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Chris Plante: Media Doesn’t Care About Getting Answers From White House

BNM Staff
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Chris Plante: Media Doesn’t Care About Getting Answers From White House

The investigation regarding the discovery of cocaine in the White House West Wing is ongoing. Chris Plante, a syndicated radio host, criticized the mainstream media for neglecting to report on the controversies surrounding President Joe Biden. 

On Friday, the host of The Chris Plante Show expressed his opinion that the press is struggling to obtain clear answers from the administration regarding the investigation into the individual who brought drugs to the White House. 

“A couple of reporters actually shouted questions at him (Joe Biden), but he just sat there weirdly smirking because he knows there is no accountability for him in Washington,” said Plante.  

According to Plante, White House staff are interrupting reporters and shouting over their questions before they can be fully asked. 

“The junior people in the White House Press Office shout over the reporters, shout them down while telling them to get out of the room,” he said. “Because we’re becoming more and more like the Soviet Union every day.”  

Plante said it’s normal for the people in the press office to end press events after a certain amount of time, but in this case, Biden’s handlers were escorting reporters out after the first line of questions about the cocaine started.  

“Normally, in an American White House, you let the press ask a couple of questions, maybe the president answers in some fashion or another. That doesn’t happen that much with Sleepy Joe [Biden]. They (handlers) shout them (reporters) down, cajole, and more or less shove them out of the room, and no questions were answered because of the Democrat party. They don’t answer a bunch of questions, and the press doesn’t care that much.”  

Harold Reynolds Is The All-Star Week Vet Leading MLB Network’s Young Stars

Derek Futterman
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Harold Reynolds Is The All-Star Week Vet Leading MLB Network’s Young Stars

The Pacific Northwest provides local sports teams with an advantage in its location, necessitating lengthy air travel from most other locales. Major League Baseball fans will turn their attention in that direction this week as the 2023 All-Star Game illuminates the “Emerald City” of Seattle. 

Bringing the heart of the baseball universe to T-Mobile Park, the home of the Mariners, has been a process over two decades in the making. The city last hosted All-Star Week in 2001, the year in which the ballpark opened and when the M’s set the all-time record with 116 regular season wins. Seattle featured eight all-stars in that summer. Harold Reynolds was not one of them. The former Mariners second baseman had been retired from the game for seven years at that point, but understood what the occasion meant to the area.

When he was growing up five hours south in Eugene, Oregon, Reynolds became captivated with the sport and began playing himself. As a college baseball player at the University of San Diego, he took heed of the 1979 MLB All-Star Game from the Kingdome and aspired to be there himself one day and he did – twice. 

In 2001, Reynolds was working with ESPN as a baseball analyst and covered the aforesaid All-Star Game, and he now returns with MLB Network.

“I went to Oregon first and then drove up here,” Reynolds said of his trip to the West Coast. “It takes me back to when I played here, but also I’m really proud to be somebody who grew up in the Northwest and this is our team. To see what Seattle has become and what they’re going to continue to do here is really cool.”

There is, perhaps, no better time for the All-Star Week to arrive in Seattle after the team snapped a vicennial postseason drought in 2021. The fans are right to think the team has a bright future again.

In 2009, MLB Network, a league-owned broadcast entity, launched adopting an all-baseball format. Reynolds was one of the first voices heard on its air.

“The foundation was laid so great,” Reynolds said of MLB Network. “It was going to be that we can talk about all 30 teams [with] the creativity of jumping in and out of games [through] live looks. Nobody was doing that in all of sports, and so that really was revolutionary.”

Reynolds has participated in nearly every studio program throughout his time at the network. This year, he is working with studio host Adnan Virk on the 6 p.m. EST edition of MLB Tonight and modified his preparatory process.

“When you do MLB Tonight [in] the late night, games are on and you’re jumping in and out of games,” Reynolds said. “The difference is being a little more scripted [and] having a plan of what we’re going to talk about – so it’s more set in our meetings than necessarily on the air.”

This past Friday, Reynolds embarked on a new challenge as a commentator on the inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic, presented by T-Mobile and powered by the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation. Joining Reynolds in the broadcast booth was HBCU sports journalist Symone Stanley and the television play-by-play voice of the Mariners, Dave Sims. Seattle legend and Reynolds’s former teammate Ken Griffey Jr. also participated in the broadcast on the field, corresponding from the visiting and home dugouts.

“We are the spokesmen and ambassadors for the sport,” Reynolds said of MLB Network. “This is just another marking for us being able to show off, so to speak, our sport. When you can collaborate with Ken Griffey Jr. and he puts his name on something and Major League Baseball says, ‘Yeah, we’re in,’ and the Network gets to air it, that’s when we’re the best.”

Aligning with All-Star Week is the presentation of the MLB Draft from Lumen Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks. This year’s iteration of the event, which took place on Sunday, marked the third time the draft is being held at All-Star Week.

Reynolds was selected by the Mariners with the second pick of the 1980 MLB Draft. Many of his MLB Network colleagues were also drafted and understand the importance of the event and yield mentorship to its players. A similar premise holds true at MLB Network when new personalities have been added to its on-air lineup and benefited from an environment of congeniality and collaboration.

“I always say that I didn’t think I would love to do my job and my second career as fast as I [have],” studio analyst and former first baseman Yonder Alonso said. “I’m so deep into it where it’s like I want to be great at it.”

Alonso played 10 seasons in the major leagues, primarily with the San Diego Padres, but he also had a stint with the Seattle Mariners in the second half of the 2017 season. Having starred with seven franchises, he became familiar with many of the athletes around the league and estimates he played either with or against 90% of the players he covers. 

