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Longtime WIBC News Anchor Retires After Nearly 30 Years

BNM Staff
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Longtime WIBC News Anchor Retires After Nearly 30 Years

Longtime WIBC-FM news anchor Stan Lehr is calling it quits after nearly 30 years behind the microphone. The Indianapolis Star reports that Lehr’s last day will be July 1. 

WIBC is owned by Emmis Communications who last week announced a move to sell its Indianapolis radio properties to Maryland-based Radio One. Lehr’s retirement reportedly had nothing to do with the news of the impending sale. 

“This will bring to an end a long chapter in the station’s history,” WIBC News Director Chris Davis wrote in his email. “His reputation as a stickler has been widely-known in the industry for decades.” 

Davis described Lehr as a “stickler” who never wanted recognition for his work. 

“Instead, he made it clear to all who work or have worked with him that strong writing, accuracy, and excellence in delivery are the best ways to serve the listeners,” added Davis. 

Being Wrong On-Air Isn’t A Bad Thing

BSM Staff
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In the press conference after the Warriors won their fourth NBA title in eight years, Steph Curry referenced a very specific gesture from a very specific episode of Get Up that aired in August 2021.

“Clearly remember some experts and talking heads putting up the big zero,” Curry said, then holding up a hollowed fist to one eye, looking through it as if it were a telescope.

“How many championships we would have going forward because of everything we went through.”

Yep, Kendrick Perkins and Domonique Foxworth each predicted the Warriors wouldn’t win a single title over the course of the four-year extension Curry had just signed. The Warriors won the NBA title and guess what? Curry gets to gloat.

The funny part to me was the people who felt Perkins or Foxworth should be mad or embarrassed. Why? Because they were wrong?

That’s part of the game. If you’re a host or analyst who is never wrong in a prediction, it’s more likely that you’re excruciatingly boring than exceedingly smart. Being wrong is not necessarily fun, but it’s not a bad thing in this business.

You shouldn’t try to be wrong, but you shouldn’t be afraid of it, either. And if you are wrong, own it. Hold your L as I’ve heard the kids say. Don’t try to minimize it or explain it or try to point out how many other people are wrong, too. Do what Kendrick Perkins did on Get Up the day after the Warriors won the title.

“When they go on to win it, guess what?” He said, sitting next to Mike Greenberg. “You have to eat that.”

Do not do what Perkins did later that morning on First Take.

https://twitter.com/HellaADZ/status/1537880418388541442?s=20&t=EnPl5EpbHsL_5MSKgpxW4Q

Perkins: “I come on here and it’s cool, right? Y’all can pull up Perk receipts and things to that nature. And then you give other people a pass like J-Will.”

Jason Williams: “I don’t get passes on this show.”

Perkins: “You had to, you had a receipt, too, because me and you both picked the Memphis Grizzlies to beat the Golden State Warriors, but I’m OK with that. I’m OK with that. Go ahead Stephen A. I know you’re about to have fun and do your thing. Go ahead.”

Stephen A. Smith: “First of all, I’m going to get serious for a second with the both of you, especially you, Perk, and I want to tell you something right now. Let me throw myself on Front Street, we can sit up there and make fun of me. You know how many damn Finals predictions I got wrong? I don’t give a damn. I mean, I got a whole bunch of them wrong. Ain’t no reason to come on the air and defend yourself. Perk, listen man. You were wrong. And we making fun, and Steph Curry making fun of you. You laugh at that my brother. He got you today. That’s all. He got you today.”

It’s absolutely great advice, and if you feel yourself getting uncomfortable over the fact that you were wrong, stop to realize that’s your pride talking. Your ego. And if people call you out for being wrong, it’s actually a good sign. It means they’re not just listening, but holding on to what you say. You matter. Don’t ruin that by getting defensive and testy.

WORTH EVERY PENNY

I did a double-take when I saw Chris Russo’s list of the greatest QB-TE combinations ever on Wednesday and this was before I ever got to Tom Brady-to-Rob Gronkowski listed at No. 5. It was actually No. 4 that stopped me cold: Starr-Kramer.

