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Broadcaster Review: Monday Night Football

Andy Masur
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Broadcaster Review: Monday Night Football

I watched Monday Night Football as the Redskins hosted the Bears. I re-watched the first half to go more in depth on the broadcast and how the broadcasters handled things. National broadcasts are tough, but I thought things went pretty well overall.  

Image result for joe tessitore and booger mcfarland

I was watching the game in a local bar and the sound/telecast didn’t come on until just around kickoff. The open to the broadcast wasn’t filled with a lot of information or detail on the game, and since I was getting the call right up against game-time there really wasn’t anything to provide me with some “pregame” or other info. Now I realize ESPN does 15 hours of pregame, but some viewers only tune in for the game and they get shafted. 

Early in the game with the Bears on offense, the focus of the crew was spot on. Focused on the Bears offense or lack thereof. Booger McFarland talked about the struggles of Mitch Trubisky repeating the Trevon Williams quote from the Packers about making Trubisky beat teams by taking away the other weapons.  I think in the Bears first drive they missed an obvious player being used on offense, that was Cordarrelle Patterson. Why are the Bears using him so much early? Does that take pressure off of the QB?  McFarland brought up a terrific point referencing a conversation he had with the Bears QB, about his love of throwing out of the pocket and scrambling. McFarland said “when I asked him that question, his eyes lit up”…that’s good stuff. 

On the Redskins first drive, Joe Tessitore referred to the Case Keenum quote about playing on borrowed time, then paying it off with the mention of the rookie Dwayne Haskins Jr. Then it plays out with the QB firing a pick six to Clinton Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Tessitore comes up big with the fact that the DB spent some time last year with the Redskins and how Eddie Jackson the Bears DB, convinced him to sign with the Bears to relive their days in Alabama together. That’s great prep work to me, because it’s a story for sure. Great insight too, because I’m sure that many fans (including some that I watched the game with) only remember Clinton-Dix from Green Bay. 

The Bears kicking situation has become much more of a talking point than maybe it needs to be at times. But the MNF crew made mention of the injury suffered by rookie place kicker Eddie Piñeiro suffered in the weight room during the week and clarified that was why the punter Patrick O’Donnell was handling the kickoff duties. 

Even though it’s kind of an old story already, the way the Bears defense started the game, it was probably worth a mention of the new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano. McFarland made a great point that the new guy typically wants to put his own stamp on things, but Pagano realized what he had and mainly wanted to regain players trust and let them play. The crew gets lucky because on the next play Khalil Mack busted through the line with a sack and a forced fumble. 

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McFarland pointed out that great players want to continue to be great and don’t think about what they did last season. 

Odd choice to me by the production crew to again make note of the 2017 first round QB’s. Trubisky was #2 overall, Patrick Mahomes #10 and Deshaun Watson #12. I sort of get it since the Bears offense has scuffled, but Trubisky did help lead the Bears to a division title last season. Didn’t he? McFarland made a brilliant observation after the graphic, by saying “this is not all on Trubisky (this year), some of it is on Matt Nagy who admitted that they tried to do too much.” That’s a great follow up note in my opinion. 

It seemed to me like the broadcast focused mainly on the Bears early on, with the struggles on offense, the great things on defense and the kicking situation. Late in the 1st quarter after a near “safety” on Trubisky, the broadcast team mentions that in a 7-0 game, the Redskins defense has done a nice job. The hardest thing to me in a national broadcast like this is to please both sides of the rooting bases. You aren’t going to make everyone happy, but in prep for a game like this, having something good, bad or indifferent to say about each club will go a long way in keeping interest. I know I was always interested as a fan to hear what the national crews felt about my team, something I always looked forward to hearing. More of this is needed so far in this game. 

Along those lines Tessitore, after an Adrian Peterson run, starts to talk about “AP’s” place in the record books and how a touchdown last week put him 5th on the all-time TD list. McFarland is having a strong game, he comes out to talk about how Peterson will be running with some anger, especially after being inactive in the Redskins Week 1 loss. He’d go on to say that Peterson has “renewed energy now”. There was good production support of this conversation too, after a Peterson short gain they put up the Most Rushing TD in NFL history graphic to show Peterson is 3 away from as Tessitore put it “Peterson’s idol, Walter Payton”. Tessitore comes up large continuing that thought saying Peterson told him that getting to Payton “motivates me and would mean the world to me”, those inside stories from candid players are gold. 

Image result for chicago bears vs adrian peterson

There was an underrated but good perspective note by Tessitore to open up the 2nd quarter, by telling the audience that at this point the Bears have as many defensive touchdowns as they do offensive. Wow. 

The Redskins drive hit 3rd down in the red zone and Danny Trevathan sacked Keenum, and McFarland picked something up on the replay showing a nice fake out of an offensive lineman by the Bears linebacker and having a little laugh about it. 

Some of the themes of the broadcast are redundant but covered nicely by some anecdotal material. Of Trubisky’s inaccuracy issue, Tessitore points out that the Bears QB is comfortable with who he is and understands the criticism but feels like he has the talent to make things work. Good supporting material for the discussion. 

Greg Manusky’s defense has come under fire and for the fans watching in DC, it’s a lightning rod issue. Tessitore points out that many wanted the defensive coordinator fired last year, but Jay Gruden kept him on. In a 7-0 game to this point, it’s a valid discussion because it wasn’t like the Bears offense dominated to the midway point of the second quarter. Soon after the discussion though the Bears go up 14-0 putting the defense of the Redskins in the crosshairs again. Tessitore points out that NFL QBs against the Skins defense in the red zone have converted on all 10 trips. 

After the Bears went up 21-0 and Case Keenum threw an interception naturally the discussion turned to Haskins and if things continued to go south would he eventually get into a game this season. Tessitore referenced a conversation with Jay Gruden saying “this is going to be a process, he’s learning how to prepare as a pro right now and that everyone in the organization thinks that right now, sitting him is the best decision.”. McFarland agreed and brought up that Haskins only played one year at Ohio State, so in other words, he has a lot to learn. I’m sure Redskins fans were throwing things at their TV’s as much as Keenum was tossing interceptions. 

Nearing the two-minute warning, more gold. Pointing out that Cole Holcomb, the Skins 5th round pick in 2019 from North Carolina was in an “interesting position, playing inside linebacker tonight.” Why? He was Trubisky’s roommate in college. Love that stuff. 

More good things happen on the video replay review of the Taylor Gabriel no catch in the endzone. The guys smartly defer to their in booth official, John Parry, who said he believed the call should be reversed and it was. He broke down the play, explaining that even though the ball moved a bit, that is allowable under the rule and he felt there was control and two feet down. He’s fresh off the field and was dead on with all his assessments of that particular play and sounded very comfortable delivering the information. Excellent use of the former referee and a great take by him as well. 

