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Bob Sturm Isn’t Trying to Replace Mike Rhyner

“I almost got to my 48th birthday without having to leave the noon to 3 o’clock slot, which is far and away the greatest lifestyle timeslot there is. Now I have to miss dinner a little more but there’s a lot of good in this.”

Tyler McComas

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It’s never easy to follow a legend. 

Phil Bengtson had to follow Vince Lombardi. Ray Perkins had to follow Bear Bryant. Tim Floyd had to follow Phil Jackson. And now in Dallas, Bob Sturm is trying to follow Mike Rhyner in afternoon drive at The Ticket.

Ok, maybe that’s a little overzealous of a comparison, but if there was ever a legend to be replaced in Dallas, it’s certainly the Old Grey Wolf. But Sturm isn’t overly concerned with trying to follow a legend.

1310 The Ticket announces Bob Sturm as replacement for Dallas ...

Does he realize the situation he’s in? Absolutely. But his main focus is continuing the excellent track record 1310 The Ticket has put out since its inception. He’ll help accomplish that by doing the one thing he can control: Being himself on the air.

Tyler McComas: So how would you evaluate the first six months of the show?

Bob Sturm: I think it’s gone pretty well. We weren’t bad to begin, but it was just so weird for all of us. It’s just, 20 years, man. You know everything about each other, you’ve heard all the stories and you know the body language and the likes and dislikes. Now, you scrap that and go in a whole new direction with someone that you don’t know their backstory as well.

Luckily I know Corby, but we had done very little radio together and therefore it was a rather new experience. I think we sound 1 million times smoother, already, but I realize but it took Dan and I like five years to not sound like we suck. Now, we were also in our mid-20s, so this experience will go a lot faster, but overall it’s been a fresh and new experience that I’ve really enjoyed.

TM: What was your initial reaction when Mike Rhyner retired? 

BS: I think it was a shock and a bummer when Mike was retiring. It was a head spinning moment in a sense that they wanted me to try and fill Mike’s chair, which is absurd. Also, to leave Dan McDowell who’s my best friend on the planet, because we’ve been through so much together since 1999, I didn’t want him to feel like I was breaking up the team. I also didn’t want Corby to not get the future of the show that he wanted, because I don’t think it was necessarily his first thought to just move me up there. I think he had to warm to the idea.

I really just didn’t want anyone to feel upset, but at the same time, I did want to step up and answer a challenge, especially if the bosses thought that was the key to making the station strong. They’ve been very good to me for a long, long time, which includes hiring me from market No. 166 in 1998. I kind of feel, for the most part, they’ve never really asked me to do anything near this big, in terms of me leaving my comfort zone. Look, nobody wanted Mike to retire and I kind of wish we could all stay the same age like Peter Pan and keep the lineup the same. But things evolve and this is how it works.

I almost got to my 48th birthday without having to leave the noon to 3 o’clock slot, which is far and away the greatest lifestyle timeslot there is. Now I have to miss dinner a little more but there’s a lot of good in this.

The only bad thing is risking leaving a show I think was great, for a show that’s unknown. The early results are good, although I think a lot of people miss Mike. That’s normal. I think it’s a really talented team here at The Ticket and I think you could do the pairings in many, many different ways and end up with good shows. I do think Corby and I will be doing some really good stuff. 

Also, let me just add this thought. I think it was important for us to get into the same location. So when Covid hit, we all did shows from our homes and some of the shows tried to figure out ways to get into the same location. Corby and I were in different locations for six weeks and the show probably sounded fine, but around April 20th we collectively said, let’s get you guys into the same room, you’ll still be 10 feet apart, or whatever. Now the verbal cues and the nonverbal cues, even the talks during the break, I think we’ve grown substantially in the last six weeks, since we got into the same room. I think that’s huge for two guys that are brand new together.

TM: Did you and Mike ever have a sit-down or a dinner where you talked exclusively about your new role with The Ticket?

