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Sal Licata Did Not Know ‘KayRod Cast’ Existed

BSM Staff
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Sal Licata Did Not Know ‘KayRod Cast’ Existed

During the Sunday Night Baseball matchup between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, viewers tuned in to Karl Ravech, David Cone and Eduardo Perez’s call of the game on ESPN. As the primary home of the broadcast property, the network brings viewers a prime-time Sunday night game each week featuring a compelling matchup. For select weeks though, an alternate broadcast, titled Sunday Night Baseball with KayRod, takes place on ESPN2 featuring Michael Kay and Álex Rodríguez. The issue some viewers have, however, is being informed that the broadcast is scheduled or taking place – let alone existing altogether.

Last night’s KayRod Cast featured a star-studded guest list, including Darryl Strawberry, Kevin Mitchell and Scott Boras, urging people to view the proceedings. Others were content to stick with the traditional game call, either disinterested or incredulous towards the alternate broadcast. Throughout the course of the regular broadcast, Ravech made mention of Kay and Rodríguez’s presentation of the game, confounding some media pundits. Filling in for Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti on WFAN’s Boomer & Gio, Jerry Recco and Sal Licata discussed the Mets’ victory over the Giants and then turned their attention to the presentation of the game.

“The promotion they were giving for the KayRod thing last night during the ESPN regular broadcast,” Reccco referenced. “They actually put up live video of them doing it when they had Kevin Mitchell on. You’re basically telling your audience, ‘Hey guys, go here.’”

Licata, a die-hard Mets fan, did not want to watch a broadcast featuring a former New York Yankees infielder and the team’s play-by-play announcer on YES Network. Kay also hosts an afternoon radio show on ESPN New York 98.7, which primarily battles with WFAN for its share of the ratings. Licata, moving into the midday time slot on WFAN with Brandon Tierney starting on July 24, did not even know Kay’s alternate broadcast existed.

“I can’t think of two people I’d rather watch less,” Licata said of Kay and Rodríguez.

Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo was an additional guest on the KayRod Cast, who also makes a weekly appearance on the top-rated morning show, First Take. Licata wishes Russo’s guest appearance would have been better promoted by ESPN, affirming that it would have urged him to watch the alternate broadcast. Instead, he focused on the traditional broadcast and the essential victory of his hometown team.

“Does the rest of the country care?,” Recco replied. “….I think to the rest of the country, it’s A-Rod and Michael Kay is just the announcer.”

Aside from his role on Sunday Night Baseball, Rodríguez also serves as a studio analyst for FOX Sports on its program, Baseball Night in America. Kay and Rodríguez usually work the broadcast together from ESPN’s Seaport District studios in New York, N.Y.; however, this iteration was executed remotely. There were several moments where Kay’s internet connection was lagging, along with moments where Rodríguez spoke simultaneously because of the remote style of the broadcast.

Rodríguez was recently across the pond for the MLB London Series and on the desk with David Ortiz and Kevin Burkhardt for the broadcast debut of Derek Jeter. Recco and Licata expressed some level of envy towards Burkhardt, who used to spend time with them when he was primarily based in the New York metropolitan area.

“He gets to hang out with Jeter,” Licata expressed. “Jerry, he used to hang out with us, and now he’s hanging out with Jeter, A-Rod and Ortiz.”

In addition to his role as the host of baseball studio coverage, Burkhardt was elevated to the role of lead play-by-play announcer for the NFL on FOX. He is expected to work alongside Tom Brady in the lead broadcast booth beginning in the 2024 regular season. While Brady will be on one game per week with FOX Sports, Jeter is only on the desk for marquee events, including the aforementioned London Series and MLB All-Star Game.

“Jeter is working a couple of days,” Chris LoPresti said. “When it was like, ‘Jeter’s joining the crew,’ yeah, for a couple [of things].”

NewsNation Dropped By DirecTV During Nexstar Contract Dispute

BNM Staff
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NewsNation was dropped by DirecTV after the satellite provider couldn’t agree with the network’s parent company Nexstar over a contract extension.

Additionally, more than 150 local TV stations owned by Nexstar have been dropped by DirecTV.

Nexstar is the largest local TV operator in the country and owns a majority stake in The CW network. DirecTV is one of the largest pay-TV operators, boasting over 10 million customers.

“DirecTV and Nexstar were unable to reach a new distribution agreement allowing DirecTV the right to continue airing the highly-rated programming on Nexstar’s local stations. In addition, DirecTV rejected Nexstar’s offer to extend the current distribution agreement to Oct. 31, 2023,” Nexstar said in a statement.

“Nexstar has been negotiating tirelessly and in good faith in an attempt to reach a mutually agreeable multi-year contract with DirecTV since May, offering the same fair market rates it offered to other distribution partners with whom it completed successful negotiations in the past year. Nexstar routinely reaches amicable retransmission and carriage agreements with its cable, satellite, and telco partners—in the last three years alone, the company has successfully completed agreements with more than 500 distribution partners.”

In response, DirecTV Chief Content Officer Rob Thun claimed Nexstar is to blame for the situation.

