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Adam Klug Was Prepared For Padres Postseason Push

“Within Audacy they don’t refer to us as radio stations; they refer to us as brands because 97.3 is our brand. It’s our image. It’s everything that we do.”

Derek Futterman

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San Diego has been a one-sport city since the relocation of the Chargers to Los Angeles – meaning that it is all things brown and gold when it pertains to professional teams. The San Diego Padres have not earned a postseason berth in a full 162-game regular season since 2006. Today, the roster has various superstar players, including Manny Machado, Juan Soto and Yu Darvish. The team, along with its broadcast partner 97.3 The Fan, led by program director/brand manager Adam Klug, just completed its deepest postseason run since 1998 – making the National League Championship Series.

“The Padres are the only professional team here in San Diego, and we’re the flagship,” Klug said. “Our goal is to knock it out of the park and to be the eyes and ears for our audience members who can’t be at all the events we get access to.”

97.3 The Fan was originally a country radio station for 50 years before Entercom (now-Audacy) acquired Lincoln Financial Media, its parent company, and thus the frequency. Following several changes in format including a move to top-40 and talk radio, the station officially relaunched as a sports talk radio station in April 2018. Two months later, the station hired Klug as its program director.

Klug had a penchant for sports radio from an early age, tuning in to different types of programming throughout his formative years. While he attended the University of Georgia as an economics major, he landed an internship in sports media with 790 The Zone in nearby Atlanta. The internship was unpaid but ultimately led to his being hired to work as a producer at the station shortly after his graduation from college. The ownership of the station was originally under Big League Broadcasting and was the only brand in the city under its portfolio – in essence keeping everyone more focused and dedicated to improving the sound of the station every day.

“It felt like old-school radio,” Klug said. “It wasn’t a station that was owned by a giant corporation like a lot of current sports stations are. It was a really small ownership group. It’s interesting because everybody who worked there – the sales staff; the promotions staff; everybody was all-in, all the time on 790 The Zone because it wasn’t in a cluster.”

Having the chance to immediately work in a top-10 market out of college provided Klug with the experience necessary to cover sports in an urban hub. His primary role was to produce the station’s morning show, a program in which he put his time and energy into determining how to enhance the sound and sustain ratings success. While he departed the station to join ESPN as a general producer in 2010, the decision was quite difficult because of the uncertainty associated with the transition.

“I think most producers are used to being all-in on one show and working with that talent and always thinking about how to make that show better,” Klug said. “When I was offered the job at ESPN…. I definitely had to think about it – but ultimately I said: ‘It’s ESPN. I got to go.’”

Following a year of rotating shows as a freelance producer including AllNight with Jason Smith and College Football Tonight with Mel Kiper Jr. and Freddie Coleman, Klug seized an opportunity when the producer for The Doug Gottlieb Show left to take another job. Once he was named the show’s new producer, he immediately established a professional relationship with Gottlieb and enjoyed his time working for him. Being adaptable and easy to work with paid off when Gottlieb moved his show to what was then a new brand in CBS Sports Radio – and decided to take Klug with him.

“He was considering leaving six months into our tenure kind of working together and he was kind of keeping me in-tune with all of those discussions and [the] decision-making process,” Klug recalled. “When he decided that he was going to leave – even though we hadn’t been working together for so long – we had worked so well together that he asked if I’d be interested in continuing to produce his show over at CBS.”

Klug was thrilled to have the opportunity to produce a marquee show on a growing sports radio network, which also featured Jim Rome. Six years later when Gottlieb was considering a move to Fox Sports Radio, Klug wanted to find a way to advance his career. As a result, he declined the opportunity to remain with Gottlieb once the move to Fox Sports Radio was official. He stayed with CBS Sports Radio to become the executive producer of Reiter Than You with Bill Reiter.

Programming a sports radio station represented a dream job for Klug and he kept his radar on opportunities to enter the space while producing Reiter’s show. He recognized the difficulty associated with assimilating into the radio space and did whatever he could to distinguish himself from other candidates.

“I had spoken with people who I consider mentors within the company and let them know about my interest and desire to grow professionally, and did everything I could to put myself in a position to take that next step when the opportunity came,” Klug said. “At the time, I was looking to become a program director and get my opportunity to program a sports station and at that point with all the experience I was willing to probably go just about anywhere to get that opportunity.”

Once 97.3 The Fan in San Diego came calling, Klug knew it was too good of a chance to pass up and recognized its gravity throughout the interview process. Once he joined the station in June 2018, he began doing everything possible to position the station to cement itself as San Diego’s top sports radio station.

Today, though, radio stations are in constant competition with other multimedia outlets and platforms for attention and engagement. As a result, Audacy renamed Klug’s position as program director to brand manager to more accurately reflect the roles and responsibilities he has. The change has extended far beyond the executive staff though, representing a paradigmatic shift in thinking about the future of the medium of dissemination.

“Within Audacy they don’t refer to us as radio stations; they refer to us as brands because 97.3 is our brand. It’s our image. It’s everything that we do,” Klug explained. “We are content creators and we distribute our content on multiple platforms. Radio is the main platform, but it’s not the only platform.”

As the flagship radio station for the San Diego Padres in a one-sport city, keeping fans engaged with the team during the highs and lows is essential for business and content creation. During Klug’s first year with 97.3 The Fan, the Padres finished with a win-loss record of 66-96, last place in the National League West. It was in that same year though that Baseball America ranked the organization as the number one farm system in the league, indicative of developing talent in the minor leagues that would eventually make an impact on the big league level.

