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Mitch Moss Is Done With Hot Take Sports Radio

“My buddy and I won the Last Man Standing Football contest in 2006. I’m going to wear that title for the rest of my life and I am going to bring it up until I’m 120 years old.”

Vik Chokshi

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Whether you are a gambler or just a fan of the industry, you should be familiar with the name Mitch Moss. Moss, along with Paul Howard, hosts Follow the Money, a three-hour show featuring informative and entertaining sports talk, actionable betting information and humorously legendary stories. 

Mitch Moss Is Done With Hot Take Sports Radio | Barrett Sports Media

True story, but I first came across their show a couple of years ago after I purchased my new car. The vehicle came with a subscription to SiriusXM. I immediately became addicted to VSiN and religiously listened to, you guessed it, Follow the Money.

Moss’ journey into sports media goes all the way back to his Junior year of high school when he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do as a career. At his school’s career day, he discovered the broadcasting school Madison Media Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. That is when a light bulb went off for Moss, who used to do play-by-play on his own while watching sports on mute.

“I said to myself, I can actually come to your school, you can teach me broadcasting and I can turn into a play-by-play guy? I was like ‘absolutely, sign me up for that!’”

His love for Las Vegas and gambling came a little later, when Moss took a trip to the city when he was 21. Like many others who visit Sin City, he fell in love instantly.

“After that trip, I loved Las Vegas so much that I said to myself, ‘even if I can’t find a job in radio, I’m going to do something else here.’ I don’t know, like being a blackjack dealer or a mixologist. Whatever it takes’”.

Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you see it, Moss never had to go that route. Instead, he was able to do what he always dreamed of in high school, sports radio. And, after spending thirteen of fifteen years of his career working for the Lotus Broadcasting radio stations in Las Vegas, Moss made the move to join Brent Musberger’s VSiN.

I spoke with Moss about his journey, the future of VSiN and his foresight to get into the gambling space long before many others.

How did you get into the gambling space in the media?

Many things transpired, but it was me being in Las Vegas that kicked it off. So, I had a Sunday morning pregame show starting in 2003. I’m talking to oddsmakers before a game kicks-off while the numbers are moving and I’m thinking to myself “This is so great. I love this.”

Hot Takes Just Aren't Fun For Mitch Moss Anymore | Barrett Sports Media

Then my Sunday morning show shifted to the WestGate. That show is still there now, but other people do it. But, that is where I got to know guys like Jay Kornegay and the Jimmy Vaccaro’s of the world. Just awesome dudes who had been doing this for a while. Then it just started rolling from there. I loved covering gambling and then I got to know the guys out here in Vegas and the industry better, which did it for me.

How did you eventually get to VSiN?

I have many people to thank. Guys like Jimmy Vacarro, Matt Youmans, Vinny Magliulo. Those three went to bat for me and kept telling VSiN that if they were going to be a full-time network with sports radio and eventually television content, then you need these guys. They kept going to the well and to bat for me and my co-host Pauly Howard. I also had talks with Brian Musberger before VSiN even started. He had listened and liked my Sunday morning show I used to do at the WestGate, so he knew about us. So when the time came, it all worked out. We did weekends at first, and then within a month they asked us to do this full-time at the network and offered us a time slot. Of course we took it, it was too good to pass up.

Tell me your thoughts on the future of VSiN.

I told the guys back then, this is before we were even hired, but I think the ceiling for VSiN is that it could be like ESPN. When you go back to the early 80s for ESPN and they were having the America’s Cup on, yacht racing and boxing, but now we know what ESPN eventually turned into.

I have the same feeling for VSiN because I know that the gambling content is going to be there and the industry is completely exploding. More people gamble on sports than they play the stock market. It’s inevitable and we are starting to slowly see it now.

You and Pauly have terrific chemistry on the show. How did that come about?

Paully and I worked at the same radio station in Las Vegas going all the way back to like 2001…I became the program director and when it happened I needed more help. So we decided to merge our shows together. We morphed Pauly’s show which he had with another host, into mine and then we did a three-man show. So we did that for a long, long time. In April of 2010 or 2011, we have the third highest ratings in the country.

