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News Media Reacts to CNN Hiring Rex Chapman

BNM Staff
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The news media reacted with a mix of amusement, confusion, and praise on the hiring CNN made of former NBA player Rex Chapman for its streaming platform.

Earlier in the day, Barrett Sports Media reported that the yet-to-be-launched streaming service CNN+ hired Chapman to host a weekly program that will debut at some point in 2022.

Syndicated radio host Clay Travis tweeted, “it’s amazing how @cnn continues to make decisions guaranteed to destroy whatever limited trust they have in the media today.” 

“CNN adding Rex Chapman to CNN+. So, they’re going for MSNBC, but even more stupid. Okay then,” syndicated talk show host Erick Erickson tweeted. “Suddenly Joy Reid won’t be the stupidest person on television.”

“Lol this is a perfect fit. He’s an endless source of misinformation on this website,” tweeted Washington Free Beac.

Others were happy to see Chapman land a new gig on CNN’s streaming platform despite the criticism. CNN Business & Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich praised the hire of Chapman by her company. 

“One of my favorite new hosts coming to the platform. If you don’t follow him, he’s feel-good content, with humor, wit, and political savvy. He also has the best-curated dog videos on the web,” Yurkevich tweeted. 

CBS News’ Chris Wragge was another to praise the hire, asking CNN or any other news network what took so long to bring in someone like Chapman. 

“What took so long? Good work CNN and congrats Rex Chapman. Light it up!” Wragge tweeted. 

Last month, Chapman drew sharp criticism when he tweeted that hospitals should turn away unvaccinated patients.

“How about we all agree that hospitals have the right to turn away unvaccinated covid patients?” Chapman tweeted. “They have freedom of choice, too right.”

Al Jazeera Pulls Plug on Digital Conservative News Outlet

BNM Staff
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Al Jazeera Pulls Plug on Digital Conservative News Outlet

According to Axios, Al Jazeera has pulled the plug on its digital conservative news outlet, Rightly.

Al Jazeera launched the outlet last February to “provide fresh voices that are too often left out of the mainstream media a space to engage and debate the issues that matter most to them.”

At the time, analysts wondered whether Al Jazeera was launching Rightly to balance out the perceived bias in its reporting.

According to the report, former Fox News columnist and current editor-in-chief Scott Norvell will remain in place but is expected to depart in a few months.

“As far as Rightly, we’re still evaluating the brand itself,” said Michael Weaver, senior vice president of business development and growth at Al Jazeera Media Network. “We’re constantly evaluating everything we put on the air.”

Brad Polumbo, a policy correspondent at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) who worked on “Rightly,” confirmed Rightly was being shuttered.

Sports Are Learning To Meet Gen Z Where They Are

BSM Staff
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Sports Are Learning To Meet Gen Z Where They Are

Should sports radio be concerned about where audiences will come from in the future? It is an interesting question that we talk about here a lot. It is also something that the New York Times tackled indirectly last week.

A column from Joe Drape and Ken Belson declared this generation of kids “The eSports Generation” and went on to explain just how disconnected from traditional sports they really are.

An alarmist might ask if this is the beginning of the end of traditional sports leagues. Someone a little more level-headed, like Joe Ovies, may want to dive a little deeper to see what leagues are learning and how they are adapting.

Joe hosts The OG in afternoon drive at 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh. He is always interested in how changes in technology and consumption patterns effect sports and his audience. I saw him tweeting about the New York Times piece last week and asked if he would want to write a little something for us.

Enjoy!

Demetri Ravanos

“Meet your audience where they are.”

How many times have you heard that phrase in the last 5 years from a consultant, manager, or any number of Barrett Media posts as content consumption trends continue to spread out over a variety of platforms? Turns out the same applies for pro sports leagues, who are fearful that an entire generation of fans will be lost and their traditional business model will crater as a result.

The New York Times recently highlighted what sports marketers are doing to win over Generation Z, which typically applies to kids born from 1997 to 2012. The Times hits the usual beats.

