“Supa Dave” Fragale is joining Classic Hits 98.9 WMMO Orlando for afternoons and APD. Fragale, a market veteran, spent 16 years across town at Active Rocker WJRR and O-Rock 105.9.
Steve Stewart, Operations Director for Cox Media Group Orlando, said, “Supa Dave brings a level of passion and local name recognition that we are truly excited to bring to the market.”
“Beyond excited is definitely an understatement,” said Fragale. “Every time I listen to a heritage station like 98.9 WMMO, it’s nostalgic. No matter what song is playing, it’s without a doubt going to transport you to a special time or place in your life. I’m honored to now be a part of that for a few hours of our listeners’ afternoons.”
Fragale takes the opening made when Jay Edwards moved to mornings.
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As FOX Sports begins the fourth season of a seven-year media rights deal with Major League Baseball, the entity will have an array of compelling matchups and rivalries on its airwaves throughout the regular season. The 2025 campaign marks the 30th season under which FOX Sports will be providing national broadcast coverage of the league, and it will commence with games from Tokyo, Japan between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. The first of these matchups will take place on Tuesday, March 18 at 6 a.m. EST airing live on FOX and FOX Deportes. At the same time the next morning, the second matchup of the series will air live on FS1 and FOX Deportes.
Traditional coverage of MLB Opening Weekend follows with a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, March 29, beginning with an interleague showdown between the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals at 2 p.m. EST on FS1. Prime time regionalized matchups will be presented at 7 p.m. EST with teams such as the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Houston Astros involved in the proceedings. Out of all the teams on the FOX Sports game schedule, the Dodgers and Cubs are slated to appear the most with 10 matchups airing on FOX platforms throughout the regular season.
The Baseball Night in America franchise will return starting on Saturday, May 3 and will feature various showdowns throughout the year. Citi Field will play host to a rematch of the 2024 NLCS between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, May 24. One week later, the Dodgers return home to face the New York Yankees in a rematch of the 2024 World Series, which averaged 15.8 million viewers across FOX platforms last year, indicative of a 67% year-over-year increase. The company will present the World Series at the conclusion of the season for the 26th time in its history.
FOX Sports will air three presentations of the Yankees’ rivalry with the Boston Red Sox, taking place on June 7, June 14 and August 21, along with the Lone Star showdown between the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros on July 12. The historic National League Central duel between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals arrives on the airwaves on August 9, emanating from Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Mo.
FOX Sports will be airing the MLB Speedway Classic live from Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee on Saturday, Aug. 2. The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will play an interdivisional matchup in this setting that will combine the aura of the NASCAR venue with the tradition of baseball. A few weeks earlier, FOX Sports will present the 2025 MLB All-Star Game from Truist Park in Atlanta, Ga., which proceeds a season where the network registered a 6% increase in audience for the game with an average of 7.4 million viewers.
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MSNBC is making major lineup changes after new President Rebecca Kutler takes over the reins, with Joy Reid exiting the network. It appears as if the network doesn’t have the endorsement of longtime staple Rachel Maddow.
During her primetime show on Monday, The Rachel Maddow Showhost addressed Reid’s departure. In her comments, she shared her admiration for her colleague.
“In all of the jobs I have had in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid,” Maddow said.
She continued by sharing her displeasure with the move.
“I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC, and personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door,” said Maddow. “It is not my call and I understand that. But that’s what I think.”
The longtime MSNBC host then argued that the decision by her network to replace both Joy Reid and weekend host Katie Phang “feels worse than bad” and was “indefensible.”
Reid had hosted her MSNBC program since 2020 after the departure of Chris Matthews from the network. Monday marked her final program in the 7 PM ET timeslot. She will be replaced by the hosts of The Weekend, which includes Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez. Joy Reid has shared that she is starting a Substack venture, which she pitched in her farewell message on Monday evening.
