BSM Writers
Lance Taylor Leads a Double Life in Radio
Living in Los Angeles isn’t as glamorous when you’re broke and in your early 20’s. Just ask Lance Taylor, who moved west to chase down a dream as an actor right out of college. Taylor had read an article on how Matthew McConaughey was found at a bar in Austin and landed a star role in the movie Dazed and Confused. To him, that made it seem simple. He had a great personality, all he had to do was mingle with the right people and make important connections. Sooner rather than later, he thought he’d be discovered just like McConaughey.
Less than a year later, Taylor was packing up and leaving the west coast to travel back home and look for his next venture. His plan to mingle with the biggest decision makers in Hollywood hadn’t panned out exactly has he had hoped.
What he didn’t realize, was how expensive of a city Los Angeles was. Instead of being out and about most nights, he instead found himself working long hours to try and make ends meet, something many young actors find themselves doing. Taylor’s dream didn’t die because he wasn’t talented enough, in his own words, he was just too naïve to know what exactly he was getting himself into.
With a degree in radio from the University of Alabama, as well as play-by-by experience in the Jayhawk League in Kansas, on his resume, Taylor set out to chase another big passion of his. Like most in the radio business, he wasn’t shy about his ambitions. He wanted to be on the air, no matter the role, and began searching for a way to get behind a mic.
The trouble with having a radio degree, is that it never fully guarantees you a position out of college. Taylor found this out the hard way, as he was only offered a position in sales after sending out his resume to multiple stations. If he was to chase down a dream in radio, he’d have to start off by proving his worth on the sales side.
Though it wasn’t necessarily where he thought he’d have to start, Taylor began his journey at Radio Disney in Birmingham. A 4-test market that included other cities such Atlanta, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, Taylor actually found out quickly he was pretty good at his new position. Selling came natural to him, despite the fact that Radio Disney didn’t have any numbers at the time.
Soon after he started, he had already built an impressive client base. So much so, that the decision makers at WJOX in Birmingham plucked him away to join the team. The only sports station in Birmingham, Taylor saw it as a golden opportunity to finally make his way on the air.
Though he really found himself excelling at sales, Taylor was begging and willing for any opportunity to jump on the mic. He did so, by hosting random things such as a Monday Night Football show or a one-hour Friday roundtable that mixed and matched various personalities. No show was too small or unimportant for Taylor.
After continuing to sell at a high rate, one of the best, if not the best, radio station in Birmingham approached Taylor with a job offer. A country music format, it would take him away from sports, but the guaranteed offer was just too good to pass up. In his mind, Taylor accepted the offer and soon realized it was a deal he had to take. But sometimes fate takes over, and that’s what happened when he approached the GM at WJOX to inform him of his decision.
Clearly, Taylor had proven his worth both on the sales and talent side. He was a profitable employee that WJOX didn’t want to see walk out the door. The proposal to get Taylor to stay, was simple: He would now to be a co-host of a mid-day show on the station.
That offer was enough to entice Taylor to stay at WJOX. Though it was an un-paid role, he knew that would change after he earned his stripes on the new show. He was right.
After eight months, Taylor went from un-paid to 500 bucks a month. After four more months, the original host of the show was fired, which gave Taylor his own one-hour show. He was now making 1,000 dollars a month, not counting what he was still making on the sales side. His one-hour show turned into two after being extremely profitable. He would have two different co-hosts over the next four years, before finally being promoted to a four-hour show, a position he’s held for the last 10 years.
Today, Taylor is a host of The Roundtable on WJOX from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. every weekday, as well as a sales guy at the station. Amazingly, he’s nearly matched his worth on the talent side with his worth on the sales side. Talk about someone that means a lot to a station, right?
Taylor’s journey into the host seat is one that required him to practically beg to be on the air. But when you’re willing to take advantage of any and every opportunity, people notice and are more willing to give you opportunities.
Hearing Taylor’s story, there’s no mystery as to why he’s been so successful. Sure, it’s helped tremendously that he’s a huge asset on the sales side, but here’s a closer look at the day-to-day operations for someone that specializes in both sides of the radio business.