Since joining MLB Network in 2021, Alonso has honed his craft by adopting a similar approach to how he prepared to take the field. Before most broadcasts, he arrives promptly to watch games, conduct research, take notes and ask questions from his colleagues. When the lights turn on and the show goes live, he tries to deliver his analysis in an enjoyable manner while maintaining a perspicuous reverence for the game.

Every time he makes a contribution on the air, he keeps a 10-second clock in the back of his mind, a figure he ascertains is the amount of time he has to make an impression on a viewer before they turn the channel. 

“At all times, I always feel like I have to be on to make sure that if I do get each of those 10 seconds, they’re always the best 10 seconds that you can watch or learn something from the game of baseball.”

On Monday morning, Alonso will utilize his relationships with active players and familiarity with the evolving nature of the sport on a special edition of MLB Tonight from All-Star Media Day. Throughout the afternoon, Alonso will interview a variety of perennial and first-time All-Stars. Later that day, he and Reynolds will be on the MLB Tonight set to interact with the All-Stars from inside T-Mobile Field.

“When you are on the road, it’s so much fun [and] it feels like a college game day,” Alonso said. “You kind of get your heart pumping, you’ve got the fans on top of you [and] you’ve got all the players [with] all the access…. It’s a whole event not only just for them, but it’s a celebration for a very good first half of the season that everybody has been involved with.”

A unique aspect of MLB All-Star Weekend is the annual Celebrity Softball Game, granting local and national luminaries a chance to step outside of their comfort zones and compete with former big leaguers. In this year’s event, WWE personality Michael “The Miz” Mizanin, actress JoJo Siwa and musician Yandel were among the competitors covered by MLB Network. Lauren Gardner and Robert Flores return as the commentary tandem after working together last year, and now have a more discernible idea of the nuances of the eccentric event.

“The key to covering it is to be completely in the moment and try and just be the ringleader in what is very much so a circus,” Gardner said, “but it’s the most entertaining one you’ll get to see all year long.”

Gardner was juggling a surfeit of jobs in the early stages of her career in sports media and now finds herself with a national outlet hosting her own afternoon show, Off Base. The program is geared towards younger fans, a group MLB seems intent on chasing.

Indeed, rule changes implemented before the start of the regular season have expedited the pace of play and proliferated offensive output while ameliorating average attendance figures. Yet an emphasis on the culture surrounding baseball has fueled part of the growth, akin to other professional sports, and bolstered the marketing potential of generational talents. Gardner’s cousin encapsulated the intent of the show when giving his feedback, and his words are etched into her memory.

“He said, ‘It was like watching [me] and my friends sitting around and discussing the things that we would typically discuss,’” Gardner recalled. “Oh by the way, you have the added value of former players and analysts in the mix so they can give a different perspective and that valuable insight, but doing it in a very fun and relaxed manner.”

From her time covering minor league hockey on the radio to cheerleading for the Denver Broncos and serving as an in-game host for the Colorado Rockies and Colorado Avalanche, Gardner gained invaluable perspectives of different industry niches. When she served as a local correspondent for NHL Network, Gardner saw an opportunity to grow and contacted the broadcast entity to see if she could do more. Following two auditions, she began hosting for DAZN, MLB Network and NHL Network – all based out of a joint broadcast facility in Secaucus, N.J. Over four years later, she has refined her craft and become even more versatile, rendering her adept to make the trip to Seattle.

“The more that I’m just myself, the better and the easier and the more you’re kind of just in flow with what’s happening,” Gardner explained. “[If] you put in the work and you’re as creative as possible and you try to be the best teammate you can be, it doesn’t matter what level you’re at. In baseball, they say, ‘You get called up, but the game doesn’t change.’”

Applying her ability to penetrate beyond solely discussing game action, Gardner will be on the red carpet ahead of the Midsummer Classic catching up with the All-Stars. Reynolds will also be on hand to provide his perspective as a former player, but both know the inherent value of the event comes in bringing out personalities and emphasizing clothing ensembles.

“Why does Francisco Lindor change his glove and his shoes every night?,” Reynolds posed. “Well, come to the red carpet and you get an understanding of his fashion sense and his personality.”

“I think fashion is such a beautiful form of self-expression and [finding out] why they chose to rock that look,” Gardner added. “It’s just so much fun [in] kind of letting them be the guide.”

Throughout the whirlwind of MLB All-Star Week, MLB Network and numerous other broadcast entities are producing unparalleled content to effectively cover the proceedings. Other professional sports leagues have followed the league’s paradigm and optimized their showcase to be more conducive for consumers in the 21st century. Despite never covering the National Hockey League All-Star Game, Gardner has watched it from afar and discussed it during studio coverage as an NHL Network host. She likens the NHL All-Star Skills Competition to the Home Run Derby, both of which celebrate particular aspects of the sport, and appreciates players wearing microphones and communicating directly with the broadcast booth in the course of gameplay.

FOX has the television broadcast rights for Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game, marking its 24th broadcast of the landmark event. MLB Network, however, will present extensive pregame and postgame coverage on its flagship program, MLB Tonight. The network has annually had its analysts and camera operators roam the field in batting practice to conduct interviews with the players as they prepare for the game. Alonso, Pedro Martínez, Albert Pujols and Chris Young will be interacting with All-Stars, cultivating indelible moments by obtaining a firsthand look at their routine on the field. The advantage Alonso and Pujols have is in playing first base, a position where conversation abounds when runners find a way to reach.