It’s funny because we’re similar. Same age, same part of the country, same likes, same interests, so that chemistry has always been there since Day 1. It’s one of our strengths for sure.

You had the foresight to get into gambling before a lot of people, talk to me about that in a little bit more detail.

I loved it and had a feeling for it. I will tell you a funny story. If you go back six, seven years, I would have lost my life savings if I could have made a bet on the NFL ever having a franchise in Las Vegas. I’m not even joking. We covered 10 or 11 Super Bowls in a row and they hated the city. My friend John Hanson, who had his own show at the time, had the microphone one time to ask Paul Tagliabue a question about turning down Las Vegas dollars for Super Bowl ads and he compared it to prohibition. It was one of the weirdest answers and never made any sense to me ever. I remember when the host on NFL Network refused to say the city’s name and would just say that city in the desert instead and Goodell would laugh about it. 

Another great story is about the Vegas mayor at the time. I was doing my pregame show at the WestGate and Mayor Goodman was on the air talking about parlay tickets. 

But, living out here is so different, it is like the norm here. I was lucky, I guess, because in my 20s I lived in a spot that was within a hundred yards of the Palms. So I would walk there 5 or 6 days a week. I would just go out the side gate, walk to the Palms and would take me two minutes and I’m right there into the Sportsbook. And, the weather out here is so great.

Race/Sports: Cantor Gaming to Operate Race/Sports Book at Palms Casino

Lake Green Valley Ranch is a casino where their big club at the time was called Whiskey Sky, I believe. They were known for 20 foot mattresses outside by the pools and it would be 75 degrees in January and we would make some bets and we would go sit on these mattresses and watch games. I’d be like oh my God, this is life! How is the whole city not out here right now?

It is so perfect and then just being here and living here and seeing it day to day. The more people that you talk to, the more bookmakers and bettors that you talk to, you can see the industry was ready to explode. But it became a part of my routine, like I brush my teeth in the morning and I look at the lines as well. So it was just a combination of me being in Vegas and believing that things were going to get bigger in the future.

What would you do if you were out of this gambling space one day?

Pauly and I joke about that, ‘like what other skills do we have’? I’ve been doing it since I was 19 years old. I know nothing else. Before I thought I’d go back to sports talk radio, but I don’t think I could do it anymore. I love covering gambling and love betting on sports, but I can’t stand hot takes and what the industry has become. I don’t have to say names, but some of the stuff we saw last week regarding Dak Prescott, I don’t want to be a part of that, where you have to be opinionated and get people mad and make them take sides. 50% of the audience is going to love you and the other 50% is going to hate you. So I don’t want to be a part of the hot take community in sports media.

If that ever happens to me, say me and VSiN we go our separate ways after four years for whatever reason, and I had to go back to hot take sports radio. I don’t think I could do it. I don’t enjoy it, it’s not fun to me. The idea of going back to school to learn a new skill is tough. My wife did that actually, she now has two degrees now and she’s amazing. Maybe I’d revisit that whole mixology thing we talked about earlier. Hopefully it never gets there.

COVID-19 affected everyone and everything including sports. How did it affect you from a work standpoint?

After March Madness was cancelled, in April it was obviously very gloom and doom. I’m not joking, we’d spend 90 minutes, if not more, talking about NFL draft props and betting on the NFL draft for 3 weeks leading into the draft. I mean it was to the point like what can you possibly say anymore? Then we did some futures talk. We really didn’t know what was going to happen.

Once we got UFC and Golf back, things got better. I think it was around May 9th with the UFC event coming back then Golf. Then that was enough at that time where we could just do UFC and talk about that 3 days a week, no problem. What else was anyone going to watch or bet on? Then European soccer eventually came back and we have Nigel Seely, who is an incredible soccer guest, so he helped by coming on for us. But, before that, it was the Russian table tennis. I tried to get involved, and I know Doug Kizierian was involved with that and I know others who stayed up to watch that and wouldn’t sleep. They actually changed their lifestyle to watch and bet that. That and the KBO. But, I couldn’t fake it. I couldn’t get involved in the KBO.