BS: No, we’ve talked about a lot of things. Mike and I are quite friendly, but at the same time, we’ve talked about his path and my path in a more general term. He’s always been very complementary. He thinks I’m capable of some things beyond maybe Dallas mid-days. He would say things like that through the years. So he’s been so good to me, but we never really had a passing of the torch discussion.

I’d like to talk to him about certain things, including the name of the show, like, whether he’s totally cool with it because I respect him a ton. But we’ve never really broached that topic, because I get the sense he’s over it. He did it a long, long time and I think that’s one topic, where if he ever wanted to discuss it, that’s great. I don’t know if it’s my place to get too specific on that kind of stuff. I know that sounds evasive but we talk rather frequently still, we just don’t talk that much about the show, if that makes sense.

TM: You really entered into an incredible situation. You’re replacing a legend and during a time where sports radio has been flipped upside down. 

BS: Oh, absolutely. Then not to have any games to probably play to my strengths. Yeah, that wasn’t ideal but at the same time, being at The Ticket for as long as I have, maybe that prepared me. But it’s daunting, there’s no question about it. Replacing Mike is just ridiculous and that’s why I try to convince myself that I’m not replacing him. He’s a legend and I never try to replace him, but what I will try to do is play to my strengths, which absolutely will be to cover everything in the world of sports that I absolutely love so much and work hard. I don’t think anyone probably grinds harder than I do. I think I’m probably a workaholic and I think that generally would, hopefully, be seen in the way that I do a show in the afternoon.

It’s kind of surprising, since I worked here for so long, that there’s people that haven’t heard much of me. People are busy during the day and I guess I didn’t realize that. They were familiar with me, I guess, but not listening to me for several hours a day. I don’t know how big of a part of the audience that is, but I was shocked that I could do 5,000 shows and nearly 20,000 hours with Dan and yet a lot of real loyalist in Dallas to the sport scene, because they work for a living, they are kind of unfamiliar with a lot of what I have to say. In some ways it’s a new audience and in some ways at least I have the credibility that The Ticket family is pretty welcoming, for the most part.

The guy that follows the guy always has a hard job. It’s a big responsibility to make sure that this train keeps rolling down the tracks to the level of expectation they all set for us. That’s a lot to think about. I hope this move, not only this one, but the noon to 3 o’clock moves, I think it’ll really keep us going strong for a while but I guess that’s for the audience to decide.

TM: How has your writing positively affected your radio career? 

BS: I think writing has been great for me. First of all, it’s what I originally wanted to do before I discovered that I could talk for a living. I went to college to write and then found out that I got a little claustrophobic in the boundaries of writing, especially when you’re early in the game and they want you to write about the beats that nobody else wants to cover.

Bob Sturm replaces Mike Rhyner as afternoon drive host on 1310 The ...

I wanted to talk, because that meant I didn’t have to cover a high school volleyball game. With radio I could talk about the topics that I wanted to talk about, but then I circled back to writing because it’s so valuable to basically diary your thoughts. So when I started writing, I did it for an audience of one. I would start blogging but I didn’t make any money and I didn’t really have an audience. But I just thought I wanted to write my notes, so for each game that I watch, I want to write and read them out for two reasons: One, so I can remember while I’m on the air. Two, so I can remember in five years what I thought about current topics. For example, this is what you thought back then about Tony Romo. This is what you thought about Dirk Nowitzki. Now, here you are three years later, and you may feel differently now, but it’s a reminder to kind of own your positions.

So I think it’s great in terms of accountability. Writing also scratched an itch that radio didn’t scratch, because radio is about a mass audience. I’m talking about things that most of your audience is interested in whereas I think writing allows me to be a little more niche on what my topic is. I am very interested in the X’s and O’s and the mechanics of football. I realize that’s not for a super mass audience. It’s not fantasy football, it’s not something my mom or my wife or a whole lot of people would be interested in. You really have to love football to love what I write about.

TM: I recently heard you briefly talk about phone calls on a podcast. That brings me to this: What’s your radio pet peeve? 