“Nexstar has a long track record of forcing programming outages in an effort to unnecessarily raise prices,” Thun said. “We will continue to work with Nexstar to reach an agreement and will take all necessary actions to provide our customers access to their favorite programming while protecting them from unwarranted price increases.”

The contract dispute is the latest between DirecTV and a cable news outlet. Earlier this year, the satellite provider underwent a high-profile, contentious negotiation with Newsmax that included some Congressional lawmakers threatening public hearings over the situation. The two sides ultimately reached a new agreement that returned the network back to the platform.

Twitter Limits How Many Daily Tweets Users Can View

BNM Staff
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Twitter Limits How Many Daily Tweets Users Can View

On Saturday, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he is limiting the number of tweets users can read due to issues with accessing the platform. According to CNBC, thousands of individuals reported encountering difficulties on social media.

According to Musk, verified accounts are now restricted to a maximum of 6,000 posts per day, while unverified accounts face a limit of only 600 posts per day. Additionally, new unverified users have an even lower cap of 300 posts per day.

He stated that the rate limits for different user types would be raised in the near future. Verified users would see an increase to 8,000, unverified users to 800, and new unverified users to 400. However, approximately three hours later, Musk tweeted an update stating, “Now it’s 10k, 1k & 0.5k.”

Musk clarified in his initial tweet that these changes were temporary and aimed at tackling excessive data scraping and system manipulation. This incident marks the most recent significant service disruption since Musk took over the social media platform in the latter part of last year.

Numerous individuals attempting to use Twitter’s website or mobile app encountered an error message stating “Rate limit exceeded” or “Cannot retrieve tweets.” Over 7,300 users reported problems with Twitter on Downdetector’s website around 11 a.m. ET. However, by Saturday night, the number of reports had decreased to the 600s. In response to CNBC’s inquiry, Twitter expressed its usual response using a poop emoji.

Twitter has experienced several instances of technical issues in recent months, and Saturday’s outage is just one of them. In February, users faced a 90-minute period where they couldn’t post on the site due to a notification stating, “You are over the daily limit for sending Tweets.” 

Additionally, users encountered temporary difficulties accessing links and loading images in March. Notably, these outages occurred alongside reports of a data center closure and significant layoffs at Twitter, which Elon Musk stated were crucial for the company’s financial well-being.

The ESPN Casualties Are Real People

Garrett Searight
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The ESPN Casualties Are Real People

How popular is the phrase “If you haven’t been fired, you haven’t been in radio?” We’ve all heard it, and I’m guessing the on-air talent leaving ESPN last week had heard it, too.

Friday was not a fun day to work in the “covering the sports media” field. I’m sure it was a hell of a lot less fun to work at ESPN, or be one of the people who were written about in nearly every publication.

I was blown away, however, by the number of people — both inside the industry and out — that celebrated the moves.

If you dislike ESPN or The Walt Disney Company, that’s fine. You’re entitled to your opinion. Even if you dislike Jalen Rose, Max Kellerman, Todd McShay, or any of the other numerous on-air personnel who were let go, that’s ok, too.

But to celebrate their job loss? That takes things to a new level of gross.

I’m convinced that we lose sight of the fact that people on our TV screens are real people, who have the same emotions we do, and go through the same trials, tribulations, and successes that we experience.

Color me guilty as charged at times, too. When Mark May was let go from ESPN, I couldn’t pretend to hide my excitement. But then I came to a sobering realization: that was probably Mark May’s final job. Doing a job that he conceivably loved. And here I was, celebrating the demise of a man’s career simply because he said things I didn’t like about my favorite college football team. And what does that say about me?

What cemented this feeling for me came from a non-media situation. One of my best friends played Division I football and worked his tail off to get an opportunity in the NFL. Through determination and a few injuries, he was activated for a game, playing tight end for the Detroit Lions.

On what was likely the final drive of the game, he was open seemingly every play. On a crucial third down play, Matthew Stafford zipped him the ball. It bounced off his hands and into the arms of a New Orleans Saints defender. The game appeared lost. By some miracle, the Lions went on to win the game, but the messages to his Twitter account were disgusting. Horrible. Borderline insane.

In what should have been one of the biggest triumphs of his life — playing in an NFL game! — I had to wait inside the stadium as he exited the locker room to tell him “Don’t look at your Twitter tonight”, because the messages were abhorrent.

But NFL players, like ESPN personalities who were let go last week, are real people. They frankly had a really shitty day not just at work, but in life, and — just a hunch — your “Thank God Jalen Rose, one of the Kings of Woke ESPN, got fired today. He sucked and brought this upon himself” tweet probably didn’t help.

I just can’t for the life of me fathom having that much hate in my heart as a grown-ass man.

It isn’t difficult to grasp the reality of the situation. Families will be uprooted, uncertainty will reign supreme, and some will take drastic pay cuts just to find some semblance of work. And yet, people who likely know what it is like to see their job eliminated in front of their eyes, couldn’t help but find joy in the downfall of others? What a sad state.

I know what it’s like to see your job leave you in a moment. Chances are you might know, too. And while you might want to cheer ESPN’s downfall, take a step back and remember that these are actual human beings, with real lives, real feelings, real families, and real questions about what their lives look like going forward.

If you find joy in that, do some soul-searching. I know what it says about you. I just hope you realize it soon, too.

