Texts, emails, and social media DM’s have been coming in nonstop since last week’s announcement. Barrett Media is taking on a big challenge by expanding its coverage into music radio, tech, and podcasting. I’m excited but also want to caution everyone. This is going to take time to build properly. All Access and Radio & Records were excellent but needed time to become what they eventually became. Click here and look at R&R in 1973 vs. 2009. They were two very different brands. I’m trying to add quality people who love the business and want to produce quality written content consistently. If we get that right, we’ll add as we go.

I knew once the announcement was made there’d be plenty of responses, most good, some bad. The first posting of our video on X generated 45,000 views alone. I’m taking this plunge because I believe these areas of the industry deserve more attention, and I have the energy, passion, and knowledge of how to cover the business. That doesn’t mean we’ll be perfect or successful. It just means I’m crazy enough to try and make a difference.

One lesson I want to share stems from something I experienced this week. It’s an issue I have discussed with numerous talent before. Many of the industry’s biggest stars don’t use their star power, knowledge or influence enough to create future stars. They focus on their own success, not much else. If you’re on top of the world and can lift someone up, it speaks volumes about your ability to understand the bigger picture. It also assures you of remaining relevant and important for years to come.

Joel Denver, Dan Mason, Mike McVay, and Greg Strassel all took time to call me during the past week. Jeff Smulyan, Buzz Knight, Tim Clarke, Heather Cohen, Scott Shapiro, Steve Politziner, Tim Bronsil, and many others sent emails, texts or DMs. All were supportive of our upcoming expansion. It didn’t matter that Joel ran All Access or that Mike and I both consult or that I never worked directly for some of them during my radio career, all love the industry, and want to see it do well. They understand that it benefits others more if we succeed. That’s what it’s all about. It motivates me even more to want to reward their faith in our brand.

That’s how I tried to manage programming teams in various cities. I hired proven stars and new voices who had very little experience. If you had talent and a drive to win, it was my job to put you in position to create success. If we won, awesome, but if not, I was going to do my best to make sure those around me were set up for future success. I believe that the true definition of a successful leader is someone who elevates others. Are you creating new stars and decision makers to advance the industry or just protecting your own real estate?

It works this way in publishing circles too. I’ve written pieces in the past for Radio Ink, and have had a good relationship with Deborah Parenti and her team for years. I’ve had a healthy relationship with Inside Radio and All Access too. Each of us may create industry content and events, and chase marketing dollars, but whether people read us or companies invest in us depends on how we run our businesses, not what each other is doing. Sadly there are some who don’t operate that way. They’re missing the bigger picture.

This applies to talent too. Colin Cowherd is an exceptional host, but even more impressive when it comes to using his profile to elevate others. Whether it’s been Nick Wright, Joy Taylor, Jason McIntyre, John Middlekauff, Jason Timpf or the army of talent at The Volume, Cowherd doesn’t hesitate to give someone else a rub rather than worry about his own spot. Because he’s secure in his own skin and comfortable with his position, he understands that if others around him win, it raises the value for everyone else involved.

How many top stars from the past three decades can say they’ve done that? Take a look around the industry, which new hosts or executives have become household names as a result of a known commodity drawing attention to them? This is a regular practice for Barstool Sports and the Dan Le Batard Show. Shouldn’t it be for all?

If you’re at the top of your game in this business, congratulations. Enjoy every second of it. Just understand that the brass ring eventually escapes your grip. It’s better to have it land in the hands of someone you helped, than someone determined to erase you. The future gets brighter when the past and present take interest in shaping it. That’s what extending a legacy and advancing the business is all about.

Pet Peeves

Layoffs affected the business last week. Media groups are dealing with economic challenges in 2024, and when revenue shrinks, jobs get eliminated. It sucks but it happens on an annual basis. I’m rooting for all who lost work to rebound quickly and land in even better positions.

Talent too often show how little they know about the actual business side when cuts take place. They hit social media with ‘radio company X needs to do better, this is what’s wrong with radio, pay your people better, you can’t make money without investing, etc.’, but what role do they play in making sure the bottom line grows? Are they going on more sales calls or even talking to reps to learn what the challenges are? Have they passed along any leads to the sales team? Are they offering to do extra work to create new opportunities? What about initiating talks of a pay cut, especially the high income earners, especially if it means saving a few jobs?

