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John Canzano Finds Balance In Mid Days

“When I was hired at The Oregonian one of the first questions was, do you ever want to do radio? They had a real aversion to it. The publisher was old-school and didn’t like it because he saw his competition.”

Tyler McComas

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Nervousness. 

John Canzano couldn’t escape that feeling as he sat behind the mic on The Bald Faced Truth for the first time ever. But the nerves weren’t for the reason you’d probably suspect. It wasn’t because it was his first show on a new station, it wasn’t because he was trying out sports radio after years as a successful sports journalist and it wasn’t even because he’d only spent a handful of months in the business. It wasn’t any of that. It was all because of his very first guest on his very first show: Barack Obama.

There probably wasn’t a more relevant guest during the summer of 2007 than Obama. Forget what format your station was in, news, sports, politics, it didn’t matter. If you could get the man that was attempting to be the first African American in the White House, it meant something. 

Image result for candidate obama

The thing was, Canzano wasn’t a stranger to doing interviews with big-name people. He had covered Major League Baseball and the NFL at the San Jose Mercury News. He covered Bob Knight at Indiana as well as Notre Dame Football and various Olympic Games. But there was something about interviewing Obama that brought out the nerves. 

“At that time, he was running for president and was in a tight race with Hillary Clinton,” said Canzano. “His camp decided they were only going to do one interview in the Portland market. We requested him and they picked it because they thought it was a real change for him from talking about healthcare and all the other issues.”

Though the get was huge, especially during his first show, Canzano was now conflicted on how he should conduct the interview. Should he interview Obama with similar questions as everyone else had done? Or should he just ask him the things he really wanted to ask? Luckily, Canzano found a voice of reason when he asked his wife, Anna, a local TV anchor in the market, which way he should take the interview. 

Her response: “That’s a dumb question.”

Canzano asked Obama what it was like to throw out the first pitch at a White Sox game. He asked how the man kept not only in shape, but his sanity while out on the campaigning trail. But the connection really happened when the two started talking about their daughters and what it’s like to be a parent. It was much different than the normal radio hit the soon-to-be president had done, but it worked. And the audience loved it. 

“There was a moment about two or three minutes into the interview where I could really feel him relax and go, oh, we’re not going to be talking about health care,” said Canzano. “He really settled in after that and acted like it was just two parents talking about sports. He was so interesting and so good.”

It’s one thing to come out swinging during your first show, it’s another to have on arguably the most relevant guest in the free world. That day was a pretty good indication Canzano would transition just fine into sports radio.

A sports columnist for The Oregonian since 2002, Canzano is still in both print and sports radio. His weekday show, The Bald Faced Truth, which came from a submission from a listener, is from 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. on 750 The Game in Portland and is syndicated throughout much of the state. 

In the following Q&A, Canzano covers how he got into radio, balancing both writing and being on the air and even the demands of being the biggest sports media personality in the area. 

                                                       *****************

TM: So after so much success as a sports columnist, how did a hosting opportunity in radio come about? 

JC: I had always been a newspaper guy who occasionally appeared on radio shows. Really, that’s how I got my start. When I was in The Portland market I would go on different shows and do five to eight minute hits. What happened was, the Blazers in the draft lottery, got the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Rose City Radio, who had a hip-hop station on 95.5, decided to flip that format in the sports, because Portland was going to win multiple championships. You’re going to need multiple sports stations. They took me, they did a really smart thing, for a period of about four to five months they stashed me on KXL, which was a political talk station and they had me do nights. I was just working out a lot of kinks and figuring out how to do a radio show and learning the format of it. Ultimately I think the first show was Labor Day of 2007. 

TM: I have to imagine the cross-promotion between print and radio really helps each other out. But more specifically, how does the newspaper help out the radio show?  

JC: When I was hired at The Oregonian one of the first questions was, do you ever want to do radio? They had a real aversion to it. The publisher was old-school and didn’t like it because he saw his competition. Over time they came to sort of embrace that, hey, this could be good for the column. It creates a conversation beyond the column and gives the readers a chance to talk to me about what I wrote. I’ve even had the former general manager of the Trailblazers, Kevin Pritchard, tell me he loves the show because I write something in The Oregonian and the show gave him a chance to challenge me on it.