I will say though that golf has become one of my favorite sports to bet on. That’s one thing I’m going to take away from this. I always liked betting on golf, but now more so than ever, I like betting golf now almost as much as anything. I would say I like betting golf way more than baseball. But, yes, it was lean there for a long time. We did the best we could.

How do you put together your personal gambling card and picks for the show?

Follow The Money w/ Mitch Moss & Pauly Howard 121919 - YouTube

I mean there is a lot of good stuff that good people I trust put out there. I hope I don’t forget anyone, but VSiN does a great job. Their Point Spread Weekly is great as are their betting guides. There are a couple of good golf guys that I’ve been turned on to by Jeff Sherman. You have Joe Osborne from Oddsshark and sites like Kenpom for college basketball, teamrankings.com and FanGraphs for baseball. For football, one of our guests we have on every Friday is Adam Chernoff. He has a slack channel and I love reading his write ups and listening to his podcast.

Drew Dinsick does a podcast with Andy Molitor, and they are very good. Drew’s been coming on the show as a guest for a while now. There are so many good people out there and once you start to get to know them, it helps. Paul Stone is great. If I ever have a question with anything about college football, I’ll send him a text and he’ll get back to me. NBA.com has great data, you have to navigate it for a while, but still, and cleaningtheglass.com for the NBA as well. The information out there is endless, so you have to just vet it out.

Has the amount you bet per wager changed now that you’re in the industry?

That’s a great question. It’s remained the same for the most part. But, I will vary my bets, though. For example, I like betting futures bets and in-play a lot. The pregame stuff can be so tricky and so can betting baseball. I do vary my bets depending on how much I like something and what the number might be, but overall, throughout the years and even with me being in the industry, it has remained pretty much the same.

Looking back on your journey, is there a moment that helped you get to where you are today?

My buddy and I won the Last Man Standing Football contest in 2006. I’m going to wear that title for the rest of my life and I am going to bring it up until I’m 120 years old. At the time we split $17,000, people will say peanuts, but today that is worth around $85-100k … That helped me with my confidence moving forward.

Before we head out, what is one piece of advice you’d give to anyone trying to make it in the broadcast or gambling media industry?

Have fun with it for sure and the key is, get to know as many people as you possibly can. It might take some time, but I’ve been here since 2001 and now I know bettors, oddsmakers, etc. I think there’s a huge space for this in the media world.

Instead of saying ‘I want to be a talk show host’ or ‘I want to do play-by-play’, be more open. My whole dream was do play-by-play, but I would say absolutely concentrate on doing gambling right out of the gates. Read books about it, listen to radio shows, talk to people about gambling, listen to Follow the Money once in a while or listen to other podcasts out there. You are going to learn a lot.

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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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Ian Eagle Crushing It for CBS As Replacement for Jim Nantz

Eagle continues to be a shining example of what a network play-by-play announcer should be.

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Photo of Ian Eagle and the CBS Sports logo

I’ll admit, it’s been a little strange not hearing Jim Nantz during this year’s NCAA Tournament. Nantz stepped aside to concentrate on golf and the NFL after a long run covering the Final Four. Change is sometimes hard to accept, we are all creatures of habit, and I’m sure it’s a little weird for Nantz himself this time of year. But change doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. When it comes to Ian Eagle, not that I’m surprised, so far, so good.

Eagle is no stranger to CBS viewers. He’s been with the network since 1998 calling college basketball games and the NFL through the years. That certainly made the transition a little easier for everyone involved. CBS, the viewers and Eagle himself. Familiarity in these cases doesn’t breed content, it breeds a more comfortable broadcast and an easier handle on the change itself.

For Eagle, one of the other benefits for him was working with familiar folks, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson. Eagle estimates that he and Raftery have called 600 basketball games together, because they were longtime partners on the NBA’s Nets broadcasts. Eagle has also previously worked with Hill in college basketball, the same for Wolfson.

“To do this with Bill, Grant, and Tracy, it really is going to feel very seamless. In many ways, it will feel like we’ve been doing it together for many years,” says Eagle on a conference call before the Big Dance.

It sounds seamless too. It’s not underrated to have a good rapport with the folks that you’re working with. Everyone is trying to get used to a new voice and the idiosyncrasies of a new announcer. It’s much less of a chore, when you know and have worked with your co-workers and partners before.  You know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from you. That’s good.