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As speculation regarding the future of Stephen A. Smith working at ESPN continues amid reported contract negotiations, the sports commentator continues to appear on a variety of its platforms and fulfill his current agreement. Smith has divulged that his deal expires in July and that the money is there in the negotiations but that the delay in finalizing the deal comes in balancing his contractual obligations with the freedom and ability to execute independent projects and ventures. Smith has continued to serve as an executive producer and featured commentator on First Take and also delivers analysis on editions of NBA Countdown while continuing to host a podcast and manage his Straight Shooter Media company.
Don La Greca expressed that he considers himself to be a motivated broadcaster and believes that people would say that he likes to work and has many different things going on. During the Monday edition of Don, Hahn & Rosenberg on ESPN New York, he questioned whether or not there was something wrong with him in that he frequently sees Smith on television and wondering how the sports media personality does not think that he is good.
Smith’s impending deal has been reported as being worth $120 million over six years, although he denied the monetary figure in late December, and La Greca was curious when he would get to spend that money. Alan Hahn, co-host of the program and Smith’s former radio partner on ESPN, outlined the responsibilities that come with receiving such a salary.
“You’re not new to ESPN, right?,” Hahn said to La Greca. “They make you work – you got to work. This whole notion that the more you make, the less you work, that’s not true. If you watch everybody in our company that make the most, they work the most. That’s opposite in a lot of other facets of life – not at ESPN. That man works, and he works for his money.”
For purposes of the conversation, co-host Peter Rosenberg conjectured Smith’s salary to be $20 million and surmised that 60% of that comes from the value he brings during the day on First Take. The show has consistently achieved ratings prowess throughout is time on the air and has a compelling rotation of contributors who debate Smith on various sports topics, some of whom include Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, Ryan Clark and Dan Orlovsky.
“Everybody can be great on that show, but Stephen A.’s the bread and butter of First Take, the star of that show,” Rosenberg said. “I don’t know – if I was able to make $12-13 million from First Take, would I also want to spend my Friday night doing the ESPN game, my Sunday all day doing the national game?”
Hahn admitted that Sunday was a busy day in the NBA that started with a marquee Eastern Conference matchup between the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics on ABC. There was a doubleheader of games at night as well airing on ESPN, and all of these telecasts featured studio contributions from Malika Andrews, Kendrick Perkins and Brian Windhorst. Smith appeared on the show from Los Angeles earlier in the day and was back in New York City on Monday morning for the live episode of First Take. After the show concluded, Smith presented a new episode of his video podcast where he discussed matters in sports, pop culture and entertainment.
“I’m in different places,” Rosenberg said. “I’ve traveled, I’m in a different part of my life. There’s one thing consistent. Stephen A. is always on my TV. Every hotel I’m in, Don, I turn on the TV, Stephen’s with me. It’s actually very reassuring – I always have Stephen.”
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ESPN’s presentation of the College Football Playoff was the fly in the ointment as The Disney Company led television viewership for the month of January according to Nielsen. The company released its monthly Media Distributor Gauge this morning, providing a snapshot of total broadcast, cable, and streaming consumption through a television screen. This report offers the industry valuable insights into audience viewing habits.
According to the report, Disney (ESPN) accounted for 12% of all time spent watching television in January. This marks the highest monthly share for any traditional media company since the report was first established in November 2023.
Typically, streaming platforms such as YouTube and Netflix dominate the rankings. However, Disney’s strong performance was driven by the immense interest in the College Football Playoff, which aired on its broadcast platforms. The report states that these playoff games represented the seven highest-rated cable telecasts of the month. As a result, ESPN experienced an 84% increase in monthly viewership compared to the previous month.
Despite this success, overall viewership on Disney’s platforms followed the traditional post-holiday decline, as audiences shifted away from normal viewing habits.
The first College Football Playoff National Championship under the expanded 12-team format saw a slight ratings decline in January. Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame averaged 22.1 million viewers, marking a 12% drop compared to the previous year. The audience peaked between 8:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. ET, when 26.1 million fans were tuned in. Ultimately, this year’s championship ranked as the fourth least-watched title game of the past decade.
