One of the best parts about the world of sports is that every season ends with one team being crowned champion. It doesn’t exactly work that way managing a media company, even though we invest the same amount of time leading up to the BSM Summit, our equivalent of the Super Bowl or WrestleMania.
Having had a few days to recover and reflect after last week’s Summit in Los Angeles, I know that what we did last week was special. I’m a perfectionist and have a hard time patting myself on the back because I know there’s plenty we can do better, but last week, we hit a homerun. The venues at USC were perfect, the signage was spectacular, the tech ran well, the speakers were awesome, the crowd was great, and the sponsorship support was outstanding. It’s the first time I’ve walked away from an event and felt we accomplished what we set out to do. If time allows, check out Garrett Searight’s piece on some of the key takeaways from the show.
In 2018, Mitch Rosen invited me to utilize his space at Audacy Chicago to take a shot at trying to execute an event for PDs. Now here we are five years later with a few hundred people joining us from all across the industry. It’s pretty incredible. We’re only successful because a lot of people have come together to make sure we are. Without the speakers, sponsors, and staff around me stepping up to get things done, I’d just be a guy with an idea incapable of executing it.
In the next week or so we’ll be sharing video clips from the show on the BSM social media pages. I’m also planning to make full sessions available via on-demand for free for those who attended the show in California. If you didn’t come to the event and want to watch it online, it will be available for a small fee. Stay tuned for further details.
What matters most to me with the Summit is that folks in the room get something out of it. I thought many of our speakers delivered a ton of value this year, and there were a few WOW moments along the way as well. Colin and Rome were outstanding as expected, and Jay Glazer and Al Michaels’ speeches had everyone hanging on their next words. I thought the Shawn Michaels and Jack Rose led sessions were outside the box and well received, and I was beyond impressed by Joy Taylor, Mina Kimes, and Amanda Brown. We used 14 hours in that room to explore issues dealing with management, research, technology, programming, talent and social media, so it gave everyone a little bit of everything, which was the goal.
We did have a little bit of friction on stage during the Aircheck on Campus session, which wasn’t a bad thing. Personalities and programmers have passionate conversations inside the office every day. Rob, Mark and Scott just happened to have one on stage. All three are smart, talented, and willing to be candid. I thought that was healthy for the room.
I know networking is important at these type of events and there was plenty of opportunity for folks to do that. I look at it like this, if you can get face time with others, meet your heroes or folks you admire and pick up some ideas and insight in the process to elevate your business, that should justify it being worthy of a few days out of the office.
As crazy as it may sound, I step away from each of these events asking my team ‘is that the last one?’ I know I can create and execute a great conference, and I enjoy doing it, but I also don’t want to invest eight months of time building a show that becomes predictable and stale. It’s why I change speakers and topics frequently. This year’s lineup was phenomenal, and I’m so pleased with who we featured on stage and had in the room, but the competitor in me will also look back and say ‘Bill Simmons, Ice Cube and Lincoln Riley Should’ve Been On Stage Too!‘
If we do host an event in 2024, it will take place in either Boston, Chicago, Dallas or New York. You can cast your vote on BSMSummit.com.
I want to thank everyone who stopped me last week to share how much they enjoy this event. That support means a lot. I think Good Karma Brands broke a record with 20+ employees in attendance, and iHeart was also well represented, which was great to see. I was also excited to have 15-20 college students in the room. The more we can educate the next generation, the better it is for all of us. I also was thrilled to learn a few of our partners and attendees made time to arrange further business conversations. If two groups can help each other, that’s what it’s all about.
But as much as I love my radio brothers and sisters, I’ve noticed more folks showing up the past two years from areas outside of sports radio. That’s both exhilarating and concerning. This year we had folks in the room from WWE, Amazon, The Volume, Omaha Productions, Dirty Mo Media, Barstool Sports, Spotify, Blue Wire, Locked On, BetRivers, Bleav, etc.. I hope that trend continues because sports media is a lot larger of a business than sports radio. As I told the room, we’re not in the radio business, television business, audio or video business, we are in the content business. That covers a lot more ground for brands than focusing on one specific platform.
I’ve been on cloud nine for a few days because overall, this went as well as I could ask for. If there’s one thing I’d like to make better it’s that I hear from a lot of folks throughout the year who say they want to learn, meet new people and give themselves a competitive edge yet when an event exists that can help them do that, they’re not in the room. Some of my radio friends didn’t come because they weren’t asked to speak. Others said they couldn’t make it because their company wouldn’t cover the costs. A few said they thought the Summit was only for programming people not managers or sellers.
First, growing and selling an audience should matter to everyone not just programmers and hosts. GM’s and Sales Managers can gain a lot at this show. So can advertisers and agencies. I’m hoping to change that in the future. Second, I can’t tell you whether or not to prioritize attending but groups outside of radio are passionate about sports audio and video, and they’re finding ways to be in the room. At some point, you have to decide if investing in knowledge, ideas and relationships matters to you and your business. Your employer isn’t going to cover everything you want to do so especially when the economy isn’t strong. Sometimes you have to invest time and resources in yourself.
Many of you reading this website know my track record in the radio industry. I built my career in radio. My passion for the business remains strong. I consult brands all across the country, and root for the industry’s success. It’s why I sink my heart and soul into this event and share all that I do over two days because I want to help people grow their businesses.