“I love talking to the guys that can’t speak the language in English because a lot of these guys – they don’t get to talk that much so if I do have them in front of me, I always like to hear what their mindset is all about, especially in a moment like the All-Star Game [and] also just the festivities,” Alonso said. “I try to get the most out of the players.”

Reynolds remembers having a discussion with Los Angeles Angels stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani last year and talking about what it was like to be teammates. As they have assimilated into the network, Alonso and Gardner are building rapport with players and conducting unforgettable interviews and bringing fans compelling content. 

“They want something that’s real and that’s relatable,” Gardner said. “It’s kind of funny – you can have all the training in the world as a broadcaster, and I think what I’ve found as I’ve become more and more successful is what resonates with people is that you kind of let any guard down and you’re just your most authentic self.”

Reynolds maintains his chemistry with players in the offseason on MLB Network’s morning program, Hot Stove, which he hosts with Matt Vasgersian. As time has progressed, Reynolds has established friendships with players and personnel from around the league while building a sense of trust. Additionally, he has been open to discussing the transition from playing to broadcasting with athletes, including Alonso, and guides those new on the job.

“Don’t feel like you need to start broadcasting right now,” Reynolds said he tells active players. “That’s going to take care of itself. You go play your sport. You have a small window of time. Do it, go enjoy it [and] broadcasting will be there later.”

As the National League tries to snap a nine-game losing streak in the annual exhibition contest, MLB Network will be on hand to mark the unofficial halfway point of the season. Leading up to the resumption of regular season play on Friday, programs recapping the best of the first half and previewing the second half of play and postseason pushes will take the air. In the present moment though, Reynolds, Alonso and Gardner are immersed in the action from the peripatetic nucleus of the sport.

Pat Donovan Is Going to Ride The Goon Squad To The Top

Peter Schwartz
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Pat Donovan Is Going to Ride The Goon Squad To The Top

It doesn’t seem that long ago that the team of Pat Donovan and Aaron Jacobson were doing a podcast called The Benchwarmers before either of them were heard on air in any significant way for iHearMedia in Tampa. Eventually, the podcast grew into something bigger.

“It’s been amazing,” said Donovan. “We hit it off right away. We kind of grew it to eventually ‘Maybe people should know what our names are and call the show the Pat and Aaron Show’”.

Well, the Pat and Aaron Show eventually grew from a podcast into a Saturday radio show on WDAE and then into a full-time weekday slot four years ago. This past November, the duo moved to drive time when they took over the morning show.

And now, Donovan is the recipient of a new three-year deal.

“I’m psyched about it,” said Donovan. “At the end of the day, they know I want to be at iHeart long-term and I want to be at WDAE long-term. I’m pretty happy about it.” 

Sometimes, when a show is moved from another daypart into the morning slot, there is a certain amount of adjustment that needs to take place. During most of the dayparts for an all-sports radio station, the content is almost strictly about sports. For a morning show, there is generally a mix of sports and pop culture.

In this case, Pat and Aaron were already doing a lot of pop culture…or BS as Donovan likes to call it.

“That was kind of a big part of what worked for us in middays,” said Donovan. “We actually got our first ratings bonus during the pandemic when there were no sports happening at all because of our ability to kind of BS.” 

When the show was elevated to mornings this past November, the hosts actually had to dial back the level of BS that they were delivering.

“We had to kind of realize that you need to be a little bit more informative in the morning because, at the end of the day, there were people who went to bed early the night before and didn’t see the game,” said Donovan.

The audience has always loved the combination of sports and BS. It is a very passionate and loyal fan base that has come to be known as the “Goon Squad”. 

When Pat and Aaron were doing weekends, the callers started to give themselves that nickname. That’s how the hashtag #goonsquad was born. It was the energy of the callers and the listeners that helped the show morph into something special.

“That kind of community that we built with our audience, that goon squad if you will, has really helped elevate us,” said Donovan.

In the fall of 2019, Brew Hub in Lakeland, Florida created a Goon Squad IPA. It became one of the most wanted beers in the company’s history. It was originally intended to be a temporary promotion, but sales took off in a big way.

“It was supposed to be a one-off for (the brewery’s) anniversary years ago and it’s now on the shelves of every Publix in Florida,” said Donovan. “It’s one of the top-selling craft beers in the region right now. I’d like to think that part of that is because of the growth of our audience.”

How much do Pat and Aaron love their audience?

Enough that when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV in Tampa in February of 2021, the boat parade came together very quickly. There were many fans who had to work that day. At the time, Pat and Aaron were doing the middays. That meant that some of their listeners needed to get the day off from work in order to go to the parade.

“We were able to call people’s bosses at work and bother them and say ‘hey so and so really needs the day so they could go celebrate the Bucs winning the Super Bowl so can they get the day off?’” said Donovan. 

“We got a bunch of people the day off from work so they could go to the Bucs’ Super Bowl parade. A small part of that memory will always be ‘Hey I was at the Super Bowl parade because Pat and Aaron got me the day off’ and I love that.”

Speaking of the Bucs, Donovan’s new deal also solidifies his role as a part of the Buccaneers’ radio broadcasts on sister station FM 98 Rock. Being a part of an NFL broadcast team was always on Donovan’s to-do list and now that is reality.

“I eventually would love to do play-by-play for the NFL as well,” said Donovan. “To be able to earn the opportunity to be considered a pre- and post-game analyst for Buccaneers radio, when a lot of times that’s the kind of position that goes to a former player, has been incredibly rewarding.” 

