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Sam Mayes Is Never Satisfied

“The transition was extremely easy, because I promise you that I’ll never lie about college football. I’m just not going to do it.”

Tyler McComas

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What’s sports radio truly all about? Why did so many us dream of the opportunity to voice our sports opinions on a platform for so many to hear? Why do we do entry-level jobs with little pay just have a chance to one day climb into the host seat? To answer all those questions, I only need one word: Passion.

You see, passion is what sports radio is truly all about. It’s what started this format and it’s what will keep it going for many years to come. Passion can’t be faked. It’s the true, raw emotion of a sports debate that makes this business different from any other. Passion is what separates sports radio from just a hobby, to a product that can be profitable and broadcasted in every corner of the country. 

When it comes to passionate hosts in the Oklahoma City market, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who shows it more than Sam Mayes. Co-host of the Triple M Ranch on The Franchise every weekday from 3-6 p.m. Mayes brings a level of energy that’s captured the local audience and made him into one of best hosts in the market. 

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But above everything else, above the passion and the willingness to work hard, Mayes is super competitive. Maybe that comes from his playing days at Oklahoma State, maybe it’s just in his genes, but competing is something that keeps him striving for greatness every day on the air. 

”I love to compete, said Mayes. “This is going to sound crazy to you, but I don’t know that I’m a huge sports fan. For me, it’s about the competition. I love the scheming that goes into it and the night before the action and the feeling you get from it. For me, talking about teams competing is something I’m passionate about, because I’m doing it every day on the radio. It’s all about competition and that comes from very fundamental things such as giving great effort, working hard and being a good leader. You can make those things translate whether you’re talking about football, tennis or whatever. The passion comes because I love watching guys compete at the highest level and I really appreciate it.” 

During his time at Oklahoma State, Mayes didn’t take a single radio or TV class. But he did learn from his head coach, Les Miles, on how to handle the media. That may have been more helpful than any class.

As OSU was trying to gain traction in the early 2000’s, Miles was a showman that used the media as a weapon to help his underrated football team. At the height of his era in Stillwater, Miles was always quick to make a confident and quirky comment that was instantly the biggest story in the state. Mayes quickly became a favorite amongst the local media, because he learned how to be personable in front of the camera like his coach. That skill would prove to be extremely beneficial when it came to life after football. 

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A future in the NFL seemed like a definite when Mayes left Oklahoma State. But just when aspirations were at their highest, a broken leg in the Senior Bowl threw a big wrench into his plans. After going undrafted and never fully being able to return from such a serious injury, playing football for a living was now off the table. As you’d imagine, his life was turned upside down. Soon after, Mayes found himself back in Stillwater working at a 9-hole golf course where he admitted he was “drinking a whole lot of beer and trying to figure out what was next.”

What came next, was an unexpected conversation that led to an opportunity in sports radio. Jack Borgen, a salesman at Triple Play Sports in Stillwater, approached Mayes at the golf course and instantly recognized him. Borgen remembered how great Mayes was with the media and pitched the idea of trying his hand at sports radio. Mayes was all about it. He quickly ascended from doing a one-day a week show with the station to hosting his own show from 3-6 every weekday to even doing fill-in work for the Sports Animal while still working at Triple Play Sports. It was a random occurrence that led to Mayes finding something he was not only passionate about, but also had a real talent for. 

In 2013, Tyler Media decided to create their own sports radio station with the booming 107.7 signal the company already owned. One of the first calls management made to potential hosts for The Franchise, was Mayes. The opportunity to be one of the key personalities of a station being built from scratch was too much to pass up.

After debuting on the station with a show named Mid-Morning Mayes along co-host Colby Daniels, it soon became of the most unique shows in the market. The positive feedback soon led to Mid-Morning Mayes transforming into the Triple M Ranch and moving to afternoon drive time on the station. 

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“Tyler Media is an incredible company and the message they sent was we want to be the future of Oklahoma sports talk radio,” said Mayes. “The Sports Animal has been established around here forever and what they have there is great. Mark Rodgers and Al Eschbach are mentors of mine. What Tyler Media sold to me, in terms of Oklahoma football, was an opportunity to cover a perennial powerhouse. I just couldn’t pass that up. Even with the Thunder being what they are, even though The Sports Animal is the flagship of the Thunder, the reality is, the biggest dog in this state will always be OU football. It was too good of an opportunity to cover a sport I’m passionate about and a team that’s one of the all-time greats.”

Mayes never hides the fact he played at Oklahoma State. In fact, he’s extremely proud of it. He also never shy’s from his love of covering OU football. That often leads to OSU fans on social media criticizing his takes on the two in-state schools. But Mayes isn’t worried about that. His sole focus is to provide the best content while being straightforward with the listener. 

