I was fortunate enough to get my first job producing a sports-talk show at the tender age of eighteen.  How did I get the gig?  I was able to show the Program Director at the time that I was an ace at hustling to book guests.  I remember carrying a pager with me 24/7 (this was long before the era of smartphones).  It would commonly go off when I was in the middle of a class at college.  I'd duck out of the lecture hall, find the nearest payphone, and call back to make sure that we had our show booked for the following day.

Ask your best friend to check his beeper, and see how much time was left until lunch. | My childhood memories, Pagers, Childhood memories

No other show in town, in ANY format, drew the kind of guests that we did.  It's something that we hung our hat on.  In fact, our General Manager once took out a full-page ad in the local paper that LISTED all the different sports celebs that were heard on our program.  

Looking back on this a quarter century later, I realized just how folly this approach was.

Why did we trumpet our guest list so loudly?  Because who we had on our show was the ONLY THING GOOD ABOUT OUR SHOW.  Almost every other aspect of it was terrible.  The lead host was lazy, unfunny, and routinely unprepared.  

Even a quarter-century later, the overreliance on guests continues to plague sports sports-talk media.   Interviews, with a few rare exceptions, are not great content.  

MOST INTERVIEWS ARE SELF-INDULGENT

Oh, if I had a dime for every time I tuned into a sports-talk show where "Host A" spent the first 3-5 minutes of an interview talking about irrelevant blather with "Guest B".  If I did, I'd be able to single-handedly bring Dogecoin up to $1.

Dogecoin loses steam as other cryptos rally

Far too often, interviews feel more like I'm eavesdropping on a private conversation between two friends.  Often, they are filled with inside jokes, personal stories, and pointless punchlines.  Very rarely can they keep my interest.

Time and time again, I feel that the host(s) seem to take delight into amusing themselves instead of entertaining and informing the listener.  

I remember once hearing a guest who was brought on a show to talk about a MAJOR local sports story. He spent close to 5 minutes of the interview rambling on about the new book he was writing before even discussing what was important.  AND THE HOST LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT.  

MOST GUESTS GIVE YOU NOTHING

What is the point of getting a writer on to talk about a story they broke?  Odds are this person has written, blogged, and tweeted about most of the relevant points already.  What more can they bring to the table by appearing on a show to talk about it?  Odds are, not much.  

Coaches and athletes…with a RARE exception, give you platitudes of nothing.  Most of them have been coached by public relations professionals on what to say, when to say it and how to control a conversation or narrative.  

Before a guest is booked for a show, the question needs to be posed, "What will this person GIVE us?"  Hosts, producers, and content managers need to answer that question honestly before they bring someone on.

LISTENERS WANT TO HEAR WHAT THE HOST HAS TO SAY

One of my favorite shows to listen to is The Valenti Show with Rico on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit.  Yes, I'm a lifelong Lions fan and Monday shows after the typical Sunday loss are always a MUST listen.  But even beyond that, the show is excellent.  Mike Valenti and Rico Beard are A-level talents who have amazing chemistry and the cast they surround themselves with always bring great contributions to the table.  Even on a slow day, they can create memorable content.  It's no wonder it frequently sits atop most (if not all) of the money demos in Detroit's Neilson Ratings.

One other thing that stands out about this show…they RARELY have guests.  They don't need to.  What they have to say about an issue or story is far more intriguing that what a guest could say.  On the rare occasion when they do have a guest, it's because of something very relevant and they waste no time getting to the heart of the matter.

The onus is ALWAYS on the host(s) to create good content.    If the best part about a show is the guests that they bring on, you have a major problem on your hands.  REAL talent doesn't need guests.  They can create good content with the tools they have at their disposal.

IF YOU MUST BOOK A GUEST, FOLLOW THESE STEPS.

  • Get to the point.

No one cares that you know Celeb A, Athlete B or Journalist C.   Start off talking about why you are having them on, get the info and insight you need and then hang up.  It shouldn't take longer than three minutes.  If you want to have a more long-form conversation with someone, save it for a podcast…where tune-ins and time spent listening don't matter. 

  • Get a good connection.

Stop getting guests on cell phones.  We live in an age of 5G enabled devices with apps like Skype, Zoom, etc.  that are free and provide studio quality audio.  Use them so you can give the listener a better experience.  There are few things that kill the momentum of a conversation than having to ask a guest to "call back so we can get a better connection."

  • Remember that there are exceptions.

Every now and again a guest will give you gold.  I've heard it.  Creating good content is an art, not a science.  There have been interviews that have gone on for twenty, thirty, forty minutes or more and provided exclusive content that would become the talk of the town that day.  Remember, these are the exceptions and not the rule.   Hosts should always be given a degree of leeway in some situations when it comes to interviews.  Leeway, however, should never become the norm.