John Anderson is as Intrigued By The Hot Dog Eating Contest as You Are

Derek Futterman
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The Fourth of July is an American tradition like no other, centered around honoring the birth of the nation through gatherings, barbecues and relaxation. One of its most distinct traditions takes place at Coney Island and is focused on camaraderie and revelry – by scarfing down as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. Indeed, the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest makes its return with world champion competitive eater Joey Chestnut aiming to defend his “Mustard Yellow Belt.”

ESPN has been the broadcast home of the rapacious devouring of hot dogs and buns for two decades. The International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) agreed to a multi-year deal last fall to ensure ESPN would continue to present the unique event. The event will be hosted by Major League Eating President Rich Shea, and he will be joined by a familiar ESPN personality who never thought he would be doing this.

“I can watch U.S. Open tennis and go to the park and find a tennis match,” John Anderson said. “I can’t go watch the guy pole vault and go down to the park and pole vault. You extrapolate that – I can watch these guys eat hot dogs, and I can sit with my buddies and I can go, ‘I can eat a hot dog.’ The base element – I can do exactly what these guys do, at least for the first one and maybe the second one, and after that, third I’m kind of gluttonous, and the idea of eating 76 is off the table.”

Anderson ran track and field and has always appreciated covering sports based on movement. While eating a hot dog is something most people have done throughout their lives, the sheer magnitude of the contest likens it to the Indianapolis 500 as opposed to driving in a school zone. In hosting this type of coverage, Anderson relies on his passion for the rite and vast previous experience in sports media.

Green Bay, Wis. is home for Anderson. His dream was to be the center fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, but since he was never athletic enough to make it a reality, sports media was always an obvious career choice. He did explore other professional routes, one of which was the concrete business. John Anderson’s father poured foundations throughout his career, but John did not know him well since he passed away in a car crash at the age of 25.

“My brother has since taken over the business,” Anderson said. “I think the business now is as old as I am, and I did just enough of that to know, ‘You know what? That’s not really what I want to do.’”

Growing up in Green Bay, Anderson admired the local sportscasters, including Al Jerkens, Jim Klein and Darrel Burnett. Burnett was pivotal to his career, serving as a resource to review work and offer suggestions on how to improve. Rather than simply examining and critiquing sports reports, Burnett sent Anderson examples of his work to let him see his reporting style and the production of the newscast. 

When Anderson made it to Tulsa to work at KTUL-TV, he was introduced to the station’s sports director, John Walls, and noticed an unmitigated largesse towards assisting him in acclimating to the market.

Although he had focused on taking the air as an anchor, Anderson’s early days in the industry were rooted in news photography and editing. Tulsa was not the market he wanted to work in for the rest of his career, acquiescing because the other option would have been anchoring sports on the weekends in Butte, Mont. One year into his job, Anderson officially transitioned to sports and eventually found his way on the air.

Six years later, he found himself driving to Phoenix, Ariz. to take a job as a weekend sports anchor with KPHO-TV. As he was on the road and approaching the city, Anderson began to think about what it would be like to cover the Phoenix Suns, a team with legitimate championship aspirations and a legitimate star in Charles Barkley.

Then, Anderson was informed of the news that Barkley had just been dealt to the Houston Rockets. It is safe to say he was a bit disillusioned, but used the circumstance to adopt a heightened, indefatigable approach to unearth hidden stories.

“The whole circus left town, or so I thought when I first got there,” Anderson said. “It turns out there was plenty more to do – they play golf out there and they’ve got a lot of stuff going on – but it’s one of my great regrets. In the several times in my life that I’ve come across Charles, I briefly remind him of that; that he had no idea who I was at the time [but] abandoned me alone in Phoenix.”

The Phoenix Suns remained competitive under head coach Danny Ainge while Anderson was working in the market, but the play on the hardwood was far from the only sports story in the area. Hockey arrived concurrently with Anderson in the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes, and the team qualified for the playoffs for its first five seasons of play and made a habit of losing in the quarterfinals.

One year earlier, the area had received approval to establish a Major League Baseball team, which ultimately became the Arizona Diamondbacks and began play at Chase Field in 1998. Moreover, the Arizona Cardinals snapped a 15-year playoff drought when the team qualified in 1998, but ultimately lost the divisional round game to the Minnesota Vikings. Despite the landscape being in a state of development, Anderson recognized how fundamental local coverage of sports is and contributed as best he could.

“Much like politics, all sports is local,” Anderson said. “Nobody wants the best team to win; they want their team to win. That’s the team that you’re with.”

When Anderson inked a deal to join ESPN on its news channel in 1999, he was quickly rooted in the hosting role for SportsCenter. With advances in technology and changes in consumption habits, the modus operandi of the program has changed over the last 24 years, and some people have questioned the viability of a show that changed the sports media landscape forever.

“I got here at a time when the show was still just turbocharged in popularity and in cultural significance, which may have eroded some over the last few years,” Anderson said. “Every time I go out there and whoever I work with, it’s the show of record. Here’s what you need to know in an hour to wrap up your whole sports day.”