Overall, the first half of this game seemed difficult to call. One team was dominating another and there were a ton of flags on the field. I thought McFarland was the star of the show. That’s the way a television broadcast should go, letting the analyst do what he does and inject some good points and offer a little levity. McFarland clearly did his homework and was prepared for every situation on the field. He impressed me with his knowledge of both sides of the football, not just the defense. Tessitore also did a ton of prep and it’s evident throughout the telecast. He is solid and used the information he gathered in the days leading up to the broadcast and interjected information seamlessly throughout that first half. I’d like to hear him be a little less intense. It seems to me like sometimes there isn’t a lot of emotion in his voice, it’s one way to approach things with a personality like McFarland in the booth, but I’d still like to hear more from him. Again he is solid and handling a tough job on a big stage. 

What Listeners Value Least on Sports Radio

Jason Barrett
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What Listeners Value Least on Sports Radio

Knowing what your audience wants is so important for a radio station. But not every brand puts the time or resources into doing research. It’s common in radio to assume we know what listeners want, but people’s tastes change, their work schedules switch, and their entertainment options increase. One day radio’s vital, the next it’s less necessary.

One of my biggest pet peeves with our ratings system, is that it influences how many of us think about what does and doesn’t work. I’ve seen bad shows earn numbers, and good ones come up short, but because this is the way we decide whether or not something is good, we ignore a lot of other evidence that tells us if something truly is good or not.

Just the other day I heard a 3 person show execute a 26-minute interview in the 2nd segment of their show. The guest’s call dropped, they killed time to get him back on, and the result was a less than stellar listening experience. This was done by a good show too, one with strong ratings. Good numbers or not, turning the show over to a guest for 2 segments who isn’t breaking news and isn’t a major name isn’t wise, especially when 3 hosts haven’t had a chance yet to offer their opinions and establish the content. But hey the ratings are good right?

Unless you know every single person carrying a meter in your market, and you study their daily habits, you really don’t know why they put your radio station on or turn it off. You ‘assume’ you know what works based on the trends you see in your reports from Nielsen, but the way 4-5 people with a meter use a station isn’t always a true reflection of what an entire market wants. Often times your digital story is much more interesting.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m active on Twitter. I like the platform a lot. It’s a great place to learn about sports news, engage in conversation during games, or just flat out laugh at silly things people post. Like many things in this world, it isn’t perfect. You have to put up with out of bounds comments from faceless profiles and people using names like StretchNuts09, but otherwise it has a lot of positives.

Given the nature of the content we produce at BSM and who our most avid readers are, Twitter has been a great resource for connecting with people who share similar interests. Many turn to my profile for information and opinions on the sports media business, and it’s helped some improve at their craft, others land jobs, and forced a few who disagree to consider a different point of view.

But aside from that, Twitter can also come in handy for researching the audience. In years past some would discredit the results from social media because there was this perception that people on social media were from another universe, and drastically different than the everyday listener. As the years have gone by though, that viewpoint has started to change.

Every research project, whether thru phone calls, emails, online surveys, in person focus groups, or social media platforms, isn’t 100% accurate. If you want proof, go look at the data prior to the last election. So much depends on who’s involved in the study, how the questions are written, and when the project takes place. For example, if you asked baseball fans about their excitement for the sport in November, you’d get a much different reaction than if you asked them in April.

If you follow me on Twitter (@SportsRadioPD) you’ve likely noticed we’ve been running more poll questions over the past month. My social media director Clarissa Magliochetti has been leading the charge, and we’ve made it a daily focus to engage with people because A) it’s called ‘social’ media and B) knowing what people like and dislike and the reasons behind their feelings is helpful to making brands better.

Yesterday, we ran a poll that I thought might generate a few more responses than usual, but I had no idea it would snowball the way that it did. We asked ‘What do you value least when listening to a sports radio morning show?’ The four choices were Callers, Guests, Sports Updates, and News-Traffic-Weather. Nearly 22,000 voted on the question, and the biggest tune out according to the results was Callers.

First, I want to thank everyone in the format who took a second to hit the RT button to help us. I chose these 4 selections because they’re additions to a show based on the preferences of a host or program director. They’re not a mandatory part of delivering a sports radio show. Some folks listed commercials and hosts as their main reasons for tuning out, and I expected to hear those opinions, but the difference with those choices is that they’re non-negotiable. Without commercials, the station doesn’t exist. Without a host, you have no show.

Some also said they didn’t like non-sports conversations without a purpose, especially ones that enter the political arena. There were also remarks about being turned off by arguing and yelling, fake hot takes, gambling talk and a few others. I understand that some will exit a show when those things come up, but much of it depends on the host and their interests. Someone with a passion for betting is going to bring it up on their show, and portions of the audience will like it, others won’t. Same goes for non-sports stuff, hot takes, parody songs, and political commentaries.

There are a number of different things to takeaway from these results, but to be clear, just because the feedback says one issue is a bigger tune out than others, doesn’t mean it works this way in every market. What resonates in the Northeast is different than what works in the Midwest, and what works there isn’t the same as it is in the North, South or West Coast.

CALLERS:

What this poll should make obvious is that people aren’t in love as much these days with shows being driven by the audience. The sports format’s first 20 years were built on turning the airwaves over to listeners to voice their thoughts, but often shows lacked direction and focus. With social media, texting, and podcasting a bigger part of our lives now, interaction is still important, but it’s done differently.

Another key factor is that younger people have less desire to talk on the phone. The majority of voices you hear call into sports talk shows tend to be older, and often times they call back a few times per week. Each time that same individual hits the air, it creates the impression that there isn’t a lot of interest in calling the show because the same person can get thru multiple times. Listeners under 35 are less tolerant and loyal than those of us who are older and have grown up with the format, and younger hosts tend to be less adamant about needing calls than older hosts who’ve made it part of their routine for years.

In defense of caller participation, I do believe there is more entertainment value in hearing someone express a passionate opinion or outlandish thought than listening to a host read it thru a text or tweet. It can also lead to a great reaction from a personality which can make the show more entertaining. But if the audience has to sit thru 3-4 meaningless calls that bring the show to a screeching halt just to potentially get that one great payoff, they’ll lose interest and tune out.

That said, this format is called Sports TALK right? We should want our fans to feel part of the content experience. The good news is that there are many ways to do this besides slowing down the pace of your shows, and making your hosts sound like telephone operators inside a call center. For starters, you can set up a Google Voice number and use social media and the airwaves to encourage leaving messages. You can turn to your social platforms to encourage people to leave video or audio responses via YouTube. There are also cool ways to utilize your app such as what 101 ESPN in St. Louis does with their Mic Drop feature.

