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Scott Hanson Purposely Lives On The Edge

“They don’t want me taking shots at players or coaches or teams in an unfair manner, I am allowed to say what I want to say at any given moment.”

Derek Futterman

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A photo of Scott Hanson

Whether it is participating in the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain or swimming between two tectonic plates in Iceland, Scott Hanson is a thrill-seeker.

Having visited six of the seven world continents, seeing new places and being exposed to different cultures gives him the ability to live his life to the fullest and take advantage of many unique opportunities. That adventurous style of travel, though, takes a back seat when it is football season. As the host of the Sunday whiparound show NFL RedZone, Hanson and the NFL Network team notoriously bring fans every touchdown from every game in seven hours of commercial-free football.

No commercial breaks mean Hanson is hosting a program straight from 1:00-8:00 PM EST every day, requiring high levels of stamina and endurance. It is part of the reason why he works out five days a week during the regular season, cognizant of the perceived connection between maintaining good physical fitness and sharp mental acuity. For a hosting job that may seem interminable to some, Hanson revels in it and arrives at the brand-new state-of-the-art NFL Network studios adjacent to SoFi Stadium, the shared home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, Calif., excited and ready to immerse himself in the day’s action.

“I literally will be on the elliptical machine on the treadmill saying, ‘The last 10 minutes of this one-hour session is for the sixth hour of NFL RedZone‘,” Hanson explained. “I’ve still got to have that energy [and] enthusiasm. It might sound silly, but I really do believe that.”

From an early age, Hanson knew he wanted to work as a broadcaster in sports media, especially when he recognized that attaining a professional football career was highly unlikely to happen. Motivated to follow in the footsteps of the broadcasters living out his dream job of being paid to travel the country and interact with players, coaches and other team personnel, he attended Syracuse University and majored in communication studies. Four years later, he graduated cum laude, achieved Dean’s List status for all four years at school and also continued to play on the school football team.

In fact, his collegiate football career – which started by winning a roster spot as a walk-on long snapper and playing as a wide receiver and defensive back as a member of the scout team – concluded with a 1993 Fiesta Bowl win over the University of Colorado Boulder’s Buffaloes.

After completing a college summer internship with WXYZ-TV in Southfield, Mich. where he had the chance to work with the late-broadcaster Don Shane, Hanson was even more committed to finding a way to succeed in sports media. Upon his graduation, he started his professional journey working as an anchor and reporter for WPBN-TV in Traverse City, Mich. in 1993.

After an additional stop to work at WICS-TV in Springfield, Ill. in 1994, Hanson made the move to Tampa to cover the Buccaneers as a reporter. This marked his first time working in a role associated with covering a specific football team per se – the game he was enamored with growing up in Rochester, Mich.

While playing football at the high school level, Hanson served as the team’s captain and also earned all-conference honors; however, pursuing a career in sports media, although challenging, always appealed to him. He served as a public address announcer for the women’s soccer team in high school and sought to gain as many repetitions as possible as a broadcaster to hone his craft and diversify his skill set, recognizing the importance of versatility in the industry.

Hanson put that versatility on display when he landed a job as the intermission reporter for the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. Closely following the team during its days with star players Jeremy Roenick, Keith Primeau and Eric Desjardins, Hanson observed the differences between how football and hockey players conduct themselves and interact with the media.

“Hockey guys will do interviews differently than football guys will do it, generally speaking,” Hanson said, “and yet they are still uber-competitive, highly-skilled, world-class athletes, and there’s a certain mentality that comes with that [which] often displays itself while you’re interviewing them.”

After working in Bethesda, Md. for the next four years as an anchor and reporter with Comcast SportsNet Atlantic, Hanson joined NFL Media in 2006 as a national reporter. Every week, Hanson would attend National Football League contests and provide pregame and postgame reports. The only problem was that Hanson found himself following all the action around the National Football League even when he was in the press box for games, discussing action with journalists and media members other than what was taking place on the field down below.

“I would be the guy always looking at everything else going on in the NFL even though I had one live game in front of me,” Hanson said. “I guess I was wired for an NFL RedZone-style show from the beginning.”

Coinciding with the proliferation in fans creating fantasy football teams, NFL Network created what has been referred to as “the best invention since television” in NFL RedZone and tabbed Hanson to be its host after he had previously hosted other studio programming for the network in 2008.

