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ESPN 1000 To Celebrate Bears Partnership With Full Day of Programming

BSM Staff
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ESPN 1000 To Celebrate Bears Partnership With Full Day of Programming

The Chicago Bears will have a new radio home starting next week, and the station is pulling out all the stops to commemorate the day.

Good Karma Brands-owned ESPN 1000 will be Bears-centric from 5 a.m.-8 p.m. on March 1, the day the station officially takes over the team’s radio broadcast rights.

It starts with Kap & J.Hood from 5-9 a.m. live on location in Indianapolis at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. Bears GM Ryan Poles will join the show at 7:30.

The rest of ESPN 1000’s lineup will feature Bears-related surprises on the air according to the Chicago Sun Times.

“We’re coming out kicking and screaming and yelling from the rooftops, ‘Hey, we’re the new home of the Chicago Bears,'” Danny Zederman, ESPN 1000 director of content, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’re not looking at the Bears as only 17 regular-season games. We’re looking at the Bears as a product that we’re going to talk about and embrace for 365 days a year.”

Zederman added that after securing the rights to the White Sox in 2021, adding more live game broadcasts was paramount.

“Most people want to listen to live sports in the moment,” he said. “Thats’ why we really want to be where live sports are. It’s destination programming. With the White Sox and now the Bears, we have live sports covered almost 12 months a year.”

The station has it worked out between both teams that when Bears and Sox regular season games conflict, the White Sox will air on WGN. If the White Sox make the playoffs and a postseason game conflicts with a Bears regular season game, the Bears will shift to WGN.

Get Curious About ChatGPT And Find Out What It Can Do For Sellers

Jeff Caves
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Get Curious About ChatGPT And Find Out What It Can Do For Sellers

Back in late November, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, the newest creation of artificial intelligence designed to be helpful to all of us. It is a ‘chatbot’ designed to simulate human-like conversations via text. 

For now, you go to the ChatGPT website, type in questions, and ChatGPT provides the answers. For a radio salesperson, think of Chat Generative Pre-Transformer as a resource for research, ad copy, and prospecting. And you can try it right now for free. There is a ChatGPT+ with added features for $20 monthly if you want to go all in. 

Microsoft has invested $10 billion, which will be how they get their search engine, Bing, to compete with Google, Apple, and others. I like to think of it as Google without all the ads and links but the answers to your questions. It is easy. The sports radio panel experts will for sure mention it at the BSM Summit in LA in March. 

I typed in, how can ChatGPT assist radio advertising salespeople? Here was the five-part answer: 

  1. Providing market insights: I can gather and analyze data on consumer behavior, demographics, and buying trends to help salespeople understand the target audience and create effective ad campaigns.
  2. Brainstorming ad ideas: I can help generate creative ideas for ad campaigns based on the target audience and industry trends.
  3. Drafting ad copy: I can help write persuasive ad copy that captures the attention of the target audience and effectively communicates the benefits of the product or service being advertised.
  4. Handling customer queries: I can assist in responding to customer queries, resolving complaints, and providing customer support to ensure a positive customer experience.
  5. Conducting competitive analysis: I can help salespeople understand the competitive landscape and develop strategies to differentiate their product or service from others in the market.

Overall, I can provide radio advertising salespeople with valuable support in various aspects of their work, from strategy development to execution, enabling them to create successful advertising campaigns and achieve their sales targets.

I followed up on the competitive landscape point and asked why radio advertising was better for a local advertiser than Google ad words or search. Here was that answer: 

While both radio advertising and Google AdWords/search can be effective marketing tools for local advertisers, radio advertising has some advantages that make it a better choice for certain businesses. Here are five reasons why:

  1. Targeted local audience: Radio advertising allows local businesses to reach a targeted local audience based on geographic location and demographics. Local radio stations are a great way to reach local customers who may not be actively searching for products or services online.
  2. Cost-effective: Radio advertising can be less expensive than Google AdWords/search, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. Radio advertising rates are often more affordable than digital advertising rates, and a well-crafted radio ad can have a significant impact on a local audience.
  3. Builds brand awareness: Radio advertising is a great way to build brand awareness in the local community. A well-crafted radio ad can help establish a brand in the minds of local customers and can create a memorable and emotional connection that can’t be achieved with a simple Google search.
  4. Emotional connection: Radio ads can create an emotional connection with listeners through music, sound effects, and voiceovers. This emotional connection can lead to increased brand loyalty and customer retention.
  5. Local support: By advertising on local radio, businesses can demonstrate their support for the local community and build a positive reputation as a local business. This can be particularly important for businesses that rely on local support and referrals.

Overall, while both radio advertising and Google AdWords/search can be effective marketing tools, radio advertising can be a better choice for local advertisers looking to target a local audience, build brand awareness, and create an emotional connection with customers.

The options are endless for how this technology can help you. Get ahead of it and be the person who figures out how it can help your clients as well. 

