BSM Writers

Brendan Tobin Wants Double The Championship Fun in Miami

“People always say that sports radio is driven by negativity. Maybe, but in my experience, I think most people want to come in to celebrate.”

Published

11 months ago

May 31, 2023

Derek Futterman

For just the second time in the team’s history, the Florida Panthers are advancing to the Stanley Cup Final – and in large part due to the play of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. He was having an excellent start to the year; that is, until he appeared on Tobin & Leroy on 560 WQAM, the flagship radio home of the Panthers.

Brendan Tobin, one of the show’s hosts, has a good relationship with Bobrovsky and booked him as a guest, but the interview can be traced back as a harbinger of strife and misfortune. It led Bobrovsky to lose playing time to journeyman goalie Alex Lyon, and caused fans of the midday radio program to speculate as to the legitimacy of considering Tobin to be a bonafide jinx.

Ever since that time, Tobin has conveyed his desire to have Bobrovsky on the show again, and does not believe interviewing him is a potential jinx. Yet his co-host, former NFL running back Leroy Hoard, along with many listeners have exhorted Tobin to keep him off the air until the team hoists the Stanley Cup.

“The audience is getting really, really mad at me because I want to go interview him,” Tobin said. “I don’t plan on interviewing him just as the bit of the show, but just teasing them that I’m going to do it and then being mad at me has been kind of a funny side story and our own little thing with the Panthers run.”

–

Sports in the Miami area have drawn worldwide attention over the last two months, accentuated by the championship-caliber play of the Panthers and excitement surrounding the upcoming Stanley Cup Final. Virtually no one in the hockey landscape expected the team to be there, especially competing as the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed. The Panthers ended up delivering the upset of the playoffs by knocking out the record-setting Boston Bruins, and have continued to shock the world in the games thereafter.

When the Panthers clinched a Stanley Cup Final berth on the strength of a last-second game-winning goal by forward Matthew Tkachuk, the Miami Heat were up three games to one in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics. There was conversation among basketball pundits as to whether the eighth-seeded Heat, led by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, would be able to close out the series. While the Heat would generally dominate the parlance of conversation on Tobin’s sports radio show (80% Heat; 20% Panthers, as he puts it), his team decided to spend a majority of its time discussing the Panthers’ success that day.

“People always say that sports radio is driven by negativity. Maybe, but in my experience, I think most people want to come in to celebrate,” Tobin said. “I think most people like to come in and they want to be part of the party.”

For the first 18 years of his career, Tobin brought energy to 790 The Ticket in Miami, a station where he landed an internship by pestering its program director and showcasing his eager alacrity to take the mic. Tobin had an infatuation with sports radio from a young age, especially through watching his uncle, John Tobin, work in the industry.

John Tobin had been a host on WPDH and PYX 106, rock radio stations in upstate New York, and ultimately chose to switch formats and co-hosted an afternoon sports talk show with Freddie Coleman.

“I was kind of like a pseudo-intern if you will and [I] just laughed every day,” Brendan Tobin said of watching his uncle. “It just seemed like an amazing, fun way to make a living.”

Tobin attended Barry University and immediately joined WBRY, the campus radio station. The exposure to industry-standard equipment and invaluable repetitions prepared him well by the time he landed his coveted internship with 790 The Ticket, during which he assisted its morning drive host Sid Rosenberg.

“It was such a wild experience because he’s such a big personality, and you kind of could just see how a big ensemble show could work because he likes involving everybody in the show,” Tobin said of Rosenberg. “He [liked] talking to the intern and [gave] me hell my first days. He liked talking to his producer. He liked having interesting guests on, so that was a real eye-opening experience.”

For a stretch spanning over a decade, Tobin was producing morning shows and had the chance to work with Jonathan Zaslow on 790 The Ticket. Over the years, Zaslow had a variety of co-hosts – including Joy Taylor, Marc Hochman and Amber Wilson – and always brought his energy and creativity to the airwaves with input from Tobin and others from the station. When Hochman served as program director of 790 The Ticket, he recognized Tobin’s talent and gave him an opportunity to fill in as a host.