They really walk hand-in-hand now, in that media has become so diverse. The radio show, podcasts, the best interviews, I’ll put them on OregonLive.com and give our readers a chance to hear part of the radio show. Of course I bring on the writers at The Oregonian who have written something interesting that day. It’s a very symbiotic relationship. 

Image result for john canzano

TM: It takes a lot of time to prep for a three-hour show. It also takes a lot of time to have well-researched and well-written articles that attract readers. How are you doing both and balancing your time? 

JC: It’s a real challenge now, seeing that news is so immediate. You really have to have a rhythm when you host a three hour radio show that’s in the middle of the day. I do a lot of my writing in the morning. There’s overlap in the preparation and there’s overlap with the guests, too.

Maybe I’ll write something and then someone who I’ve written about will come the radio show. A great example of that, Saturday night I was at the Oregon State-Stanford game and I wrote about the economics of college football at Oregon State and how they were the least funded program in the Pac 12. On today’s show I have the athletic director at Oregon State which will fit in nicely with that column. Now, there’s not a lot of prep I need to do for it, because I did that all on Saturday. I also lean on really good staff members. I have hired two production people out of my own pocket that work for me, not the station. They do a lot of work behind the scenes, such as prep work, guest booking and just helping out the show on a daily basis. I could not do it without them.

TM: Are mid-days perfect for someone who has as much going on as you do? Or would another slot fit better? 

JC: I like the mid-days because it fits with my life. I’m a parent and I’ve got kids that are in school. My 16-year-old plays volleyball and I get to go to all of her matches. I get to come home at the end of the day and be there for dinner. I think the radio station has embraced having a mid-day show, I’m the only local show on the station right now. They’ve embraced having that revenue in a timeslot that normally isn’t a huge revenue generator. They’re still able to sell afternoon drive to potential advertisers but having your mid-day show fill at a level that really fattens up your station is pretty good strategy. 

TM: I really like your Facebook page. It’s current, has a lot of content and features a ton of videos. What’s your strategy with that? 

JC: I’m just a big fan of, as a newspaper columnist, I feel like when I’m writing I’m doing so to one reader. As a radio host I feel like I’m always trying to talk to one listener. If I can draw in one more listener with the Facebook page or with Twitter, Instagram Live, I should be in as many places as I can possibly be in. Now, there is a balance there. Sometimes you’re a little frayed because you’re trying to do everything, you still want to maintain quality with what you’re doing. I just found out there’s a segment of my listeners who are on Facebook. I have to speak that to them when I need to speak to them.

TM: When people think about sports in the Portland area, do they think about John Canzano? If so, what comes along with that?

JC: I think that most people would probably tell you that. I also think that’s a tremendous responsibility. You have to be, if you’re the voice of a region, you have to be right, you have to be researched, you have to speak from authority, you have to be sourced and get answers when you don’t know them. I think there’s a lot of people that will sit back and spout their opinions, but what really set you apart is the ability to maintain those relationships, be critical when you need to be critical, but really, it’s not a race to be first when you’re the voice of a region. It’s an obligation to be right.

TM: Do you view your show as more Oregon and Oregon State or the entire Pac 12 in general? 

Image result for oregon vs oregon state

JC: I think a Pac 12 show. I think you have a transient population that listen to the show. My show is broadcast pretty much state-wide and we get a lot of listeners outside of the area. Plus, we have the podcast and the stream.

I try to talk about and interview people that I’m interested in knowing more about. This week it was Herm Edwards at Arizona State. Today will be Scott Barnes at Oregon State and it might be Mike Leach of Washington State two days from now. I don’t consider my show to be the home of the Ducks or the home of the Beavers or even the home of the Blazers. I always joke that it’s the home of the truth. I do think there’s truth in that, because I’m trying to serve everybody but also do a show that I would listen to. The show that I would listen to would not be all Ducks all the time or all Beavers all the time. I think you have to have a real diversity of approach and interest. Sometimes we’re not even talking sports and I think that’s OK, too.

TM: What about the NFL? The Seahawks are the closest team, is there a big fan base in your market that dictates you talking about them? 