A typical day of anchoring SportsCenter involves a barrage of office work, but there is only so much Anderson and his colleagues can do ahead of time. Staying nimble and dexterous is the key to success in a dynamic, breaking news environment, and there are sometimes moments where Anderson needs to modify things in real time. Just before the show hits the air, Anderson puts on his coat and tie, sits at the desk and commences with the familiar phraseology: “This is SportsCenter.”

“It is not quite as sexy and glamorous as being on the road or being in the field,” Anderson said. “You’re there with the purpose of being at the desk. It is a lot of sitting around because prepping for a SportsCenter is not like prepping for the U.S. Open golf tournament where you have to go hit golf balls.”

Although Anderson does not have many memories of his late father, one thing he knows is how he found serenity in gardening. In the process of laying down soil and watering his tomato plants, there was a profound focus coupled with a buoyancy for the activity. Gardening is regarded by some people as an essential task, growing and sometimes selling their crops for a profit, but it is also a source of leisure. Anderson thinks about sports in the same way.

Something Anderson tries to avoid is being mundane or jaded in hosting style, especially after hosting more than 4,000 episodes of the franchise. In Anderson’s own words, even though vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor, he is looking to sometimes be chocolate or strawberry without moving into the Neapolitan category.

Over the years, there have been many successful SportsCenter hosts who have established themselves on the program. Purposely infusing personality into the show, however, is a method that he is not sure anyone has specifically sought out. The most venerated SportsCenter hosts are able to do it without expending extra effort, and it is an archetype Anderson hopes to be a part of.

“If you had met Stuart Scott – who he was on TV [is] how he talked; that’s how he acted [and] that’s how he approached things,” Anderson said. “Scott Van Pelt – sort of very much the same way – the things that make him funny are the things that he says in the newsroom as you sit around doing a show.”

As a sports fan, Anderson has always enjoyed finding quirky, unusual parts of the game and highlighting those to his audience. It’s probably why he gets picked for assignments like the Hot Dog Eating Contest. Through his meticulous approach to watching games, he knows when things are taken too far.

For example, one SportsCenter viewer commented that Anderson made a mistake when he said New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was hitting .320 for the year. Overly meticulous, he remarked how Jeter was hitting .32056, which rounds up to .321, and then proceeded to tell Anderson that he should be off the air if he did not bother to get the facts right. Most of the time, Anderson neglects this kind of criticism focused on the minutiae, but there are other circumstances where it is justified and requires action.

During the NHL playoffs, Anderson found himself in hot water when he was narrating a highlight of Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud scoring a goal. When he made his debut, Whitecloud made history by becoming the first indigenous player to skate in the NHL. As the highlight played on the screen, Anderson quipped, “What kind of name is Whitecloud? A great name if you’re a toilet paper.” Whitecloud took offense to the insensitive statement, as did sports fans, and Anderson promptly apologized for his remark.

“I was ignorant, which is not a great excuse,” Anderson said. “You’ve disrespected somebody like that; okay, what do you do? I keep telling people – I said something wrong; now I’ve done my best to make it right, which is talking to him [and] explaining to him what happened and expressing my apologies on a number of levels. It’s okay when you’re wrong to say you’re wrong.”

ESPN is reportedly developing a plan to take its business to a direct-to-consumer model as cord cutting permeates the media landscape. According to the latest Gauge Report by Nielsen Media Research, and over half of Americans have canceled cable TV subscriptions. The number is expected to rise to 80 million households by 2026,  but by that time, “Project Flagship” may already be complete.

“Is that any different than how we select anything else in life?,” Anderson said of the direct-to-consumer future of ESPN. “I go to the library and choose the books I want to read; I don’t have somebody deliver me 40 books and I’ve got to sort out and find the ones that are about Hank Aaron. When I go to the grocery store and there’s seven kinds of peanut butter or whatever, I get to pick the one I want. I guess in some ways that makes us a lot like a lot of other things.”

As the countdown to the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest dwindles closer to zero, Anderson is looking forward to making the trek to Coney Island. While the commentary surely enhances the on-air presentation, much of the task at hand pertains to entertaining viewers in what is perceived to be a jovial moment.

For many of the competitive eaters and stakeholders though, it is the pinnacle of competition and a juncture they enter with a tenacious will to succeed. Anderson aims to balance what he knows about hosting coverage with some jocularity, similar to his job on the game show, Wipeout on ABC. Even so, the commentators are not the reason most people are going to be watching the action on ESPN2. 

“I think if you literally just did it with the natural sound of the competitors eating and the people cheering and just had the clock and the hot dog count, it could stand on its own,” Anderson expressed. “People would watch because it is that unique and it is that compelling in, sometimes, a really disgusting way – which makes it marvelous by the way. It is the ultimate thing that you can do just like the athletes.”

Jeremy Conn Never Thought He’d Be Here

Peter Schwartz
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Jeremy Conn Never Thought He’d Be Here

Jeremy Conn didn’t intend to embark on a successful career in sports talk radio.

It just kind of fell into his lap after a car accident in 1997 forced him to leave college. Three years later, an opportunity popped up at WNST Radio in Baltimore that would send him on a road that he hasn’t gotten off of yet.

“I didn’t have the routine route that most people took to get in this field, said Conn. “I worked for free as an intern for a year. Lo and behold, they offered me $8 an hour to produce their morning show and I was like ‘Hell yeah I’m in’. It turned into a career for me.”