While there is another version of the whiparound-style program called DIRECTV Sunday Ticket RedZone hosted by Andrew Siciliano since its launch in 2005, and available exclusively to NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers. Hanson is the host of the version produced by NFL Network, and once he learned of the opportunity to pioneer the program from “the captain’s seat” and heard more about the vision of the broadcast from network executives, he was euphoric to get started.

“I absolutely believed that the show would be a galactic success if we could execute [in] the way [with] the vision displayed out there,” Hanson recalled. “They came to me and said: ‘Hey, we’re starting a show from scratch. We’re going to show every touchdown from every game. We’re going to do it for the early window and the late window, so it’s going to go seven hours long. We’re not going to show any commercials and we’re going to bounce around and show people the best of the NFL.’ And I said: ‘Sign me up and put me in front of that camera.’”

Hanson stands in front of a plethora of television monitors featuring a well-orchestrated cacophony of game action occurring around the country. While scientific research has proven the impossibility in truly multi-tasking, additional research suggests approximately 2.5% of people can do it effectively. It is more than likely Hanson falls within that select group, regularly multi-tasking outside of the seven-hour window he hosts NFL RedZone on Sundays. He has five high-definition television screens set up in his home that simultaneously play a wide assortment of programming from sports to entertainment to news.

While it may seem dizzying to some to be closely following over half of the National Football League at once, it is simply all in a day’s work for Hanson. From the moment he returns home after a studio taping of NFL RedZone, his preparation for the next week begins – first by watching Sunday Night Football. Afterwards, he will tune in to all of the major football highlight shows, including those from NFL Network and ESPN, to ensure his broadcast did not miss any significant moments in the action or associated storylines. If he happens to hear information that is transferable to the following week’s broadcast, he makes a note of it and implements it as a part of his preparation.

The next day, Monday Night Football takes center stage, closing out the week of football and leading into the next day’s release of the weekly NFL Media research packet. The document, which ranges from 100 to 200 pages in length, contains facts, statistics and other relevant information compiled by the NFL Media research team. Hanson closely examines the contents of the document and begins to memorize parts of it he may want to use during the NFL RedZone show on Sunday.

On Wednesdays, Hanson begins creating spreadsheets complete with information about all positions and various game scenarios, including possessions taking place in the red zone. It is vital information he needs to be able to quickly recollect during the course of the broadcast.

“The rest of it is just studying and trying to memorize and then digging down into each individual game matchup that will be on RedZone [for that] Sunday,” Hanson said. “….I probably don’t do as much research as [Joe] Buck does for one individual game on all of my 11 games, but I probably do as many hours leading into it for the 11 games [in the] early and late window that we’ll have on Sunday.”

Hanson does not have a favorite NFL team, although he grew up closest in proximity to the Detroit Lions, and genuinely does not have a rooting interest in terms of who wins or loses specific football games every week. Having said that, his fantasy football team – nicknamed the “Iron Bladders” – consists of players from across the NFL and he will sometimes display his fandom during NFL RedZone broadcasts about their specific performance, although he affirms it will not interfere with his hosting responsibilities on the show.

“I do not care who wins any given NFL game, but I do care that the game is action-packed and dramatic and provides us with some moments that we will remember during the seven hours of the show,” he said, “and provide us with some moments that we’ll be talking about at our workplaces [all week] leading back into the next episode of NFL RedZone.”

As an on-air host, Hanson’s top priority is to be a source of information for fans tuning in to the broadcast who are looking to get a complete scope on what is occurring around the league. The show’s commitment to showing every touchdown from every game holds true as it did from its initial launch in 2009, but as time has gone on, Hanson has been able to find moments to insert humor, opinion and other differentiating factors associated with being on the air.

“I’m naturally energetic, naturally enthusiastic and I love the game of football,” Hanson said. “I hope that comes across to all the people that are watching all over the world on NFL RedZone; that if you don’t know anything about [me] personally, you would still say: ‘Yeah, I’d like to sit down and watch a game and have a beer with that guy. It sounds like he loves the game and he sees the game the way I see the game.’”

Being that Hanson watches every NFL game on Sunday, along with ESPN’s presentation of Monday Night Football and Amazon Prime Video’s streaming-exclusive Thursday Night Football game every week, he believes in the strength of football as a consumer product in terms of its dissemination and quality, both on the field and inside the broadcast booth.

This previous offseason saw the movements of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit to Amazon Prime Video, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to ESPN, Mike Tirico’s elevation to the weekly play-by-play announcer on NBC’s Sunday Night Football and Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen forming the new primary booth on Fox – with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to eventually join as well. Among these and other changes, Hanson is encouraged about the future of football broadcasts and sports media in its entirety.