You can rip the corporate giants, and suggest that they’re screwing the industry and the hard workers who represent them all you want, but if you were writing the checks, having to cover the losses, you’d have to make tough calls too. Cuts don’t usually happen when groups are growing, only when they’re not. Take more interest in knowing the revenue story in your building, not just your ratings and audience engagement totals. The more informed you are, the more proactive you can be at creating solutions to prevent problems.

Having said that, I’ve never understood why some media professionals feel it’s necessary to tell others on social media how they should handle losing a job. People experience situations differently. They handle things in their own unique way. Unless you’re the one losing a job or you’re being asked for guidance on how to handle things, pipe down. The last thing a person needs after receiving bad news is a peer or fellow professional who’s still employed telling them how they should or shouldn’t act. That type of behavior is more likely to land you on the cut list next time.

Thumbs Up

Howard Deneroff: 35 years in any job is legendary, but to do it at the level Howie Deneroff did, while working with the best play-by-play broadcasters in the business, and overseeing the biggest sporting events in America was incredible. Howie’s body of work is hall of fame worthy, and I hope that honor comes his way in the future. I wish Mike Eaby the best settling into the new role, but for today, let’s tip our cap to Howie for a job well done.

Indiana TV Ratings: Colin Cowherd made an interesting prediction this week. He said the Indiana Fever will outdraw the Indiana Pacers in attendance and local TV ratings. Basketball in Indiana has long been appreciated so this is going to be interesting to monitor. If Cowherd’s prediction ends up being right, I wonder how it’ll affect media rights for WNBA games in the future, especially those featuring Caitlin Clark and the Fever.

John Lopez: Sports media is a fun but tough business. To survive and thrive in it takes more than just talent, and somehow, John Lopez figured it out because he just passed the four decade mark. Lopez is still going strong on Sports Radio 610 in middays with Landry Locker. A tip of the cap to the Houston sports radio legend on a lengthy, and successful run.

Evan Roberts: I’ve been watching the Knicks-Pacers series, and as a lifelong Knicks fan, I thought TNT positioned Reggie Miller as someone the Knicks could never overcome. Evan Roberts attacked this on WFAN perfectly. Michael Jordan owned the Knicks. Reggie Miller had many incredible games against New York during his hall of fame career including the epic 1995 playoff game performance where he scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds at the Garden, but the Knicks beat Reggie many times. The 40 and older crowd know this but new fans were fed half of the story. Evan nailed it, and hopefully TNT executives were listening.

Thumbs Down

UFC Press Conferences: I like the UFC and Dana White, but their post-fight press conferences have become a clown show. Watch these two clips below. How is this permitted to go on? Is UFC PR allowing it to happen because they’re chasing social media views or are they just doing a poor job of controlling who gets a credential and mic time to ask questions? Either way it’s a bad look. Media professionals should be in there asking legitimate questions. Giving fans a forum to act like fools is going to lead to an increase in negative attention.

Lieutenant Dan Hennessey: A ring announcer’s job at the end of a fight is to announce the correct winner. Hennessey though perfectly imitated Steve Harvey, announcing the wrong winner, becoming a bigger story than the actual fight. How does something this bad even become possible? This can not and should not ever happen.

ESPN: The final minute of Game 2 between the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes game featured a major blunder. Thankfully it only lasted 15 seconds and nothing was missed. However, this shouldn’t happen during a game broadcast let alone an NHL playoff game. Behind the scenes folks have to be sharper.

Hello, Louisiana

I’ll be in Louisiana on May 29th and 30th speaking at the Louisiana Broadcasters Association annual convention. I’m presenting solo on the 29th, and joining Matt Moscona for a conversation on the 30th. If you’re in the state and attending the show, be sure to say hello.

2 Pros and a Cup of Joe kicks off the day on FOX Sports Radio, airing in morning drive from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET each weekday. The show, like the title indicates, features two former professional athletes in Brady Quinn and LaVar Arrington. The ringleader for the program is Jonas Knox.