The Bucs’ Super Bowl LV victory over Kansas City was just part of a recent run of great success for the local teams in Tampa.

In addition to Tom Brady helping to bring the Lombardi Trophy to town, the Tampa Bay Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021. The Tampa Bay Rays also continue to be one of the best teams in baseball. It’s a run that includes making it to the World Series in 2020.

There’s this idea that having to talk about losing teams can create great radio, but the last few years in “CHAMPA BAY” have proven that to be anything but the truth.

“It’s funny because a lot of people believe that losing creates good radio and it can, but I don’t believe it’s more fun,” said Donovan. “To have this era of just winning and showing the sports world that ‘hey, this city matters in a big way’ was really important to the fan base and it was so much fun. People think you get great radio from losing but I feel like we were able to get great radio from winning.”

And now the goal is to take that great radio to new heights in the Tampa Bay area.

As they worked their way up the ladder at WDAE, the objective was to get to mornings and now that box has been checked. The immediate goal is to continue to generate great content each day for the goon squad.

Pat and Aaron want that passion to grow and spread so that the show can challenge for the top spot in town.

“Anybody who is in anything competitive, you want to be the best. We’re in a market with a guy like Mike Calta who is a radio legend and has dominated mornings for a long time,” said Donovan. “That’s the reality in Tampa Bay.  That’s the goal – to be number one. I think we’re doing pretty good. Now it’s just about chipping away until we’re the best.”

Now with a new three-year deal, perhaps the best has yet to come for Pat Donovan.

ESPN Has Already Cut College GameDay Stars, Could Cutting an Hour Come Next?

Garrett Searight
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ESPN Has Already Cut College GameDay Stars, Could Cutting an Hour Come Next?

College GameDay is an institution. There’s no way around it. Even the most ardent Anti-ESPNer would list the show in the “things ESPN does right” column.

But what does the future hold in store for the program as the 2023 college football season nears?

In the ESPN layoffs, a pair of College GameDay stalwarts — analyst David Pollack and reporter Gene Wojciechowski — were cut. I’m not ignorant enough to think that there was more to these cuts than simply dollars and cents, but I question how much foresight went into the decision to lay off two of the program’s essential pieces to the first hour.

First, in Pollack’s case, he brought a much-needed, almost recent player perspective to the show, which is saying something. Pollack ended his college football career in 2005…which if you’re not counting, is the better part of two decades ago. And when “I played more than 20 years ago” is the youngest analyst you’ve got, you’ve got a problem.

But the majority of Pollack’s work on the program came in the first hour, which debuted in 2010. If you viewed the first hour as a separate program from the two-hour Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit show that it essentially was, Pollack was the show’s defacto lead analyst.

In the case of Gene Wojciechowski, features he reported on produced were often essential to the first hour of the show. The man excelled in telling the untold stories — whether heartwrenching or lighthearted — and, along with Tom Rinaldi, became synonymous with what made the program the college football show of record.

So the question remains: where does the first hour of College GameDay go from here? It’s just simply not possible that the show punts on the 9:00 AM ET hour, right?

When I played out the conversation inside the walls of the Worldwide Leader in my head, I envisioned someone saying “We’re dropping the first hour of the show, right?”, followed by an executive saying “No. We can’t. We make too much money on the show to drop it down to two hours”.

Which would have me questioning why two of the biggest contributors to the show saw their positions eliminated, but that’s a topic for a different day.

But genuinely, I don’t know where College GameDay really goes from here. Do Rece, Desmond, Kirk, and Corso just expand their time on the show to a complete three-hour show? God bless Lee Corso, but we need to start seeing less of him — not more — in 2023.

The format of the show lends itself to having more voices, more contributors, more perspective, and hyper-focused topics on the location of the show. But now two of the key cogs that fit into that format are gone.

College GameDay’s first hour can serve as a proving ground for future contributors. Will ESPN fill the shoes vacated by Pollack and Wojciechowski? They certainly have to do something. I just wonder if the first hour becomes an introduction to the location, an introduction to the biggest shows of the college football weekend, an interview with the visiting coach for the game of the day, an interview with the home coach, and a football follies segment before the real meat of the show begins.

The other possibility is ESPN simply returns to starting the show at 10:00 AM ET, and goes completely head-to-head with Big Noon Kickoff.

Or…wild card! ESPN hosts a two-hour College GameDay from 9:00-11:00 AM ET, and kicks off the worst Eastern time zone SEC game of the week at 11:00 AM to get a jump start on the college football day. The constant talk about the next Pac-12 TV contract is creating the coveted 4th window of the day. Would moving the first kickoff of the day up to 11:00 AM ET help make the 4th window more accessible? Hell yeah, it would.

Now, I don’t view either of those last two situations as realistic. But I do wonder what the future holds for College GameDay — and specifically the first hour — after layoffs affected ESPN’s most popular program.

Susan Richard is Making History at 1010 WINS

BNM Staff
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Susan Richard is Making History at 1010 WINS

The exceptional storytelling skills of Susan Richard are evident from her ability to deliver the news as an anchor for Audacy’s 1010 WINS. She has achieved unparalleled success within the station’s 58-year history, climbing the ranks over 25 years. Her greatest strength lies in her ability to remain true to herself, even when delivering heart-wrenching news to the people of New York.  

Richard was broadcasting live on December 14, 2012, when an armed individual entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and tragically killed 26 individuals, including 20 children. Recounting the incident, she vividly recalls the moment as if it occurred just yesterday. The memory of the producer’s voice in her ear, directing her to relay the information verbatim from the chat, remains etched in her mind.  