“It was back in the day where I’d have to send some samples to the program director,” Tobin said. “I remember the first thing that he told me after my first show was, ‘You’ve got some game.’ And so that was better than, ‘You suck.’”

–

Tobin eventually found a home in morning drive with Hoard on 790 The Ticket beginning in 2016. The duo discovered it had instant chemistry and duly gained a foothold on the local airwaves. Through their partnership, Tobin established a distinctive hosting style centered around exuding passion. Hoard brings his playing acumen, along with an ample network including celebrities, athletes, billionaires and other prominent figures. Tobin says Hoard is “the life of the party” when he is off the air, a stark contrast to what happens when the show starts.

Indeed, it is Tobin who takes center stage and personifies what being a zealous sports fan sounds like. His personality is rich with idiosyncrasies and hallmarks that captivate consumers and play a part in ensuring the longevity of the show.

“Think about the lunatic fan with his wild theories, and he always has to hone that in,” Tobin said. “I think that’s what the audience likes about us. We’re an odd couple. We’ve got a little bit of a gap in age and experience. We come from different walks of life, and I just think it’s made magic for us since we’ve been put together.”

Being able to develop a conspicuous, interesting and vibrant sound in today’s saturated media ecosystem is a challenge unto itself, and Tobin knows how difficult it is to appeal to different generations of listeners. There is a faction of consumers that listens for the entirety of the show each day even as it has gone through monumental changes – most notably being aired on a new station at a new time of day.

In the fall of 2022, Audacy flipped the format of 790 The Ticket, leaving the local area with five teams and three sports radio stations. Because of this, Tobin and Hoard’s show was moved to 560 WQAM. They were in the midday time slot on their new station, a move that proved beneficial for Tobin. He is now part of his childrens’ morning routines and helps send them off to school, and in turn, avoids considerable traffic on his way to work.

Since moving to 560 WQAM, Tobin has communicated with morning drive host Joe Rose on a daily basis, and he has heard his perspectives on the market and changing state of sports media. Even though he had listened to the station in his youth, the move felt somewhat unusual. After all, Tobin had been with 790 The Game for his entire career, and he admits that he was a bit apprehensive about the transition.

“You’ve got a bit of a hermit life when you’re doing morning drive,” Tobin said. “You don’t interact with people as much, and I do think that with being in the middle of the day over at 560, it’s been a nice, healthier change.”

An additional positive aspect of the move is in the evolution of audience engagement. Whether it is through reviewing a text line, watching chat rooms on the program’s YouTube and Twitch video simulcasts, viewing social media platforms or answering phone calls, the group of people contacting Tobin have promptly come to understand the nature of the show. Moreover, they are aware of how to make contributions to guide or conceive pertinent discussion.

“They almost build their own personalities,” Tobin said. “We know who the guys are who are going to roast us, make fat jokes about me [or] make dumb jokes about me. All that stuff is very, very interesting, and a lot of the time, they’ve got news before I do because they’re on their computers and hitting us up with stuff.”

Yet the surfeit of methods for audiences to communicate with hosts creates somewhat of a content vortex. Largely in part from the success of the Panthers and Heat, Tobin finds he has constantly been tapped into local sports with little ability to step away and take a break.

“My wife was joking with me the other day; she’s like, ‘I can’t wait for the Heat to… win the championship so I can get you back’ because it’s been nonstop [between] the Panthers and Heat,” Tobin expressed. “I’ve been just interacting with fans, it feels like more than family over the last two weeks.”

–

While a preponderance of listeners come from the local marketplace, they remain tuned into national outlets to watch live game broadcasts and shoulder programming. When ESPN’s analytics department gave the Miami Heat a 3% chance to reach the NBA Finals against the Celtics, fans pushed back on social media. Tobin is never shy to criticize the “Worldwide Leader” on the radio, nor does he abstain from calling out other media outlets for various reasons throughout the course of the year.

In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Tobin recalls hearing that the weather was affecting the New York Knicks against the Heat, a statement he viewed as incomprehensible since the games are played at indoor venues.

