10 Questions with ... Matt Fishman

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

More than 25 years working in Sports Radio: The Score/Chicago, 610 Sports/Kansas City, SiriusXM Sports, Concussion Network, Barrett Sports Media and now ESPN Cleveland

1.OK, first, how and why did you first get into radio? Why radio?

I was cut from the baseball team my sophomore year in high school. The only way I could stay close to the game was to announce the “Game of the Week,” which we recorded into a Radio Shack cassette recorder and ran on a 100 watt radio station on Friday nights -- WMWA 88.5 FM in Glenview, Illinois. I was really lucky; we had a radio and tv broadcasting department at our high school, so I was able to channel my love for sports into that. We had a TV studio, a radio studio, and the aforementioned WMWA. That program has helped launched a ton of media careers including Jesse Rogers/ESPN, Dave Revsine/Big Ten Network, Geoff Glick/Peaceful Luck Media, Melissa Forman/WLIT, Jeff Agrest/Chicago Sun-Times, Zach Klein/WSB TV, and countless others.

Why radio? I always loved listening to the radio. My mother and I would listen as we had breakfast before I went to school. Whether it was great FM morning shows or AM sports shows I was always fascinated by radio, long before sports radio was a format: the hosts, the characters, the fun, the insight. It was my companion as I did homework, read, or hung out with my friends. Getting a taste of it in high school sealed it. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was 16 years old.

2. Over the years, you found and/or developed some prominent radio talent. When you're evaluating sports talk talent, what are you looking for? What elements pop out -- what makes a good sports talk host?

Wow. Great question. The first thing that always jumps out to me is relatability. The more a host can be relatable in everyday life -- the better he or she can connect with a fan. That’s why it is important for good sports talent to not just know sports, but to be able to talk about life. I can easily recall memorable content recently about snowstorms, the GameStop/Reddit stock thing, and Valentine’s Day. If you’re not talking about what everyone is talking about as a host, you become very two-dimensional. My goal with every talent I work with is for them to be their genuine selves and be three-dimensional.

If you find someone who is a great storyteller (like Mark Packer), then you have something. Then, all they need is life to supply the content. The story can be about a wedding, a day at the golf course, an encounter with a celebrity, or a trip to the DMV. That person makes the story interesting by the way they tell it, and include the interesting details.

A great host takes the work seriously, but they don’t take themselves too seriously. Being a great host takes work. I think a lot of people think it is easy to sit around and talk sports for a few hours a day. In order to be great at it, the best hosts are always observing, jotting things down, thinking about things to do on their shows. The curse of being a talk show host (Sports and News-Talk) is that to create a great daily 3-4 hour show, they need to spend the rest of their day working. I understand they’re not working construction or building cars at the Ford plant, but to do this job well, you have to enjoy the preparation as much as the time on the air.

3. You're in an interesting competitive situation in Cleveland, an AM battling an FM, both largely local. Without giving away your secrets, how are you differentiating ESPN Cleveland from The Fan? What differences do you think will give you an edge?

There is no secret here, Perry, but you’re going to think my answer is crazy. It is the truth. At Good Karma Brands (parent company of ESPN Cleveland), we don’t worry about competition. Instead, we concern ourselves with three important constituencies: fans, advertising partners, and teammates in everything we do. Tony Rizzo (host of The Really Big Show) is the perfect example of this. He has been connected with Cleveland sports fans for his entire career in both TV and radio. He overdelivers for partners with endorsements and dedication to their products. Plus, he’s a leader at ESPN Cleveland and throughout the company, supporting less experienced teammates and encouraging them in their careers.

In addition, the two stations partner on the Browns Radio Network with talent from each station working together on pre-game, post-game, and special Browns programming. In fact, their PD Andy Roth and I worked together in Chicago and have a great relationship. We’ve talked a lot during the pandemic. I’m sure he does what he thinks is best for his station, and we do what’s best for ours. I’ve never been around a more committed content team than we have at ESPN Cleveland. Emmett Golden hosted a 24 hour show in advance of the Browns first playoff game and every teammate pitched in to help him make it through those 24 hours.

4. ESPN Cleveland has been fairly aggressive on the podcast front, and on a subscription basis, at that, something I'm not sure too many radio stations have tried. How is that going, and how important is the online product to your overall operation?

I’ll start with a very important word that everyone in my position thinks about everyday -- Digital. Today, you can hear our shows live on espncleveland.com, the ESPN app, smart speakers, TuneIn, thelandondemand.com, and The Land on Demand app. We had a fan the other day listening to The Really Big Show on his Xbox!

As you mentioned, we have a subscription service -- The Land on Demand. It’s a website and an app that fans can subscribe to. With a subscription, fans can listen to any of our shows or interviews on their own schedule, plus read Browns coverage and columns from award winning sportswriter Tony Grossi. I’m not sure many local sports stations have a full-time sportswriter on their staff.

