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Meet The Market Managers: Steven Griffin, Seven Bridges Jacksonville

Jason Barrett

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I’ve been fortunate over the past six years to work with a lot of sports radio stations across the country. I haven’t publicized most of those partnerships on BSM or my social media pages because I don’t seek validation for my work. Those who work with me know what I add to their organization, and as long as they’re pleased with my contributions, that’s all that matters. Any additional publicity they’ve received on this site has been earned by performance, not because they agreed to work with yours truly.

But today I am going to recognize a client because Steven Griffin and his team at 1010XL, 92.5 FM do radio the right way. Chances are you know little about Steven, even if you’re aware of his radio station. That’s by design. He’d rather his team earn the credit for their efforts, and focus his energies on serving the audience and his advertisers, instead of seeking the spotlight for his own contributions. Fortunately I was able to twist his arm and convince him to be a part of this series.

The first time I arrived in Jacksonville to work with Steven’s team, I walked in the front door to find a custom graphic on their front lobby television screen with my name on it welcoming me to town. As small as that gesture may have been to whoever created it, it made an immediate positive impression. It told me ‘we’re glad you’re here, thanks for making the time to come work with us.’ Those little touches can make a big impact when you do business with people. Having spent more time working with Steven’s crew since, I’ve learned that it wasn’t just a small trick used to impress people who walk thru the door. This is how they operate every day. It’s why I enjoy working with them.

What’s truly astounding is how 1010XL has managed to keep a successful air staff together for 15 years and continue thriving. Sports as a format features many talented, driven personalities seeking big stages and larger paychecks. Being able to retain top personalities in market 46 long-term can be difficult unless people love where they live, where they work, and who they’re working for. That becomes even more important when you consider that many of the talent at 1010XL have shared responsibilities in sales as well as programming. Yet as the station prepares to celebrate fifteen years of excellence, many of the faces and voices familiar to Jacksonville sports radio listeners are as excited and thankful today as they were when the station arrived.

Some corporate groups may have advantages such as more signals, more resources, more audio platforms, and larger facilities, but 1010XL is more than comfortable with the position they’ve earned – being Jacksonville’s best live and local sports radio station. Steven and his team believe in the power of radio, they’ve used their airwaves to help clients grow their businesses, and while others may run from the R word in search of other emerging opportunities, the Seven Bridges Radio group sees plenty of value in being identified as Jacksonville’s destination for sports talk radio.

As a standalone operator, I thought it’d be interesting to share some of Steven’s experiences, and pick his brain on the challenges that come with being locally owned and operated. Having built a business myself, I have a ton of respect and admiration for anyone who can create a vision, put it into action, and turn it into a success for a lengthy period of time. Consistent excellence depends on many factors such as producing results, treating people right, knowing when to take a risk or pass on an opportunity, building and maintaining healthy relationships, creating a culture that others want to be part of, and giving listeners and advertisers reasons to continue supporting you. That may sound simple and easy to execute, and for 1010XL it is because it’s part of their DNA. But rather than hear that from me, learn about it yourself from the Market Manager of Jacksonville sports radio station 1010XL, 92.5 FM, Steven Griffin. Enjoy!

JB: I know your first GM jobs were in Scranton and Jacksonville, but I want to start this conversation by going back in time to your initial entry into the radio business. Where did it begin and what were you doing?

SG: Out of college, I was a journalism major. I had thought about going to law school but after looking at the big LSAT catalog and thought ‘maybe not’. So there was a posting on the board about a new radio station being started in Morgantown, West Virginia where I was at. They were looking for people who could wear many hats, sell, be on the air, write copy, etc.. So I met with them and took that gig right out of school.

From there, I was in copywriting for a while in Charleston where I got more into the sales side. I saw there was more money and prestige in that side of the business. After that I left radio for about six or seven years because I got married and wanted to stay in Morgantown. Eventually though I got a call from the West Virginia radio corporation. The timing was right so I went back into radio and was fortunate enough to be with a good company as the sales manager of a country station. I was there for a while and then went to Greenville-Spartanburg for a while. After that I had a cup of coffee in Raleigh before going to Memphis as a Sales Manager for Entercom. Then came the call from a head hunter about the GM job in Scranton.

JB: When that call came and you were asked to lead an entire operation, how did you know you were ready to oversee everything not just the sales department?

SG: In West Virginia, Greenville, and Memphis I was one of those people who people would come to for help. When the folks in Scranton called I thought it was a good next step for me and I thought ‘I’ll see if I can do it.’ It was a big cluster, eleven stations, and they were spread out all over god’s creation. I saw it as a good opportunity to see what could happen if I gave it a shot. We were facing some healthy Entercom stations in the market, they had won for something like twenty years in a row. Fortunately for us, a year and a half in our AC station beat them and we had four or five of our stations in the Top 5. I made my share of mistakes but also learned a lot and next got a call from another head hunter about coming to Jacksonville to work for Salem. My family and I wanted to move back south. We loved the weather. So I took the job here. Spent some time with Salem. Things didn’t last with them, but it got me to the right place because now I’m here and have been for fifteen years and love what I’m doing.

JB: So being in the market for a bit gave you a chance to see how the market was being served from a sports radio standpoint. Given that you jumped on board to help build 1010XL, I assume you felt there was opportunity to grab a leadership position in the sports radio space.

SG: I did. I knew it was underserved locally. There was way too much syndication. Jacksonville is a great market for sports. There are super passionate fans here. They love the Jaguars, the Gators, the SEC schools, Florida State and there’s even interest in Triple A baseball and some of the other minor league sports. That’s not including High School sports which is a big deal here. So a signal became available, we looked at the opportunity, rounded up some local investors and one out of Chicago and decided to give this a shot.