“A high tide raises all boats, they say, so I certainly am happy with the contracts that have been handed out to some of my on-air contemporaries,” Hanson expressed. “….I don’t think there’s a weak link in the national broadcasts today…. I love the fact that when it’s not NFL RedZone when I’m on the air, I have fantastic professionals to watch and enjoy as a fan [of] all of the national games.”

Just as fantasy sports rose in popularity in 2009, the phenomenon of sports betting has recently begun to grow coinciding with its legalization throughout nearly half of the country. Hanson attributes the survival of whiparound programs to the augmenting proclivity for fans to follow specific players and portions of the game action relevant to their own teams or bets rather than rooting solely for one team to win or lose. Nonetheless, the goal of the show to be a source of commercial-free football for seven hours every Sunday remains unchanged; the ways in which that goal is effectively accomplished has merely shifted with changes in consumption habits and emerging technologies.

“What I think we hopefully have gotten better at through the years is showing more action; being able to bounce around from stadium to stadium even quicker and slicker to make it an enjoyable viewing experience,” he expressed. “….I think social media has some ability to do quote-on-quote RedZone-style entertainment because the audience is choosing which link they click on; which clip they click on [using] Instagram; Twitter; TikTok; Facebook; whatever else it is.”

Other professional sports leagues have sought to emulate the type of program and staple NFL RedZone has become but whiparound-style programs simply do not work for every sport. For example, DAZN, in partnership with Major League Baseball, broadcast a whiparound program beginning in mid-2019 called ChangeUp. The show, which was hosted by Adnan Virk, Scott Rogowsky, Lauren Gardner and Tony Luftman, was canceled less than a year later after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and reportedly low viewership. Conversely, NBA CrunchTime has been broadcasting since 2015 on NBA TV, but will be added to the redesigned NBA League App for fans to stream.

According to Hanson, the game of football presents inherent differences that give it an advantage in presenting multiple games at once – such as the synchrony in kickoffs, 40-second play clock and sequencing of the game itself, along with the likelihood that crucial action favoring either the offense or defense will occur when play is within the 20-yard line – colloquially referred to as the “red zone.”

“We have eight games going on at one time on some Sundays where we can ping-pong to any one of those locations where the action is hot,” Hanson said. “You’re almost guaranteed that one or two of them have some drama going on at any given moment….. The fact that I can show you a game in Atlanta and I’ve got 40 seconds or thereabouts to show you something from Dallas and something from Green Bay and I can get back to Atlanta and you haven’t missed any material action in the Atlanta game – that helps.”

Some viewers of NFL RedZone or NFL Network as a whole might surmise that since the media outlet has a direct affiliation with the league, on-air talent and contributors may be more restricted in terms of what they can or cannot express. While it is evident that sports media is built on a balance between subjectivity and objectivity, it is up to hosts to establish a comfort zone in which they are able to deliver news and voice their opinions.

“I’ve been with the league for 16 years and while it’s clear they want me to be a fair broadcaster and they don’t want me taking shots at players or coaches or teams in an unfair manner, I am allowed to say what I want to say at any given moment,” Hanson said. “There have only been maybe two times in my 16 years where a boss of mine has come to me and said: ‘Hey Scott, why don’t you say this instead of this.’”

Aside from hosting NFL RedZone, Hanson serves as the in-stadium host for the Super Bowl each year, meaning that it is his job to entertain, inform and engage with fans attending “The Big Game.” It is a change from hosting studio coverage, giving him the ability to show fans different aspects of his skillset and vary how he infuses his personality into shorter segments of air time.

Additionally, he has had the chance to converse with some of the greatest football players to ever step foot onto the gridiron, including the aforementioned Brady, who told him that NFL RedZone was his favorite television program to watch on days he was not playing.

“I’ve been able to interview Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson back in his heyday,” Hanson added. “Just big-time, high-profile, world-class athletes; and that energizes me as someone who strives for excellence to be around people who exhibit excellence in their given profession.”

Hanson, akin to most other sports media personalities, works under a contract and while he could see himself hosting NFL RedZone for the remainder of his career, he is open to exploring any and all opportunities in media, the assimilation of sports notwithstanding. Cultivating the skills necessary to effectively host a top-rated sports whiparound program is no easy task, but it is something he has embraced over the years and continues to enjoy when he wakes up at 5 a.m. to go to work.