The advantage to doing it this way is it gives you a chance to edit out the bad stuff and direct your show. Maybe you use the audience reactions in a produced return or station promo. Perhaps you strategically incorporate them into an open segment as a counter or supporting piece to the points being made by the host. Making people feel part of the show is wise, but there’s a difference between ‘interaction’ and ‘calls’.

We live now in a world where people communicate differently. As a host, you may get an adrenaline rush when you see six lines blinking, but that doesn’t mean as much as it used to. Depending on the market, most will tell you 1-5% of your audience call, the rest just listen. You may be excited to hear from someone because you feel it validates your content choice, and gives you a sense that people are listening, but if adding them to the discussion tunes out the other 95% is that a smart choice?

I remember a host coming into my office a while ago and being fired up after receiving 60 calls during his show. It made him feel like the audience was into his content. I then reminded him that the market had 7 million people in it and based on my math that meant that we didn’t get a call from 6,999,940 people. My comments were no doubt a buzzkill for someone who was excited about what they had just experienced, but I wanted them to understand that a show’s success wasn’t based on how many times we made the phone ring.

GUESTS:

When it comes to guests, I think they add value BUT what should be taken into consideration is how long they’re on. Who says you have to do a 10-minute interview? Why not 3-minutes, 4-minutes or 5-minutes? Before you tell me ‘JB you can’t do an interview in that length of time‘, save it. That’s BS. Put your TV on and you’ll see hosts do it every day. It comes down to having a game plan and asking the 2-3 questions that matter right now. Nobody needs a history lesson with a guest every time someone of significance appears on your show.

Booking a guest also doesn’t mean they have to be on 10 seconds after the music hits and stay until the end of the segment. You can start with talking about the topic before bringing them on, and leave a minute or two to share what stood out to you from the conversation. If you’re up against a break at the end of the segment, you can also hold over your reaction to it, and spend 2-3 minutes on what stood out before moving into your next topic.

Often I’ll hear a show start a segment with a guest, keep them 10-12 minutes, say goodbye and then tease the next segment which has no connection to the one they just did. It leaves the audience with no insight on what the host thinks of the subject or any of the responses given by the guest. Isn’t the goal to gain insight and then explain what we think about it?

Another issue that more hosts should think about, is when the interview takes place. In mornings, people are less ready for a lengthy discussion than they are later in the day. We also should be able to separate what we want from what the audience wants. I’ll hear hosts mention how much they hate interviews yet when they promote their next day’s show on social media, they use the guest as the hook. Why? Because it’ll produce interest. They just don’t have confidence that they’ll be able to consistently deliver big names or timely people. The issue there isn’t whether a guest adds value, it’s needing to do a better job of adding people of substance.

Here’s another way to think about it. Let’s say you were in NY this week and you had Phil Simms on to discuss the Daniel Jones-Eli Manning saga. Let’s say Phil’s energy wasn’t great, 7 of the minutes he was on he didn’t say anything significant, but during 3 of those minutes he delivered a strong opinion on the issue. Most shows would go to break bitching that Phil had low energy, didn’t say a lot, and reinforce why they don’t do interviews, but what they don’t ask themselves is ‘how can we use that good portion of the discussion to advance this story throughout this show and the others?’

If I told you that the interview segment you did would produce a zero but it’d lead to 8-9 higher rated segments on your station the rest of the day, a surge in podcast downloads, promos and social graphics built to highlight the content you created, and local/national media outlets using portions of the discussion to make their own content more interesting, would you still say Phil had no value?

I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t put guests on. That depends on the host, station, market, and importance of the guest. My point is, if you’re going to book a guest on your show, you should be thinking about whether or not they’re important enough to be discussed multiple times throughout the day on your station. If you’re booking someone who the majority of your audience don’t know, and they can’t add anything new to the day’s top stories, then you’re filling air time instead of maximizing it.

SPORTS UPDATES:

Next is the subject of Sports Updates, and I’ve said before on this site that I don’t think they provide a ton of value to a sports station. The content is very repetitive, and if you took away the :10 second sponsor tag or Update Desk title sponsorship, nobody in sales would be bitching about not having them on the radio station. It’s strictly a marketing tool to push your content and sponsor mentions.

I do love that you get the benefit of additional voices in the room as a result of having an anchor on a show, and there are some who do the job well. A great example is Jerry Recco at WFAN who executes them in a more conversational and entertaining fashion with Boomer and Gio’s morning show. However, many don’t provide more than the obvious stuff. Anyone with a cell phone can find out what time MNF starts, who’s pitching for the Red Sox, and whether or not Jalen Ramsey has been traded. Anything significant is likely going to be mentioned by the host too during the show.

SERVICE ELEMENTS:

The final one we need to discuss is what many refer to as ‘service elements’. From where I sit, I don’t believe in running News, Traffic or Weather reports on a sports station. In fact, I used to run liners on 101 ESPN in St. Louis and 95.7 The Game in San Francisco that said ‘No Traffic and Weather Together, We Do Sports.’

The exception is if you’re a brand such as WFAN, KNBR, WEEI and they’ve been part of your identity for decades. Unless you’ve created an expectation with the audience that they’re going to hear those things on your air, I don’t see any reason why they’re necessary for a sports station. The News/Talk brands are going to own this position more than a sports station will, and when you put on sports television shows, they do just fine without a bunch of filler content that denies the audience what they want. Radio should be able to do the same, and I know it works because I’ve done it.

The reason these service elements are on is for sales purposes. If we can’t make money though with 12-20 minutes per hour of spots, studio and hotline naming rights, time checks, text lines, play by play assets, podcasts, merchandise, and big name weekly guests who drive appointments, then we have much bigger issues. Sellers won’t like the idea of not having something to sell that’s always been in their toolkit, but if you value the audience’s time, and take into consideration why they use your brand, you’ll find more people happy to have the roadblocks removed than those who are frustrated because something on the station changed.

CONCLUSION:

What we’ve learned from this exercise is that there are a lot of mixed opinions, and pleasing each person is impossible. The results shouldn’t influence you to go the rest of your career never taking a call, but you also shouldn’t dismiss the feedback. When more than 10,000 people tell you in overwhelming fashion that they don’t value something, a smart host and PD pays attention. If your morning show is relying on the audience to call in and do the heavy lifting, you may want to reconsider your approach.

When you look at why people are gravitating more to podcasts, it’s because there’s a premium placed on people’s time. Podcasts don’t overload the audience with less important bullshit. If they can hear 20 great minutes without obstacles or 20-minutes on the radio with constant disruptions, why would they choose your radio station? Nobody is rushing to add updates, calls, and service elements to podcasts. That should tell you something.

People have tremendous passion for sports talk but their expectations are different than they once were. It’s our job to learn what they value, and eliminate the things that stand in the way of a good listening experience. Given the instability of ratings measurement, there are no guarantees that changes will lead to immediate results, but I’d rather listen to my customers and give them what they asked for than ignore it and wish I had listened sooner.

