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Joe Dubin is Back Where He Belongs

Peter Schwartz
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Nashville native Joe Dubin was living a charmed life in the sports world, working in his hometown. He was an original host on 102.5 The Game when the radio station launched in 2011. Then, in March of 2015, he joined the local NBC television affiliate. After winning three Emmys along the way, poor management led him to leave in July 2021. He took a job writing for an online publication and then joined the corporate world as a “Talent Strategist Employee Experience Community Relations” guy.

He was making a good living, but couldn’t help but check in on his old life and wonder if he was missing out on something in in his new one.

“I had a great job in the corporate world that paid me a lot of money,” said Dubin. “During downtimes at work, I would check Twitter and I would see the guys and the girls at the games. You come from a world where you’re creative and you’re covering the Titans, Predators and college and now you’re worried about some guy passing a drug test in New Jersey to get a job at the warehouse.” 

So, when the opportunity came up to get back in the game, Dubin jumped at the chance.

Last year, he was back on The Game doing a high school football show and earlier this month he came back to the station full-time hosting The Chase and Big Joe Show weekdays from 9 am to 11 am.

Dubin traded in his life in the corporate world for the life that he had missed. Between his new job at The Game and becoming the radio analyst for Middle Tennessee State University football broadcasts, Dubin is on cloud 9.

That other life just wasn’t him.

“I’m not a cubicle guy,” said Dubin. “I had been wanting to get back in and the opportunity came up with the MTSU football job and getting back on The Game with a lot of my dear friends who I had worked with before was truly a blessing from God.”

One of those dear friends is his co-host Chase McCabe, with whom he has had a relationship since The Game went on the air more than a decade ago. McCabe was originally Dubin’s intern and ultimately became the producer of his show. Dubin returns a version of The Game with McCabe now in charge of the station as Director of Operations and Sports Programming.

“He always had that certain something that you know a person has got and you know they are going to be a success,” said Dubin. and “Chase had that and it proved me right because I was correct about him. There are very few people in this world that I would have come back to work with on a radio show and Chase happens to be one of them.”

When you work on the air in sports radio, there’s generally not a whole lot of interaction with the bosses other than a text or email here and there, a meeting, the occasional pop-in to the studio to make sure everything is okay and special radio station events like live remotes or a community appearance.

In this case, Dubin is working with the boss every day but the dynamic isn’t strange at all.

“It’s not weird,” said Dubin. “It’s different because you respect him because he’s the boss but at the same time, he does a great job of putting that boss hat off for two hours and is just concentrating on the show and now worrying about the external things that he has to do like filling out a grid or making sure that the part-time producers are coming in.”

During our phone interview, Dubin used the word “thankful” on multiple occasions and that really sums up his emotions for being back at The Game and the opportunity to work with McCabe.

“Judge a radio show by a two-hour cab ride, meaning if you’re going to take a two-hour cab ride, which radio hosts would you want to go with you on that ride if you got stuck in traffic?” said Dubin. “Chase was always number one so the fact that this came true is even better because he’s the one guy I would want to be stuck in a cab with and now I’m hosting a show with him.”

The sports talk industry has changed a bit from when Dubin left The Game in 2015 to where it is now as he returns to what is a different landscape. From the world we live in to the technology, sports talk radio is not the same old ballgame from 8 years ago.

“I think politics has divided so many people but what unites us is sports,” said Dubin. “People see sports talk now as a way to put everything else aside and the external things that are happening and let’s just talk sports. We can laugh and we can argue with each other but in a fun and different way.”

Taking calls and reading emails and texts was something that Dubin had to do in his office job, but that life pales in comparison to the rush and passion of talking about sports on the radio. It was something he was meant to do.

And maybe there was a bit of divine intervention that pulled him back in.

“Anybody could have done the corporate job that I had,” said Dubin. “Not many people can do the job I’m doing now. The good Lord said ‘Look you’re past that. Let’s do the radio, let’s do the writing, and let’s do the football color commentary and go for it.’ That’s my talent. That’s my gift. And that’s why I had to get out of the corporate world.”

And now, Dubin is back in the sports talk industry to go along with the MTSU Football gig and writing for 18 different newspapers around the state. One always has to wonder, though, if there’s still a box to check off in the industry.