After the incident, a listener emailed Ben Mevorach, the News and Programming Director at the time, to express gratitude towards the station and Richard for her real approach to delivering the news. This experience helped Richard realize the significance of authenticity in news reporting.

It’s worth noting that unlike many media brands today, 1010 WINS delivers straightforward news reporting, just the facts. The brand holds great importance in the community, given that it serves a city with a population of nearly 20 million people. WINS has evolved in its commitment to delivering news around the clock, earning it numerous accolades and credibility in the industry.   

Richard, who initially wasn’t interested in news, started her career at WFAS FM/AM. In 1994, she was named Program Director. She may not have known then that she was making history as the first female program director on the FM side of the station. Coming from a two-parent household, she was taught that hard work and determination can lead to success.

Years later, at 1010 WINS, she expressed to Chris Oliviero and Ben Mevorach that she wanted to break the glass ceiling as the first female, top-of-the-hour morning news anchor in the station’s history. She believed she deserved the job based on her skills and abilities, not just for the sake of history and legacy.  

During an interview with Barrett News Media, Richard discusses her recent promotion, the distinctiveness of New York City’s radio market, the importance of radio writing, the significance of storytelling in her daily communication with listeners, the relevance of 1010 WINS’ social media presence, and her involvement in animal rescue advocacy. 

Ryan Hedrick: Your promotion to the top-of-the-hour morning news anchor for 1010 WINS is a tremendous achievement. As the first woman to hold this role in the station’s 58-year history, could you share with us your thoughts?   

Susan Richard: The radio station is six months younger than me. For many, many years, radio, TV, and broadcasting, in general, was a man’s business, and that’s just the way it was. The playing field is much more level now. At 1010 WINS, we have a 50/50 split, both men to women, on the air and off the air. I will say, thanks to Ben Mevorach (Vice President of News) and Ivan Lee (Brand Manager), we also have a more ethically and culturally diverse on-air and off-air staff than we have ever had, and I have been at the station for 25 years.   

RH: What makes New York City radio unique besides being the largest market in the world?  

SR: New Yorkers are very in your face, right? We are unashamedly in your face, in a great way. We may have a reputation, but it comes from a place of love and joy of life. 1010 WINS really embodies that in an audio way, in an audio sound. I liken us to a Top 40 station doing the news. We give you the hits, we give you the most important news of the day, and we do not waste your time. We crank it out; just like three-minute songs, we are cranking out those stories. The news that you need from, as we say, ‘The people that you trust,’ in a way that is so New York.   

I love that about our station because it’s got that high energy, fast-moving vibe. It’s like you can always tell when a New Yorker is wading through Times Square. They are weaving in and out of the tourists. They’re like, ‘Get out of my way.’ It’s like that on the air for us. We don’t mess around with it [the news]; we don’t waste your time. I can’t speak to the other philosophies on other radio stations, but that’s the vibe on 1010 WINS, and it’s a very New York vibe.   

RH: As a resident of New York, how does your connection with the city influence the subjects you choose to cover in your reporting?  

SR: Our editorial staff does the [news] lineup. Our editor, Jim Maloney, who’s fantastic, does the lineup. I’m not doing story choices, but we have a conversation all the time. I’m writing the news; I write all my own news. Having spent my entire career in the tri-state area, whether it was Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, or New York, I have a real understanding. I think I can be more on the pulse of the various communities of the Tri-State, which differ.   

I lived in the suburbs, I lived in Westchester for six years, and I worked on Long Island; it’s different, and people’s priorities may be different than somebody who grew up in Queens or now living in Manhattan or somebody that may be living in Brooklyn, Bronx, or Staten Island.

Having spent my entire career here and going to NYU, I get it. I can go with the flow of different stories and understand the needs of the listener in communicating that specific story to them. That gives me an edge as opposed to someone that may be an out-of-towner.   

RH: Could you provide some insights on why writing for radio is essential and the challenges that come with it, especially compared to other forms of journalism?  

SR: The thing about writing for radio is that as much as we can, it’s most interesting to the listener when we let the sound that we use help to tell the story. That is a very specific art form that is different from television, where it’s mostly the visuals telling the story. They can’t see it on the radio, so it’s theatre of the mind. We need to do it with our descriptive words, the facts we’re conveying, and the use of sound.   

There will be times when I have a story, and I’ll ask, ‘Can I get the cut where Joe Shmoe says this’ because that cut tells the story in a more interesting way. We also use music underneath stories or sound effects or whatever because it is theatre of the mind, and that’s unique to audio, not just radio, but any audio communication. That kind of sculpting of a story is not something that AI (Artificial Intelligence) is going to be able to do. When it comes to human communication, which is what we’re doing here, you need humans for human communication.

RH: What has been the driving force behind your motivation and engagement in your career with 1010 WINS since 1998?  

SR: I go to work every day, and I don’t know what the work of the day is going to be. I don’t know what the news stories themselves are. The specific lineup is fresh every day. So, every day I go in, and the show is a brand-new show that I get to sculpt because I’m writing my own news from scratch. And so, the 20-25 stories in my half-hour lineup is an opportunity to create as part of this art form every single day. You never know what’s going to happen, you never know when a story is going to break, and so I’m certainly always on my toes.   

RH: Can you share your experience of 9/11 and describe your role at 1010 WINS on that day?  

