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Bonnie Bernstein Has Embraced Entrepreneurship

“When you have an entrepreneurial spirit and you’re doing it the right way, part of that is trying to stay on top of emerging trends – and in this case, technology.”

Derek Futterman

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“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Those 37 words changed the course of United States history, providing more equitable opportunities for women like Bonnie Bernstein to immerse themselves in activities some entities previously prohibited.

Today, women comprise approximately 45% of all college athletes, and many are profiting off of their name, image and likeness through professional careers and endorsement deals. Bonnie Bernstein was one of the many beneficiaries of the decision, and it influenced her career both as an athlete and sports media professional.

Bernstein is starting a new podcast series with Audible this week called She Got Game, in which she seeks to shed light on successful women and the influence sports had on their careers.

Some of the interviewees in the 10-episode project include XFL Chairwoman and Owner Dany Garcia; NFL on CBS analyst Amy Trask; and founder and CEO of Salamander Resorts and co-founder of BET Sheila Johnson. Through conducting casual interviews, Bernstein looks to promulgate the fundamental skills women can gain from playing sports and becoming invested in them.

“For as many doors as Title IX has opened, what we also know is that girls are still exiting sports at a younger age and at a higher frequency than boys,” Bernstein said. “….Whatever the challenge may be that may have a girl or young woman thinking about leaving sports: stay. If you stay, you will continue to hone those life skills that will tee you up for success in life.”

As a student at the University of Maryland, Bernstein was an All-American gymnast, but her love of sports was fostered at home by her parents. When the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants left New York City to move to Los Angeles and San Francisco, Calif., respectively, after the 1957 season, Bernstein’s parents quipped that they refused to watch New York Yankees baseball. Fortunately for them, “The Big Apple” received a new National League baseball team with the founding of the New York Mets in 1962 – but for Bernstein, her parents’ interest in sports subsequently helped fuel her passion. From an early age, she possessed a penchant for creative writing and tried to amalgamate it with sports, dreaming of one day writing for Sports Illustrated.

Early in her tenure as an undergraduate student, Bernstein queried other students regarding which professors they recommended studying under. Through these conversations, she found that Prof. Chet Rhodes continued to be mentioned, the instructor of an introduction to broadcasting class. By her junior year, she found herself in the classroom mesmerized by the possibilities this facet of the industry had to offer, including anchoring, producing, engineering and filming. Because of the class, she decided to focus on cultivating a career in broadcast journalism and remained eager for chances to hone her craft.

During her formative years in the industry, which began in Lewes, Delaware at WXJN-FM, a station broadcasting in the country format, Bernstein was operating without a bonafide playbook. As the news and sports director of the station, she was responsible for finding and reporting on stories around the community.

On most days, she would be at the station by 4:30 a.m. to write top of the hour updates, load carts and slice tape. Then she would spend the next several hours driving around in a white van with the station’s call letters prominently on display acting as a field reporter. By the time she returned to the station, she would refine her stories and prepare them for the afternoon news. These arduous tasks would consume her days, but gave her valuable repetitions and shaped her work ethic.

Although there were not many women in the industry, Bernstein looked up to Lesley Visser, an accomplished sports media personality and journalist who reported on many seminal events. Visser was the first woman to appear on Monday Night Football, the first woman inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the first woman to earn the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award given at the Sports Emmys.

Aside from Visser, Bernstein also watched Gayle Gardner and Jayne Kennedy enter the field; however, it was hardly facile to ascertain an effective direction for her career based on looking at others. Instead, Bernstein had to forge her own path and is thankful she can pay it forward to the next generation.

“One of the nice things about being where I am in my career is that I now get to serve as the mentor for young people that I didn’t have,” Bernstein said. “I was just really flailing blindly for a long time trying to do the best I could with the hope that my desire and passion and commitment to being the very best sports journalist I could be would somehow propel me through my career.”

Beginning in any new industry is hardly an easy task, making the probability of failing much more likely. Even though Bernstein began working with ESPN as a Chicago bureau reporter just two years after leaving WXJN-FM, she always continued to learn and find ways to improve her craft. In having the chance to cover Chicago Bulls superstar and Basketball Hall of Fame member Michael Jordan, along with contributing to shows such as NFL Countdown and SportsCenter, she further augmented her versatility.

