First of two parts
Jeff Smulyan is the proud father of the 24-hour sports talk radio format. Well, make that proud most of the time.
After sports talk radio took a foothold in the early 1990s, Smulyan suddenly found himself on the receiving end of all the barbs and rants by the loud and often out-of-control hosts. Smulyan was the principal partner in the Seattle Mariners during that time. With the situation often proving grim at the Kingdome, the sports talkers took out their rage on the man in charge, Smulyan.
His fellow owners took noticed. They too often found themselves being grilled 24/7 on the new sports talk format.
Smulyan recalled an owner telling him, “I’ve always wondered if there’s a God. Now knowing the guy who invented this horseshit format is getting ripped, I know there’s a God.”
Sitting over lunch, Smulyan laughed at telling that story. There are few people in the industry who have his unique perspective of the good, the bad, and the ugly of sports talk radio.
Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of the format known as sports talk radio. It was Smulyan, the founder and CEO of Emmis Communications, who launched WFAN in New York on July 1, 1987.
Here is Suzyn Waldman bringing the station on the air with an update.
That fledgling experiment went on to become the top billing station in the country. More than 600 stations followed WFAN’s lead, adopting the 24-hour sports talk format. Last week, CBS Sports announced plans to launch 24/7 sports radio programming. Of course, ESPN dived in years ago.
Sports talk radio has been a certified revolution, changing how all things sports are covered and consumed.
And it almost didn’t happen.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary, this is the first of a three-part interview with Smulyan. I had a chance to talk with him at his Emmis’ headquarters in Indianapolis. I was joined by Bob Snyder, a former sports talk general manager in Washington and Chicago and now a prominent radio consultant.
Today Smulyan discusses the launch of WFAN.
How did it begin?
We owned a station that had the Mets and country music. In those days, a lot of AM stations played music. We didn’t think there was a future there on AM. We looked around and said, ‘What are we going to do?’ I said, ‘What about the sports idea?’
What gave you the idea?
I always thought there was a much greater affinity for sports in the East than the West. If we ever were going to do it, we should do it in New York. Nobody knew whether it would work. I thought what the heck? We’ve got an AM station. Let’s give it a try.
What was the reaction from people within your company?
Emmis is very collaborative group. The consensus was it was a dumb idea. I’ll never forget. I walked out of the meeting. (Emmis executive) Steve Crane wanted to do it. He said, ‘What are we going to do.’ I said, ‘You can’t lead when people won’t follow.’ This idea is dead.
Next day, they said, ‘We feel sorry for you. We’ll give you one. We’ll give you this stupid idea.’
How did the station become known as WFAN?
We brought in a guy named John Shannon. His wife came up with the name FAN. I thought it was cool. We would be the station for the fans.
What was the reaction once you went on the air?
A good friend called me after we had been on the air for a month. He said, ‘I always thought you were a smart guy. You’re an idiot. This is the dumbest idea I’ve ever seen.’
It was a struggle. At one point I said (to an executive), ‘Can’t you sell something to somebody?’
During the first year, we said, ‘It’s 5, we lost another $40,000 today.’
Why didn’t you pull the plug?
I always told people you never create anything of value if you just follow conventional wisdom.
The bankers said, ‘How long are you going to keep doing this?’ This was my baby. I still thought it would fun. I said, ‘Let’s do it for another year.’
Tomorrow: How Don Imus saved sports talk radio.
To hear more from Smulyan, here’s an interview he and Emmis programming president Rick Cummings did with Radioink.com.