That career, which has now spanned more than 23 years, has taken him to The Big Bad Morning Show on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore where he hosts the popular weekday program with Ed Norris and Rob Long from 6 am to 10 am. Conn had been working the evening show at The Fan, but in January of 2021 he moved to the mornings swapping places with Jerry Coleman who took over evenings.

Moving to the mornings was a big change, but it worked out very well.

“It has changed my life,” said Conn. “I really love it. Being in radio for over 23 years, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything quite like this but I have a lot of fun doing it.”

Each co-host brings a little something different to the table each morning.

Norris, a former Baltimore Police Commissioner, is known for telling some crazy stories while Long, who drives the show, also works for the Baltimore Orioles. 

And then there’s Conn who is always adding in some humor making the morning show a whole lot of fun.

“I do a segment called ‘World of Stupid’ where I just find dumb stories everywhere and make fun of it,” said Conn.

When you factor in what each host brings to the table, it makes for an entertaining morning show that resonates with the listeners.

The trio each contributes to the show in their own way and each day you never quite know what you’re going to hear.

“Our show has been labeled like a couple of guys sitting at the end of the bar just shooting the breeze a little bit and then seeing what happens,” said Conn. “It’s kind of been a really nice mix of all of us.” 

Conn’s success, not just during the morning show but throughout his career, has also included his passion for gambling.  What was once almost considered a “taboo” subject in sports talk radio is now widely accepted as legal sports gambling continues growing nationwide.

Today, sports gambling is a huge part of sports talk radio and Conn is all over it.

“I love this,” said Conn who also runs a highly successful sports gambling website CONNcrete LOCKS.

“I’ve been talking about this for years. I’ve been gambling for over 20 years but now that I’m the ‘gambling guy’ at the station, I’ve always had segments on my show. It’s finally fun to talk about and it’s not this thing that’s looked down upon by a lot of people.”

What has also added to the success of The Fan’s morning show has been the success of Baltimore’s two major professional sports teams.

The Baltimore Ravens will enter the 2023 season as a serious playoff contender, especially after the re-signing of quarterback Lamar Jackson to a new contract.

Currently, the Baltimore Orioles are one of the surprise teams in Major League Baseball sitting in the top American League Wild Card position.

For Conn and the rest of the morning show, getting positive phone calls from fans sure beats the alternative.

“Having two teams that are playing well or have the chance to play well I think is all you can ask for,” said Conn. “I think if you’re a Baltimore fan period, watching both teams is going to be an absolute blast. It’s really exciting and it’s kind of helped the ratings. It is a fun time to be doing sports talk radio in Baltimore.”

Jeremy Conn wasn’t supposed to get into sports talk radio, but life can certainly change at a moment’s notice. Things happen for a reason and a few life-changing moments has brought him to a new world of success weekday mornings on The Fan in Baltimore.

Tomi Lahren Isn’t Just Fearless, She’s a Pioneer

BNM Staff
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Tomi Lahren Isn’t Just Fearless, She’s a Pioneer

Tomi Lahren isn’t just fearless; she’s someone whom many misunderstand. TheBlaze canceled her years ago after she shared her position on abortion during an interview with The View, putting her resolve as one of the youngest conservative commentators in the game to the test.

Lahren believed in herself long before millions of supporters and detractors consumed her daily viral clips. As a young girl growing up in rural South Dakota, her parents instilled a blue-collar work ethic as she navigated the rugged terrain of political commentary.   

Back in 2015, Lahren gave a speech at CPAC where she encouraged the GOP to better connect with young supporters and talked about the ongoing cultural war. Over the following years, Lahren improved her delivery and gained a large following on different digital platforms. Her success influenced other commentators to do the same. 

Over the last seven years, Lahren has made significant personal and professional growth. Despite facing all the challenges, she has been at Fox News for seven years. Her primary objective is to have a show on the network. Meanwhile, she also plays a significant role in the success of OutKick, a digital media platform that addresses cultural issues. 

Tomi Lahren is a rising star in the digital world who is breaking new ground. She is known for her strong work ethic and influence and her commitment to empowering conservatives to speak out and lead.

In an interview with Barrett News Media, Lahren talks about her journey to success, addresses common misconceptions about her, explains how leaving TheBlaze made her more determined, discusses why Nashville is becoming a hub for content creators, and shares her excitement about the upcoming BNM Summit. 

Ryan Hedrick: Tomi, could you share with us how you started your career as a political commentator?

Tomi Lahren: This has been a lifelong endeavor. In college at UNLV, I hosted a roundtable show. I’ve always been politically active. I majored in journalism and media studies with a minor in political science. I always knew I wanted to be an opinion-based commentator.  

At 21, I found myself at One American News Network (OANN) in San Diego. I just kept calling, I wanted an internship. I met with the owner, and he offered me a chance to start my own show, so I graduated college, moved to San Diego, and got started. It’s been a roller coaster since then. I’ve been at OANN, I’ve been at TheBlaze, and I’ve been at Fox [News].

This is my seventh year at Fox and my first full year at OutKick. I’ve been at a lot of different places, but these last seven [years], especially this last year at OutKick, I’ve really come into my own in this space.  

