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Mike Salk’s Team Makes His Job And His Life Easier

“I think over time ratings stop defining shows, so I’m really proud more for the whole package. I’m really proud of the stuff we’ve done at 710 this year.”

Brian Noe

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If you mistake Mike Salk for a dumb guy, you’re the one who’s lacking intelligence. He’s had quite the range of experiences in his career — from Seattle to Boston mixed with a side of Bristol — and has formulated many wise and helpful observations about the sports radio industry along the way.

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It’s funny, just the other day I read about Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. blaming his former employer. He said the New York Giants held him back. Never mind the times Odell got in Odell’s own way by melting down on the sideline, getting suspended for going psycho on Josh Norman, and stinking up the joint in his only playoff appearance against the Packers. In many ways Mike Salk is the anti-OBJ. Instead of pointing the finger at WEEI in Boston for a relationship that didn’t work out, Mike points the finger at himself. It’s refreshing when men act like men by owning their shortcomings.

Mike made his way back to Seattle in 2014 where he doubles as a host and PD at 710 ESPN. He makes one of the most brilliant observations I’ve ever heard about working with an ex-athlete. He also describes how jealousy can limit the growth of hosts, and that viewing a rival sports station as the only competition is shortsighted. Enjoy.

Brian Noe: Over the 10 years that you and Brock Huard have done a show together, what area has your show gelled the most?

Mike Salk: In order to answer that you have to understand how little things gelled when we first started. I mean really, the show was troubled. I was from the Northeast and trying to make my way as a first time talk show host in a completely foreign city. Brock, who’s the nicest human being in the world, had never done talk either. In the first couple of weeks on the air, rather than saying something he once nodded on the air, which didn’t make for great radio.

The more Brock didn’t say much, didn’t offer a ton of opinion, the more over the top I was. I don’t want to quite call it hot take radio, but just the more opinionated and sort of east coast I would be, which didn’t fit the market at all. It took us a long time to meet in the middle.

I’m sure there are still times where we’re not perfect, but I think over those first couple of years he learned how to give an opinion on things — now he’s unbelievable at it — and I learned how to tone it down a little bit in order to kind of grow up and understand the market that I was talking to every day.

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Noe: How difficult was it for you to adjust to the Northwest?

Salk: Hard. At first, really hard. I spent probably the first two years not understanding it at all. Then finally the next two years I started to grasp it a whole lot better. Maybe I even took it for granted when I went to Boston for the year because I think I had sort of become much more northwest at heart by the time I attempted that.

Noe: For anybody who hasn’t done radio in the Northwest, how would you describe some of the ways it differs from the Northeast?

Salk: It differs a lot. Seattle is known for being passive-aggressive. That sort of its M.O. It’s not an aggressive city. People don’t respond well to daily bashing of the teams, daily bashing of your fellow hosts, daily bashing of much of anything. They generally want an honest but friendly and sometimes positive take on the world. It’s not always my natural inclination, so I think maybe at times I stand out in that regard. I think generally Seattle’s a pretty happy place and people want to be pretty happy here.

Noe: What area of being a manager do you think you’ve grown the most?

Salk: I think unfortunately you’d probably have to ask the people I manage. I have really tried to grow the most in terms of putting the growth of their careers first. Putting aside my own show, my own hosting desires. Taking a backseat to what the hosts, producers, board operators, and everybody else on our team want to accomplish in their careers. That’s generally what I find most rewarding is seeing them succeed.

Noe: Parents sometimes learn from their kids. Do you find yourself learning how to be a better host through the talent you oversee as a manager?

Salk: 100 percent. Yes. Everyone does this differently, right? There’s no one right way to do radio. There’s not even any common thread that runs through every host or every show on any station, including ours. I think every day I’m either listening to shows on our station or other stations around the country.

I find myself learning from people all the time. It’s so easy as a radio host to be jealous of other talk shows that sound good. Rather than give into the jealousy part of it, I try to just incorporate and use it to remind myself of the things that can help make our show better at times.

Noe: Can you walk me through the timeline of you joining 710 and then going back to WEEI? How did that unfold?

Salk: Timeline wise? I moved out here in April of ‘09. I did (2) two-year contracts here in Seattle. Then I went to WEEI in March of 2013. I left there just under a year later. I’ve been back here as the PD and host since.

Noe: What was it like for you to adapt while doing radio in two very different cities — Boston and Seattle?

Salk: I think the problem was that I didn’t adapt very well. I’d like to tell you that I did, but I didn’t. I didn’t adapt very well to what Boston needed. I wasn’t a very good fit there. I didn’t handle that situation particularly well.

It’s a hard question for me to answer because I just didn’t do it very well. I didn’t make enough of an adjustment. I was pretty relieved to come back to a town that really had become home, meaning Seattle.

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Noe: What did you learn the most throughout that whole experience?

Salk: I think I started to learn even more the differences between the way radio is done in the Northeast versus the Northwest. I don’t think I understood it particularly well even though I probably should have. I thought there was a market in Boston for doing things differently and there wasn’t really. There didn’t need to be.

I also learned a lot about how to enter new into a situation. I didn’t handle myself particularly well in Boston at WEEI. There were some issues with what I was told versus what ended up happening.

Overall I’m the one who showed up and I think I probably approached that job with far too much confidence — talking too much, not listening enough — and ultimately it led to a massive failure. I tried to learn from it. That’s been my goal.

Noe: What advice would you give to a host that’s trying to adapt after moving to an unfamiliar area?