But it is strange that over the course of four live events I’ve still not had one current radio CEO sit down for an in-depth sports media business conversation. It’d be one thing if they were pitched and I turned them down but that’s not the case. I’ve had great conversations and support outside of radio from Jimmy Pitaro, Eric Shanks, Erika Ayers, and John Skipper. Jeff Smulyan has been a huge supporter taking part in our awards ceremony, and we’ve had high ranking TV executives in the room watching the show. Maybe things will change in 2024 but whether they do or don’t, I’m going to focus on helping brands and individuals who gain value from this two day event, and continue challenging this industry to think and act differently.
Now that the 2023 BSM Summit is over, my focus shifts to supporting my clients and gearing up for a massive challenge, hosting our first BNM Summit for news media professionals. The conference will take place in Nashville, TV on September 13-14 at Vanderbilt University. I’ll be announcing the first group of speakers in April after the NAB. Tickets will go on sale at that time too.
I know it won’t be easy but I tend to do my best work when I’m out of my comfort zone. This is a space I have passion for and feel I can add something to so there’s only one thing left to do, get to work, and put together the news media equivalent of what we just created for sports media professionals last week in Los Angeles. That may be a tall order but if anyone is ready to meet the challenge head on, yours truly is certainly up to the task.
Thanks again for a spectacular time in Los Angeles. Onward and upward we go!
Throughout the last decade, the methods and means through which people consume content disseminated across different forms of media have undoubtedly changed. Jason McIntyre knows this pattern well, but like most others in the industry, is still trying to determine how to best utilize the power of evolution to facilitate effective cross-platform integration, likening it to a “million-dollar question” of sorts.
The paradigmatic shift was evident to him during his formative years in the industry when he worked as a writer for various newspapers and magazines. As the internet began to grow in the early 2000s, he distinctly recalls buying a domain with his name in it so he could ensure its ownership and began using it as a place to share his stories.
Essentially, he was looking to find new ways to market himself and built an online professional curriculum vitae, including his work with these outlets. As he began to rise in the industry, one of his colleagues with whom he was competing noticed what McIntyre was doing and decided to inform management.
McIntyre was subsequently called into a meeting with executives from the outlet and duly questioned regarding the practice. Once McIntyre told them the intent behind posting some of his stories on a personal website, they regarded how the internet was fairly new and that the legality of the practice was largely unknown.
“It was at this point when it hit me – ‘What am I doing here?,’” McIntyre remembers thinking. “‘These guys are archaic dinosaurs; this is the stone age. The internet is next.’”
By no means is McIntyre considered a scofflaw, nor did he look to take readership away from the outlet. Posting the stories was simply representative of self-promotion, marketing himself and cementing a repository of demo material for prospective employers to view. Looking back on the moment, it can be considered a turning point in his career, perhaps as the impetus of a focus on audiovisual content and its widespread promulgation.
Today, McIntyre is in his first year as co-host of the daily, national midday talk show The Herd featuring sports media personality Colin Cowherd. The program has been simulcast on FS1 after it had aired on select ancillary ESPN networks and consistently receives high levels of engagement across multiple platforms.
“Cowherd does three hours live on TV [and] you can also hear the show on the radio as it’s happening,” McIntyre said. “Oh by the way, his podcast is still a massive juggernaut – I think it’s top-five [or] top-10; I don’t even check the iTunes rankings. Then, oh, by the way, go look at YouTube – he’s still getting videos at 50-; 100-; 200-; 500,000 views…. People are consuming this at an incredible rate.”
McIntyre moved into the role after FOX Sports altered its programming lineup, resulting in Joy Taylor shifting to work alongside Emmanuel Acho and LeSean McCoy on a new program titled Speak. Before he had made the decision, McIntyre took a variety of factors into account – including his family, future aspirations, and the geography. When he and his wife visited Cowherd in Los Angeles, Calif. to have dinner, they quickly realized the area was right for them and a place McIntyre could continue to flourish as a bonafide industry professional.
Cowherd and McIntyre were not unfamiliar with one another though, as they previously worked together as commentators on Speak for Yourself, a talk show Cowherd formerly hosted with Jason Whitlock. Furthermore, when he was still with ESPN Radio in 2007, Cowherd urged his listeners to crash The Big Lead, a sports and media blog McIntyre started the previous year with David Lessa. In the end, the mission was successful and caused the website to go dark for nearly 48 hours.
At the time when the website was famously flooded with traffic, McIntyre was operating the venture anonymously – writing and editing stories in an attempt to craft his voice and grow the platform. It came when McIntyre affirms that the “www” preceding a URL stood for “wild, wild west” instead of “world wide web,” and amid a period where people could proffer content in exchange for ethos, rather than selecting content to consume based on ethos alone.
“To grow up and mature as anyone would do with social media, it’s fun to run an anonymous social media account – but ultimately if you want to make that next step and take the jump to lightspeed, you’ve got to put your name on it,” McIntyre said. “That’s when Richard Deitsch at Sports Illustrated said, ‘Hey, do you want to reveal yourself?,’ and I said, ‘Alright, sure.’ Obviously, the site gained way more credibility once that happened.”