Sticking to the status quo remains something she tries to avoid, instead maintaining an alacrity for progression and innovation.

“When I was younger, I would use failure as a personal indictment on me. You are less than; you are not worthy; you are not capable. What I’ve learned through lots of conversations with entrepreneurs and strong leaders is that failure is a critical part of success. If we can shift the mindset about failure, then entrepreneurship is a much easier road to travel because there will be failures and there will be a lot of them.”

Even though she did not create her first company until 2016, one could argue that Bernstein has been an entrepreneur throughout her entire broadcast career. In essence, being a personality means establishing a brand that stands out from others, conducive to professional success and sustained growth.

On television, she was doing it from the moment she joined WMDT, a local ABC affiliate in Salisbury, Md. anchoring news on the weekends. Shortly thereafter, Bernstein made the move to KRNV, a local NBC affiliate, in Reno, Nv. where she became the first woman in the locale to serve as a weekday sports anchor.

Working as a woman in sports media, Bernstein has been the subject of criticism and misogyny and has had to find ways to cope with antagonism. She affirms that women are held to a higher standard and that it is impossible to satisfy everyone all the time. The negative commentary from others surely hurts but does not hinder. As her career has progressed, she has been able to contextualize these situations to realize that the commenters are likely afflicted or disarmed by other scenarios, wherefore they choose to take out their frustration on others.

“At the end of the day, I know who my inner circle is,” Bernstein expressed. “I know if I’m meeting my own expectations, then hopefully the other meaningful expectations will follow suit. The reality is women in sports broadcasting are not for everybody, and that’s okay…. More important for me is not so much the public opinion as much as the joy I get from doing what I do.”

In 1998, Bernstein joined CBS Sports where she was quickly named as a sideline reporter for live broadcasts of NFL games and the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. Some of the colleagues she collaborated with for NFL games included Jim Nantz, Phil Simms, Dan Dierdorf, Verne Lundquist and Dick Enberg.

Bernstein was the sideline reporter for the television broadcast on CBS and the radio broadcast on Westwood One for Super Bowl XXXVII. Additionally, she compiled and produced features for The NFL Today as its lead reporter and anchored studio coverage for CBS programming of sports updates and college basketball coverage.

“If you’re doing the sideline the right way, you’re doing as much preparation as anyone else on the team, but you are only utilizing very specific instances,” Bernstein said. “There is nothing that will ever replace the thrill of being on the sideline and having a vantage point that nobody else has except you and the photographers who are allowed on the field.”

Bernstein departed from CBS in 2006 and ultimately signed with ESPN where she began reporting on Sunday Night Baseball and ESPN College Football on ABC, allowing her to continue telling stories and providing information to enhance the broadcast. A few months into the job though, Bernstein endured a life-threatening health scare when she began to feel pain in her leg.

She recognized this leg pain, along with accompanying shortness of breath, in the midst of running to her car following coverage of the Red River Showdown between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and University of Texas at Austin Longhorns. Following a flight back to New York, she immediately went to see a chiropractor who referred her to the emergency room to be checked for blood clots. It was a directive that may have ultimately saved her life.

“Never in a million years did I think I would be in the hospital and have a doctor come in and throw the films up and say, ‘See all these black dots in your lungs? Those are blood clots. I have no idea how you’re still alive, and the only thing I can think of is that you’re in fantastic shape,’” Bernstein recalled. “That’s what saved me. The only reason I’m still alive is because health and wellness is really important to me.”

Bernstein’s official diagnosis was bilateral pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis, the result of a blood clot that was the full length of her leg, broke off, and spread into both of her lungs. She was rapidly treated with blood thinners.

According to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 900,000 people annually can be affected by deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, and the first symptom experienced by 1 in 4 is sudden death. Moreover, one-third of those affected will have a recurrence within 10 years, making monitoring symptoms and receiving medical checkups pivotal.