Ron Santo Prepared Cory Provus For Bob Uecker

Andy Masur
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With the Minnesota Twins on the verge of clinching a playoff spot a lot of the eyes of baseball are on this team. It has hit the most home runs in the league (as of September 18, 2019) and features a Major League record 5 players with 30 or more homers. Calling it all is Cory Provus on Twins Radio. Provus is with his third big league club and now in his 7th season of play-by-play in Minneapolis. I’ve known Cory for a long time and caught up with him this week at Target Field. 

Image result for cory provus

Andy Masur: I know this is something that you’ve wanted to do all your life, tell us about the path you took to get started. 

Cory Provus: My path started when I was about 7 or 8, and my cousin is Brad Sham he’s been the voice of the Dallas Cowboys forever. My mom is the youngest of 4, so my mom was already Brad’s aunt when she was about 7. So, when i was old enough to realize what he did for a living that you can make a career even if you’re not good enough to play a sport that you could still make a career talking about it, I thought that sounded pretty cool. So that was the first path just following him. 

I was like every kid that wanted to get into this field. Growing up in Chicago you turn the TV down on Sunday’s and put the Bears game on, clip the rosters from the Tribune or Sun-Times, you’d start broadcasting into the tv. I really knew what I wanted to do when i was a kid and I set a goal for myself to do it.

I got a break in High School working on a tv show, then on Sports Channel Chicago called School Yard Jam, which was a monthly news magazine on high school athletes I was a reporter on that show and that gave me a tape. It got me a gig at WAER at Syracuse radio my freshman year in college. From there I was lucky enough to catch a break here and there and I went small. Out of school I lived in Virginia, then North Carolina and then Alabama. I was really taking any gig I could get when I was younger. 

AM: Then a big break getting a job with the Cubs (full disclosure Cory followed me in the job at WGN Radio), had to be a dream come true for a Chicago kid.

CP: So, going back to when I graduated from college, I graduated in 2000 and I had this job in Blacksburg, Virginia. I didn’t know anybody at WGN Radio (then the flagship home of the Cubs) but I had a cassette tape, literally a cassette tape of my work. I contacted Dave Kaplan and Dave Eanet and said here, I’m a Chicagoland kid, not looking for a job I just recently graduated from college and I just want you to hear my work. They were kind enough to meet with me and show me around the studios. Then my path began professionally in Virginia, but twice a year I would send Dave Eanet an email, saying here’s what I’m doing, if anything comes open please keep me in mind. 

Then a little birdie told me in 2006 that you were in the running for a job with the San Diego Padres. But I knew you were finishing up your work with the Bears, I believe that year coincided with the Bears Super Bowl, so that extended the dialogue because it wasn’t exactly a definite, but meanwhile I was in the mid to end of my season with the UAB basketball team in Birmingham. Then I found out that you got the job in San Diego, and I had the tape out the next day. Like everything in my mind was ready to go. I just needed you to get the job in San Diego to start the process. The fact that Dave Eanet knew where I was and what I was doing, to this day I’m so grateful that I maintained that relationship when I graduated from college. 

Image result for dave eanet

AM: From the Cubs you went on to Milwaukee and then to the Twins…along the way you were around some pretty good teams. What was that like to be on the mic when these games meant so much?

CP: In 2007 my first year with the Cubs, that was a playoff team. I was 28 years old when I got that job and turned 29 during the season and here I was celebrating a playoff berth in Cincinnati. Being in that clubhouse in my first year covering a Major League team, I thought it was Disneyland. I’m there with Ron (Santo) going back and forth on the air, but them I’m talking to Will Ohman, a reliever at the time, and he asked me “can I pour a beer on you?”  I just won the lottery.

I remember the next day I was talking with a host on WGN kind of reflecting back on the night before and I’ll never forget this, that night in Cincinnati after they clinched, I just sat in my hotel room, just sat at the desk chair, no music, no TV, minimal light and I just looked out the window and tried to reflect in my mind what just happened. It was such a career thrill that I got to experience that with my favorite team growing up to be a part of that, to cover that was incredible.

Now in 2008 they were even better, they won 97 games they thought they were going to have a lengthy playoff run but were swept in 3 by the Dodgers.  Then 2011 with Uecker was special because in 2010 he had a rough year physically, he had two open heart procedures in 2010 and he missed a chunk of the season, but to see him back healthy in 2011 and really get behind a really good team that was two wins away from the pennant, that was amazing.

Image result for 2011 brewers

Then with the Twins, they had a bad run. Starting in 2012, my first year they were losing 90 some odd games a year. They had that one brief run in 2017 where they won the Wildcard and went to the wildcard game, they got bounced by the Yankees but they had that one moment of summer where it was ok, they captivated the fan base somewhat. That came late too, because they didn’t get hot until August, where in 2019 this team has been a force from the opening weeks of the season. So this is my first time being here living in Minneapolis in the Twin Cities where the fans are really behind the Twins even more so than the Vikings who have a pretty big footprint in the city. I had no idea how much they swallowed up attention in this town until I moved here but this is the first time that the Twins have been good and good enough from the opening weeks until now into September where they have the attention of the market. 

AM: Do you feel a big sense of responsibility being the voice of this team and having fans hang on your every word as the Twins march to the Playoffs?

CP: I don’t, if I did I’d probably panic, I don’t. They show me some numbers once in a while to show me how many people are listening and its incredible I’m just amazed at the outreach and I’m so honored by the amount of people that listen. I was so lucky that I learned from guys that were just like “don’t take yourself too seriously”, have a good sense of humor about it. If I didn’t learn from (Pat) Hughes, if I didn’t learn from (Len) Kasper or Uecker or Brian Anderson and all these guys that I was so fortunate enough to learn from, it would probably feel differently, I’d probably be stiff about it, take myself so seriously that I’d be like a character out of the Simpsons, and just that stoic, can’t have a sense of humor, you have to put on a fake voice, its not me. I just want to have fun.

The guy I work with everyday is a big part of that too. Danny (Gladden) is a perfect blend for how I was raised in this game, because he’s all about self-deprecating humor and some levity with all this and that’s how I operate too. 

Image result for provus and gladden

AM: You’ve had a chance to work with some legends, Ron Santo, Bob Uecker have those experiences helped you along the way to this job with the Twins? 

CP: Well the Uecker part of it, working with Bob I was kind of prepared for it because of Santo, he was such an icon. He was so special and meant the world to you and meant the world to me and so many and we miss him dearly. We miss him every day. I’m sure it’s like you, when I come to the ballpark I think of a memory every second about something that he would find interesting about a game or a city or something about a conversation and so I think about him often. Because I had that experience being around Ronnie where you’re pulling up to a hotel and there’s Derrick Lee and Carlos Zambrano, Kerry Wood and Alfonso Soriano, Santo is the star.