Growing up, McIntyre was an athlete, playing everything from travel soccer to basketball, but he had a realization as an adolescent that he would not play professionally. This feeling was accentuated when he was the second person cut from his high school freshman basketball team despite having knowledge and passion for the sport. When he was in middle school, he would play a game with his friends in which they identified where NBA players went to college, testing their ostensibly boundless knowledge of the association.
At the suggestion of his parents, McIntyre called a local newspaper to ask to help out but ended up being told that he had to wait until he was 16 years old so he could legally operate a motor vehicle. Once he came of age, he began contributing to the outlet, doing whatever was asked of him including answering phones and assisting others.
Eventually, he had the chance to write stories and saw his name on bylines, leading him to conjecture working at The Washington Post and eventually, the Los Angeles Times covering the Los Angeles Lakers, right out of college.
Upon matriculating at James Madison University though, things began to change. Although he was studying to attain a journalism degree, he quickly realized that media was on the verge of enduring significant innovation across the board, prioritizing interactive elements, engagement and dynamic content.
“I got into a fantasy college basketball league through some random dudes from a chatroom I was in talking about sports,” McIntyre said. “You kept your stats [and] I was all-in. The internet just changed so much, and the idea that I would want to work for a newspaper started to slowly fade.”
Nonetheless, McIntyre interned at the Greensboro News and Record, and then received an offer from The Washington Post to cover high school sports on a part-time basis. Despite talking about working for the national outlet years prior, he declined and opted to stay local by working in Passaic County, N.J. at The Herald News. One year into that role, its sports section merged with The Bergen Record to reduce operating costs, and McIntyre eventually began to freelance for ESPN and CBS Sports’ websites.
Just before March Madness commenced in 2006, McIntyre launched The Big Lead and was operating it on the side of other jobs, including working as an editor at Us Weekly. As time went on and the website began to amass a legion of followers, McIntyre added staff members to ensure it was able to produce enough content to keep pace with demand.
Additionally, he ceded his anonymity once it became evident to him that he would need to do so for the website to continue to grow, and then went on to sell the operation to Fantasy Sports Venture in 2010, reportedly for seven figures. Two years later, that company sold the website to Gannett with McIntyre remaining critical to the platform amid both transactions.
“Selling the website was pretty cool,” McIntyre remarked. “It was written about in The New York Times. My parents have it framed. Hell, I have it framed in my house; it’s pretty exciting.”
The move to radio started upon filling in on NBC Sports Radio on Independence Day, leading someone from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to reach out and ask if he had representation. McIntyre did not at the time, and was subsequently contacted by two other agents in a three-week span. He ultimately settled on the agent who reached out to him first, and felt that operating in this sense gave him more opportunities.
McIntyre was shocked to learn that Yahoo! Sports was interested in the content he produced and asked him to host a national internet radio show to be distributed to SiriusXM and other radio stations eponymously-named The Jason McIntyre Show. He had launched a podcast through The Big Lead by the same name in 2013, welcoming guests including Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, then-CBS Sports host Doug Gottlieb and NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. Beginning in early 2015, the radio show began and was broadcast on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST, bringing listeners the latest news and opinions.
“I love sports,” McIntyre explained. “I could easily talk about sports for three hours. Once that started, it essentially kind of took off.”
Nine months later, McIntyre joined FOX Sports Radio where he hosted a Saturday sports talk show titled The Big Lead, largely functioning as a way to preview weekend action and interview guests in the industry. Moreover, he filled in for various high-profile hosts, including Gottlieb, Dan Patrick, and Chris Broussard, and began to establish a unique and distinctive hosting style.
“I’ve always thought of myself as an alpha,” McIntyre said. “I’m going to be the guy setting the agenda, leading the way. I’m going to have topics nobody else is going to have. I was never like, ‘I’m going to work with a guy,’ but obviously you have to work well with others.”
In the time between being removed from Speak for Yourself to being named co-host of The Herd, the alteration of the media landscape was hastened amid the COVID-19 global pandemic. Whether it was appearing on select television shows; hosting his Saturday radio show; contributing to gambling content; or helping FOX Sports expand its digital footprint, McIntyre was ostensibly itinerant while continuing his work with The Big Lead website.
Moreover, he worked with TVG Network (today known as FanDuel TV) providing analysis on the studio show More Ways to Win hosted by Lisa Kerney.
“I’m kind of limbo,” McIntyre said of that time. “I’m going on all the shows as a fill-in which is fine [and] I start doing a lot of digital stuff which I had already done because it’s in my contract.”
Producing the gambling content, in particular, helped boost the popularity of sports betting, especially as states gained regulatory power over its legality. Although California has yet to legalize sports betting, its base of sports fans are familiar with related content, which is very much momentary because of the dynamic nature of the niche.
“It is literally there for a day and then nobody cares the day after,” McIntyre said. “Nobody’s going back and looking at what you said about a game that’s now done. That part is difficult; it just doesn’t have a long tail.”
Everything changed, though, when The Big Lead was sold by Gannett to Minute Media in March 2019, which resulted in the bifurcation of the staff including McIntyre. In July 2020, McIntyre pivoted to begin hosting a podcast titled Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre, adopting an approach similar to his radio show except with more freedom to be himself and be completely authentic with his audience free of Federal Communications Commission standards.