I think Eagle is killing it in his new role. You could even tell during the Big Ten Tournament that led up to the “Big Dance” that he was not only ready, he was ready to roll. It’s easy to hear how much he loves doing what he’s doing. That’s the case in all of the sports he calls.

Eagle continues to be a shining example of what a network play-by-play announcer should be. He has the ability to combine his talent with some personality, but never at the expense of the action he’s calling. His broadcasts always hit the mark, as he rises to the occasion when the moment calls for it.

What do I mean by personality? He manages to make us laugh, even in some tense moments of a game. He also manages to articulate our thoughts in some situations, like this example from the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. 

Sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson had a report during the UConn/Northwestern game about the superstitions of Huskies’ coach Dan Hurley. He wears the same red dragon underwear and suit as he did last year. Wolfson said Hurley’s wife travels with a portable washing machine to make sure his clothes stay clean. Leading Eagle to ask the question on all our minds:

“Who has a portable washing machine?! I didn’t even know that existed!”

Also in that game, Eagle had a couple of other great moments. UConn big man Donovan Clingan had a couple of swats on one play.

“Denied! Clingan! Denied! Two for the price of one!” Quick thinking and entertaining at the same time. Later when a ball got pinned between the basket and the backboard, Eagle said, “Oooh! A Brooklyn wedgie!”

Great stuff. None of his ‘ad-libs’ sound like they are forced. It’s within the flow of the action and just seem to come to him. It’s pretty amazing to be that quick on your feet, when you’re trying to make sure to get the call correct above all else. I’m sure we’re all in for many more treats like that along the way from Eagle.

In general, when fans are watching a tournament game, they probably aren’t thinking about the preparation that goes into a broadcast. Especially for a play-by-play announcer. The first weekend network announcers calling a couple of games in the same day. There’s also only a day in between the first and second rounds to prep for teams that you may or may not have seen during the college season.  The turnaround is quick and demanding.  

“It feels like an information avalanche in many ways,” Eagle said recently on 670 The Score. “The fact that I’ve done it for so long would make you think, ‘oh, he’s got it down, he has the system, he found the secret sauce.’ No, it feels the same way every year.”

Eagle says even veteran announcers like himself have to manage stress levels and work efficiently once they know which games they’ll call. “The two or three days leading up to the tournament, I must admit, are probably the most angst-riddled of the year because it’s a little bit out of your control.” Eagle told 670 The Score.

Yes, the stress level is great on the broadcasters, but how about what Clark Kellogg continues to do at the NCAA Tournament and the Final Four? For the 8th year, he’ll join Kevin Kugler and Jim Jackson on Westwood One’s broadcast of the Final Four and Championship Game on radio. At the same time, Kellogg will be a studio analyst for the television coverage. How does he pull it off? Following the pregame show broadcast on TV, Kellogg will make his way courtside to the radio broadcast position to join Kugler and Jackson. Then, he will rejoin TV for halftime before repeating the process in the second half and postgame. 

Working this tournament isn’t easy for these broadcasters. It’s a big stage for sure, but as you’ve read, there’s big pressure that goes along with it. The audience is usually huge, and announcers are constantly put under the microscope. Fans want to make sure that you know their team, pronunciations and all. Stories. Bios. All of it. Cut these folks a little slack, information gathering with little time to do it, isn’t exactly simple. They do a damn good job.

Eagle himself, is doing a tremendous job. The 3-man booth works so well because of his ability to keep it all together. He can set up either Raftery or Hill with a serious basketball question, or deliver a great ‘straight line’ to bring out their personalities. It’s a gift. Eagle has that knack for knowing when to go ‘rogue’ and go for that entertaining line, that seems to fit in perfectly. Speaking of fitting fine, those rather large shoes he had to fill, they’re becoming the perfect size.

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Andrew Salciunas Aims to Thrive in Morning Drive on 97.5 The Fanatic

“We are two radio guys that kind of know what we’re doing.”