“I think Miami gets a bad reputation nationally [and] doesn’t really get a good voice from some of the big networks,” Tobin said. “I think the audience appreciates [the criticism] because I don’t necessarily think that they have that feeling of respect nationally, [and] I think that kind of goes back to the old Canes days. People in Miami love the ‘us against the world’ mentality.”

Tobin believes coverage of the Panthers and Heat at the national level “really sucks,” so he takes matters into his own hands. He’s in the Miami Heat locker room after every home game talking to the players and gathering their thoughts to implement into his show. Tobin also has created digital series on Instagram centered around documenting his experiences at games – on which he proffers and demonstrates his self-professed disproportionality towards decrypting vague messaging.

“That stuff I love diving into,” Tobin said, “especially when I have Leroy because I’ll overreact to everything and he’ll call me an idiot and say, ‘It’s stupid and nothing,’ but that’s just the vibe we go on with things.”

The headline should be “I was loud wrong about this series twice” pic.twitter.com/wGWt0QEAFE
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) May 30, 2023

–

In March, Ford announced it would be removing AM radio in its internal combustion engines in 2024 after it found electric vehicles caused electromagnetic interference with the signal’s reception. Following pressure from lawmakers and the introduction of the bipartisan “AM for Every Vehicle Act,” Ford decided to reverse course.

Even so, the threat of its elimination in motor vehicles is surely concerning. Tobin believes AM radio is habitual in and of itself, as it gives people a fast and free option to hear news, entertainment, sports and other content. Both the Panthers and the Heat call 560 WQAM their flagship station, and it is the place where many Miami sports fans heard their teams clinch championship berths.

“I do think the importance of it is that everybody has access to it,” Tobin said. “Even in this on-demand age where everybody can get access to everything, locally you’re happy to just kind of be in tune with, ‘Hey, this is going on in the market right now.’ That’s kind of the beauty of it, and I think that it has been cool that it’s been a run where we’ve had both teams on our station.”

Recognizing just what encompasses success as a radio host can be a difficult task since there are a wide array of determinants and external factors involved. Tobin recognizes how fortunate he has been to have the chance to disseminate his opinions to an audience and speak with prominent sports figures, including Pat Riley, Dwayne Wade and Dana White.

He is not focused on making bombastic opinions that instantly appeal and gratify consumers at one glance, recognizing the usual levity of the subject matter at hand.

“We’re talking about sports,” Tobin articulated. “It’s not life and death. It’s not politics. It’s not this maddening life-and-death battle that everybody tries to make everything these days. We are in kind of a silly sauce department of life, and that’s kind of how I define it.”

As the Panthers and Heat both sit four wins away from achieving the ultimate glory, Tobin is remaining focused on bringing Miami sports fans the local coverage of the teams they desire while keeping them entertained and enamored with the content.

“One of the things that I love about [the industry] is I do think that there are a lot of good people; a lot of talented people,” Tobin said. “I love the fact that now in today’s day and age, you don’t necessarily need a radio station to start building your audience and get good at this.”

For those looking to get into the industry, Tobin urges them to take advantage of technological advances and create their own opportunities with the intent to stand out and show prospective employers what they can bring to their organization. After all, he produced morning radio for over a decade and received a chance simply by being in the building and demonstrating his skills in other areas, including as an update anchor.

Now, Tobin has been hosting for the last seven years, and is just eager for that elusive championship. He and other Miami sports fans just might have double the fun if both teams can pull off what was initially regarded as a nearly impossible outcome.

“I’ve actually been really happy with the growth that we’ve had during these runs because I do think that winning does bring audience, and I do think that it brings people just discovering you,” Tobin expressed. “I’ve had so many people over these last four weeks just say, ‘I’ve never heard of you guys. I’m so happy that I have a place where I can go get some coverage of my favorite teams,’ because they don’t feel like they have that outlet necessarily.”

Derek Futterman

Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Sports Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @derekfutterman.

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BSM Writers

Barrett Sports Media Presents ‘The 2024 NFL Analyst Draft’

“Some selections you’ll agree with, others you won’t, and it’ll likely lead to texts and social media interactions among industry folks.”