It takes a willingness to do whatever it takes to improve and gain experience in sports media, and Hanson advises aspiring broadcasters looking to work in the industry to take advantage of opportunities whenever or wherever they may be. Living on the edge is his modus operandi and has allowed him to build a successful career in the National Football League as a broadcaster rather than as a professional football player.

“Be willing to make sacrifices. It’s a very, very competitive business,” Hanson said. “If you’re trying to get into this business to become famous or make a ton of money or just [to] meet Peyton Manning, you’re going to have to pay your dues before any of that happens – and paying your dues means making sacrifices often. Be willing to move anywhere in the country where a job presents itself. Be willing to work whatever days, hours, holidays; anything else that your employer wants.”

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Kim Mulkey Now Has Everyone Anticipating Washington Post Story

I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it.

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photo of LSU women's college basketball coach Kim Mulkey
Credit: Dailymail.co.uk

The Washington Post, you might’ve heard, has a story coming out about controversial LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. The reason you might’ve heard is because Kim Mulkey told you. The Tigers coach read a fiery prepared statement just before her team started the Women’s NCAA Tournament. In the statement, Mulkey threatened to sue The Post for defamation before the first word was even published.

Now, I’ve never run a public relations firm but that did not seem like a good idea. The Washington Post story on Mulkey is one of the bigger stories in sports right now and nobody even knows what’s in it. The reason the story, apparently unflattering to Mulkey, is even on anyone’s radar screen is Mulkey herself.

It all started with an innocuous social media post by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde right in the middle of the most anticipated two days in sports, the NCAA Tournament Round of 64. On his X account, Forde posted: “Hearing some buzz about a big Washington Post story in the works on LSU women’s hoops coach Kim Mulkey, potentially next week. Wagons being circled, etc.”

You know what generally will go unnoticed at 4:00 on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament? A post on X about a women’s basketball coach. But don’t tell Mulkey, she saw Forde’s post and decided to fight fire with nuclear weaponry. The result: the average person like me now is really interested in what has Mulkey so incensed. By “average person like me” I mean that I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it. Maybe:

“LSU Women’s Coach Discovers Ark of the Covenant”

Or:

“Mulkey Reveals True JFK Assassin(s)”

Perhaps:

“Famed Women’s Basketball Coach Reveals the Mystery Behind Slow Drivers in the Left Lane”

Literally any of those catch my attention more than whatever will likely be the Washington Post headline about Mulkey. But now Mulkey is “Mad as Hell and is not going to take this anymore” so I now have an interest I would never before have had in this story. It has been fascinating to watch the online speculation about the subject of the article and all we really know, as of now, is that it will be written by Kent Babb. This is a dream come true for Babb; he writes an article that is, presumably, not flattering about Kim Mulkey and, before it is even published, she gives the article the greatest commercial anyone could give it. Babb couldn’t have entered into a business agreement with Mulkey and had this turn out better for him.

For those who don’t follow Babb, he is a former NFL reporter who now is an award-winning writer for the Washington Post. In his 14 years with The Post, he has written sports features and authored a couple of books. One of those sports features stories was a deep dive into what he viewed as a large inequity in the level of pay for LSU head football coach Brian Kelly and his LSU players. It is this piece Mulkey described as a “hit piece” and, based on that piece, referred to Babb as a “sleazy reporter.” Babb, and many others, resented the fact his story was labeled as a hit piece. In fact, Babb essentially confirmed he was the author Mulkey was referencing when he shared the original article on X with the comment: “Hit piece?”

Whether a printed piece or a recorded interview, I can’t imagine a better promotion for it than the subject of the interview threatening a libel/slander lawsuit, especially before it is even released. That simply screams “This piece is salacious!!” Also, libel and slander suits get settled all the time, right? Of course they don’t, they seem to never even get filed. That little thing called discovery is a scary thing for most public figures.

The NCAA Tournament has been very entertaining, and I think the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will be terrific. For only the fifth time ever, the top two seeds have advanced to the third round which sets up for a remarkable weekend. For me, I guess it will now include a Washington Post article, not a sentence I’d normally say.

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Ian Eagle Crushing It for CBS As Replacement for Jim Nantz

Eagle continues to be a shining example of what a network play-by-play announcer should be.

