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Travis Rodgers Is Still Everybody’s Friend

“It’s interesting. My experience in radio was really kind of backward, the way that I started it.”

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I’ve gotten to know Travis Rodgers a little bit over the last few months through brief conversations. A true professional and someone who is always easy to approach. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise if you’re a listener of Travis & Sliwa on 710 ESPN in Los Angeles. Rodgers’ experience is boundless and his ability to be malleable has made him a valuable asset to any company he’s been a part of.

Travis & Sliwa Moving To Mid Days On ESPN LA - Barrett Media

We sat down to talk about his career, what was instilled in him during his time with The Jim Rome Show, working with various personalities, and more.

Rodgers never quite envisioned himself as a sports talk radio guy. “When I first got started when I wanted to do is play-by-play. I wanted to kind of be Vin Scully or Chick Hearn, or one of those ideas and call games.” The allure of calling games is most young sportscaster’s dream, so he’s not alone in that sentiment.

Like many trying to break into the extremely competitive field, it all started with an internship. “I had an internship when I was in college, I worked at a local ABC affiliate up in Santa Barbara, KEYT. It was a TV internship but I always wanted to do sports media. Once I was done as an athlete, I didn’t want to do real work,” Rodgers said with a chuckle. “I wanted to continue to talk about sports and whatnot.”

Upon completion of his degree at UC Santa Barbara, things didn’t move as quickly as he anticipated. The initial sending out of resumés was not fruitful. “I thought I just, you know, graduate from college and go be Dan Patrick on SportsCenter.” He got out of college selling office equipment for Canon, a bit a ways away from his eventual career path.

Then came along fellow UCSB Gaucho, Jim Rome.

“[I] was a huge fan of sports radio. I’d listen to it when I’d drive around on sales calls. I was a huge consumer of it. And I listened to Jim Rome every single day. It was can’t miss for me.” Rome took to the airwaves to announce someone working on the show was leaving and asked for listeners to send their resumés in. “I called in every favor that I could think of. People that I’d never even met I was calling and saying, ‘Hey, would you mind calling on my behalf?’”

Rodgers got his moment to speak with Rome and landed the internship. 23-years-old and T-Rodge, as he became known on The Jim Rome Show, was off and running. And, frankly, it’s a heck of a place to have the radio-know-how instilled in you.

“Jim is the hardest working person I’ve ever known in this business. I’ve never before or since seen anybody grind it out like he does. He insisted on a similar level of commitment from the people on his staff, and if you didn’t, you didn’t last very long. So, that’s how I learned it.”

His start in sports talk radio saw him doing what many current listeners of the show are familiar with, providing Rome with paper copies, faxes in the 90s rather than the current printed emails and tweets, of fan commentary. As more responsibilities came his way, the culmination of trust between Rodgers and Rome resulted in him getting the opportunity to produce the show when it went into syndication.

“I was as green as a person could be when I started and by the time I was done, I had a pretty good idea of what it meant to produce a network radio show.” His progression from intern to the producer of a nationally syndicated program was a lot of trial and error. “I had never done that before. It was more trial by fire and learning how to do it. It went well. We had a great deal of success together.”

When 2009 rolled around Rodgers and the show parted ways after his 13 years of service. As the show moved in a new direction, he did too. Here he found himself making “the move to the other side of the room.”

“It was born out of necessity more than anything else,” Rodgers said about taking the leap into being the talent.

He got his first on-air job at KGOW 1560 in Houston, leaving Southern California for Texas. “It took me a long time. Took me a long time to find somebody that was willing to give me a shot with no experience on that side and I finally did in David Gow (owner of KGOW) in Houston.” Eventually, Rodgers found himself syndicated across the country as part of Gow Media’s Yahoo Sports Radio.

Although he only spent 15 months in Houston, Rodgers found himself back in LA but was able to keep doing syndicated work for three and a half years.

In that homecoming, Rodgers began working mornings with KLAA as the host of The Travis Rodgers Morning Show. He eventually made his move to ESPN LA in 2015 where both he and Kelvin Washington launched the ESPNLA Morning Show in March of that year.

“It was like pre-mornings, if that’s a time slot. I don’t know what you call 5 am to 7 am but that’s when I was on.” He’d do his work with ESPN LA in those early mornings and do his other show on Yahoo Sports Radio just hours later.

Even after all these years, Rodgers still finds one thing to be the most difficult: finding something good to say. “We all have our opinions on these games and sometimes they’re the same as everybody else’s, sometimes they’re a little different. It’s finding a way to present that in a compelling, entertaining, thoughtful, thought-provoking way. That was the challenge on day one and it’s the challenge 27 years into my career.”

The dreaded blank page is something all involved in production deal with and Rodgers’ time with Jim Rome can be felt here.

“I still think about how he would go about it almost every day. It’s not just ‘Oh, this is what happened last night, and this guy scored this many points or this guy hit a home run.’ That’s not good radio.”

Among the everyday struggles of finding ways to present content, the life of someone in media does have its set of big changes. As well as his work in the mid-morning slot, Rodgers does pre and post-game for Los Angeles Rams games. From new co-hosts to new management, Rodgers has seen it all. In nearly seven years he’s had the opportunity to work with the likes of Washington, Marcellus Wiley, Keyshawn Johnson, Kirk Morrison, Mychal Thompson, and Allen Sliwa, among others. For many this would be a challenge. Chemistry changes when the room does. Rodgers has welcomed this. The ability to compromise and work with others has kept him excited about his work.

“It’s interesting. My experience in radio was really kind of backward, the way that I started it. You know, not exactly on a network level but shortly after I got started, I was working on a network show with one other person and we were together for almost 15 years. So I just thought that this is what happens. You get a job in radio, it works out, and you stay with the same guy forever and ever and ever and, okay, cool.

“You learn what works with different people. You learn that what may work with one co-host, the other guy may not get it or find it interesting or might not find you interesting.”

If you haven’t gotten the point, Rodgers is a hard worker. No doubt about it. But if you’re someone from the outside looking in, you miss one of the most important traits that makes Rodgers so admirable.

“I still talk to all of the guys that I’ve worked with. It’s not like I’ve never spoken to that guy ever again. I stay in touch with every last one of those guys I mentioned. I consider every last one of those guys a friend of mine.”

His ability to create long-lasting rapports with people is lost among many. Not with Rodgers. Like I said from the start, he’s easy to approach. “It would be weird if you had a professional relationship with somebody and then when it’s over you don’t really think about it.”

ESPN Los Angeles on Twitter: "Listen to Travis Rodgers and Kirk Morrison  LIVE at the Rams Fan Fest on 39th and Figueroa until kickoff! Tune-In:  ESPNLA 710 or https://t.co/Wda75IMccI https://t.co/n9wDJGtdQX" / Twitter

There’s an authenticity that comes with him, which is easy to grasp when you listen to him in the mornings. When I asked him about his take about being authentic on air? “It’s funny. I really don’t know how to answer that. I just try to do what I think is the right thing to do on whatever the topic is. I’m going to tell you what I actually think. I’m not trying to search for what I think will sounds the best on the radio.”

You can catch Travis Rodgers on Travis & Sliwa on weekdays from 10am-1pm PST on 710 ESPN.

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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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