TM: How easy have you found it to be when you’re selling yourself to a potential client?
JT: I think it’s easy because it’s a popular radio station and the only sports format in Birmingham. We’re kind of a known commodity. With that being said, if I call on a business, not only have they heard of WJOX, they’ve heard of me because I’ve been on the air for so long. At least you get an audience for the decision maker and from there it’s a really good product and kind of sells itself.
Terrestrial radio seems to be dying, because you have so many options out there. There’s so many podcasts, XM, Sirius, the fortunate thing for us is that we’re in a market that’s so passionate about SEC football. Therefore, if you want up to the minute Alabama and Auburn football, you have to get it through us. We’re always going to have, what I would deem, as a base listener show.
TM: Do you think sports radio is harder to sell, than say, a country music or rock format?
JT: It’s much easier to sell sports radio. You’ve got so many options when it comes to music, including regular radio. There’s iTunes, Spotify, XM, Sirius, you can listen to what you want, when you want. Again, with sports talk, you’ve got a captive audience that’s loyal, constantly listening and doing it longer. I’ve always said that the two easiest formats to sell, because they’re passion driven, are sports talk and Christian.
TM: Just about everybody in your market is an Alabama or Auburn fan. Have you ever seen a scenario where a host portrays themselves as more Bama or Auburn sided, you try to sell him to a client, and they reject because of the loyalties they show on the air?
JT: Well, what we have are personalities that actually played at the two universities. I recently just got switched to the morning drive, I had done mid-days for 15 years, and two of our previous hosts in the mornings were a former Auburn kicker and a former Alabama quarterback. You always have to balance and for me as a sales guy, the way I would pitch a client, you don’t want to upset one of the two fan bases, so why not buy from both of them? Why not let both of them endorse your product? That way you’re getting a good balance from both fan bases.
TM: Last college football season is probably a good example for this question: Let’s say both Alabama and Auburn are both having strong years and in the College Football Playoff discussion. Who’s more relevant on a show?
JT: Well, we’re a bigger Alabama community. I would say, if you did an Alabama-Auburn split of our listeners, probably 65 percent are Bama fans. I think that’s an accurate portrayal of what our audience is. Obviously, it’s more important if Alabama is doing well, just from a listener standpoint. You either want the product to be really good or so bad that someone might get fired.
TM: Now that you’ve seen both sides, what do you think is mostly the biggest disconnect between the sales staff and on-air personalities?
JT: For me, it’s the sales staff not knowing the product and not knowing their personalities. To me, I think I’m a guy that could probably sell anything, but I wouldn’t necessarily enjoy selling just anything. I think your better sales people are ones that know the product, inside and out, and the people that are passionate about the product.
I think the disconnect becomes, I’ll see a sales person that I don’t even know, I don’t know their name or anything. I think it’s very important early on, and this is something I took a lot of pride in before I got on the air, I got to know the personalities. I sold them all equally because I thought each of them brought something to the table. Obviously, they had their own shows, so they were a strength of certain day parts. The station knew how important these guys were, well I think they can be important for my clients. So I got to know all the guys and the more I knew about them, the easier selling became. The problem with some of the sales staff is they don’t necessarily know everybody that’s on the air, what we do and I just think that can be a big disconnect.
But that can work both ways. We, as on-air guys, benefit from the sales guys and endorsements. I think it’s also important that on-air staff take the time to get to know the sales staff, as well.
TM: A lot of stations like to do sponsor interviews on the air. What’s your thoughts on the benefits and drawbacks of having a client on the air during a show?
JT: It’s interesting you ask this, because I’ve seen it from both sides. As a sales guy, I live on commission, so I enjoy getting that, but I think it hampers our product. For example, I’d have a metal roof guy come in that was a buddy and had a great business. The problem, is that there’s only so much of the market that is interested in purchasing a metal roof. When I say that, you’re probably talking about one percent. You’re tuning out 99 percent of your audience talking about metal roofs for five minutes.