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Photo of Ian Eagle and the CBS Sports logo

I’ll admit, it’s been a little strange not hearing Jim Nantz during this year’s NCAA Tournament. Nantz stepped aside to concentrate on golf and the NFL after a long run covering the Final Four. Change is sometimes hard to accept, we are all creatures of habit, and I’m sure it’s a little weird for Nantz himself this time of year. But change doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. When it comes to Ian Eagle, not that I’m surprised, so far, so good.

Eagle is no stranger to CBS viewers. He’s been with the network since 1998 calling college basketball games and the NFL through the years. That certainly made the transition a little easier for everyone involved. CBS, the viewers and Eagle himself. Familiarity in these cases doesn’t breed content, it breeds a more comfortable broadcast and an easier handle on the change itself.

For Eagle, one of the other benefits for him was working with familiar folks, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson. Eagle estimates that he and Raftery have called 600 basketball games together, because they were longtime partners on the NBA’s Nets broadcasts. Eagle has also previously worked with Hill in college basketball, the same for Wolfson.

“To do this with Bill, Grant, and Tracy, it really is going to feel very seamless. In many ways, it will feel like we’ve been doing it together for many years,” says Eagle on a conference call before the Big Dance.

It sounds seamless too. It’s not underrated to have a good rapport with the folks that you’re working with. Everyone is trying to get used to a new voice and the idiosyncrasies of a new announcer. It’s much less of a chore, when you know and have worked with your co-workers and partners before.  You know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from you. That’s good.

I think Eagle is killing it in his new role. You could even tell during the Big Ten Tournament that led up to the “Big Dance” that he was not only ready, he was ready to roll. It’s easy to hear how much he loves doing what he’s doing. That’s the case in all of the sports he calls.

Eagle continues to be a shining example of what a network play-by-play announcer should be. He has the ability to combine his talent with some personality, but never at the expense of the action he’s calling. His broadcasts always hit the mark, as he rises to the occasion when the moment calls for it.

What do I mean by personality? He manages to make us laugh, even in some tense moments of a game. He also manages to articulate our thoughts in some situations, like this example from the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. 

Sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson had a report during the UConn/Northwestern game about the superstitions of Huskies’ coach Dan Hurley. He wears the same red dragon underwear and suit as he did last year. Wolfson said Hurley’s wife travels with a portable washing machine to make sure his clothes stay clean. Leading Eagle to ask the question on all our minds:

“Who has a portable washing machine?! I didn’t even know that existed!”

Also in that game, Eagle had a couple of other great moments. UConn big man Donovan Clingan had a couple of swats on one play.

“Denied! Clingan! Denied! Two for the price of one!” Quick thinking and entertaining at the same time. Later when a ball got pinned between the basket and the backboard, Eagle said, “Oooh! A Brooklyn wedgie!”

Great stuff. None of his ‘ad-libs’ sound like they are forced. It’s within the flow of the action and just seem to come to him. It’s pretty amazing to be that quick on your feet, when you’re trying to make sure to get the call correct above all else. I’m sure we’re all in for many more treats like that along the way from Eagle.

In general, when fans are watching a tournament game, they probably aren’t thinking about the preparation that goes into a broadcast. Especially for a play-by-play announcer. The first weekend network announcers calling a couple of games in the same day. There’s also only a day in between the first and second rounds to prep for teams that you may or may not have seen during the college season.  The turnaround is quick and demanding.  

“It feels like an information avalanche in many ways,” Eagle said recently on 670 The Score. “The fact that I’ve done it for so long would make you think, ‘oh, he’s got it down, he has the system, he found the secret sauce.’ No, it feels the same way every year.”

Eagle says even veteran announcers like himself have to manage stress levels and work efficiently once they know which games they’ll call. “The two or three days leading up to the tournament, I must admit, are probably the most angst-riddled of the year because it’s a little bit out of your control.” Eagle told 670 The Score.

Yes, the stress level is great on the broadcasters, but how about what Clark Kellogg continues to do at the NCAA Tournament and the Final Four? For the 8th year, he’ll join Kevin Kugler and Jim Jackson on Westwood One’s broadcast of the Final Four and Championship Game on radio. At the same time, Kellogg will be a studio analyst for the television coverage. How does he pull it off? Following the pregame show broadcast on TV, Kellogg will make his way courtside to the radio broadcast position to join Kugler and Jackson. Then, he will rejoin TV for halftime before repeating the process in the second half and postgame. 

Working this tournament isn’t easy for these broadcasters. It’s a big stage for sure, but as you’ve read, there’s big pressure that goes along with it. The audience is usually huge, and announcers are constantly put under the microscope. Fans want to make sure that you know their team, pronunciations and all. Stories. Bios. All of it. Cut these folks a little slack, information gathering with little time to do it, isn’t exactly simple. They do a damn good job.

