Sports Radio News
Orlando Alzugaray, a Fixture on Miami Sports Radio

Published
8 years agoon
As football season steps into overdrive and we all start hemming and hawing about our favorite college and pro teams, I called an old friend who is quite knowledgeable about sports and treated myself to a rainy afternoon sports jam session (or descarga, as we like to say in Spanish) over a delectable stogie at a tucked away cigar shop in Kendall.
The difference between my sports chat and the thousands of others taking place that very drizzly afternoon in South Florida is that I was conversing with none other than WQAM’s sports talk host Orlando “the big O” Alzugaray — and what a treat it was.
The “Big O” as he is affectionately called by listeners, has been a fixture on South Florida’s radio waves for over two decades. Consistently offering a local take on the Dolphins, Heat, Canes, Marlins and Panthers, Alzugaray is as down home Miami as you can get — a homer, a fan, the kind of guy you want to tailgate with.
Part of Alzugaray’s success in connecting with his listeners has been the fact that he feels the same pain we do when our local teams flop. “I love the home teams. I feel the pain the average fan feels, though I try to be analytical and realistic,” Alzugaray explained between puffs of his aromatic cigar. “And no matter how much I try to take a step back and be impartial,” he confided, “sometimes I too can be a ‘blind ass fan’ (a term that he has popularized on his show).”
It is precisely that “blind” passionate flare for local sports that keeps listeners like me tuning in every day.
In a market full of transplants, particularly from the Northeast, Alzugaray is refreshingly native. From his distinct musical rejoiners to references to events of Miami’s past, Alzugaray provides a rarity in South Florida media, a connection to our history — to events on and off sports fields.
“I’ve had a chance to go elsewhere,” he told me, “but Miami is where I want to be. It’s where my wife and I are raising our daughter. It’s home.”
The Big O is sometimes abrasive and challenging. However, it’s always done in the most unpretentious of ways. When you tune in to his show (weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) you’ll never hear him auditioning to get a network gig. He is as non-politically-correct as any radio talent in this market since the late, great Neil Rogers — quite refreshing in today’s cookie cutter, homogenous world of entertainment.
I began my own career in media over 20 years ago covering sports on the same station alongside the Big O and what impressed me about him then is still true about him today: He is tireless when it comes to watching, breaking down and analyzing sports. This guy really does his homework.
An example of this is his yearly trip to the college football Senior Bowl—an all-star game for college seniors, where pro scouts gather to evaluate talent. Alzugaray has been a mainstay at this bowl game in Mobile, Ala., and especially the week of practice leading up to the game for over 15 years — for most of those, he has paid his own way
“Actually, cigars have gone a long way for me in building relationships with lots of NFL scouts and general managers,” Alzugaray confided. “I stock up on stogies when I go up to Mobile and spend the week having after-hour cigars with many decision makers in the NFL. That’s how I’ve built some great relationships over the years. “
That is a testament to his work ethic and his desire to learn more about the game he talks about on the air, and the deep respect he has for the listeners who are intrigued by the inside information that the Big O gathers and shares with them on the air — or while enjoying a good cigar.

Jason Barrett is the owner and operator of Barrett Sports Media. Prior to launching BSM he served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He has also produced national shows for ESPN Radio including GameNight and the Dan Patrick Show. You can find him on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or reach him by email at JBarrett@sportsradiopd.com.
Sports Radio News
Chase McCabe Named Director of Operations & Sports Programming at Cromwell
“Our owner, Bud Walters, opened the door for me almost 12 years ago as an intern and I’m honored to continue to be a key member of the Nashville leadership team.”

Published
4 hours agoon
June 2, 2023By
BSM Staff
Congratulations are in order for Chase McCabe. He is adding a new title to his already full plate at Cromwell Media in Nashville. He has been promoted to Director of Operations & Sports Programming at the company.