Salk: I think it’s a really tricky balance of maintaining who you are while still listening, understanding, and coming to learn about the city that you’re moving to. It’s easy to learn the sports history of a town. It’s easy to learn the sports issues that you’re going to be dealing with on a day-to-day basis, but it’s hard to learn the style and personality of a region.

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I think trying to ask as many people as possible about it — immerse yourself in whatever the local culture is. That’s enormous. Wherever you are, I think immersing yourself, doing the types of things people in that region do is pretty important to feeling like you truly belong there. There’s no substitute for time either.

Noe: Which do you think is more important — is it knowing the sports history, or understanding the vibe of a new place?

Salk: Oh, I think it’s the vibe. The internet can tell you anything. You can always look something up. You can always rely on your co-host for that part of it. But actually understanding what people are looking for and just the personality of a city, I don’t know that you can substitute for that. That’s why it takes shows — especially ones with people coming from out of town — it can take them a little bit longer to succeed because the sound may be different and it may be evolving. That takes some patience on the part of a program director.

Noe: As a host, if you went back and listened to one of your old shows from years ago, you would absolutely hear how much progress you’ve made. How do you gauge the improvements you’ve made as a manager?

Salk: Good question. I think in an alternate world in which we taped all of the behind-the-scenes conversations that we have and you played the ones from five years ago versus the ones now, I think they’d be pretty different.

I think that being a first-time manager is hard. Doing it while you’re doing a radio show every day is complicated. I hope they’d sound different. I hope that they’d show more improvement. I hope that I’m doing a better job of listening to people instead of spouting my mouth off. I think that’s — I’m learning — more and more important to management.

Noe: As a host or manager, what area have you changed your approach the most?

Salk: The management job is really divided up into a couple of different parts. On one hand you have the upward and outward facing elements of strategy. Trying to determine what a radio station should sound like, and what digital should look like, and what the interplay between them should be like moving forward. The other side of it is the true managing of people.

They’re completely different skills and completely different parts of the day other than that nexus point of trying to translate, here’s the plan for where we’re going, into managing the people who are actually going to be executing that vision. They are two very different skills. You’ve got to find a way to put them together while handling all of the day-to-day parts of running a radio station — things that just have to be done every day.

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I will say for me — and especially given that I have the other part of my job — the team I have working on those things, they’re incredible. I have an APD in Kyle Brown who is top-notch. I have a social engagement, imaging, and digital team with James Osborn and Taylor Jacobs who are incredible. They are creative every day. Executive producer Jessamyn McIntyre takes care of so many little details. Then just all the way through with producers and hosts. It’s a really incredible team that makes it so much easier to do all of those things.

Noe: How closely do you pay attention to your competition in Seattle?

Salk: I just try to focus on what we’re doing. It’s not that they’re doing anything good or bad. We try to pay attention to what we’re doing. If we are doing our job right, that should be the only thing that matters. I want all stations to succeed. A rising tide would lift all boats. The more people interested in sports in Seattle, the better for me, but I really try not to think of any specific station as our competition. 

If our demo was men 25-54, our competition is any station that is registering ratings in men 25-54. I think the radio industry is constantly focused inward on itself. Really, I think Jason has done a great job of this trying to unite parts of the industry, trying to find ways to say, no, television is the competition in some ways. XM might be part of the competition and part of the solution. Same with podcasts. Same with Pandora and anything else.

Noe: What’s important for a host to be aware of when working with an ex-athlete as a partner?

Salk: They’re much better athletes than you realize. I didn’t find that out until about a year or so in when Brock and I went to spring training and we worked out together one day. I was like, “Oh, he’s not just this chump backup quarterback.” He’s just throwing weight around and running like it’s nothing. It’s just totally different than I realized.

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It’s a couple of things. One, in terms of the management side of it, ex-athletes are generally really coachable. They’ve been coached their entire life. They’re looking for feedback. They’re looking for help getting better and they genuinely want to improve. In terms of being a co-host, they have so many stories. They have such a unique ability to relate to professional athletes in a way that the rest of us simply can’t.

They just gather so much immediate respect. The whole you-can’t-talk-about-it-because-you’ve-never-played-it crowd that’s out there, they do want to hear from those ex-athletes who have the experience and have played at that highest level. You’ve got to find a way to tap into all of that. At the same time, and Brock has been incredible at this, the ex-athlete has to find a way to legitimize their co-host. The best ones don’t just revel in the fact that they’re the experts. They do that and they handled that, but they also throw questions back to their co-host and even if they disagree with the position, they don’t kill the position. They don’t illegitimize the position.

It’s something that I know is important to me and probably a lot of other hosts who’ve never played the game at a level above high school. We want to argue but that ability goes away if the ex-athlete is just saying, “Well you didn’t play so your opinion doesn’t matter.” Nobody wants to then start fighting about whose opinion matters. That’s bad radio. You just want to be able to dig into the whole thing. Brock’s been fantastic at that and I think nowadays most everybody seems to understand that thankfully.

Noe: That’s a great point. When Brock continues to grow in terms of play-by-play on a national stage, how does that affect your show?

Salk: It’s generally been really positive. First of all Brock’s access to premium guests that just want to go on with him is incredible. Just the number of national play-by-play and color commentators we’ve had on the show in the last few years, I think we’ve had each of the number one teams for all four NFL top broadcasting teams. At least before Romo replaced Phil. It’s not me. It’s not our producers. It’s Brock and just the reputation that he has. They respect him for how great he is.