SR: I was a part-timer on 9/11. I wasn’t working that day, but when I saw what happened, I immediately called the station and was told to stand by. It was just a big scramble. You have to realize that in 2001, everything was on carts; you had to cart-up sound. We had paper scripts; we were writing in digital software, but then you literally printed the script. In some ways, back in 2001, it took a little longer for the news to get on the air because everything wasn’t digital. Now, it’s all digital, and if sound comes in, I drop it in my newscast and play it; there’s no time lag.   

I remember calling the station, and they said stand by, and I remember telling myself I can’t just stand by. So, I grabbed my Sony Walkman, I had bought a special one with a mic input. I grabbed my little RE-15 mic, plugged it in, and ran outside. I was on the Upper Eastside and ran around the corner to the Food Emporium, and the line was halfway around the block.

There were a million people in that supermarket, and nobody wanted to talk to me. So, these two guys came out of the Food Emporium, and it turns out they had evacuated the Citicorp building. I talked to them, got some good sound, and ran back upstairs, and I literally held the speaker of my Walkman to the phone to feed the sound through the phone [to the radio station].  

After that, I went to the station, and I just started pulling different angles of the story as sound was coming in, writing a script with the cart, and running it into the studio. A lot of it [coverage] was just live. We had reporters at the scene; we had various people interviewing live on the air.

I ended up being on the air that night at 9 o’clock. What was interesting about 9/11 was we went wall-to-wall with no commercials for two weeks. We didn’t play a single commercial, and they simulcast us for two weeks on 102.7 FM at the time. The format clock, as it exists now, completely got upended. We weren’t doing sports; we weren’t doing business reports; we were wall-to-wall with this story.   

You have to remember that in 2001, not everybody and their uncle had a Blackberry. Did phones even get internet back then? I don’t even know. But not everybody necessarily had a computer. At:15 and:45, when we were normally doing sports at the time, we were literally reading phone numbers on the air or places where they had addresses of family information centers for people to go to report somebody missing, just basic information that people needed.

It wasn’t giving out websites; it was giving out phone numbers for things. I remember at 12, 32, and 52 when we usually do the Accuweather forecast, we were doing special anchoring. We had special anchors in, so it wasn’t just the person on the air anchoring; we had other anchors doing the national and international angles of the story. So, the clock, within a couple of days, to then Mark Mason was the head of programming and, to his credit, quickly became a different format clock, and it was all about 9/11.   

That, really, to me, is the beauty of 1010 WINS. In the 25 years that I’ve been there, the same happened when we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We had a war-format clock. The station, when it needs to, can completely upend its normal format, and still be 1010 WINS, and still be the brand.

So, when people tune in, they know what they’re listening to because the brand is still the same, and that takes excellent programmers like Mark Mason, Ben Mevorach, and Ivan Lee. It takes talent that understands the brand and knows how to be on the air and ebb and flow, depending on what’s happening in the news today.   

RH: Social media has drastically altered journalism. Share your perspective on the impact of social media on this realm and how it affects your duties at 1010 WINS.  

SR: Social media can be an incredibly positive thing. As somebody who blogs about animal rescue, I will tell you it has been great for the animal rescue world. Like everything in life, it can be for good, or it cannot be for good. It depends on how you use it. The opportunity for outlets like WINS is tremendous because every year, people are aging in and out of your target demo, so you need to make sure that those younger people who are aging into your target demo know about you. Where are they going to find you? Probably on social media.   

So, it’s a great way to make sure that your branding on those platforms is on point and interesting and inviting enough that they then come around to the broadcast side and then meet you on the radio. We have to be on social media, and we have to do a good job. We have to have a slick, professional presentation that is still on brand on social media. I think the challenge on social media, in terms of news, is still misinformation and fake news, which makes me crazy.

It makes me crazy when I hear somebody that saw something on TikTok that is completely false, and they take that as gospel; that really makes me crazy because It’s dangerous; it’s just dangerous. To that end, for legitimate media brands like 1010 WINS to double down and make sure we have our act together on social media, make sure that we are getting in people’s faces on social media so they know this is what we say on the air, it’s not just a line, ‘The station you know, the people you trust.’ That’s not just an imaging statement; that’s got to be who we are.  

RH: Have you noticed any changes in your audience since WINS switched to the FM dial?  

SR: You would have to talk to Ben [Mevorach] about that. It’s my understanding that the ratings are up, and the audience is growing, I don’t have the specific numbers about demographics. But I am so excited that we are on the FM! For me, that was the greatest moment to be on the air, the moment we switched. It’s so exciting, and it was so exciting on July 4. We broadcast music every year, and it sounded so great on 92.3 FM. It wasn’t like Rice Krispie, snap, crackle, pop, radio. Being on the FM is just fantastic.   

RH: What advice would you give aspiring journalists and broadcasters looking to make a name for themselves in the field?  

SR: Learn how to write, learn how to tell a story. For broadcast, learn how to write a story that is verbal storytelling. It’s a different kind of writing than print. The second thing is, don’t wait until you graduate from college to get your first job. Whether your school wants you to do an internship for credit, do it!

Work for free. That’s what I did. I was Shelli Sonstein’s intern at WPLJ, and that was the first thing that I did. She wrote the news out of the WABC newsroom when WPLJ and WABC were sister stations, and that’s how I got my first desk assistant job at WABC.    

From that, I sent out my first airchecks from WNYU to WFAS and got a stringer’s job at WFAS. While I was a stringer there, there was a breaking story about an abandoned chemical warehouse that was about to blow.

I covered that story for WFAS, and I remember telling the news director at the time of WABC, ‘Hey, I’m covering this story for WFAS. Do you guys want wraps for tomorrow morning?’ That was how I got onto the air in New York. I did college radio wraps and put a WABC outcue on them.   