March is deep vein thrombosis awareness month, and Bernstein has tried to utilize her platform to spread the message about the severity of this treatable, yet life-threatening disease. She urges people to take a risk assessment test while monitoring potential symptoms, and has been a spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis for many years.

“When I come across somebody who’s suffered a blood clot or when we’re in the month of March,” Bernstein said, “I always try to find a way to share that messaging with folks who are kind enough to follow on social [media].”

Aside from reporting and hosting television shows such as Outside the Lines and First Take, Bernstein contributed to programming on espnW, meant to disseminate stories and interviews with women in sports. Several broadcast networks are holding events for International Women’s Day, including an all-women broadcast and production team for the NBA on ESPN broadcast of the Dallas Mavericks’ matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans.

While working for ESPN, Bernstein executive produced and hosted a six-part interview show titled Winner’s Circle where she welcomed influential women in the world of sports to discuss their stories.

The show aligns with her new Audible podcast; however, it did not have the ability to go into profound detail because of time constraints. Nonetheless, the experience further sparked her interest in interviewing and telling these stories to viewers around the world – she was just simply waiting for the right opportunity to revitalize the effort.

Bernstein was the creator and co-host of NY Football Live, a program that aired on ESPN Radio in New York with former New York Jets linebacker Greg Buttle. She had previously had the chance to work with Michael Kay and Don La Greca on The Michael Kay Show beginning in September 2009 where she learned how to appeal to local listeners and expanded her storytelling in the audio space. It is usually difficult to create and transition to a brand new show, evinced by a dearth of callers; yet the phone lines began to light up regularly as their program became more established.

“There’s some incredible, award-winning storytelling in linear and digital,” Bernstein elucidated, “but there’s just something special about the audio space because all of your senses are completely locked on one thing: audio. There are no pictures; there are no graphics – you’re just listening. I think the ability to really have an impact on a listener is powerful when doing audio.”

Being able to effectively create a new show of her own required Bernstein learn more about management, leading her to join Campus Insiders, a new, digital college sports network owned and operated by Silver Chalice Ventures. Bernstein was initially approached to serve as a host, and she responded to the company’s initial offer with gratitude.

Knowing that she wanted to start her own production company in the future, she negotiated the role into a hybrid between hosting and serving as the company’s vice president of content and brand development. Digital media was fairly new at the time with an ambiguous outlook, but Bernstein recognized the concept as anything but transitory in nature. Adaptation is oftentimes the key to survival in a dynamic marketplace, and Bernstein has been ready and willing to explore new ideas amid other prosaic instantiations.

“When you have an entrepreneurial spirit and you’re doing it the right way, part of that is trying to stay on top of emerging trends – and in this case, technology,” Bernstein said. “When digital media was initially emerging and we were calling it ‘new media,’ I had the sense that it was not something that was just some sort of fad or trend that would fade.”

Bernstein achieved her entrepreneurial goals when she founded two companies – Velvet Hammer Media Consulting and Walk Swiftly Productions. Moving in this direction for her career aligned with the goals of continued flourishment and evolution in mind as an on-air talent and a manager. Through these endeavors, she has worked on programs both linear and digital with the XFL, College Football Playoff and ESPN.

“I have so much admiration for people who have on-air careers for 30-40 years,” Bernstein said. “I still love that aspect of it too; I love telling stories [and] I love doing interviews. The business piece of what you have the ability to do as an entrepreneur is where I really experienced the most growth. Yes, it’s hard; and yes, it requires an inordinate amount of intestinal fortitude.”

With this new podcast, which becomes available for Audible subscribers tomorrow, the company has pledged $25,000 to organizations based in Newark, N.J. working to provide opportunities for women to participate in sports. The company’s commitment to its surrounding community further underscores the mission of the podcast itself in engendering inspiration for women to play the games. A study by Ernst and Young as part of the EY Women Athletes Business Network found that 94% of C-suite women have played sports, an activity that has helped facilitate success.

“It’s storytelling with real impact, and I’m not sure that I would have ever been able to get a concept like this across the finish line if I were talent working for a network,” Bernstein articulated. “I needed to be able to take this from concept to market myself.”