The podcast, which has a new episode published on a near-daily basis, has performed well across audio platforms and given consumers another way to find McIntyre amid today’s crowded media environment. The experience of listening to a podcast, he states, differs from other forms of media largely because of the mechanisms fueling consumption.
“A lot of people listen while they’re running [or] walking their dog and the earbud is right in their ear,” McIntyre said of his podcast. “That’s different [from] the TV experience which can be on in the background. [With] the radio, you’re driving; you’re paying attention to a million things. I just feel like the intimacy of podcasts is something you don’t get anywhere else.”
Combining his podcast with a regular role on The Herd has helped burgeon his career, but present contrasts in terms of the way the shows are produced and distributed. With his podcast produced and distributed by iHeartMedia, he has flexibility to determine topics and welcome on guests as contributors.
Conversely, the visual component of The Herd equals in importance to being compelling and engaging aurally, rendering the show multitiered in terms of its production.
“If you’re walking by the screen, the graphics; the charts; the rankings – it just visually is appealing,” McIntyre said. “I must get at least two to three random people every single day [who say], ‘Dude, I walked by the bar and this show just looks visually-appealing.’”
McIntyre still participates in sports in spite of not playing professionally, including suiting up for pickup basketball at a gym and participating in a tennis league. There have been occurrences where he sporadically begins to talk about sports with other gym members, most recently regarding the New York Jets working to acquire quarterback Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers.
The same is applicable to Cowherd, as McIntyre has heard through friends that he will start talking to people about sports at gyms, parks and other public locations. Through their time co-hosting the show, they have been able to foster chemistry and transform it into favorable ratings.
“He’s exactly like you see on air, and I know that sounds crazy,” McIntyre said of Cowherd. “Between commercials, he’ll have a random rant and just come over and we’ll start talking and just fire off 5 minutes and I’m like, ‘This guy’s just nonstop.’”
In cultivating on-air synergy conducive to success, McIntyre feels he and Cowherd are able to discern gray areas and stimulate deeper, comprehensive thinking elicited through their interactions. One reason for listening to sports talk radio is for entertainment; however, appealing to the complete base of listeners requires finding points to display erudition and circuitous pedagogical instruction within their deft communication abilities.
“We can go back-and-forth a little bit at each other without it feeling personal, and we can disagree,” McIntyre said. “Reasonable minds can disagree. On the internet, everybody has to disagree; you’re either right or you’re wrong.”
Don Martin and Scott Shapiro oversee FOX Sports Radio and its programming, and have worked hard to compile a powerful on-air lineup at all hours of the day. McIntyre believes he has heard them joke about how it arguably compares to the 1927 New York Yankees starting lineup nicknamed “Murderers’ Row.”
That compilation of hitters, which went on to sweep consecutive World Series championships, featured impactful hitters such as George Herman “Babe” Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs and Tony Lazzeri among others. Today, the FOX Sports Radio consists of McIntyre and Cowherd, along with Dan Patrick, Doug Gottlieb, Chris Broussard and Rob Parker, all of whom are considered at or near the top of the industry.
“They’ve got home run hitters all day,” McIntyre said. “ESPN seems to have punted on radio which is a little bit of a surprise. They just don’t seem to take it as seriously as they did say five or 10 years ago. CBS: I’m not entirely sure where they are. I don’t know; you tell me. Is FOX dominating now or what?”
Aside from it being his profession, McIntyre considers sports themselves as an outlet for which to find enjoyment. Discussing aspects of the games he is passionate about enhances his ability and motivation to succeed as a host, and he continues to attempt to follow the leagues and its players as closely as possible.
“[If] you tell me that the NCAA tournament is on, I’m hunkering down with multiple televisions in my house and just devouring all of it,” McIntyre said. “[If] the World Cup is on, I’m waking up at whatever time I need to [in order] to watch Saudi Arabia vs. Argentina. It’s one of those things; I really love sports.”
At the moment, McIntyre is not thinking too much about the future, instead trying to enjoy the journey as opposed to solely focusing on his final destination. Yet he acknowledges that he has always been a person thinking about how he can improve and aggrandize his content, underscoring his commitment to the craft. He does enjoy his new job working with Cowherd and finds that they have been able to have compelling discussions.
“I’m always striving for something; always trying to push forward and do more,” McIntyre said. “Now, I’ve been part of TV shows; I’ve filled in; I’ve done all this. I don’t know what’s next for me. Is it having my own show? I don’t know.”
Even though sports radio today is, in some ways, unrecognizable from the programming from just one decade ago, McIntyre maintains a positive outlook on the future of the industry. Streaming services, podcasts and other on-demand content made available through OTT and FAST platforms certainly adjusts listenership, as it creates another area for the audience to invest their time of consumption, meaning that radio programs must pivot to retain and increase visibility.
“Maybe it’s the California air getting to me,” McIntyre said of his feelings towards the future of sports talk radio. “I’m not eating avocado toast regularly, but definitely I’m trying to be a little more positive. I’ve worked with enough negative people in this industry that that’s just not the way I want to live.”