My first thought: Jerry Kramer didn’t play tight end.

My second thought: I must be unaware of this really good tight end from the Lombardi-era Packers.

After further review, I don’t think that’s necessarily true, either. Ron Kramer did play for the Lombardi-era Packers, and he was a good player. He caught 14 scoring passes in a three-year stretch where he really mattered, but he failed to catch a single touchdown pass in six of the 10 NFL seasons he played. He was named first-team All-Pro once and finished his career with 229 receptions.

Now this is not the only reason that this is an absolutely terrible list. It is the most egregious, however. Bart Starr and Kramer are not among the 25 top QB-TE combinations in NFL history let alone the top five. And if you’re to believe Russo’s list, eighty percent of the top tandems played in the NFL in the 30-year window from 1958 to 1987 with only one tandem from the past 30 years meriting inclusion when this is the era in which tight end production has steadily climbed.

Then I found out that Russo is making $10,000 per appearance on “First Take.”

My first thought: You don’t have to pay that much to get a 60-something white guy to grossly exaggerate how great stuff used to be.

My second thought: That might be the best $10,000 ESPN has ever spent.

Once a week, Russo comes on and draws a reaction out of a younger demographic by playing a good-natured version of Dana Carvey’s Grumpy Old Man. Russo groans to JJ Redick about the lack of fundamental basketball skills in today’s game or he proclaims the majesty of a tight end-quarterback pairing that was among the top five in its decade, but doesn’t sniff the top five of all-time.

And guess what? It works. Redick rolls his eyes, asks Russo which game he’s watching, and on Wednesday he got me to spend a good 25 minutes looking up statistics for some Packers tight end I’d never heard of. Not satisfied with that, I then moved on to determine Russo’s biggest omission from the list, which I’ve concluded is Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates, who connected for 89 touchdowns over 15 seasons, which is only 73 more touchdowns than Kramer scored in his career. John Elway and Shannon Sharpe should be on there, too.

‘It Was a Hashtag’ – Fox News Anchors Grill Mayra Flores Over Past QAnon Post

BNM Staff
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Fox News anchors John Roberts and Sanda Smith recently grilled newly elected Congresswoman Mayra Flores (R-TX) for a tweet that she sent out two years ago using the controversial QAnon hashtag.

On Tuesday, Flores became the first Mexican-born woman sworn into Congress. The tense exchange between Flores, Smith, and Roberts was aired live on “America Reports.” The video was posted on Mediate. 

“Critics have pointed out that a couple of years ago, when you were the chairwoman for the Hispanic Outrage of the Republican Party for Hidalgo County, you put a couple social media posts out that included hashtags for QAnon. Let me ask you where you come down on this whole thing?” Roberts asked.

“It was a hashtag, and my post was actually against it,” Flores responded. Flores won the Texas Congressional seat in a special election. She has six months remaining in her term before she faces off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.

Flores implores both Roberts and Smith to “stay focused on the issues.” Roberts responded by telling Flores that, “anybody that watches Fox News would know that they were focused on the issues.”

In April, Flores told the San Antonio Express-News that she’s never supported QAnon which has been described as a fringe conspiracy theory expressed by far-right pundits.  

Money Isn’t The Key Reason Why Sellers Sell Sports Radio

Jeff Caves
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A radio salesperson’s value being purely tied to money is overrated to me. Our managers all believe that our main motivation for selling radio is to make more money. They see no problem in asking us to sell more in various ways because it increases our paycheck. We are offered more money to sell digital, NTR, to sell another station in the cluster, weekend remotes, new direct business, or via the phone in 8 hours. 

But is that why you sell sports radio?