JC: I think I probably talk as much Seahawks as any of the other NFL teams. It’s three hours away and it got force-fed down the throats of the Portland market back in the day when they could only watch one NFL game during one timeslot. There’s a lot of people here who are Seahawks fans just because that’s all that was on TV. So we address it but we also have a lot of 49ers fans, Rams fans, Patriots fans so whatever is big in the NFL that day is what I’m talking about.

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How to Help Your Clients with Low Website Conversions

Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

Jeff Caves

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Graphic for how to increase website conversions
Credit: WPDesigner.Biz

Are your clients dealing with low website conversions? Whenever a marketing campaign is run, and the goal is to convert website visitors into leads, the temptation is to blame low traffic, amongst other issues, for low form fills or appointments being generated.  Just spend more money, you may think! Sometimes, you must look at at least four other potential issues to tackle poor conversion rates. Here are some actionable steps using the IT services industry to increase website conversions.

IT Solutions specializes in providing products, services, or solutions related to technology, particularly in areas such as software development, hardware sales, IT consulting, cybersecurity, cloud computing, networking, and digital transformations. They faced challenges with their website conversions. Despite driving substantial traffic through Google Ads and other SEO tactics, they struggled to convert website visitors into form fills for appointment requests. A 2% to 5% conversion rate could be considered reasonable. Of course, conversion rates can vary based on various factors, such as the competitiveness of the local market, the quality of the website (and radio stations help most to fix that) and its user experience, the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and the reputation and offerings of the IT solutions business. Focusing on improving the quality of leads and providing exceptional customer service can be just as crucial as achieving high conversion rates. Don’t blame EVERYTHING on the marketing tactics! 

The Diagnosis

Upon thorough analysis, several critical issues were identified with IT Solutions’ website:

1. High Bounce Rate: Nobody was checking out the business. If 70% or more of website visitors only visit the landing page, that is an issue.  It could be slow loading times, irrelevant content, poor user experience, or unclear calls-to-action that prevent them from wanting to know more about IT Solutions. You can check the bounce rate on the Google Analytics page for the website in the left-hand sidebar, click on “Behavior” to expand the menu, then click on “Site Content,” and finally, click on “Landing Pages.” You’ll see a list of landing pages and their respective bounce rates.

2. Complex Navigation: It was hard to move around the website to find relevant information about IT services, and it was unclear who they were initiating contact with and for what purpose.

3. Unclear Calls-to-Action (CTAs): The website lacked clear and compelling CTAs guiding visitors toward requesting an appointment. Simply stating “click here for an appointment” is like asking for a meeting whenever or without establishing value. Here are 28 CTAs for free.

4. Lengthy Forms: The appointment forms were long, without qualifying information, and requested excessive information upfront, deterring potential leads from completing them.

Action Plan

1. Optimize Landing Pages:

   – Redo high-traffic landing pages with clear messaging and compelling CTAs.

   – Showcase IT Solutions’ services as benefits, making it easier for users to request appointments, thereby increasing user engagement and conversions.

2. Simplify Navigation:

   – Reorganize the menu and add more action-oriented links.

   – Provide additional options for users to access relevant information, such as “Get a free IT Solutions 15-point checkup NOW” and “Take this 5-question survey to diagnose your IT issues,” motivating them to book appointments.

3. Enhance CTAs:

   – Utilize concise and persuasive messaging throughout the website.

   – Encourage visitors to take action, whether requesting a free download about “5 things you can do to solve your IT issues on your own” or “get a free pizza for booking an appointment.”

4. Improve the Form Fill:

   – Add a further line about the number of employees who qualify for incoming leads.

   – Highlight the value of leads based on company size, prioritizing forms with higher potential impact.

Review landing pages, navigation, CTAs, and form experience to address website conversion issues. Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

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‘NHL on TNT’ Gives Hockey Fans the ‘NBA on TNT’ Treatment

Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

John Molori

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NHL on TNT studio

Let’s play a little word association, sports media style. If I say TNT, what is your response? Chances are it will be a three-letter abbreviation of your own, namely, NBA. Over the years, TNT has built a reputation as arguably the premiere network to telecast the National Basketball Association.

The NBA on TNT pregame and halftime shows have become the gold standard with stars like Ernie Johnson, Jr., Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal. Still, it’s not just this quartet of roundball royalty that has fortified TNT’s hoops coverage.