As more people look to ingratiate themselves towards consumers and establish footholds in this competitive industry, it is fundamental for aspiring professionals to find a niche and work to distinguish themselves in that area. For McIntyre, it arguably came through launching The Big Lead, deviating from the outline of a typical path writers took to build their careers, and taking a calculated risk by remaining anonymous for several years.
Being able to talk in detail about a broad array of topics and having vast experience certainly improves the likelihood of succeeding in a marketplace that prioritizes versatility, along with establishing and keeping professional relationships. These factors have helped McIntyre construct a formidable career that took him from newspapers to magazines to web to radio to television, and with more potentially on the horizon as the years go on.
“It’s tough to just jump in as a generalist,” McIntyre said. “You’ve got to really drill down on something. I was able to drill down on media on the website; [I] got the media reading; and then I was able to supplement it with talking about the NBA and the draft and the NFL and all this stuff; controversial stories…. Once you own something, then you can pretty much own everything.”
When you think about the saying “the sum is greater than the parts”, 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore certainly comes to mind.
With a lunch pail attitude and work ethic, the all-sports station continues to deliver great content for sports fans in Baltimore and the station has been rewarded with tremendous ratings and recognition. All of their weekday shows, from morning drive through the evening, are over a ten share among men, while the station is in the top four in persons.
“We’ve just been on this incredible roll,” said Chuck Sapienza, Brand Manager of Sports for Audacy in Baltimore. “To do it here, with the staff that we have is just so rewarding because we don’t have a ton of resources…it’s Baltimore. Everybody works their ass off. We have this incredible group of men and women. We’re making it work and we’re doing it at such a high level…it’s very rewarding.”
The Fan was just starting to peak when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020. Without any sports, the radio station saw a dip but they’ve come out of the pandemic doing very well and that has continued all the way to where things are today.
Even last month, a sort of “dead” month for sports following the NFL and before the start of spring training, The Fan continued to excel.
Whether it was fans talking about if quarterback Lamar Jackson was going to return to the Ravens or the optimism of the upcoming Orioles season with young players like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, there are no shortage of topics for the hosts to tackle.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Sapienza. “The station has been incredible. In February, the lowest show I had had a 10.9 in men and had a five and a half in persons. The station has done a really good job in coming up with storylines. We work very hard on our content. We spend more time coming up with good solid content, we can’t just say ‘Every day talk about Lamar’, we have to change it up and figure out different angles and different ways to present everything so it doesn’t get stale.”
Last week, The Fan announced the return of Baltimore Baseball Tonight to be hosted by Ryan Ripken, the son of Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., with the season debut set for March 30th. The station was the longtime flagship of the Orioles, but last year the team decided to go in another direction.
That didn’t stop The Fan from covering the Orioles, as well as the Ravens, like a blanket even though they don’t carry the games.
“I don’t think you need the games to put on the best coverage,” said Sapienza. “I believe our coverage outdoes the flagship for both the Ravens and the Orioles. We outperform the flagship with our pre and post-game coverage. By not running the Orioles games, we were able to have some flexibility to put on just a tremendous pre-game show.”
Under Sapienza’s leadership, the station has been very successful in the Baltimore market and people in the industry around the country have noticed. In fact, The Fan turned up in a number of categories in Barrett Sports Media’s Top 20 for 2022 for mid-market all-sports stations.
Sapienza was 7th among program directors. The Big Bad Morning Show was 11th among morning shows.Vinnie and Haynie was 5th among midday shows. Inside Access was 13th among afternoon shows.
Numbers don’t like in ratings and in rankings.
“The fact that you get it from your peers is amazing,” said Sapienza. “It’s humbling, to be honest with you. We put together a really talented staff and they work hard. People go for splash hires with name recognition and we got guys who work their butts off and they’ve earned it. I want to give credit to everybody, but the morning show has been a monster. I’m so honored to be with these people.”
And the honors — and ratings — keep coming in for Chuck Sapienza and 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore.
Fresno’s News Talk 580 and 105.9 was honored with its third Golden Mike award in the last four years on Saturday. In Division B, “KMJ Morning News” was recognized with the “Best Newscast in under 15 Minutes” award. The Radio & Television News Association of Southern California (RTNA) presented the award at its 73rd annual Golden Mike ceremony.
On Twitter, Christopher Gabriel, the acclaimed host of “KMJ Morning News,” expressed his appreciation for the award. He stated that the past four months had been a whirlwind of achievements, including winning the Best Local Morning Drive Radio Show award and being interviewed for a book that features news talkers and media leaders.
In a statement to BNM, Gabriel conveyed that Fresno’s Morning News show distinguishes itself from other news talk stations.
“We hit all the benchmarks and do it thoughtfully, nuancedly,” he said. “But we also have fun with back-and-forth banter including discussion about film, music, sports, food… donuts… donuts are big with us… and not surprisingly what we find from listeners is it’s the banter, humor, and anecdotes about kids and family that they enjoy and remember the most.”
Approximately two years ago, Gabriel transitioned from ESPN 940 to KMJ. He emphasized the importance of being relatable and stated, “We are very relatable, and that matters.”