In 2022, the Top 10 highest paying sales jobs are all in technology. Not a media company among them. You could argue that if it were all about making money, we should quit and work in tech. Famous bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed twenty banks over twenty years. He reportedly said,” that’s where the money is”. Sutton is the classic example of a person who wanted what money could provide and was willing to do whatever it took to get it, BUT he also admitted he liked robbing banks and felt alive. So, Sutton didn’t do it just for the money.

A salesperson’s relationship with money and prestige is also at the center of the play Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman is an aging and failing salesman who decides he is worth more dead than alive and kills himself in an auto accident giving his family the death benefit from his life insurance policy. Loman wasn’t working for the money. He wanted the prestige of what money could buy for himself and his family. 

Recently, I met a woman who spent twelve years selling radio from 1999-2011. I asked her why she left her senior sales job. She said she didn’t like the changes in the industry. Consolidation was at its peak, and most salespeople were asked to do more with less help. She described her radio sales job as one with “golden handcuffs”. The station paid her too much money to quit even though she hated the job. She finally quit. The job wasn’t worth the money to her.

I started selling sports radio because I enjoyed working with clients who loved sports, our station, and wanted to reach fans with our commercials and promotions. I never wanted to sell anything else and specifically enjoyed selling programming centered around reaching fans of Boise State University football. That’s it. Very similar to what Mark Glynn and his KJR staff experience when selling Kraken hockey and Huskies football.  

I never thought selling sports radio was the best way to make money. I just enjoyed the way I could make money. I focused on the process and what I enjoyed about the position—the freedom to come and go and set my schedule for the most part. I concentrated on annual contracts and clients who wanted to run radio commercials over the air to get more traffic and build their brand.

Most of my clients were local direct and listened to the station. Some other sales initiatives had steep learning curves, were one-day events or contracted out shaky support staff. In other words, the money didn’t motivate me enough. How I spent my time was more important. 

So, if you are in management, maybe consider why your sales staff is working at the station. Because to me, they’d be robbing banks if it were all about making lots of money.  

The Rise of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Pete Mundo
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For at least the last six years, the long-standing belief is that talk radio has been the home for Donald Trump sycophants. While I’ve always viewed this as an overly-simplistic analysis of tens of millions of weekly talk radio listeners in this country, it’s fair to say that certainly, from 2015 through 2020; the news talk audience was supportive of the 45th President. 

And now, as time goes on, there are signs that the dam is breaking. There’s anecdotal data I can share and then more scientific data to touch on.

This past Monday, I spent one segment of my show saying I would burn through as many calls as I could over 8-9 minutes on Trump or Ron DeSantis to be the 2024 Republican Presidential nominee. I brought this up in the wake of DeSantis’ criticism of Joe Biden’s energy policy from late last week. He sounded an awful lot like someone who is gearing up for something bigger than “just” being the Governor of Florida.

Over those 8-9 minutes, I fit in 14 phone calls. Going into it, I told my producers privately that my guess was that the calls would split fairly evenly but probably lean towards Trump. 

That’s not what happened. 

Instead, we ended up with nine of the 14 callers in favor of DeSantis, with five going for Trump. 

Then there was some interesting polling this week. One poll of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire found DeSantis edging out Trump 39 percent to 37 percent. The most telling fact about the New Hampshire poll is that while DeSantis leads Trump by just two points overall, he leads among Fox News watchers by 14 points and among conservative radio listeners by 16 points.

As is always the case, one poll should not be viewed as an absolute, but there are clear signs that Donald Trump’s stranglehold over Republican voters is waning. And from my perspective, it’s waning faster than I expected. 

Politics move fast. One day you’re hot; the next day, not so much. And to see DeSantis rise this quickly when all the focus is on Joe Biden and the 2022 midterms, not the Republican primary in 2024, makes this poll even more surprising.

And while I have no interest in getting ahead of myself, talk radio is likely to be the battleground for this issue if and when it does ultimately come to fruition. Talk radio is obviously far more interactive than cable news. Callers, texters, and Facebook/Twitter users can all be participants and have their perspectives shared with thousands of listeners at any given time.

And if those most in tune with the news cycle of the moment find themselves shifting to someone like Ron DeSantis, then the run-of-the-mill Republican voter is likely to follow suit when the time comes.

But, if we do end up getting a Trump vs. DeSantis primary, then 2024 could end up making 2016 look like child’s play. But I’ll stop here because, once again, I’m not looking to get ahead of myself.

Draymond Green, JJ Redick Sell Out Live Podcast Show

BSM Staff
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The two new and most visible faces of the new media influx have teamed up for a live show that will take place in New York City. Draymond Green and JJ Redick are bringing their respective podcasts to the stage for a live experience.

On Monday (June 27), Draymond Green’s The Draymond Green Show and JJ Redick’s The Old Man and the Three will seek to entertain an already sold out audience at The City Winery in New York City.

The show will collaborate for the first time and it will mark an interesting time in the thrusting of new media onto the public consciousness. JJ Redick has earned universal praise for how he has handled his career post-retirement from the NBA, including appear often opposite Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take as well as the network’s myriad of other programming.

Draymond Green has been very public with his podcast that has very publicly recorded episodes minutes after Warriors games. He has recently invoked his mantra that he isn’t a part of the media (despite signing a contract with Turner Sports and Colin Cowherd’s The Volume). Instead he insists he is a part of the aforementioned new media.

Craig Hoffman to Take Over Afternoon Drive On The Team 980

BSM Staff
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Craig Hoffman is joining The Team 980. He will fill the vacancy in afternoons left by Russell & Medhurst moving to 9 am.

Hoffman has found plenty of success in the DC market as a podcaster. His Take Command podcast drops twice each week. He also hosts a podcast focused on the fitness industry called Train With the Best.

He also has plenty of radio experience as a fill-in host for The Team 980 and 106.7 The Fan. He was also an anchor on ESPN 103.3 in Dallas.

The show will feature a rotating cast of contributors. Anthony Haynie will serve as producer.

“I’m super excited for this opportunity. That excitement grows in knowing I’m gonna be working with @anthonyhaynie3,” Hoffman said on Twitter. “We’re gonna bring you a show that’s smart, has a conscience, and also has LOTS of hijinks.”

Changes began at The Team 980 in March when Travis Thomas announced he was leaving the station for an opportunity in Boston.

Craig Hoffman joins the Audacy station and Russell & Medhurst move to middays beginning Monday.

Willard and Dibs to MLB: I Should Always Know When Shohei Ohtani Is On

BSM Staff
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In a world with the NFL dominating television ratings and the NBA crushing social media numbers, Major League Baseball is trying to find it’s place. The progress that is currently happening might be considered slow, but there is an attempt. Still, nationally, the sport is struggling to garner large swaths of support. This week’s accomplishments by Shohei Ohtani are a clear indicator of how far MLB has to go.

Ohtani struck out a career-high thirteen batters on Wednesday night in a 5-0 win by the Angels against the Kansas City Royals. That followed a performance on Tuesday in which the man drove in eight batters. Wild, right? That’s what Mark Willard and Dan Dibley of Willard and Dibs on 95.7 The Game thought and wondered why it hasn’t been a bigger deal.

Willard asked who is to blame. “Is that a Major League Baseball problem? Is it because baseball doesn’t showcase their players? Or is it a baseball problem that people don’t care about baseball anymore?

Dibley chimed in with a shot at the league and it’s social and marketing arms.

“It’s all the above. I put the majority of the blame on Major League Baseball because it is so hard as a fan to share their content. If you were to capture the video of one of his great outings and you tweet it out or put it on your social media, MLB shuts you down… They want to be bale to share it, use it own their way. But MLB, ‘without the expressed written consent of Major League Baseball’ and all that malarkey. As a result from a marketing standpoint, they’re god awful.

Dibley asked the listener to think about it in terms of an NFL performace.