It just so happened the day I planned to tune in for the full show, Brady Quinn was off. So, that actually gave me the chance to check out some of their ‘Best Of’ episodes they put up after each three-hour show. It’s a great opportunity to listen to what their team thought was the best couple of segments of the show and have them condensed down into one 40-ish minute segment. As I eavesdropped in on what takes place each morning and sampled the ‘Best Of’ segments, one word kept coming to mind: chemistry.

Most are probably familiar with the history of Arrington and Quinn on the football field. A former Penn State All-American Linebacker, Arrington was the #2 pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. The three-time Pro Bowler played for Washington from 2000 to 2005. He later joined the New York Giants before retiring in 2007.

A four-year starter at Notre Dame, Quinn set 36 single-season and career records for one of the most prestigious and storied programs in college football. Quinn left South Bend as one of the most accomplished passers in the nation and was chosen by the Cleveland Browns with the No. 22 overall pick in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played seven seasons with six different teams in the league, spending 2013, his final season, with the New York Jets and St. Louis Rams.

Jonas Knox you may not know as well. He worked his way up the ladder at FOX Sports Radio, starting as an overnight weekend editor in 2011. He would later start filling in on shows and then was given weekend shifts which is where he first started working with Quinn.

In late September 2021, after Clay Travis went to the News/Talk side to team with Buck Sexton, the three were chosen to take over the slot and are now coming up on three years together. When they were announced as the new morning show, Scott Shapiro, Vice President of Programming for FOX Sports Radio, had said in part, “…we are injecting fun, personality, credibility, strong doses of caffeine, and thought-provoking conversation into morning-drive.” I would say he summed it up well.

As I mentioned, it is the chemistry between the three that hits you almost right away. You can tell the guys are friends on the show and away from it and you get the feeling they probably have quite the group chat going throughout the day when they are apart.

If you had to label them, Knox is your straight man who keeps the show moving, Quinn is the consummate analyst while Arrington provides comedy relief and has been known to bust out into a song at any moment. However, what I found really unique about the show is that they all can weave in and out of the other’s lane a little bit and it still works.

While you get plenty of coverage of the national sports topics of the day, it is a lot of the more personal or ‘off-topic’ segments that seem to make it into the ‘Best Of’s’ and for good reason. On a Monday show where Quinn was expected but had international travel issues and didn’t make it back to the United States in time to join the broadcast, Knox and Arrington had a blast talking about how Quinn was probably handling the troubles.

“We should have a whole entire show dedicated to airlines and travel,” Arrington said. “I think more people than you can imagine deal with the same type of travel complexities and snafus.”

There were plenty of laughs on the various shows, which is always good to get the morning started off on a light note. The sports takes would follow and when the NBA playoffs came up, Arrington made a bold comparison when it came to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards and arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan.

“I’m not saying he’s MJ, but I’m not saying he ain’t,” said Arrington. “We might be seeing the next iteration of what MJ was in the era he was in. We might just be seeing the start of an era of a person that is as electrifying and has all those elements that Michael Jordan brought to the table in Anthony Edwards.”

Whether the topic was the NBA, the Dallas Cowboys, the roast of Tom Brady, officiating, gout or heat packs versus ice baths, the hosts move through the topics at a good pace. Knox is an excellent traffic cop and whether he is throwing to audio clips or bringing it back to the main topic when the show goes off the rails, he seems to have a knack for knowing just when to transition. He also knows when to let the others go on a bit if they have a strong take such as what Arrington thinks Tom Brady will be like as an analyst.

“I think he’s gonna crush it,” Arrington said. “He’s gonna crush it because he took an entire year to train and learn and figure it out, which is why he has always been great in his career is his preparation and his attention to detail. He’s gonna crush it and if he wasn’t going to crush it, he won’t do it because it means too much to him to be successful at what he does…At this point in his life…he’s not going in front of the camera if he felt as though his performance wasn’t going to be up to the standard of being a great of all-time.”

These moments are when it is great to have ex-athletes who understand the competitive mindset of someone at the top of their game. During the talk of Brady’s roast, you could sense Arrington has a lot of respect for the work Brady put in that made him one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game.

