportunity?
Tom Tradup: Yes, very exciting. I enjoy a challenge, and that’s not to say that as the Vice President of News and Talk Programming for SRN, I don’t already have plenty on my plate because I do, especially at this time of year when we’ve got presidential debates, and we’re heading into the 2024 campaign and we’re already making plans for our coverage (of the 2024 Republican National Convention) in Milwaukee next year.
Every time you turn around, a breaking story powers both our two news services: SRN News and Town Hall News. I also have nationally syndicated talk shows hosted by people like Hugh Hewitt, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Charlie Kirk, and others that keep me on my toes.
So, an opportunity came up from New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg. He’s written many terrific books, including Enemies and Allies. The book is about the tumultuous change in the Middle East.In this book, he has interviews with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Eypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, United Arab Emirates’ Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Joel is plugged into the Middle East like nobody else. He has two websites he created that are just starting their fourth year; one is called allisrael.com. It’s Israeli news. It’s news about and primarily for evangelical Christians to try and build bridges between Israel and the evangelical world. His second website is called All Arab News. Basically, the same thing. It’s an all-Arab-focused website dealing with issues in the Muslim world but obviously cross-pollinating with what’s happening in Israel and other parts of the world, and they’re both very interesting sites.
Joel was looking for somebody who could do some consulting and who could do some coaching for his new staff. Just to help them get a little bit better, we hope. And he asked me if I’d be willing to write some columns for him, and I’d love to write. So, I said yes. It was a match made in heaven. It’s a great opportunity to work with him and some terrific people. The last two weeks have been nothing short of magnificent.
RH: How do the reporters and editors at All Israel News provide readers with unbiased news?
TT: I know that the mission that Joel charged all his editors and reporters for allisrael.com is to report the news and have it be fair and factual. We have opinion columns, but not as much as some other websites do. As far as what we do, we want it to be not politically motivated one way or the other. Some articles I read there are not exactly pro-Israeli, but they’re not anti-Israeli.
We cover news and events that impact Israel and the Middle East, and the idea is to do that in a way that appeals to the evangelical world. We are trying to reach out to evangelical Christians, many of whom make pilgrimages to Israel. Some of whom live in Israel.
You know, it’s just filtering everything through a biblical worldview. But to embrace the charming differences between and among the religions. I call it bridge building.
RH: What is at the core of Salem Media Group’s rapid growth and the success of its numerous talk shows?
Tom Tradup: Most of the people I work with, like Hugh Hewitt and Mike Gallagher, are people you would be happy to have as your next-door neighbor. Dr. Sebastian Gorka was a national security strategist for President Trump when he was in the White House. If you read things in The New York Times or The Washington Post, he’s supposed to be some sort of right-wing activist. I find him to be just an interesting guy with a great worldview and a lot of experience in foreign policy.
Charlie Kirk is one of our hosts. He has created one of the largest young activist groups in the country, Turning Point USA. When they have a convention, they generally turn out thousands of young people, college-age or high school-age people, who thirst to get involved in the political system.
Brandon Tatum is one of our guys. He was a Scottsdale, Arizona, police officer for several years. He has two million followers on YouTube. That doesn’t happen if you’re banging the same drum every day.
These are people who have interesting things to say. They are engaging and love talking to men and women around the country. People have a lot of choices, and the great thing about America is that there are choices everywhere.
Our job is to generate the largest possible audience we can and to deliver the most people to our advertisers. We’re pretty good at it; we’ve been doing it for a long time.
RH: How does Townhall’s delivery style differ slightly from other network options like Fox News, CBS News, or ABC News?
TT: Townhall is different because they report news based on what’s happening in the world, not on some political worldview based in a conference room at The Washington Post or The New York Times.
For example, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz (R) may be trying to push forward a motion to vacate as they call in Congress to remove Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House Speaker. Even though they’re both Republicans, they have their differences. Gaetz doesn’t like McCarthy, so he will try to get a vote to remove him. Whether or not that’s going to happen, we have people from both sides talking about this story on Townhall. You don’t hear that on a lot of networks.
For example, when I listen to CBS Radio, invariably, you only hear Chuck Schumer (D-NY). You don’t hear Mitch McConnel (R-KY). Our business model is not geared towards political affiliations. We aim to attract a diverse audience with a thirst for factual information. We believe in presenting the facts and allowing our audience to make their own informed decisions.
On our talk shows, it’s entirely different. We cover breaking news and then explain to people what they should think about it from the viewpoint of our hosts. If you agree or disagree with the hosts, that’s the beauty of talk radio. You pick up the phone, call in, and have a whole country listening while they’re wrong.
But for the news, we just want it to be fair and balanced. I know Fox News probably copyrighted that phrase, but it’s a good one. And that’s what we want.
RH: Who is the most important and influential media figure right now?