JB: Do you remember what your original lineup was?

SG: That’s 15 years ago so I may be off on something but I’ll give it a shot. Dan Hicken and Jeff Prosser were still in morning drive. Rick Ballou and Tom McManus were together in the middays. I think Sean Woodland was involved in the middle of the day too. He was a TV sports guy. Frank Frangie and Mike Dempsey worked together in afternoons. And we also had an evening sports talk show, and Joe Block, who’s now a play by play guy for the Pittsburgh Pirates was part of it along with Terry Norvell.

JB: What’s impressive is that many of those names you just mentioned are still on the station and remain very strong. Knowing how this format constantly tinkers with things and loses good personalities to other situations, how have you managed to keep the band together?

SG: I think it’s a combination of not dictating, and trusting them to do what’s right on the shows, and continue looking at what’s best for sports in this market. I knew I had to get the best talent and it had to be local. To me, radio is a local companion medium. If you don’t have that person at the mall, restaurant or church who’s saying ‘hey I love listening to you, I like your radio station’, you’re missing the mark. That to me is what radio is and that’s who we’ve been. I wanted people here who people knew and who I thought had talent. And they do.

I also wanted to make sure we had a team that was dependable and proven. When we were fortunate to land the Jaguars seven years ago, I knew we had someone like Mike Dempsey who could host a show like Jaguars Today and do it justice. Jeff and Dan in the mornings have always done their own thing and it’s connected with our audience. We talk over the important things and they know the parameters and they all work well within them. When I’ve felt we needed a different perspective I’ve been able to call someone like you to come in and help and they still care about what they do and want to get better. Another thing that makes this a little unique too is our guys all generate revenue. They do great radio but also help create 25% of our sales. They’re accustomed to going out and selling themselves and the brand and it’s helped them make a better living financially while also helping the radio station.

JB: I’m glad you mentioned that because as you know, that’s not common everywhere. Your guys don’t seem like they’re bothered by having to do sales, they really seem to enjoy it and excel at it. How have you been able to keep them productive and interested in doing both at a high level?

SG: Honestly, I don’t have some magic answer for it. They all had it to begin with. They have a good grasp on the business. They’ll look at things and say ‘my show might be worth X in market 46 but if I can generate additional revenue on the sales end, it can bring my number higher’. They know the importance of it and what it means to the radio station’s sustainability. I’m lucky to have a bunch of guys who are self driven. We’re also far enough along now as a station with these hosts that there’s a certain level of credibility that’s been earned and that’s made it easier than it used to be.

When we started out though it wasn’t easy. The recession hit in 2008, a year or two after we started, so we took our lumps. But having gone thru that, I can tell you that when the pandemic hit last year, the station did better than most in the market and some other sports stations who we talked to during the past year. Our hosts lost almost nothing. They kept most of their business intact. Maybe a month off here or there, but by the time football season arrived it was all there. It was kind of amazing and tells me that if the station didn’t get results, clients wouldn’t stay. But they do get results, and our guys are really good at building and maintaining relationships. Sales will never be their #1 focus though – it will always be the on-air show. That’s what they love to do. But they’ll never miss an opportunity to prospect a new client or make a call to keep a client happy. That was ingrained in them so I can’t take credit for it.

JB: If you were in another market, would you try to replicate this same strategy?

SG: Absolutely. I don’t think enough talent understand their influence. These guys take it seriously and they earn talent fees for doing it. They connect with their advertisers and make sure that when they’re doing live reads for them that they give it a personal touch. A big reason why we’re a #1-#2 local biller in this market is because of our talent selling. If I were in some other town and had enough local talent, I’d absolutely do the same thing because it works.

JB: In your market, you have to compete against others for ad dollars as a standalone. Unlike some of the other corporate groups, you can’t go in with a pitch involving 5-6 stations. How are you able to create that feeling that advertisers need to be on your radio station?

SG: The first thing is that we are unique to the market because we’re live and local so much. If nothing else, we’re a local radio station and we’ve never changed that. We’ve never dropped in Dan Patrick or Colin Cowherd when they’ve been available just to save a little money. Pretty much M-F 6a-10p we are live and local. We can do a lot of things during that time whether it’s endorsing, tailoring a special piece of content, all because we have that flexibility.

The second thing is, we don’t swim in the same pools that some of the corporate folks do. Our strategy has always been to focus on local accounts for local radio. We have some agency business but it’s mostly local agency. We don’t get a lot of regional, and absolutely no national business. We don’t accept a lot of those national deals because the rates just don’t make sense for us.

When you’re dealing 1 on 1 with our company and the owner or client is meeting me, the sales manager, the hosts who are delivering his endorsements, that goes a long way. Sometimes it might be a husband and wife duo and they come in with their son or daughter to watch the show for a bit. It’s very much a relationship where both sides want to help each other. Radio is still entertaining, fun, and informative, and it has value for local businesses. We go after accounts and are very strict telling our sales team ‘don’t waste your time here or there, this is who we are so let’s do what we’re good at.’ Because we get results, they stick with us. When we go visit somebody we’re not meeting with the manager of a chain. We’re visiting the owner himself. That helps.

JB: You mentioned the word unique and that’s probably the best way I’ll describe this next item because what you’ve done in Jacksonville to elevate the perception of women as on-air talent is unique. Jessica Blaylock, Amanda Bourges, Mackenzie Thirkill, Lauren Brooks and others, have all earned opportunities on the radio station, but what especially stands out is how you’ve put them together for a Tuesday night show titled ‘Helmets & Heels’. Given that this is such a heavily dominated male format, why was it important to you to put women together on the air and give them a chance to host shows, and what have you learned from doing it that might be helpful to others in the format who are reading this and might consider doing something similar in their own markets?