At the same time, Arrington offered a take which was a little bit different than what most had to say about the roast. He thought it was an outlet for Brady and his friends and former teammates to get some things out and off their chests, under the guise of humor.

Arrington added about Brady, “I just think you need to be strategic because he could come off as an arrogant cornball if he’s not careful. Maybe that’s what it’s meant to be, maybe it’s meant to humanize him a little bit more and make him relatable to people. I don’t think that roast made him relatable I think it gave people an opportunity to laugh at him which humanizes a person when you can humiliate a guy like that and he’s there taking it.”

Another topic that came up last week was the NFL Pro Bowl after playing some audio from Cincinatti Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

Quinn had a strong opinion and said, “It’s not as great an honor as it used to be…the business model is what killed it, because they got so focused on trying to make it more profitable…it lost its luster, it lost the allure of what it is and now you don’t go to Hawaii, now you don’t have the best guys going, now they’re opting out and now there’s not even really a game.”

A lot of national sports talk radio shows have a clear star. That is not the case with 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe and is a big part of what makes the show unique. Just three friends talking sports and life.

On the fourth play of the New York Jets’ regular-season campaign, star quarterback Aaron Rodgers fell down with an apparent injury. Fans within a sold-out MetLife Stadium waited with bated breath about the verdict as the 39-year-old veteran received medical attention on the sidelines. Bob Wischusen, who has been working as the Jets radio play-by-play announcer since 2002, did not jump to conclusions about what had occurred and continued calling the game while remaining attentive to the developing storyline.

In the year prior, quarterback Zach Wilson had suffered an injury during a preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles that several social media users deemed a torn ACL. It turned out to be a sprained MCL that caused him to miss the first three games, a lesson in not assuming conjecture or speculation to be incontrovertibly true.

“Even people that are so-called experts on social media, they make mistakes, so I didn’t say anything about what we thought the extent of the injury was beyond what we were being told,” Wischusen explained. “I kept my fingers crossed that maybe it wasn’t as bad as people were thinking. Unfortunately, in Aaron Rodgers’ case, it turned out to be the worst-case scenario and that was it.”

As the Jets enter the 2024 season, the team and its fans hope to have Rodgers healthy for a full season and return to the playoffs. For Wischusen though, it will represent an alteration on the airwaves since the Jets agreed to an exclusive, multiyear radio and streaming partnership with iHeartMedia that has made Q104.3, New York’s Classic Rock Station, the flagship radio home of the team.

There is excitement surrounding the endeavor and the possibilities it will bring, but Wischusen also feels somewhat doleful in that games will no longer be on ESPN New York. The Good Karma Brands-owned radio station will no longer be on the FM dial, forsaking its lease of the 98.7 FM signal from Emmis Communications. ESPN New York will continue to be distributed digitally while retaining a presence on 1050 AM.

“I understand from a business standpoint that if the company that buys the radio station decides they want to do away with the signal that basically everyone can clearly hear, well I get why the Jets needed to go in a different direction and be on a radio station that has a signal that they feel kind of clearly reaches their fanbase,” Wischusen said, “so it’ll be different.”

Having worked with several hosts at ESPN New York over the years, along with appearing on sports programming and being a loyal listener, the change was an unfortunate occurrence for Wischusen. Nonetheless, he will continue to find the station while remaining curious of the new means of distribution.

“From everything I’ve been told from Jets management, the folks with iHeart and with 104.3 have been awesome so far and are really excited to have us be a part of what they do now,” Wischusen said. “So, I’m looking forward to meeting them because anybody that’s that excited to have us be a part of what they do, it creates enthusiasm for us as well, but there’s certainly a part of me that’s really sad to see the relationship with 98.7 end because [there are] a lot of great people there.”

Landing the coveted local broadcasting job with the Jets was a challenge in and of itself in which Wischusen ultimately reigned victorious. Former Jets executives Bob Parente and Terry Bradway advocated for Wischusen to procure the role ahead of the 2002 season, and he eventually ended up securing the position.

From his inaugural season to the present day, Wischusen has paired with former defensive lineman and color commentator Marty Lyons on the broadcasts. Through their work on the radio, they have developed palpable chemistry and friendship on the airwaves that appeals to listeners.