“I’m very fortunate to have been to be able to grow into this opportunity under one roof,” McCabe said in a press release. “Our owner, Bud Walters, opened the door for me almost 12 years ago as an intern and I’m honored to continue to be a key member of the Nashville leadership team. I am forever grateful, but none of this could have happened without the great group of people we have here at Cromwell Media.”
McCabe has spent his whole career with 102.5 The Game and its sister station, now called 94.9 The Fan. He was named Program Director and Brand Manager of the stations in January of last year. He has maintained an on-air presence as well. He hosts Chase & Michelle weekdays at 9 AM on The Game.
In his new role, Chase McCabe becomes the number two man in Cromwell’s Nashville building. Shawn Fort was recently named the cluster’s general manager.
“Chase and I have developed a great working relationship in the two and half years since I’ve joined Cromwell Media,” Fort said. “We share similar visions on how to create compelling sports programming all while driving revenue growth. I’m excited to have Chase as my right-hand man as we move forward together with this new chapter of leadership at Cromwell Media Nashville.”
Sports Radio News
Mark Schlereth: People Outside of Denver Aren’t Paying Attention to NBA Finals
“There was not one group of people – they’re all in there together – that was paying attention to the NBA Finals.”

Published
6 hours agoon
June 2, 2023By
BSM Staff
The Denver Nuggets took to the National Basketball Association’s largest stage on Thursday night as they defeated the Miami Heat for the organization’s first-ever NBA Finals victory. Early reports reveal that the game had a 2.21 demographic rating between people ages 18-49, attracting a total of 7.62 million viewers on ABC. The figure is considerably lower than the audience for Game 1 between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors last year – which averaged 11.9 million figures across ABC and ESPN2. Ratings for the alternate NBA in Stephen A’s World broadcast Thursday night on ESPN2 have not yet been released by Nielsen Media Research.
Sports fans in the Denver market have felt as if the play of the Nuggets was largely being neglected by the national media throughout these playoffs. Now that the team is the last one standing in the Western Conference, there is no one else to focus on and their play is beginning to be realized by basketball fans throughout the country. It is a narrative that Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan’s Mark Schlereth and Mike Evans felt was especially obvious by watching the press conferences after the game. The duo was able to deduce as such through the questions posed to Nuggets players and head coach Michael Malone by members of the media cohort.
“The national media – it’s like, ‘Oh, wow. We’re just kind of becoming aware of how these guys play,’ and they keep asking the Nuggets about their unselfishness and how everybody is willing to share the ball,” Evans said. “Nikola Jokić [is] being asked about not taking a lot of shots, and they’re all just kind of shrugging their shoulders like, ‘Yeah, this is who we are. We’ve been doing this for a long time.’
Schlereth was curious to find out the ratings from the game last night because he watched the game from a sports bar in Chicago. He is away from Denver, Colo. to help his son’s family move there for the summer and surmises there were about 50 people in the bar with him. What he noticed was that their interest was fixated elsewhere.
“I’m the only person that was watching the Nuggets,” Schlereth said. “There was not one group of people – they’re all in there together – that was paying attention to the NBA Finals.”
“Their loss,” Evans pithily replied.
Denver ranks 19th on Nielsen Media Research’s metropolitan market size list, but the Nuggets have been a contending team for the last five seasons. Most media analysts expect diminished ratings for the NBA Finals this year because of the lack of a storied franchise, even with the Miami Heat as the team’s opponent.
Sports Radio News
Nielsen Releases List of Markets Where Most People Use AM Radio
“In a recent survey, Nielsen Media Research found that AM radio still reaches over 82.3 million Americans on a monthly basis”

Published
7 hours agoon
June 2, 2023By
BSM Staff
Amid concerns regarding the future of AM radio, Nielsen Media Research has unveiled a list of 141 markets where at least 20% of consumers regularly listen to programming on the medium. The list is reflective of the percentage of monthly total radio listening being funneled to AM as opposed to total radio listening as a whole. The top three markets are all in the Great Lakes region, and Westwood One has found large proportions of these listeners are derived from the upper Midwest.