There’s a reference to Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, an esports star who is also a traditional sports fan, who the NFL hoped would be a Pied Piper for youth fandom. There are examples of MLB, famously stingy when it came to fans using their content on social media, now working with TikTok influencers. And of course, highlighting the NBA’s wide ranging approach to online engagement and their franchise run NBA 2K esports league. Most of the article was based on a recent SSRS/Luker on Trends report, which conducts regular surveys about sports and society.

The issue for pro sports leagues isn’t that Gen Z kids aren’t “passionate” enough about sports. It’s that Gen Z is more likely to admit they simply don’t like sports.

“Only 23 percent of Generation Z said they were passionate sports fans, compared with the 42 percent of millennials (defined as 26 to 41), 33 percent of Generation X (42 to 57) and 31 percent of baby boomers (57 to 76) who identified themselves as passionate. More striking was that 27 percent of Gen Zers said they disliked sports altogether, compared with just 7 percent of millennials, 5 percent of Gen Xers and 6 percent of boomers.”

The new york times, Jan. 12, 2022

Also factoring into the waning interest in sports from Gen Z is the dramatic decline of youth sports participation. There is a larger discussion to be had about the role of parents and specialization in this decline, but we can address that topic another day. As it relates to pro sports leagues today, the drop in youth participation absolutely impacts the level of interest in kids who might want to watch the best in the world of sports do their thing.

“Participation in youth sports was declining even before Covid-19: In 2018, only 38 percent of children ages 6 to 12 played team sports on a regular basis, down from 45 percent in 2008, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.

In June 2020, the pandemic’s early days, 19 percent of parents with kids in youth sports said their child was not interested in playing sports, according to a survey conducted by The Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society Program. By September 2021, that figure was 28 percent.

On average, children play less than three years in a sport and quit by age 11, according to the survey. Why? Mostly, because it is not fun anymore.”

the New york times, Dec. 19th 2021

The crux of the issue is that Gen Z is the first generation of kids who are truly free to find their “thing” in a way previous generations never could thanks to modern connectivity. Meeting up on the playground or at a friend’s backyard for a pickup game has been replaced with meeting your friends on a Discord server and deciding if you’re going to play Halo or Call or Duty after school.

If you have kids in the age range that I do, none of this should be a surprise. You see it every day and don’t even think twice about it. But if you do stop and think about how frictionless it has become to be online all day with your friends, you start to realize the impact of never being bored or getting dragged to things by your parent because there were no other options.

Watching sports and going to sporting events isn’t frictionless. It’s a pain in the ass. Older generations deal with it because we don’t know any better, it’s just what we do. But Gen Z isn’t about to stop what they’re doing just to watch a game. Why would they? They can get the highlights later.

Gen Z is about dropping in and out of entertainment options whenever they feel like it. In other words, why would they sit around waiting for their favorite song to be played on the radio when they can easily pull it up on YouTube or Spotify.

Pro sports leagues can create all the social content and tout billions of views. They can tout engagement with Gen Z because a bunch of kids bought NFL related skins in Fortnite.

Awareness of their leagues isn’t the problem. It’s getting Gen Z to care enough to watch the game. Take my kids, who are fully aware of what’s going on in the world of sports, but getting them to sit down and actually watch the game is torture. Throw in the increasing cost to attend sporting events, I’ve started leaving them at home because it’s a waste of money given my 13-year-old is just gonna play Clash Royale in that $75 seat.

To be clear — I’m OK with my kids just not being into sports. It’s not like I didn’t try. It’s simply understanding we’ve transitioned to a world of niche communities. You can still thrive within those niche communities. Just look at sports talk radio as an example, where you’re not winning with cume, but with passion around sports. That’s what great sports talk radio stations sell. Pro sports leagues will be fine doing the same.

How Soon Is Too Soon To Lean Into The NFL Draft?

Demetri Ravanos
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How Soon Is Too Soon To Lean Into The NFL Draft?

For sports talk hosts, nothing generates content quite like the NFL Playoffs. The country’s most popular sport inches closer each week to crowning a champion. Each game produces an unlikely hero, a questionable call or some other storyline that can generate an entire show’s worth of conversation. Around the country, most stations talking about football are talking about the playoffs.