Published

11 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Jason Barrett

AB200D50-A1B6-4514-93A6-76415852928B | Barrett Media

Draft fever has returned! As the eyes of the nation turn to the NFL Draft on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, BSM is once again tapping into the week by doing things in a less conventional way. We’ve had PD’s draft talent, talent draft talent, talent draft guests, and reporters draft all-time sports TV shows. We’ve even done a lazy sports radio draft among the BSM staff. While we recognize this is a big week for football fans, we see it as an opportunity to use our creativity to produce content that is interesting, entertaining, and connected to a topical event.

Having said that, this year we decided to do our first NFL Analyst Draft. The rules for this were simple, whether an individual talks football in a TV booth, radio booth, TV studio, or digital platform, if they’re exceptional at explaining the game and sharpening the minds of football fans, they’re eligible to be drafted.

As you review the results, you’ll notice that the draft order is based on the actual NFL Draft. We involved hosts in each NFL city or called upon a talent who has an affinity for the franchise picking in that spot. Some selections you’ll agree with, others you won’t, and it’ll likely lead to texts and social media interactions among industry folks. It may even become on-air content. I thank all 32 participants for making time to be a part of the process, and now present you with the results of BSM’s 2024 NFL Analyst Draft.

Enjoy!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Danny Parkins, 670 The Score: GREG OLSEN, FOX SPORTS
2. Grant Paulsen, 106.7 The Fan: CHARLES DAVIS, CBS SPORTS
3. Andy Gresh, WEEI: TOM BRADY, FOX SPORTS
4. Dave Burns, Arizona Sports: LOUIS RIDDICK, ESPN
5. Rob Parker, Fox Sports Radio: RYAN CLARK, ESPN
6. Shaun Morash, WFAN: TIKI BARBER, CBS SPORTS
7. Dawn Davenport, 104.5 The Zone: JASON MCCOURTY, CBS SPORTS
8. Chris Dimino, 680 The Fan: PHIL SIMMS, CBS SPORTS
9. Marc Silverman, ESPN Chicago: KYLE BRANDT, NFL NETWORK
10. Brandon Tierney, WFAN: ROSS TUCKER, CBS SPORTS/Westwood One
11. Phil Mackey, SKOR North: BRETT KOLLMANN, UNDERDOG
12. Zack Bye, Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan: MARK SCHLERETH, FOX SPORTS
13. Q Myers, ESPN Las Vegas/ESPN Radio: AMBER THEOHARIS, WESTWOOD ONE
14. Matt Moscona, 104.5 ESPN: MARCUS SPEARS, ESPN
15. Andy Sweeney, 107.5/93.5 The Fan: DAN ORLOVSKY, ESPN
16. Bob Stelton, Seattle Sports 710: PEYTON MANNING, OMAHA PRODUCTIONS
17. Mia O’Brien, 1010XL: DANIEL JEREMIAH, NFL NETWORK
18. Mo Egger, ESPN 1530: MINA KIMES, ESPN
19. Allen Sliwa, ESPN Los Angeles: TROY AIKMAN, ESPN
20. Andrew Fillipponi, 93.7 The Fan: BEN ROETHLISBERGER, CHANNEL SEVEN PRODUCTIONS
21. Marc Hochman, WQAM: MICHAEL IRVIN, NFL NETWORK
22. Tyrone Johnson, 97.5 The Fanatic: KIRK HERBSTREIT, PRIME VIDEO
23. Judd Zulgad, SKOR North: NATE BURLESON, CBS SPORTS
24. Gavin Dawson, 105.3 The Fan: TONY ROMO, CBS SPORTS
25. Steve ‘Sparky’ Fifer, 1250AM The Fan: CHAD REUTER, NFL NETWORK
26. Jay Recher, WDAE: BOOGER MCFARLAND, ESPN
27. Jody Oehler, FOX Sports 910: CHRIS SIMMS, NBC SPORTS
28. Maggie Gray, Infinity Sports Network: BOOMER ESIASON, CBS SPORTS
29. Jim Costa, 97.1 The Ticket: MEL KIPER JR., ESPN
30. Ken Weinman, 105.7 The Fan: BRIAN BALDINGER, NFL NETWORK
31. Daryle ‘Guru’ Johnson, 95.7 The Game: CRIS COLLINSWORTH, NBC SPORTS
32. Carrington Harrison, 610 Sports: MICHAEL STRAHAN, FOX SPORTS

Jason Barrett

Jason Barrett is the owner and operator of Barrett Sports Media. Prior to launching BSM he served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He has also produced national shows for ESPN Radio including GameNight and the Dan Patrick Show. You can find him on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or reach him by email at [email protected].