RH: As you gained success, what obstacles did you face, and how did you conquer them? 

TL: My biggest challenge was being a 21-year-old female and trying to get into political commentary. People don’t take you seriously at first glance. I think the differentiator for me is that before the social influencing and the political influencing really kicked off, which it has in the last couple of years, I was the only one doing what I was doing at my age from the conservative side, and really talking about cultural issues and talking about those topics that people my age were talking about.

I found a sweet spot there to talk about those things, and obviously, I talk about those things in a very direct and spunky way, often sarcastic and pointed. That style caught people off guard. My age and being who I am was less of a challenge and more of an asset because it allowed me to separate myself from people who were much older, had more experience, went to Ivy League schools, and had family members in the industry.

My being a total outsider and doing something completely different was my biggest asset in growing as fast as I did.  

RH: Could you please explain why you departed from TheBlaze and how it relates to your stance on abortion? 

TL: There are a lot of discussions right now about talent and how they exit a network. It’s not always a clean break, as we know. I went on The View, it was an approved appearance, and I said something that I had said not only in a New York Times profile piece but I had said numerous times on a show that I hosted at TheBlaze, that I am for limited government and, therefore I am on the pro-choice side.

All hell broke loose, and they (TheBlaze) tried to fire me, they tried to silence me, they tried to take my Facebook page for the purposes of deleting it and cutting off the five million followers that I have.   

That’s when I decided to either take a paycheck and wait it out or fight back for what was being infringed on. I chose to fight back. That was a trying time in my life. I was 24 years old at that point, but that was a big turning point for me because I had spent so many years fighting the left.

Now, I am sitting here fighting Glenn Beck, who is a big conservative voice on the right. I went after Colin Kaepernick, I was on with Bill Maher, I was on with Trevor Noah, and I was on with the ladies of The View, but nothing compared to the attacks I was getting from somebody on my own side.

Obviously, a lot of people on the conservative side, that’s the first time they’ve ever really come after me the way they did. That was a growing experience for me.

RH: Did that experience with TheBlaze cement you as someone who was going to stick to her opinions no matter what? 

TL: Absolutely. I could’ve gone out with the hostage talk and said, “I’m so sorry that I’ve offended people.” I’ve never done that; I never will do that. I’ve made plenty of apologies for things that I have said in my career that I wholeheartedly apologize for that I believe were taken out of context.

If I apologize, I mean it. I will never apologize for something I believe I was in the right or for something I truly hold a conviction for. That’s been something that I have maintained for my entire career. I am getting a lot of heat because I have said a lot of things about Ron DeSantis and his ability to win a general election.

I came up as a very vocal Trump supporter in the Trump era, so I’m getting it back from that side now. It would be easy for me to settle into a role, but that would be so disingenuous to who I am as a person. That’s never been a consideration.  

RH: How do you handle expressing your opinions on social media while dealing with public reactions? 

TL: I’ve been called every name in the book. I’ve been doing this for a long time; it doesn’t affect me much now. Over my career, I have changed somewhat in that I used to rattle off a tweet, and I didn’t care what the aftermath was. Now, I’m a little more strategic. If I want to say something and think this might be taken the wrong way, I roll it back. It’s not self-censoring; it’s more of calculating the risk and the reward.

Is what you want to say so important to put out there that it’s going to cause an issue? If it’s not that important, just don’t hit send on that tweet; I’ve learned how to do that.  

Sometimes you don’t want to deal with the headache. I will always stand up for the things that I will stand up for, I’ll take all the heat in the world for them. Right now, I am very vocally telling people that if we want to get back into the White House, I’m very concerned about a Trump pathway to victory.

I have been adamantly anti-mask and anti-vaccine requirements; those are things I will never back down from. That’s something I have learned over the years.

RH: What’s been the most rewarding aspect of your career so far?   

TL: The most rewarding part so far is how many young conservatives I think I’ve inspired. I am very proud of that and hear about it constantly. My DMs are filled with people who believe in [conservative] values and freedoms but are afraid of being canceled, unfriended, and unfollowed. It’s very hard for young people to be conservative.

RH: What positive or negative changes have you observed in the digital world? 

TL: Digital is powerful, and it’s the wave of the future. I’m grateful to have the ability to be on cable with Fox News but also to be on OutKick and stream digitally. Whether you want to be an influencer, commentator, sportsperson, or anybody with an opinion, having your content in multiple mediums is always beneficial. I am very lucky to get to present different things on different platforms and gear them for different audiences.  

Also, [having a digital brand] helps with feedback. You don’t know if you don’t have a comment section. That’s what digital allows you to have; direct interaction with your lovers and your haters online. That’s why being able to be on OutKick and stream across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and our website has been a big asset and something I’m happy that we get to utilize.  

RH: What do people get wrong about you?  

TL: They think that I’m always angry. If people watch my show on OutKick, you’ll find that often, I’m just sarcastic, and I like to poke fun at things. There are moments when I get heated and passionate when talking about important things to me and the country, but I’m not angry or hateful. I also know how to turn things off.  