Buffalo-Niagara Falls leads the list with 56% of its audience tuning into AM radio in a month. It is a figure that makes sense based on the variety of AM stations, including leading news talk outlet WBEN and leading sports outlet WGR. The city of Chicago is ranked second, complete with 670 The Score, WGN and WLS. Nearby Milwaukee, Wis. ranks third on the list, another city with various AM stations such as WTMJ and WISN.
In a recent survey, Nielsen Media Research found that AM radio still reaches over 82.3 million Americans on a monthly basis – a measurement that equates to one-third of AM/FM radio listeners as a whole. Fifty-seven percent of the audience listens to stations in the news and/or talk format, utilizing the public service the outlets provide to learn of breaking news and other concerns.
There is a wide variety in market size represented throughout the list, but a trend of markets with undulating topographies tends to have larger shares of AM listeners because of the challenges the landscape presents to FM signals.
The full list compiled by Nielsen Media Research can be found below:
Metro market rank | Market name | Percentage of radio audience that listens to AM radio |
---|---|---|
59 | Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY | 56% |
3 | Chicago, IL [PPM] | 48% |
43 | Milwaukee-Racine, WI [PPM] | 48% |
245 | Sheboygan, WI | 45% |
253 | Grand Forks, ND-MN | 45% |
241 | Bismarck, ND | 44% |
39 | San Jose, CA [PPM] | 43% |
33 | Cincinnati, OH [PPM] | 42% |
11 | Seattle-Tacoma, WA [PPM] | 42% |
192 | Fargo-Moorhead, ND-MN | 41% |
187 | St. Cloud, MN | 41% |
160 | Lincoln, NE | 40% |
130 | Macon, GA | 40% |
196 | Danbury, CT | 39% |
75 | Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA | 39% |
4 | San Francisco, CA [PPM] | 39% |
137 | Youngstown-Warren, OH | 38% |
244 | Sioux City, IA | 38% |
83 | Boise, ID | 38% |
25 | San Antonio, TX [PPM] | 38% |
7 | Atlanta, GA [PPM] | 38% |
60 | Rochester, NY | 37% |
186 | Columbus, GA | 36% |
65 | Dayton, OH | 36% |
176 | Wausau-Stevens Pt (Centrl WI), WI | 36% |
114 | Johnson City-Kingspt-Brstl, TN-VA | 36% |
62 | Tucson, AZ | 36% |
159 | Rockford, IL | 36% |
55 | Louisville, KY | 36% |
27 | Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo [PPM] | 36% |
202 | Cedar Rapids, IA | 35% |
34 | Kansas City, KS-MO [PPM] | 35% |
70 | Albuquerque, NM | 35% |
88 | Spokane, WA | 35% |
16 | Puerto Rico | 35% |
67 | Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | 34% |
124 | Morristown, NJ | 34% |
204 | Duluth-Superior, MN-WI | 34% |
71 | Des Moines, IA | 34% |
53 | Richmond, VA | 33% |
145 | Eugene-Springfield, OR | 33% |
252 | Jackson, TN | 33% |
149 | Shreveport, LA | 33% |
52 | Monmouth-Ocean, NJ | 33% |
73 | Metro Fairfield County, CT | 33% |
231 | Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | 32% |
13 | Phoenix, AZ [PPM] | 32% |
12 | Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood [PPM] | 32% |
9 | Philadelphia, PA [PPM] | 32% |
96 | Reno, NV | 32% |
28 | Sacramento, CA [PPM] | 32% |
209 | Rochester, MN | 32% |