Layoffs Hit Tom Brady’s Religion of Sports

BSM Staff
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Layoffs Hit Tom Brady’s Religion of Sports

Growing fears of a recession and a decline in advertising revenue have negatively impacted the podcasting industry, and Tom Brady’s media company, Religion of Sports, has felt the brunt.

The company, which Brady started with Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra in 2018, recently announced that its entire podcasting division was being eliminated. That meant more than 12 producers lost their jobs according to reporting from the New York Times.

Now for Tomorrow With Deepak Chopra was the first podcast Religion of Sports produced. The show launched in 2020.

Religion of Sports raised $50 million in series B funding in June. That money is likely earmarked for unscripted TV and film projects, where the company is largely focused on creating content.

But even as the demand for podcasting remains strong, companies like Religion of Sports, Spotify and others have had to scale back at the sight of economic projections.

The podcasting industry saw a boom in recent years, with companies shelling out tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to buy exclusive rights to the most popular titles and studios in the space.

Combined, Spotify has committed over $1 billion for podcast contracts with celebrities like Joe Rogan and Kim Kardashian.

NFL Network, NFL+ Set Plans For 2023 Scouting Combine Coverage

BSM Staff
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NFL Network, NFL+ Set Plans For 2023 Scouting Combine Coverage

The 2023 NFL Scouting Combine is set to take place next week in Indianapolis, and NFL Media has announced its plans to provide more than 50 hours of live coverage from Lucas Oil Stadium.

It all starts on Tuesday, February 28 with Good Morning Football live at 7 a.m. The network will air five hours of live d-line and linebacker workouts from 3-8 p.m. on Thursday, March 2.

Five more hours of on-field workouts will air live on Friday, March 3 featuring defensive backs and special teams. Come the weekend, NFL Network will have a combined 13 hours of Combine workouts on Saturday and Sunday. Rich Eisen will anchor coverage, with Daniel Jeremiah in the broadcast booth.

NFL Total Access will close out the week at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 5.

NFL+ will also have live coverage of on-field activity. Kurt Warner, Steve Smith Sr., Joe thomas, Maurice Jones-Drew, Michael Robinson, Dallas Goedert, Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams are among the names that will contribute to Players Only Combine Presented by NOBULL.

NFL+ coverage will air on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., Friday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Karl Ravech Hopes Audience Doesn’t ’Shoot the Messenger’ As 1st Broadcaster To Deal With Pitch Clock

BSM Staff
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Baseball at the major league level is going to be played a little bit differently starting this season, and ESPN’s Karl Ravech knows that even the broadcasters will have to get used to some of the changes just like the players.

Ravech, talking to Buster Olney on the Baseball Tonight podcast, said he hopes the audience will bear with him in these first national broadcasts of the 2023 season.

“Please don’t kill the messenger because the messenger is going to be pointing out the pitch clock quite often,” Ravech said. “And we’re gonna see, like we do with NFL games where the quarterback snaps the ball and you look at the clock and it says zero, and this guy’s gonna start his delivery at zero. Or did he start it? There’s so much gray to this whole thing it’s going to present all sorts of challenges.”

The pitch clock is one of the new regulations in MLB this season, as is the elimination of the defensive shift as we once knew it. Ravech said when it comes to the pitch clock, he knows it’s not going to win everyone over.

“We’ve all been doing this for a long time, and you know that there’s going to be a part of the audience who are into it, and there’s going to be a part of the audience that’s gonna say, ‘You guys stop talking about it. It’s overkill,'” he said. “We’re all gonna go through an adjustment period.”

Ravech said ultimately with these new rules, how they’re interpreted is going to be an important factor.

“What are they adhering to is going to be a bit of a question,” he said.

Attorneys For Michael Irvin Seek Video Footage Of Hotel Incident

BSM Staff
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Michael Irvin has maintained his innocence after he was accused of misconduct by an Arizona hotel worker during Super Bowl week, which ultimately led him to being pulled from the network’s coverage of the event.

His attorney — who has filed a $100 million lawsuit for damages — says his client “deserves” the video footage of the incident.

“Irvin deserves to see the security footage that has led to the derailment of his livelihood and continues to inflict harm upon him so that he may seek to exonerate himself with the NFL and be reinstated on the NFL Network,” Irvin’s attorney Levi McCathern said in a motion for expedited discovery, reported by Front Office Sports.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer has continued to detail the account as a friendly one, maintaining the interaction lasted less than 60 seconds.

“This all happened in a 45-second conversation in the lobby,” Irvin told The Dallas Morning News after he was removed from NFL Network’s coverage. “When I got back after going out … I came into the lobby and I talked to somebody. I talked to this girl. I don’t know her, and I talked to her for about 45 seconds. We shook hands. Then, I left…That’s all I know.”

The 56-year-old has yet to return to his role on NFL Network since the incident.

Dewayne Staats Reducing Tampa Bay Rays Schedule

BSM Staff
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Tampa Bay Rays television play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats will be taking between 20-30 games off during the 2023 season, in what was described as a mutual decision between he and Bally Sports Sun.