Even so, College Football Playoff games dominated the season’s most-watched matchups. Nine of the ten most-viewed games belonged to the playoff, with Georgia’s overtime win over Texas in the SEC Championship on ABC/ESPN ranking sixth in average viewership at 16.6 million.
Image via Nielsen.com
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ESPN and Major League Baseball came to a mutual agreement last week to end their national television media rights deal following the upcoming 2025 season. Both companies released statements explaining their reasoning to its stakeholders, which will ostensibly result in the cessation of the current structure involving Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts, wild-card round playoff presentations and other elements of the partnership. This will also end a 35-year partnership first established in 1990, and former Miami Marlins team president David Samson believes there is no resolution between the two entities in this situation.
During the latest edition of the Nothing Personal podcast, Samson broke down the situation from his perspective and articulated that the exercise of the opt-out was obvious but that it was clearly a one-sided decision. A report from John Ourand of Puck divulged that ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro alerted MLB commissioner Rob Manfred of the decision on Thursday morning and sent a letter overnight formalizing this transaction. ESPN cited “fiscal responsibility” within its statement, something on which Samson elaborated while the network could face a dearth of options in the summer months on its forthcoming Flagship direct-to-consumer service.
“You need to have content, but ESPN is telling you, ‘We’re covered. Somehow, we will find something to show during the summer when we are asking people to pay a monthly fee for our new, unbelievably announced by Bob Iger and everybody else at Disney, this amazing Flagship,’” Samson said. “‘Jimmy Pitaro, we are so proud of what we’re doing. Meanwhile, we’ll do it without baseball.’ Maybe ESPN was saying to itself, ‘No, no. We’re going to opt out of this deal with Major League Baseball, and then we’re going to do a renegotiation.’”
Samson articulated that listeners could “put a pin in that” and proceeded to convey how MLB likely assumed it could do better and decided to find out by taking its rights to the open market. Ourand reported on Monday night that the league has held discussions with Amazon and Netflix while also having informal conversations with officials from Skydance Media and receiving additional interest from NBC. A letter from Manfred to MLB owners obtained by The Athletic divulged that the league expects “to have at least two potential options for consideration over the next few weeks,” although it did not reveal any further details.
“Summer has always been the time when baseball’s providing hundreds of hours per team of programming,” Samson said. “A hundred sixty-two games. What used to be three hours, but we’ll still call ‘three hours’ for purposes of this conversation, that sort of inventory is simply the best, so Major League Baseball is out looking.”
Samson utilized a simile to emphasize that baseball to ESPN was akin to the person who someone takes for granted and then realizes that they needed them upon their departure. From there, he emphasized that ESPN would realize that while the grass is the same color on the other side of the fence, it would be something that the network would miss badly.
“For those of you who think that this was simply a negotiation where ESPN and MLB are going to cut another deal and there’ll be more inventory for the same money, more jewel events, more possibly playoff games, postseason games – NGTH, it’s not going to happen,” Samson said. “The next thing you’re going to hear is MLB with a new broadcaster. How interesting that will be.”
In prognosticating how people will be able to evaluate the residual effects of this dissociation, Samson pointed out how MLB would be able to back its decision when announcing a new deal with a value higher than $550 million, which is what it was reportedly receiving from ESPN on an annual basis. Conversely, the success of ESPN in this manner, he stated, would be discernible during future earnings calls if the company gives out subscription numbers or does not provide such information.
“This is not a negotiating situation where they’re going to make an announcement holding hands together saying, ‘Everything’s great. We’re good. We have a brand-new deal coming up.’ MLB and ESPN will not renew – it’s done. The irony is that there are people out there who are going to try to convince you that this means something it doesn’t.”
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In just 23 days, spring will arrive. Think about a wonderful spring day.
Hiking with friends, you come upon a clearing with spectacular spring flowers in bloom, colors of every hue while smells that would knock a bee off its perch waif past your nose.
It’s a thing of God’s beauty but chocked full of flaws. When you drop to your knees and view a small patch of this wonderful field, you also notice a tremendous amount of – weeds surrounding the flora.