Gabriel posted his gratitude towards his team for their hard work and dedication. He specifically thanked his anchor Matt Otstot, Mikey Martinez for handling the traffic, Liz Kern for delivering the news, Ruth Michaels, and the rest of his crew.
According to Variety, Abby Grossberg, a former senior booking producer for Maria Bartiromo and head of booking for Tucker Carlson, was fired from Fox News on Friday after the network learned that she had disclosed privileged corporate information.
Fox News responded that their attorneys had advised Grossberg not to disclose privileged information publicly and that she had ignored their instructions. Fox News vowed to defend itself against Grossberg’s “unmeritorious legal claims,” which they said were false allegations against the network and its employees.
Grossberg’s allegations were made just as Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., were set to appear in a Delaware court to determine whether the Dominion case would proceed to trial. The lawsuit alleges that Fox News aired false claims about Dominion’s actions and influence on the 2020 election, leading to the company’s reputational damage and financial losses.
The case has been highly contentious, with depositions revealing internal emails and texts from Fox executives and anchors that have damaged the network’s credibility.
Fox News denied Grossberg’s allegations of a rough culture within the network, with women poorly treated and Carlson staffers making crude remarks about women and Jews. Grossberg’s attorney, Parisis G. Filippatos, did not comment. Fox News had placed Grossberg on administrative leave following the disclosure of her filings. Fox filed a separate suit against Grossberg to prevent her from filing claims offering information on her talks with the network’s corporate attorneys.
“Like most organizations, FOX News Media’s attorneys engage in privileged communications with our employees as necessary to provide legal advice,” FOX said in a statement to BNM. “Last week, our attorneys advised Ms. Grossberg that, while she was free to file whatever legal claims she wished, she was in possession of our privileged information and was not authorized to disclose it publicly. We were clear that if she violated our instructions, Fox would take appropriate action including termination. Ms. Grossberg ignored these communications and chose to file her complaint without taking any steps to protect those portions containing Fox’s privileged information. We will continue to vigorously defend Fox against Ms. Grossberg’s unmeritorious legal claims, which are riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”
Both sides in the Dominion case are waiting to hear from Judge Eric Davis about whether the case will go to trial or if the sides will decide its outcome on their own. The judge may also choose what information can be used in the case and which executives must testify.
Fox has accused Dominion of “cherry-picking” remarks from its top hosts and executives to create drama around the case, while Dominion said in a statement that it looks forward to the court’s ruling. If the case goes to trial, it will likely be one of the most talked about spectacles in the media industry in 2023.
Before I began working for Barrett Sports Media, I longed for the opportunity to attend the BSM Summit. It just simply never worked out for me to attend, but I desperately wanted to be in the room.
I’m a learner. I truly enjoy the opportunity to take in new information, digest it, and put it into practice. I adored the Country Radio Seminar before I moved to sports radio, and I adored — from afar — the BSM Summit while working as a sports program director. And while there are differences, the opportunity to grow in knowledge, information, and see the thought processes of our industry’s leaders was an inspiring time.
So, after attending and returning from my first BSM Summit, I’ve compiled four takeaways from the event.
Radio might be dying, but audio is thriving
The conference began with Edison Research’s Larry Rosin giving a presentation on the latest information compiled by the venerable organization.
Forgive me, Mr. Rosin, for putting words in your mouth, but the presentation essentially boiled down to: AM/FM radio use is going to slowly fade out as Boomers, Gen Xers, and to a lesser extent Millennials begin to decline. Gen Z just flat out isn’t listening to AM/FM radio. They’re not watching linear television, either, but that’s a different discussion for a different day.
It makes sense that Gen Z is living on their phones. They’ve grown up in a world where everything they’ve ever wanted was featured in an all-encompassing handheld device. For those young people, listening to tradition AM/FM radio is hard. It takes more than two taps of their screen. That’s not a critique of the generation, it’s simply a statement of fact.
If you consider listening to a podcast takes tapping the podcast app, tapping the podcast you want, and pressing the play button, that’s insanely easy. And more often than not, people will choose the easy option.
56% of boomers shared that they spend the majority of their audio consumption with AM/FM radio. 23% of Gen Zers responded the same. That’s a gigantic gap. And yet, spoken word listening is rising rapidly.
People aren’t avoiding sports talk. They’re simply consuming it differently the younger you are. There are opportunities to command the space. How many radio companies wish they had put resources toward developing a podcast strategy pre-2020?
Learning from your mistakes is paramount. Something is going to come along to revolutionize the digital audio space. I wouldn’t suggest being left behind when that time comes.
Personality driven audio will only continue to grow
I found the panel helmed by Jack Rose, alongside Dirty Mo Media’s Mike Davis, The Volume’s Logan Swaim, and Omaha Productions’ Richelle Markazene fascinating. Those companies — started by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Colin Cowherd, and Peyton Manning, respectively — truly showcase how different the sports media landscape has become in the last decade.
Before the mid-2010s, the only way for a professional athlete or large sports media personality to control their own content factory was to essentially buy into a conglomerate with the hopes of someday ascending to the top.
That world has been flipped on its head and these disruptors were paramount in doing just that. And that space is only going to continue to grow.