I don’t think people truly understand how hard Brock works at both our job and at his college football gig. He is so well prepared every single week for that. I listen to a lot of guys around the country when I’m watching games. There are a lot of people who are really good at it. I don’t think there’s anyone in the country who prepares any harder than Brock does for those games. That’s the work during the week preparing at home, but then the amount of time he spends really thinking about the questions and taking stuff out of the in-person interviews they do leading up to it, he’s incredible at it.

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Noe: If some major network lured him away, what would be your next step?

Salk: I’m probably not interested in starting another new radio show. So, I don’t know. Thankfully, I don’t have that situation. The real answer is just working with Brock every day — it’s one of my favorite parts about my job. I just love that relationship and that conversation. I’ve not spent a ton of time thinking about what the world would look like if he were lured away somewhere else.

Noe: If you think back to the time when you needed to tone it down and Brock needed to be more talkative, did you guys have a breakthrough where you thought, “Okay, we’ve finally gotten over the hump?”

Salk: I think it was just over a year in, we went to spring training together. We had a chance to get away. I think we went out for sushi one night and we just really talked about it. We’re really different people — politically, religiously, we come from completely different ends of the Earth. I think at that point we just kind of made a deal that the one thing we had in common was our desire to make this thing work. We wanted to win. That day we just sort of — I don’t want to call it quite a pact — but it was like, “Hey, we’re going to do everything we can to make this work.” Since then that seemed to kind of bind us together instead of apart.

Noe: When it comes to career goals, do you think about what you’d like to accomplish, or are you more of a day-to-day thinker based on your day-to-day workload?

Salk: Somewhere in between I guess. I don’t believe you can think too far down the line. I think I did when I first got into this. Before I got into the management side of it, I think like every young radio host my initial goal was I wanted to be on the air somewhere. I didn’t even care if it was sports radio. I just wanted to get into radio. Once that happened, my next goal was I wanted a steady gig. Then I wanted a drive-time gig.

There was a part of me that wanted to see what it would be like to go back to Boston and try to perform in the city that I had originally grown up in and love sports in. There was a part of me that wondered can I be the next Mike Greenberg? Can I host a big-time national radio show? I think along the way some of those goals fall off. You learn kind of your place in this landscape. I don’t think I’m going be the next Mike Greenberg. I’m not going to host a big-time national show. My goals just sort of shifted.

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I’m really focused on the city I live in and my life here — a work-life balance, raising kids, being a good husband, trying to be a good leader for 710 and just push the station forward. The station has been incredible to me. Twice it’s helped me. The first time in 2009 I was unemployed and trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do. I had just gotten married. The station started and I was lucky enough to be invited out to work with Brock. Then when things went wrong in Boston, the station kind of magically was there for me again. I feel an immense sense of debt — a responsibility to a station and to my boss who’s taken a chance on me twice. It’s really important to me to try to pay that off.

Noe: When you think back to just trying to get on the air initially, could you have imagined that you’d have the career you’ve experienced?

Salk: Some of those nights when I was parking cars in the winter outside the John Hancock building in Boston in 20-degree weather, I would have just been happy to have a job inside on some of those nights. Being on the air was a thrill. There’s nothing quite like the exhilaration of starting a radio show every day. It hits you every single day.

I’ll never forget during the first couple of shows I did in Bristol. Louise Cornetta invited me to Bristol to do some shows, and driving back the two hours from Bristol to Boston and just feeling like I was going to drive 1,000 miles an hour home because I was just so amped up from doing those shows.

Working with Jeff Rickard and Freddie Coleman and some of the folks who were doing GameNight at the time who are awesome, and just couldn’t have treated me better, just amazingly easy to work with. Those moments were spectacular. Just the adrenaline rush of it was hard to forget.

Noe: What would you say is the biggest bright spot of your entire career?

Salk: The biggest bright spot? That’s a good question. I don’t know if I’ve ever been asked that question before. I don’t know that I have one. There’s no one moment. I think the first time our ratings turned for me and Brock, the first time we ended up getting good ratings after the first year or so of ratings that were not impressive, we were pretty excited. I wouldn’t say I did like the Merton Hanks, but I mean we were pretty pumped when those ratings turned for the first time.

I think over time ratings stop defining shows, so I’m really proud more for the whole package. I’m really proud of the stuff we’ve done at 710 this year. The station has been around for 10 years and we’ve never had one specific charitable function that we’ve been known for.

Finally this year we worked together as a whole group — and I’m talking everyone from hosts, producers, sales, promotions — everybody kind of got together and decided to work with this group called Coaching Boys Into Men. It’s a local group that does some really cool stuff on teaching high school kids how to respect women, consent, it’s an anti-domestic violence group, a leadership group and that’s been incredibly rewarding to see this group grow as we’ve worked with them.

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Noe: When you wake up tomorrow morning, what is the one thing above all else that gives you the most enjoyment and excites you to run into the radio station?

Salk: The real answer is coming home for the nap later in the day.

(Laughs.) Honestly it’s the people. I know that’s sort of a cop-out answer, but it’s been really important to me, to my predecessor Brian Long, to my boss Dave Pridemore. It’s been really important to the people that have run 710 and Bonneville Seattle in general that we have a group of good people. 

There are days that I don’t want to leave work. Heather my wife will be like, “Hey when are you coming home?” I’ll say, “I’ll be home soon.” Then I just sort of dawdle on my way out the door because I keep running into people that I want to talk to. It’s the people. It’s far and away that. All of the other stuff — ratings, revenue, digital, coaching, managing, strategy — all of that kind of pales in comparison to just getting to work with fun people.

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BSM Writers

Day Spent With: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

“What a beautiful gift to have the ability to make something that is about you; your imaginations; your principles and have it reach and imprint someone else.”