In interviewing these successful women with a background in sports, Bernstein knows it is her job to listen and help create an on-air product that attracts and retains listeners. These are lessons that she learned from her time working in news and has since refined at a national scale. She continues to modify her parlance to fit the marketplace, always ensuring that she is able to elicit insightful and comprehensive answers from her guests. 

“If you’re interviewing [in] the right way, you don’t drive conversation; your guest does,” Bernstein said. “A lot of times, these interviews wound up going in different directions that I didn’t expect. That’s not only okay – it’s awesome. That’s what I hope will enable listeners to feel like they’re really glad they took the time to listen.”

As her career in sports media moves forward, Bernstein aims to receive the green light regarding some other projects she has been working on, along with thinking about authoring a book. In addition, she immensely values philanthropy and volunteer work and serves as the advisory board co-chair for Every Kid Sports. The organization provides funding for families who are unable to pay league entry fees to ensure everyone who wishes to participate and make sports a part of their lives has the chance to do so.

During the pandemic, Bernstein took a board certification course so she has the ability to lend her expertise and passion to other organizations and try to actualize change in the world. She remains ready for new challenges and instances where she can grow both personally and professionally, keeping her energized and perceptive on a regular basis.

“Daily growth and evaluation is really at the core of my being,” Bernstein expressed. “That’s not to say that there’s always room to continue growing as on-air talent…. The opportunity to start at the bottom of the learning curve and work my way up has always been so extraordinarily enticing and exciting to me.”

As more people pursue careers in sports media with a concomitant rise in the demand for compelling and engaging content, the industry remains competitive. Bernstein affirms that the sheer demand outpaces supply; however, those who try to enter the industry are sometimes precluded by those performing multiple jobs.

Ultimately, the craft comes down to timing, sustainability and networking. Those who are able to sustain a career in sports media usually take chances and adapt, and also have additional experiences that enhance their portfolio or add to their personality – including playing sports themselves.

With the array of people broadcasting their opinion en masse through a wide variety of traditional and digital platforms, it is crucial to stand out. Much like an entrepreneur, one must build their own brand and, according to Bernstein, should start doing so from the moment they determine in what industry they want to work. Employing a stellar work ethic and a willingness to go the “extra mile” helps set people apart, combining talent with hard work, humility and erudition.

“That’s the amazing thing about 2023,” Bernstein said. “You don’t need a platform; you don’t need a job. All you need to do is start creating content; start a YouTube channel [and] start networking.”

She Got Game is a 10-part Audible Originals series to be released Thursday, March 9 amid the celebration of Women’s History Month and 50th anniversary of Title IX. Bernstein will sit down with guests Laila Ali; Bianca Belair; Chelsea Clinton; Dany Garcia; Shawn Johnson; Sheila Johnson; Folake Olowofoyeku; Amy Trask; Aisha Tyler; and Julie Uhrman – interviewing them about how sports has helped them facilitate successful and enduring careers. In the process, she hopes the project serves as another avenue to compel young people to explore and leverage the advantages and lessons learned through sports for future growth.

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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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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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An Ode to the Heart and Soul of Barstool Sports — Frank The Tank

If you can simultaneously be the angriest person on the planet, and also be viewed as completely wholesome, you’re doing something right.

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A photo of Frank the Tank
(Photo: Barstool Sports)

I’ve written in this space in the past that Barstool Sports is often an enigma to me. Outside of some of the brand’s major stars — like Dave Portnoy, Big Cat, PFT, and Kevin Clancy — I struggle to figure out just who does what at the outlet. But there’s one role I don’t question, and that’s the role of Frank The Tank.

I’m a true believer in the “personality hire” theory. If you’re unaware, it’s the idea that, sometimes, you simply hire a high-energy, positive, great-personality employee who might be underqualified for a job, but will keep morale high inside the office.

And while Frank The Tank doesn’t exactly exude positivity — quite the contrary, most often — you can tell that he’s the heart and soul of the company.

If you’re uninitiated, Frank Fleming — obviously known as Frank The Tank — is an often-viral sensation that pulls off one of the most incredible feats you’ll ever see in modern-day sports media.