GREAT radio stations are much like this field. The talent is on cue, executing with genuine communication. Imaging flows flawlessly, both painting the station and generating momentum.
Inside the details – you find the weeds.
Once, while inheriting a tenured staff who was charged with nothing more than guarding a jukebox (their station), we challenged them to put their unique personality into each break.
Put their personality into the promos. Build a personality break every quarter hour. The trained ‘line-readers’ eventually embraced the concept, and record ratings followed.
No radio station is perfect. You need change in order to grow your station – with every change, ‘weeds’ will sprout. We can pull them, but like dandelions, they tend to grow back with veracity.
Plus, with proper perspective, weeds can be good.
The late legendary programmer Dave Robbins once noted in his weekly All Access Success Tips – “…The only difference between a flower and a weed is the attachment of a judgment…”.
As you grow your talent, challenging them to attempt new, creative content, you’ll get ‘weeds.’ It’s a natural human trait. No one is perfect the first time – or ever.
Places inside your brand where ‘weeds’ are growing, and you don’t see it:
Coaching
Radio has always been reluctant to coaches. Even more foreign, radio does not – practice. It’s difficult to understand why – when the suggestion is floated to a colleague, the look resembles a head-cock like Nipper, the RCA dog.
Our sellers receive more coaching and more training than our air staff. Yet, air talent still thinks that the way to improve is to go live to iron out the ‘burrs.’
Try putting your new morning show in a studio and running through several practice rounds—a ‘scrimmage’—before going live. This exercise knocks the rust off and builds timing before you go ‘life,’ avoiding rookie ‘weeds.’
Music Matrix Design
Getting a near – perfect music playlist design is effortless with market – leading G Selector and Music Master. Other lesser – known programs (and not nearly as expensive) are on the market to also assist.
Yet we have programmers who spend hours weekly massaging music logs to their idea of ‘perfection.’ Here’s the reality – it matters little. The listener only knows song–to–song programming. Here’s a test. As you’re reading this – without looking – what were the last three songs you heard on your – or any – radio station?
Set up a solid program to manage music and let it run. Have your programmers invest fewer hours on music management and much more time on the first bold point above and the three that follow.
Recorded Copy
The calendar reads 2025, and we’re still ending commercial copy with a phone number (which no one will remember) and the phrase “… for all your (insert company line of business) needs.” Bad copy is far worse than a bad song—and a huge Time-Spent Listening killer.
Poor copy is a by-product of lack of training among sellers or – worse yet – allowing the client to write the copy. Listeners don’t care about you or your problems. They ONLY care about themselves. Telling a story about how a product changes THEIR life attracts buyers.
There is no equal to The Legend that was Paul Harvey when it came to live copy. He crafted stories when delivering the endorsement that pulled you close to the radio, and before you knew it, you were picking up the phone to buy a Leatherman or Bose Radio. He even sold us a bong.
Why do we allow talent to read emotionless bullet points during a premium-sold live endorsement? Many among us bark out product data like they’re late for a much-needed bathroom break.
Put a critical ear to your talent when they air live copy this week. If you’re a seller, ask if the talent is earning their fee handling the critical points of the story they’re telling about your client. If you’re a programmer, coaching talent to be passionate about the client’s story will build longer listening periods.
Remote Broadcast Presentation
When did it become cool NOT to wear gear on location that identifies you and the brand you represent? Yet we see talent on location at a local bakery or mattress store time and again without a station-identifying logo.
On-location events are perfect for solidifying listener relationships and connecting with new listeners. Stationality should be everywhere, as most who attend won’t know you or where to find you.
Market Managers, Sellers, and Programmers pop into an event your brand is hosting in the coming weeks, taking inventory of station exposure to visitors. You’ll surely be making future improvements.
A great quote – “What you allow, you endorse.”
Better yet:
“What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. What you tolerate, you deserve.”
Do you have confidence that YOUR brand is on solid ground, projecting a sound that’s big and confident? Perhaps – beautiful and grand?