Derek Futterman

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Day Spent With – The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

We’ve reached the end of BSM’s ‘Day Spent With‘ series. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these pieces as much as we’ve enjoyed creating them for you. I want to thank all of the brands, companies, and professionals who made time for Derek Futterman during the past two months. None of these projects work without help from a lot of quality people.

Our goal from the start of this series was to shine a light on what a day entails inside each workplace. Whether folks work in radio, digital, television, voiceover/imaging, media buying or management, consistent success can not be achieved if all departments aren’t working in sync. Fortunately, we’ve got a lot of good ones continuing to raise the bar across the sports media industry.

To close things out, we sent Derek to South Beach to spend a full day with The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. My thanks to Dan, and the entire crew for making time for us. I also want to thank Bimal Kapadia for putting the wheels in motion. We don’t travel a lot for projects, but when this idea came up, I thought it’d be a great way to put a bow on an awesome series. I’m sure as you read the piece, you’ll agree that it offers a great peek into life on the pirate ship. I just hope Derek didn’t bring home an eye patch or lose a hand in the process.

Jason Barrett

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A loud bell rings two minutes before the top of the hour, signifying to all those within the facilities that the show is about to begin. This tone, albeit fleeting in its duration, has a resonance that rings true throughout the entirety of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, but it is hardly the catalyst for the natural energy and congeniality exhibited inside the studio walls. There is a calculated verve and mental calmness that permeates the space combined with an inherent awareness of the expectations and commitment to its audience.

Although there are elements of improvisation and joviality within the three-and-a-half hour show, hosts and contributors do not simply enter the studio without a plan. Personnel arrive at the Meadowlark Media studios in Miami in two waves with a cognizance of news across a variety of topics. In an office space with the Port of Miami and Kaseya Center visible in the distance, the cast brainstorms potential talking points and informs those involved in audio and video production of any content they might need. Of course, part of the job is also remaining prepared for a deviation off script depending on the discussion percolating or breaking news off which to react.

Co-hosts Dan Le Batard and Jon “Stugotz” Weiner have been working together for nearly two decades, first at 790 The Ticket in Miami. The local version of the show quickly flourished through its blend of sports and other worldly discussion. There have been several different permutations over the years. Consistent through it all is knowing and accepting their roles, and embracing the sublime to the ridiculous, while enjoying content selection freedom.

“I would say that we’re following our curiosities, so I want the show to have range, but I’m going to say [it is] a sports show in costume; a sports show in disguise,” Le Batard said. “I want it to be about other things and it also has sports, but I don’t want it to be limited as a sports show.”

Le Batard and his team do not hesitate to address divisive issues head on, adopting a direct approach rather than espousing their opinions in a indirect manner. There is both deliberate and indirect self-effacing comedy within the show, which begins with a “Local Hour” broadcast streamed live on YouTube weekday mornings at 9am ET.

Consumers wait for the countdown to commence to showtime, which is set to a pulsating theme song with its wide array of cast members engaging in different activities around the facility. Conversely, Weiner is stuck in Miami traffic trying to arrive at the studio on time and dashes through the door to arrive just on time. Abstaining from the pre-show meeting, however, is usually part of the plan in how he executes his infamous “Stugotz” character that has been cultivated for nearly two decades.

“In terms of what’s going to be thrown at me, I really have no idea, and there are many, many times I don’t know what my response is going to be to some of the topics of the day until it’s actually asked to me by Dan,” Weiner said. “I’d rather just not know where I’m going to go and just go with my gut.”

On this particular version of the program, Weiner is not in the studio and in the midst of taking vacation. Miami Herald sports columnist Greg Cote is live for his weekly appearance on the program in a tradition that has become a favorite among colleagues and listeners. Le Batard opens on a somber note, discussing the sudden collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, disclosing that the program was not going to show the video of the incident.

Cote believed that the video should be shown one time just as it is any calamity, prompting Le Batard to explain his opinion on how the footage will likely be promulgated by the internet. The program then moves on to discuss Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who had his properties raided by authorities as part of a federal investigation pertaining to sexual assault, sex trafficking, firearms and illegal narcotics.

Over the years, industry professionals have frequently associated the word ‘pontificate’ with Le Batard, referring to how he expresses himself and often spans beyond sports. During his time at ESPN, the program had to clear certain creative elements or segment ideas with upper management. Many people began to foresee a split between Le Batard and ESPN approaching, and that resolution was eventually reached. Le Batard thinks critically and objectively about different topics, outlining his opinions about various matters on the air, and he always desired the ability to possess more creative control.

“Our show is just meant as an audio experience in a family-like environment, creating laughter and weirdness and pretending like it doesn’t know a lot of people are watching,” Le Batard said. “That needs to be protected, and we’ve thrown a lot of change at it.”

In the last several years alone, the program has enacted alterations in its process pertaining to the studio, cast members, clock, visual elements and start time. At the same time, Le Batard’s brother, David, was battling brain cancer and later passed away, but he did not want to give his audience the vulnerability associated with the hardship. Le Batard considers the creative process to be sacred and values the intimacy of their communication medium.

“I allow our most passionate fans to have strong opinions that make me reconsider mine,” Le Batard said. “I like a community that has sparks in it even if we get accused of being an echo chamber, but I would say that over the last couple of years, I have found fewer and fewer spaces where the criticism is constructive enough to be heard over all of the poisonous devices [and] rhetoric that is now internet spaces that are covered in acid and fire.”