I used to feel like I had to tweet every minute and I had to be in the conversation constantly, and now I’ve learned that I don’t have to comment on everything, I can live my life, and some things aren’t worth losing sleep over, and finding that balance is something that I pride myself in.

People are surprised when they meet me about how easygoing I am because they think I am intense, high-strung, and aggressive. That couldn’t be further from the truth of my actual personality.  

RH: Do you have a mentor? Who do/did you look up to? How have they shaped your approach to your work? 

TL: The biggest mentors in my life are my parents. I come from South Dakota, very middle-class, blue-collar. Both of my parents grew up on ranches. Growing up in the Midwest, in a flyover state, has shaped me because I’ve always felt the need to be able to speak for people and speak in a way that people understand. I never try to sound smarter than I am.

I never try to sound like I’m a philosopher or Ivy League graduate student; that’s not what I am. I’m plain talking; I say things in a way that people can understand, which has shaped me.

In terms of me and my career and being at Fox News, the number one person in that building that I look up to is Judge Jeanine Pirro. She’s one of my favorite people. She never backs down, she’s always got a comeback, and she is unapologetic, and I love that about her.  

RH: What are your thoughts on the idea of monetizing Twitter subscriptions, and how do you think it could impact the platform? 

TL: I do Twitter and Instagram subscriptions. It’s not something where I am trying to make a ton of money off it. I have too much on my plate to do a ton of extra content for subscribers. It’s an interesting premise. You have creators that are getting a lot of engagement, and people want to hear from them and have a direct conversation with them, and subscriptions are a way to do that.

My Instagram subscribers and my Twitter subscribers are very different. I also do Cameo and have done that for many years, and that’s another way that I connect with fans. I have found that when you have a direct conversation that’s facilitated through an app like that with people that have followed you for years, they feel invested in your success, they feel invested in your story, and your narrative.

Those people will be loyal to you throughout your entire career. That’s what these subscription services do. They provide access to talk to people digitally who, otherwise, would never get that type of access.

RH: Why is Nashville becoming a hub for news and talk shows, and what draws content creators to the city?   

TL: Nashville is great because it combines your entertainment industry, your music industry, and your tourist destinations with being in Tennessee, which is a very red state, a very Southern good ole boy state. When you combine the two, you get an interesting cross-section of people, things, and industries.  

People are moving here like they are moving to Austin, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Florida. People want to get out of New York and California. This is a great place to be. You can take advantage of some of the same opportunities you have in New York or LA here in Nashville and not pay the income tax, not have regulations, and not be saddled with this bureaucracy of liberalism; that’s why people love it here.  

RH: Congratulations on your one-year anniversary at OutKick. Can you share your goals for the brand and what you hope to accomplish while you are there? 

TL: I’ve had the chance to do so many unique interviews and talk to many people outside the box. You go from you Congress people and your typical political people to Nico Marley (Bob Marley’s grandson), talking about the NCAA possibly getting rid of their ban on weed as a forbidden substance. That’s the range that I get to have, and that’s why I love Outkick.  

Some of my biggest moments at OutKick are when I talk about culture. I’m probably one of the only conservatives who had a high-profile beef with Jay-Z, Beyonce, Colin Kaepernick, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, and The Game; you name it. I sat on the stage with Chelsea Handler and had a debate back and forth.

I love talking about culture daily, immigration, and the 2024 election. That’s what I love about OutKick. We can do it all. We can pivot from sports and pop culture to heavy politics. People can watch what they want, watch the whole thing, watch a clip, watch two minutes, watch the clip that we turn into a special reel; that’s the power of Outkick.  

RH: You have been chosen as a featured speaker for the BNM Summit happening in September at Vanderbilt University. Could you share your expectations for the event? 

TL: I love talking to people in person; public speaking is one of my favorite things to do. I do a lot of events where I talk about politics. Still, for me, also being able to talk about the business of it and being able to talk about politics and sports entertainment, I love being able to do that. Especially when you get to talk to people you can learn from and who can learn from you.

We all have different experiences, and we’re all existing in this ecosystem that’s made up of TV, radio, and digital, all of it coming together, also, being somebody that’s a 30-year-old woman doing what I do. I like to be able to tell that perspective sometimes to an audience that might not always hear that kind of thing from somebody like me; it gives a chance to have that dialogue.

It’s going to be great, and I love that it’s in Nashville. I’m happy that we have both Clay and me representing OutKick.  

Ratings Give You Nothing to Fear Except 3rd Grade Math

Dr. Ed Cohen
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Ratings Give You Nothing to Fear Except 3rd Grade Math

One of my goals in regularly writing this column is education. As you know, I’ve been around the ratings game for too many years, and having worked at rating services and with group owners, I’ve talked with many market managers and program directors. 

While some are ratings-savvy and want to learn all that they can, others are absolutely terrified of dealing with the estimates. Seeing numbers scares far too many people in the business, especially programmers. In my experience, market managers tend to be more comfortable with ratings, perhaps because many came through the sales side.  Getting ahead in sales typically means working with numbers.

If you’re uncomfortable with ratings, I’m here to tell you that it’s really not hard. For years, I’ve said if you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide, you’re good. You were probably taught how to do that in third grade. And even if you don’t think you can handle those four activities, there is a calculator on your phone. 