Tom Tradup: Charlie Kirk cuts a wide swath through both radio and podcasts. He is hugely successful. I see him on Fox News a lot, I see him on all the major networks. Whenever he goes to a college campus, some nutty activists turn out, trying to muzzle him and block him from making a speech that he was invited to make.
I think Charlie Kirk would probably be the most influential media figure right now because he is having such a big impact not only on the body of politics but, more importantly, on young people who are the next generation of voters. Charlie Kirk is one of the loudest voices of the government’s encroachment on the rights of individuals, and you would think these Antifa or BLM or whatever groups they are on college campuses, you would think they would be happy to have someone like him there because he’s defending their rights to speak as well as his.
But that’s not what happens these days and it’s kind of sad but it’s very scary.
RH: How challenging is it for conservative media outlets to attract new advertisers and establish partnerships when they face censorship and unjust labeling?
Tom Tradup: The selling atmosphere in this country for radio generally, whether it’s talk radio or music radio, is very challenging, probably the most challenging that’s ever been because people have decided, wrongly — in my opinion — that radio is this relic of the past and they need to move into podcasts, or they need to move into digital-only or only on websites.
If you have a media mix that includes everything, you’ll likely sell a lot more pillows, vitamins, and cars. Some agencies are challenging and don’t always want to listen to reason. All we can do is present our case and hope that it works.
We’ve been very successful so far, but I know many people I talk with at other radio networks say the same thing. The answer is to believe in radio.
The NFL is a massive player on network television. The ratings show routinely the league taking up the overwhelming majority of the top 25 most-watched television programs every year. But according to a new study, the NFL on Westwood One also reaches a massive audience.
56 million people will be reached by the primetime radio broadcasts each season, new research reveals.
The study reveals that 7 million alone in the season’s debut weekend consumed play-by-play broadcasts, with that figure expanding to 18 million for the duration of September.
Additionally, 10 million more listeners will accumulate throughout the football season, culminating with Westwood One’s coverage of the Super Bowl.
The Nielsen Scarborough data also suggests that 55% of Thursday Night Football viewers on Amazon Prime Video are not Amazon Prime subscribers. The numbers suggest a total of 64 million Americans will watch some portion of Thursday Night Football this season.
Space City Home Network, previously known as AT&T SportsNet Southwest, will debut in Houston Tuesday.
The rebranded regional sports network has been acquired by the Houston Astros and the Houston Rockets from Warner Bros. Discovery, with the two professional sports teams joining forces to form their own cable outlet. Both the Rockets and Astros have long held an interest in acquiring the network. A report from March of this year claimed the two franchises were working alongside WBD to gain control of the cable channel.
“The change will be a seamless transition for fans as they will be able to continue to access Rockets and Astros games on the same channels they currently utilize,” the Astros said in a statement. “The network will be owned by the Rockets and Astros going forward and will operate as a joint venture of the two organizations.”
“We’ve had a strong relationship with the talent and staff at AT&T SportsNet in broadcasting Rockets games over the years and are excited to have that live on as Space City Home Network,” said Rockets President of Business Operations Gretchen Sheirr. “We’ve worked alongside the Astros and network personnel to ensure this will be a smooth changeover for our fans and look forward to the positive impact this collaboration and local ownership will have on our broadcast.”
The first live game broadcast will take place on Wednesday, October 10th, as the Rockets will open their preseason schedule against the Indiana Pacers. The Houston Astros will make their debut on the network in 2024.
Space City Home Network launches just days before the Astros begin their quest to win back-to-back World Series championships. The Astros will face the winner of the Minnesota Twins/Toronto Blue Jays series in the American League Divisional Series later this month.
For many football fans, Sunday began early with a game from London between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons that kicked off at 9:30 a.m. EST. The game was an ESPN+ exclusive, but fans had a new way to consume the game action through a new, innovative alternate broadcast. “Toy Story Funday Football” featured a fully animated version of the game taking place from “Andy’s Room,” part of the Pixar movie franchise, and assimilated announcers Drew Carter, Booger McFarland, and Pepper Persley within the experience.
ESPN promoted the broadcast over the last several weeks through its various platforms of dissemination, leading many children and adults to tune in to see what the presentation would end up looking like. Outside of some early technical difficulties, feedback towards the game was largely positive and served as an example of The Walt Disney Company using its arsenal of intellectual property across its networks.
The Pat & Aaron Show on 95.3 WDAE discussed the broadcast Monday by listening to a recording of Aaron Jacobson reacting to the game in real-time. Show producer Seth Kushner implored listeners to hear what Jacobson thought by saying that he was “a single adult high and plastered watching the Toy Story game.”