SG: I never looked at gender. It’s about the voice and what it has to say. I would listen back in the day to Jessica, Donna, Lauren and others and their perspectives stood out and added something to the conversation that we didn’t have available on the radio station. It wasn’t rocket science. We had a lot of time available as a local station so we took these different voices and put them together. I’ve been fortunate to see many of them move on to bigger and better things and now when they come back and think about us it’s usually positive.

What I have learned is that it’s a never ending process. You have to continually look. When I started the show I thought it had potential one day to be a daily show. I’ve got a good team on the air now and even then we’re talking to someone else about doing some shows with them. That’s just what you do to keep something working. Our best shows tend to be when we have 4 of them together, but it also depends on the mix. The bottom line, you have to be open to different ways of presenting content to your audience.

JB: You recently did a business deal with the University of Florida to bring Gators Athletics on to 1010XL-92.5 FM. How important was that move for your brand?

SG: We’re very excited about it. It only took us 14 years to get it (laughs). After the Jaguars, which is and will always be our #1 priority, on our station they’re undefeated, the next biggest sports entity in town is the Florida Gators. 15-18 years ago when I got here, the Gators were extremely popular. That was when Steve Spurrier just left. I think there are somewhere between thirty and forty thousand Gators football season ticket holders in Jacksonville or the First Coast area, and I know Tampa and Orlando are bigger but Jacksonville has a lot invested in the Gators.

When the deal became available previously, we went after it pretty hard. I knew that we would mostly get inventory in game. There were no rights fees or anything like that. I thought it was a relationship worth pursuing and we’d have a chance to monetize it while simultaneously helping them tap into more of their fan base here. We didn’t get the deal. They chose to stay with iHeart because they had been with them for twenty years or so and had great relationships there. We were disappointed, but I understood the situation.

But then their station in Jacksonville flipped to Gospel, and we started getting calls because I think they missed airing a couple of games. I told them ‘if you need help, just let me know, no obligation.’ I made sure they knew we wanted them. Then one day out of nowhere, I was meeting with Dan Hicken from the morning show, and he asked ‘have you heard anything about the Gators?’ All of a sudden the phone rang and it was Learfield IMG telling me they wanted to go with us. We were obviously excited. So they sent over the deal and we’re now working with them for the next 4 years. All we did on our end was make sure we were prepared in case the opportunity came up.

JB: You brought up before how important the Jaguars are to your station. They’re the lone professional franchise in the market so they have massive appeal to your listeners and advertisers, not to mention a strong influence. How do you navigate the relationship when the on the field results aren’t good? Everyone in your building would prefer they win so it keeps people excited, tuning in, and clients wanting to spend more money to be associated with them, but if they’re not delivering wins, critical opinions have to be shared by your talent because the audience expects honesty from them. How do you essentially serve the audience without ticking off a value business partner?

SG: When Jaguars president Mark Lamping got here, one of the first things he said was ‘we don’t want you guys to change a thing….if we’re not good on the field, you can say that. Be who you are.’ He understood. I have never told anyone to tone it down or don’t say that or laid out guidelines for what can and can’t be said about the team. I think everyone on our staff understands the value of the partnership, but we also respect and value our listeners, and are truthful with them.

I will say this, everybody likes to preach hope even sometimes when it’s not there. I think on your website Mike Dempsey said ‘it’s almost better when they’re not doing well because everyone wants a shoulder to cry on’. I don’t agree with that 100%. When you’re a few games below .500 and there’s no hope for landing a playoff spot, that to me is the worst spot to be in but I can tell you that in 2017 when the Jags advanced to the AFC title game this place was on fire. There are passionate fans here. They want to support the Jags. With Urban here now and Trevor expected tomorrow night, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic. We’re glad to be partners with the Jaguars, but if the results aren’t there on the field, we have the flexibility to address what’s going on.

JB:  I want to ask you about working without numbers. Your brand has been very successful without subscribing to Nielsen, generating consistent revenues year after year. You’ve demonstrated you don’t need the data to operate a productive and profitable business. But how do you evaluate the progress of your brand without that information?

SG: Two words – Jason Barrett.

JB: Stop.

SG: No seriously. I know I don’t know everything and everyone in here doesn’t know everything. I try to read and learn things all the time but having people around who can bring things to the table to help us improve is important. I try to get consensus when we’re looking at things. Some managers will say that’s not a good move but for us in our family atmosphere, it is. I never make a big decision without asking for input. It doesn’t mean I still won’t go with what my gut tells me but I’ll always listen to what sales, the air staff and engineering have to say. I guess if there’s a downfall to not having the ratings it’s not being able to go in and see how each show looks with Men 25-54 and other demographics but we hold our own.

JB: Having a talented, professional lineup though that’s been part of the community for 15 years and possesses good content judgment and sales relationships probably makes that something easier for you to live without.

SG: It does. I read Jeff Tyler’s comments last week where he talked about KFAN and how they brought in the talent, gave it time to grow, and now it’s become its own little entity. We may not be KFAN but maybe in Jacksonville we’re similar to that to our audience and advertisers. He made the point about people listening and not being able to get it at first and I can relate to that. We have some of that here. We’ve been blessed that our investor base has been patient with us and allowed us to go thru some ups and downs and a few mistakes I made along the way but we never knee jerked anything and we’ve always stayed committed to being live and local. Fortunately we’ve had people want to stay here, work here, and succeed here.

JB: I’ll wrap up with you on this. You’ve gotten more involved with original podcast content, video, the focus on social has grown, and you’ve also added Action Updates from VSiN. The sports media landscape is rapidly changing so all of these things are important. When you look at the future of sports talk, what are you keeping your eyes and ears on that you think are going to be important for the growth of your brand?

