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State of Sports Radio in 2007

J

JRoth

Interesting article from Radio and Records on the 'state of sports radio in 2007'. Rick Scott hosted his annual Sports Radio Conference in Phoenix.

Rick was asked some of the following questions:

What is the state of sports radio in 2007?

Extremely healthy and vibrant. The format is continuing to grow in numbers and in getting the respect it deserves in the industry. In a world of iPods, sports allows a station to offer something unique that the audience, for the most part, still has to seek out to consume.

Would you agree with that statement? Do you believe sports radio is in a healthy state? How would you compare the state of sports radio compared to the state of other radio formats?

Why should at least one station in any cluster offer sports?

If you want to do creative, fun radio that produces an active audience with incredible qualitative scores and power ratios that are generally well above the station's market share -- a sports marketing vehicle that offers opportunities to sell beyond just ratings and allows you to tap in to budgets and revenues that you just can't get with any other format -- then sports radio is the way to go.

Would you agree with that statement?

What Rick says does make since, but a Sports format can be difficult to pull off and I'm sure there has been failed attempts in some markets. A Sports format has to be carefully executed and you have to be able to build a loyal audience and be able to have "access" to quality shows and personalities and to sporting events.
 
JRoth said:
Interesting article from Radio and Records on the 'state of sports radio in 2007'. Rick Scott hosted his annual Sports Radio Conference in Phoenix.

Rick was asked some of the following questions:

What is the state of sports radio in 2007?

Extremely healthy and vibrant. The format is continuing to grow in numbers and in getting the respect it deserves in the industry. In a world of iPods, sports allows a station to offer something unique that the audience, for the most part, still has to seek out to consume.

Would you agree with that statement? Do you believe sports radio is in a healthy state? How would you compare the state of sports radio compared to the state of other radio formats?
Click to expand...

Depends totally on the market. If a so-called "sports station" in a smaller market is carrying the local college or high-school teams' games and ESPN Radio the rest of the day, I wouldn't call that "vibrant." I'm sure the big-market stations in cities with strong, long-time sports traditions (read: Northeastern and Midwest cities) are doing well. Not sure about the rest. Even in the big cities, sports stations don't do well ratings-wise.

Why should at least one station in any cluster offer sports?

If you want to do creative, fun radio that produces an active audience with incredible qualitative scores and power ratios that are generally well above the station's market share -- a sports marketing vehicle that offers opportunities to sell beyond just ratings and allows you to tap in to budgets and revenues that you just can't get with any other format -- then sports radio is the way to go.

Would you agree with that statement?
Click to expand...

I think it's like the all-news stations - only viable in the largest markets, and those stations are already established. Smaller markets don't have major-league sports and the colleges have their statewide networks already established as well. Does anybody in Podunk really want 24 hours of ESPN or Sporting News Radio on a dying AM station?

What Rick says does make since, but a Sports format can be difficult to pull off and I'm sure there has been failed attempts in some markets. A Sports format has to be carefully executed and you have to be able to build a loyal audience and be able to have "access" to quality shows and personalities and to sporting events.
Click to expand...

I think trying to establish a full-time sports station today is an excersise in futility. The big cities already have their stations and they're successful. The smaller ones can't support it - they'd have to carry one of the national networks pretty much fulltime - a non-starter in my view.
 
KeithE4 said:
Depends totally on the market. If a so-called "sports station" in a smaller market is carrying the local college or high-school teams' games and ESPN Radio the rest of the day, I wouldn't call that "vibrant." I'm sure the big-market stations in cities with strong, long-time sports traditions (read: Northeastern and Midwest cities) are doing well. Not sure about the rest. Even in the big cities, sports stations don't do well ratings-wise.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but on a nationwide level, how would you define the 'health' of the Sports format on radio? Difficult to say if I were asked that question. I'm sure in many cities, their Sports stations are doing respectably well, or marginally at least.

Any additional thoughts?
 
I am a sports and radio fan...but feel the sports radio format has become stifled and stale....everyone nationally now seems to try to do their best/worst Jim Rome imitation (Im a Rome fan), Colin Cowherd being the prime example.....Mike and Mike in the morning is a horrific example of sports talk at its worst....locally, if you arent in a big market (chicago, New York)--you should probably shy away from local sports talk---in my home of Columbus Ohio, we have a local sports station (1460 The Fan) that is an espn radio affiliate, but also does some of the worst, most boring local talk I ever heard....Chris Speilman tries to pawn himself off as a professional broadcaster on this abortion of a station....
 
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