Although your station can benefit from that revenue stream, it can also crush your ratings. It’s hard to sell a product without good ratings. If I had to make the decision, I’d say to not have the clients on the air. There are more creative ways to do things that get more for the client.
TM: Is digital that avenue?
JT: Yeah, I think so. It’s hard to explain to a certain generation how important the digital aspect is. But yeah, there’s so many different things you can do with digital. Having banners, pre-roll videos, you can really get creative on that side of things.
For someone that’s a diehard fan of the station and always listening inside their car, it might be harder to sell them that 10-15 percent of our listeners are actually siting in their office and listening on the website. It’s becoming easier to sell digitally, I still don’t know how educated some of our potential clients are on that .
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
BSM Writers
Robert Griffin III Wants to Tell Your Story the Right Way
“Even if I do know you personally, I’m not going to bring that to the broadcast because that’s not my job.”
During last season’s VRBO Fiesta Bowl, Robert Griffin III was part of ESPN’s alternate telecast at field level alongside Pat McAfee. Suddenly, the Heisman Trophy winner took a phone call. Once he hung up the phone, Griffin divulged that his wife had gone into labor and proceeded to sprint off of the field to catch a flight. An ESPN cameraperson documented his run and jubilation as he returned home to welcome his daughter, Gia, into the world. It encapsulated just what motivates Griffin to appear on television and discuss football, and why he is one of ESPN’s budding talents with the chance to make an impact on sports media and his community for years to come.
“This was an opportunity for me to go out and be different in the way that the media covers the players and truly get to the bottom of telling the players’ stories the right way,” Griffin said. “I look at this as an opportunity to do that.”
Griffin was a three-sport athlete as a student at Copperas Cove High School, and ultimately broke Texas state records in track and field. In addition to that, he played basketball and was the starting quarterback for the school’s football team as a junior and senior, drawing attention from various schools around the country. He ended up graduating high school one semester early and quickly became a star at Baylor University in both football and track and field.
Robert Griffin III’s nascent talent was hardly inconspicuous, evidenced by being named the 2008 Big 12 Conference Offensive Freshman of the Year and then, three years later, the winner of the Heisman Trophy. In the end, he graduated having set or tied 54 school records and helped the program to its first bowl game win in 19 years.
Ultimately, he transitioned to the NFL in a career with many trials and tribulations, but through it all, he never lost his sense of persistence. Nearly a decade later, he returned to college, but this time as a member of the media covering the game from afar. Unlike a majority of former players though, Griffin did not formally retire from playing football when inking a broadcasting contract with ESPN.
“I haven’t retired yet at all,” he said. “I tell everyone that asks me the question that I train every day [and] I’m prepared to play if that call does come. I’ve had some talks with teams over the past two years; just nothing has come to fruition.”
While Griffin’s focus as a broadcaster is undeniable, he never thought about seriously pursuing sports media until his broadcast agent pushed him to do so. He was urged to take an audition at FOX Sports. Griffin broke down highlights and called a mock NFL game alongside lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. He was not prepared for that second part, but impressed executives and precipitously realized a career in the space may not be so outlandish after all.
Griffin then moved to ESPN where he experienced a similar audition process, this time calling a game with play-by-play announcer Rece Davis. Once the audition concluded, it was determined that Griffin would not only begin working in the industry, but that he would be accelerated because of his ability to communicate in an informative and entertaining style.
As a player, he saw the way media members covered teams – sometimes bereft of objectivity – and therefore saw assimilating into the industry as a chance to change that. Now, he is focused on telling the stories of the players en masse while being prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice.