Derek Futterman

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Andrew Salciunas
Courtesy: Beasley Media Group

When 97.5 The Fanatic midday host Anthony Gargano agreed to a deal to contribute to PHLY Sports, a local digital venture within ALLCITY Network, he was promptly suspended by Beasley Media Group and subsequently sued for breach of contract. Although the two sides eventually reached a settlement and officially parted ways, the future of the daypart was still in question. In the interim time period, the station granted Andrew Salciunas the opportunity to lead a four-hour solo program with producer Ray Dunne. Salciunas had served as Gargano’s producer in the midday slot and still has a strong relationship with the sports media personality today despite no longer working together.

The onerous aspect of the situation, however, was in recognizing that Salciunas was being afforded a chance to prove himself as a host in the marketplace. In the past, he had filled in when Gargano took vacations, but it was not for an extended period of time. Although he was familiar with the flow of a midday program, achieving a successful, yet sudden assimilation into a regular timeslot without a partner was an invigorating circumstance.

“I knew that it was going to be a learning experience because it’s one thing to host a show on Saturday or it’s one thing to host a weekly podcast and you have a week’s worth of content at your disposal,” Salciunas said. “It’s another thing to [be] hosting every single day and needing to come up with new ideas and new angles and new twists on things, so it was a challenge knowing that I was going to have to do that for however long the process was going to be.”

Salciunas received help from program director Scott Masteller, a sports radio veteran who has helped elevate brands and nurture budding talent. Several months later, Masteller asked Salciunas how he would feel about working with morning program host John Kincade. Salciunas replied by saying that it was something he would be interested in doing, and he later added that he already wakes up early and could easily work in morning drive. Salciunas was somewhat nonplussed when he discovered that Masteller’s intention was to have him anchor the program rather than Kincade, who has been hosting in the daypart since January 2021.

In the weeks and months ensuing, Salciunas and Kincade were involved in meetings to plan the new program, which officially made its debut on 97.5 The Fanatic last week and is titled Kincade & Salciunas. Both hosts knew about the program for roughly two months, and Salciunas is surprised that it was kept a secret for as long as it was. Outside of their scheduled meetings, Salciunas was able to speak with Kincade between their shows since they occurred after the other as well. From the onset, he wanted to make his thoughts about the program clear to ensure a smooth transition amid a quest to inform and entertain the audience.

“The first thing I told John when they told us that this was the plan moving forward was that, ‘This is going to be our show,’” Salciunas recalled. “Yes, I might be the guy running the ins and outs out of commercial breaks. I’m the guy that brings on the guests; I’m the guy that brings on the callers, but this is our show. We both have ideas, we’re both passionate about Philadelphia sports teams, we’re both high-energy people, we’re both opinionated and we’re also respectful of each other.”

While there is natural disagreement between Salciunas and Kincade on a variety of sports topics, they make sure not to fabricate their discussions and engender debate for the sake of the show. Instead of feigning their contrarian discourse, there is a legitimate willingness to be genuine with their audience while continuing to put radio first. Salciunas, Kincade and show producer Connor Thomas all contribute ideas for the program to appeal to the audience and continue building the show as a whole. Thomas also had familiarity in working with Kincade since he served as an associate producer on his previous morning program.

“I’m not a former journalist; he’s not a former professional athlete,” Salciunas said. “We are two radio guys that kind of know what we’re doing. Even though our opinions might differ on sports-related stuff, we see doing radio in a similar way.”

Upon Kincade officially joining 97.5 The Fanatic, he demonstrated his magnanimity and commitment to his colleagues by offering to take all of them out to lunch individually to learn more about them. It was a gesture that surprised Salciunas and something that stuck with him, ultimately helping familiarize themselves with one another and subsequently creating a viable on-air product.

“He’s one of those guys who likes getting to know people, and I think that’s helped a lot,” Salciunas said. “We already had that sort of knowledge of one another [and] we already had that relationship, and because we’re just both so bought in and both so hungry, that’s made it so much easier that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make the show work.”

Before arriving at 97.5 The Fanatic, Kincade had worked at sports radio both at the local and national levels while also hosting a podcast with Hall of Fame center and Inside the NBA studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal. Bringing him back to his home marketplace and realizing success in the morning daypart was valuable as the sports media ecosystem underwent stretches of change. Transitioning to the new morning show iteration without colleagues Bob Cooney and Pat Egan presented its challenges, but Salciunas has had no qualms that Kincade was invested to win. As a result, the transition has been relatively simple in terms of building palpable chemistry among the on-air team.