For Dubin, it doesn’t get any better than what he’s done and what he’s doing.

“I’ve won Emmys in the sports world which I’ve earned and I busted my ass for,” said Dubin. “I’ve been able to host a talk show in my hometown. I get to call college football games on Saturday. I don’t know how it could get any better than what’s happening right now. I’m extremely grateful when my keycard works and I can get in the building. Maybe years down the road, something will come up but right now? Nothing.”

Joe Dubin is no cubicle guy. He’s a radio guy. He’s a sports guy. And he’s doing it in his hometown of Nashville. It’s all music to his ears.

Friday Night WWE Showed Why Endeavor Shelled Out Over $9 Billion

Demetri Ravanos
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There is plenty in this world that you don’t have to get to get that it has real meaning to people. Some of those things are big, like faith or identity. You don’t have to why someone defines his or herself in a certain way to recognize that those definitions are at the core of who they are.

You could say the same thing for more inconsequential things. I enjoy Taylor Swift’s music. I’m not her biggest fan in the world, but I recognize that there are plenty of people who want to be in that conversation. They have turned her Eras Tour into one of the most lucrative ventures in the entertainment business in decades.

When Endeavor agreed to pay more than $9 billion to acquire a controlling stake in the WWE, plenty of people got it. Even if they themselves were not wrestling fans, they recognized that the WWE was a cultural touchstone and money-printing machine.

Anyone who still had doubts should take a look at what happened on Friday night. Last week’s edition of Smackdown was a good reminder of what made WWE so valuable.

Football only has one Super Bowl. We know when and where it will happen years in advance. On Friday night, an unscheduled Super Bowl broke out inside of Ball Arena in Denver.

Dwayne Johnson is one of the biggest celebrities in the world. His star turns in countless Hollywood blockbusters have confirmed that. He has been at the center of everything from a Disney animated movie to the Fast & Furious franchise. His fanbase spans generations, but no one loves him more than the people who know him best as The Rock – the people’s champion.

If you have not seen the reaction to his surprise appearance at Smackdown in Denver, I highly recommend you watch it. 

More than three minutes pass from the time his music hits until Austin Theory starts speaking. The crowd is on their feet the entire time. They are chanting his name for most of it. People at home were transfixed by the whole affair.

THAT is what Endeavor is paying for.

You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to get it. The last time I followed the WWE, it was still called the WWF. The main event at every pay-per-view was some grouping of The Rock, Triple H and Mankind. We are talking about more than 20 years ago. When I saw what was going on on social media, not only did I consume every clip, but I have rewatched them a couple of times. It gives me goosebumps watching the way that crowd responds to the words “If you smell” blaring over the sound system.

In 2023, ABC and ESPN both may be for sale. The biggest star in the sports world chose the MLS. NBA media rights are on the table as the league looks for new TV deals. Any one of those media investments could yield a significant return.

What Endeavor prioritized when it began to consider adding the WWE to its portfolio was the future upside. The WWE has live events. It has characters and stories to license. It offers a combination of revenue streams and controllable action that ensures its most passionate fans will evangelize about the product to anyone who will listen.

Other sports can be at the mercy of bad games. They all have an offseason. Every fanbase has its own agenda and probably isn’t giving its attention to every broadcast of every game. Those aren’t problems for the WWE.

Throughout the promotion’s history, fans have had times when they openly questioned what it is Vince McMahon is trying to accomplish, but they keep coming back. What we saw Friday night is the reason why.

Endeavor didn’t just invest in a business that can generate money through live events, media rights and merchandising. It invested in a business that can make a 42-year-old who hasn’t even thought about its product in 20 years feel like a kid again just by hearing the phrase “if you smell.” That is an emotional connection that is invaluable.

As the Media Landscape Shifts, Should Nielsen Change, Too?

Dr. Ed Cohen
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As the Media Landscape Shifts, Should Nielsen Change, Too?

Those of us who work in the radio business have been familiar with the term “average quarter hour” from the first time we ever looked at Nielsen ratings. You were told how five minutes in the clock quarter-hour would give you credit for 15 minutes. The measure has been around since the earliest days of radio.