The rep was also built on tremendous play-by-play announcers like Bob Neal and Kevin Harlan, color analysts like Doug Collins and Reggie Miller, and courtside reporters like the late Craig Sager and current sideline star Allie LaForce.

Indeed, TNT and the NBA have become synonymous, but I have some news for you. This network is not just about professional basketball. This past week I went off the grid with TNT looking at their in-game and studio coverage of the NHL.

On March 24, the NHL on TNT provided coverage of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Colorado Avalanche matchup. Kenny Albert did play-by-play with Eddie Olczyk on color. Albert is not as noted as his legendary broadcasting father Marv Albert, but he has certainly staked his claim as one of the best in the business – able to cross over to multiple sports with equal aplomb.

Hockey is a strong suit for Albert. His rat-tat-tat, drama-building style draws viewers in and keeps us on the edge of our seats. Similarly, Olczyk is one of the top four or five NHL game analysts in the business. His style is understated, providing calm and clear analysis of key plays. They work really well together.

Albert eschews any kind of hackneyed and trite catch phrases for his goal calls. An emphatic, “He shoots and scores!” is plenty enough.

Hockey is a different beast when it comes to play-by-play. Unlike basketball, baseball, football, or even soccer and tennis, there is a minimum of breaks in the action. With hockey, a play-by-play announcer has to know the names of the players like he or she knows her kids’ names.

To me, it is the hardest sport for play-by-play and equally difficult for a color analyst. In basketball, after a team scores, the play-by-play announcer will keep silent and give the color analyst time to talk until the play crosses center court. In baseball and football, there is ample room for commentary.

Hockey does not offer such space, but Olczyk gets the most out of the minimal amount of time. Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

Coming back from a break in the game, Albert and Olczyk provided on air commentary and then tossed to ice level reporter Brian Boucher who has grown into a tremendous asset to the TNT broadcasts. Boucher provided real talk about Colorado’s objectives of staying on top of their division and vying for the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Penguins, squarely in a rebuilding year having dumped talent at the NHL trade deadline, surprisingly jumped out to a 2–0 lead in this game, and the TNT between periods studio crew was all over it. The excellent Liam McHugh hosted alongside Colby Armstrong, Anson Carter, and Keith Yandle.

Armstrong was especially entertaining. With Pittsburgh outshooting the Avs 16-4, Armstrong noted that it’s the best he’s seen Pittsburgh play in a long time. His reasoning was that teams get geared up for playing Colorado even if it’s out of fear. Great stuff.

Both teams tallied two goals in the second period giving Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame. When Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon set up Jonathan Drouin for a goal to make it 4-3, Albert and Olczyk showed their strengths.

Albert called the pass from MacKinnon and one-timer goal from Drouin, and immediately noted that MacKinnon now had a point in all 34 of Colorado’s home games this season. On the goal replay, Olczyk showed how the play developed pointing out how McKinnon allowed Pittsburgh’s Evgenii Malkin to come in close before making the past to Drouin.

The TNT production team then showed a graphic displaying that McKinnon is now second all-time in longest home points streaks trailing only Wayne Gretzky. This was a sublime sequence of symmetry between talent and technicians like a songwriter, musician, and singer creating beautiful music.

What was supposed to be a blowout win for Colorado had now become a hockey barn burner, and the TNT crew was up to the task. Every goal and key play was followed up with replays from multiple angles showing the genesis of the action.

TNT has certainly taken to the velocity of the hockey broadcast with movement that challenges directors, graphics professionals, and videographers.

When there were breaks in this non-stop action, Olczyk was at his best. No hockey analyst draws on his experience as a player and explains that experience better to viewers. The TNT broadcast also lets Boucher freewheel and join in the flow of discussion without having to be introduced.

TNT does not merely rely on the traditional wide shot of the entire rink. We see close-up shots of each goaltender after a great save and the sweat of players on the bench or in the penalty box.

When McKinnon tied the game at 4-4 with 4:38 left in the third period, we got a series of tremendous crowd shots showing the Colorado fans going absolutely berserk. The sage Albert and Olczyk wisely remained quiet for several seconds, letting the cheers do the talking.

When Drouin scored the game winner at 4:06 of overtime, Albert exercised controlled enthusiasm, raising his voice on the call of the goal, but not becoming the show and overshadowing the play itself. He is definitely in the mold of Dan Kelly, Gary Thorne, and Sean McDonough, announcers who enhance but do not supersede the game.

