Sports Radio Could Learn from the ‘Oldies Station’

There’s a music station I listen to in my home market when I’m not listening to sports radio that most people refer to as the ‘oldies station.’ It used to actually have oldies in its name. Sadly, for me, it now plays the music I listened to growing up and through my college days. On any given day, you can count on plenty of Journey, Bryan Adams, Hootie & the Blowfish, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith or Tom Petty.

I love that music, I just don’t love that my music is now on the ‘oldies station.’

However, a few months ago, I discovered that on Sunday mornings the station airs old episodes of American Top 40, the show famously hosted by co-creator Casey Kasem. Since discovering it, my Sunday morning tradition of listening to Acoustic Sunrise and then some of the country music countdown has changed to tuning in to “the hits from coast to coast.”

You see, ‘oldies’ doesn’t play anymore because that makes a person feel, well, old. ‘Nostalgia’ on the other hand is completely different. That makes you feel good, even young again. It’s really all in the presentation.

This past weekend, I tuned in and caught songs 20 through 16: Too Shy by Kajagoogoo, She’s a Beauty by The Tubes, Never Gonna Let You Go by Sergio Mendes, Photograph by Def Leppard and Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant. Add some Eazy-E, Beastie Boys and Motley Crue and it sounds like my Spotify list. I didn’t want to get out of the car (my 14-year-old daughter couldn’t get out fast enough), I was completely locked in.

When I listen to AT40 I’m thinking about what I was probably doing when I originally heard that countdown or who I might have been hanging out with, what sports I was playing or what girls I was thinking about. Just hearing Casey’s voice takes me back to a certain time period, it takes me away from the now, there’s emotion involved because of the connection I have to that show.

For many, sports nostalgia is the best kind and sports radio should be taking more advantage of it. Sure, it comes up as a topic probably every single day in some way, shape or form, but what I’m talking about is how else can we look at nostalgia and find ways to make revenue off of it?

I would think it could work in almost any market for someone to do a show or a podcast or even vignettes that focused on the history of sports in that city and/or on the athletes, coaches and executives who helped make that history. Perhaps it could be a list of some sort, everyone loves a list. Get your audience involved and have voting – now you have something with a digital tie-in where you can drive traffic to a trackable site.

It could be a ‘Where Are They Now’ on-air feature or something where you play 10 minutes of a 30-minute interview on the air and post the full interview on your website. Maybe it’s having your talent and notable ex-athletes from the area hosting local sports trivia contests to find out who the most knowledgeable fan is in your city. That, too, could possibly be a digital play.

Maybe it’s an interactive discussion about different eras of sports in your town. Or you could do them by team. The key would be to come up with ways people can interact with their heroes they grew up watching. Figure out a way to make it something where they can capture that picture to post on social media – that’s when you know you’ve hit a home run.

In some markets it could be a big live event with autograph signings, stage shows, merchandising and more. In other markets it could be as simple as re-airing old broadcasts or clips of old interviews.

The point is nostalgia plays. It’s something people can get passionate about and that generally means advertising support should be easier to find. Talk to your team, figure out what the right plan is for your station and your market, but if you aren’t capitalizing on nostalgia, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go write my Long-Distance Dedication. “Dear Casey…”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Best Thing I Heard/Watched Recently

While my colleague Garrett Searight believes this might have been a work, the Boomer & Gio interaction with 86-year-old ‘Joan in Ridgewood, New Jersey’ the other day on WFAN was fun content. Allegedly, Joan just happened to call the new WFAN 888 phone number, by mistake, trying to get someone to help her.

Producer Al Dukes explained, “When I spoke with Joan, she told me she was having an issue with her dryer, her La-Z-Boy and her telephone as well.” Dukes called the police in her area and said they did a wellness check; everything was ok, and they even helped her with everything she needed.

You can hear the full segment by clicking here.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Case You Missed It

Late last week, Derek Futterman caught up with Spike Eskin who is a couple of months into his new role hosting afternoon drive with Ike Reese and Jack Fritz on 94WIP in Philadelphia. Eskin told Derek, “…I can tell you I am loving doing this. It feels natural, it feels like what I’m supposed to do, and I would love if this is what I did until the end of my career.”

Eskin also has lofty goals for the show, saying, “I want us to be the most important and most well-liked radio show in Philadelphia.”

You can read the full feature by clicking here.

Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting.