Emmis Communications has announced it will sell their Indianapolis radio properties to Radio One for an undisclosed amount. That includes The Fan 93.5/107.5 as well as three other radio stations.
“These are terrific general market formats (Best Variety, Country, News and Sports) and will be a great addition to Urban One in a transaction that is accretive and deleveraging,” said Alfred Liggins, President and CEO, Urban One.
Urban One is the parent company of Radio One.
“Indianapolis is my hometown, and I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish – we’ve become an invaluable contributor to the Indianapolis community, a leader of radio industry initiative and innovation, and a trusted resource for Central Indiana listeners and businesses,” said Jeff Smulyan, founder and chairman of Emmis. Smulyan helped to launch WFAN, the first all-sports talk radio station in 1987. He is currently out of the sports radio business.
Those stations will join Radio One’s existing Indianapolis offerings which currently consists of five radio stations.
The acquisition is subject to Federal Communications Commission approval and other customary closing conditions, which is anticipated in the third quarter of 2022. Emmis will continue to operate The Fan until the transaction closes.
The National Football League is dipping it’s lead foot into the streaming service universe. The NFL plans to introduce a standalone streaming service in July.
The service, called NFL Plus, will enable those who subscribe to view live games that are available in their broadcast area on a mobile phone or tablet.
If this sounds familiar, you’ve been paying attention. NESN just launched NESN 360 at the beginning of June with a similar idea: live games in your area plus other content.
However, the intent with NFL Plus might differ in short-term and long-term goals. While the NFL does already have it’s own network, packages galore with the all of the major broadcast networks and now another streaming deal with Amazon to carry games, it appears this venture is being launched with an eye to the future revenue that is increasingly digital from partners like Amazon. It could help maintain leverage for the NFL when it is time to negotiate future rights such as those of NFL Sunday Ticket, whose rights are up for bidding again after the 2022 season.
As far as other ways, and more current ones, that NFL Plus could be used by the actual consumer involve ways you may have watched last season. Yahoo Sports did have the rights to deliver in-market games to laptops and tablets last season. The NFL had deals in place also with various cellular providers to stream live action to mobile phones. Those granted rights have expired.
The last iHeartMedia station that was running all comedy, KBFP Bakersfield, has flipped formats and is now simulcasting Fox Sports 970 KHTY also in Bakersfield, California.
Both signals are currently running the national Fox Sports Radio lineup around the clock. The lone exception is CK On Sports which airs from 3-4pm and is hosted by Christopher ‘CK’ Hall. That program is based at co-owned 1340 KCBL Fresno. This marks another Fox Sports Radio affiliate, of which there are over 600 in the United States.
Formerly “Comedy 800,” KBFP Bakersfield was the last remaining iHeartMedia radio station that was an all comedy format. That stemmed from the company’s attempt to profit with several radio stations in the country going to the format. It was reported in October of 2012 that there were twelve stations in the country to have switched formats from their previous content to the comedy initiative.
That station list included one in Alabama, one in California, three in Georgia, one in Iowa, one in Kentucky, one in Louisiana as well as one in Maryland, New York, Ohio and West Virginia respectively.
Charissa Thompson is going to be part of Thursday Night Football on Amazon’s Prime Video according to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post.
Thompson will join Tony Gonzalez on the set of the game’s pre- and postgame shows. They are expected to originate from the site of each week’s game. The Post noted that Ryan Fitzpatrick, Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch are expected to be involved, but Amazon declined to comment for the story.
Originally, it was expected that Kay Adams would be in the lead chair for Thursday Night Football. Marchand reports that Adams’s representatives did meet and begin negotiations for the role, but the two sides were unable to come to a deal.
Her new gig at Amazon doesn’t mean Charissa Thompson is leaving FOX. She is expected to still be a part of the network’s early Sunday pregame show FOX NFL Kickoff this season.
Until Amazon confirms the hiring, Thompson is still officially amongst the many rumors without official announcements to back them up. Tony Gonzalez was introduced at the NFL Draft as part of Thursday Night Football. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit were announced shortly thereafter.
Everything else you have heard from Kaylee Hartung on the sidelines to an alternate broadcast starring Pat McAfee remains unconfirmed.
Two WFAN legends are on the ballot for possible induction into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2022. Both Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Suzyn Waldman are among the 24 finalists for the honor.
Russo and his former partner Mike Francesa make up one of the best-known duos in the history of sports radio. Since leaving WFAN in 2008, he has been at the center of SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio. He has also carved out a nice career for himself on television with MLB Network and alongside Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take.
Waldman’s voice was the first voice ever heard on America’s first all-sports radio station when WFAN launched in 1987. While she is most associated with the Yankees by younger sports fans, her radio career has seen her cover the Knicks as well. She also served as an anchor and mid-day host at WFAN.
In total, eight people will be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. Six hundred members of the industry will cast secret ballots beginning next week.
Inductees will be announced on July 25. The induction ceremony will happen on November 1 in Chicago.
Kevin Sheehan is among those unhappy with Jack Del Rio and he says if you are a Washington Commanders fan, you should be too.
“Forget his politics,” Sheehan said Monday of the team’s defensive coordinator defending the insurrection of January 6th as “a dust-up at the Capitol”. “He hurt their business last week.”
The Team 980 morning man says he expects that Del Rio had a number of conversations with higher-ups in the organization in the hours after talking to the media. He speculated that the Commanders may have looked into firing the coach with cause before realizing that isn’t exactly easy to do.
Del Rio deserves the bulk of the blame according to Sheehan, but he does reserve some for the franchise as well.
Del Rio had been on Twitter sharing his political beliefs for some time. The franchise is trying build a business from the ground up according to Sheehan and he said that everyone in the front office should have been thinking about that before making the coach available to reporters. They had to know what kind of questions were coming.
“There’s nothing that can convince me that putting him out there was anything other than what it was, which was a mistake.”
Sheehan explained that while both coordinators are required to talk to the media at least once during offseason activities, there was no reason to make the coach that has been tweeting about January 6th available the day before the highly publicized hearings on Capitol Hill. The franchise would have been better served by saying Del Rio had a personal issue to deal with and taking the fine from the NFL.
Jack Del Rio has since deleted his Twitter account. Kevin Sheehan says he has no proof it was at the request or urging of the Washington Commanders, but it is reasonable to think it was at least discussed.
“What he did last week was not debatable,” Sheehan said, arguing that no matter how you feel politically, it should be clear to see there was a problem with Del Rio talking to the media. “It was not good for the team. It hurt the team. That building and people in it on both sides, the football side and the business side, were not happy. It did not make their jobs easier.”
After one year away from radio, Orlando Franklin is back with 104.3 The Fan in Denver. He will join Cecil Lammey from 6 until 9 each weeknight on Orlando & Cecil.
Last July, Franklin left the station to take a job on the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff. His position with the team was never publicly defined, but he worked closely with running backs coach Bobby Turner.
“I’m beyond excited to return to my family at The Fan and get back to talking with Denver fans every day,” Franklin said in a press release. “While coaching in the NFL was a wonderful experience, my true passion is radio and I can’t wait to team up with Cecil talking about the Avalanche, Broncos and all the big stories in Denver sports!”
Orlando Franklin was part of 104.3 The Fan from 2018 until 2021. He is also well-known to Denver sports fans as a member of the Denver Broncos offensive line. He played four of his six NFL seasons in Denver and was a member of the franchise’s all-decade team for the 2010s.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Orlando home to The Fan where he brings a new insight after a year of coaching the NFL,” 104.3 The Fan Program Director Raj Sharan added. “In addition to Orlando’s terrific football credentials, he’s tremendously knowledgeable about hockey, which will strengthen our commitment to talking about the Avalanche along with all of our Denver sports teams.”
For the last seventeen years, NBA fans could count on hearing “BANG!” during the NBA Finals. Mike Breen and his iconic call are back now, but he did miss the first two games of the series in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.
On Friday, he joined Pablo Torre on the ESPN Daily podcast. He revealed that 2005 was the last time he was able to watch an NBA Finals game on television.
“I’ve always appreciated the privilege and responsibility of calling Finals games, but that appreciation skyrocketed watching the first two games,” Breen said.
Mike Breen did say he felt some frustration. It may have been easier to accept that he couldn’t be courtside if he was struggling with his health, but he felt fine.
“I was one of those that had no symptoms and kept testing positive, which is probably more frustrating than the alternative, but it’s probably a little easier to go through than the alternative.”
It wasn’t all bad. Breen said he got a lot of joy out of seeing his friend Mike Jones step into the spotlight and call the NBA Finals on ABC for the first time. Jones usually calls the championship series for ESPN Radio.
He also enjoyed being able to watch the games as a fan for the first time in decades.
“On a great play, I’m yelling. On a call I question, I’m looking at it. That stuff will never leave you.”
To run a successful digital content and consulting company in 2022 it’s vital to explore new ways to grow business. There are certain paths that produce a higher return on investment than others, but by being active in multiple spaces, a brand has a stronger chance of staying strong and overcoming challenges when the unexpected occurs. Case in point, the pandemic in 2020.
As much as I love programming and consulting stations to assist with growing their over the air and digital impact, I consider myself first a business owner and strategist. Some have even called me an entrepreneur, and that works too. Just don’t call me a consultant because that’s only half of what I do. I’ve spent a lot of my time building relationships, listening to content, and studying brands and markets to help folks grow their business. Included in my education has been studying website content selection, Google and social media analytics, newsletter data, the event business, and the needs of partners and how to best serve them. As the world of media continues to evolve, I consider it my responsibility to stay informed and ready to pivot whenever it’s deemed necessary. That’s how brands and individuals survive and thrive.
If you look at the world of media today compared to just a decade ago, a lot has changed. It’s no secret during that period that podcasting has enjoyed a surge. Whether you review Edison Research, Jacobs Media, Amplifi Media, Spotify or another group’s results, the story is always the same – digital audio is growing and it’s expected to continue doing so. And that isn’t just related to content. It applies to advertising too. Gordon Borrell, IAB and eMarketer all have done the research to show you where future dollars are expected to move. I still believe it’s smart, valuable and effective for advertisers to market their products on a radio station’s airwaves, but digital is a key piece of the brand buy these days, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.
Which brings me to today’s announcement.
If you were in New York City in March for our 2022 BSM Summit, you received a program at the show. Inside of one of the pages was a small ad (same image used atop this article) which said “Coming This Summer…The BSM Podcast Network…Stay Tuned For Details.” I had a few people ask ‘when is that happening, and what shows are you planning to create?’ and I kept the answers vague because I didn’t want to box ourselves in. I’ve spent a few months talking to people about joining us to help continue producing quality written content and improve our social media. Included in that process has been talking to members of our team and others on the outside about future opportunities creating podcasts for the Barrett Sports Media brand.
After examining the pluses and minuses, and listening and talking to a number of people, I’m excited to share that we are launching the BSM Podcast Network. We will start with a few new titles later this month, and add a few more in July. Demetri Ravanos will provide oversight of content execution, and assist with production and guest booking needs for selected pods. This is why we’ve been frequently promoting Editor and Social Media jobs with the brand. It’s hard to pursue new opportunities if you don’t have the right support.
The titles that will make up our initial offerings are each different in terms of content, host and presentation. First, we have Media Noise with Demetri Ravanos, which has produced over 75 episodes over the past year and a half. That show will continue in its current form, being released each Friday. Next will be the arrival of The Sports Talkers Podcast with Stephen Strom which will debut on Thursday June 23rd, the day of the NBA Draft. After that, The Producer’s Podcastwith Brady Farkas will premiere on Wednesday June 29th. Then as we move into July, two more titles will be added, starting with a new sales focused podcast Seller to Seller with Jeff Caves. The final title to be added to the rotation will be The Jason Barrett Podcast which yours truly will host. The goal is to have five weekly programs distributed through our website and across all podcasting platforms by mid to late July.
I am excited about the creation of each of these podcasts but this won’t be the last of what we do. We’re already working on additional titles for late summer or early fall to ramp up our production to ten weekly shows. Once a few ideas and discussions get flushed out, I’ll have more news to share with you. I may consider adding even more to the mix too at some point. If you have an idea that you think would resonate with media professionals and aspiring broadcasters, email me by clicking here.
One thing I want to point out, this network will focuses exclusively on various areas of the sports media industry. We’ll leave mainstream sports conversations to the rest of the media universe. That’s not a space I’m interested in pursuing. We’ve focused on a niche since arriving on the scene in 2015 and have no plans to waver from it now.
Additionally, you may have noticed that we now refer to our company as ‘Barrett Media’. That’s because we are now involved in both sports and news media. That said, we are branding this as the BSM Podcast Network because the titles and content are sports media related. Maybe there will be a day when we introduce a BNM version of this, but right now, we’ve got to make sure the first one works right before exploring new territory.
Our commitment to delivering original industry news, features and opinions in print form remains unchanged. This is simply an opportunity to grow in an area where we’ve been less active. I know education for industry folks and those interested in entering the business is important. It’s why young people all across the country absorb mountains of debt to receive a college education. As valuable as those campus experiences might be, it’s a different world once you enter the broadcasting business.
What I’d like to remind folks is that we continue to make investments in the way we cover, consult, and discuss the media industry because others invest in us. It’d be easy to stockpile funds and enjoy a few more vacations but I’m not worried about personal wealth. I’m focused on building a brand that does meaningful work by benefitting those who earn a living in the media industry or are interested in one day doing so. As part of that process I’m trying to connect our audience to partners who provide products, services or programs that can benefit them.
Since starting this brand, we’ve written more than 18,000 articles. We now cover two formats and produce more than twenty five pieces of content per day. The opportunity to play a small role in keeping media members and future broadcasters informed is rewarding but we could not pay people to edit, write, and host podcasts here if others didn’t support us. For that I’m extremely grateful to those who do business with us either as a consulting client, website advertiser, Summit partner or through a monthly or annual membership. The only way to get better is to learn from others, and if our access to information, knowledge, relationships and professional opinions helps others and their brands, then that makes what we do worthwhile.
Thanks as always for the continued support. We appreciate that you read our content each day, and hope to be able to earn some of your listenership in the future too.
A sexual harassment lawsuit involving a former “Good Morning America” producer has been tossed out of court. According to the New York Post, a state judge dismissed a case against Michael Corn citing a statute of limitations ruling.
The lawsuit was brought by “GMA” producer Kirstyn Crawford, who alleged misconduct while traveling with Corn in Los Angeles during coverage of the Academy Awards. She claimed Corn forcibly touched and kissed Crawford during an Uber trip back to their hotel.
The judge also ruled that the incidents cited in the lawsuit didn’t measure up to sexual harassment or creating a hostile work environment.
“We are very grateful the court recognized the total lack of merit to the allegations brought against Mr. Corn,” Corn’s lawyer Meredith Cavallaro told the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the news.
Corn, who left ABC News in April 2021 because of an internal probe into Crawford’s claims, has denied the allegations. He is now the head of programming for the cable news channel NewsNation.