If you can simultaneously be the angriest person on the planet, and also be viewed as completely wholesome, you’re doing something right. And that, in a nutshell, is Frank The Tank.

Tank makes no bones about his feelings. Ever. If you ask a question, he’s got an answer, a strong take, and generally a well-thought-out one at that.

In fact, he was discovered by Barstool Sports for his now-infamous rant about the New Jersey Transit Commission and its “incompetence.” He shouted in anger inside a transit hub about the public transportation’s inability to properly inform passengers about updates, resulting in him missing a New York Mets game.

And yet, despite his unbridled anger, you can’t help but sympathize and relate to the man.

Maybe Frank’s most endearing quality is his complete and utter lack of what anyone thinks about him. To sound a bit country for a moment, Frank The Tank’s give a damn is busted. He says what he thinks, when he thinks it, and doesn’t care what you think about it. But it’s never intentionally malicious. It might be harsh, but it always comes with an air of honesty rather than venom. He’s never trying to harm whoever he’s criticizing, but just believes in the age-old “Honesty is the best policy” thought process.

I’ve long enjoyed the clips of Frank, whether it was future NFL Hall of Famer J.J. Watt sharing his admiration for the digital star, or the times he’s often ambushed in the office by the outlet’s digital team to ask questions like “Who are the five most overrated athletes of all-time?”, which results in him rattling off a list you can’t believe was concocted on the spot.

Others are hopping on the bandwagon, too. Late last year, Mike Francesa was introduced to The Tank, and you could instantly see the chemistry and connection between the two. (As a side note, I can’t tell you how invested I’d be in a Mike and The Tank sports show. It’d have to be about half an hour because any longer and Francesa might strangle Frank, but it sure would make for great radio.)

Frank Fleming has turned into a content machine at Barstool Sports. The consummate underdog, Frank The Tank really burst onto the scene with his acceptance speech at the company’s award show, shouting “Never give up your dream!” and sharing the story of his previous life as a court clerk before joining the digital outlet.

But his latest content endeavor might be one of the biggest in Barstool history. Frank Fleming used to weigh over 500 pounds. But now after a walking schedule, he has dropped more than 160 pounds.

The company has turned his walks into a content series, where he converses with sports and media stars, with sponsor attachments throughout the videos. Recent walks include Mike Francesa, Scott Van Pelt, and an upcoming episode with former New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley.

I began to realize what Frank The Tank meant to Barstool Sports after one recent walk with the outlet’s founder, Dave Portnoy, who admitted he had pegged the digital star all wrong.

“It’s probably one of the most wrong things that I’ve (said). When we hired you, I put you on an innings count,” Portnoy said, inferring he didn’t want Fleming included in much visual content. “I was dead-ass wrong on that one. Gladly wrong.”

You see, Dave Portnoy admitting he’s wrong about something is about as jarring as hearing a kangaroo order an Oreo McFlurry. It just doesn’t happen. And yet, there was, admitting that even he underestimated one of his biggest stars.

And in his response to that, Fleming shared an optimism and a belief in himself.

“I just wanted to go there, get involved, and show what I can do,” Frank The Tank responded to the company’s founder.

In addition to his walks, Frank The Tank also shares videos of his culinary exploits on his personal YouTube page, which now features nearly 50,000 subscribers. Even my wife enjoys sitting down and seeing what The Tank is going to whip up on each edition of Tank Cooks.

There’s a sense of protection around Fleming from other Barstool personalities. In a company that is often maligned for how it treats each other and those who criticize the outlet, you can tell those at the digital juggernaut look out for Frank.

When his personal phone number was leaked on the internet in 2022, most other employees inside the company would have been inundated with calls and messages because others at the outlet had encouraged the harassment as a practical joke.

But when it happened to Frank, a complete onslaught of messages from bloggers and video and podcast hosts begging those to stop messaging the digital star.

And that, to me, shows the role of Frank The Tank at the often-controversial outlet. He’s rarely, if ever, controversial. He’s humble, he’s honest, he’s angry, and he’s wholesome. Frank The Tank is a virtual walking conundrum, and that alone shows why he’s the heart and soul of Barstool Sports.

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