BS: My pet peeve is probably radio people who don’t think or put a lot of thought into their opinions. Actually it’s more than just the TV audience these days with the network TV sports talk shows, I think they probably, and in defense of them, they’re probably spread so thin they can’t be experts on anything, so they kind of sound like they’re not experts on anything. I think that’s really bad for the audience and I think it makes the audience think that those opinions are something worth repeating or stealing and I think that’s a bad thing for our industry, because I was told that, at an early age, you have to be smarter than your audience or there’s no reason them to care what you say. The moment they think they know more about the topic than you do, I think that’s when you’re in big trouble.

My other one sounds bad to media people, because it sounds a little haughty, but I would say that it’s amazing to me how little the media really understands the sports they cover. I wish all of them would get as obsessive as some of us who get called nerds, because we really want to understand football or hockey or basketball at a level so the coaches and players are like, OK, this guy actually understands the game.

I don’t think that makes you a nerd. I think we should all try to dig deeper and really understand why coaches do what coaches do and why players do what players do. It’s not just watch the ball and if it crosses the goal line or goes in the hoop, then that equals good and if it doesn’t that equals bad. We should absolutely use the off-season to understand. And maybe even attend coaching clinics, just anything to feel like we’re educating ourselves on the mechanics of the sports so that we can help our audience also get smarter.

TM: So if you’re listening to radio outside of Dallas, who are you listening to?

BS: I would say Pat Kirwan on Sirius NFL Radio is the best and most influential voice I’ve ever heard in the game of football. He’s taught me so much. He does the show Moving The Chains. He used to host it with Tim Ryan, and now he does it with Jim Miller.

Pat Kirwan - Wikipedia

I don’t know if he’s the most seasoned broadcaster ever, but man, in terms of being able to explain to an audience how football works in every aspect, I feel like he’s been the college professor for me.

Before that, Chad Coppock, Jim Rome, certainly the guys at The Fan in New York, there are a lot of guys over the years that have influenced me to the point of how I sound. When I got to the year 2000 and started working with Dan a lot, Dan kind of subconsciously inspired me to find my own voice and not sound like I’m a mishmash of the three or four guys I’ve listened to the most. That’s hard for young broadcasters to do, but I think once you’ve found your own voice and start sounding like yourself and not like an off brand Jim Rome or something, I think that’s probably when I really advanced as a talker.

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Kim Mulkey Now Has Everyone Anticipating Washington Post Story

I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it.

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photo of LSU women's college basketball coach Kim Mulkey
Credit: Dailymail.co.uk

The Washington Post, you might’ve heard, has a story coming out about controversial LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. The reason you might’ve heard is because Kim Mulkey told you. The Tigers coach read a fiery prepared statement just before her team started the Women’s NCAA Tournament. In the statement, Mulkey threatened to sue The Post for defamation before the first word was even published.

Now, I’ve never run a public relations firm but that did not seem like a good idea. The Washington Post story on Mulkey is one of the bigger stories in sports right now and nobody even knows what’s in it. The reason the story, apparently unflattering to Mulkey, is even on anyone’s radar screen is Mulkey herself.

It all started with an innocuous social media post by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde right in the middle of the most anticipated two days in sports, the NCAA Tournament Round of 64. On his X account, Forde posted: “Hearing some buzz about a big Washington Post story in the works on LSU women’s hoops coach Kim Mulkey, potentially next week. Wagons being circled, etc.”

You know what generally will go unnoticed at 4:00 on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament? A post on X about a women’s basketball coach. But don’t tell Mulkey, she saw Forde’s post and decided to fight fire with nuclear weaponry. The result: the average person like me now is really interested in what has Mulkey so incensed. By “average person like me” I mean that I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it. Maybe:

“LSU Women’s Coach Discovers Ark of the Covenant”

Or:

“Mulkey Reveals True JFK Assassin(s)”

Perhaps:

“Famed Women’s Basketball Coach Reveals the Mystery Behind Slow Drivers in the Left Lane”

Literally any of those catch my attention more than whatever will likely be the Washington Post headline about Mulkey. But now Mulkey is “Mad as Hell and is not going to take this anymore” so I now have an interest I would never before have had in this story. It has been fascinating to watch the online speculation about the subject of the article and all we really know, as of now, is that it will be written by Kent Babb. This is a dream come true for Babb; he writes an article that is, presumably, not flattering about Kim Mulkey and, before it is even published, she gives the article the greatest commercial anyone could give it. Babb couldn’t have entered into a business agreement with Mulkey and had this turn out better for him.

