BSM Podcast
PASR21: Steve Czaban
“Oh, I tried to get out of the business multiple times. But like the mob, it just sucked me back in.” – Steve Czaban
If you’re a sports talk radio host or aspire to be one, chances are you’ve wanted to get out of this business a time or two. If you haven’t had that feeling, consider yourself a rare breed. More rare, in fact, than a 25-year veteran of the sports talk industry, Yahoo Sports Radio and ESPN 980 (Washington, D.C.) host Steve Czaban.
Czaban’s no-nonsense, BS detecting, logic-first style is one that makes it easy for his listeners to not only comprehend, but to emulate to their friends at work and at the bar.
Czaban works a national show in the morning and a local show in the afternoon. And those hours in the middle are damn precious. How does he do it all? He explains it all in Episode 21 of the PASR.
Check out more of the show notes below to get a feel for what you will hear in this edition of The PASR.
I hope you enjoy and, as always, leave a comment to get out anything that this podcast had you thinking along the way.
INSIDE THIS EPISODE…
- Steve talks about how he got into the sports radio business. [3:19]
- Steve describes his on-air style. [4:12]
- Steve gives an example of a nonsense topic hosts talk about sometimes. [5:00]
- Steve talks about how he navigates football talk during the offseason. [6:09]
- Steve explains how topic angles percolate before they hit air. [7:10]
- Steve goes through what he does during his downtime (if you want to call it that) between his morning show and his afternoon show. [8:21]
- Steve talks about his morning routine. [9:00]
- Steve lists the his biggest difficulties with doing two shows daily. [9:36]
- Steve reels off some of his biggest difficulties between doing a solo show in the morning and doing an afternoon show with ‘teammates.’ [10:27]
- Steve explains his biggest strengths and weaknesses in the sports talk field. [11:37]
- Steve talks about preparing and executing a guest interview. [13:25]
- Steve lists a couple of his annoyances with sports radio hosts. [14:16]
- Steve explains his roughest time in this industry, an industry he’s survived 25 years in now. [16:17]
LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE…
FROM THE GUEST
- Steve Czaban on Twitter: @czabe
- Steve’s Email: czabe@yahoo.com
- Steve’s website: theczabe.com
- Yahoo Sports Radio: 6-10am ET, Monday – Friday
- SiriusXM: Channel 92
- Stream: streamysr.com
FROM ZACH
- Audible: I know you love audio. So I teamed up with Audible and if you haven’t already, you can grab an awesome audiobook from their enormous library of over 180,000 titles for FREE. Go to aboutsportsradio.com/audible.**
BONUS AUDIO
- Here’s some bonus audio that we left off the podcast just for you junkies. More with Steve Czaban.
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Jason Barrett is the owner and operator of Barrett Sports Media. Prior to launching BSM he served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He has also produced national shows for ESPN Radio including GameNight and the Dan Patrick Show. You can find him on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or reach him by email at JBarrett@sportsradiopd.com.
Brady Farkas is a sports radio professional with 5+ years of experience as a Program Director, On-Air Personality, Assistant Program Director and Producer in Burlington, VT and Albany, NY. He’s well versed in content creation, developing ideas to generate ratings and revenue, working in a team environment, and improving and growing digital content thru the use of social media, audio/video, and station websites. His primary goal is to host a daily sports talk program for a company/station that is dedicated to serving sports fans. You can find him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady and reach him by email at bradyfarkas@gmail.com.
Stephen Strom can be heard hosting ‘The Sports Talkers Podcast’ for Barrett Sports Media. In addition to hosting here, Stephen works as a broadcasting assistant for the Miami Heat and color analyst for Nova Southeastern. Additional career experiences include working for SiriusXM, performing analyst duties for Princeton basketball, and hosting shows for TalkNorth.com. You can find him on Twitter @SStrom_.
Brady Farkas is a sports radio professional with 5+ years of experience as a Program Director, On-Air Personality, Assistant Program Director and Producer in Burlington, VT and Albany, NY. He’s well versed in content creation, developing ideas to generate ratings and revenue, working in a team environment, and improving and growing digital content thru the use of social media, audio/video, and station websites. His primary goal is to host a daily sports talk program for a company/station that is dedicated to serving sports fans. You can find him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady and reach him by email at bradyfarkas@gmail.com.