As is obvious to anyone, the media world is changing. Some years ago, the national Nielsen data became based on average minute viewing evolving to commercial viewing today. Let’s face it, advertisers make their buys to reach viewers and the programs are just a vehicle to reach them. Separate from any other issues, advertisers want to know how many potential customers saw their spot as well as how many times. That’s before we get into what these potential customers do as a result of seeing the ad.

I’ve never quite understood the difference, but the term used today is “impressions”.  Whenever I’ve asked someone knowledgeable about the difference between average minute ratings and impressions with respect to media, it seems they are the same thing. Of course, it’s not that simple, but let’s leave it at that for the moment to get to my key point.

What would happen if Nielsen ratings were based on average minute estimates rather than average quarter hour? The PPM system can support this as it currently works in thirty-second increments. Would ratings go up or down?

Let’s consider the three differences in an average minute scenario:

–Any listening for less than five minutes within the clock quarter-hour would now be included. That’s a plus.

–Any listening that crosses a clock quarter-hour would now count. For example, if a panelist listens from 7:12 until 7:19 in the average quarter-hour world, the station receives no credit.  In an average minute world, that listening would be credited.

–Any listening between five and fourteen minutes in the clock quarter-hour would now be credited for the actual listening time.  In today’s system, a panelist who listens from 7:00 to 7:05 gets credit for listening from 7:00 until 7:15. In that example, a station would lose ten minutes of listening.

How would it all shake out? Some years ago, internal analyses were run at Arbitron. Based on that work, the best projection was that average ratings would decline by 15 to 20 percent. You read that right: ratings would decline by 15 to 20 percent. The net is that those stray minutes that aren’t currently credited are swamped by the number of “phantom” minutes that would disappear because the listening never actually takes place. However, cume might increase a bit if you only need one minute of listening to be in a station’s cume.

Mull that over for a moment. With the exception of the year or so when many stations installed Voltair systems and ratings were subsequently goosed, radio usage has been in a steady decline for years. You can blame it on any number of factors, whether self-inflicted (long stop sets with too many spots, voice tracking, etc.) or exogenous competition for ears from streaming, satellite, and podcasting. A change in methodology for the PPM markets to put radio on an average minute system which would allow for impressions would cause ratings to decline further.

But then, we need to know about the definition of an impression or more accurately: are all impressions equal?  I’ve worked with the Media Rating Council for many years, either representing a member company or as a representative of a ratings service that is audited. I have great respect for the MRC standards and what the organization does. 

Here’s the MRC’s definition of an impression for online ads: “For a display ad on a browser, at least 50 percent of the pixels in the ad were on an in-focus browser tab on the viewable space of the browser page AND this requirement was met for at least one full second after the ad was rendered”. 

Yes, one full second (you read that correctly). For video ads, it’s 100 percent for at least two seconds with the audio on.

Is two seconds enough for someone to understand what the ad is about and take it in? Of course, many may stick with an ad for a longer period of time, but that is an easier criterion to meet than we have in radio. A full PPM code is nearly five seconds long. The system works in thirty-second increments. And I haven’t mentioned the diary system which seems incapable of moving to anything more granular than average quarter hour.

Before radio moves to average minutes and impressions, we need to understand what will happen and that not all impressions are equal. While there is little momentum for a change today at Nielsen, my guess is that we’ll see it happen sometime in the not-too-distant future. Let’s have our eyes wide open…for at least two seconds.

Let’s meet again next week.

Country Radio Legend Ray Stevens is Ready to Talk on KCMO

BNM Staff
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Country Radio Legend Ray Stevens is Ready to Talk on KCMO

Getting your first radio job is often called the hardest thing to do. However, Ray Stevens has a different perspective. For him, navigating the industry in the post-pandemic era has been challenging. Stevens has been off the air in a full-time capacity since 2019. In that year, when the pandemic had just started, Cumulus Media, the parent company of WLS, the radio station where Stevens worked, decided to let him go. 

Ray Stevens, an award-winning personality — including the prestigious Macaroni Award — had to reinvent himself to remain relevant. He produced podcasts and leveraged social media to promote specific projects.

Additionally, he maintained relationships with advertisers who sought him to voice their commercials on various radio stations in Chicago. Ray Stevens also collaborated with Chicago’s FOX TV affiliate to create a feel-good segment highlighting positive news from around Chicagoland. 