For those who don’t follow Babb, he is a former NFL reporter who now is an award-winning writer for the Washington Post. In his 14 years with The Post, he has written sports features and authored a couple of books. One of those sports features stories was a deep dive into what he viewed as a large inequity in the level of pay for LSU head football coach Brian Kelly and his LSU players. It is this piece Mulkey described as a “hit piece” and, based on that piece, referred to Babb as a “sleazy reporter.” Babb, and many others, resented the fact his story was labeled as a hit piece. In fact, Babb essentially confirmed he was the author Mulkey was referencing when he shared the original article on X with the comment: “Hit piece?”

Whether a printed piece or a recorded interview, I can’t imagine a better promotion for it than the subject of the interview threatening a libel/slander lawsuit, especially before it is even released. That simply screams “This piece is salacious!!” Also, libel and slander suits get settled all the time, right? Of course they don’t, they seem to never even get filed. That little thing called discovery is a scary thing for most public figures.

The NCAA Tournament has been very entertaining, and I think the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will be terrific. For only the fifth time ever, the top two seeds have advanced to the third round which sets up for a remarkable weekend. For me, I guess it will now include a Washington Post article, not a sentence I’d normally say.

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Ian Eagle Crushing It for CBS As Replacement for Jim Nantz

Eagle continues to be a shining example of what a network play-by-play announcer should be.

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Photo of Ian Eagle and the CBS Sports logo

I’ll admit, it’s been a little strange not hearing Jim Nantz during this year’s NCAA Tournament. Nantz stepped aside to concentrate on golf and the NFL after a long run covering the Final Four. Change is sometimes hard to accept, we are all creatures of habit, and I’m sure it’s a little weird for Nantz himself this time of year. But change doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. When it comes to Ian Eagle, not that I’m surprised, so far, so good.

Eagle is no stranger to CBS viewers. He’s been with the network since 1998 calling college basketball games and the NFL through the years. That certainly made the transition a little easier for everyone involved. CBS, the viewers and Eagle himself. Familiarity in these cases doesn’t breed content, it breeds a more comfortable broadcast and an easier handle on the change itself.

For Eagle, one of the other benefits for him was working with familiar folks, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson. Eagle estimates that he and Raftery have called 600 basketball games together, because they were longtime partners on the NBA’s Nets broadcasts. Eagle has also previously worked with Hill in college basketball, the same for Wolfson.

“To do this with Bill, Grant, and Tracy, it really is going to feel very seamless. In many ways, it will feel like we’ve been doing it together for many years,” says Eagle on a conference call before the Big Dance.

It sounds seamless too. It’s not underrated to have a good rapport with the folks that you’re working with. Everyone is trying to get used to a new voice and the idiosyncrasies of a new announcer. It’s much less of a chore, when you know and have worked with your co-workers and partners before.  You know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from you. That’s good.

I think Eagle is killing it in his new role. You could even tell during the Big Ten Tournament that led up to the “Big Dance” that he was not only ready, he was ready to roll. It’s easy to hear how much he loves doing what he’s doing. That’s the case in all of the sports he calls.

Eagle continues to be a shining example of what a network play-by-play announcer should be. He has the ability to combine his talent with some personality, but never at the expense of the action he’s calling. His broadcasts always hit the mark, as he rises to the occasion when the moment calls for it.

What do I mean by personality? He manages to make us laugh, even in some tense moments of a game. He also manages to articulate our thoughts in some situations, like this example from the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. 

Sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson had a report during the UConn/Northwestern game about the superstitions of Huskies’ coach Dan Hurley. He wears the same red dragon underwear and suit as he did last year. Wolfson said Hurley’s wife travels with a portable washing machine to make sure his clothes stay clean. Leading Eagle to ask the question on all our minds:

“Who has a portable washing machine?! I didn’t even know that existed!”

Also in that game, Eagle had a couple of other great moments. UConn big man Donovan Clingan had a couple of swats on one play.

“Denied! Clingan! Denied! Two for the price of one!” Quick thinking and entertaining at the same time. Later when a ball got pinned between the basket and the backboard, Eagle said, “Oooh! A Brooklyn wedgie!”

Great stuff. None of his ‘ad-libs’ sound like they are forced. It’s within the flow of the action and just seem to come to him. It’s pretty amazing to be that quick on your feet, when you’re trying to make sure to get the call correct above all else. I’m sure we’re all in for many more treats like that along the way from Eagle.

In general, when fans are watching a tournament game, they probably aren’t thinking about the preparation that goes into a broadcast. Especially for a play-by-play announcer. The first weekend network announcers calling a couple of games in the same day. There’s also only a day in between the first and second rounds to prep for teams that you may or may not have seen during the college season.  The turnaround is quick and demanding.  

“It feels like an information avalanche in many ways,” Eagle said recently on 670 The Score. “The fact that I’ve done it for so long would make you think, ‘oh, he’s got it down, he has the system, he found the secret sauce.’ No, it feels the same way every year.”

Eagle says even veteran announcers like himself have to manage stress levels and work efficiently once they know which games they’ll call. “The two or three days leading up to the tournament, I must admit, are probably the most angst-riddled of the year because it’s a little bit out of your control.” Eagle told 670 The Score.

Yes, the stress level is great on the broadcasters, but how about what Clark Kellogg continues to do at the NCAA Tournament and the Final Four? For the 8th year, he’ll join Kevin Kugler and Jim Jackson on Westwood One’s broadcast of the Final Four and Championship Game on radio. At the same time, Kellogg will be a studio analyst for the television coverage. How does he pull it off? Following the pregame show broadcast on TV, Kellogg will make his way courtside to the radio broadcast position to join Kugler and Jackson. Then, he will rejoin TV for halftime before repeating the process in the second half and postgame. 

Working this tournament isn’t easy for these broadcasters. It’s a big stage for sure, but as you’ve read, there’s big pressure that goes along with it. The audience is usually huge, and announcers are constantly put under the microscope. Fans want to make sure that you know their team, pronunciations and all. Stories. Bios. All of it. Cut these folks a little slack, information gathering with little time to do it, isn’t exactly simple. They do a damn good job.

Eagle himself, is doing a tremendous job. The 3-man booth works so well because of his ability to keep it all together. He can set up either Raftery or Hill with a serious basketball question, or deliver a great ‘straight line’ to bring out their personalities. It’s a gift. Eagle has that knack for knowing when to go ‘rogue’ and go for that entertaining line, that seems to fit in perfectly. Speaking of fitting fine, those rather large shoes he had to fill, they’re becoming the perfect size.

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Andrew Salciunas Aims to Thrive in Morning Drive on 97.5 The Fanatic

“We are two radio guys that kind of know what we’re doing.”

Derek Futterman

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Andrew Salciunas
Courtesy: Beasley Media Group

When 97.5 The Fanatic midday host Anthony Gargano agreed to a deal to contribute to PHLY Sports, a local digital venture within ALLCITY Network, he was promptly suspended by Beasley Media Group and subsequently sued for breach of contract. Although the two sides eventually reached a settlement and officially parted ways, the future of the daypart was still in question. In the interim time period, the station granted Andrew Salciunas the opportunity to lead a four-hour solo program with producer Ray Dunne. Salciunas had served as Gargano’s producer in the midday slot and still has a strong relationship with the sports media personality today despite no longer working together.