SG: Well, it depends. As a standalone, we’re never going to have the resources that an iHeart, Cox or Audacy have. I can’t go out and buy every audio platform that’s out there. One of the advantages we have is being able to turn on a dime when we need to. When sports betting becomes legal in Florida, and I think it will, we’re going to be able to take advantage of that. Video we have found to be advantageous, at least so far in the first quarter, and it’s helped us not only sharpen our tools as a sales organization, but it’s allowed us to sponsor some new things using the talent we have that have TV skills. We haven’t even touched the high school or local realm of some of the things we’re going to do.

And then as far as podcasting is concerned, we’ve taken valuable advice from someone who may or may not be part of this conversation and have focused our efforts on doing fewer things really well and sponsoring them instead of trying to do twenty or thirty or forty and have most of them miss the mark. Some of these things may move a little slowly and we’ll gravitate and work quicker towards the ones that we can monetize and deliver the most value for our fans. I can tell you, we’ve done a good job creating quality programming and selling our inventory but there’s always room for improvement. We’re always looking to get better. We can be a little more patient and selective because we’re not dictated to by some corporate place that’s thousands of miles from us and doesn’t know us very well. We have investors who know this market, they support our vision, and I want to please the market that’s here because they’re a big reason why we’ve made it this far.

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BSM Writers

The 2024 BSM Summit Was a Great Success But The Advertising Industry Needs to Step Up in 2025

“I’m calling on advertising professionals to step it up in 2025. This conference and room benefits you too.”

Jason Barrett

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The BSM Summit is in the books. I’m physically and mentally exhausted from it but that’s the price to pay to deliver a successful event. I want to thank all who attended, supported, and spoke at the show. We’ve done six of these conferences and they get better each year. I can always find things to improve but last week’s show was a great success. We now have to decide if we’ll head to Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles or San Francisco in 2025. To vote, click here.

Before you ask, we recorded the entire show and will make all sessions available via on-demand. Those who were in NYC will receive a free login to the show. Those who didn’t attend and wish to see what they missed will be able to purchase on-demand tickets for $99.99. Once everything is ready, I’ll alert the masses.

Looking back, we had a strong mix of sessions. The Power Panel, Game Changers, Strictly Business, Riding The Revenue Train and Experts on the Digital Expressway all offered great insight on what executives are dealing with and where growth is coming from. We also had Annie Agar, Andrew Marchand, Damon Amendolara, Bonnie Bernstein, Maggie Gray, Kevin Clark, Dave Greene, Mike McVay and Bruce Gilbert host sessions, which kept the show fresh and interesting. Bringing together Nick Wright, Danny Parkins, Andrew Fillipponi and Damon Amendolara together was another highlight for the show.

I hosted a number of sessions too with some incredible industry titans. Caroline Beasley was excellent, offering honest feedback from the CEO’s chair. She was the first radio CEO to appear and speak at the BSM Summit. David Field, Bob Pittman, Mary Berner, Bill Wilson, Jennifer Witz and others, I’ll see you down the road.

Caroline explained why the radio business is viable despite what Bell Media said, however she reminded folks that the industry has been healthier. We’ve got to work to get back to that level. Her insights on how she manages Boston and Philadelphia differently, Beasley’s approach to diversity, the challenges with measurement, and the rise of artificial intelligence were all valuable. It was great talking business with someone as accomplished as Caroline.

I was also blessed to reconnect with John Skipper. We had a blast talking business in 2022 and this time was even better. Whether we got into Meadowlark Media’s progress, industry layoffs, the state of podcasting, the ESPN-FOX-WBD streaming deal or artificial intelligence, John was ready to share insightful answers. My favorite line though was when I asked him about AI. In classic John fashion he said, ‘I’m 68. By the time this takes off, hopefully someone else can deal with this shit.’ I know many who feel the same way.

Among the talent talks I hosted, Michael Kay and Peter Rosenberg were tremendous. Michael admitted that going through GM and PD changes has been hard, and the move away from the FM dial and Nielsen will take time to get used to. At the same time, he’s impressed with Good Karma Brands and wouldn’t have signed another contract with the company if he didn’t have complete trust in their people and approach. Given how many GKB folks were in the room, Michael could have given politically correct answers. Instead, he was honest. We need more of that. Playing it safe doesn’t address issues. Honest dialogue does.

Last but certainly not least, Stephen A. Smith and Paul Heyman were simply outstanding. I’ll start with Stephen A.. I’ve been looking to sit down and chat with him at the Summit for six years. The timing worked out, and I’m glad it did. He was electric. Having Stephen A. and Paul cross paths backstage too was great. The tweet they put out blew up.

Before going on stage with Stephen A., I was ready to do 35-minutes. I know he has a ton on his plate, so I didn’t want to abuse his time. As we’re heading out, he says ‘Let’s do 45. I’m good with 45.’ I said, ’45 it is’. We took the stage, discussed his schedule and prep, knowing when First Take needs to pivot, the rise of his digital show, his future plans, management diversity, etc., and as I’m about to wrap with questions, he says ‘I’ve got time for 3 more questions.’ An hour later, we end day one. That was awesome. It’s easy to see why he’s the best in the game.

What a treat it was to have Paul Heyman with us. His insight on creating promos, and writing shows as both a leader and underdog were outstanding. Even better was his feedback on the Tribal Chief character of Roman Reigns being born from Marlon Brando’s Apocalypse Now. I could’ve talked business with Paul for another hour. He also promoted his appearance prior to the Summit, sharing posts with millions of followers and getting the WWE behind it. I never expect that but when it happens, it says a lot about an individual. The WWE has to get ‘The Wiseman’ at more industry conferences. He gets the business and makes the room smarter.