I remember, Gil Gross was doing the morning show, and I went into the radio station that morning. I believe I was the desk assistant that morning, and so I hadn’t slept at all. I was pissed off because my story was not the lead story (laughs).   

RH: Are there any projects or events that you are currently working on and would like to share?  

SR: My website is susanrichard.com. You can hear a whole bunch of audio from 1010 WINS. You can hear my most recent interview with Mayor Adams, which by the way, was quoted in the New York Times. You can check out my acting work that I do. There’s some video on there of some stuff that I’ve done. Also, check out allforanimalstv.com.   

It’s Time for a Ratings Joint Industry Committee

Dr. Ed Cohen
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It’s Time for a Ratings Joint Industry Committee

Every so often, audience research gets interesting and captures the attention of the industry.  Right now, the attention is on video and its components (broadcast television, cable, streaming, etc…). What we’re really seeing is that capitalism works, in other words, competition is good for the marketplace. Nielsen is being challenged by numerous ratings competitors, all of which are trying to measure some aspect of video.

Meanwhile, the users of the data have come together to form a Joint Industry Committee (JIC). You’ve probably not heard of a JIC before, but these are common in other countries that don’t have the same antitrust laws we have in the US. In a JIC, a committee of data users (content providers, agencies, advertisers) requests bids for one service to be the official measurement for a medium for a period of years. 

It’s a monopsony (one buyer, multiple sellers), the opposite of a monopoly.  Monopsony is one of those words you can throw around to attempt to sound intellectual if you’re of that bent. In the past, there hasn’t been a US JIC because it was assumed it would run afoul of antitrust laws. The US government tends to look askance at monopolies, or in this case, a monopsony, which could be interpreted as an attempt by a group of competitors to fix prices.

Nonetheless, buyers and sellers in the video industry have formed what they call a Joint Industry Committee and rather than trying to anoint one service, are in the process of setting criteria for multiple suppliers/vendors who want to work with the committee. Recently, the committee put out a release adding some detail about requirements for cross-platform currencies. If you’re not aware, cross-platform simply means measuring people as they use multiple media and platforms, for example, streaming and online (websites). It’s not easy to do. Just think about your own media usage: how many different platforms do you use in a day?  A week?  How can advertisers best reach you without overspending?

To my way of thinking, the JIC is a good idea, but two pieces are missing. One is Nielsen, which has chosen to pass on participating. Their response letter to the committee cited “fundamental legal, operational, and scientific issues”. 

Meanwhile, there are plenty of smaller companies and startups that want to be part of the JIC’s process, but Nielsen will not be involved, at least for now. The other missing piece is a medium called “radio”.  Substitute “audio” if you wish, but once again, the medium is not part of the discussion.

Our industry cheerleaders talk about the incredible reach of radio/audio, which, if you believe Nielsen, is true. The audiences, while declining over the years, continue to be big, and audio still has a “bright shiny object” in podcasts, which agencies and the trade press love, even if some of the sheen is starting to tarnish a bit. Yet when new measurement entrants come along, it’s for online and video. 

It’s been nearly ten years since Nielsen closed on the acquisition of Arbitron. To paraphrase a major highlight of Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 campaign against Jimmy Carter, you should ask yourself with respect to our radio ratings system: “Are you better off than you were ten years ago?” For most people in the business, that answer is probably a resounding “no”. 

As I’ve said to colleagues in the industry, Nielsen sees radio as a cash register. While there is no doubt that data collection costs have risen, Nielsen has been able to do more with less. If you’re interested in profitability, you can look at the old Arbitron financial results (it was a public company) and make a few assumptions. The business is very profitable. 

Are there competitors today? Eastlan is still in business measuring a number of small markets. Mike Gould has wisely carved out a niche by staying “below the radar” with respect to Nielsen. However, if Eastlan ever attempted to take on Nielsen directly, it would be a case of “poking the bear”.

History reminds us of former competitors. I was at Birch/Scarborough when the plug was pulled in late 1991. Kurt Hanson tried to make a go with Accuratings after Birch’s demise. Pre-Arbitron acquisition, Nielsen was coaxed into the radio measurement business by Cumulus.  After a couple of years, that effort ended. 

Recently, a Canadian startup, StatsRadio, tried to enter the fray. Last I heard, they were out.  In the meantime, Nielsen Audio earns monopoly profits with what is often an inferior product and little innovation. Keep in mind that the last big audio measurement innovation, PPM, was first announced in the ‘90s and went into use over 15 years ago. 

If you question this assertion, review the history of Nielsen ONE, the company’s new cross-platform service. It was first announced in a press release on December 8, 2020. Let’s use a very simple version of a research technique called content analysis. Looking at keywords in the release, we find the following:

Video: 8 times

TV: 13 times

Watch: 1 time

Cross-media: 14 times

Viewer: 1 time

Digital: 10 times

CTV:  12 times

Radio: 0 times

Audio: 0 times

Admittedly, Nielsen ONE is positioned as a national service, but wouldn’t it have made just a bit of sense to have mentioned audio in the initial release? Isn’t audio a platform? Doesn’t national radio exist? Even if the plans weren’t there, smart public relations would throw a bone to radio and the millions it brings to Nielsen’s bottom line by using the word once or twice without a reference to any specific commitment. 

It took Nielsen almost 2½ years before Catherine Herkovic, Nielsen’s EVP and Managing Director of Local TV/Audio, speaking at an NAB panel in April, mentioned radio in the context of Nielsen ONE. She said they had a “well laid-out plan for audio” as part of Nielsen ONE. 