Take an athlete like Kyrie Irving, for example. Large name recognition, large social following, and darn near everything he says creates headlines. While it might be a little more difficult for someone like that to create a company that large advertisers will want to spend money with, Irving, in my estimation, is much more likely to create a podcast — similarly to Draymond Green with The Volume — to get his message across rather than answer questions from a suite of media members he’s never been shy about being skeptical of.
Athlete-driven media is only going to continue to grow. The world is rapidly changing, and people want to cut out the middleman as often as possible. Direct-to-consumer is a trend that isn’t going to fade away anytime soon. From a consumer standpoint, why would I wait for a media company package the comments of my favorite athlete’s thoughts on a pivotal play in a big game, the play called by their head coach, or whatever the case may be, when I can listen to their podcast that will drop the next morning that will explain everything I want to hear, in a much more consumable method?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think — in some cases — that situation sucks. It’s going to insulate athletes, who are already looking for ways to avoid accountability and criticism, from accepting accountability and criticism. But, athletes are becoming increasingly aware of the power of their brands, and the power they wield.
That space isn’t going to collapse upon itself anytime soon. Expect to watch it grow in the coming months and years.
“Ecosystem” is the new buzz word
I can’t tell you how many times I heard the word “ecosystem” last week. Again, not a criticism, just an observation, but it was the brand new buzz word.
I heard programmers talk about creating an ecosystem around their best shows to simplify things for their sellers, I heard television executives talk about ecosystems in regards to the individual brands they manage and how it allows for easier and differing brands to stand out, and I heard a digital company founder talk about how creating an ecosystem created a “scarcity” around him that previously didn’t exist.
It sounds cool, right? The word evokes a bigger identity, it makes the brands, shows, and people utilizing it sound more important. “That station might have a few good shows, but you’re going to want to be a part of our ecosystem” sounds cool as hell.
I don’t know that it really means a whole lot at the end of the day, but over and over again, the same word kept popping up: “ecosystem”.
Our industry is in good hands
I have an affinity for people who “get it”. Truthfully, I don’t even know what “it” is, but when someone gets it, you know it, and they know it. The amount of times I would be conversing with a program director, host, or someone else during the Summit that included someone making a statement and the other person saying “Yes!” and nodding in approval and understanding was immeasurable.
I think — for the most part — we’re all trying to accomplish the same thing. Once, a very wise former co-worker told me “If you and someone else are both trying to get the kitchen inside your house, what the hell does it matter if one of you goes in the front door and the other person comes in from the patio? You’re both trying to accomplish something, and just because you’re doing something one way and the other person is doing it another makes either of you right or wrong. It just makes you different.” And hearing, and discussing different topics, issues, situations, and content ideas with some of the best and brightest in sports radio game me conviction that the sports media industry is truly in great hands. There are so many people who “get it”, and it was encouraging to see up close.
Finally, not necessarily a takeaway, but a kudos. Thursday Night Football television announcer Al Michaels was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the event. It was a very cool moment to see a living legend accept an award.
But what was also insanely cool was seeing the co-workers who joined Michaels at the event. Kaylee Hartung, Andrew Whitworth, Marie Donoghue, and more Amazon co-horts came to the event to support, honor, and recognize Michaels.
It showcased the impact the legendary announcer has had on those he’s worked with for just a single season, but also highlighted the culture Amazon has built in such a short amount of time. I would be remiss if I didn’t point that out.
If you’ve never attended the BSM Summit, I encourage you to really explore the possibility in 2024. Truthfully, I hadn’t really missed being a sports radio program director since departing the format to come work for Jason Barrett in July of last year. However, as I shared with someone at the conference, listening to hearing some of the leaders in our industry talk and share their passionate opinions on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going made me itching to wake up and put together a promo for Opening Day.
Stephen A. Smith made it pretty clear recently in a conversation with Dan Le Batard. He is not looking to leave First Take, but he has bigger aspirations. If the show gets in the way of those aspirations, he will not have a problem moving on.
That day is going to come, my guess is sooner rather than later. When it does, ESPN will have to face a fact it may not want to – if there’s no Stephen A, then there is no First Take. If he decides that he needs to leave the show in order to accomplish all that he wants to, then the show must not go on.
Whether or not you like Stephen A. Smith is irrelevant. He has star power no one else at the network does.His NBA Countdown co-host Mike Greenberg is close, but Greeny lacks the bombast. The way Stephen A. Smith speaks and carries himself forces you to have an opinion on his opinion. Nothing is more valuable than that in this business.
First Take survived the exit of Skip Bayless in 2016. It was a major blow to the brand though. At that time, Bayless was just as important to the show as Smith was. Seeing two junkyard dogs locked in attack mode is what built the audience and kept them coming back each day.
Retooling was a necessity, but the show could survive. Fifty percent of the foundation was intact, and frankly, it was the more valuable of the two halves.
Now, is First Take the same show in 2023 that it was in 2016? Of course not! Max Kellerman was a fine co-host but no one was going to be able to replace Skip Bayless’s complete devotion to entertainment over credibility. That lead to the current system of rotating opponents, which just doesn’t work as well as ESPN wishes it did. But the show is still watched by a large audience every day and still has tremendous value in the network’s daytime lineup.
Stephen A. Smith is the reason for all of that. Without him, name any competitor you want. First Take doesn’t have an advantage over it.