I mean Santo is the star and then comparably in Milwaukee, there’s Braun and Fielder and Weeks and Hart, nah Uecker. We want Uecker. So to be around Bob, it was incredible but I had experience being around that kind of iconic figure in the two years that I got to travel and learn and laugh and be around Ron.

2020 BSM Summit Announces First Group of Speakers

Jason Barrett
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2020 BSM Summit Announces First Group of Speakers

In a little more than 5 months, the BSM Summit will take place in New York City. The dates are February 26-27 and our location is the Ailey Citigroup Theater. It may seem far away right now, but if you work in the industry and want to be there, I encourage you to buy your ticket early and reserve your room. Not only will it save you money, but once seats and rooms are full, there’s no way to create extra space. You can buy discounted tickets until September 30th at BSMSummit.com. Prices go up on October 1st.

What makes this event important is that it brings together a large number of the brightest and boldest people from the entire sports media industry. Many in the room may represent different companies, but they’re all involved in the same fight. To be able to learn from one another, gain tips and information to improve and grow your business, and increase industry relationships in the process, is money and time well spent.

When sports media’s finest last got together in February in Los Angeles, over 20 companies were represented. 60 accomplished speakers graced the stage, 50 programmers/executives were in attendance, and 6 well respected industry professionals participated in award ceremonies honoring two highly successful individuals. You can see some of the video highlights from the event by clicking here. Sessions were built for PD’s, GM’s, hosts, sellers, podcasters, digital folks, imaging directors, gambling enthusiasts, affiliate reps, and agents, and we plan to deliver another action packed agenda for NYC this February.

To help us make 2020’s Summit one to remember, I’m excited to share we’ll have on-stage contributions from a number of talented and successful sports media professionals. Scheduled to join us are on-air hosts Paul Finebaum of ESPN, Adam Schein of SiriusXM and CBS Sports, Maggie Gray of WFAN, and Brandon Tierney of CBS Sports Radio and TV. Sports radio executives Mark Chernoff of WFAN/Entercom, Bruce Gilbert of Cumulus Media/Westwood One, Mike Thomas of 98.5 The Sports Hub/Beasley Media, and Phil Mackey of SKOR North will also take part, as will Action Network CEO Patrick Keane, and voice talent Jim Cutler. The 2nd annual Tony Bruno and Jeff Smulyan award ceremonies are also on our schedule along with a private cocktail reception for attendees.

We’ll have more speakers to announce in the next few weeks but I’m really excited to have these 10 individuals part of our 2020 event. If you’ve sent in a request to participate, it has been received, and I’ll circle back should there be a fit. If you haven’t reached out but are interested in speaking, submissions can be sent to us via email. It’s going to be a fun and productive 2-days in the concrete jungle this February. I hope to see you there!

Avoiding Mistakes Takes A Team Effort

Andy Masur
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Avoiding Mistakes Takes A Team Effort

We don’t ever set out to make mistakes, but sometimes they do happen. Little misspeaks, large misspeaks. Tiny factual errors, huge factual errors. Let’s face it, we’re all human beings and not robots, we will make a boo boo every now and then. Like a shortstop that lets a ball go through his legs, we don’t intentionally make errors, we try the best we can and sometimes things just happen. Now, our mistakes are certainly avoidable and we should do our absolute best to make sure that all of our I’s are dotted and T’s crossed before we crack the mic. But sometimes it takes a team effort to accomplish that goal. 

A lot of issues can be taken care of well before a game begins. In television this is more evident than in radio. Why? Well usually there is a pre-production meeting. The producer, director, camera operators, sideline reporter and announcing crew meet to go over the broadcast. What does that entail? Usually, they’ll go over what graphics they have with important statistical information, what promotional reads need to be done, when the sideline reporter will do a hit on something that has been preproduced or if there is anything special going on at the ballpark or field. It’s also to make sure that everyone involved in the broadcast is up to date on information that may (or may not) come up in the telecast. This is critically important so there are no surprises in the production or misunderstandings when it comes to flow of information. 

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Generally, in a tv broadcast the producer is “in the ear” of the talent in the booth. If the producer wants to steer the broadcast to a certain topic, he/she will let the talent know. This way the broadcaster isn’t talking about something completely different than the viewer is seeing on the screen. It’s also a failsafe so that if the broadcaster misspeaks, they know it right away and won’t dig themselves a hole. That’s why the producer in the television realm is so important. When a broadcaster goes down a wrong path, he/she needs to nip it in the bud right then and there to avoid a bad situation.

It’s a two-way street because the producer needs to know if when talking about a player or coach the camera is focused on the wrong person. Everyone is supposed to take care of each other in that setting and 9 times out of every ten, it is the case. 

When this system breaks down, things can get out of hand. A producer assumes a broadcaster has a piece of information that he/she doesn’t actually have. Awkward situations become Twitter fodder, or unintentional causes of angst for a fan base or individual. This tends to happen when that chain of “command” breaks down. Trust me, in this day and age of social media, you find out very quickly when something that is said is untrue or unintentionally hurtful.

Sometimes the mistake is a miscommunication from a producer to the broadcaster, if this is the case and your producer has failed you, it makes no sense or does no good to throw him/her under the bus on the air. Nobody knows who they are. The audience heard you. You are going to be the one to wear it. None of us ever sets out to be hurtful, untruthful or just plain wrong. Things happen from time to time. So what do you do about it after the slip up or gaffe has been made? 

The sooner you can correct yourself the better. Now, I’m not talking about little miniscule things, like misidentifying a fastball or curveball, no, I’m talking about egregious factual errors or other major things that could be considered insensitive. Once in a while a mistake will require an apology. 

In the rare occasion you find yourself in this boat, think about what you are going to say and make sure you are sincere. There is no reason to make things worse with what is perceived as an insincere apology. That’s almost doubling down on the mistake. Take some time during a commercial break or halftime or when you have a second to think and measure your words. Talk it over with your broadcast partner. Run it by the producer first if you need to do so. Don’t think of this as a punishment, think of this as being big enough to admit your error.

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It’s never an enviable position to be in, but it’s one that will say a lot about your character and professionalism when an apology is delivered in a heartfelt and sincere manner. You will be remembered more for how you recover from the mistake than actually making the mistake itself. But you have to do it right. It has to come from the heart. 

Avoiding mistakes and sticky situations is why we as broadcasters prep and prep and prep. In all cases communication and teamwork are key to the success or failure in this quest. Sometimes we criticize players and teams for not playing well together and leaving a player out to dry or making someone look bad. It’s the same for us really when you think about it.