BSM Writers

Industry Guest Column: Howard Balzer Recalls the First NFL Draft on ESPN

We didn’t even have a production meeting before the telecast and I’m not sure I even knew who else would be on with me until my arrival in Connecticut.

Published

17 hours ago

April 25, 2024

BSM Staff

Graphic for an Industry Guest Column with Howard Balzer

Screengrab Credit: The Athletic (L-R Vince Papale, Howard Balzer, Bob Ley and Upton Bell)

Howard Balzer is beginning his 49th year covering pro football and currently covers the Arizona Cardinals for cardswire.usatoday.com. He has been a Hall of Fame selector for 20 years and is co-host of the weekly Pro Football Hall of Fame show on Sirius/XM NFL Radio. You can follow Howard on X @HBalzer721. Howard was an analyst on the first nine NFL Draft shows on ESPN and shares some memories for today’s guest column:

The call came to my desk at The Sporting News in St. Louis several weeks before the 1980 NFL Draft.

I had been with the publication for two years and had started writing a weekly NFL notebook (even in the offseason) the year before. That was a leap for the venerable Baseball Bible at the time, but I convinced then-managing editor Lowell Reidenbaugh that we should expand our coverage of the NFL.

But a bigger leap was what ESPN wanted to do.

The decision to televise the draft had been made in February of that year amid a certain level of skepticism. In fact, when ESPN president Chet Simmons first approached Pete Rozelle with the idea, the commissioner wondered, “Why would you want to do that? Who the heck would want to watch the NFL Draft?”

Eventually, the league’s vice president of broadcasting, Val Pinchbeck, convinced Rozelle it would be a good idea.

So it was that about six months after ESPN had launched in September 1979, the call from a producer at the network came.

ESPN was quickly figuring out all the nuts and bolts of the broadcast, and the question to me from the producer was whether they could use our mock draft on the show.

I assured him that was fine, but then explained the pitfalls. Not only was the mock draft finalized 11 days before the Tuesday draft, but once it invariably blew up in the early part of the first round, it might not be very useful.

Having some experience on St. Louis radio, my bold suggestion was that we coordinate a phone hookup, and they could bring me on at different times to discuss what had happened and what could be coming next.

Not a bad idea, I was told, and they said they’d get back to me. Which they did with the shocking (to me) question, “How would you like to come to Bristol, and be on the broadcast?”

We didn’t even have a production meeting before the telecast and I’m not sure I even knew who else would be on with me until my arrival in Connecticut. That turned out to be host Bob Ley, former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Vince Papale and Upton Bell, a former Patriots general manager and son of former NFL commissioner Bert Bell.

As can be seen from the featured image, the four of us were seated around a coffee table with papers strewn about and newspapers visible on the floor.

We just talked when they came to us from New York where host George Grande was with former NFL general manager Joe Thomas.

Ley told The Athletic on the draft’s 40th anniversary, “When we got off the air I think everybody realized not only did we survive, but that was pretty damn good. While you’d never want to be a prisoner of your reviews, they were positive and I think even the most hardened and objective of us would say we hit a nerve and seemed to have done OK.”

Most significant was the decision to run it back in 1981.

Who knew that now, 44 years later, the draft would be must-see TV, telecast on three networks and would have cities bidding to host it every year.

As executive producer Bill Fitts told The Athletic, “There’s no possible way I could have imagined it would turn into this. I wasn’t even sure we would make Year Two.”

There certainly were seminal moments along the way as more highlights of players from their college career were available and talent was sent to different venues to report.

In 1981, Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated joined the show and famously said after quarterback Rich Campbell was selected sixth overall by the Packers, “They lied to me. I’ll never talk to them again.