The session I received the best feedback on that wasn’t tied to stars was ‘Making Sports Radio Work on YouTube‘. Make sure to read Dave Greene’s column today about it. I knew the session was going to be a hit as soon as I saw Phil Mackey and Matt Moscona’s slides. They did a great job showing what does and doesn’t work on YouTube and how to monetize the platform. When I said last month that the mid-market voters screwed up leaving Moscona off the BSM Top 20 PD list, this was why. What these guys are doing in Minneapolis and Baton Rouge should be paid attention to. They’re crushing it and doing so without a large corporate push.

Another session that was popular was ‘Secrets to Social Success‘. Annie Agar, Omar Raja, Steve Braband and Josh Fendrick know the social space and were excellent sharing thoughts on how to create impact on specific platforms. I also love how the session ended with Logan Swaim of The Volume asking the group to draft their top 2 platforms from a group of X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. The one surprise, no one picked Facebook.

This Summit had stronger attendance from GM’s than ever before, almost 300 total people registered, and a ton of different companies were in attendance. One of those groups, Good Karma Brands continues to impress me by how they use the event to unite their teams and use the gathering to make their local markets better. I was thrilled to be back at the Ailey Theater, the home of our 2020 show. The stage and screen are huge, and the seating is great. The only challenge was getting people back into the room after they flocked to the hallway to network.

There was though one thing missing at the Summit that I want to see change in the future; stronger representation from the advertising industry.

This conference isn’t just for radio hosts and program directors. It’s for everyone and anyone who works in the media business. We explore ways to make money, grow audience, deliver impact for partners, examine and excel on new platforms, and explore new technology and key changes affecting the media business. These are relevant issues for advertisers/media buyers not just content creators/managers. I tried to offer tickets and speaking opportunities to get media buyers and marketers involved and the response was light. I’m calling on advertising professionals to step it up in 2025. This conference and room benefits you too.

As I drove home with my son, Dylan, he asked ‘how do you even come close to matching this one? Is there anyone left?’ Without hesitating I said, ‘Did you see Dave Portnoy there? Big Cat and PFT? Bill Simmons? Joe Buck? Troy Aikman? Mr. Beast? Mark Cuban? Jim Nantz? Dan Le Batard? David Berson? Adam Silver? Elon Musk? Jeff Bezos? Mark Zuckerberg? Daniel Ek? Tim Cook? The Kelce Brothers? Peyton & Eli? Shaq? Charles Barkley? Bob Costas? Dan Patrick? Gary Vee? He looked at me, cracked a smile and said, ‘I guess there’s always more you can do.’

My next challenge, building the 2024 BNM Summit in Washington D.C. this September. Thanks again to everyone who made time to join us, speak and sponsor the show. It really means a lot.

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Thumbs Up:

Andrew Salciunas: It’s great to see 97.5 The Fanatic giving ‘Choonis’ a bigger opportunity. Andrew did a nice job alongside Anthony Gargano, he was ready to be elevated, and he’s respected by the local competition. Adding him to mornings with John Kincade gives the morning show new energy while adding a new wrinkle to middays. WIP remains the dominant brand in Philadelphia, and these moves don’t guarantee anything changing. However, putting a talented broadcaster with a bright future in a bigger role is a good start.

The Kelce Brothers and Shannon Sharpe: The iHeart Podcast Awards took place last week and two award winners couldn’t have been more deserving. The Kelce Brothers earned the honor for podcast of the year. Shannon Sharpe won Sports Podcast of the Year for his show Club Shay Shay. The Kelce’s and Shannon are blowing up in the digital audio space. iHeart nailed it with these two recipients. Congrats to both. The more they each succeed, the more it’s going to make the athlete creator economy an even bigger part of sports media’s future.

Travis Hancock: Mark Baker from Gastonia, NC is a dedicated listener of WFNZ in Charlotte. The longtime caller and Charlotte sports radio consumer has been in a hospital battling serious health issues which have included needing surgery for a stomach problem, treatment for a heart condition to survive the surgery, and a large, cancerous tumor that could end his life soon.

Rather than offering prayers and hoping for the best, Travis has called on the Charlotte sports community to offer encouragement to lift Mark’s spirits. Tons of current and former Panthers, Hornets, and media personalities have shared uplifting messages for Mr. Baker. One scroll through his feed on X and you’ll see tons of messages from Greg Olsen, Paul Finebaum, Luke Kuechly and many others.

Mark from Gastonia’s road ahead remains unclear. Travis is doing his part to provide words of encouragement to help him get through the day, and raising awareness of his GoFundMe to help cover medical expenses. Here’s to hoping Mark recovers and is able to listen to and call his favorite sports radio station, WFNZ, one more time.

Thumbs Down:

Deadspin: The brand was sold last week by Gizmodo Media Group to a European firm, which plans to take a different approach to content. Deadspin was once a take-no-prisoners brand, stepping on anyone and everyone in their way. But those who fueled that fire to make the brand respected and feared departed. The crew that followed had some of that venom but not as much. Crushing people and reputations may generate attention but eventually flames burn out. When the ones responsible for financing chaos pull the plug, it’s harder to find others hungry to do business with those who made a living trying to take them down.

Diversity Zealots: For 8 years, I’ve written columns about sports media’s diversity challenges. I believe the industry can be better in this area especially in management. It’s a subject I’ve put focus on at Summit’s in three different cities with multiple executives including our latest in NYC. In fact, Jeff Rickard remarked last week how this year’s event had the strongest female representation we’ve ever had, something I’m proud of because we’ve worked hard on it.