Everyone pulling on the same end of the rope is so critical for a good, clean, solid broadcast. Those of us in the communications industry seem to be the ones that have trouble communicating. Never assume your broadcaster, analyst or producer has all the information you think they should. There are ways to ask without insulting the other person. “Hey did you see that Christian Yellich is out for the year?”, or “I just saw that the Twins re-set the home run record, that’s pretty impressive.” Maybe even “should we talk about the Pineda suspension at some point during the show?” This way it’s a conversation and if the person didn’t know, he/she does now. 

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I mentioned at the beginning, mistakes are going to happen. During the course of a live broadcast your mouth will get ahead of your brain, or the other way around. Why? Because we are human beings and we are not perfect. All we can ask is that we are prepared and ready for the game.

Barrett Sports Media To Launch Two New Podcasts

Jason Barrett
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I’m sure you’ve heard the line before, ‘there’s no substitute for experience’. Simply put, people can share advice to try and help you, but until you do something, there’s no guarantee it’ll work. It’s sort of like hosting a talk show. You can listen to other hosts and stations, ask people questions, and map out a great program, but until the red light goes on, you start to speak, and the first curve ball comes your way, you have no way of knowing how it’ll go.

I’ve been reminded of that plenty over the past 4 years while growing BSM because is no playbook to teach you how to work alone and become an effective consultant. I’ve learned on the job that some want your input, others tune it out. What works on one market visit, may not at the next. The PD’s/Stations you think will utilize you won’t, and others you don’t expect to hear from become partners.

Thru it all, one important lesson I’ve tried to carry with me from my programming days is to continue investing in the brand. It hasn’t always made my balance sheet as healthy as it could be, but as the old saying goes, ‘you’ve got to spend money to make money’. I added writers to the BSM brand with a long-term view in mind. I took that same approach adding a social media director, and creating the BSM Summit. Now, I’m doing it again, this time in the audio space.

Though I don’t host the BSM Podcast as often as I’d like, it’s done well for us since launching a few years ago. Hosts and executives are the key focus, and thru our guests we’ve been able to produce a number of valuable tips and lessons. But that only covers one side of the industry. I began thinking about areas of the business we cover that might make for interesting conversation, and I’m happy to share that over the next two weeks we will introduce two new podcasts under the Barrett Sports Media umbrella.

The first audio program we will roll out is the Under The Radar Podcast. Hosted by our own Brandon Contes, this 10-minutes or less podcast will debut on Monday September 16th and shed light on moves being made across the sports media industry that you may not always hear about. If you’ve read the BSM website for a while, you may remember the old UTR columns. They were a big hit, and we’ve decided it’s time to turn them into an audio show. I have no doubt Brandon will do a great job with this project.

Our second release will put the focus on those behind the scenes working to create America’s best sports radio programs. ‘The Producer’s Podcast‘ will be hosted by Demetri Ravanos and launch on Monday September 23rd. Each episode will feature an in-depth conversation with a sports radio producer with the goal being to keep discussions to 30-minutes or less. Demetri has already connected with Brian Monzo of WFAN, Tyrone Johnson of 97.5 The Fanatic, Tom Carroll of 101 ESPN, Adam Sager of SportsTalk 790 and Alec Campbell of 99.9 The Fan. Others are in development as well.

There are also plans to introduce a few new episodes of the BSM Podcast. Conversations with Nick Cattles of 94.1 ESPN and Nick Wilson of WFNZ are part of the next batch which should drop sometime in October. We’re also planning to release another audio series later this fall titled ‘The Summit Sessions‘ which will feature individual episodes of some of our on-stage conversations at the BSM Summit in Los Angeles. By the way, look for some details next week on a few of the speakers we’ve lined up for the 2020 BSM Summit.

With BSM being a brand built for radio and television professionals, I’m always looking for ways to create written or audio content that appeals to the sports media industry. I have a few things I’m working on but am also open to new ideas. I’m especially interested in adding another columnist to the site with a sales background. Dave Greene did a fantastic job for us and adding another sales perspective to the site is preferred. If you fit the bill and have interest, email me at JBarrett@hvy.tcp.mybluehost.me. The same applies if you’re interested in being a sponsor of one of our podcasts.

When results are down in the media business, it’s common to see brands cut back. I don’t believe that helps you in the long run. It’s like putting a band aid on a deep gash. Eventually the pain increases and you require medical attention.

I’m not in position to retire tomorrow nor are those who contribute to BSM, but as long as we’re in business, we’ll continue telling stories, doing research, sharing experiences, and looking for ways to invest and grow. Knowing that the work we do matters, and is helpful to those who love the business, makes for a pretty good feeling each day. The road to the top isn’t always easy, but once you get there it’s well worth the climb.

VSiN Introduces ‘The Sharps Play of the Day’

Jason Barrett
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VSiN is increasing its content offerings to local sports radio stations with the addition of ‘The Sharps’ Play of the Day‘. The new daily, self-contained, 60-second feature will track exactly where the sharps are investing their money in contrast with where everyday sports fans are gambling that same day.

The network promoted the release of the feature by pointing out that there’s consistently been a battle between professional bettors (The Sharps) and public bettors (The Squares). Generally, the public places their bets based on emotion, hometown favorites, hunches, etc. whereas the sharps are analytical, professional gamblers that look for the best opportunities to wager money contrarian to the public. 

The feature is packaged with 30-seconds of content and an additional 30-second network commercial. No other inventory is required. To hear a sample of it click here. Daily downloads will be available, starting on Wednesday, September 4.

September is a Time For Reflection at BSM

Jason Barrett
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September is a Time For Reflection at BSM

Each Tuesday after Labor Day, it’s common across the country to find sports media professionals entering their buildings with a new found energy and focus. Kids and teachers go back to school signaling an end to the summer, the NFL returns, and brands turn their attention to the busy fall sports calendar, hoping to take advantage of increased fan interest in order to close out the year with positive momentum.

But for yours truly, Tuesday after Labor Day matters a little more. It represents the anniversary of Barrett Sports Media. I try to take a few minutes at the start of each September to appreciate the past year in business and reflect on how far this brand has come since being launched in 2015. I mean this when I say it, I appreciate every person and company who has utilized BSM for business over the past four years and look forward to future opportunities to work together. To those who haven’t utilized us yet, I hope we have a chance to change that in the near future.

When I left San Francisco for New York four years ago, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. David Field, Rick Scott and a few others raised the idea of consulting to me while I was still programming 95.7 The Game but I wasn’t sure if it was the right path for me. I saw the industry rapidly changing, and most of the consultants at that time were older, radio-focused, and not publicly visible. If I was going to go down that road, I knew I’d have to do it differently, but I didn’t think my age and approach would serve me well in the consulting space. Thankfully my read on the situation was incorrect.

As I talked to industry friends about the possibility of consulting, the consensus from everyone was that it’d be a hard space to make a living in. The sports format was nearly eight hundred stations strong, and the four largest radio companies (CBS, iHeart, Cumulus and Entercom) rarely used outside help for their sports brands. The national players (ESPN, FOX Sports and SiriusXM) had a similar philosophy. That wouldn’t exactly give you a lot of confidence to enter the space would it?