ESPN’s intention was to implement Griffin on its studio coverage, but once executives heard him in the broadcast booth, the company had a palpable shift in its thinking. He was told he was ready to go out into the field and start calling games immediately, something of a surprise to him. FOX Sports felt similarly. This led to a bidding war between the two entities, which ultimately concluded with Griffin inking a contract with ESPN. He appeared over its airwaves plenty of times as a player, and even participated on a variety of studio shows in 2018 where he was almost permanently placed on NFL Live. This time around though, Griffin was suddenly preparing to work with Mark Jones and Quint Kessenich on college football games. He did not have time to consider the implications of the decision, instead diving headfirst into the craft and remaining focused on what was to come with producer Kim Belton and director Anthony DeMarco at his side.
“These guys took me under their wing, and I’m beyond indebted to them for that,” Griffin said of his colleagues. “They taught me everything that I know about the industry. They taught me everything I know about how to present things to the masses to where it can be easily digestible. They’ve allowed me to allow my personality to shine through.”
Demonstrating his personality was a facet of his makeup Griffin felt was inhibited by playing professional football, but he knows it would have been considerably more difficult to attain a chance to cover the game had he not laced up his cleats. Calling college football games with Jones accentuated his comfort in the booth because of Jones’ adept skill to appeal to the viewers and penetrate beyond the sport.
“He has the way to connect different generations of listeners to hear what he’s saying and perceive it in the same way,” Griffin said. “To me, that’s what we all strive to do in this industry is to be able to find the connective tissue between the fan who is 60 or 70 years old, and the fan who’s in their late teens or early 20s.”
From the beginning, everyone told Griffin to be himself and not adopt an alternate persona in front of the camera. That advice has guided him as he approaches his third year working in the industry.
“It is so hard to maintain a character or try to be someone that you’re not, but if you are who you are every single day, then every time you show up on camera you will be that person,” Griffin said. “I’ve made sure that when I stepped foot in front of that camera, I was going to be myself.”
Griffin identifies his style as pedagogical to a degree, critiquing players as if he was coaching them on the sidelines. He will never look to penetrate beyond football with his criticism, as drawing conclusions and using unrelated parlance could be viewed as indecorous. In short, Griffin III knows what it means to represent ESPN.
“We’re not a gossip website. We’re supposed to be critically acclaimed, prestigious journalists, and at the end of the day, that’s how I try to approach the job that I do. That’s why I got into the business – because I felt like there was a little of that going on, especially during my career, so I would never do to somebody else what was done to me.”
Over the course of his NFL career, Griffin was subject to immense criticism that went significantly beyond the gridiron. For example, sports commentator Rob Parker suggested that Griffin was not fully representative of the Black community and proceeded to question if he was a “cornball brother.” The incident resulted in Parker receiving a 30-day suspension from ESPN, and after he defended his comments and blamed First Take producers in a subsequent interview, the network decided not to renew his contract.
“My goal as a member of the media is to tell players’ stories the right way, and if I don’t know you personally, I’m never going to make it personal,” Griffin said. “Even if I do know you personally, I’m not going to bring that to the broadcast because that’s not my job.”
In addition to broadcasting college football games with Jones on ESPN and ABC, he also appears on-site for Monday Night Countdown, the network’s pregame show leading up to Monday Night Football. Making the decision to add NFL coverage to his slate of responsibilities meant that Griffin would be able to tell more stories and utilize his knowledge of players during their collegiate careers to enhance the broadcast.
The energy that he felt attending tailgates and interacting with fans at the college level gave him a unique skill set to translate to the NFL side, leading him to present the production team with an unparalleled idea for Week 1. He wanted to race Taima the Hawk, the live game mascot for the Seattle Seahawks who flies around Lumen Field prior to the start of each home game. It was an outlandish idea, but one that made sense for television because of the visual appeal it can present.
“If you know anything about hawks, they can fly up to 120-140 miles per hour, so they’re like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to beat this hawk in a race, but we’ll do it,’” Griffin said. “To that crew’s credit, they never once balked at any of the creative ideas that I brought to the table because they want to try different things and be exciting and have fun on the show.”
Griffin ended up winning the race, commencing the new season of Monday Night Countdown with immediate excitement before the Seahawks’ matchup against the Denver Broncos. He thoroughly enjoyed his first year on the show and having the chance to work alongside Suzy Colber, Adam Schefter, Booger McFarland, Steve Young, Larry Fitzgerald and Alex Smith.