There is a select group of markets though where it makes sense for the football conversation to be driven by something else. Sure, the playoffs are on the radar, but if you are in a market with a top five draft pick, it makes sense that prospects and potential trades will draw significant interest.

Houston is not completely ignoring the playoffs. Landry Locker, co-host of In The Loop on Sports Radio 610 says that just like everywhere else in the country, NFL football is the headliner.

“We cover the NFL Playoffs top-to-bottom whether the Texans are in or not,” he told me. “However, just like all of our content we try to localize it as much as possible and try to respect the fact that we are a local show. Why do Houstonians care about what happened in each Wild Card game? What are the local ties?”

And what about the NFL Draft? The Texans have the third pick. That means there are plenty of discussions worth having on air, especially with the local team being so quarterback-needy.

I asked Landry if the lack of a Trevor Lawrence or Joe Burrow has dulled interest in the draft for Texans fans compared to what it could have been.

“I think there will be even more hype and content leading up to Draft than last year. While this QB class isn’t as good as last year’s the speculation about Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson make up for that void because if any of those three are traded it will likely be before the Draft. The NFL offseason has become the most active in sports and this year’s will be as wild as ever, especially here in Houston with the Watson drama.”

Ryan Green, better known to Jacksonville sports fans as Hacker on 1010XL, is in a familiar position. Just last year, he and his colleagues on XL Primetime were talking about the Jaguars welcoming a new coach to town and holding the first pick in the draft. By the time the NFL Draft gets here in April, the Jaguars will be holding the first pick as they welcome a new coach to town. So how does Hacker ensure that this year’s conversations don’t sound like 2021’s conversations on air?

“We will discuss what went wrong last year and how not to duplicate that this time around,” he said. “Why did last year fail? What could have been done differently and what needs to be different this time around. Also the history of back-to-back No. 1 picks for teams isn’t good, how can the Jaguars succeed when so many others have failed.”

Having the first pick of draft is great when you have the chance to grab the quarterback that can change your franchise’s fortunes. But the Jaguars experienced that last year and they have the top pick again.

Hacker said it perfectly. Last year was a failure for the Jaguars. Does that make his listeners a little less enthusiastic this time around?

Yes, he says. Last year was such a let down that there is a whole series of conversations fans want to have before they are ready to start breaking down prospects.

“Jaguar fans want the coaching and gm hires to be correct or the picks won’t matter anyway. Coaching matters and the Jaguar fans have had to endure a lot of bad coaching over the past decade. They want the right coach, then they will focus on the top pick”

Draft talk is fun. As Brandon Kravitz pointed out in his column earlier this week, it is a chance for fans of bad teams to feel real hope. Hope is the word right now in Houston too.

Locker says that there are so many factors that make this offseason one that Texans fans have been waiting three years for. His plan is to devote as much time to draft talk as possible.

“Obviously that’s fluid depending on what happens with the Stros and Rockets,” he says, “but this is going to be the wildest offseason in Texans franchise history. This will be the first time the Texans have had a first round selection in three drafts and with the possibility of getting even more compensation for Watson and a new coach it’s going to be nuts around here.”

It seems weird to type this, but Jacksonvillians know it is true. Hope can get old sometimes. When it is all you have ever been served, hope just doesn’t hit the same.

Hacker jokes that he and his co-workers know their way around a show rundown this time of year because this time of year never seems to end for the Jags.

“Draft talk for Jacksonville always starts around Thanksgiving, so we are already a month into draft talk before the playoffs even get here.”

Op-Ed by The Salt Lake Tribune Incites Controversy

BNM Staff
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Pundits of vaccine mandates are questioning an op-ed by The Salt Lake Tribune that called for the National Guard to keep unvaccinated people confined to their homes.

The article said the best tool for fighting the virus is the current vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“That fluttering noise you hear coming from the direction of the Capitol building is the sound of the state of Utah waving the white flag of surrender in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Tribune’s editors wrote.

Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) reacted with outrage to the op-ed.

