A lot of ego exists in sports radio. Many people in the business have inflated opinions of themselves. Bruce Gilbert is not one of these people. He's one of the most humble individuals you'll ever meet in the industry.

Bruce could walk around like a peacock as the Westwood One/Cumulus Media Sports SVP and the guy who once hired Colin Cowherd at ESPN. But Bruce still resembles the younger version of himself that was elated to call high school hockey games in Wisconsin for 25 bucks a pop.

The tie-in with hockey makes a lot of sense because Bruce truly does resemble a hockey player. He's an incredibly hard worker, but when it comes time to receive accolades, he'd rather put his head down as if to say, "I can't achieve anything without my teammates." Maybe it's his Midwestern roots as a kid born in a little town north of Champaign, Illinois. Maybe it's because Bruce is simply a genuine dude who gets respect because he shows respect.

Bruce is one of the brightest programming minds the business has ever seen. He hasn't just randomly stumbled onto success; the guy knows what he's doing. When Bruce talks about what he looks for in a host and stresses the importance of attending conferences like the upcoming BSM Summit, there are a lot of people that can benefit from his views.

We also chat about what the sports radio industry does best and worst, as well as what Bruce would change about his career. Enjoy!

Brian Noe: When in your life did you think, hey, sports radio might be what I want to get into?

Bruce Gilbert: Well, I'm so old, Brian, that there was no sports radio when I decided I wanted to get into radio. My dad was in the radio business. I had great parents and a great dad. He would let me come to the radio station. Every radio station he worked at was just magic to me. From the equipment to the announcers to just the activity and the buzz in the building.

I think I was probably about five years old when I was like, this is what I'm doing. I wanted to be a disc jockey, man. I wanted to play records and talk up the intros and be a disc jockey. To me it was like, you get paid for this? You got to be kidding me. I had a destiny that started at a pretty young age.

BN: What was your first radio gig?

BG: My dad was the general manager of a radio station in Binghamton, New York. WNBF. It's still there. It's a news talk station. It was owned by Stoner Broadcasting at the time. They were the flagship station for the Binghamton Broome Dusters, which was the minor league hockey team that played there. My first job was board-oping Binghamton Broome Dusters games at the age of 14. I think I was in the 7th or 8th grade.

I prayed that the game would go really fast because if it got over between 9:30 and 10, I got to play a few songs before the network news at the top of the hour. That was my dream. It turns out it's funny, I ended up in sports radio; I started in sports and ended up in sports. It was awesome. It was the coolest thing ever to be able to do that.

BN: What led to you being on the programming side of the business?

BG: That's just what I fell in love with. It was probably at that time, being a teenager, it was about the music and listening to music radio. In that part of the country, we were all influenced by legendary radio station WLS. WLS was in 50 states, a huge 50,000-watt Clear Channel AM radio station that played top 40 music. We all wanted to be big-time disc jockeys on WLS.

I think the other thing is my dad was in sales and it just didn't seem as sexy. Even though he tried to tell me and he was right, he's like don't you see all the sales people drive the really nice cars and all the disc jockeys drive the really shitty cars? [Laughs] And I said I don't care, I want to be on the air. That's what I want to do. That's where it all came from.

BN: When you're evaluating a sports radio talent, what are you looking for and what are you drawn to?

BG: I know this sounds like the cliché answer, but the number one thing I'm looking for is authenticity. With authenticity, I think I would add to that you've got to be real, you've got to be self-deprecating, but you also have to have a life. By authenticity, it's not just being authentic in your sports opinions, like I'm going to be authentic in what I think about that coach or that player. You have to be authentic about how you live, where you go, who you talk to, what you're into, what movies you watch, what television shows you binge, what motivates you, what aggravates you, and all those things.

I guess what I look for, it's one thing to be authentic, it's another thing to be openly authentic. I've often said that the greatest talk show hosts, regardless of what they're talking about, are willing to basically perform open heart surgery on themselves every day. I'm going to open it up and just throw it out here. I'm not going to apologize for it because that's what's in my gut. That's what's in my heart. That's what's in my soul.

You can get away with a fake persona or an over-the-top personality that you create that is some sort of alter ego for a little while, but it's not sustainable in the long run. The only thing that's sustainable is being you.

BN: When you look at the sports radio industry as a whole, what do you think is working well and what do you think should be a lot better than it currently is?

BG: What's always worked well, when done right, when sports radio is done effectively and in a compelling and engaging and authentic way, it's the ultimate escape. We've seen that again during these incredibly odd times we've been living in, now going on two years.