Find ‘weeds in the field,’ and you’ll discover opportunities for improvement.
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User generated content has changed everything. Shows created for YouTube, TikTok and other democratized platforms are held in the same “can’t miss” regard that the biggest names in sports and news media used to be.
I don’t think that’s a bad thing because sports and sports content is supposed to be fun and frivolous. Not every debate or discussion of how a team should manage the salary cap needs to be so serious and packaged with graphics that look like they took hours to render. There is a place for goofballs to try things that may not work.
When companies that have resources start to play copycat though, we all suffer. People creating content for those companies are asked to do more with less. Viewers are asked to accept inferior versions of the same shows they fell in love with as suitable substitutes. Top to bottom, it makes sports media worse.
I have been thinking about this ever since ChatGPT was introduced and every hack thought they were the first to publish an article about AI written by AI.
Initially, I thought that there was no reason to be scared for jobs in the media industry. Particularly in sports media where so much of the value comes from unique personalities delivering their opinions, but then there was a shift in thinking at the top. I feel like a fool for not anticipating it, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Grainy video from webcams and tinny, hollow audio that came from using Airpods as microphones stuck around. Even if popular talents used their power to leverage not having to return to the studio, there was no effort given to make their home setups look and sound more professional. Truly excellent production quality wasn’t worth the effort, so “good enough” became good enough.
The lesson corporations took from the democratization of content wasn’t that they should be rethinking where they search for talent or what makes someone qualified to work in this industry. Many of them decided that quality isn’t worth the necessary investment.
Did none of these people see Ratatouille? It ends with the food critic Anton Ego realizing that a rat being a great chef is not impossible and rethinking his disdain for a famous chef’s motto “anyone can cook.”
“I realise only now do I truly understand what he meant,” Ego says in a voiceover closing that Pixar film. “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.”
I have written before that user generated content makes it hard for something like Pardon the Interruption to have the value it once did. I still believe that is true. There are just too many options for me to find people that know more about my favorite teams and hear them talking about issues relevant to me.
That doesn’t mean the way to win over a new generation of fans is for ESPN to make their shows look like they’re filmed in someone’s home office, or to sit at a desk while they scroll through comment sections of other YouTube videos.
You can find this kind of thinking across all types of media. Actually, you can find it across all forms of entertainment.
Recently, I took my teenagers to see the new Captain America movie. It wasn’t as bad as reviews might suggest, but there’s clearly a different focus on storytelling quality at Disney than there used to be. This movie felt like it was made with a focus on what the Disney+ algorithm prioritizes.
Maybe the director was allowed to make whatever movie he wanted, and the writer was able to tell whatever story he wanted. Disney wanted a two hour movie, and made its cuts without considering how it would affect the overall story.
When everything’s a math problem, creativity and quality don’t matter. If creativity and quality don’t matter, then why employ anyone at all? Maybe that’s the point.
I recently read Alex Sherman’s report that Disney executives are obsessed with YouTube and the threat it poses to its business, particularly ESPN. That’s why when ESPN Flagship launches, there’s a very real chance it will have a place for user generated content.
I don’t hate the idea. In fact, if ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro really wants his OTT version of the network to truly be a gamechanger, I think it’s a wise move. Nothing would be a more drastic shift from the linear TV model to the digital age than saying that ESPN is not going program 24 hours of live, original content every day.
Sure, some of the very biggest stars will still have their shows produced by ESPN, but is an hour of PTI really better than thirty minutes of PTI and time for your audience to explore what else the platform has to offer?
The idea has merit, but there are two things that ESPN and Disney need to do to make sure they create something that is worth the reported $25-30 monthly price tag and does not hurt their own brand with this new approach.
First, if you want to lure the best talent away from YouTube, you need to pay them like YouTube. Offer content creators drawing a real audience the same 50/50 ad revenue split and the opportunities to make even more money with shopping integrations and selling their own sponsorships.