Dr. Z was accustomed to being told the truth during his pre-draft discussions with teams, but all bets were off with it now being televised.

The next year, I was “promoted” to New York and while sitting at our small table, I heard a distinctive voice with a New York accent, say, “Hey Paul, keep your eye on Jeff Bryant. He’s moving up on everybody’s list.”

That voice was the reclusive Joel Buchsbaum of Pro Football Weekly, who had been rarely seen in public. Late in the broadcast, with his scraggly hair and Notre Dame sweatshirt, he was interviewed on the broadcast. Had Joel been a tad more telegenic, there might never have been a Mel Kiper, who was on for the first time in 1984 from Bristol. Oh, by the way, the relatively unknown Bryant was selected sixth overall by the Seahawks.

My nine years on the broadcast included two years in Bristol, four in New York, one at 49ers headquarters when there was a power outage in the facility that kept us off the air for a while, one at NFL Films and one in Anaheim at Rams headquarters for what was my final appearance in 1988.

My final year (1986) in New York was memorable. I was at a large draft board that had player rankings with Chris Berman, but no one knew who had put the board together. One of Berman’s funny lines came when he commented on mine and Kiper’s hair!

Following the draft, I suggested to Fitts that if they planned to continue with the board, Kiper should be identified as the architect because that was the essence of his expertise.

Sure enough, he was moved from Bristol to New York the next year and Mel’s Big Board was born.

The actual board might not be as big now as it was then, but the draft itself only gets bigger and bigger over three days with two in prime time.

It’s humbling and gratifying to have been there at its birth.

BSM Staff

BSM Writers

Meet the Bettors: Nick Kostos, BetQL Network

“We can please the audience that’s looking for analysis of games that night and we can bring on really great guests.”

Published

17 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Demetri Ravanos

If you read this site with any regularity, you’re familiar with the term “wagertainment.” It’s how everyone that works at BetQL describes the network’s content philosophy. While the idea of making betting content welcoming to all listeners was the plan all along, the term came from Nick Kostos.

He approaches the network’s afternoon show You Better You Bet, with simple goals. He wants to give people information, he wants to make them laugh, and he wants them to come back tomorrow.

Kostos got his first taste of radio at WFAN as an intern. Between then and now, he has called a lot of brands home. He contributed to Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated and SiriusXM. He moved to Florida to be a part of CBS Sports’ digital properties.

In 2018, he noticed the tide shifting and attitudes on his betting content changing. It’s also around the time he met with Mike Dee, Audacy’s President of Sports Programming. He and Nick thought similarly about what gambling content on sports radio and podcasts could be, and he also happened to be starting a new network that would focus on the topic.

The latest conversation in our Meet the Bettors series, presented by Point to Point Marketing, focuses on Kostos. We talk about who brings the best out of him, the surprises that have come along with legalized sports betting, and why regulations are not as helpful as alignment for gamblers.

Demetri Ravanos: The BetQL Network is built around your term, that idea of wagertainment. So how did that come to be the case?

Nick Kostos: I think for me and Mike Dee, it was really like a meshing of our ideas. Now, he loved the wagertainment concept immediately, I think he would say that. So, I don’t think I’m betraying anything to say they really liked the idea.

Now I will be careful to say that I think there is a lot of really good sports betting content out there, my show among that. I think there are a lot of people who do really good work. The idea of wagertainment is there can be really entertaining betting content, and that’s great. And there can be really smart betting content, and that’s great too. But ideally, obviously, you want a combination of the two. You want to be able to educate people and have high-level conversation, and this does not mean that your pick has to win. You can have a great handicap of the game and then the game starts, and someone gets hurt, or the ball bounces a certain way, or the referee makes a bad call.

Smart betting content does not mean that you give out a winner all the time. We’re trying to win, right? We just give you a smart conversation about betting markets and handicapping games combined with a segment that will entertain people. So, you kind of get the best of both worlds to make people laugh and also try to make them smarter about sports, about handicapping the games, etc.

That is wagertainment in a nutshell. I think that You Better You Bet, obviously I think this I’m a little biased, but I think that we pull this concept off on a daily basis and do it very well.