When radio show producer Chris Cote was included in layoffs at ESPN in November 2020 without Le Batard’s knowledge, Le Batard immediately re-hired him as his assistant and offered to pay his salary. For Cote, the act was unsurprising because of Le Batard’s loyalty to his staff members and something he believed precipitated his exit from ESPN.

“That was an interesting time,” Cote recalled. “I would say I’ve made the joke on the air before that people like to blame me and say I’m the reason we left ESPN. I think what happened with me was the final straw that led to the divorce.”

Cote knew Le Batard from the time he was young since he worked with his father, Greg, at the Miami Herald. During those visits though, he did not realize Le Batard could one day be his boss. He now views it as funny that things ended up unfolding in this manner. Le Batard hosted this edition of the show with Greg Cote, someone he originally wanted as his partner on the air.

“If he and I had chosen to do the show with 20 years of reps, it would have felt like Larry David and the late Richard Lewis,” Le Batard said. “It would have been a chemistry because our friendship is real. It’s not borne of television; it’s not borne of broadcasting.”

“My dad brings that special sauce that Stugotz brings to the show where we’re talking about sports and then he says something, and the next thing we know, we’re spending 10 minutes just making fun of something he said,” Cote added. “My dad is like the gift that never stops giving. He’s just a gold mine for random stuff that has nothing to do with the conversation we’re trying to have, and he’s a content factory.”

The character of ‘Stugotz’ is not as much acting as it is an exaggerated version of who Weiner genuinely is in his life. On the show, he tries to represent how most people consume sports, affirming that Le Batard does it in a different manner. Part of his inspiration came from Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, longtime radio host at WFAN and SiriusXM. Weiner believes that things clicked when he started to mock him rather than try and successfully facsimile his approach.

Part of the allure and mystique around ‘Stugotz’ is in his absences and fans not knowing when he will be on the show. As time has progressed, the character has appeared on other programs such as the God Bless Football and STUpodity podcasts, but he has long been synonymous as Le Batard’s sidekick who is relatable and intriguing. When he is missing from the program, the show rebrands its graphics to read “The Dan Le Batard Show without Stugotz” and plays off the aura of the personality.

“I wish it was my idea, I’m upset that it wasn’t my idea and this is the first I’m finding out about it,” Weiner said. “You’re telling me they do this every time I’m not there? Well two things – it shows, (a), how much attention I’m paying to the show when I’m not there, which is slightly less than I am when I am there, and No. 2 is my reaction to it. Me laughing is what makes our show our show. I’m pissed that I didn’t come up with the idea; I am proud of them for coming up with that idea and executing it. It’s laugh-out-loud funny.”

Le Batard and Stugotz broadcast their show facing a pane of transparent glass, behind which lies an addendum to the studio space. Chris Cote is part of the group within the “Shipping Container,” a room containing different producers and contributors who operate audio equipment, coordinate guest appearances and frequently contribute to the conversation. Both areas are adorned with artwork and sports memorabilia from the city of Miami. Mike Ryan (Ruiz) has been part of this labyrinth for several years, especially when he served as the show’s executive producer. In the present moment, this role is filled by several different personnel who rotate depending on schedule and show needs.

“The best shows are when there’s a lot of creative energy bouncing off one another [and] a lot of workshopping because this is basically a writers’ room where we trade off ideas and we try to figure out, ‘Who’s the best vessel for this joke?,’” Ryan said. “Sometimes we feed it to one of the talents; sometimes someone else says it here.”

Joining Ryan in the Shipping Container during this show were Billy Gil, JuJu Gotti and Anthony Calatayud. The live-streamed “Local Hour” is packed with topics and news the show discussed beforehand. Every hour of the program averages approximately 40 minutes on the podcast side and contains two breaks, each with a two-minute duration. Once the hour ends, Le Batard and the staff usually take a 15-minute intermission before resuming the show.

“We have a show that is kind of imperceptible when Dan isn’t driving a show,” Ryan said. “It’s this amorphous ensemble, and the trick is to not let anybody really know that there is a perceived leader – that it’s all just a free-flowing conversation – and I think that that’s a delicate balance that comes with time and developing chemistry.”

Gil was responsible for executive producing this edition of the show, running the audio board and coordinating with the television producers. When Le Batard mentioned Alan Thicke, Gil sifted through audio archives to track down something related to the topic. Additionally, he was taking notes to denote different titles and descriptions for segments geared to be released in podcast form.

“A lot of times, we’re trying to come up with jokes for Stugotz,” Gil said. “There’ll be days where naturally just bits will form, so then we’re getting sound for the bits; having voices done for the bits; kind of putting that together so there’s opens [and] closes. If a top-five or something comes up naturally, figuring out the top five. There’s a lot of in-show production and things going on that if you’re listening, we’ve gotten away with people being like, ‘Oh wow, that’s a lot of prep,’ and it’s like, ‘It happened on the fly.’”

Le Batard and former ESPN president John Skipper founded Meadowlark Media in 2021, a content studio with a wide array of programming and partnerships spanning sports and entertainment. The move was liberating to many show members and has been built out through The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and other programs available in both audio and video formats. Le Batard’s show in particular has significantly expanded the staff situated within its Shipping Container with young and dynamic talent.

JuJu Gotti, for example, landed the job as the show’s social media manager through a friendship he forged with Ryan. Gotti gained attention when he revealed to Mike Golic and Trey Wingo that he had a tattoo of Greg Cote and was later featured on the program. Even though he does not live in the area, Gotti travels to the city once every two weeks where he provides his opinions and monitors social media platforms. Later in the day, Gotti participates in several meetings with the Miami-based Meadowlark Media team and continues his other work.