More importantly, I continue to help women, and Black and Hispanic professionals get hired in key roles in sports media. Yet there are uninformed people in our business and some who are now on the outside looking in who like to flock to social media when the diversity issue comes up or when they see a poster or panel about our show promoting white people involved in it.

First, rather than running your mouth and sounding stupid, how about doing your homework? A simple look at the show schedule would’ve shown you there were a lot of women taking part. Secondly, how about actually making a difference yourself? Who have you hired? Who have you featured on stage at an industry event or welcomed on to your show to explore the issue further? What exactly are you doing to make things better in the industry besides sitting behind a computer complaining on X or Facebook? It’s easy to spew nonsense but harder to actually solve problems. Stop talking, start doing.

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Stephen A. Smith & Paul Heyman Were Headliners; Phil Mackey & Matt Moscona Steal Headlines

Based on the response most everyone I talked to had about this session, this was the “light bulb moment” for most during the Summit.

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Coming in to the 2024 BSM Summit in New York it was clear who the headliners were going to be. WWE’s Paul Heyman and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith hit it out of the park with their sessions on Wednesday afternoon. I could listen to the two of them speak for hours.

The way Heyman described feeling a crowd and where to take a promo. The connection you have to have with an audience and the way he can make everyone in a large arena and the millions watching on television feel like he is talking to them, individually. He truly is one of the best television characters of all time.

Stephen A. and his passion for what he does is incredible. Love him or hate him, you watch him, and you are interested in what he has to say. His delivery is part of what makes him so special and on this day, he really captured the room as he talked a lot about what he still feels he wants and needs to do in this business. His confidence and his work ethic can never be questioned.

The keynote conversations with Caroline Beasley and John Skipper were both excellent and Skipper may have had the thought of the week when he said, regarding Artificial Intelligence, “It’s going to create a lot of disruption. I’m still more fond of intelligence that walks with two legs. I am 68 and thinking maybe I can get through life without this sh**”

However, it was the session that came about 35 minutes after Skipper’s conversation with Barrett Media president Jason Barrett, which stole the headlines. This is where SKOR Noth’s Phil Mackey and Matt Moscona of 104.5 ESPN in Baton Rouge did a panel entitled, Making Sports Radio Work on YouTube.

Based on the response most everyone I talked to had about this session, this was the “light bulb moment” for most during the Summit. I know everyone that was in that room to hear the session took something they could use immediately back to their stations, if they were someone who is in a market without a video/YouTube strategy or even for those that already do.

Now, there is a couple of things to dissect here. The first thing is for those without a video/YouTube strategy in 2024, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? This has been my biggest pet peeve for a long time in that the industry is so slow to react rather than step up and be the leader. You have the content, you have the audience, you have the talent, the talent has the relationships and trust with the audience. Meanwhile, digital content creators came along and built better, stronger relationships with audiences with attribution right on the screen and took millions and millions of dollars in advertising along the way. Then, and only then, did most respond and by then it was too late and it was time to play catch up.

Sorry, that just needed to be said. Don’t even get me started on Podcasting and the missed opportunities there.

I digress. This is why the BSM Summit is held, to share ideas and to learn new things you can implement.

What Phil and Matt did in this panel was break it down very simply. Phil shared five things they have learned since launching on YouTube which included: producing for YouTube, knowing “niches get the riches,” using SEO-friendly headlines, having great thumbnails, and using product placement which has great value for local direct advertisers.

Matt laid out two things very clearly that can make a gigantic difference when it comes to YouTube. The first being a great thumbnail and the other being a great title. He pointed out that YouTube is a search engine, and it is second only to Google in that regard. Therefore, you must think about what your audience is searching for when they are using the platform.

This session was equal parts valuable information and presented in a very simple way for folks to understand and take back for their teams to implement. Many of you will be having YouTube strategy meetings soon (trust me) and my suggestion to you is to do a couple of things. First, if you were not at the BSM Summit I know a replay opportunity will be out soon for you to view on-demand. I highly suggest you do so, not just for this session, but if you do not have a video strategy, this is 35 minutes you need to see.

Secondly, Matt Moscona noted in the presentation that they spent time looking at what the best stations around the country were doing and other digital outlets and how they looked and how they engaged with the audiences, etc. This is important because you should be doing the same thing. So many others have tried, adjusted, tried again, pivoted, tried again and you have the luxury of going to YouTube.com today and seeing where they landed. That would be a suggestion for a first step, go take a look and see what can be done, relatively inexpensively, to create an entirely new revenue stream and the best way possible to engage with and super-serve your audience.

I would highly suggest you start by taking a look at what Phil Mackey and his team at SKOR North are doing as well as what Matt Moscona and his team at 104.5 ESPN in Baton Rouge are doing.

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The Best Thing I Heard This Week

Being in New York most of the week, I wasn’t able to listen to or watch much sports programming. However, I did spend time with several of the brightest minds in our industry. The best thing I heard this week was the amount of positivity around sports radio, sports television and digital sports coverage and conversation.

Yes, there are problems. Oy, are there problems. But there is so much to be looking forward to in this space.

I talked with several young content creators at the BSM Summit, and it was energizing. It was great to hear their enthusiasm for what is going on and I think, frankly, a lot of that has to do with the new companies that have come into the space. These people didn’t spend time in a tired, old radio or television environment where they are content trying to teach old dog’s new tricks. They are working for forward-thinking companies who are allowing them the space, time and resources to create.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Case You Missed It

On Friday morning as I was traveling back from New York, I had the chance to read a terrific piece from John Molori, Sports Media is in its Golden Age for Women. John’s column centers on just a few of the women who are succeeding, big time, in sports media today. John highlights Erin Andrews, Pam Oliver, Hannah Storm and Cari Champion while mentioning several others. I am sure John felt like he could go on and on with this column.