Ray Stevens looks back on that period with gratitude, as he is thankful for persevering through the challenges that came his way. Despite his previous success at large stations and his confidence in his skill set, Stevens knew that he would have to be patient and continuously network to find new opportunities.

Filling in for KCMO’s morning show and host, Pete Mundo, allowed him to develop a deep appreciation for the KCMO audience. He was particularly impressed by the local commercials and believed that the team at KCMO went above and beyond to produce excellent local radio. 

Ray Stevens has landed a great opportunity. KCMO Radio recently revealed that Stevens will be hosting the station’s midday show. This announcement follows Chris Stigall’s announcement of his departure from radio to pursue other opportunities. Stevens is thrilled about his show and the potential of creating similar bonds with his audience as he did during his decades-long tenure at US99 in Chicago. 

In an interview with Barrett News Media, Ray Stevens talks about his path to KCMO, how he handled the adversity of being laid off during the pandemic, the one thing he regrets most in his broadcasting career, and some of the qualities that he thinks make a great talk show host.

Ryan Hedrick: What are your feelings about being named the new midday host at KCMO?

Ray Stevens: I’ve been doing a lot of fill-in work. I would consider myself the main fill-in guy at WLS (AM 890 in Chicago), and I have a weekend show at WLS in Chicago. By way of Cumulus Chicago, guys like Bill Hess (Cumulus Corporate Program Director), Dave Milner (Cumulus President of Operations), and Marv Nyren (Cumulus VP and Market Manager), I met Pete Mundo out in Kansas City.  

The first time I ever listened to KCMO was when it came through my headphones. The thing that got me right away was one, I was listening to myself, but two, I heard the production, I heard the local commercials for local advertisers, and not just the swath of AM commercials that you usually hear, and it was done right.

KCMO has a sales team that works. They have an imaging team that gets it. It’s just a good-sounding radio station. Subsequently, I would fill in for Pete Mundo (KCMO Morning Host and Program Director) whenever he would go on vacation, being that there wasn’t a conflict with WLS at the time.  

And then I met Pete, and he’s just a nice guy. The way he conducts himself on the air, the way he conducts himself off the air. The way he does radio, he doesn’t yell at anybody, it’s intelligence. It’s not a morning zoo, it’s informative, it’s local. You add all that into him being a good guy, and I couldn’t ask for a better situation right now.  

RH: Is there a learning curve for a Chicagoan to understand the priorities of Kansas City residents, and how do you plan to overcome them? 

RS: I used to look at that as a challenge. I come from a parochial town in Chicago that loves its homegrown media. When I fill in in Kansas City, all of a sudden, I start getting Twitter followers. Last week, I got a message from a guy named Travis. He’s in Kansas City and said, “I can’t wait to listen to you every day. I listen to you every time you fill in. It’s going to be a great fit.”

The listeners at KCMO always made me feel at home, and I think that’s probably one of the real reasons why I jumped at the chance to do this. I’m sure there will be a learning curve, but filling in it felt right. Kansas City is a good midwestern town, and I’m a midwestern guy. It’s going to take work, and I’m not afraid of hard work. If you listen to what the listeners say, pay attention to social media, and listen to the producer who’s been there forever, I think I’ll be alright.  

RH: Audacy’s KMBZ dominates the ratings in Kansas City as a top news/talk station. Are there any plans for KCMO to challenge KMBZ’s position? 

RS: I’m a guy who thrives on success, and I think it comes as you work at it. I’ve won Marconi Awards, CMA (Country Music Association), AMA (American Music Awards), and Country Music Broadcast awards; I’ve been number one in Chicago. I think those things come with a dedicated team and a lot of people around you.

Right now, our focus is to do the best two-hour midday show that we can. I’m sure I will be more integrated into what we must do, where we have to go, and what we must do to get there. I’ve worked for the company that was Audacy; I know what they do. I think those talks will come down the road. But right now, let’s get in there and try to do a job as good if not better than Chris [Stigall] did.  

RH: I have noticed a lot of discussion in our industry regarding the qualities that make an audience want to tune into a show. Some people advocate using hard-hitting political talk to grab listener’s attention, but I am curious to know your thoughts on this approach. 

RS: I’ve done talk radio for a long time in a city that hasn’t voted Republican for over 100 years. You can be a conservative, and you can have compassion. I don’t know why many of the guys talk like they are tough guys and say, “We’re right, you’re wrong, and that’s just how it’s going to be.” I don’t agree with a lot of stuff that gets said as you move farther to the left, some of those folks’ opinions.