DR: So that audience that is looking for wagertainment. Let’s talk about that group of people that maybe, if it were not for the entertainment factor, is not necessarily coming to your show. We have seen the NCAA president say he wants to limit or eliminate prop bets on college games. Various commissioners in the wake of these scandals have said they might revisit the idea of prop bets on their games. How much would that hurt that particular audience when it comes to their interest in betting?

NK: It’s more content for us to talk about, right? I just I feel like the tide is so strong at this point now that I kind of don’t think there’s any stopping it. So yeah, sure, Charlie Baker can say that, and the NCAA can kind of do what they want. Ultimately there’s still going to be a billion things to bet on. So, it’s not something that I really concern myself with.

I think they’re nuts to say they don’t want people betting college props. Look at all the interest in all of Caitlin Clark’s point totals and other women in the women’s college basketball tournament. Let’s say that goes away. There are still a million things you can bet on. There’s still the game itself between Iowa and LSU or Iowa and South Carolina. I mean, I guess it’s something that you don’t want to see happen, but I also don’t think it’s anything close to the end of the world if it does.

DR: Since PAPSA, which state has surprised you the most with how it has taken to sports betting – whether that means anecdotal evidence or in raw numbers?

NK: I think kind of like all of them have done really well. I do radio in a lot of different cities where Audacy has stations and I see where it’s a really big deal.

I know like Ohio was pretty recent to legalize sports betting and it was a really big deal there. Whenever I’ve gone on The Fan in Cleveland, it’s always been “We get asked so many questions about this stuff. People are so interested in it.”

I think that everyone’s kind of going to be really into it. I think it’s going to do really well everywhere.

I live in New York, so when you bring up kind of like the legalization, candidly where my mind goes to is what I can’t bet on. I can’t bet on awards in New York, the way that New York has it is you can’t bet on something that’s a predetermined outcome. Sports writers decide on season awards. So, it’s just a pain for me. Like, if I want to bet Joe Flacco to win NFL Comeback Player of the year. My buddy in Connecticut has to put the bet in for me. It’s ludicrous because I live in a state where sports betting is legalized.

I think it’s going to be everywhere. I think there’s going to be interest for it everywhere. I wish that there was more uniformity in terms of what can I bet on in New York versus anywhere else.

DR: We’ll circle back on some of those radio hits in just a moment, because I do want to ask you about that, but you mentioned that you can’t bet on awards in New York because it is a predetermined outcome. I know you’re a wrestling fan. What did you make of the WWE’s efforts to make betting on their events legal?

NK: Yeah, I think it’s awesome. I love it. As someone that’s been a wrestling fan for his entire life, I just think it adds more excitement to the event.

Now, look there are there are some matches like the main event for Night One of WrestleMania that doesn’t make sense to bet. So you know, it was a tag team match with the Rock and Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. The result was going to determine how the main event for Night Two worked.

DR: Right. Night Two doesn’t work if Roman Reigns doesn’t win Night One.

NK: Correct, so you can have a betting market for it, but there is no price big enough where I would bet Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins because it makes no sense. It’s not real life. If Vince McMahon or Triple H ran the NCAA Tournament, like you would never have Cinderellas happen. It’s not how things go, right? You would never have the number one seed get knocked out early because you would want the number one seed there at the end for drama. But now with pro wrestling, you can control these sorts of things.

I love wrestling, but it is predetermined and that’s okay. So you know, like of course the Rock and Roman Reigns were gonna win. Once you get into matches where there is some doubt though, and look, I felt that Cody was going to win on Sunday night but it wasn’t a guarantee that that was the case. Like if Roman Reigns had won that match, I don’t think anyone would have been super duper shocked and they would have figured out a way for Cody to win eventually. You put a couple bucks on Cody Rhodes.

I mean, think about how much fun that match is to watch when you have no money on it and you’re just enjoying the drama of it. It’s like a regular sporting event, right?