On the podcast front, over the past year we have added an Ohio State podcast (11th Ranked Pod), one about the Cavs/NBA (The Rebound with Emmett Golden) , a free Browns-related podcast (The Daily Grossi), and a pod with Browns legend Bernie Kosar (Bernie’s World). In 2021, we’re looking to add podcasts about high school football, UFC/MMA, and Major League Baseball. So, to answer your question, the start of our subscription service was aggressive, and we plan to continue adding content to bring in even more subscribers. Despite the pandemic and economic downturn, the state of The Land on Demand is strong.

Any talk of online has to include social media. ESPN Cleveland is the most followed local sports station in the country with more than 206,000 Twitter followers. We continue to grow our following on Instagram and Facebook as well. In 2021 we will also be re-launching our YouTube page as video content continues to grow.

5. You've been involved with organizations and efforts to prevent and/or reduce the prevalence of head injuries in contact sports. How and why did you get involved in that effort? What role can sports media - - sports radio in particular -- play in bringing attention to that issue?

Anyone who is paying attention knows the impact head injuries have had on athletes later in their lives. It used to be “oh he got his bell rung,” and they’d send the player back out there. My oldest friend was involved in the concussion space in Arizona and asked me to help from a media/communications side. Sports radio can do what it does best. Shine a light on something. I think the medium does a pretty good job of it already. I don’t think there are many hosts who don’t realize the seriousness of traumatic brain injuries. The challenge in that world is getting certified professional trainers in every high school so athletes who suffer a head injury can be properly diagnosed and treated.

6. Your station and the podcast network are, for good reason, pretty Browns-centric. We see a lot of sports stations focus on a single local team for most of its talk when that team dominates fans' attention year-round; in Cleveland, how true is that of the Browns and how much can you talk about other teams like the soon-to-be-renamed Indians, Cavs, Ohio State, or anyone else? Or does it have to be football unless something cataclysmic happens with one of the other teams?

I think it’s very true. It’s no offense to the other teams, but we reflect the interest of the fans, and the Browns are number one. Do we want the Cavs, Indians, and Ohio State to win championships? Absolutely.

I’d say on the podcast side, it has been a big focus over the past year to diversify content. Although the Browns are #1, we’re also excited to put additional resources into being the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes with 11th Ranked Pod, the Cavs with The Rebound with Emmett Golden and a Cleveland Baseball podcast to be named later.

7. Who are your influences and inspirations in the business?

Tough to fit every influence I’ve had in a 25-year career. I’ve tried to learn from everything I have listened to and everyone I have worked with. As a radio listener growing up in Chicago: Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, Jonathan Brandmeier, and Kevin Matthews. None of these shows were sports shows but all of these shows were highly entertaining and understood how to use the medium to evoke emotions -- usually laughter.

At the college radio station at the University of Illinois, WPGU, our GM, Terry Dugan-Nolan taught us about ratings, and that if you wanted to make it in radio you needed to work weekends and holidays and be willing to move and live anywhere in the country.

At the Score in Chicago, everyone was an influence because I was so green to start. The hosts, producers, anchors, reporters and program directors all taught me so much about radio, production, working with talent, and creating entertaining radio. It was the early years of sports radio and I was lucky to be a part of it.

At XM and later SiriusXM, I learned from Chuck Dickemann how to be a better manager and how to hold people accountable. Kevin Straley taught me how to treat every potential partner like they were the biggest deal. He is the most level-headed problem solver. From Steve Cohen I learned a high bar for quality in everything we did, from booking the biggest guests to making sure every rejoin, every update and every promo was of the highest quality. And Brian Hamilton taught me how to handle a massive workload with a smile and a sense of humor.

In one year at Good Karma Brands, I have been able to work with an all-star team of content minds. In addition to the incredible team at ESPN Cleveland, GKB has allowed me to learn from Steve Wexler, Brad Lane, Evan Cohen, Steve Politziner and Mike Thomas. We don’t agree on everything and that makes for some great discussions.

8. Of what are you most proud?

Professionally, it has been helping teammates improve and advance in their careers.

Personally, I am most proud of my kids. My son, Howard, is a freshman at Miami University and my daughter, Ava, is a Junior in high school. They are curious, caring, funny and smart—in spite of their father!

9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _______.

...laughing. It’s definitely something I got from my mother. She loved to laugh. We’d listen to the radio in the house or in the car and laugh.

10. What's the most important lesson you've learned in the business?

Always be open to new ideas and focus on the best ideas—no matter where they come from. The audio landscape is changing every day and if you’re not learning you’ll get left behind.