IS THE ROONEY RULE NEEDED IN SPORTS TALK RADIO IN HOUSTON? - CRAIG SHELTON - DECEMBER 10, 2010

IS THE ROONEY RULE NEEDED IN SPORTS TALK RADIO IN HOUSTON?

Written by: Craig Shelton

Date posted: 12/10/2010

CBS Radio's SportsRadio 610 has done it again. Houston's self-proclaimed, so called "sports leader" has responded to its continuing sagging drive time numbers by dumping the generic Robert Henslee (pictured, right) from his role in drive-time as a co-host with the dated Rich Lord, for Josh Innes.

Moving Innes to drivetime comes as no surprise to this blogger, as I predicted such a move shortly after Innes' arrival to Houston. I consider this move the pre-emptive move to what I predicted would happen long-term at S/R 610. Rich Lord is overvalued for what he actually brings to the table and outside of being a "perceived" safe-sell of a personality for sponsors, Lord offers little else to warrant his level of earnings.

In an economy that has squeezed the life out of most industries in the US, it has been equally unforgiving in the corporate radio industry. Add to the overall decline in CUME & TSL ratings among the local sports talk format stations, the landscape has been re-defined economically. It doesn't matter which side of the tracks you side on in regard to what your opinion is on Rich Lord's relevance to S/R 610 and the market in general. It's not arguable that it would be professionally irresponsible not to take a look at all options in regard to Lord's long-term future with CBS Radio.


HEAD-TO-HEAD COMBAT!

Josh Innes being paired with Rich Lord should make for entertaining radio. Lord is a bush-league New York transplant who attempts to sell himself off as a liberal, but based on his slick-tongued racially insensitive and degrading comments towards women and minorities, I would challenge Lord's so-called liberal status.

Rich Lord for someone with his tenure in major market radio has a shockingly limited knowledge of sports in general. Lord is often upstaged by callers and co-hosts whose sports knowledge dwarfs what Lord can articulate on-the-fly. In other words, Rich Lord has been faking it. To be completely honest and fair,  who really values Rich Lord as an educated sports mind?


Josh Innes by no means is a sports knowledge guru, but to his credit, the kid doesn't profess to be. Innes will irate Lord almost immediately once they're paired together and after an initial period of transition where Lord will publicly downplay his disgust toward the arrogant, self-centered Josh Innes, the reality of what it really is will begin to seep out on the air and the fun will begin from there.

Innes won't back down from Lord's surliness towards him and at some point, I believe Josh Innes will finish Rich Lord's perceived relevance to CBS and at some point Lord's contract status should come into play. Josh Innes is the future and Rich Lord represents a dismal, failed past where CBS overpaid for a glorified numbers guy as a number one. You are what you eat CBS!


NOT A CHANCE?

Gavin Spittle, the program director at S/R 610, continues to exhibit his stubbornness in offering opportunities to women and minority candidates. This is becoming increasingly troubling in a climate where I'm certain Spittle understands the awareness of local hiring practices among all four sports talk stations. ESPN 97.5 The Ticket and its program director, Dave Tepper, is the only station with a favorable record of hiring practices when it comes to women and non-white candidates.


When Gavin Spittle chose to move Josh Innes into the drive-time slot to pair up with Rich Lord, that opened up Innes' current one hour slot 10a-11a weekdays. Spittle had an opportunity to set the trend as "Houston's sports leader" and AT LEAST interview some women and minority candidates for Innes' soon-to-be vacated slot. I'm sorry, but I've listened to the individual slated to replace Innes in the mid-morning slot and he is just another generic sounding voice with no compelling persona.

I'm mildly surprised that Spittle made the move without using it as an opportunity to show that CBS Radio is a responsible leader in the market that values all of the city's demo. I used the term mildly because, I've spoken to Spittle in the past regarding this matter and I came away with a clear view of who the guy is, based on him telling me that "if its okay for "The Box" to market towards Blacks, what's wrong with S/R 610 marketing towards whites?".

Clearly Spittle just doesn't get it and he symbolizes what the core issue is in the market. 97.9 The Box is an urban hip station and obviously markets towards black youth and young adults. It makes perfect sense for a country music station to market toward middle-aged white listeners. It makes perfect sense for a Hispanic music station to market toward a Hispanic base of listeners.

But a sports talks station should be imaged and marketed to as diverse of a base as we see in the seats at Reliant Stadium during a Texans game. All racial demos and both genders support the local sports economy, but only white males are working in our local sports talk stations.


Gavin Spittle's running catch phrase is tha S/R 610 is "Houston's Sports Leader", but a true leader sets the market trends and DOES NOT operate along the lines of the status quo.




Craig Shelton


HMW


Email: houstonmediawatch@yahoo.com
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