My Newest Career Adventure

It’s been an interesting last couple of months.  In one word: humbling.

Interest from top markets, no interest from smaller markets, and everything in between.

It’s the first time I’ve ever been in this spot where I’m really searching for a job while actually not being employed.  It’s totally been a blessing in disguise.

Part of that blessing is that it all ended up working out phenomenally.

I’m happy to announce that I have accepted a position as an afternoon host at 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma City.  I’ll be co-hosting with two-time Super Bowl champ defensive lineman Tony Casillas, who won his rings with the Dallas Cowboys and was an All-American and National Champion at the University of Oklahoma.  Could not be more excited.

Sports Radio Consultant Rick Scott called me just hours after my time ended at 101 ESPN and asked me how interested I would be in Oklahoma City.  He consulted at 101 ESPN and consults for The Franchise, which just launched this past August.

Before I moved to St. Louis to work for 101 ESPN, I had never had any real coaching.  Rick was one of the few in St. Louis from which I got some coaching on how to really get better in sports radio. So, when Rick called, I trusted him.  And I trusted his idea.  I had never thought about this part of the country before, but hey, I’m newly married with no kids and I don’t have any proverbial anchor holding me down.  Why not?

So, I owed it to myself and my career to check it out.  And, my wife is damn supportive (I got real lucky there). So Rick threw my name to the program director, Buddy Wiley, and before I knew it, I was visiting Oklahoma City.

Immediately fell in love.  Hope this doesn’t sound too egotistical, but I got calls from other places and none of them felt as good for whatever reason.  Oklahoma City, and Buddy in particular, did.

Plus, the station sounds awesome already!  Everyone is always having fun.  That’s almost a prerequisite for me before I work anywhere.  Do they sound like they enjoy each other?  If they don’t, why would I enjoy working with them?  Better yet, why would I think the listeners would enjoy listening to them?  No problem there. They can disagree, debate, laugh, get loud, whatever… and at the end of most segments, I picture the hosts, no matter what show, giving each other a fistbump because they just had a great segment.  That’s something I want to be a part of.

Moreover, I love a good challenge.  With The Franchise in it’s infancy, and already sounding awesome, I love being a late addition to the team that will become the # 1 sports station in the market.

As for the sports there, I mean, forget about it, right?  Diehard college sports: check.  One of the best franchises in all of the NBA: check. Diehard interest in NFL (and the Cowboys, no less): check.

Sign. Me. Up.  I feel very, very fortunate.

If you don’t mind reading, I’d like to throw out a couple of thank yous.  If you are in the sports radio field and you know, or come across in the future, any of these people, you know you are in a great place with your career.

First off, a big thanks to Jason Barrett.  He’s now the program director at 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, but was the man who hired me to become the morning host at 101 ESPN in St. Louis.  I’m still not quite sure how exactly he found me, but he immediately helped to make me better–from the simplest of tips that I was pissed never knew before, to things on and off air that are key to me still being employable in this biz. Not to mention, he’s the one that got on the horn fast for me when I was searching for a new gig and helped me when it came to the tough decisions I had to make as different markets began calling. I’ll be forever grateful.

Thanks to Rick Scott as well for having the faith in me to believe I would be a positive addition to The Franchise. I’ll be paying you back for a long time.

To my agent, David Brody. I never thought I’d be the guy who would have an agent.  But you believed in me and had me chatting with people whom I did not I’d think I would be chatting.  Thanks for your support.

Thanks to Kent Sterling. When Jason left 101, Kent jumped in.  He was a great coach, but more than that, he will always be a great friend to me.  And his ability to keep a workplace loose and fun is very impressive.

Thanks to current 101 ESPN PD Hoss Neupert for always making me better.  A straight-shooter who I have the utmost respect for.  He has also been very helpful to me since I left the station. I’m very grateful.

All of the guys at 101 are awesome too.  Bernie, Randy, Anthony, Dunc, D’Marco, Coach Venturi, Rammer, Stully, Derrick Goold, Jeremy Rutherford, Tony Softli, John Semar, Travis Green, the other producers, the board ops, the sales people. Thanks to all of you for making that place somewhere I looked forward to going everyday. I’m glad that I still have an awesome relationship with most of you.

One of the most important “thank yous” goes to the listeners.  Somehow, you’ve put up with me over all of my sports talk trials and tribulations.  I’m now entering my 10th year of doing sports talk and because you’re still listening (somehow), I get to keep doing what I love.  I can’t express to you how much that means to me.  Thanks for being the people I vent to everyday.  I love chatting with you.

Mom and Dad: you all continue to support me, from the days when my radio paycheck wasn’t enough for me to really live off of, to now.  You always know what to say when I need to hear it.  I love you both.  Thank you for everything.

Finally, the biggest thank you of all goes to my wife, Brittany.  I can’t tell her enough how much I feel loved and supported by her.  We’re newly-married, but we dated for seven years prior to that and did the “long-distance” thing for two years while I was getting settled in St. Louis and she was planning a wedding, without nearly enough help from me.  We’re both originally from Indiana, so after we got married in 2013, she left her family and a great job and had no problem moving to live with me in St. Louis.  Then, she finds a great job in St. Louis, we get all settled in, and now she’s picked up everything and moved with me and is job-hunting again for the second time in 10 months.  And she hasn’t complained once.

Brit: “soulmate” is certainly what you are to me.  Thank you for all you continue to do for me to help me live out my dream.  I love you forever.

Man, what a great chapter I know this is going to be in Oklahoma City.  Already feels great.

This is going to be fun.