After the show played the audio, Jacobson elaborated on his Toy Story Funday Football viewing experience and shared that he had trouble staying engaged with the broadcast. Although it is tailored toward children, there were several adults who thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and found themselves watching it as well. Jacobson, however, was on the dissenting side of this perspective and expressed as such on the show.
“I truly tried for three minutes and it was like, ‘I don’t get it,’” he said.
Ironically enough, Jacobson posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he was reveling in the broadcast and faced questioning from his co-host, Pat Donovan, about why he changed his tune on the air. The question led him to outline his day, which began at 6 AM by watching the Ryder Cup and having a cup of coffee.
“By 10:30-11, my day is now lunchtime; almost dinnertime,” Jacobson said. “I Mad Dog Russo’d it up – I gummied it. I didn’t even half a gummy, [but] I full-gummied it.”
Jacobson shared that he was “flying” for most of the day, leading Donovan to share that he received a text from an unnamed co-worker that he was intrigued and captivated by the Toy Story Funday Football broadcast.
Jacobson joked that the marijuana may have had an effect on how he viewed the broadcast. Nonetheless, Sunday in Tampa ended up being an enjoyable experience complete with plenty of sports and football activity.
“It was all of it – I didn’t even drink until the afternoon yesterday,” Jacobson said. “It was a great day with a Bucs win [and] hanging out watching all the other games.”
Monday marked a new beginning for Damon Amendolara as it was the first day he co-hosted his new show with Mike Babchik on the Mad Dog Sports Radio channel on SiriusXM, The D.A.Show with Babchik. Amendolara has worked both in local and national radio up until this opportunity and every step along the way has helped him learn something different.
Amendolara was a guest with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on the Mad Dog’s Daily Bite podcast this week and Russo had him take a walk down memory lane of his career heading into this new spot.
When Damon Amendolara got to come back to New York in 2013 to be a part of CBS Sports Radio, he mentioned how it was a dream come true because he got to connect with all different markets and fanbases.
“All of these stops taught me something different. When I was in Kansas City or Boston, I had to totally immerse myself in the local sports scene, or else I would be a fraud, or else I would be exposed. It was a crash course, it was a test every single day because I passed the exam. It honed me and sharpened me. When I got to CBS Sports Radio, it was a dream come true.”
“I got to come back to New York where my friends and family are from. I got to come back home to the city I know and love, but I also got to talk to all these different markets and all these different fanbases, which I truly loved.”
While Amendolara enjoyed getting the chance to talk to local markets on a daily basis, being at CBS Sports Radio allowed him to pick and choose topics nationally and make every day different as opposed to having to talk about one specific topic locally for multiple days.
“It’s a wonderful thing to connect with a local community, but you have to talk about the same thing every single day. I’m talking about if the Patriots need a second cornerback four hours a day for the sixth straight day.
“When I went to CBS Sports Radio, I got to pick and choose a different story for every segment and every day was different. That gave me the juice and electricity I had never felt before.”
As for the current partnership he has with Babchik, Damon Amendolara said that the two of them unite on a common goal for the show which is to talk sports, but also find other ways to connect with a morning audience.
“All these stops, I had to also kind of pull some tricks out of the bag. I had to be a little quirky, I had to be a little fun, and I had to be off-center because I was never the local guy in town that had been there forever. I had to kind of be a little different to catch attention. I think that’s what makes it cool for the morning show.”
“He and I felt the same way. You have to have sports, but you have something else to connect with an audience, especially in the morning.”
iHeartMedia has announced Terry Foxx has been named the Director of Talk Programming for clusters in San Antonio and Austin.
Foxx will be “responsible for redefining” the news and sports talk stations in the Texas markets, which includes News Radio 1200 WOAI and Ticket 760 in San Antonio, and AM 1300 The Zone in Austin.
The San Antonio stations currently serve as the flagship for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and the nationally syndicated news/talk program The Joe Pags Show. In Austin, iHeartMedia serves as the flagship station of the University of Texas Longhorns athletic programs.
“I’m very excited to work with iHeartMedia and its group of stations in Austin and San Antonio, along with the great people that help make it successful. As a native Texan, I grew up listening to WOAI. I’d like to thank Jason McCollim, Chris Berry, Brian Gann, and Brad Hardin for this incredible opportunity,” said Foxx.
“In Terry Foxx, we’ve found more than an expert, we’ve embraced a true team player who values respect as deeply as we do,” iHeartMedia San Antonio and Austin Senior Vice President of Programming Jason McCollim added. “His commitment to bettering our processes is evident, but it’s his unique blend of diplomacy, empathy, and patience in every interaction that truly sets him apart. With Terry, it’s not just about work, it’s about building lasting relationships.”
Foxx joins iHeartMedia after previously serving as the Director of Programming and Audience at KUT-FM in Austin, the public media station owned by the University of Texas. Foxx has numerous years of experience in the sports radio format, leading stations in Charlotte, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh.