“He believes in anybody that he works with,” Salciunas said of Kincade, “and knowing that somebody has worked that long as long as he has in sports radio that he values the young person’s opinion, not just in sports but in terms of radio, that goes a long way.”

There is constant communication between the morning show team leading up to a program outside of typical pre-show meetings and twice-weekly conversations with their boss. Salciunas arrives at the station well before the start of the program and compiles ideas from the previous day into a document, along with ideas from others that come during their commutes. Additionally, they continuously monitor the news cycle and determine what to address on the air while also interviewing special guests throughout the week.

Effectuating a fully prepared show rundown by 6 a.m. EST has been marginally difficult, along with the fact that it can be difficult to book guests on short notice before sunrise. Because of this, the program frequently outlines its guests early in the week and makes adjustments as necessary while maintaining fealty towards conveying their true, authentic personalities.

“I’m a little bit more energetic on the radio because I understand the entertainment portion of doing what we do and having to properly express myself,” Salciunas said. “I’m probably not going to scream at a bar, but when I converse with callers; when I converse with John [or] producers… that’s who I am as a person. There’s just a microphone in front of me.”

When he first started working at 97.5 The Fanatic as an intern, Salciunas did not have a goal of eventually becoming an on-air talent. He was content with his role as a producer, which was borne out of an internship where he worked with Jon Marks and Steve Vassalotti. Both station members served as mentors that he utilized to gain information and advice, a fortuitous outcome after Salciunas impetuously applied for the opening.

While Salciunas was matriculating at Temple University, he needed at least three internship credits in order to qualify for graduation. Reflecting back on his education days, he does not regard himself as the best student and recognized that he needed to intern with the radio station to set himself apart. Honing his focus in sports media took time since he had varied interests in areas such as reporting, podcasting and play-by-play announcing, but he ultimately gravitated towards the sports radio format during his time in Philadelphia.

Salciunas made a favorable impression on those with 97.5 The Fanatic and ended up being hired as an associate producer where he learned more about the format and its programming. Eric Camille, a former executive producer at the station, is someone Salciunas regards as seminal to his professional development.

“He was the guy that hired me out of my internship, and then once I started working, he really helped me,” Salciunas said. “He kind of took me under his wing and helped me out a lot.”

Once Salciunas was hired as a full-time producer, he began to work with Mike Missanelli on his midday program, providing an invaluable learning experience to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the sports media industry. As a veteran host who has captivated Philadelphia sports fans and media consumers at large, Salciunas noticed that collaborating on Missanelli’s program was a different experience than the other shows he had done. Whereas a morning drive show is oftentimes one of the first points of reaction on a given day, Missanelli knew that he would need to approach his daypart differently and adopted a paradigmatic style implementing second-level topics.

“It’s not just going on the air and reacting to an Eagles loss,” Salciunas explained. “It’s reacting to a storyline within an Eagles loss or reacting to a storyline within an Eagles win that may generate conversation. Trying to figure out topics that generate conversation but are not just the, ‘Oh wow, I’m angry they lost today,’ and give out the phone number. It’s [trying] to find topics that make people think and make yourself think and make the audience think.”

When Missanelli left the station, Salciunas began his stint working with Anthony Gargano where he began occasionally hosting select programs. The rationale behind his decision to go behind the microphone was that when the Eagles won a Super Bowl championship, the station needed someone to host from 2 to 5 a.m. Salciunas decided to volunteer for the program, presuming that it sounded fun. From that shift on, he continued his work as a producer while also refining his craft behind the microphone in a major market. It deviated from a philosophy perpetuated by former program director Matt Nahigian of limiting the amount of time producers were on the air, assuming that consumers listened to hear the hosts.

“Now you have to be a producer,” Salciunas affirmed. “You look at both radio stations in Philadelphia – a lot of the hosts now were former producers, and so you learn so much of the craft and then you figure out your own role. You figure out how you handle yourself as a host, so I think producing first before becoming a talk show host should be the way to go moving forward.”