My iPhone has one, but I still use my KMC-7000 solar calculator, which celebrates its 40th birthday this fall. When I started my doctoral program in the fall of 1983, we were required to take research methods, which meant statistics. This being the ‘80s, we had to solve some of the problems by hand, so you needed a good calculator. 

While that exercise would be unthinkable today, I drove to the KMart in Okemos, Michigan (just east of East Lansing and the Michigan State campus) and purchased the KMC-7000. 40 years later, I still use it because, well, it works and it’s easier to use than the iPhone’s version. 

In order to analyze and understand ratings data, you don’t need any sort of advanced math.  Calculus might be involved in a reach and frequency model, but that’s why mathematicians exist. They design the models, while you enter numbers and hit a button.  For programming analyses, it’s all simple stuff.

I’m convinced part of the issue is that programmers earned their jobs for a different skill set.  Sitting in the PD chair, they’re expected to have a knowledge base that possibly wasn’t required, but once you’re in a leadership position, it’s hard to admit that you don’t know something. Just in case, let’s start with the basics.

If someone stopped you right now and asked the definitions of rating, share, cume, AQH, and TSL, could you answer correctly? Maybe? Let’s define the terms here.

RATING: The number of people who listened to a station, stations, or radio in general divided by the population in any daypart. For rating, the base (denominator) is everyone, whether they used radio at that time or not, and the base doesn’t vary regardless of what daypart you run. 

Nielsen Audio updates the population estimates each year (October monthly for PPM and Fall for diary markets). The number is multiplied by 100 (same for share and cume). Typically, ratings numbers are very small, typically just a few tenths at best for any one station. FYI-television’s base is different and does not include everyone.

SHARE: The number of people who listened to a station or stations divided by the number of people listening to radio at that time. For share, the base (denominator) varies for every analysis, but think of share as your piece of the radio pie. And again, the result is multiplied by 100.

CUME: The number of different people who listened to a station, stations, or radio during a daypart. This is the reach estimate and everyone is equal, whether they listened for one quarter hour or one hundred. Cume can be reported in persons or as a rating (once again, the latter is multiplied by 100).

AVERAGE QUARTER HOUR: I covered the definition of a quarter-hour a few weeks ago. We know that the size of the audience varies depending on the time of day. For example, in PPM, the audience for most stations is larger in the afternoon than the morning (PPM turned the old listening rule of thumb on its head). 

However, if you look at a Monday-Friday, 6 AM-7 PM run, the results for each quarter hour are different and are averaged across the number of quarter hours in the daypart, in other words, an average quarter hour.

TIME SPENT LISTENING: It’s a simple equation of quarter hours in the daypart times the AQH persons estimate. Take that number and divide it by the cume persons estimate. That will give you TSL in quarter hours.

This is just a starting point. There are any number of ways to analyze ratings data, but you need a foundation which means being fluent in the terminology. Arbitron used to have a booklet called “Terms For the Trade” and Nielsen Audio also has a similar one sheet (you can ask Google to find them for you). 

If you’re not comfortable memorizing this stuff, find the documents, save the files, and even print them.

With the definitions out of the way, we’ll move on to some fun ways to parse the data in future columns. OK, fun for me, but valuable for you.

Let’s meet again next week.

Neil Everett: Dan Patrick Showed People That You Could Thrive After ESPN

BSM Staff
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The recent end of SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett’s run at ESPN didn’t mean his career was finished.

A week removed from his final broadcast alongside longtime co-anchor Stan Verrett, Everett told Dan Patrick it was time for him to go. He added Dan’s level of success on TV and in radio since leaving the network in 2007 was reassuring.

“I didn’t want ESPN to be my last chapter,” he said. “Once again you showed all of us that you could leave ESPN and still not only survive but thrive doing something else. But it is tough jumping off that cliff.”

“Because those four letters are so powerful, and you could hide behind them,” Patrick responded. “And you had ESPN muscles there.”

Neil was asked about Everett and Verrett being the last-known anchor teams on SportsCenter. Dan wondered if it was being discouraged by network higher ups.

“Those are decisions that are made with guys who had offices in Bristol. Not guys who had cubes in Los Angeles,” Everett said.

But Neil added that it was Patrick and former co-anchor Keith Olbermann who were a source of inspiration for how he and Verrett did their show.

“Stan and I looked up to you and Keith and we tried to emulate you in the ways that we could and have a camaraderie and bring entertainment,” he said. “And do the highlights the way that we grew up watching them. And hopefully we succeeded in that.”

Bob McCown Unable to Talk After Multiple Strokes

BSM Staff
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Bob McCown Unable to Talk After Multiple Strokes

Beloved Canadian host Bob McCown is recovering after suffering two strokes recently.

McCown tweeted Friday that he has been in the hospital ever since the serious health scare. He revealed that he is unable to walk or talk at the moment.

“Hope to get home and back on the podcast as quick as possible!” McCown tweeted.

The podcast McCown is referring to is the Bob McCown Podcast, which he hosts alongside John Shannon.

McCown is viewed as a pioneer of sports talk in Canada, having been on the air in some fashion since 1975. Most notably, Bob was a longtime voice on Sportsnet 590 The Fan.

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