Most also assumed I’d miss the daily competition and thrill of programming a local sports radio station. They felt I’d do what many do, promote myself as a consultant to keep my name out there (it sounds better than unemployed radio guy), and then change direction when a great programming gig opened up. But that was never part of my thinking. If I was going to do this, I was going to go all-in. If it didn’t work out, I could always chalk it up as a loss and do something else.

When I got back to New York in 2015, all I cared about was gaining custody of my son. I took a few local meetings to see what was out there, but as I thought about the idea of going back into a building to run another radio station, I found myself less excited than I was when I accepted PD jobs in 2006 in Philadelphia, 2009 in St. Louis and 2011 in San Francisco. I felt I was capable of more than just growing one station’s ratings for one company in one market. The possibility of overseeing all sports brands for a company had some appeal to me but that type of opportunity didn’t exist so it left three options: take the safe route and return to a building, leave the radio business, or carve my own path by trying something new.

Having just spent the past twenty years in radio including the previous ten programming stations in San Francisco, St. Louis, and Philadelphia, I felt I had knowledge to share. I was also passionate about the present and future of the sports format and couldn’t fathom the idea of not being involved in it. But how do you make a living if you’re not working inside of a building? There was only one way to find out – I had to take a risk – and I’m so glad I did.

It’s not an exaggeration when I say that the past four years have been some of the most enjoyable and rewarding years of my career. I’ve worked with over 20 radio stations since venturing down this road, and get to travel to different cities to help and learn from people, plus listen to a wider variety of sports radio than practically anyone. To play a small part in the growth of a program director, assist someone with landing a job or creating a brand story to strengthen their business, help a client grow their ratings and earn industry accolades, and form relationships with executives and market managers who I didn’t know a few years earlier is personally satisfying.

Part of this journey has included building the BSM website into a daily destination for sports media professionals. I’m proud that we’ve helped elevate the industry’s knowledge of the sports radio and television landscape while offering professionals career advice and specific examples to help them improve at their craft. It still amazes me that over the course of four years we’ve somehow generated more than three million page views and two and a half million visitors to this website.

Equally as fulfilling have been the connections formed across the country, the daily engagement on social media, and the support from media folks who attend our annual BSM Summit. To get industry people from twenty different companies into one room to learn from each other for two full days isn’t an easy feat but somehow we pull it off. Speaking of the Summit, our 2020 event takes place February 26-27 in New York City and I’ll have some speaker announcements to share in my next column. A reminder, tickets are on sale at a discounted rate thru the end of September. They increase on October 1st.

Though I may be the face of the BSM brand, I couldn’t do this without an awesome team. Demetri Ravanos has been a true partner since becoming my Assistant Content Director. Brandon Contes has worked his tail off writing news and features and traveling for select assignments. Brian Noe, Matt Fishman, Dave Greene, Tyler McComas, and Andy Masur have all delivered powerful columns on their professional areas of expertise, and Andy Drake, Clarissa Magliochetti, and Jack Ferris have gotten involved within the past year to help make us even better in other areas. My fiance Stephanie has also been a huge help with the BSM Summit while having to endure the daily roller coaster ride that comes with me operating this business.

What’s crazy is that as of today, I’ve now operated BSM longer than I served as PD of The Game in SF. That four year run was my longest PD stint which is how I preferred it. Some people are built to be coaches like Bill Belichick and spend fifteen years in one location. I was wired more like Bill Parcells. Parcells would take a team that wasn’t having success, grind non-stop to turn it around, and within four years they’d be competing for a title. Then he’d move on and leave the franchise in great shape for someone else to take it even further.

As I started to write this column I flashed back to recent conversations with industry friends who mentioned how impressed they’ve been with the growth of BSM. Though I’m thankful that the perception of our brand is positive, I don’t think we’ve hit our peak yet, and I don’t take anything for granted. I understand that it starts with continuing to learn and working hard for great clients. Without them, this whole thing could crumble. Whether I’m helping a major market or smaller market station, when I take on a project I’m fully invested in it. That won’t ever change as long as I’m active in this line of work.

If there’s a point to this story beyond it being the four year anniversary of BSM, I’d say that it’s about not being afraid to roll the dice and bet on yourself. Change is hard for some people, but you learn a lot about yourself when going thru it. You will experience doubt along the way, and the light at the end of the tunnel may not always be bright, but if you have talent, love what you do, and are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to succeed and be happy, there’s no reason you can’t have it. I’m just lucky that I took my own advice four years ago.

On behalf of the entire BSM team, thanks for your continued support. Here’s to year number five!

Jason Benetti Wants New Perspectives In The Booth

Andy Masur
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People claim that baseball is boring – that there’s no fun in the game and it’s tough to watch. Well, the folks at NBC Sports Chicago dare you to say that now after several “guest analysts” joined Jason Benetti in the White Sox TV booth for a recent series in Anaheim. Steve Stone was off for the series so the network and its play-by-play man put their collective heads together to come up with some outside the box ideas.

It started with a game in Maui. Benetti and Basketball Hall of Famer, Bill Walton were paired together for the Maui Invitational around Christmas time. A few weeks later Benetti thought how cool it would be to have Walton join him on a baseball broadcast and extended an invitation. It was accepted and the rest was history.

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Walton, television producer Michael Schur and Saturday Night Live’s Mike O’Brien were tabbed to fill the analyst role during the three game series against the Angels. I recently sat down with Benetti to get his thoughts on the experience and some behind the scenes stories from the broadcasts. 

ANDY MASUR: What are your thoughts after the Bill Walton experience?

JASON BENETTI: It was like if the animals could talk. (laughs) I love Bill dearly.

What it was like is everything that you saw, but it was also just the understanding this guy wants to do a great job every night.  He was locked in energy wise for three hours. He had loads of stuff he wanted to talk about and loads of things he didn’t know he wanted to talk about and he did both and we did. And by the way what you didn’t see a whole lot of on the air was, he gave a rousing speech to the Sox pregame.

He was in the clubhouse at 4:40 and he gave about a 15-20-minute speech to the Sox that the coaches were still talking about the next day, without prompting. He was that good and that motivating and that interesting. His story, all of the injuries and sadness, and the mental darkness that comes with it and his ability to thrust himself out of that by seeking joy is something we all could use some of. I know he is blindingly crazy sometimes to the naked eye and to the well-trained Bill Walton eye, both.

He is also a wonderful soul, and I’m glad to be around him whenever I get the chance to, but on the air (pauses) buckle up! 

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AM: Did the broadcast put any extra pressure on you? Some were tuned in for the experience and yet some still were interested in the game. Can’t please everyone I guess, right? 