“The Salt Lake City Tribune editorial board – while masquerading as journalists – call on the military to target their own neighbors,” Roy tweeted. “Remember – these people want to come after you.”

Utah has the fourth-highest number of new COVID-19 cases of any state, and the Omicron variant’s prevalence has forced some students to return to remote learning.

“Gov. Spencer Cox and the new state epidemiologist, Dr. Leisha Nolen, let it officially be known Friday morning that there are so few tests available in the state, and so many people who reasonably fear that they have contracted the coronavirus, that anyone who is feeling the kind of symptoms associated with the disease should just assume they are infected and stay home,” the editorial added. 

Joe Lockhart: Media Cares About Viewers, Not Informing Public

BNM Staff
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A political commentator blames the media for its “unfair” treatment of President Joe Biden. CNN analyst Joe Lockhart joined Brian Stelter to discuss how the current administration’s media coverage compares to his predecessor.

“I think the press is failing,” Lockhart said. “They’re treating him [Biden] unfairly. First off, there ought to have been a dividend for returning truth and decency to the White House, and we didn’t get that we didn’t get that at all,” Lockhart said.

Stelter suggested that Biden might be inviting some negative media coverage with the small number of press conferences he has held.

Lockhart said the media have become more concerned with viewership and ratings than informing the public.

“It is more about getting viewers than letting people know what’s going on in the country. And that’s a failure, as far as I’m concerned.”

Howard Kurtz: Joe Biden on a Losing Streak Since Afghanistan

BNM Staff
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Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz said the media’s criticism of President Joe Biden is coming from all sides. 

The “Media Buzz” host pointed out that even Biden’s most ardent supporters in the mainstream media are turning on him as he struggles to sell his plan and gain the public’s trust in his handling of the pandemic.

Kurtz made his comments Friday on “America Reports” with Sandra Smith and John Roberts.

“For the pundits to say that Joe Biden had a bad week, I think is actually giving him a pass,” Kurtz said. “He has been on a spectacular losing streak since the Afghanistan debacle, more unforced errors than Novak Djokovic in Australia.”

Kurtz said Biden’s most significant failures to date might have come last week as he struggled to convince lawmakers to pass the Build Back Better package. Biden also delivered a speech in Georgia that failed to resonate with the general public. 

“The press knows that these are miscalculations, and they’re all saying the obvious now, right now, Joe Biden doesn’t have control of his own party,” said Kurtz.

Dallas Cowboys: Proof That Marketing Works

Demetri Ravanos
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Why do people still hate the Dallas Cowboys? Give me a good football reason that the Cowboys are worth your time. I get that there was an era where if the NFL was Mortal Kombat, the Cowboys were Shang Tsung, but those days ended three decades ago.

It’s 2022. There are adults in their late 20s that have never seen a Cowboys’ championship. Since 2000, the franchise has been to the playoffs fewer times than the Falcons. They have won as many playoff games in that time as the Jaguars. At this point, hating the Cowboys is about as useless as hating Luxembourg.

So why do people still have such a deep-seated disdain for the star and the players that wear it? Why was a national celebration set of on Sunday when the Cowboys lost in the stupidest way imaginable?

The answer is pretty simple really: marketing.

Good marketers can convince you their products are anything they want you to believe those products are. Great marketers can get you to behave like those products are what they say they are even when you know that isn’t true.

Jerry Jones is a great marketer.

People tune in when the Cowboys play. Maybe a good chunk of those people are hate-watching, but they’re watching. That is why the team was on in primetime six times this season. Of those other eleven games, seven of them were called by either FOX’s or CBS’s top broadcast team.

ESPN completely rebuild and rebranded First Take around the idea that Stephen A. Smith doesn’t like the Dallas Cowboys. That is it. The whole promo package for the show was just Smith wearing a cowboy hat and chomping on a cigar and laughing.

Shouldn’t we be doing this to the Patriots? Afterall, in the time since the Cowboy’s last Super Bowl appearance, New England has gone to the game an astounding ten times and won six titles.

It’s easy to read that sentence and say “Well, Tom Brady isn’t there anymore. The Patriots aren’t what they used to be. It isn’t as much fun to hate them.”