At the end of the day, we are all in a world where we live together. I think if you can be what I call a “compassionate conservative”, you can reach out and grow your station in other ways. Not everyone will always agree with you, but at least they can say they get where you are coming from.  

In Chicago, I work with the Chicago Street Pastors, where we get into the neighborhoods. These people aren’t listeners of conservative talk radio, but you go in there and do what needs to be done because, although crime is horrible right now, prosecutors are horrible right now. It’s like that in just about every big major city. I think you have to be inclusive with people to get your point across. They might not like your point, but maybe they will respect it at the end of the day.  

RH: You are part of a long line of talented individuals who have excelled as both music jocks and talk personalities. Music jocks tend to thrive in the talk radio format. Why do you think that is? 

Ray Stevens: I think you have to be laser-focused; you have to know what you want to say and do it concisely in a short time frame, and that’s a skill. To be able to do that and to be able to catch people’s attention is a real skill. Probably about a month ago, I had a young lady reach out to me who grew up listening to me on US99 in Chicago (country station). She said, “Would you do me a favor? I would like to fly you and your girlfriend to Dallas to announce the first song at my wedding.”  

I was blown away by that. The first thing I said was thank you because when someone thinks of you on that level, that’s a connection that sometimes you forget you can make when you’re on the radio every day. Streaming will never be able to do that. SiriusXM will never be able to do that. I was really taken aback by the request, but I didn’t want to fly and cost her the money to put me up in a hotel and food and all that stuff.

So, I did a video for her, and she wanted to be introduced to the song by Kenny Chesney, Don’t Blink. It was really an honor to do that for her, and you forget that you can touch people in short bursts of time.  

Everybody wants to be Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Howard Stern, or any of the big guys. The first time I heard [the slogan], “less talk, more music,” on our country radio station, I knew I had to go somewhere else. I think it’s in all of this. If you crack a mic anywhere, I don’t care what sized market it is, you can do talk radio. You look at every record like another talk topic. That’s the way I approach it.  

RH: What is Ray Stevens’ perspective on winning on the radio and having a top-rated show? 

RS: When we are doing stuff that matters to the listener. If it doesn’t matter to their heart, head, or wallet, why are you doing it? We take for granted the time that they give us. So, you need to work your ass off to prep to make sure that you are going to bring them through to the next break.

But more than that, winning is, to me, making the listener first. But, in this day and age, you better be able to go out on a sales call, close a deal, do a good endorsement deal for someone that doesn’t sound like a commercial, and keep the sales staff happy because, whether you like it or not, and it’s never going to change, sales first and then the on-air product.

As a pure radio guy, it hurts me to say it, but that’s the world we live in right now. And as this business continues to consolidate, we need to know that winning looks like great ratings, you have to have revenue, you have to connect with the listeners, and give them something that matters. I always come back to love the listeners and do what’s best for them.  

RH: What is the one experience you regret in your radio career? 

Ray Stevens: I stayed at US99 too long. I worked there for over 24 years. I went from being the night guy to the morning guy to having crazy success with a woman named Lisa Dent, who now does talk on 720 WGN and John Howell. If I had advice for anybody, even though it was a great run and so successful, I wish I would’ve pivoted to talk sooner. Maybe pursue my television work a little sooner.

Radio people are all supposed to be these nomads with a trailer behind their vehicles, and I know this sounds crazy, but I wish I would have done that a little more.  

Shan & RJ Star in FOX NFL Sunday Cowboys Feature

BSM Staff
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Shan & RJ Star in FOX NFL Sunday Cowboys Feature

If you tuned in to FOX NFL Sunday, you might have caught the brief package the show did about the level of optimism in Dallas surrounding the Cowboys. In the package, 105.3 The Fan hosts Shan Shariff and RJ Choppy got some screen time.

Shariff told BSM that it was “a tremendous opportunity” to welcome FOX cameras into the studio in the lead up to the Cowboys home opener Sunday against the New York Jets. He did feel like his colleagues at The Fan also deserved a chance to also be featured.