JB: No. People are going to hate stuff. I don’t even like talking about them because if they don’t understand Bill Walton, they kind of just…they don’t really care. They’re never going to care. They’re never going to have joy out of him. They’ll get their joy from somewhere else, and generally the joy will come from getting angry about something. 

Some people just derive joy from getting angry so you know what, frankly because Bill made them a little mad, I’m sure they got some joy out of sniping. So cool, have fun. But there’s a level of happy that he reaches that I would hope that everybody who has never been at that level of joy gets to attain at some point. 

AM:  If you had a blueprint as to how things would go, did it meet what you thought it would be, or did it go beyond your wildest expectations?

JB: The blueprint for Bill Walton is there is no blueprint. I mean if you try and build any specific house on that lot it will be haunted. The doors will swing open and start to creak. The rattling of the China in the cabinet will begin at about one in the morning, when you know, no one is down there (laughs). That’s how it works. That’s the fun of it.

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Sports is supposed to be different every time you watch it, he is different every time you encounter him, except for one constant he has a gloriously kind heart. I want that. I want that in the person next to me, following the paces of the game with me, whatever that is. That’s a key component. 

AM: What about the two days following Bill Walton night? Any drop off over the weekend? Both guys displayed some great knowledge of the White Sox and baseball in general. 

JB: I’ll start with Sunday. Mike O’Brien is a big Sox fan. He’s a really really funny guy. He’s like obliquely funny. His bit about Jay-Z on SNL is so funny, where he’s just like a white guy, who’s generic and he’s posing as Jay-Z and it’s pretty funny. 

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Michael Schur is such a big baseball fan and such a creative genius. I mean he created Parks and Rec and Brooklyn 99 and the Good Place out of whole cloth. He just came up with these environments. The shows are so clever and so witty and so full of mirth, that I was thrilled to share a booth with him. I watched a little of it back and I laughed, quite hard, because by inning three he was just doing things that analysts typically do, like he’s watched so much baseball he was gliding from a story to an observation back to that story. I was like man, he is just such a smart dude, I cannot believe that was called a drop off.

Bill Walton is a high wire entertainer, Mike Schur is as creative of a human being as you’re possibly going to find in America right now, and Mike O’Brien is a really funny guy who evidently hates Betty White. Who knew?

AM: I enjoyed the Detwiler references when Mike Schur was with you. How did you discover that the White Sox pitcher’s name was in an episode of Parks and Rec? 

JB: So evidently, I found out via email, because I had emailed Mike Schur and I was like “hey Detwiler might pitch” (he ended up not pitching that day) so get your Missouri State anecdotes ready. He wrote me back saying, “well I actually named a place in Parks and Recs after Ross Detwiler.” So, my old college roommates and I scrambled to figure out where that was in the show, and one of them finally came up with it. My buddy David texted me and said “Season 4, Episode 21, The Bus Tour” and so I went back and watched it. Right at the beginning Leslie (one of the main characters in the show) is giving a stump speech and she says “I want to get rid of all the violent geese in Detwiler Square.”

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It’s the only mention of the place, I believe, in the series. Ross was so excited about it he and Mike ended up having like an 8-minute conversation in the clubhouse because Mike named a thing, a place after him.  

AM: Tell me about the experience as a whole, put it into perspective about how much fun you had and how successful it was? 

JB: It’s up to the audience (how successful it was), but I do want people to know that watching baseball through a different prism is a good thing. It’s always a good thing. Let different people comment on the game every once in a while. Let them be experts in observation, because that’s what we got, right?

We got some questions that the average fan never would ask because they’d be too afraid to ask because they’d be seen as dumb. But Bill Walton’s first question to James McCann (White Sox catcher) was “what’s that makeup you’re wearing under your eyes?”. Well it’s eye black. “How long does it take you to wipe it off?”. Well it’s pretty quick actually. If I’m a kid at home, I want to know that! I’m going to school and I’m like guess what I learned from crazy Bill Walton? 

NBC Sports Chicago put together a montage of some of Walton’s greatest lines from the game. I’ll share a few of them with you here. 

  • Walton to Jason Benetti, “I apologize to your family for ruining your career”
  • Yolmer Sanchez laid down a squeeze bunt to score Castillo, Walton exclaimed, “What offense! Brilliant,” Walton said. “This is a strategic victory.”
  • Mike Trout took Lucas Giolito deep, “That’s Trout? Swimming upstream, avoiding all the flies and sending one ricocheting through the universe.” 
  • Some of his comments were just a stream of words, “Woodstock. 50 years. ’79. Full moon. Waterfall. Exploding volcanoes. Baseball. White Sox. Angels. Summertime. No rain on the horizon. Greg Gumbel. Sam Smith. David Axelrod. Wow.”

It was a unique approach and seemed to be, with a few exceptions, received very well. It was a win for NBC Sports Chicago and a huge victory for Benetti, showing all who watched what tremendous talent he has. It couldn’t have been this good without him. 

95.7 The Game and the Golden State Warriors Announce Multiyear Extension

Jason Barrett
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95.7 The Game and the Golden State Warriors Announce Multiyear Extension

One day after KNBR announced plans to offer their programming on the FM dial, 95.7 The Game strikes back with some news of their own. The Bay Area’s first FM sports station has announced a multiyear contract extension with the Golden State Warriors to continue serving as the team’s flagship station for Warriors basketball.

“The Warriors are the premiere franchise in this market and have emerged as one of the elite sports brands worldwide,” said Greg Nemitz, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Entercom San Francisco. “As the team embarks on a new era at Chase Center, we’re proud and excited to continue bringing our listeners exclusive, unparalleled coverage of the team both on and off the court.”

“We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our relationship with 95.7 The Game over the last three seasons and look forward to the continued growth and evolution of our partnership as we open the doors to Chase Center,” said Rick Welts, President and Chief Operating Officer, Golden State Warriors. “Most importantly, our fans will continue to benefit from the comprehensive and dedicated coverage of our team 365 days a year and, hopefully, through many exciting playoff runs on The Game.”

95.7 The Game lured the Warriors radio rights away from KNBR prior to the 2016 season. The extension provides the radio station with the rights to Warriors play-by-play, and exclusive Warriors programming, including one hour of coverage prior to each of the existing 30-minute pregame and postgame programs. Play-by-play announcer Tim Roye will return for his 25th season calling Warriors basketball – joined by Jim Barnett – and will continue appearing as a regular contributor on The Game’s weekday programs. Station reporter John Dickinson will also continue as the station’s dedicated Warriors insider, covering both home and road games as well as practices throughout the season. 

In addition to delivering game broadcasts, the new agreement promises enhanced in-season daily Warriors programming on 95.7 The Game. That includes both Warriors and NBA-themed shows, “Warriors Wednesdays” and offseason content centered around the draft, free agency and Summer League. The station will also continue select in-season call-in shows.

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