“I look at it like it’s a blessing to wake up every day, so anything beyond that is triple exciting because the people who are in the Shipping Container with me [are] not necessarily bad people at all,” Gotti said. “I enjoy hanging with them and talking to them, so it feels wonderful.”

After working as a video producer for Sports Illustrated, Jessica Smetana joined Meadowlark Media in its early stages and is on the verge of her third year with the company. Growing up as a devoted fan of ESPN and Le Batard’s program, she understands that there are diversified interests and opinions. Smetana does not hesitate to present her perspectives on different matters, such as the demise of Sports Illustrated amid uncertainty towards its future with a change in publishers.

“I don’t want to regret not saying what’s on my mind a month from now when I see a bunch of my friends out of jobs,” Smetana explained, “so I think it just comes from not wanting to hold anything back when some of those topics come up.”

Meadowlark Media and DraftKings agreed to a distribution deal in 2021 where The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, along with programs across the “Le Batard & Friends Network” are disseminated to a variety of different outlets. Ninety minutes of Le Batard’s show airs live on DraftKings Network every day as part of a two-hour programming block, the final 30 minutes of which is a replay of selected material from earlier in the show.

Within the ensuing hours of the show, which includes interviews with journalists Jemele Hill and Tim Kurkjian, Le Batard poses interview questions to his guests surrounding current events and new projects. The show also welcomes Amin Elhassan to the studio, who occasionally fills in as a host while also growing his Oddball podcast.

Le Batard, Cote and Elhassan are in the main studio and speak with those in the “Shipping Container” through the glass. Weiner believes the wide array of voices and perspectives keeps the show young and relevant as he and Le Batard continue to grow older. In watching the show evolve over time, Le Batard evinces that the new cast members coerce the audience to face unpredictability and leads to the show deviating from doing things in the exact same ways as it had previously.

As the newest member of the program, Lucy Rohden splits her time between the Shipping Container and reporting around the country. She was recently in Iowa covering the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament, including watching her alma mater Iowa Hawkeyes and star guard Caitlin Clark.

“I found that traveling and creating content on the road is what I enjoy doing most, and so if that means sacrificing time on the show to get to do that, that’s sort of worth it for me,” Rohden said. “But it’s still something I’m balancing and learning how to do, and it’s something that the show is also balancing and learning how to incorporate because they haven’t really had an on-the-road correspondent before, so it’s still a work in progress, but lots of caffeine.”

Smetana and Rohden are the only two women who are in the Shipping Container. They have developed a friendship while working together. When Rohden first joined the show, Smetana helped her assimilate into the program and a new city. Both realized how important it is to include women on the show, especially with the proliferation of women’s sports.

“It’s always disheartening for me when I’m watching a sports show and I’m looking for someone who looks like me or who I relate to,” Rohden said, “and so I think it’s really great for (1), just rounding out the show, and Jess is unbelievably funny and talented, and I believe I do the same.”

“Obviously women’s sports has exploded in the last five years and it continues to explode, and I think there’s still a huge number of really popular sports shows in the U.S. that don’t have any women on them, which I think is crazy,” Smetana added. “But I still think even though I’m on the show now, we obviously could still do better.”

Part of the allure of the program for Weiner is in the unknown of who will be in the Shipping Container on a given day. The show has several contributors and content creators who follow changing schedules, and many of them partake in other projects both related to and outside of Meadowlark Media. Roy Bellamy, for example, started working with the program as an intern at 790 The Ticket and has been involved through various iterations over the years.

During the show, Bellamy focuses on his work and carefully selects when he will speak. A passion for hockey has led him to create a new podcast, titled The Hockey Show, which he recently debuted with co-host David Dwork. While Bellamy reviews metrics and other performance-related information, being able to interact with the fans and hear their opinion on the show is meaningful and keeps him motivated.

“I would say there are a lot of people that come up to us on the street and tell us just how much their lives have been bettered or change or how they got through issues, such as the pandemic, just based on listening to our show,” Bellamy said, “so the impact is there, and the impact is felt and it’s huge.”

Unlike a preponderance of live radio shows, the program does not usually implement callers and instead reviews messages in chat rooms or on social media during the episode. Those in the studio and Shipping Container can communicate with one another through microphone talkback and/or between segments, allowing them to integrate different show components in real time. In Las Vegas, members of the show stayed afterwards for a meet-and-greet session with the audience, providing them a chance to thank their fans. The experience resonated with producer Anthony Calatayud, who recognizes how the show has withstood internal and external changes to realize widespread societal acceptance.

“I think the personal touch in the community that the show has created with people that don’t know each other from all different parts of the globe – that they’re able to sit down and be like, ‘Oh, you get the show? Perfect, I get the show too,’ and have a camaraderie about that is something that can’t be measured with numbers, with money or with anything like that,” Calatayud said. “I think the impact of that is lasting.”

As the show reaches its conclusion within its postgame hour, it continues its ‘March Sadness’ bracket by reviewing entries within the ‘Greg Cote division.’ Preceding this segment was a review of a basketball take from ESPN host Mike Greenberg and another version of ‘Back in My Day’ with Greg Cote.

Once everyone involved in the show emerges from the studio and subsequent control rooms, there are more meetings to be had throughout the day about new content ideas, initiatives and other business matters. Audio and video editors are simultaneously diligently working around the office to deliver the final product en masse. Jeremy Taché is the primary audio editor for the program and also contributes within the Shipping Container a few days per week.

“I have to stay focused on the show every day and plugged in, whether I’m on the air or not,” Taché outlined. “I also write our titles and descriptions for our podcast episodes, so I’m always kind of trying to think, ‘What are the biggest jokes? What are the ones that landed?’”