Putting a cherry on top of this hockey Sunday, TNT showed a graphic that the Avalanche now led the NHL in comeback wins this season with 25 and that they were riding a 9-game winning streak. In analyzing the goal, Olczyk opined that the altitude of playing in Colorado was prevalent as the Penguins seemed to tire as the game progressed – really interesting insight.

In the postgame show, Anson Carter made a great point that the chemistry between Drouin and MacKinnon stems from the fact that they have been playing together going back to junior hockey. McKinnon joined in from the arena for a postgame interview. The analysts asked solid questions and even did a funny MVP chant together as the interview ended.

The NHL on TNT takes no back seat to its elder NBA sister. The broadcast provides viewers with flash, dash, and serious hockey talk from every angle – in studio, from the broadcast booth, and on the ice.

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Kim Mulkey Now Has Everyone Anticipating Washington Post Story

I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it.

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photo of LSU women's college basketball coach Kim Mulkey
Credit: Dailymail.co.uk

The Washington Post, you might’ve heard, has a story coming out about controversial LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. The reason you might’ve heard is because Kim Mulkey told you. The Tigers coach read a fiery prepared statement just before her team started the Women’s NCAA Tournament. In the statement, Mulkey threatened to sue The Post for defamation before the first word was even published.

Now, I’ve never run a public relations firm but that did not seem like a good idea. The Washington Post story on Mulkey is one of the bigger stories in sports right now and nobody even knows what’s in it. The reason the story, apparently unflattering to Mulkey, is even on anyone’s radar screen is Mulkey herself.

It all started with an innocuous social media post by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde right in the middle of the most anticipated two days in sports, the NCAA Tournament Round of 64. On his X account, Forde posted: “Hearing some buzz about a big Washington Post story in the works on LSU women’s hoops coach Kim Mulkey, potentially next week. Wagons being circled, etc.”

You know what generally will go unnoticed at 4:00 on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament? A post on X about a women’s basketball coach. But don’t tell Mulkey, she saw Forde’s post and decided to fight fire with nuclear weaponry. The result: the average person like me now is really interested in what has Mulkey so incensed. By “average person like me” I mean that I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it. Maybe:

“LSU Women’s Coach Discovers Ark of the Covenant”

Or:

“Mulkey Reveals True JFK Assassin(s)”

Perhaps:

“Famed Women’s Basketball Coach Reveals the Mystery Behind Slow Drivers in the Left Lane”

Literally any of those catch my attention more than whatever will likely be the Washington Post headline about Mulkey. But now Mulkey is “Mad as Hell and is not going to take this anymore” so I now have an interest I would never before have had in this story. It has been fascinating to watch the online speculation about the subject of the article and all we really know, as of now, is that it will be written by Kent Babb. This is a dream come true for Babb; he writes an article that is, presumably, not flattering about Kim Mulkey and, before it is even published, she gives the article the greatest commercial anyone could give it. Babb couldn’t have entered into a business agreement with Mulkey and had this turn out better for him.

For those who don’t follow Babb, he is a former NFL reporter who now is an award-winning writer for the Washington Post. In his 14 years with The Post, he has written sports features and authored a couple of books. One of those sports features stories was a deep dive into what he viewed as a large inequity in the level of pay for LSU head football coach Brian Kelly and his LSU players. It is this piece Mulkey described as a “hit piece” and, based on that piece, referred to Babb as a “sleazy reporter.” Babb, and many others, resented the fact his story was labeled as a hit piece. In fact, Babb essentially confirmed he was the author Mulkey was referencing when he shared the original article on X with the comment: “Hit piece?”

Whether a printed piece or a recorded interview, I can’t imagine a better promotion for it than the subject of the interview threatening a libel/slander lawsuit, especially before it is even released. That simply screams “This piece is salacious!!” Also, libel and slander suits get settled all the time, right? Of course they don’t, they seem to never even get filed. That little thing called discovery is a scary thing for most public figures.

The NCAA Tournament has been very entertaining, and I think the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will be terrific. For only the fifth time ever, the top two seeds have advanced to the third round which sets up for a remarkable weekend. For me, I guess it will now include a Washington Post article, not a sentence I’d normally say.

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