“I think it probably helps that I’m not from the state,” said Mayes. “I think if I grew up in Oklahoma as an OSU fan, it would have been much tougher. I also think it would have been harder if I didn’t win a bunch of those games. I mean, I won two of those (Bedlam) games and should have won a third one. That was even during the time period where OU was winning national titles. I don’t have any bad feelings towards OU by any means. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the way they play football. Bob Stoops is from my hometown, he’s a Youngstown guy. The transition was extremely easy, because I promise you that I’ll never lie about college football. I’m just not going to do it. Some Oklahoma State fans are frustrated with me right now, but I’m just going to always tell things how I honestly feel.” 

Though handling Twitter trolls is something he has to manage at times, Mayes is a big believer in the power of social media. His goal, is to be transparent and invite the listener into his own personal life. Mayes doesn’t just want to be a local talking head in the media, he wants to be someone you feel like you know and could have a beer with. Last year’s trip to cover the Orange Bowl in Miami was just a reminder of that, as an evening trip to the bar meant OU fans introducing themselves and offering to buy him drinks. Mayes knows his sports takes aren’t going to be appreciated by everyone, but he wants to be a relatable guy to the listener. He may be the guy on the radio, but his roots are still blue collar as ever. 

Though things are going well for Mayes and the Triple M Ranch, as listenership continues to rise, don’t confuse that with him being satisfied. Though the results continue to get better and better, his desire to learn only continues to grow. Remember, Mayes is competitive. His goal is to be the best in the market. If he never achieves that, it won’t be from a lack of hard work and effort.

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“The easiest thing ever in the world, as a sports talk radio host, is to get their information from one spot and not look anywhere else,” said Mayes. “I’ve really focused on getting as much info as I possibly can before I formulate my opinion. I want to read things from people that I agree with, but also people I don’t agree. Seeing things from all angles is important to me. The more accurate information I can give someone the better. Making that a daily routine, much like a football practice, has been really good for me.”

BSM Writers

Disney Has One Logical Choice For The Future – Jimmy Pitaro

“If Bob Iger wants his next successor to come from the sports world, that is his guy. Hell, forget sports. Pitaro may be the best person available no matter how far and wide the search goes.”

Demetri Ravanos

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Bob Iger’s latest tenure atop the Walt Disney Company fascinates me. The company begged him to come back to clean up the mess made by his handpicked successor, but it was made clear from the get-go that he has a very limited window to get this right and then go home. That is why, less than six months after Iger returned to Burbank, we are already hearing about who will be the next CEO of Disney.

There is reportedly a shortlist of candidates for the job and it is sports-heavy. Two of the four spots are occupied by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. I see the value both men could bring to the job, but I think there is a clear frontrunner and obvious choice.

Jimmy Pitaro is already inside the Disney walls. He has already learned to operate within the Disney hierarchy. He has had to answer investors’ tough questions about budget and direction. If Bob Iger wants his next successor to come from the sports world, that is his guy. Hell, forget sports. Pitaro may be the best person available no matter how far and wide the search goes.

Adam Silver’s tenure as NBA Commissioner is the target of all sorts of criticism, mostly from people that don’t watch the NBA anyway. For all of the pissing and moaning about load management and player empowerment, people are still watching and the league is still as profitable as ever. By the metrics that matter to the people that matter (team owners), he is doing an excellent job. 

On a recent episode of Meadowlark Media’s Sports Business, John Skipper made it clear that he loves Silver and thinks he would make an excellent CEO for the Walt Disney Company, but that is a totally different world from the one Silver is currently thriving in.

“My advice would be to stay at the NBA,” the Meadowlark Media boss said. “It’s not a public company. You don’t have to face shareholders. You do have to face 30 NBA owners, but you don’t have activist shareholders. And I think Adam is a committed NBA commissioner. He’s been for a long time.”

The public posturing of Ron DeSantis will always get attention, but it doesn’t always have to be taken seriously. The moment he threatened to dissolve the special district in Central Florida that Walt Disney World operates out of, legal scholars were quick to point out that the proposal would create a major burden on the state and its citizens that no politician wants to be responsible for.

DeSantis wanted his culture war. Disney wanted the problem to go away. The two sides quietly found a compromise that made it look like the governor didn’t lose while Disney got to go on basically with business as usual. That is the kind of corporate policy war whoever takes over for Bob Iger will have to be ready to wage. 

Disney needs a salvager in that chair, someone who knows how to diagnose the problems of business relationships and find fixes that hurt each side just enough that both can say the other really took it on the chin. Pitaro is that guy. 