“We’ll be friends long after we’re no longer calling Jets games together, and that’s the best part of all the fun we’ve had in the booth calling the games and even through the tough years – and there have been plenty of those obviously – we’ve never stopped having fun showing up every week, laughing with the group that we work with and working together,” Wischusen articulated. “So, it says everything that you need to know about him as a person that he’s just that kind of guy. If you don’t like Marty, you’re the problem because everybody likes Marty.”

Outside of Dan Graca assuming responsibility hosting the pregame and postgame show, most of the staff for Jets radio broadcasts has remained the same. There is a cohesiveness and congeniality existent within the broadcasting entity with a widespread commitment to accurately cover the game.

“Since all the NFL is network television, there is no identifiability with a specific voice because it changes potentially every week, so we’re the constant for Jets fans,” Wischusen said, “and we’re really honored that some try to sync the radio broadcast up with the TV because they know us [and] they’ve been listening to us for a long time.”

WFAN had launched late into his time in high school, and he was initially incredulous that people could get paid to watch and discuss sports. When he was in college, he co-hosted Sports Tonight alongside Jon “Boog” Sciambi, Christian Megliola and Joe Tessitore, discussing Boston College athletics and taking calls from listeners. Wischusen ended up interning at WFAN in New York, N.Y. and WEEI in Boston, Ma. where he gained invaluable experience and knowledge about the business. Through recommendations from connections he forged in those endeavors, he ended up earning a job out of school as a producer for Hank Goldberg on WQAM in Miami, Fla.

“I went down there as a producer originally but of course made no mystery of the fact that I wanted to be on the air,” Wischusen said, “and just by being inside the walls of the place and being, when you’re 21-22 years old, a relatively inexpensive alternative, I was given a chance to get on the air.”

Initially starting as an off-the-air radio producer, Wischusen was eventually granted more chances to speak on the airwaves, including filling in on weekends or covering an update shift. As a member of the station who exhibited dedication, resilience and an indefatigable work ethic, management chose to grant him an opportunity.

“Eric Spitz when he was at [W]FAN was [the] one that told me, ‘Internships in our business are like med school for a doctor or law school for a lawyer,’” Wischusen recalled. “They are that important to then becoming someone who’s just inside the walls of a place, getting your first entry-level job and now you’re in it.”

A few years later, Wischusen made it back to New York City and WFAN where he was hired as a reporter and update host. Returning to his home locale, he did not feel pressure to perform and possessed humility and credence that he would be able to thrive. It undoubtedly helped that he was familiar with the sports teams and had interned at the station, granting him a better understanding of what topics would resonate with the listeners.

“There might be other markets where you can get by, but if you’re in New York City and you’re on the air and you say something about one of those teams that turns out to be wrong, you are called out about it by the fans of that team immediately,” Wischusen said. “So, there is, I’m sure, a pressure for some, but I don’t know. I’ve always been relatively confident in my own opinion and the work that I’ve put in to know it, and so I always had a belief that if I was given a chance to get on the air and do it, I would be successful at it.”

Wischusen ended up leaving WFAN in 2001 after he had not been considered for a regular talk show shift amid a changing weekday lineup. Utilizing the experience he had both hosting and calling sports for the Comcast Network, he was hired by MSG Networks and served in a multifaceted role. Wischusen was the host of shows on FOX SportsNet New York, including the Regional Sports Report and Talk of Our Town, along with calling select sporting events. At the same time, he continued to host the Jets pregame and postgame show, a role he had started a few years earlier.

Wischusen realized his dream upon being named the team’s play-by-play announcer and has not looked back since. In fact, he has added more responsibilities and leveraged his versatility to gain additional opportunities in the business. Through it all, he tries to execute his responsibilities and essentially scores a soundtrack for the action without coining distinct phraseology.

Upon joining ESPN in 2005, Wischusen was granted the opportunity to broadcast a wide array of sports as a play-by-play announcer, including college football, baseball and golf. From the onset of his time with the network, he was frequently on the road and assimilated into serving as an announcer on these national broadcasts. During the football season, he balances both collegiate games on television – primarily working alongside Robert Griffin III and Kris Budden – along with his Jets radio responsibilities.