15 | Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN [PPM] | 31% |
178 | Anchorage, AK | 31% |
199 | Salina-Manhattan, KS | 31% |
2 | Los Angeles, CA [PPM] | 31% |
89 | Madison, WI | 31% |
5 | Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX [PPM] | 31% |
68 | Grand Rapids, MI | 31% |
223 | Eau Claire, WI | 30% |
74 | Allentown-Bethlehem, PA | 30% |
86 | Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, PA | 30% |
20 | Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island) [PPM] | 30% |
249 | Brunswick, GA | 30% |
139 | Appleton-Oshkosh, WI | 29% |
14 | Detroit, MI [PPM] | 29% |
239 | Harrisonburg, VA | 29% |
30 | Orlando, FL [PPM] | 29% |
10 | Boston, MA [PPM] | 29% |
189 | Bryan-College Station, TX | 29% |
106 | Lexington-Fayette, KY | 28% |
154 | Montgomery, AL | 28% |
136 | Reading, PA | 28% |
18 | Denver-Boulder, CO [PPM] | 28% |
188 | Kalamazoo, MI | 28% |
41 | Hudson Valley, NY | 28% |
17 | Tampa-St Petersburg-Clearwater [PPM] | 28% |
228 | Pueblo, CO | 27% |
230 | Monroe, LA | 27% |
116 | Ft. Wayne, IN | 27% |
35 | Cleveland, OH [PPM] | 27% |
22 | Portland, OR [PPM] | 27% |
183 | Green Bay, WI | 27% |
227 | Bloomington, IL | 26% |
190 | Waco, TX | 26% |
6 | Houston-Galveston, TX [PPM] | 26% |
193 | Binghamton, NY | 26% |
201 | Topeka, KS | 26% |
81 | Stockton, CA | 26% |
54 | Hartford-New Britain-Middletown [PPM] | 26% |
200 | Tuscaloosa, AL | 26% |
175 | Sioux Falls, SD | 25% |
100 | Syracuse, NY | 25% |
44 | Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket [PPM] | 25% |
195 | Manchester, NH | 25% |
180 | Lima-Van Wert, OH | 25% |
1 | New York, NY [PPM] | 25% |
119 | Corpus Christi, TX | 25% |
237 | Grand Island-Kearney-Hastngs, NE | 25% |
51 | Memphis, TN [PPM] | 25% |
142 | Canton, OH | 25% |
151 | Ann Arbor, MI | 24% |
90 | Columbia, SC | 24% |
208 | Las Cruces-Deming, NM | 24% |
178 | Traverse City-Petoskey, MI | 24% |
111 | York, PA | 24% |
87 | Colorado Springs, CO | 24% |
218 | Columbia, MO | 24% |
140 | Savannah, GA | 23% |
163 | Evansville, IN | 23% |
121 | Portsmouth-Dover-Rochester, NH | 23% |
247 | Williamsport, PA | 23% |
221 | Joplin, MO | 22% |
197 | Charleston, WV | 22% |
126 | New Haven, CT | 22% |
120 | Modesto, CA | 22% |
234 | Sussex, NJ | 22% |
69 | Sarasota-Bradenton, FL | 22% |
79 | Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA | 22% |
29 | Austin, TX [PPM] | 22% |
24 | St. Louis, MO [PPM] | 22% |
23 | Baltimore, MD [PPM] | 22% |
127 | Jackson, MS | 22% |
77 | Baton Rouge, LA | 21% |
66 | Fresno, CA | 21% |
206 | Chico, CA | 21% |
104 | Huntsville, AL | 21% |
205 | Santa Barbara, CA | 21% |
166 | Poughkeepsie, NY | 21% |
157 | Peoria, IL | 21% |
224 | Muskegon, MI | 20% |
63 | Honolulu, HI | 20% |
50 | New Orleans, LA | 20% |
19 | San Diego, CA [PPM] | 20% |
236 | Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH | 20% |
32 | Las Vegas, NV [PPM] | 20% |
37 | Raleigh-Durham, NC [PPM] | 20% |
115 | Worcester, MA | 20% |
207 | Laurel-Hattiesburg, MS | 20% |
95 | Akron, OH | 20% |
117 | Lancaster, PA | 20% |