“We get put into some spotlight because of Jerry Jones and the Star,” Shariff said. “We’ve been doing well in the ratings, but our other two shows have been DOMINANT in their time slots, so they were even more deserving of any national attention.”

As for how Shariff and the show was represented in the minute-long hit, he said the whole angle of the piece was FOX’s idea and they just went with it.

“Of course you have some fans believing in something more after 40-0, but we should all remember…it was still the Giants,” he said.

Kirk Herbstreit: Saturday ‘One of the Most Entertaining’ College GameDay Shows Ever

BSM Staff
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Between The Pat McAfee Show being live on location Friday and College GameDay Saturday morning, ESPN hit the ground running in Boulder, Colorado over the weekend at Colorado University, as Deion Sanders and his Buffaloes hosted in-state rival Colorado State. It was clear the early success of the Sanders-led team captured the attention of many in the sports and music world.

Actor/WWE legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson first joined McAfee Friday, was the guest picker on GameDay and roamed the sidelines at Folsom Stadium Saturday night. Rappers Offset and Lil Wayne were also among the music stars present.

But in addition to that, ESPN pulled out the stops and produced top-notch content in many of the talent’s eyes. Analyst Lee Corso made the 400th headgear pick in the show’s history, and the network put together a fitting tribute to the GameDay tradition. It made Corso emotional as he reacted to the package and reflected on his run on the show.

Kirk Herbstreit felt like this was the best show they’ve put together so far.

After the show, host Rece Davis echoed Kirk’s sentiments.

Corso picked Colorado like everyone else on the desk did. The Buffaloes ended up needing double overtime in a high-scoring penalty fest to come away with the win over Colorado State.

Fred Toucher to Paul Finebaum: ‘We Talk About You More Than the Red Sox’

BSM Staff
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98.5 The Sports Hub hosts Fred Toucher and Rich Shertenlieb finally got their opportunity to be guests on The Paul Finebaum Show last week.

Finebaum’s program, in particular the callers, has been a source of inspiration for Toucher & Rich. Paul asked why they love to pull from the show. Toucher said part of it is the fact that Finebaum makes it a safe haven for fans to speak openly and uninterrupted.

“You’re famous, man and you have an extremely unique show that is a testament to your talent because you allow your callers to speak when anyone else would feel the need to jump in,” he said. “You’re like a good psychiatrist you give space for your patients to speak and let out their inner thoughts. It’s great.”

Shertenlieb said what makes the callers so great is often how the greeting between Finebaum and the callers usually go. It almost always involves the caller saying “Hey Paul,” followed by a short delay, then the conversation.

“It’s like they have to jolt themselves awake,” Rich said. “It’s like the Bama fan gerbil wheel in their head needs a shock, and the only way they can do it is by saying, ‘Hey!’ and waking themselves back up.”

Paul asked what in particular makes for a call that they want to use on their show, and Rich said the names of the callers are what typically piqued their interest.

“I turn it on and the first call I hear I go, ‘That’s the one,'” Shertenlieb said. “Just the names of the callers that you have like, Cat Daddy, Squirrel, I think I just heard you talk to a guy named Expired which like, what is the story behind that?”

“There’s no like, here’s Arnold or here’s like Archibald. It’s always like, a guy who’s got some name that’s probably attributed to a dog of theirs that died or something like that,” he added.

Finebaum said making fun of their show and callers seems to be the only other thing Toucher & Rich do aside from talking about the Red Sox and Patriots.

“We talk about you more than the Red Sox,” Toucher said. “That’s fair. That’s fair.”

“I think it’s just when there’s no real sports to talk about, we don’t talk about sports. I think that’s kind of the thing,” Shertenlieb added. “I can’t make up controversies. I’m not smart enough to come up with takes I don’t believe in. So when the callers call Finebaum, let’s have some fun and let’s examine those things like the Zapruder film.”

Marcellus Wiley on Pat McAfee: ESPN Has to ‘Pay a King’s Ransom’ to Guy They Said No To

BSM Staff
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Marcellus Wiley on Pat McAfee: ESPN Has to ‘Pay a King’s Ransom’ to Guy They Said No To

Marcellus Wiley is immensely impressed with the empire that Pat McAfee has been able to build.

In an appearance on the Athletes & Assets podcast, Wiley said it’s not a slight when he says that McAfee couldn’t get the opportunities on ESPN and FOX like he could originally. Now, McAfee has worked his butt off to become 10,000 times bigger than Wiley is.