From the outside, it was apparent that the team was seemingly prioritizing its future and concurrently brought in first baseman Eric Hosmer on what was then the largest contract in team history for veteran production and leadership. Nonetheless, the team still had the lowest payroll in their division and ranked in the bottom-10 compared to other major league teams.

Coinciding with the Padres’ focus on its future, 97.3 The Fan changed its sales approach to encourage investors to see the rebuilding plan through by investing early and reaping the benefits down the line as opposed to having an immediate impact. Four years later, the Padres made an exciting postseason push and were within three wins of a World Series berth, generating profound buzz and excitement in the San Diego sports landscape.

“We put together these presentations that said ‘Here are the previous number one [ranked] organizations,’” Klug said. “‘It was the Cubs in 2012, let’s say, and then the Astros and 2013. Low and behold in 2016, the Cubs [won] the World Series and then in 2017 the Astros.’ When you get ranked this well in your farm system, it leads to this. It was: ‘Get in now. Get in on the ground floor.’”

Aside from sales, the development of the organization’s progenies from one era to the next caused 97.3 The Fan to focus more heavily on the minor leagues than it does today. Many of the prospects at the time were well known and garnered large expectations, including Fernando Tatis Jr., MacKenzie Gore and Luis Urías – all of whom are making impacts in the major leagues whether or not they are still with the Padres.

“It changed the approach of our programming… as our sales [were] based upon where they were in the rebuild process,” Klug said. “….Our programming and our sales approach kind of shifted from the percentage of focus of the minor league coverage to now we’re really talking about making runs here in the playoffs.”

Cultivating a content strategy for the Padres postseason run has been intensive and intricate with the team working tirelessly to close new deals and execute special broadcast coverage for the postseason.

Over the last month, the team has always been thinking one round ahead – meaning that they were already planning for the NLCS when the NLDS was taking place against the Los Angeles Dodgers. One round earlier, plans were being put in place on how to best approach a series with their interstate rivals if the team defeated the New York Mets – which it ultimately did in three games.

“We’re planning around in advance,” Klug said. “….Our sales staff has been working around the clock locking in new business as we’ve advanced…. It’s basically been around the clock frenzied mayhem for the last couple [of] weeks here.”

Baseball season is long and many fans grow a proclivity for their local broadcasters whether they be on television, radio or on some other platform. In the postseason though, media rights deals give national networks the exclusive broadcast rights on television and as a result different broadcast teams are heard.

San Diego Padres regular season baseball is broadcast on Bally Sports San Diego and features play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo and Mark Grant. Throughout the playoffs though, Padres fans watched their team on ESPN for the Wild Card Series with Karl Ravech, David Cone, Eduardo Perez and Buster Olney; then on Fox for the NLDS featuring Adam Amin, A.J. Pierzynski and Tom Verducci; in the NLCS the team remains on Fox but is now joined by broadcasting duo Joe Davis and John Smoltz with Ken Rosenthal reporting.

That is not the case on radio though – it has been play-by-play announcer Jesse Agler and analyst Tony Gwynn Jr. bringing fans all the action on 97.3 The Fan and streaming on the Audacy app.

“We see a lot of commentaries on social media about Padres fans’ reactions to watching the TV broadcast and the reaction they have to hearing the national broadcasters on TV,” Klug said. “It warms our hearts to see all the love – the outpouring of love – we’ve gotten for our local broadcasters throughout the playoffs. We’ve actually gotten tons and tons of feedback and reaction [from] our listeners muting the TV… firing up the radio broadcast… and syncing it up with the TV so they can hear the local broadcasters while watching it on TV.”

When the Padres are not on the field, the station has a wide array of sports talk programming including its morning show Ben & Woods and The John Kentra Show during afternoon drive. As there have been various innovations in media as consumption habits have changed with emerging technologies, the job of an on-air host encompasses significantly more than simply showing up to a studio and talking about sports into a microphone.

“I think it’s more of an all-in job than it used to be and now that social media is so prevalent, you build your listenership through engaging with them… and bringing them into the fold,” Klug said. “I also think that sports radio has evolved to where you can talk about more than just sports now.”

Ultimately, keeping an audience engrossed in sports radio with a saturated content marketplace and distribution platforms means that hosts need to go beyond the game more than ever before. Sports radio, at its core, has its roots in discussing sports and implementing fans in the conversation but today, the format, along with others like it, try to bring listeners a product that extends past its traditional boundaries in terms of topic selection and execution.

“At the end of the day, we are entertainers,” Klug said. “You have to be entertaining and be able to talk about [different topics] whether it’s pop culture or TV or your personal life. At the end of the day, it’s whatever it takes to keep your audience engaged.”

For those considering a path to radio management, it is essential one figures out what in the industry they aspire to do and then pursue the most optimal path possible to arrive at that point. Going into the industry without somewhat of a roadmap is more complicated when it comes to thinking about future advancement because there are many content outlets but a shrinking number of people necessary to produce it – an evident shift in efficiency.

The comparative advantage radio possesses regarding content production continues to become more valuable as the aggregate opportunity cost declines and demand to work in media remains steady. As a result, being focused on one’s future goals and having a strategy to achieve them is, according to Klug, an effective route to follow early in one’s career. Just being able to do that though starts with walking through an open doorway and a willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed.

“You have to love what you do,” Klug said. “I think radio is a difficult industry because it’s desirable and so many people want to be a part of it…. Get into the door and get experience any way that you can and put yourself in a position where you become invaluable. I think most companies are prone to hire from within so you want to put yourself in a position to grab [an] opportunity.”

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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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