The onerous aspect of the situation, however, was in recognizing that Salciunas was being afforded a chance to prove himself as a host in the marketplace. In the past, he had filled in when Gargano took vacations, but it was not for an extended period of time. Although he was familiar with the flow of a midday program, achieving a successful, yet sudden assimilation into a regular timeslot without a partner was an invigorating circumstance.

“I knew that it was going to be a learning experience because it’s one thing to host a show on Saturday or it’s one thing to host a weekly podcast and you have a week’s worth of content at your disposal,” Salciunas said. “It’s another thing to [be] hosting every single day and needing to come up with new ideas and new angles and new twists on things, so it was a challenge knowing that I was going to have to do that for however long the process was going to be.”

Salciunas received help from program director Scott Masteller, a sports radio veteran who has helped elevate brands and nurture budding talent. Several months later, Masteller asked Salciunas how he would feel about working with morning program host John Kincade. Salciunas replied by saying that it was something he would be interested in doing, and he later added that he already wakes up early and could easily work in morning drive. Salciunas was somewhat nonplussed when he discovered that Masteller’s intention was to have him anchor the program rather than Kincade, who has been hosting in the daypart since January 2021.

In the weeks and months ensuing, Salciunas and Kincade were involved in meetings to plan the new program, which officially made its debut on 97.5 The Fanatic last week and is titled Kincade & Salciunas. Both hosts knew about the program for roughly two months, and Salciunas is surprised that it was kept a secret for as long as it was. Outside of their scheduled meetings, Salciunas was able to speak with Kincade between their shows since they occurred after the other as well. From the onset, he wanted to make his thoughts about the program clear to ensure a smooth transition amid a quest to inform and entertain the audience.

“The first thing I told John when they told us that this was the plan moving forward was that, ‘This is going to be our show,’” Salciunas recalled. “Yes, I might be the guy running the ins and outs out of commercial breaks. I’m the guy that brings on the guests; I’m the guy that brings on the callers, but this is our show. We both have ideas, we’re both passionate about Philadelphia sports teams, we’re both high-energy people, we’re both opinionated and we’re also respectful of each other.”

While there is natural disagreement between Salciunas and Kincade on a variety of sports topics, they make sure not to fabricate their discussions and engender debate for the sake of the show. Instead of feigning their contrarian discourse, there is a legitimate willingness to be genuine with their audience while continuing to put radio first. Salciunas, Kincade and show producer Connor Thomas all contribute ideas for the program to appeal to the audience and continue building the show as a whole. Thomas also had familiarity in working with Kincade since he served as an associate producer on his previous morning program.

“I’m not a former journalist; he’s not a former professional athlete,” Salciunas said. “We are two radio guys that kind of know what we’re doing. Even though our opinions might differ on sports-related stuff, we see doing radio in a similar way.”

Upon Kincade officially joining 97.5 The Fanatic, he demonstrated his magnanimity and commitment to his colleagues by offering to take all of them out to lunch individually to learn more about them. It was a gesture that surprised Salciunas and something that stuck with him, ultimately helping familiarize themselves with one another and subsequently creating a viable on-air product.

“He’s one of those guys who likes getting to know people, and I think that’s helped a lot,” Salciunas said. “We already had that sort of knowledge of one another [and] we already had that relationship, and because we’re just both so bought in and both so hungry, that’s made it so much easier that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make the show work.”

Before arriving at 97.5 The Fanatic, Kincade had worked at sports radio both at the local and national levels while also hosting a podcast with Hall of Fame center and Inside the NBA studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal. Bringing him back to his home marketplace and realizing success in the morning daypart was valuable as the sports media ecosystem underwent stretches of change. Transitioning to the new morning show iteration without colleagues Bob Cooney and Pat Egan presented its challenges, but Salciunas has had no qualms that Kincade was invested to win. As a result, the transition has been relatively simple in terms of building palpable chemistry among the on-air team.