I am a lifelong diehard sports fan. I’ve been watching sports my entire life. If sports betting went away, I would watch sports and still love it. I’m a sports fan first and foremost, and I think most bettors are sports fans first and foremost. You were able to watch games for a long time without betting, but now you bet. It makes it even more fun and it’s a new added wrinkle to it. I think it’s the same thing with professional wrestling. I really like the idea of doing that.

DR: So when you do those local radio hits, who are some of the hosts that you think bring the best out of you?

NK: Well, first and foremost, I would bring up WFAN in New York with Sal {Licata] and Brandon Tierney. Sal is someone that I’ve known for a really long time, about 20 years. We came up at WFAN together. I interned there when Sal was there, and Brandon’s been really welcoming. I love the conversations that the three of us have on the air about New York sports and betting on football. So, I would say that they definitely stand out.

I love my hit on The Score in Chicago with Mully and Haugh. I think they do a tremendous job.

The Greg Hill Show in Boston, I am on with them Friday mornings during football season. That was really fun because it is a lot of sports betting talk and we’re also able to have a lot of fun with it. It’s more like a variety show, so I’m able to kind of show off a little bit more of my personality as opposed to just like a straight 15 minutes of “here’s the line of the game” and “what’s your analysis of the betting market.” I kind of like to flex some different muscles sometimes and they give me the opportunity to do it. I like all the hits that I do, but those are some that stand out.

DR: So, what is the key in those hits to preventing your time on air from turning into the old school fantasy expert just taking calls over and over again about one dude’s team?

NK: From my perspective, I kind of look at it from what I can control. So, I can give my analysis on what I think someone should do with their show, but ultimately that’s their piece of real estate. I have my real estate four hours every day.

What I can control is no matter what questions are asked, whether they’re good or bad, and just to be clear, like for the vast majority, I think it’s really good, but let’s say I do a radio interview and the questions are not great and really milquetoast where we just kind of go one by one down the games with no personality involved. “Up next the Eagles, a three-point favorite against the Giants, total in the game is 48. What do you think?” Even if that’s the line of questioning, it’s my job to make that palatable for the person listening, to make it entertaining, to make it knowledgeable.

I don’t go into an interview thinking, “Wow, I hope the people ask me…” This is my job. No matter what happens, I have to make sure that my performance is good no matter what I’m given to work with. That’s what I can control. That’s why I get paid when the red light goes on. I have to perform no matter what.

DR: Obviously, there are BetQL affiliates all over the country and most of them carry your show uninterrupted every day. But let’s be real. It’s not ESPN, it’s not CBS Sports Radio, it’s not Fox. So, I would guess there were a lot of people hearing you every day for the first time on the podcast. How much effort do you make to make sure the content works both for people listening live and people listening on that podcast replay?

NK: It’s a really terrific question and something that we have given a lot of thought and consideration to because as the show evolves, obviously and I think I mentioned this, when I did an interview with Peter Schwartz for you guys, I kind of see the show becoming like a television show that also exists on the radio and exists in podcast form. One where we can please all masters, right? We can please the audience that’s looking for analysis of games that night and we can bring on really great guests.

The guests we’ve been able to pull on the show recently have been nothing short of outstanding: 80 plus guests, not only from the world of media, but having like the head coach of Oakland, Greg Kampe, on the day after they beat Kentucky and he comes on the show and says that he hears the Bet MGM sponsored sports betting minutes that I do every day and is like why haven’t I mentioned Oakland? It just kind of just goes to show the reach of the show and candidly, like the power of radio. Radio is still extremely powerful.

So to get back to the original question, we’re always going to have evergreen content because it is a sports betting show, right? We can talk about current matchups and future playoff matchups in a variety of different ways. So, because sports betting is what it is and it’s always kind of looking forward. There’s always something right now, but it will always dovetail and lead into something moving forward.

We never have to really try that hard to make sure that we please the audience. We’ve got their picks that night and also kind of like more of a longer form conversation, so the content doesn’t die right when we go off the air. There’s going to be something there that’s going to matter for the next day, for a week down the road, for three months down the road.

Demetri Ravanos

Demetri Ravanos is the Assistant Content Director for Barrett Sports Media. He hosts the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas. Previous stops include WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC. You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos and reach him by email at [email protected].