Uh, dawg, who in Dallas has been worth hating since Troy Aikman retired? You know, like 22 years ago!

Jerry Jones isn’t the man that coined the phrase “America’s Team, ” so he didn’t set its initial meaning. What it became, by virtue of him leaning into the branding is something that forces you to react. Either you buy into the blue and the silver and the star and you’re with America’s team or you recoil at the branding and the goofiness of the whole aesthetic and want to watch it burn.

Notre Dame football could be doing this too. The problem is they do not have the great markerter out front pushing that slogan over and over again.

Even “how bout them Cowboys?” is a solid positioning statement. It’s easily repeatable in good times or bad. The genius of Jerry Jones embracing that statement and that clip of Jimmy Johnson shouting those four now-iconic words is that it is a question that always has an answer.

Fans can celebrate with “how bout them cowboys” when the team wins. Haters can say it facetiously when they are on a losing streak. Either way, you are saying it and the Dallas Cowboys are occupying a part of your brain.

Positioning statements work. That is why so many stations tag their imaging with the same phrase or sentence every single time. That is why so many stations are called The Fan or The Game or The Ticket.

Admittedly, sometimes we need to rethink how our listeners are receiving the message. If we are all going for homogeny, nothing can stand out. Maybe that is a reason to rethink what I jokingly call “sports radio’s magic hat of five acceptable station names”, but the larger point is that you want every message you put out to point to the brand image you are trying to portray.

Jerry Jones’s message to the NFL and the media is no matter who they root for, fans care about my team. His positioning statements reflect that. Whether you think they are great marketing or goofy corporate branding, they work. The proof is everywhere.

Chicago Legend, 670 The Score Overnighter Les Grobstein Dies

BSM Staff
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Les Grobstein was a staple in the lives of Chicago sports fans. He had held down overnights at 670 The Score since 2009. He was found dead in his home on Sunday. He was 69 years old.

“Our staff is devastated. Our audience lost a great friend overnight,” Mitch Rosen, The Score’s operations director, said in a statement. “Les was a legend that will never be forgotten. He was a best friend to so many that knew him that he never knew. That’s the power of radio.”

Grobstein’s presence in the Chicago sports media far predates his time on The Score. He began his broadcasting career in 1970 as part of Northwestern basketball broadcasts. He also served as the sports director of WLS and a reporter for ESPN 1000 before joining The Score.

The longtime Chicago sports radio personality had not been on the air recently. The only explanation given was an illness.

The Score memorialized The Grobber on Monday. The station played a loop of some of his most memorable moments multiple times during the day. Mark Grote called Grobstein “a friend, a colleague, and a classic” and noted that it was hard to figure out exactly the right way to memorialize him because he was such a unique individual.

Grote clearly did something right. Grobber’s son Scott texted the station to say that he was laughing at all of the clips and memories of his dad that the station was sharing.

In addition to Scott, Les Grobstein is survived by his long time partner Kathy.

Jason Rantz, Chris Stigall Talk Crime Increase in Their Cities

BNM Staff
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A pair of conservative radio hosts are speaking out about significant increases in crime in their respective cities. 

Jason Rantz of AM 770 KTTH in Seattle and Chris Stigall with 990 The Answer in Philadelphia and KCMO in Kansas City, joined Fox News’ Dan Bongino over the weekend on his show “Unfiltered.” 

Stigall told Bongino that the crime problem in Philadelphia stems from District Attorney Larry Krasner’s propensity to reduce jail time for people convicted of serious crimes. 

“The criminals in Philadelphia who I suppose largely are the Democrats too, they know Larry Krasner as “let ‘em loose Larry,” said Stigall. “The crime infestation has been huge; you’ve had businesses burned and looted.” 

Rantz said people who commit serious crimes need to be punished accordingly. 

“Laws no longer apply anywhere,” Rantz said jokingly. “It’s not like conservatives are saying every single crime that’s committed by every single person deserves life in prison, nobody is taking that position.” 

Several cities in the U.S. including Philadelphia established new records for murders in 2021.

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