Ripping Off ESPN

Last week, Jacobs Media published a blog post written by Fred Jacobs that caught my attention. (to be truthful, MOST of what Fred writes catches my attention pretty much every day, but this one post really stopped me in my tracks and got me to thinking)

Fred’s blog, titled “What ESPN’s New Gameplan Means To Radio” (you’ll find the link below), shines a spotlight on changes from the top down at ESPN in their approach to just about everything. Fred’s point is that there’s a lot for radio to learn from the no doubt well-researched changes that ESPN is making.

In my opinion, sports is about the only thing that rivals the tribal nature of Christianity, so while there may be plenty that a classic hits station can learn from the new direction that ESPN is going, the takeaways for us in Christian radio are deeper, and more profound, but will only be helpful if we are able to look past the surface differences, and find the more valuable similarities underneath.

Before going any farther, it is important to highlight here what Fred wrote in one of the final paragraphs in the blog, because without this reminder… we could easily dismiss this whole idea of learning anything from a global mega-brand like ESPN as “impossible” or “too expensive” Fred writes: “Yes, ESPN is better funded, has superior research, the backing of Disney, and a host of other advantages over any and every radio company.? But it’s mindset, not money, that is driving this change on ESPN.” ?While the parallels between sports and Christian radio are everywhere throughout the blog, I’ve spotlighted 3 in particular here as fundamental mindset shifts that we must embrace in order to see a brighter future.

A New Emphasis On Lifestyle: Fred notes that ESPN has recognized that sports is a lifestyle, and therefore ESPN is shifting and adding content to be lifestyle brand and reflect the reality that sports fans want more than just scores and stats. This is a drum I’ve been beating in Christian Radio for years… our radio brands are value-based lifestyle brands, not music stations (even though 90% of what we do on the air is play music). By and large, our listeners come to us first because of the beliefs we represent and then they hopefully fall in love the music. Yet, I think many Christian radio brands are defined more by the things that we’re NOT (“nothing off-color here, we’re safe for the whole family…” or “we don’t play commercials”), rather than the things we ARE. What are we doing on our radio brands platforms to reflect the totality of the lifestyle of a Christian, including those things that aren’t explicitly “Christian”? That question leads to another of Fred’s main points:

A New Emphasis on Diverse Content and Variety: ESPN is leveraging the depth and variety provided by streaming to deepen their connection to sports as a lifestyle, offering “smaller sports”, plus “fantasy sports” etc.. What is the equivalent to Christian radio? Christians have lives, with much diversity in interests, hobbies, television and movies, music, etc.. Yet, if an alien were to come to earth to listen to our radio stations as a way of understanding what Christians are like, they’d think all we do is sit around and read devotional books all day. How can we begin to grow our community of listeners around the common threads of interest that wind through many of them?

The power and opportunity of community and connection for our radio stations is the same as it is in a church community. Think about it-? we’re more likely to join a gardening club that Is connected to our church than one that isn’t connected to anything, because we know there’s a much higher likelihood that the others in the club are all going to love Jesus, too. How can we use the tools and resources that we’ve been given to offer content and experiences to our listeners that might be never be a part of what comes out of the speakers of your main terrestrial signal, but still intersects with the lifestyle of a typical believer in your community?

ESPN is Doubling Down on their App – I still remember a conversation with Fred a few years ago in which he pointed out some ways ESPN was promoting their app - after that discussion, I immediately stole as much as I could back then from ESPN’s tactics. Now, Fred aptly points out that ESPN has realized that the future is in making their app a premier venue for consuming content. As we follow their lead, it is wise of us to immediately shift our mindset from the “app is the way to listen to your radio station when you’re out of signal range”, to ?“our app is the way our fans can access all the content of the brand, and then some.” It’s not promoting the features of the app like the sleep time or the open mic, but rather it is about putting valuable, meaningful content on our app (sometimes exclusively), and then building a habit in our listeners to go find it there. ?

Take 60 minutes, read Fred’s blog, and begin to process what you’ve read could mean to your station. What mindset shifts do you or others in your organization need to make to adopt some of what ESPN is cooking up? Make a list of some things you can do now that starts to move your station in this direction.

Here’s the blog post: https://jacobsmedia.com/what-espns-new-game-plan-means-to-radio/

If you need help breaking this all down, and thinking future-focus, let’s talk. Just hit me up on PM, to connect. And, I send something like this out to anyone who will read it every Monday morning... if you'd like to receive it, just PM me your email address.

Cheers to a productive programming week!