John writes, “March is Women’s History Month, and at no time in the history of television have there been more talented and capable women in the sports media field. Viewers are blessed to enjoy the work of time-tested and experienced personalities, and equally fortunate to see an endless stream of young and driven women who want to make a mark in the industry.

“The once male-dominated field has been plowed down like the cornfield in Field of Dreams. In its place is a wide-open and diverse roster of broadcasters whose gifts transcend any gender labels.”

You can read John’s full column by clicking here.

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Field Yates Goes Beyond the Numbers for ESPN NFL Coverage

“No day feels like work for me, and it’s something that has allowed me to meet some incredible people along the way.”

Derek Futterman

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Field Yates
Courtesy: The Measure

With just over one month to go until the 2024 NFL Draft, Field Yates is entering the final stages of his year-round preparation process. Amid an NFL season that concluded with a thrilling Super Bowl resulting in a second-consecutive championship for the Kansas City Chiefs, Yates was balancing real-time coverage with shrewd prognostication and evaluation of the next generation of stars. There has been anticipation regarding who the Chicago Bears will select with the first-overall draft pick and the other franchises thereafter to welcome a new class to the league. For this draft alone, Yates has compiled projections for 322 players that has involved meticulous film study, analyzing quantitative data and interviews with the athletes and their surrounding personnel.

As an NFL insider for ESPN, Yates consistently remains in the know on all things pertaining to the game of football. The new league year begins just after the Super Bowl, and he ensures to enter its confines ready to tackle free agency and the NFL Draft before offseason workouts lead to training camp.

During the season, Yates is in conversation with relevant sources from around the NFL to gather information about additional qualitative considerations that could impact the draft position of a player. He periodically authors mock drafts in articles that outline how he believes the three-day event will play out as well. While Yates and other NFL insiders help fans become more informed and engaged with tentpole events throughout the season, there is a different kind of ambiguity surrounding the NFL Draft that can lead to unexpected outcomes.

“I compare it to studying for – not that I ever took this – but I would say it feels like studying for the LSAT,” Yates explained. “You could study every hour of every day, but ultimately once the actual event begins, there’s specific problems that you have to solve; or in the case of the Draft, I’m going to study more players than are actually drafted, and I’m going to have players in my mind going in certain ranges.”

There are unpredictable occurrences that take place over the course of the NFL and collegiate seasons with the potential to alter the overall draft order. For example, Yates emphasized that most people did not expect LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels to project as a top-five selection entering the season. Yet after a breakout year in which Daniels led college football in quarterback rating and threw for 40 touchdowns and 3,812 yards, he caught the attention of several teams in the early first round.

“He had a remarkable season, so there is this balancing act of sort of taking all the information you had going into a year, but making sure you’re not married to it,” Yates said. “You’ve got to be mindful of how things can change once the season begins, and you sort of have to adjust your board accordingly.”

More than 54 million fans watched last year’s NFL Draft with an average audience equating to 6 million consumers per day. The average viewership figure was up 12% year-over-year, which was a harbinger of things to come for the league’s regular season and playoff slate of games.

Yates was involved in this coverage throughout the year, which included television hosting and analysis, two original podcasts, writing and reporting. Although his endeavors in these media center around football, he brings a different approach as to how he presents the information, imagining the cluster of platforms as if it were an accordion. Writing provides Yates the ability to start and stop, whereas his radio appearances generally last eight to 15 minutes and lead to real-time dissemination of his findings and opinions.

“I always think about every topic through a couple of different prisms, but generally speaking if you have one initial thought that comes to mind, you better have that one ready for TV,” Yates said, “because in TV, sometimes you get 30 seconds on a topic and sometimes you get more, but you better be prepared to have a truncated answer on TV because it’s the one medium where you have this finite period of time that is usually just one show window.”

During the previous summer, Yates hosted ESPN’s daily studio program, NFL Live, while Laura Rutledge was on maternity leave. Being able to fill in for Rutledge, someone who Yates considers a close friend and as good a host in all of television, was a task for which he was honored to take on. While he generally displays his football acumen on this program in a contributing role outside of its main cast, he suddenly found himself responsible for setting up the deep roster of analysts and also delivering his own opinions over the course of a show.

NFL Live is one of those shows that when I was there, my mindset was, ‘Let the stars of the show do their thing,’” Yates said. “As far as the analysis role, we weren’t as reactionary to the news of yesterday because there weren’t that many games that you’re reacting to.”

Before he started covering football on a regular basis, Yates was a tight end and linebacker for his high school football team and was named to the All-Independent School League. From there, he attended Wesleyan University where he played on the football and lacrosse teams while majoring in psychology. For parts of high school and college, Yates interned with the New England Patriots and ultimately narrowed his focus to coaching and scouting, ultimately trying to prove his worth to remain in the NFL. In the end, he was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs as a member of its scouting and coaching department where he spent games in the coaching box and eventually helped chart defensive plays.

Experience working in the NFL is not a necessary prerequisite in order to serve as an effective analyst or commentator, Yates affirmed, but he is cognizant of the fact that it did give him an inherent advantage to decipher nuances of the sport. In fact, he refers to his time in the league as his “football Rosetta Stone,” carving a stele from which he decodes different facets of the sport.

“It allowed me to understand a little bit deeper some of the things that I probably was aware of but was able to kind of crystallize,” Yates said, “like what specifically I was looking for in players and kind of what went into the process of scouting a player at a very, very, very basic level, sort of understanding what went into a game plan.”

Yates enjoyed his work at the NFL level, but he quickly realized that the outline of events made it difficult to attend events such as weddings and his five-year high school reunion. He was making sacrifices to work in football, and while he knows that he may have felt differently about it at another time in his life, he began to ponder over making a change.