Next, Disney cannot let those user generated shows shape the entire visual identity of ESPN. Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith and Mike Greenberg get Disney-level paychecks. Their shows should have Disney-level production. They should look different and feel special compared to the stuff anyone can upload to the platform. Otherwise, what value will ESPN Flagship offer to both the audience and creators over the platforms they already know, especially considering that YouTube and TikTok can be accessed for free?
A lot of user generated content is good. Some of it is great. All of it deserves respect. None of it should set the bar for what is acceptable from big companies in the media industry. If we want to sell the idea that professionally produced content has a higher value, then we cannot be racing to the bottom just because amateurs spend less money.
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In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t tuned to sports radio lately, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX to win their second NFL championship in franchise history. The game action, the halftime show, the commercial breaks, and the forever-long pre-game and post-game content all geared to put on one last toast to football as we wrap up another exciting NFL season.
As the game comes to a close and the Vince Lombardi trophy is raised in a sea of confetti, sports radio talent across America are thinking the same idea in unison, much like Mariah Carey rings in the start of the holiday season.
“It’s time.” Welcome to the dead period of sports talk radio.
Every year, immediately following the conclusion of the Super Bowl, sports radio talent are tasked with entertaining their listeners coming off of an NFL hangover. It’s the toughest game for talent to play, making the day-to-day listening experience interesting by diving into sports conversations that don’t garner the attention and connection like the NFL does.
“I’ve always looked at the Holiday Ratings Book (early Dec–early Jan) and February as opportunities to explore,” said Laurence Holmes, who co-hosts Spiegel & Holmes on Chicago’s 670 The Score. “It’s a good time to engage the audience differently.”
Not to say there aren’t sports fans who enjoy regular season NBA, NHL, college basketball, and golf. From a sports radio content perspective, however, the impact of those discussions with the audience doesn’t come close to anything week after week NFL-related.
Sean Salisbury, host of The Sean Salisbury Show on SportsTalk 790 in Houston, believes there is an opportunity to show a program’s range and depth during the time immediately following the NFL season.
“My process for my show is always simple. Adjust, adapt, and prepare. It’s only a slow time if you lean on football as a crutch,” said Salisbury. “We don’t approach February and March as ‘slow times.’ We are even better with other sports. We consider it a strength.”
Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post once wrote that the month of February is the worst month on the calendar for sports. Many sports talk hosts take vacation time following the NFL season for this reason. It’s difficult to find the passion of the sports fan with conversations about sports that are not as consumed as much as the NFL.
Unfortunately, this tends to lead to some discussions that make sports radio talent cringe to fill time, and sports radio listeners consider finding other alternatives.
“The number one topic around this time to avoid is Mount Rushmore talk,” said Joe Murray, who hosts weekday evenings on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston. “No one cares about your Mount Rushmore of blank. It’s boring, and I would push away as fast as I can if it gets brought up. I’ll pivot to anything else.”
Just a simple search for ‘sports radio Mount Rushmore’ on any search engine, and you’ll find that topic is discussed amongst the biggest names in the industry and on nearly every platform. For sports radio hosts and their perspective, the discussion is considered repetitive and predictable.
“I hate Mt. Rushmore topics,” added Holmes. “It’s the laziest thing we do as an industry.”
With the lack of NFL action and storylines during the dead period, sports fans are constantly salivating for anything NFL-related to hold their attention through the offseason. It’s required that sports radio talent get creative with ways of continually feeding the beast while no game action is happening.
“Don’t kick football to the curb,” says Marc Ryan, who hosts programs on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit. “Ninety-seven of the 100 most-watched television programs in the United States last year were NFL games. Your show should feature daily football content, whether you’re in Detroit, Michigan, or Fairbanks, Alaska.”
With a hunger for football content from listeners, talent must also keep a sense of balance when it comes to getting too far ahead with NFL Combine discussions and NFL Draft hype.
“Listeners can only handle so much mock draft fatigue,” adds Salisbury.
The Sports Hub’s Joe Murray agrees with this notion.