Eagle himself, is doing a tremendous job. The 3-man booth works so well because of his ability to keep it all together. He can set up either Raftery or Hill with a serious basketball question, or deliver a great ‘straight line’ to bring out their personalities. It’s a gift. Eagle has that knack for knowing when to go ‘rogue’ and go for that entertaining line, that seems to fit in perfectly. Speaking of fitting fine, those rather large shoes he had to fill, they’re becoming the perfect size.

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Andrew Salciunas Aims to Thrive in Morning Drive on 97.5 The Fanatic

“We are two radio guys that kind of know what we’re doing.”

Derek Futterman

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Andrew Salciunas
Courtesy: Beasley Media Group

When 97.5 The Fanatic midday host Anthony Gargano agreed to a deal to contribute to PHLY Sports, a local digital venture within ALLCITY Network, he was promptly suspended by Beasley Media Group and subsequently sued for breach of contract. Although the two sides eventually reached a settlement and officially parted ways, the future of the daypart was still in question. In the interim time period, the station granted Andrew Salciunas the opportunity to lead a four-hour solo program with producer Ray Dunne. Salciunas had served as Gargano’s producer in the midday slot and still has a strong relationship with the sports media personality today despite no longer working together.

The onerous aspect of the situation, however, was in recognizing that Salciunas was being afforded a chance to prove himself as a host in the marketplace. In the past, he had filled in when Gargano took vacations, but it was not for an extended period of time. Although he was familiar with the flow of a midday program, achieving a successful, yet sudden assimilation into a regular timeslot without a partner was an invigorating circumstance.

“I knew that it was going to be a learning experience because it’s one thing to host a show on Saturday or it’s one thing to host a weekly podcast and you have a week’s worth of content at your disposal,” Salciunas said. “It’s another thing to [be] hosting every single day and needing to come up with new ideas and new angles and new twists on things, so it was a challenge knowing that I was going to have to do that for however long the process was going to be.”

Salciunas received help from program director Scott Masteller, a sports radio veteran who has helped elevate brands and nurture budding talent. Several months later, Masteller asked Salciunas how he would feel about working with morning program host John Kincade. Salciunas replied by saying that it was something he would be interested in doing, and he later added that he already wakes up early and could easily work in morning drive. Salciunas was somewhat nonplussed when he discovered that Masteller’s intention was to have him anchor the program rather than Kincade, who has been hosting in the daypart since January 2021.

In the weeks and months ensuing, Salciunas and Kincade were involved in meetings to plan the new program, which officially made its debut on 97.5 The Fanatic last week and is titled Kincade & Salciunas. Both hosts knew about the program for roughly two months, and Salciunas is surprised that it was kept a secret for as long as it was. Outside of their scheduled meetings, Salciunas was able to speak with Kincade between their shows since they occurred after the other as well. From the onset, he wanted to make his thoughts about the program clear to ensure a smooth transition amid a quest to inform and entertain the audience.

“The first thing I told John when they told us that this was the plan moving forward was that, ‘This is going to be our show,’” Salciunas recalled. “Yes, I might be the guy running the ins and outs out of commercial breaks. I’m the guy that brings on the guests; I’m the guy that brings on the callers, but this is our show. We both have ideas, we’re both passionate about Philadelphia sports teams, we’re both high-energy people, we’re both opinionated and we’re also respectful of each other.”

While there is natural disagreement between Salciunas and Kincade on a variety of sports topics, they make sure not to fabricate their discussions and engender debate for the sake of the show. Instead of feigning their contrarian discourse, there is a legitimate willingness to be genuine with their audience while continuing to put radio first. Salciunas, Kincade and show producer Connor Thomas all contribute ideas for the program to appeal to the audience and continue building the show as a whole. Thomas also had familiarity in working with Kincade since he served as an associate producer on his previous morning program.

“I’m not a former journalist; he’s not a former professional athlete,” Salciunas said. “We are two radio guys that kind of know what we’re doing. Even though our opinions might differ on sports-related stuff, we see doing radio in a similar way.”

Upon Kincade officially joining 97.5 The Fanatic, he demonstrated his magnanimity and commitment to his colleagues by offering to take all of them out to lunch individually to learn more about them. It was a gesture that surprised Salciunas and something that stuck with him, ultimately helping familiarize themselves with one another and subsequently creating a viable on-air product.