Look at ESPN’s relationship with the NFL when he arrived versus where it is now. The company needs someone that makes stars and creators feel like this company is one that it can trust and one that they want to be in business with. Look at what Pitaro has done to bring the Manning Brothers, Pat McAfee, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman under the Disney umbrella while simultaneously finding ways to keep stars like Stephen A. Smith and Bomani Jones happy with non-exclusive deals that allow them to grow their profile with new opportunities outside of the company walls.

Most importantly, no segment of the Walt Disney Company and arguably, no network on basic cable, has had to answer as many questions about the future of distribution as often as ESPN. Jimmy Pitaro has been asked about a future where entertainment is driven solely by the needs of the audience so many times that he has undoubtedly thought about the ups and downs of the streaming landscape more than just about anyone else on Earth.

Bob Iger will be atop Disney through the end of the year and into 2024. This isn’t a decision that is being made tomorrow. Even when it is made, Iger doesn’t just get to write a name down on a piece of paper, slam down an “APPROVED” stamp and go home. 

Everyone on that reported shortlist will be vetted by Iger, his confidants, members of the Disney board, and shareholders. Some may wince at the fact they have no idea how Jimmy Pitaro envisions running theme parks and a cruise line, but the reality is that no one checks all the boxes for any job as big as this one until they have been in it for a while.

When you know the perfect fit for a job doesn’t exist, you go looking for the person that is the best fit. I think Bob Iger and Disney have already found him in Bristol, CT.

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BSM Writers

Michael Kay Couldn’t Leave 98.7 ESPN New York Just Yet

“I wouldn’t want to leave it the way it is right now.”

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When a New York Post report back in January suggested that Michael Kay was “seriously contemplating retiring from his 98.7 ESPN New York show”, maybe he was in a dark room in his home thinking about his future.

In his mind, his days of hosting sports talk shows were pretty much over.

“When that story came out, I thought I was definitely not going to come back,” said Kay during a phone interview with Barrett Sports Media. “I almost appreciated it a little bit when Aaron Rodgers said when he went on the dark retreat that he was 90% retired. Well, I’d say I was even more than that. I was probably 95% certain that I was going to walk away in September when my contract was up.”

But between then and now, Kay had a chance of heart and he announced this past Thursday on his show that he had signed a new contract with 98.7 ESPN New York and that his show would continue for “a good long while”.

The decision to stay was not an easy one and, as it turned out, it was his family that played a big role in staying at 98.7 ESPN New York. 

“It was really difficult,” said Kay who is also the television play-play-play voice of the New York Yankees on YES Network. 

“The most difficult part of it is that my kids are 8 and 10 so you want to see important things in their life. Even during the winter when I’m off from the Yankees, I’m out of connection from 3:00 to 7:00, so I had to reconcile with that. I talked with my wife and I actually talked with my kids about it, too, and they like me doing it so I decided to keep doing it.”

After initially feeling like it was time to step away after hosting The Michael Kay Show for 21 years, Kay began to reconsider but he also knew that he had to decide with his current contract expiring this September. The sales staff at the radio station needed to know because they had to inform potential advertisers who was going to host the show. Kay also owed it to his co-hosts Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg to let them know what his plans were.

Everyone at 98.7 ESPN New York needed a decision.

“The radio station has to make contingency plans,” said Kay. “What’s going to happen if I, in fact, do leave? All of those people are impacted.”

Speaking of La Greca and Rosenberg, Kay’s sidekicks played a huge part in his decision to continue doing the show. There’s a tremendous amount of chemistry on the program and Kay wasn’t about to walk away from his radio family. 

“Don and I have been together 21 years,” said Kay. “That’s a longer relationship than my wife and I have. We’re really special friends. Peter is for about 8 years and I feel the same way about him.”

Kay also acknowledged the people behind the scenes like Program Director Ryan Hurley, as well as executives from both ESPN and Good Karma Brands.

“They certainly tried to appeal to me to stay and after a while, it got to me,” said Kay. “I said you know what I’m not done yet so I decided to re-up. The pull to stay was stronger than the pull to just kick back and relax.”

These are certainly interesting times to talk about sports in New York.

Baseball season is about to get underway and both the Yankees and Mets are expected to be playoff contenders.

Future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers could be on his way to the Jets while the Giants are coming off of a trip to the playoffs last season.

The Knicks and Nets are heading toward the NBA Playoffs while the Rangers, Devils, and Islanders could all be going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

But all of the local teams’ success wasn’t a factor in Kay deciding to continue talking sports.

“To be honest, it didn’t play any role because sometimes when teams are bad it makes for better talk radio,” said Kay. “The fact that they’re good and they could be playing in postseason, all of them, is intriguing but that didn’t play a role.” 