“Some listeners aren’t college football fans, so it’s hard to talk about the players in the draft,” Murray added. “The way to steer away from it is to keep the conversation on best player available or biggest upgraded spots.”
Another idea to push through the dead period is for sports radio talent to put more focus on the college basketball season as March Madness nears. The annual basketball tournament continues to draw massive viewership and garners the attention of millions of sports fans around the country.
However, when asking several sports radio talents about their own shift to discussing college hoops, there’s plenty of hesitation to play in the paint.
“I truly believe most hosts, and more importantly fans, have very little familiarity with college hoops teams/players at this point,” says Chris Russell, who hosts mid-days on The Team 980 in Washington, D.C. “With conference tournaments and a good chunk of the season left, none of it really matters.”
Marc Ryan of 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit agrees with that sentiment.
“Avoid a plethora of regular season college basketball,” Ryan said. “That sport has ruined the interest in its regular season with its all-inclusive tournament.”
Laurence Holmes of 670 The Score in Chicago believes that the dead period instead should serve as an opportunity for sports radio talent to re-engage themselves with the sport, instead of avoiding it completely.
(Photo: Laurence Holmes)
“It’s a good time to challenge yourself to find out what’s going on with college basketball,” Holmes noted. “Often hosts don’t, and then the tournament comes around and we get the trope of ‘…well, I haven’t watched a game this season, but here’s my uninformed bracket.’”
The length of the dead period is also difficult to define for sports radio talent. Some debate that the end of the dead period is the start of the NCAA basketball tournament or Opening Day in Major League Baseball. Others argue that, in some markets, the dead period could extend into the early summer months as NFL training camp and college football near.
The challenge is never easy to navigate through this annual spot in the sports calendar for any sports radio talent. It takes patience, vision, imagination, and the willingness to prove your worth as a talk talent.
“I actually enjoy this time of year,” said Chase McCabe, who co-hosts The Chase & Big Joe Show on Nashville’s 102.5 The Game. “It lets your creativity flow and always shows a PD just how talented his staff can be!”
Many sports radio talents approach this time similar to the 2020 shutdown of sports during COVID. The dead period allows talent to open doors, connecting with listeners on a different level than ever before, introducing conversations they typically would not have on a daily basis.
“We consider this time ‘moving time,’ just like a Saturday at the Masters,” added Salisbury. “My show also leans on laughs and real talk that are not sports-related, and it has served us well.”
Chris Russell of The Team 980 finds this time to dive into more niche topics of conversation to connect with his audience.
“The only thing I will do more of this time of year is talk about WWE a bit more and less sports,” stated Russell.
“I’ve found that talking to our audience about youth sports experiences is eye-opening,” added Laurence Holmes of 670 The Score in Chicago. “It’s an underserved topic that is worthy of more discussion. Our audience is going through it with their kids. There are so many branches off that tree: helicopter parenting, lack of refs, what makes for a good youth coach, the money parents are paying, etc. Topic development doesn’t just have to be red meat.”
For sports radio to continue to grow, talent must use opportunities like the dead period to remove themselves from their comfort zone. Jason Barrett wrote about this last week, imploring media executives to do the same to become more effective in their business. It’s no different for sports radio talent approaching the dead period as an opportunity to branch out and embrace a new path of connection with the audience.
Every step forward is a leap towards a bigger goal, and success—even in the dead period—awaits those who dare to try.
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One of the great and not-so-great things about the Internet is that once something is out there, it’s out there forever.
And that allows us to dig up this gem. It’s Elvis Duran, rocking a mullet at Z100 New York in 1990.
Elvis refers to himself as “the incredible edible Elvis Duran” and presents in a very high-energy style that is quite a contrast to his current morning show.
He is constantly working the phones and notice, in particular, how he gets the caller to say what he needs for the phoner.”
I was always a fan of “The $10,000 Shortcut To Cash” promotion and, over the years, executed various versions of it, including a version that just lifted the word “radio” out of the songs.
All pre-Shazam, of course.
Here’s Elvis Duran at Z100 New York 1990 as he appeared on California Airchecks.
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