“They always tell me, ‘Hey, anything you’re not comfortable with, you just let us know and we won’t do that thing,’” Griffin said of the show’s producers. “My answer always back to them is, ‘Well, I won’t know if I’m uncomfortable with it if I don’t try.’”
While Griffin had what looked like a seamless assimilation into the broadcasting world, he had a difficult moment when using a racial slur on live television in discussing Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. The clip quickly gained traction across the internet, and Griffin issued an apology on his Twitter account for using the pejorative language and claimed that he misspoke.
“I was shocked that it came out in the way that it did, and I immediately jumped on it and apologized because there’s no need to deny,” he said. “You messed up. You move forward, and I think that’s the easiest way to get over those types of things and to get back on your feet.”
The football season at both the college and professional level is undoubtedly a grind, and it requires a combination of dedication, passion and persistence few people possess. Robert Griffin III has garnered the reputation of being an “overpreparer,” often partaking in considerably more information than necessary to execute a broadcast. The information he consumes and conclusions he draws combined with his experience at both levels has cultivated him into a knowledgeable analyst who makes cogent, intelligible points on the air.
“I over-prepare for everything, and 70% of the information that I soak in going into a game or going into a broadcast for Monday Night Countdown, I don’t use because there’s just not enough air time,” Griffin III said. “There’s not enough opportunities to talk on it all.”
At the same time, he makes a concerted effort to make the most of his time with his family and separate himself from the field, engaging in activities including playing ping pong, going to the movies and supporting his children. He also embarks in charity work through his RG3 Foundation and strives to teach his daughters the importance of giving back. The mission of the nonprofit foundation is to discover and design programs for underprivileged youth, struggling military families and victims of domestic violence, and it has made a significant impact since it was launched in 2015.
“Trying to end food insecurity; making sure that our under-resourced youth have access to the things that they need just to survive – talking about food, clothes, books, the ability to learn [and] putting on these after-school programs,” Griffin elucidated in describing the organization’s mission. “We want to have an impact on our community. We mean that with everything in us and have shown that to be the true case of why we do this.”
Griffin’s wife, Grete, serves as the executive director of the foundation and also runs her own fitness business. Staying physically and mentally in shape is something they actively try to accomplish in their everyday lives, and lessons they are passing down to their daughters.
“I’m 33 years old right now, so if I want to continue to train every single day, I can do that for the next 10 years if I need to,” Griffin said. “Not taking hits and being physically fit is also a good thing for your own health, which is something me and my wife are extremely passionate about.”
Although his experience is in playing football and working in sports media, Robert Griffin III does not believe in limiting himself and would consider exploring opportunities outside of sports and entertainment. He wants to become the best broadcaster possible no matter where he is working in the industry and continue finding new ways to be distinctive en masse.
“We’re storytellers,” he said. “We’re here to break down things [and] to tell people a story the right way; things that people are interested in, and that expands across all media levels. We’re not closing the door on anything from that standpoint.”
While he was playing in the NFL, Griffin dealt with a variety of injuries that ultimately kept him off the football field and made it difficult to display his talents. Ranging from an ACL tear, shoulder scapula fracture and hairline fracture in his right thumb, staying healthy was a challenge for him over the time he played in the NFL.
Through surgeries and rehabilitation, he learned how to face and overcome these challenges. It has shaped him into the broadcaster and person he is today as he looks to set a positive example to aspiring football players and broadcasters everywhere.
“The eight-year career that I was able to have thus far didn’t come without roadblocks in the way [and] didn’t come without adversity. Learn from the adversity that you go through and learn from all the things and the lessons that you have that sports teaches you, and then go be able to present that to the masses.”
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.
BSM Writers
Pac-12 Pushing Enhanced Access, Deion Sanders Reeks of Desperation
What good is enhanced access for TV broadcasts or the star power of Coach Prime if those game telecasts aren’t seen?
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.