“He’s one of those guys who likes getting to know people, and I think that’s helped a lot,” Salciunas said. “We already had that sort of knowledge of one another [and] we already had that relationship, and because we’re just both so bought in and both so hungry, that’s made it so much easier that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make the show work.”

Before arriving at 97.5 The Fanatic, Kincade had worked at sports radio both at the local and national levels while also hosting a podcast with Hall of Fame center and Inside the NBA studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal. Bringing him back to his home marketplace and realizing success in the morning daypart was valuable as the sports media ecosystem underwent stretches of change. Transitioning to the new morning show iteration without colleagues Bob Cooney and Pat Egan presented its challenges, but Salciunas has had no qualms that Kincade was invested to win. As a result, the transition has been relatively simple in terms of building palpable chemistry among the on-air team.

“He believes in anybody that he works with,” Salciunas said of Kincade, “and knowing that somebody has worked that long as long as he has in sports radio that he values the young person’s opinion, not just in sports but in terms of radio, that goes a long way.”

There is constant communication between the morning show team leading up to a program outside of typical pre-show meetings and twice-weekly conversations with their boss. Salciunas arrives at the station well before the start of the program and compiles ideas from the previous day into a document, along with ideas from others that come during their commutes. Additionally, they continuously monitor the news cycle and determine what to address on the air while also interviewing special guests throughout the week.

Effectuating a fully prepared show rundown by 6 a.m. EST has been marginally difficult, along with the fact that it can be difficult to book guests on short notice before sunrise. Because of this, the program frequently outlines its guests early in the week and makes adjustments as necessary while maintaining fealty towards conveying their true, authentic personalities.

“I’m a little bit more energetic on the radio because I understand the entertainment portion of doing what we do and having to properly express myself,” Salciunas said. “I’m probably not going to scream at a bar, but when I converse with callers; when I converse with John [or] producers… that’s who I am as a person. There’s just a microphone in front of me.”

When he first started working at 97.5 The Fanatic as an intern, Salciunas did not have a goal of eventually becoming an on-air talent. He was content with his role as a producer, which was borne out of an internship where he worked with Jon Marks and Steve Vassalotti. Both station members served as mentors that he utilized to gain information and advice, a fortuitous outcome after Salciunas impetuously applied for the opening.

While Salciunas was matriculating at Temple University, he needed at least three internship credits in order to qualify for graduation. Reflecting back on his education days, he does not regard himself as the best student and recognized that he needed to intern with the radio station to set himself apart. Honing his focus in sports media took time since he had varied interests in areas such as reporting, podcasting and play-by-play announcing, but he ultimately gravitated towards the sports radio format during his time in Philadelphia.

Salciunas made a favorable impression on those with 97.5 The Fanatic and ended up being hired as an associate producer where he learned more about the format and its programming. Eric Camille, a former executive producer at the station, is someone Salciunas regards as seminal to his professional development.

“He was the guy that hired me out of my internship, and then once I started working, he really helped me,” Salciunas said. “He kind of took me under his wing and helped me out a lot.”

Once Salciunas was hired as a full-time producer, he began to work with Mike Missanelli on his midday program, providing an invaluable learning experience to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the sports media industry. As a veteran host who has captivated Philadelphia sports fans and media consumers at large, Salciunas noticed that collaborating on Missanelli’s program was a different experience than the other shows he had done. Whereas a morning drive show is oftentimes one of the first points of reaction on a given day, Missanelli knew that he would need to approach his daypart differently and adopted a paradigmatic style implementing second-level topics.

“It’s not just going on the air and reacting to an Eagles loss,” Salciunas explained. “It’s reacting to a storyline within an Eagles loss or reacting to a storyline within an Eagles win that may generate conversation. Trying to figure out topics that generate conversation but are not just the, ‘Oh wow, I’m angry they lost today,’ and give out the phone number. It’s [trying] to find topics that make people think and make yourself think and make the audience think.”

When Missanelli left the station, Salciunas began his stint working with Anthony Gargano where he began occasionally hosting select programs. The rationale behind his decision to go behind the microphone was that when the Eagles won a Super Bowl championship, the station needed someone to host from 2 to 5 a.m. Salciunas decided to volunteer for the program, presuming that it sounded fun. From that shift on, he continued his work as a producer while also refining his craft behind the microphone in a major market. It deviated from a philosophy perpetuated by former program director Matt Nahigian of limiting the amount of time producers were on the air, assuming that consumers listened to hear the hosts.