“Patrick Mahomes goes out and he’s 27/35, 412 yards and 4 TDs… and he had 12 tackles and a pick-six and a forced fumble. I mean, what? Our minds would be blown right?

Willard then said he think that the sport and the viewers’ attention span are at odds.

“I think part of it too, baseball is out of step with the pace of our lives now,” Willard said. “Baseball is like a novel that takes a long time to unfold… people are like ‘give me something that matters now’. That’s just how we are geared right now.”

That could be a problem, but Dibley said things could change if MLB seized this opportunity for attention like they did once before.

“If MLB treated Shohei Ohtani’s sporting life like they did the Barry Bonds home run chase, where Barry Bonds is coming up to bat, we are going to go live to Barry Bonds in the on-deck circle, he’s swinging a donut… Shohei Ohtani should have that treatment.”

I should always know when he’s batting,” continued Dibley. “When he’s pitching, how long it’ll be until that happens, where can I go to watch it live. If you didn’t follow the Angels and if you don’t follow baseball, you weren’t aware that Ohtani was going to pitch the day after he had eight runs batted in.”

Bobby Marks Signs Multiyear Deal to Stay With ESPN

BSM Staff
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ESPN continues it’s investment into NBA coverage by signing insider Bobby Marks to a brand new multiyear deal.

Marks has been with ESPN since 2017. He is considered a NBA Front Office Insider because of his twenty years of experience being a member of front office personnel. He spent all of that time with the Brooklyn (then New Jersey) Nets. Marks also spent five seasons as the team’s assistant General Manager.

He began his career with the team as a Public Relations intern in 1995. When Marks parted ways with the team, he was the longest-tenured member of the operations staff. The move was considered at the time to be part of a cost-cutting venture.

Afterwards, Marks joined Yahoo Sports and their NBA project, The Vertical.

Marks will be a part of ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage Thursday evening.

Scott Van Pelt Not Hurt By Draymond Green’s “New Media” Comment

BSM Staff
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We have heard an awful lot in the fast month about “new media” with a large section of that discussion coming in regards to athletes in or formerly in the NBA. One such interaction was between a member of that new media and Scott Van Pelt.

After Game 5 of the NBA Finals, a victorious Draymond Green was interviewed on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt. In the interview, Van Pelt asked Green about dealing with the outside “noise” around the Finals. After Green gave a to-be-expected type answer, Van Pelt followed-up with the initial comment that start a wave.

Van Pelt: You’re part of the media now and you get to control the conversation from your perspective and I know you’ll-

Green: New media.

He then corrected Van Pelt’s assertion that Green had stated Stephen A. Smith was new media by saying:

Green: And by the way go watch The Draymond Green Show. I said Stephen A. sometimes acts like the new media. Sometimes he doesn’t. That’s on you, but nonetheless, don’t just lump me in with media, baby. It’s the new media.

Scott Van Pelt appeared on the SI Media Podcast and was asked about this exchange.

“I didn’t get that,” Van Pelt said of Green’s resistance in being associated with the word “media.”

“He’s the one that said it. Isn’t he the one who said he’s new media? I was just trying to give him credit in saying, ‘Look, you now have control of your narrative and you can go do your podcast now.’”

Van Pelt went on about Green’s categorizing of Smith and other media as a separate column of media.

“I guess what Draymond actually said was sometimes he’s new media. I don’t give a shit who’s what…I think now as it relates to media, there’s no new and old because people that are in the old media are doing the new media and people that are in new media are cutting through in ways that people in old media didn’t think they ever would many years ago. I guess all I’m saying is whatever Stephen A. is, he exists in both lanes and Draymond, clearly his content cuts through on his podcast or with me.

I wasn’t hurt by it. I didn’t take it like he was mad at me. I was just correcting the semantics. It didn’t trouble me. Whatever. However Draymond frames what Stephen A. Smith is or what any of us are, it doesn’t feel important. I think it’s important he has that place where he wants to do his thing. And I think people are interested in hearing from the guy that was just out there not long after saying what he has to say.”

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