“It’s a schedule that does not work around you; you work around it, and I just sort of felt like there was a little bit more balance for me out there in the world of sports media, which all these years later I feel validated in saying,” Yates conveyed, “because while I absolutely 100% love everything that goes into the scouting process in so many ways, I do have some balance in my life that I’m not sure would have been afforded if I stayed in that world of scouting.”

After moving on from his job in football, Yates earned his real-estate license and thought that the field would serve him better in a career. Six months later though, he felt a yearning for sports and was looking to find a way back into the industry in a role that would better serve his aspirations.

Once he realized that sports media could prove to be optimal, he began sending emails to Mike Reiss, an NFL reporter for ESPN who covers the New England Patriots that became a mentor who accepted him early on in the business. After freelance writing for several football blogs and websites, he was hired by ESPN and worked on its Boston coverage, covering his first NFL Draft at the age of 24 from Gillette Stadium.

“I kind of point to that to where it sort of began,” Yates said. “It was the first opportunity for me to be inside of a professional media setting amongst a bunch of people that I either had grown up reading or had followed on social media; things of that nature. Mike really kind of helped me get my first sort of stepping stone into the world of sports media.”

When he was working in Boston, Yates was the co-host of two ESPN Radio shows centered around football while also writing articles for the outlet’s official website. He gradually made the transition towards covering the league nationally and started to contribute to both NFL coverage and fantasy football content.

Seth Markman, who serves as a vice president of production for ESPN, assisted Yates in understanding the means of comparison and contrast within the dichotomy of these two subject matters. As a result, he discerned what aspects of the sport were applicable between these focuses and began to further excel in his work. Before he was named the host of Fantasy Football Now, Yates was an NFL insider on the show and would cogently fuse these two areas together.

“I can’t say that every single thing that I learned in scouting I have used to this day in fantasy football, but there’s definitely a lot of stuff that I feel has been useful when you’re trying to evaluate sort of the real or not real nature of player performance,” Yates said. “A guy has a monster game in Week 1 and you’re sitting there wondering, ‘Alright, I haven’t really thought about this player that much,’ or, ‘I hadn’t really thought about this player that much. What do we see in this player and how real is or is it not?’”

Yates monitors metrics in real time on Sunday afternoons when he is situated in the ESPN War Room watching games around the league with his colleagues. Located within the network’s Bristol headquarters, he views the action alongside Chris Berman, Adam Schefter and other ESPN personalities, monitoring the latest developments and building camaraderie.

Over the years in the War Room, Yates has vivid memories watching games with ESPN NFL reporter Chris Mortensen, who worked at the network for over three decades. Mortensen stepped down from ESPN last April, but throughout his time at the network he built relationships with his colleagues and was always accessible to them. Earlier this month, Mortensen passed away at the age of 72, news that saddened his colleagues, competitors and sports fans around the world.

“I remember whenever I talked to Mort on the phone, it was always a lot longer than I anticipated or he anticipated it might be, so a call that began with a text that said, ‘Hey, do you have a couple of minutes to catch up?,’ usually turned into about an hour or so,” Yates recalled. “We already do miss Mort a lot, and I think it’s going to feel that much different in the fall on Sundays.”

Although ESPN no longer airs Fantasy Football Now, he continues to share his insights regarding the space on several ESPN television programs and the Fantasy Focus Football podcast. Yates co-hosts the audio offering with Daniel Dopp, Mike Clay and Stephania Bell, all of whom bring unique concentrations to the air that help create a compelling, engaging final product. There are a plethora of outlets producing fantasy football content, but Yates believes that the rapport between the on-air talent ultimately sets them apart.

“If Christian McCaffrey has four touchdowns on Sunday, we’re going to talk about it on Monday, and probably every other podcast will as well,” Yates hypothesized. “What’s going to hopefully make us different is the entertainment value and the camaraderie and the chemistry that makes you say, ‘Yeah, I know I can hear about Christian McCaffrey anywhere, but I really want to hear from the Fantasy Focus crew.’”

With the NFL Draft rapidly approaching, Yates is continuing to extrapolate his insights in that niche of coverage on the twice-weekly First Draft podcast with ESPN senior NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. The show allows them to deliberate topics at length, satiating the appetite for more detail and protracted discussion for those looking for such content. These podcasts, along with his radio appearances, television responsibilities and the written word, excite Yates and keep him enthused about football coverage going forward.

“While I feel like we have near around-the-clock coverage for football, I just feel like we’re going to have even more and more and more going forward,” Yates said. “The digital space is so great, but it’s an opportunity for all of us to continue to grow, and that league has become must-see TV, 365 days a year.”

From the moment Yates arrived at ESPN, he immediately felt welcomed by people at the company who emitted a sense of gratitude and thoughtfulness. Looking back, he acknowledges that they could have told him to “go kick rocks,” but they did the opposite instead and forged meaningful relationships that have helped enhance the quality and breadth of programming.

With the whirlwind of free agency slowly winding down, Yates is beginning to see the illuminating lights of the NFL Draft stage glowing in downtown Detroit. The filled-in draft board will resemble an answer key of sorts for Yates to review before he moves on to studying the next iteration of the event. Through it all, he will watch as the league receives a new class of budding stars looking to contribute to teams around the league as they work to realize championship aspirations.

“I find pure joy in being a part of the ESPN family and covering football like I do,” Yates said. “No day feels like work for me, and it’s something that has allowed me to meet some incredible people along the way. I’ve been at ESPN for over a decade now, and I feel real camaraderie and feel a real loyalty and bond at the company, and that to me is motivation enough to want to continue to do it for a long, long time.”

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