“Now you have to be a producer,” Salciunas affirmed. “You look at both radio stations in Philadelphia – a lot of the hosts now were former producers, and so you learn so much of the craft and then you figure out your own role. You figure out how you handle yourself as a host, so I think producing first before becoming a talk show host should be the way to go moving forward.”

Beasley Media Group’s 97.5 The Fanatic shares the Philadelphia marketplace with Audacy-owned SportsRadio 94WIP, and both stations have had intense battles in the ratings over the years. Salciunas shared that most people between the two stations have worked with their competitors at some point in their careers, and there is an evident respect that exists between the two entities. With both outlets introducing new morning shows within the last two years though, Salciunas understands there is a chance to gain ground on the WIP Morning Show, which finished ahead in the four Nielsen XTrends quarterly ratings books last year.

“Clearly if somebody’s behind a microphone in Philadelphia, everybody’s talented, and we’re going to do whatever we can to try to bridge that gap a little bit, and we’re seeing some good strides already,” Salciunas said. “I think having a new show is a big part of that trying to grab that initial audience, but then it’s holding on to that initial audience.”

Being able to achieve this outcome, however, requires a commitment to showcasing talent and different personalities. Salciunas referenced how there was a point in John Kincade’s stint hosting mornings in the daypart’s previous iteration where he gained ground on his crosstown competitor Angelo Cataldi with WIP. Kincade, of course, used to work with Cataldi’s show as a contributor and received a chance to take the air while with the outlet.

“I’ve seen the turn of tides of ratings over the years for every show [and] every time slot, so there’s always an opportunity, but that means we always have to be on our game; that means we always have to be doing the best show possible,” Salciunas said. “We can’t go in the next day and say, ‘Wow, that show was really good yesterday. Let’s have some fun today; let’s make this a lighthearted show.’ No, we always have to be thinking about, ‘Alright, what can we do next to put on another great entertaining four-hour radio show?’”

Over the last several years, there have been several leadership changes at 97.5 The Fanatic responsible for overseeing the slate of programming and station operations. Scott Masteller currently leads the outlet, someone in whom Salciunas has confidence that he can continue to elevate the standing of the station. In his earlier years working with 97.5 The Fanatic, Salciunas had an innovative spirit but was discouraged from taking steps to align with the multimedia evolution. For example, when he offered to do a podcast several years ago, someone at the station questioned his judgment and the reasoning behind the idea.

“I was told by someone, ‘What’s the point in doing that? We’re a radio station,’ and I knew back then that that was a mistake to say,” Salciunas explained. “You shouldn’t say, ‘We’re a radio station;’ that was years ago, so seeing that bosses and market managers and hosts and producers all realizing, ‘Alright, we have to adapt,’ that excites me.”

Possessing the background as a producer lends shrewd and calculated judgment on how to include members of the audience into the program. While there are still open phone lines for callers to chime in, the program has introduced a text line and also engages with the audience through the live chat functionality of YouTube. Having Thomas as a producer of the show has helped in this area as well, with Salciunas sharing that he has a strong understanding of how to create and optimize content for various platforms of dissemination.

“We have a great YouTube audience where they basically have their own community all of a sudden,” Salciunas said. “They’re constantly talking about the show, and sometimes we grab what they’re saying on that YouTube feed because that’s another area of today’s new media where you have another avenue to communicate with people.”

As Salciunas grows accustomed to the early start on 97.5 The Fanatic and his new colleagues in morning drive, he is filled with enthusiasm and the prospect of possibility. The radio station has been the only outlet by which he has been employed since the start of his media career, and he hopes to work there for as long as possible. National radio and television intrigue him going forward, but his priority centers on thriving in the new role.

“I want to try to get 97.5 The Fanatic – because it starts in the morning – back up in the map; back in the top five of the ratings books – and that’s going to take some time,” Salciunas said. “We’re a new show – we’re going to have to figure each other out.”

Salciunas expressed that the last year-and-a-half has been “hectic” in the midday daypart, but there has also been excitement surrounding the ephemerality as well. Taking the microphone in a major market with a dedicated sports fanbase such as Philadelphia is a privilege he does not take for granted, and he aspires to continue excelling in the marketplace for years to come.

“I just started, so I’m not thinking about the next step just yet,” Salciunas said. “I want this to last for a long time – for a very long time. If I never have to leave, that would be great.”

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