The Meadowlark Media facility in Miami has an additional production studio that is used to record various podcasts and other audiovisual content. There are days where the studios are packed with shows moving in and out, whereas other afternoons are relatively quiet in terms of new productions.

Meadowlark Media has offices in New York City as well, and signed deals with companies to continue moving into the content space. The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, for example, is available to stream on Max with the B/R Sports Add-On. All The Smoke Productions also agreed to a strategic content partnership with the company for its flagship podcast hosted by former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.

“We all dream-build over here at Meadowlark, and we’re hoping that it can go to really, really impressive places,” Ryan said. “I don’t mean to sound like we haven’t already accomplished some pretty impressive things so far. The company is growing in great ways, and adding All The Smoke, those are two really reputable talents that give us something in our locker that we didn’t really have before – players’ perspective and a real, true name that you can put up in the marquee there next to Dan’s show.”

Weiner believes that his time on the show is finite, asserting that he does not believe he or Le Batard will want to continue in their sixties. Projecting outward, they want to ensure they provide a professional working environment where employees can create and thrive in the job they want. There exists a possibility where they could one day take over the show, which will be moving to a new location in a few years. For now though, everyone involved is trying to enjoy the ride and help precipitate continued growth.

“I’ve always said the key to our show is Dan’s happiness,” Weiner conveyed. “He’s the straw that stirs the drink, and so in an odd way as frustrating as I can be and as frustrated as I make him, he’s a creature of habit, and having me next to him makes him more comfortable, and I think he would probably acknowledge that. Our staff knows how to produce me in a way that they don’t know how to produce anybody because they’ve been doing it for 20 years.”

“What a beautiful gift to have the ability to make something that is about you; your imaginations; your principles and have it reach and imprint someone else,” Le Batard said. “To be able to express yourself freely is something that my parents fled Cuba so that their kids would have the ability to be a writer in one case, and in the case of my late little brother, an artist. Freedom of expression and freedom in general is why I live in this country.”

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‘NHL on TNT’ Gives Hockey Fans the ‘NBA on TNT’ Treatment

Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

John Molori

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NHL on TNT studio

Let’s play a little word association, sports media style. If I say TNT, what is your response? Chances are it will be a three-letter abbreviation of your own, namely, NBA. Over the years, TNT has built a reputation as arguably the premiere network to telecast the National Basketball Association.

The NBA on TNT pregame and halftime shows have become the gold standard with stars like Ernie Johnson, Jr., Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal. Still, it’s not just this quartet of roundball royalty that has fortified TNT’s hoops coverage.

The rep was also built on tremendous play-by-play announcers like Bob Neal and Kevin Harlan, color analysts like Doug Collins and Reggie Miller, and courtside reporters like the late Craig Sager and current sideline star Allie LaForce.

Indeed, TNT and the NBA have become synonymous, but I have some news for you. This network is not just about professional basketball. This past week I went off the grid with TNT looking at their in-game and studio coverage of the NHL.

On March 24, the NHL on TNT provided coverage of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Colorado Avalanche matchup. Kenny Albert did play-by-play with Eddie Olczyk on color. Albert is not as noted as his legendary broadcasting father Marv Albert, but he has certainly staked his claim as one of the best in the business – able to cross over to multiple sports with equal aplomb.

Hockey is a strong suit for Albert. His rat-tat-tat, drama-building style draws viewers in and keeps us on the edge of our seats. Similarly, Olczyk is one of the top four or five NHL game analysts in the business. His style is understated, providing calm and clear analysis of key plays. They work really well together.

Albert eschews any kind of hackneyed and trite catch phrases for his goal calls. An emphatic, “He shoots and scores!” is plenty enough.

Hockey is a different beast when it comes to play-by-play. Unlike basketball, baseball, football, or even soccer and tennis, there is a minimum of breaks in the action. With hockey, a play-by-play announcer has to know the names of the players like he or she knows her kids’ names.

To me, it is the hardest sport for play-by-play and equally difficult for a color analyst. In basketball, after a team scores, the play-by-play announcer will keep silent and give the color analyst time to talk until the play crosses center court. In baseball and football, there is ample room for commentary.

Hockey does not offer such space, but Olczyk gets the most out of the minimal amount of time. Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

Coming back from a break in the game, Albert and Olczyk provided on air commentary and then tossed to ice level reporter Brian Boucher who has grown into a tremendous asset to the TNT broadcasts. Boucher provided real talk about Colorado’s objectives of staying on top of their division and vying for the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Penguins, squarely in a rebuilding year having dumped talent at the NHL trade deadline, surprisingly jumped out to a 2–0 lead in this game, and the TNT between periods studio crew was all over it. The excellent Liam McHugh hosted alongside Colby Armstrong, Anson Carter, and Keith Yandle.

Armstrong was especially entertaining. With Pittsburgh outshooting the Avs 16-4, Armstrong noted that it’s the best he’s seen Pittsburgh play in a long time. His reasoning was that teams get geared up for playing Colorado even if it’s out of fear. Great stuff.

Both teams tallied two goals in the second period giving Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame. When Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon set up Jonathan Drouin for a goal to make it 4-3, Albert and Olczyk showed their strengths.

Albert called the pass from MacKinnon and one-timer goal from Drouin, and immediately noted that MacKinnon now had a point in all 34 of Colorado’s home games this season. On the goal replay, Olczyk showed how the play developed pointing out how McKinnon allowed Pittsburgh’s Evgenii Malkin to come in close before making the past to Drouin.