Beasley Media Group’s 97.5 The Fanatic shares the Philadelphia marketplace with Audacy-owned SportsRadio 94WIP, and both stations have had intense battles in the ratings over the years. Salciunas shared that most people between the two stations have worked with their competitors at some point in their careers, and there is an evident respect that exists between the two entities. With both outlets introducing new morning shows within the last two years though, Salciunas understands there is a chance to gain ground on the WIP Morning Show, which finished ahead in the four Nielsen XTrends quarterly ratings books last year.

“Clearly if somebody’s behind a microphone in Philadelphia, everybody’s talented, and we’re going to do whatever we can to try to bridge that gap a little bit, and we’re seeing some good strides already,” Salciunas said. “I think having a new show is a big part of that trying to grab that initial audience, but then it’s holding on to that initial audience.”

Being able to achieve this outcome, however, requires a commitment to showcasing talent and different personalities. Salciunas referenced how there was a point in John Kincade’s stint hosting mornings in the daypart’s previous iteration where he gained ground on his crosstown competitor Angelo Cataldi with WIP. Kincade, of course, used to work with Cataldi’s show as a contributor and received a chance to take the air while with the outlet.

“I’ve seen the turn of tides of ratings over the years for every show [and] every time slot, so there’s always an opportunity, but that means we always have to be on our game; that means we always have to be doing the best show possible,” Salciunas said. “We can’t go in the next day and say, ‘Wow, that show was really good yesterday. Let’s have some fun today; let’s make this a lighthearted show.’ No, we always have to be thinking about, ‘Alright, what can we do next to put on another great entertaining four-hour radio show?’”

Over the last several years, there have been several leadership changes at 97.5 The Fanatic responsible for overseeing the slate of programming and station operations. Scott Masteller currently leads the outlet, someone in whom Salciunas has confidence that he can continue to elevate the standing of the station. In his earlier years working with 97.5 The Fanatic, Salciunas had an innovative spirit but was discouraged from taking steps to align with the multimedia evolution. For example, when he offered to do a podcast several years ago, someone at the station questioned his judgment and the reasoning behind the idea.

“I was told by someone, ‘What’s the point in doing that? We’re a radio station,’ and I knew back then that that was a mistake to say,” Salciunas explained. “You shouldn’t say, ‘We’re a radio station;’ that was years ago, so seeing that bosses and market managers and hosts and producers all realizing, ‘Alright, we have to adapt,’ that excites me.”

Possessing the background as a producer lends shrewd and calculated judgment on how to include members of the audience into the program. While there are still open phone lines for callers to chime in, the program has introduced a text line and also engages with the audience through the live chat functionality of YouTube. Having Thomas as a producer of the show has helped in this area as well, with Salciunas sharing that he has a strong understanding of how to create and optimize content for various platforms of dissemination.

“We have a great YouTube audience where they basically have their own community all of a sudden,” Salciunas said. “They’re constantly talking about the show, and sometimes we grab what they’re saying on that YouTube feed because that’s another area of today’s new media where you have another avenue to communicate with people.”

As Salciunas grows accustomed to the early start on 97.5 The Fanatic and his new colleagues in morning drive, he is filled with enthusiasm and the prospect of possibility. The radio station has been the only outlet by which he has been employed since the start of his media career, and he hopes to work there for as long as possible. National radio and television intrigue him going forward, but his priority centers on thriving in the new role.

“I want to try to get 97.5 The Fanatic – because it starts in the morning – back up in the map; back in the top five of the ratings books – and that’s going to take some time,” Salciunas said. “We’re a new show – we’re going to have to figure each other out.”

Salciunas expressed that the last year-and-a-half has been “hectic” in the midday daypart, but there has also been excitement surrounding the ephemerality as well. Taking the microphone in a major market with a dedicated sports fanbase such as Philadelphia is a privilege he does not take for granted, and he aspires to continue excelling in the marketplace for years to come.

“I just started, so I’m not thinking about the next step just yet,” Salciunas said. “I want this to last for a long time – for a very long time. If I never have to leave, that would be great.”

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