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Hans Olsen Never Thought BYU Radio Was An Option For Him


“I think there was a pretty uniform belief between the two of us that ‘I don’t think Hans would take this job’, and my belief was ‘I don’t think BYU would offer me that job’.”

Tyler McComas

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The energy is palpable as a football flies high into the September sky above 60,000-plus BYU fans. If one is seated in the right spot at Lavell Edwards Stadium, one can see both the football in the air, along with a terrific view of the Wasatch Mountains in the background. It’s September 2nd in Provo, Utah and at this exact moment, Hans Olsen will be in the middle of a moment he’ll never forget. 

Truth be told, Olsen probably wouldn’t have believed you a year ago, if you told him he’d be in the BYU radio booth for the 2023 season opener as the color analyst for the home team. But after Riley Nelson decided in January to step down from the role, BYU needed its next color analyst. So, play-by-play voice Greg Wrubell started the search for his new gameday partner. 

“Greg Wrubell started doing a search and I think there was a pretty uniform belief between the two of us that ‘I don’t think Hans would take this job’, and my belief was ‘I don’t think BYU would offer me that job’,” said Olsen. 

The former BYU Cougar from 1996 to 2000 didn’t think BYU would be interested in him, because frankly, they never had been before. Olsen has spent 16 years in the Utah market as a sports radio host and his alma mater had never reached out with any opportunities with the football program. But even though there may have been a thought from both sides there wouldn’t be mutual interest, Wrubell called Olsen and took a chance, anyway.

“When he called, I was floored,” said Olsen. “I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been in this market for 16 football seasons and BYU had never reached out to me for any part of it. When I heard from Greg, the emotion was heavy gratitude. I was very humbled, and quite frankly, I was shocked.”

It didn’t take Olsen long to realize this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Not only was that his immediate thought, but after weighing the pros and cons, it became even more of a no-brainer.

But regardless of how easy the decision was, Olsen wanted to make sure it didn’t interfere with his daily radio show at KSL Sports Zone in Salt Lake City. Olsen has co-hosted a show with Scotty G (Garrard) since 2014 and considers it his main job. That’s a big reason why his radio show won’t dramatically even change, even with the new position at BYU.

“My listeners are used to me being a separate entity,” said Olsen. “They’re going to have an adjustment period when they see me in a photo with a BYU logo on my chest, but that won’t change anything I do for my occupation. I’ve tried to really make that clear on the show with Scotty G, who’s also the play-by-play guy for Utah State. We do everything we can to put that aside and provide the insights that we get from these exterior jobs. Our main job, without a doubt, our main focus and our main intent, is to bring the best daily show to our listeners.”

What that means is there will be days, perhaps several, where the Utah Utes are the main and lead story of the day. Just because Olsen is calling BYU games and Garrard is calling Utah State games, doesn’t mean the duo will allow their weekend allegiances to neglect coverage of the program that’s won back-to-back PAC 12 titles. Olsen and Garrard’s allegiance is to the listener. 

“There will be many days where we start out with The University of Utah because they’ve really dominated the storylines in the state for quite some time,” said Olsen. 

There are obvious advantages for the daily show with Olsen’s new position. From a sales perspective, having a host with an affiliation with BYU could get the station into more doors. From a content perspective, it could allow more on-air interviews with BYU football coaches. 

“Absolutely with all of those,” said Olsen. “I’ve got a great relationship with (BYU head coach) Kalani Sitake, we’re old teammates and played together for three years. We were actually best friends at BYU. What will change, I’m sure pretty dramatically, I will be able to have Kalani on a little more often. Maybe (offensive coordinator) Aaron Roderick and Jay Hill, the new defensive coordinator. It will definitely give me a bit more access to those guys and a little bit more relationship-based, on-air personality to coach.”

Not only should the listeners of Hans Olsen and Scotty G not expect an entirely new show, but they should expect even more insight into the BYU program. Granted, with Olsen’s new position, there will be certain information he can’t divulge on the air, but the overall benefit to the show will be an overwhelming positive. 

“When I was going through the pros and cons, the pros just so heavily outweigh the cons,” said Olsen. “It got to the point where accepting that job was a no-brainer. And I do think it’s going to bring more insight to half of Scotty’s show. It’s going to bring listeners just a little bit closer to the BYU program. But it’s only a fine line I’ll have to walk because there’s things you just can’t divulge.” 

This season won’t be Olsen’s first crack as a color radio analyst. He’s worked the previous five years for Bowl Season Radio, the largest syndicator of college bowl games on the radio. Olsen has called around three bowl games a year, including the Music City Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Outback Bowl, and Citrus Bowl, among others. Oddly enough, he’s even called two BYU games previously in bowl games. 

Those experiences have allowed him to find out who he is as a color analyst. What he’s found is that he’s very different on Saturdays behind the mic, than he is on Mondays behind the mic. 

“It’s not even close,” said Olsen. “It’s kind of strange because the game means so much to me that when the ball kicks off, and the game gets going, it almost puts me back on the field as a player and there’s just not a lot of jokes to be had. I get energized, and I’m not energized by a team, I’m energized by good football. I’m hoping that BYU fans can understand that. If a team comes out and they’re dominant, I love good football. I’m hoping that’s always BYU. I am mortified by bad football. I will have to keep my emotions in check if things turn downhill. Bad football makes me want to throw up on my lap.”

Olsen can’t wait to get into the radio booth this fall and it will be exciting to see how he and Wrubell mesh as a team. But that won’t be the only exciting aspect, seeing as BYU will be in its inaugural Big 12 season. It’s one of the most anticipated BYU football seasons in quite some time, which had an impact on Olsen’s decision to join the radio team. 

“That added to the whole decision of it, absolutely,” said Olsen. “There were a few factors that played a big role in taking the opportunity and the fact I only get Oklahoma and Texas for one year, I’m really excited about calling that game with Texas because my old quarterback Steve Sarkisian is the head coach out there. I played with Peyton Manning, so to be out there with Arch Manning is cool. That all played a big role.”

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How to Help Your Clients with Low Website Conversions

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

Jeff Caves

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

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

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

The Diagnosis

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

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

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

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

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

Action Plan

1. Optimize Landing Pages:

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

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

2. Simplify Navigation:

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

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

3. Enhance CTAs:

   – Utilize concise and persuasive messaging throughout the website.

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

4. Improve the Form Fill:

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

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

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

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

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

John Molori

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NHL on TNT studio

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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