A Sports Radio Programming Perspective
Bruce Gilbert, General Manager of ESPN Radio, and Gabe Hobbs, Vice-President of Programming, News/Talk/Sports of Clear Channel Worldwide. Two of the best minds in the broadcast business will share their insight on where Sports Radio is headed. The following offers a preview of the session.
RSA: Where is the sports radio format headed?
Bruce Gilbert: I believe Sports radio will continue to grow and prosper. The amount of time dedicated to sports coverage in this country continues to grow, and with the advent of Sunday Ticket, Extra Innings and other Season Pass programs through Direct TV, and other providers, have made virtually every game available everywhere in the world.
The proliferation of sports in our society continues to grow - for many reasons, most of which is the dollars attached to these events," says Bruce Gilbert. He adds, "Those games - and all that coverage on Sportscenter - are to men what Oprah and Dr. Phil are to women. While the female subculture is oohing and awing over "Trading Spaces", the guys are tuning in to see what teams are trading faces."
This is not to suggest it's as simple as male vs. female, but it's my feeling that guys love to be part of a club. They want that club to provide them with information that they can share with their friends and co-workers. They want to be the first to have information - they love to be "in the know" and that's exactly what Sports radio provides them. If women want to be in the "club" we'll gladly welcome them, as long as they understand they might be subjected to some belching and cussing.
The negative viewpoint would suggest that all this sports coverage and all these sports stations will create saturation to the point where everybody's business is diminished. I believe the opposite; I believe that the amount of sports radio breeds more sports radio enthusiasts, fans and ultimately ratings generating P1's, which will result in advertising dollars being dedicated to sports radio programming.
This thing, sports radio - the audio Tupperware party for guys- can be even bigger than it is, primarily because operators and on-air talent are getting smarter about the need to be genuine, real and relatable. To drop the mean spirited yelling and bitching and replace it with fun, informative sports talk."
Gabe Hobbs: There are only good things ahead for the sports format. As more and more Americans seek diversionary style entertainment and as we learn to attract more and more younger males to the AM band this only bodes well for our format. Cross promotion on your sister rock stations (assuming you have them) is critically important to the future because we all know that for the most part the sports station in a cluster is not going to get the big marketing budgets.
RSA: What are the elements critical to making it successful?
Gabe Hobbs: I'm still a big believer in the "guy talk" formula. Of course, there are exceptions, but for the most part I think this approach works best simply because it has a broader appeal and can garner a larger audience. Limiting a sports station to scores and stats and fantasy leagues is like limiting a talk station to politics. Recreate the sports bar atmosphere and psyche.
Bruce Gilbert: TALENT, TALENT AND TALENT! Let's face it, sports updates, big name guests, and breaking sports news are simply the "price of admission" what separates the Great from the good is the on air talent and their ability to USE sports as the catalyst for real life discussions that are compelling, interesting and engaging for the target audience.
RSA: How do you know you are successful? What are the benchmarks to look for?
Gabe Hobbs: All commercial businesses are ultimately judged by the bottom line. Sports radio is no different.
Bruce Gilbert: Black ink on the bottom line is the number one benchmark. This is an expensive format to produce, but if you have the right type of sellers who understand the fanatic connection that listeners have with their favorite sports station - and specifically their favorite host - they can make a lot of money selling this format. The power ratio for the sports format has proven to be one of the best in the business and that's easy to quantify when you realize the demographic breakout of the listeners in the sports radio wheel house. Generally speaking, Sports radio often attracts a large percentage of very active young men who are at the peak of their earning years, furthermore, many agencies and businesses are operated by men who use the format. The other advantage sports radio presents is a propensity for being able to attract non-traditional revenue through valuable sports partnerships with sports celebrities and sports franchises in their respective markets. Advertisers will pay large sums of money to be "affiliated" with a hot show or team.
It's a fun format and what comes out of the speakers can be magical, but if it's not turning a profit, then it doesn't matter. In a lot of ways the format works because perceptually it's just a bunch of painted faced fans (hosts) who happen to have a transmitter - but if these opinionated hosts can't generate advertising revenue than all bets are off.