“He believes in anybody that he works with,” Salciunas said of Kincade, “and knowing that somebody has worked that long as long as he has in sports radio that he values the young person’s opinion, not just in sports but in terms of radio, that goes a long way.”

There is constant communication between the morning show team leading up to a program outside of typical pre-show meetings and twice-weekly conversations with their boss. Salciunas arrives at the station well before the start of the program and compiles ideas from the previous day into a document, along with ideas from others that come during their commutes. Additionally, they continuously monitor the news cycle and determine what to address on the air while also interviewing special guests throughout the week.

Effectuating a fully prepared show rundown by 6 a.m. EST has been marginally difficult, along with the fact that it can be difficult to book guests on short notice before sunrise. Because of this, the program frequently outlines its guests early in the week and makes adjustments as necessary while maintaining fealty towards conveying their true, authentic personalities.

“I’m a little bit more energetic on the radio because I understand the entertainment portion of doing what we do and having to properly express myself,” Salciunas said. “I’m probably not going to scream at a bar, but when I converse with callers; when I converse with John [or] producers… that’s who I am as a person. There’s just a microphone in front of me.”

When he first started working at 97.5 The Fanatic as an intern, Salciunas did not have a goal of eventually becoming an on-air talent. He was content with his role as a producer, which was borne out of an internship where he worked with Jon Marks and Steve Vassalotti. Both station members served as mentors that he utilized to gain information and advice, a fortuitous outcome after Salciunas impetuously applied for the opening.

While Salciunas was matriculating at Temple University, he needed at least three internship credits in order to qualify for graduation. Reflecting back on his education days, he does not regard himself as the best student and recognized that he needed to intern with the radio station to set himself apart. Honing his focus in sports media took time since he had varied interests in areas such as reporting, podcasting and play-by-play announcing, but he ultimately gravitated towards the sports radio format during his time in Philadelphia.

Salciunas made a favorable impression on those with 97.5 The Fanatic and ended up being hired as an associate producer where he learned more about the format and its programming. Eric Camille, a former executive producer at the station, is someone Salciunas regards as seminal to his professional development.

“He was the guy that hired me out of my internship, and then once I started working, he really helped me,” Salciunas said. “He kind of took me under his wing and helped me out a lot.”

Once Salciunas was hired as a full-time producer, he began to work with Mike Missanelli on his midday program, providing an invaluable learning experience to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the sports media industry. As a veteran host who has captivated Philadelphia sports fans and media consumers at large, Salciunas noticed that collaborating on Missanelli’s program was a different experience than the other shows he had done. Whereas a morning drive show is oftentimes one of the first points of reaction on a given day, Missanelli knew that he would need to approach his daypart differently and adopted a paradigmatic style implementing second-level topics.

“It’s not just going on the air and reacting to an Eagles loss,” Salciunas explained. “It’s reacting to a storyline within an Eagles loss or reacting to a storyline within an Eagles win that may generate conversation. Trying to figure out topics that generate conversation but are not just the, ‘Oh wow, I’m angry they lost today,’ and give out the phone number. It’s [trying] to find topics that make people think and make yourself think and make the audience think.”

When Missanelli left the station, Salciunas began his stint working with Anthony Gargano where he began occasionally hosting select programs. The rationale behind his decision to go behind the microphone was that when the Eagles won a Super Bowl championship, the station needed someone to host from 2 to 5 a.m. Salciunas decided to volunteer for the program, presuming that it sounded fun. From that shift on, he continued his work as a producer while also refining his craft behind the microphone in a major market. It deviated from a philosophy perpetuated by former program director Matt Nahigian of limiting the amount of time producers were on the air, assuming that consumers listened to hear the hosts.

“Now you have to be a producer,” Salciunas affirmed. “You look at both radio stations in Philadelphia – a lot of the hosts now were former producers, and so you learn so much of the craft and then you figure out your own role. You figure out how you handle yourself as a host, so I think producing first before becoming a talk show host should be the way to go moving forward.”