The TNT production team then showed a graphic displaying that McKinnon is now second all-time in longest home points streaks trailing only Wayne Gretzky. This was a sublime sequence of symmetry between talent and technicians like a songwriter, musician, and singer creating beautiful music.

What was supposed to be a blowout win for Colorado had now become a hockey barn burner, and the TNT crew was up to the task. Every goal and key play was followed up with replays from multiple angles showing the genesis of the action.

TNT has certainly taken to the velocity of the hockey broadcast with movement that challenges directors, graphics professionals, and videographers.

When there were breaks in this non-stop action, Olczyk was at his best. No hockey analyst draws on his experience as a player and explains that experience better to viewers. The TNT broadcast also lets Boucher freewheel and join in the flow of discussion without having to be introduced.

TNT does not merely rely on the traditional wide shot of the entire rink. We see close-up shots of each goaltender after a great save and the sweat of players on the bench or in the penalty box.

When McKinnon tied the game at 4-4 with 4:38 left in the third period, we got a series of tremendous crowd shots showing the Colorado fans going absolutely berserk. The sage Albert and Olczyk wisely remained quiet for several seconds, letting the cheers do the talking.

When Drouin scored the game winner at 4:06 of overtime, Albert exercised controlled enthusiasm, raising his voice on the call of the goal, but not becoming the show and overshadowing the play itself. He is definitely in the mold of Dan Kelly, Gary Thorne, and Sean McDonough, announcers who enhance but do not supersede the game.

Putting a cherry on top of this hockey Sunday, TNT showed a graphic that the Avalanche now led the NHL in comeback wins this season with 25 and that they were riding a 9-game winning streak. In analyzing the goal, Olczyk opined that the altitude of playing in Colorado was prevalent as the Penguins seemed to tire as the game progressed – really interesting insight.

In the postgame show, Anson Carter made a great point that the chemistry between Drouin and MacKinnon stems from the fact that they have been playing together going back to junior hockey. McKinnon joined in from the arena for a postgame interview. The analysts asked solid questions and even did a funny MVP chant together as the interview ended.

The NHL on TNT takes no back seat to its elder NBA sister. The broadcast provides viewers with flash, dash, and serious hockey talk from every angle – in studio, from the broadcast booth, and on the ice.

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How to Help Your Clients with Low Website Conversions

Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

Jeff Caves

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Graphic for how to increase website conversions
Credit: WPDesigner.Biz

Are your clients dealing with low website conversions? Whenever a marketing campaign is run, and the goal is to convert website visitors into leads, the temptation is to blame low traffic, amongst other issues, for low form fills or appointments being generated.  Just spend more money, you may think! Sometimes, you must look at at least four other potential issues to tackle poor conversion rates. Here are some actionable steps using the IT services industry to increase website conversions.

IT Solutions specializes in providing products, services, or solutions related to technology, particularly in areas such as software development, hardware sales, IT consulting, cybersecurity, cloud computing, networking, and digital transformations. They faced challenges with their website conversions. Despite driving substantial traffic through Google Ads and other SEO tactics, they struggled to convert website visitors into form fills for appointment requests. A 2% to 5% conversion rate could be considered reasonable. Of course, conversion rates can vary based on various factors, such as the competitiveness of the local market, the quality of the website (and radio stations help most to fix that) and its user experience, the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and the reputation and offerings of the IT solutions business. Focusing on improving the quality of leads and providing exceptional customer service can be just as crucial as achieving high conversion rates. Don’t blame EVERYTHING on the marketing tactics! 

The Diagnosis

Upon thorough analysis, several critical issues were identified with IT Solutions’ website:

1. High Bounce Rate: Nobody was checking out the business. If 70% or more of website visitors only visit the landing page, that is an issue.  It could be slow loading times, irrelevant content, poor user experience, or unclear calls-to-action that prevent them from wanting to know more about IT Solutions. You can check the bounce rate on the Google Analytics page for the website in the left-hand sidebar, click on “Behavior” to expand the menu, then click on “Site Content,” and finally, click on “Landing Pages.” You’ll see a list of landing pages and their respective bounce rates.

2. Complex Navigation: It was hard to move around the website to find relevant information about IT services, and it was unclear who they were initiating contact with and for what purpose.

3. Unclear Calls-to-Action (CTAs): The website lacked clear and compelling CTAs guiding visitors toward requesting an appointment. Simply stating “click here for an appointment” is like asking for a meeting whenever or without establishing value. Here are 28 CTAs for free.

4. Lengthy Forms: The appointment forms were long, without qualifying information, and requested excessive information upfront, deterring potential leads from completing them.

Action Plan

1. Optimize Landing Pages:

   – Redo high-traffic landing pages with clear messaging and compelling CTAs.

   – Showcase IT Solutions’ services as benefits, making it easier for users to request appointments, thereby increasing user engagement and conversions.

2. Simplify Navigation:

   – Reorganize the menu and add more action-oriented links.

   – Provide additional options for users to access relevant information, such as “Get a free IT Solutions 15-point checkup NOW” and “Take this 5-question survey to diagnose your IT issues,” motivating them to book appointments.

3. Enhance CTAs:

   – Utilize concise and persuasive messaging throughout the website.

   – Encourage visitors to take action, whether requesting a free download about “5 things you can do to solve your IT issues on your own” or “get a free pizza for booking an appointment.”

4. Improve the Form Fill:

   – Add a further line about the number of employees who qualify for incoming leads.

   – Highlight the value of leads based on company size, prioritizing forms with higher potential impact.

Review landing pages, navigation, CTAs, and form experience to address website conversion issues. Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

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