Like every radio station, we had a dip at the beginning of the pandemic. As sports came back, so did sports radio; 2021 was a really good year for the sports format. I think it's because people got burned out on all of the negativity and the depressing news stories that were repeating themselves over and over. On top of it, how everything became politicized and the country got more and more divisive.

The only true uniting thing was sports. Sports unites us all. It unites people and galvanizes people in a really tight-knit community kind of way. You and I may be polar opposite politically, but if we end up sitting next to each other at the game and we're both rooting for the same team, I don't care what your politics are, I'm high-fiving you when we score a goal, or we get a touchdown, or we hit a home run.

That is what sports radio does best. When it's in its prime and it sticks to the fun of the games and the storylines of the real-life heroes and villains in sports, it's the perfect escape from all the madness of life. That's the positive. I don't see that ever not being a positive in a really true way. That's motivating to me and what I love about this format.

Now how did you phrase that; what are we not doing well?

BN: Right, yeah, what isn't where it needs to be currently?

BG: I know it sounds like I'm programmed to say this and it's the hip, cool thing to say and everybody's woke and all that stuff, but sports radio is way too old and way too white in general.

Look, there are people that are doing a great job of bringing in new voices from different backgrounds, but I think it's problematic. Especially when you look at television sports and how much better they've done with female anchors, female reporters, female play-by-play announcers, and we're just behind.

I think it's a product of not digging deeper or going wider. It's also a product of radio maybe not paying as well as television, radio maybe not being as sexy as it once was. But those are just excuses, right? If you look at the audience of the marketplace and you look at the demographics and the ethnic backgrounds of those that participate in America's most popular sports, I don't think sports radio is close to being reflective of those constituencies.

It's incumbent upon those of us that are in this format to make that happen. It is true you want the best person for every open job, but you also just can't keep recycling the same people over and over. You've got to go give some new people a chance. They're going to have to stumble a little bit and figure their way through it, but if they have the right support, it will make the format more relevant and I think give the format more life moving forward.

BN: The word escape stands out to me. When sports radio dips into a political issue, it can be an interesting conversation, but it becomes less of an escape. Where do you stand on that dilemma?

BG: Yeah, it's a great point. We've had a lot of conversations internally about how to address that. My personal opinion -- and this is based heavily on watching how those things impact research and ratings -- is that we can't be an escape if we go down the political path. Sports radio is most successful when it's apolitical because being apolitical is one of its true positives. That's the uniting part. The minute we get political, we're not uniting anymore, we're divisive.

As much as you want to be authentic and you want to talk about what people are talking about, I think my experience is saying, and what I've seen as I've watched it unfold, I would say it's a mistake to get political or go into those areas that could be perceived as political. We have a small audience to begin with. It's a niche format. Why do you want to alienate part of that audience by taking one side or the other on a political issue that's going to actually run people off?

BN: With the BSM Summit coming up, why is it important to be there?

BG: Well, first of all, we all miss each other, right? None of us have been able to see each other because we haven't been able to travel for a couple of years, and a lot of us know each other and go back a lot of years. There's a real value in just being able to connect with people.

The side effect of being able to connect with people is I think you learn in those situations that some of the things that you see as obstacles or problems that you're dealing with, it's really healthy to talk to other people that are going through the same thing and realizing, oh, I'm not alone in this. They're having to get over that hump as well. It works in the reverse in a positive way. You see somebody that has come up with a solution or done something unique, that becomes contagious and that drives us forward.

The other reason I think it's important is because when somebody like Jason takes the time and makes the effort to pull all those people together, and he works his ass off on this thing, I just really respect that. That is a strong message from a person that this is worth our time and worth getting away for a couple of days and shutting ourselves in a room and trying to make it better.

One of the problems with any business, I think, is complacency. If we don't sit down in a place like that and be honest with each other about what our challenges are and how to address them, then we're going to become complacent. I think what Jason's done really well is he's made it a point to not allow it to be a place where we all just sit around and pat each other on the back and talk about how great we are or live in the past. He's done a really good job of making it about the now and going forward.

I look forward to that because look, I've been doing this a long time; the minute I stop learning is the minute I should stop doing this job. I think there's always something to learn and that's never been more true now when you look at video platforms, all the different digital platforms, how to get your things out on social media, the algorithms, all the different things that we never had to deal with that we now need to deal with. You can't deal with it if you aren't willing to learn it and understand it and grow.

That's why I think it's critical. I think it's even more critical because of the work that Jason puts in. It's not just a hey, let's get together and scratch each other. It's let's really, really make this worth our time.

BN: What's something valuable that you've taken away from the Summit before?