“He was a great surfer who caught the biggest wave. The dude’s a talent beyond,” Wiley said particularly about how Pat was able to master utilizing social media to distribute content. “He should’ve been on ESPN but he wasn’t.”

Part of the McAfee story is that Pat did have some chances to commentate on college football games and appear on College GameDay on ESPN. But it just never blossomed into anything bigger at that time. Wiley said credit to McAfee for going and having the initiative to work on it on his own and eventually become a talent ESPN couldn’t turn down.

“Now they’re licensing and buying back the same guy they said no to,” Wiley said. “Now they got to pay a king’s ransom just to get him in the door.”

Matt Fishman Named PD and Ops Manager of 97.1 The Fan

BSM Staff
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The search for a new program director is over in Columbus and 97.1 The Fan did not have to leave the state of Ohio to find their man. Matt Fishman has been named the new PD and operations manager.

“97.1 The Fan and WBNS FM/AM is a special brand that is very important to our community, our stakeholders, and our client partners,” Station Manager Cody Welling said in a press release. “Matt’s love of sports radio and his track record of building strong teams, made him the right choice to lead our very talented group of broadcasters, content creators, and flagship partners.”

Fishman, a former BSM columnist, was in Cleveland. He had been the program director of Good Karma Brands’ ESPN Cleveland since early 2020. He was let go last month.

“97.1 The Fan is a juggernaut of a radio station,” Fishman said. “I’m privileged to get to work with an incredible team, a great lineup, and broadcast partners like Ohio State Sports Properties-Learfield, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Columbus Crew, ESPN, and Westwood One.” 

Mike Greenberg Fulfills Promise to Say F-Word on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’

BSM Staff
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In his first interview since enduring a season-ending Achilles tendon injury, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers expressed optimism that he may be able to make a return to the field this season, claiming that nothing is impossible. Rodgers, 39, suffered the calamitous blow on the fourth play of the Jets’ first offensive drive of the season and underwent surgery on Wednesday in Los Angeles, Calif.

Rodgers is unable to put any weight on the leg at the moment and is relying on crutches, but is looking into different treatment methods to hasten a return as quickly as possible. Despite being injured, he confirmed that he will continue to appear on The Pat McAfee Show for a weekly guest spot on Tuesday afternoons, something he has done for the last four seasons.

ESPN television and radio host Mike Greenberg is an avid Jets fan and was watching the game with network colleagues when Rodgers exited with the injury. Throughout the week, he has been coping with the news and expressing his opinions on both Get Up and #Greeny. In fact, shortly after Rodgers went down, he spoke with McAfee about what the injury could possibly be as he tried to gather himself and focus on the game.

McAfee’s program was streaming on YouTube for its final hour and the host decided to call Greenberg on a live video chat. Greenberg answered the call as he was walking down the street and tried to find a quiet spot to speak on the program. After informing him that the show was live, he expressed his thoughts on what Rodgers had said in the recent interview.

“When Aaron Rodgers intimated that he might come back this year, I just about lost it,” Greenberg said. “I literally just about lost it, and that’s why I texted you what I texted you. I have no idea if that is earthly possible, but if he did; if he could somehow, it would be the most incredible thing that has ever happened, genuinely, maybe in the history of the NFL.”

McAfee then asked Greenberg to expound on what he texted him, knowing that it contained expletives. Greenberg refrains from using profanity on the air, but decided to do so in this instance to express his true feelings towards the situation. Before this instance, Greenberg had never cursed while on a program in his entire career. It is unknown whether or not Greenberg knew that the show was in its final hour and off of ESPN for the day.

“What the hell if there’s a chance he’s going to come back,” Greenberg said. “I texted you, ‘Let’s f*****g go!’”

McAfee, the cast of his show and the crowd watching from afar erupted in cheers in hearing Greenberg react to what had been insinuated by Rodgers. Greenberg had previously promised the host that he would say the F-word in April if Rodgers retired or played on another team than the Jets. Shortly thereafter, the eponymous show host and former NFL punter explained what had just happened to the viewers.

“Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Rogers just said the F-word,” McAfee said, referencing the popular children’s television show. “That is what just happened right there.”

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