Without him, what is the throughline? A show with rotating hosts does not connect the way shows with established lineups do. The audience isn’t just choosing content. They are choosing personalities. ESPN knows this. It’s the reason why First Take replaced the endless loop of SportsCenter replays that used to occupy the network’s midday block.
Smith says he wants his production company to be a force in the world of content creation and he wants to be hands-on in that process. He wants to host a late night talk show. He wants to act. He may have another book in him. Publicly, he is telling the world that he wants ESPN and First Take to fit into those plans. I would guess that privately, he knows that is impossible.
When Smith decides his time on First Take is over, the only fair thing to do is to end the show entirely. It would be a fitting tribute to him. On top of that, can you imagine being whoever is tapped to succeed Stephen A. Smith? It would be hard no matter what the role is, but the pressure that comes with taking over his role on First Take in particular would be unimaginable.
As First Take has rotated through a series of co-hosts and debate opponents for Stephen A. Smith, we have seen some stars emerge. JJ Redick has taken to the format pretty seamlessly. Marcus Spears has mastered the theatrics of televised debate. It’s not that they cannot do the job. It is that the job Smith does cannot be done by anyone else.
The day is coming. ESPN doesn’t want to think about it. Maybe Stephen A. Smith doesn’t want to think too hard about it either. But the day is coming when Stephen A. Smith decides that his time on First Take is over. Trying to go on without him would just be delaying the inevitable. The best thing the network can do is let the show and host say goodbye together and start building the next pillar of its daytime lineup.
Last week Dan Le Batard went back and forth with his former ESPN cohort Stephen A. Smith, with Le Batard not pulling any punches with the First Take host.
“I hate what you two have done to sports television,” Le Batard said to Stephen A., mentioning Skip Bayless, Smith’s former co-host. Dan said on his South Beach Sessions podcast that specifically his issue is with the constant need to make the arguing over a point the primary entertainment focus.
Stephen A. responded by questioning how he and Bayless are responsible for the rise of people in the space without a journalism background when both he and Skip are trained journalists and spent years working newspaper beats before they got their breaks on television.
“You can say that all you want to; I would say, who the hell are you?!” Smith said. “To sit up there and say me and him. What about you? Where the hell were you? Living under a rock? Teaching at Miami U? You were part of it too! You ain’t innocent!”
Le Batard faced some blowback for his stance on Twitter, and on Friday Dan posted a quick video response on his Instagram.
“Oo-wee I seem to have gotten people mad,” Le Batard said. “And the reaction was hostile and swift on Elon Musk’s kind, gentle community app.”
“People say that I am a fat, ugly, hypocritical, jealous, jerk, asshole, moron, idiot,” he added. “And I’d just like to defend myself against that…I’m not jealous.”
Florida Atlantic University is headed to Houston to play San Diego State in the Final Four, and the call of the historic moment on the FAU Radio Network was almost never heard due to a technical issue at Madison Square Garden.
With 18.6 seconds left in the East Regional final, Kevin LaVicka’s internet connection to his Comrex went out.
LaVicka told Andy Katz after the game that he had a mad scramble to get a working ethernet cable connected to his Comrex.
“It was getting a little rough. My life’s dream is crumbling before me,” LaVicka said.
LaVicka credited a Kansas State layup and timeout for buying enough time to look for another cable and his ESPN West Palm colleague by his side for holding the Comrex up long enough to keep the feed going so he could make the call of the final play that sent the Owls to the Final Four.
The Alabama men’s basketball team bowed out of the NCAA Tournament surprisingly on Friday night in Louisville at the hands of San Diego State.
Coming into the weekend, it was expected that the Crimson Tide would at least make the Elite 8 and potentially be headed to Houston for the Final Four as the tournament’s number one overall seed.
CBS Sports play-by-play voice Ian Eagle talked to Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier on 106.7 The Fan in D.C. on Friday ahead of Alabama’s game, and Alabama’s situation with freshman Brandon Miller came up.
Miller was linked to an alleged murder that took place in January in Tuscaloosa, providing the gun believed to have been used to kill Jamea Jonae Harris. Miller continued to play in games with the investigation ongoing. He has not been charged with any crime.
Eagle said he wasn’t prepared to delve into the situation specifically or incorporate it into some kind of broader point about the program while calling the game.
“At no point am I going to view it that they’ve dealt with challenges or that they’ve handled the distractions,” he said. “This is something that affects the program because of a tragedy, and I think word usage, vocabulary, nomenclature and tone is really important. I don’t want to cross the wires here to say that Alabama is overcoming something because that’s just not the case.”
Eagle mentioned that the game moves so rapidly that even if he wanted to address it, it’s likely there wouldn’t be any time to get to it.
“You can’t go through every possible storyline in the game,” he said. “There are moments where of course the play-by-play announcer has to trust his or her instincts in the moment. That this is important. That this is a priority.”
But Ian said ultimately he tries to put himself in the shoes of the viewer or listener, thinking about what would be the most meaningful contribution he can make to a broadcast.
“The lowest common denominator when it comes to this for me is simply what would I want if I was sitting in my living room, sitting in my kitchen, watching this game?” he said. “What do I want to know? What’s the information I need? And am I being entertained during the process?”