BG: I get two really critical things out of Jason's Summit in particular. One, a lot of affirmation. You're always experimenting and trying new things. It might be one little thing that you're doing in one little market and you wonder if that's the right thing. Then you go there and you hear somebody talk about something similar or maybe even something exactly the same and you're like, okay, good, I respect that person and that person is trying the same thing or thinks that's a good idea. There's an affirmation aspect to it.

The second thing that I always get out of it is just motivation. What comes out in two days with a group of people like that is that most of us aren't in this for the paycheck -- although we all like to get paid -- but we're in it because it's a passion. I think about outside of my wife and kids, my two loves in life are sports and radio. I get to do them both every day. What happens is you see that passion come out in different ways. Not all of them that are there are radio people specifically. They may be in a tangential business, but that passion is overwhelmingly motivating to me and I find myself recharged, re-energized.

I think affirmation, motivation, and sometimes those two actually drive you to try something that maybe you've been thinking about. I know I've had this happen where I've been thinking about something for maybe years and you go to a conference like that and you're like, why the hell haven't I done that? Now I'm going to because I keep putting it off, and if so-and-so can do it, or so-and-so believes it's a good idea, then I'm going to go forward.

BN: What's the most gratifying aspect of your job?

BG: That's easy: Watching other people succeed. When I see someone who I know is busting their ass or has been trying to get something to work for so long and it clicks and it happens, or the ratings finally happen, I totally am driven by that. I love seeing it.

Those are the people I then absolutely want to help as much as I can. By help, I mean help their career, help them grow, help them find the next job or whatever they want to do that's important to them. That, to me, it's all about that. It's about watching people win that really deserve it and earned it.

BN: What's the most difficult part of your job?

BG: I don't dwell on the bad stuff but certainly over the past couple of years, the most difficult thing has had to be downsizing our teams. Everybody has been through it, but that doesn't make it okay. Nobody ever deserves to lose their job, especially if they love what they do. But everybody can't keep their job. It's just not realistic. It's not how it works.

You've experienced it yourself, unfortunately, and you're an extremely talented talk show host that I think is remarkably bright and unique. So if guys like you can lose your job, it can happen to anybody.

I have to admit, I've met a couple of people in my career that actually enjoy firing people and I'm telling you those people are either the devil or they're just not human. There is nothing fun at all about having to tell people that their position no longer exists. It absolutely blows. That's the worst by far.

BN: Yeah, absolutely. That's crazy; I can't imagine someone enjoying that.

BG: There are some people that do. They're proud of it. It's like something's wrong with you. [Laughs]

BN: Put your current job to the side, it doesn't count toward this question. What's the most fun you've ever had during your career?

BG: Maybe this is nostalgic and we romanticize things, but probably when I was working at my dad's Wisconsin-owned radio station. I think when I had the most fun was doing play-by-play. I used to do high school basketball and high school hockey, believe it or not. I loved it, man. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. The hockey games were outdoors. I was standing in a snowbank with a headset on calling a high school hockey game, freezing my everything off.

I think about those times and I'm like, that was a freakin' blast, man. It was so much fun. I'm sure I had some worries, but I don't remember having a single worry in the world then. I didn't have a family to support yet, so it was just like, make your 25 bucks doing play-by-play and go through the McDonald's drive-thru and life is good.

BN: [Laughs] Totally, man. For you personally, do you look to the future as far as goals or are you an in-the-now type of guy?

BG: I think for me personally, I'm definitely a here-and-now person. That's how I was brought up. That's my Midwest upbringing. My parents were like, as long as you're getting a paycheck from somebody, you give them 150%. You get up in the morning, you bust your ass and go to work for them, and you do everything to make them look good and smart and make them money. If something else happens to come along, then you consider it.

That's the reason I say I've been very lucky. I've had a lot of things just organically come my way. I don't know why or how I was lucky enough to fall into those places. I guess a lot of really good people that have helped me and looked out for me, mentors of mine.

But yeah, I don't get fixated personally. There's no guarantee. For me personally, I'm all about today being as great as it can be and tomorrow being whatever it's going to be.

BN: If you could change anything about your career, would you?

BG: No. Not at all. And that doesn't mean that I don't think I've made some mistakes. I absolutely have made some mistakes. I think I made them with good intentions. Even when I made the wrong step, it all made sense when I did it. That's not because I'm smart or I did everything right because like I said, I've made some mistakes.

But just because you make mistakes doesn't mean you have to have regrets. I don't regret it. All of those things get you where you're at now, good and bad. I've made some mistakes, but I wouldn't change anything. I've been extremely lucky, man. Extremely lucky.