Beasley Media Group’s 97.5 The Fanatic shares the Philadelphia marketplace with Audacy-owned SportsRadio 94WIP, and both stations have had intense battles in the ratings over the years. Salciunas shared that most people between the two stations have worked with their competitors at some point in their careers, and there is an evident respect that exists between the two entities. With both outlets introducing new morning shows within the last two years though, Salciunas understands there is a chance to gain ground on the WIP Morning Show, which finished ahead in the four Nielsen XTrends quarterly ratings books last year.

“Clearly if somebody’s behind a microphone in Philadelphia, everybody’s talented, and we’re going to do whatever we can to try to bridge that gap a little bit, and we’re seeing some good strides already,” Salciunas said. “I think having a new show is a big part of that trying to grab that initial audience, but then it’s holding on to that initial audience.”

Being able to achieve this outcome, however, requires a commitment to showcasing talent and different personalities. Salciunas referenced how there was a point in John Kincade’s stint hosting mornings in the daypart’s previous iteration where he gained ground on his crosstown competitor Angelo Cataldi with WIP. Kincade, of course, used to work with Cataldi’s show as a contributor and received a chance to take the air while with the outlet.

“I’ve seen the turn of tides of ratings over the years for every show [and] every time slot, so there’s always an opportunity, but that means we always have to be on our game; that means we always have to be doing the best show possible,” Salciunas said. “We can’t go in the next day and say, ‘Wow, that show was really good yesterday. Let’s have some fun today; let’s make this a lighthearted show.’ No, we always have to be thinking about, ‘Alright, what can we do next to put on another great entertaining four-hour radio show?’”

Over the last several years, there have been several leadership changes at 97.5 The Fanatic responsible for overseeing the slate of programming and station operations. Scott Masteller currently leads the outlet, someone in whom Salciunas has confidence that he can continue to elevate the standing of the station. In his earlier years working with 97.5 The Fanatic, Salciunas had an innovative spirit but was discouraged from taking steps to align with the multimedia evolution. For example, when he offered to do a podcast several years ago, someone at the station questioned his judgment and the reasoning behind the idea.

“I was told by someone, ‘What’s the point in doing that? We’re a radio station,’ and I knew back then that that was a mistake to say,” Salciunas explained. “You shouldn’t say, ‘We’re a radio station;’ that was years ago, so seeing that bosses and market managers and hosts and producers all realizing, ‘Alright, we have to adapt,’ that excites me.”

Possessing the background as a producer lends shrewd and calculated judgment on how to include members of the audience into the program. While there are still open phone lines for callers to chime in, the program has introduced a text line and also engages with the audience through the live chat functionality of YouTube. Having Thomas as a producer of the show has helped in this area as well, with Salciunas sharing that he has a strong understanding of how to create and optimize content for various platforms of dissemination.

“We have a great YouTube audience where they basically have their own community all of a sudden,” Salciunas said. “They’re constantly talking about the show, and sometimes we grab what they’re saying on that YouTube feed because that’s another area of today’s new media where you have another avenue to communicate with people.”

As Salciunas grows accustomed to the early start on 97.5 The Fanatic and his new colleagues in morning drive, he is filled with enthusiasm and the prospect of possibility. The radio station has been the only outlet by which he has been employed since the start of his media career, and he hopes to work there for as long as possible. National radio and television intrigue him going forward, but his priority centers on thriving in the new role.

“I want to try to get 97.5 The Fanatic – because it starts in the morning – back up in the map; back in the top five of the ratings books – and that’s going to take some time,” Salciunas said. “We’re a new show – we’re going to have to figure each other out.”

Salciunas expressed that the last year-and-a-half has been “hectic” in the midday daypart, but there has also been excitement surrounding the ephemerality as well. Taking the microphone in a major market with a dedicated sports fanbase such as Philadelphia is a privilege he does not take for granted, and he aspires to continue excelling in the marketplace for years to come.

“I just started, so I’m not thinking about the next step just yet,” Salciunas said. “I want this to last for a long time – for a very long time. If I never have to leave, that would be great.”

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