“There comes a point where — I obviously still want to do it and enjoy doing it and all that, but if I could get off the road once in a while, I think I’ll do that,” Staats told the Tampa Bay Times. “I’m still going to do a pretty full load of stuff. So it’s not anything really that different; almost everybody in the business is doing something like this now.”

The 70-year-old has served as the team’s television voice since its debut season in 1998. He has called more than 7,000 games during his career that started with the Astros in 1977. He says there are no retirement plans on the horizon.

“We get together generally from time to time and chat about what you’re thinking and what you want to do,” Staats said. “So it just kind of grew out of one of those conversations.”

Bally Sports Sun said the plans for Staats are similar to the how they have operated since the 2019 season when Kevin Burkhardt was hired to announced 20 games in Staats’ stead.

Additionally, Bally Sports Sun is making altering its pregame and postgame lineup. Denard Span and Matt Joyce will each work between 25-30 games on the network as analysts, while Doug Waechter will return as the lead analyst. In the restructuring, Orestes Destrade won’t return to the broadcasts after 11 seasons with the club.

Sean Pendergast: Netflix Picked The Wrong Quarterbacks For This Show

BSM Staff
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NFL quarterbacks will be the focus of the next Netflix foray into the world of sports documentaries. The company announced on Wednesday that Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota will be at the center of a new series called Quarterback, which is set to debut this summer.

Thursday morning on Sports Radio 610 in Houston, Sean Pendergast made the argument that Netflix and the show’s producers picked the wrong personalities to follow.

“My biggest question is okay, Mahomes I get,” Pendergast said. “Mahomes is the MVP of the league. He’s interesting, he’s interesting when he’s drunk.”

His morning show partner Seth Payne added that Mahomes’s wife and brother certainly will add some intrigue. So will anything in the locker room involving tight end Travis Kelce.

It was the other two participants Pendergast couldn’t understand. He asked Payne to justify what was interesting about Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota.

Payne joked that Cousins may be interesting if he did not know he was being filmed. He suggested Netflix do those parts over and just ask Cousins’s Minnesota teammates to secretly film him with their phones and then send in the footage.

He then reminded Sean Pendergast that Marcus Mariota did not end the season as the starting quarterback in Atlanta.

“That may be the most interesting part,” Pendergast said. “Mariota lost his job late in the season to Desmond Ridder. So on the Mariota parts, I’m gonna fast forward until we get to him being fired from his job basically.”

Pendergast suggested that there were better options for Netflix including stars like Joe Burrow and notoriously strange characters like Zach Wilson and Deshaun Watson.

‘Boston Globe Today’ Launching On NESN

BSM Staff
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‘Boston Globe Today’ Launching On NESN

Boston Globe Media Partners have announced a new television show — Boston Globe Today — will debut on NESN later this spring.

The daily half-hour show will be hosted by Segun Oduolowu and air at 5:00 PM on NESN and BostonGlobe.com, as well as the mobile apps for NESN and The Boston Globe.

“We are continuously improving the ways that we deliver vital news and information to our community, and are excited to build a television show that will bring the Globe’s award-winning journalism to a broader audience,” Boston Globe Media CEO Linda Henry said.

Boston Globe Today will be produced in a new studio built at the company’s downtown Boston newsroom. On Monday through Thursday, the show will be anchored by Oduolowu and feature discussions with Globe journalists on the news of the day. Fridays will feature a sports roundtable format hosted by Globe columnist Christopher L. Gasper.

Oduolowu comes to Boston Globe Today after hosting People (the TV Show!) for People Magazine. He has previously served as the co-host of The List, and was a regular on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and NBC News Now.

“I’m thrilled to join the Boston Globe Today team,” Oduolowu said. “I look forward to diving into the stories affecting this historic city and New England at large.”

Sweeny Murti Joining MLB In Social Media Role

BSM Staff
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Former WFAN New York Yankees beat reporter Sweeny Murti has announced he is joining MLB in a social media role.

In a tweet, Murti said “In this unique multimedia role, I will join MLB’s amazing social media editorial team and work with the talented content team to develop new podcasts and other projects. This is a phenomenal opportunity that will allow me to help promote this wonderful game and tell the stories that bring its great players and personalities closer to you.

“Over the last month, I have been overwhelmed by supportive messages from friends, colleagues, and fans. It was truly a humbling experience and I can only offer you my heartfelt gratitude.”

Sweeny continued by saying “I was lucky to have one dream job at WFAN, and now I feel so fortunate to begin a second one at Major League Baseball.”

Murti joined WFAN in 1993 as a producer before ascending to the role of Yankees beat reporter at the station in 2001. He announced in January that he was departing the station for a yet-to-be-named opportunity.

“I tried to bring the right amounts of confidence and humility on the air,” Murti said when he announced his exit. “I strived to hold my own with the great hosts on our station and just tried to make good radio with every appearance.”

Yesterday, a report from The New York Post claimed Justin Shackil is in line to replace Murti at WFAN, which will see the YES Network reporter and host call roughly 25 radio broadcasts in John Sterling’s absence.

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