Perhaps it’s time for the industry to get together as one (lowercase, not Nielsen ONE) and entice new competitors. iHeart tried this on its own a few years back. I read their RFP at the time and was not surprised when it went nowhere. While iHeart is by far the biggest operator in the space, speaking as one industry makes more sense. Whether you call it radio or audio, it’s time for the industry to consider a JIC. 

Let’s meet again next week.

CNBC: ESPN Cannot Compete With Tech Companies

BSM Staff
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CNBC: ESPN Cannot Compete With Tech Companies

As more and more people cut the cord, the question for ESPN and parent company Disney becomes how does the network evolve and does its financial positioning set them up to remain primary players in live sports rights.

ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are going to be jockeying to keep their deals with the NBA when the league starts working on a new contract in the next two years. One CNBC analyst recently said as the asking price for live sports rights continues to skyrocket, Disney will eventually won’t be able to compete due to the deep pockets at tech giants like Amazon, Apple and Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube.

“The balance sheet of Apple, Google, YouTube is quite different than that of Disney on the one hand,” Bruin Capital founder and CEO George Pyne said to host Brian Sullivan on Last Call. “On the other hand what’s hurting ESPN these days is the subscribers. The cord-cutting that’s gone on is meaningful. And so ESPN was so valuable, sports was so valuable, they charged a premium. You want ESPN, you got to take ESPN2, you have to take these other two or three channels you have to pay this price. Well as the cord-cutting goes on that pricing power isn’t there the way it used to be.”

Pyne noted exponential growth in the tech sector in recent years and how that’s helped make the juggernaut companies so appealing to leagues to partner with.

“It’s only logical that sports will be a destination for them more and more in the future,” he said.

“Like literally for NBC or Disney, 5 billion bucks is a lot of money,” Sullivan responded. “Apple, it’s like you or I dropping a five on the sidewalk.”

Paul Finebaum: Charles Barkley ‘Puts His Money Where His Mouth is on Politics’

BSM Staff
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Charles Barkley really impressed Paul Finebaum recently.

Barkley recently had his will amended in the aftermath of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on affirmative action. Chuck has agreed to leave $5 million to Auburn University, his alma mater, to help fund diversity initiatives at the school.

In a recent appearance on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, Finebaum said he loved to see Barkley put words into actions.

“I just found that to be a remarkable gesture by Charles,” said Finebaum. “Because a lot of people talk a big game and tweet about how wrong politics are and this politician or some Supreme Court ruling. But Charles actually puts his money where his mouth is; although that’s a big mouth to fill up with a lot of money. I was really struck by that.”

Paul said he does his best to avoid talking politics, but just found that he was struck by Barkley’s generosity.

Sports Media Share Jokes, Disappointment Over Victor Wembanyama Debut

BSM Staff
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2023 NBA first overall pick Victor Wembanyama made his much-anticipated debut for the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, albeit an NBA Summer League contest in Las Vegas.

Wemby admitted after the game he didn’t really know what he was doing out there, as he was playing his first pro basketball game in a month. He finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks. At one point, Wembanyama did get dunked on. At 7 feet 4 inches tall, being on the wrong end of a moment like that generated plenty of fodder on social media.

Here are some sports media reactions to Wembanyama’s debut.

Wemby did fare better in his second Summer League game on Sunday night, scoring 27 points and adding 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Uncertainty Hits New York Times Sports Department Amid Changes at The Athletic

BSM Staff
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Uncertainty Hits New York Times Sports Department Amid Changes at The Athletic

Around 18 months since The New York Times acquired The Athletic, the sports department staff at The Times wants clarity on their future.

There are between 40 and 50 writers and editors in sports at The Times according to the Washington Post. There have been calls for more integration between the paper’s sports staff and The Athletic staff since the digital publication was purchased last year for $550 million. There have been fears that the section on the newspaper side won’t survive.

The Athletic’s publisher David Perpich wouldn’t comment on the ongoing situation between the sports staff at The Times and the company in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.

But a company spokesperson told the Washington Post that they don’t have anything to divulge.

“We’ve had conversations since we bought The Athletic about what it means for the future of our sports coverage,” the statement said. “We’ve rolled out some changes, such as including Athletic stories on the nytimes.com home screen. As with any coverage area, we have been closely evaluating how to deliver the best possible sports journalism for our growing audience. We’ll update when we have more to share.”

The company last month eliminated around 20 positions at The Athletic. There are some 400 employees of the publication, and Perpich told the Wall Street Journal that the focus is trying to provide coverage of teams with broader appeal rather than dedicated beat writers. But the beat writer role isn’t going away.

“In the end, we’re still going to have over 100 reporters who are beat reporters covering teams,” he said. “We’re just not able to make it work everywhere.”

Some 28 members of the paper’s sports department sent a letter to executive editor Joseph Kahn and New York Times Company chairman A.G. Sulzberger demanding answers on what’s happening with their jobs.

“We have watched the company buy a competitor with hundreds of sportswriters and weigh decisions about the future of sports coverage at The Times without, in many instances, so much as a courtesy call, let alone any solicitation of our expertise,” the letter stated.

“The company’s efforts appear to be coming to a head, with The Times pursuing a full-scale technological migration of The Athletic to The Times’s platforms and the threat that the company will effectively shut down our section.”

The employees on the paper side are also under a union contract, and the letter reminded the company that the New York Times Guild has jurisdiction over newsroom jobs.

“Do those promises still hold?” the letter asked.

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