“Nobody wants to hear me complain about my job,” Wischusen said. “I’m sure there are lawyers out there that burn the midnight oil getting ready for a case that don’t want to hear my sob story about having multiple depth charts to study each week. I do what I have to do to be prepared for the games that I have.”

As Wischusen continued to merit additional assignments and multiplatform endeavors at ESPN, something that remained consistent was the fact that the network did not have media rights to the National Hockey League. It was a void that he was not sure would be filled after ESPN did not renew its deal following a league-wide lockout that canceled the 2004-05 NHL season. The potential for a reunion between ESPN and the NHL slowly became more palpable, and Wischusen knew that he would want to be a part of it.

With a keen interest in and knowledge of the sport, Wischusen entered a trailer during a PGA Tour event and met with ESPN executive Mike McQuade, who he discovered would be overseeing coverage if the network was able to close a deal. In a conversation that lasted approximately 20 seconds, he expressed interest in the NHL on ESPN and was informed that he would definitely be a part of it.

“If you know Mike McQuade, that’s a classic Mike McQuade meeting,” Wischusen said. “It’s like, ‘Okay, good meeting, thanks. We bonded; I really enjoyed our time together.’ Mike is allergic to B.S., as zero politics as it gets. He has no interest in who you eat lunch with or playing favorites. He just knows who he wants to have on stuff, and he immediately said, ‘Yeah, I want you to be a part of hockey,’ and that was it – that was really my entire interview process at ESPN.”

Moving back into hockey, however, presented a dichotomy to what Wischusen saw when he was filling in on radio broadcasts of New York Rangers games nearly two decades earlier. The hastened speed of the sport, heightened athleticism and size of the ice surface all resembled contrasts to what he had remembered. It required an adjustment for Wischusen to execute a successful broadcast that affected different stages of the job.

“There was a time where back then if I was a little unsure of a player or wanted to throw a bullet point [or] a stat out, I could look down at my chart, maybe gather some information and then go back to the ice and continue to call the game,” Wischusen said. “You can’t do that now. If you take your eyes off of the ice now, you may never catch back up, and all of a sudden, the puck’s in the net and you missed it.”

The frenetic, expeditious pace of the game on ice renders it essential that the broadcast team keeps up with the action. It requires a shrewd, deft knowledge of the teams, players and personnel, along with the ability to contextualize in real time and demarcate other conversation.

“On a Tuesday night in February, the crowd is on the edge of their seat a lot of times because it’s 2-2 in the third period and just the game is such an exciting product,” Wischusen said. “And now you add obviously the playoffs and the significance of the games that we get to call now, and it’s that times 100.”

Throughout the game, Wischusen will ask his analyst for their thoughts on the broadcast and how to improve. In the high-pressure situations, he leans on his experience and does not overthink it, concentrating on accurately and succinctly documenting the moment. Once the game has concluded, he does not engage in an excess amount of listening or watching replays; rather, he will select a segment from the contest to review his performance.

Contemporaneous to that is carrying respect of the local audience and an ability to convey comprehensive knowledge both discernible and recondite. Wischusen hopes that the assemblage of previous work and sustained excellence leads to a chance to call a seminal event, such as the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Final.

“I’ve just never been given that opportunity yet, so I hope at some point during my career, a decision maker kind of taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Now it’s your turn’ and I get that call, and hopefully I’m prepared for it when it happens,” Wischusen said. “I still have career ambition.”

Although Wischusen does not perceive himself to have reached a career zenith, he understands that the business is competitive and based on performance. There have been moments in his career where he has been disappointed not to receive certain assignments but remains optimistic that his time will come. Even if the yearning represents a destination that cannot be reached though, he is grateful for the career he has had and focused on the next game.

“If tomorrow I ended my broadcast career, look at the friends that I’ve made and look at the places I’ve been and the atmospheres I’ve been a part of and the games I’ve had a chance to watch in person and be in the middle of,” Wischusen said. “If my career ended immediately, I still have been incredibly lucky, and I try not to lose sight of that even when you’re aspiring to try to move up the ladder and do bigger and better.”