And now that Kay has signed his new contract, he can continue his quest to regain the top spot in the afternoon drive war with WFAN. The show has been losing the ratings battle with Carton & Roberts and it would have been difficult to retire with his show in second place.

It’s not the reason why Kay decided to sign a new deal, but he does now have some more time to become number one again.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t want to leave it the way it is right now,” said Kay. “We had beaten everybody that they put in front of us. We beat Mike (Francesa), and we beat Joe and Evan. People conveniently forget that we also beat Carton & Roberts. Carlin, Maggie, and Bart…we beat them all. Our ratings, for some reason, have not been comparable to what they were before the pandemic hit.”

The ratings aside, Kay is happy with the content he, La Greca, and Rosenberg provide their listeners daily. While they have some catching up to do in the battle with WFAN, Kay is pleased with the product and that his show is good clean sports talk.

In Kay’s mind, business is business but he has his way of doing a show.

“Ratings tell you one thing and that’s how we keep score, but if you listen to what comes out of the speakers, in my opinion, our show is the best sports show in all the country. We not only talk about sports but we treat people with respect. We don’t have to go low-brow. Ratings didn’t have anything to do with (his decision) but it does give you a little more runway now to make up some ground. We have already proven that we can beat them.” 

Michael Kay has been a part of 98.7 ESPN New York going back to the launch of the radio station in September of 2001. Just like Aaron Rodgers, he was pretty close to calling it a career…but Kay didn’t want his radio career to fade to black just yet. 

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BSM Writers

Xperi & Joe D’Angelo Are Ready For Radio’s Future

“I want this audience to see how they can leverage the technology that is nine times out of ten already going to be at their radio station.”

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In October 2022, Xperi Senior Vice President of Global Radio and Digital Audio Joe D’Angelo hosted the single most impressive radio presentation I’ve ever seen at the NAB Show in New York.

I wrote about my takeaways from the presentation after returning from New York, which essentially boiled down to: Xperi is looking out for the future of radio like no one else is. I don’t think that’s hyperbole. The company is making sure FM radio is in the best place to succeed as the audio space continues to evolve and see more and more emphasis placed on on-demand digital offerings.

D’Angelo will continue the conversation in a panel at the 2023 BSM Summit titled “How Radio Can Compete and Win in the Connected Car” on Tuesday, which will focus on the company’s DTS AutoStage platform. The offering from Xperi will revolutionize broadcast radio as automobiles become more and more technologically advanced.

“So many other platforms are much more crowded — mobile phones, smart TVs, smart speakers — there’s very low barriers of entry to building a brand, and getting content on those platforms,” D’Angelo said. “But broadcast radio has the unique advantage in the car and it’s incumbent on the publishers — the producers of content — to look for every opportunity to sustain and exploit that branding and that relationship with the car driver.

“We also allow and deliver internet-only radio — so streaming services for broadcasters — as well as catch-up content. So if you wanna make yesterday’s morning show available today, we create all the linkages there, as well as podcasts. If you’re creating podcasts, we create those linkages that aid in the discovery of that content and serve it up on your behalf on the dash of the car.”

DTS AutoStage will allow drivers to continue listening to radio stations even after leaving the broadcast range of a station, utilizing the station’s stream to continue a seamless audio delivery. Additionally, it will provide real-time analytics weekly to stations about the time spent listening, and a “heat map” of where your listeners live, work, and travel.

D’Angelo noted that the sports radio space is ripe with opportunity to promote and utilize the technology Xperi has worked on, adding that music has been co-opted by brands like Apple and Amazon to sell you more products, while sports radio is simply looking to share opinions and content with passionate audiences.

“The real opportunities now are accruing to the talk formats and sports is such a ripe opportunity with a passionate audience, and I’ll tell you from personal experience, finding sports programming on a platform like TuneIn is nearly impossible,” D’Angelo continued. “If you’ve ever used it and tried to search for a live event, you’re going to get a catalog of a hundred different things that might related to the team but have nothing to do with the live event.

“I’m coming here because we’re at a unique opportunity where I want to explain to this audience how what they do can benefit from the technology we’ve deployed…clearly, sports programming — live sports, sports talk, sports betting, local sports — is a really unique category for local radio and I want this audience to see how they can leverage the technology that is nine times out of ten already going to be at their radio station.”

At the BSM Summit, D’Angelo will showcase the real-time analytics available to stations who opt to share data with the platform, and will give attendees a look at a sample of what information is supplied to stations and companies by using data gathered by listeners of Washington D.C.’s 106.7 The Fan. BSM Summit attendees will get a first look at the information, before it’s released worldwide at Radiodays Europe on March 28th.

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