It was 9:00 on the evening of November 30th of 2021, when Travis Davidson logged on to host his first-ever Twitter Space. His idea was simple. Lincoln Riley had just left Oklahoma for USC two days before. Travis wanted to host a Twitter Space to let OU fans sound off with their thoughts and hear the latest rumors on the coaching news. Thus, OU Rumors and News was born.
Davidson had a basic understanding of how Twitter Spaces worked, but like everyone at the time, it was still a relatively unknown outlet.
"They were almost like a book club, where people just sat around in the afternoon and talked," said Davidson of the Twitter Spaces he had listened to.
So he had an idea on how he was going to run OU Rumors and News. He was going to run it like a radio show. He would serve as the host, bring on a couple of co-hosts and the thousands of people listening would have to request to speak. Almost like taking a phone call over the air. It was organized and it immediately worked.
"It was a very high time for social media because people were looking for coaching search news and to bash Lincoln Riley," Davidson said. "The first night we went from 9 pm to 5 am. Over 2,000 people joined. We were the largest Twitter Space on the app for four nights in a row.
"The second night I got several messages asking if I was going to do it again. So we did. It was 1:00 am and I was so tired but there were 1,500 people in it and the conversation was going well. I really needed to go to bed. So I kept myself on mute. If the host shuts it down, it shuts down the whole space. I didn't want to be so selfish and shut it down because I was tired. So I went to sleep and just let the space run. I woke up at 8:00 am and there were still over 300 in the space and all of us were sleeping."
George Foreman joined the Twitter Space, along with former OU players and even journalists from all over the world. There's even a story where a recruit's dad joined OU Rumors and News to see how the fanbase spoke about its players and coaches. He was blown away by the attitude of the fans, compared to the other spaces he had dropped in on. His son ultimately signed with the Sooners.
"I think at this point a lot of people were so new to Twitter Spaces, I think they were trying to learn how they could use them," Davidson said. "It was great for journalists because they could get a scoop by just listening to other people."
Needless to say, Davidson's dive into Twitter Spaces was a massive success. For two weeks straight, thousands would join to listen to the latest rumors and updates on the OU football program. The Wall Street Journal and ESPN.com even wrote about Davidson and the incredible online success he was having. But someone else noticed, too. It just so happened to be the radio station I work at, The REF in the Oklahoma City market.
What started as a radio hit to talk about the success of his Twitter Spaces, as well as Lincoln Riley moving to Los Angeles without giving Davidson his two smokers back, led to a weekly spot on our station, which led to an opportunity to co-host the postgame show of the OU Spring Game, which has now led to an opportunity to co-host with me every Friday from 3-6 pm during the offseason, starting on May 13th. All of it came in the span of about five months.
He's a shining example of the new era of sports media. If you're willing to look outside of the traditional box for new talent, you can find some extraordinary people. For people that have made their name on Twitter or digital platforms, there's never been a better time to get discovered by a traditional platform such as radio.
Bunkie Perkins is a Twitter account that's synonymous with the humorous side of college football. He also tweets about golf, pro wrestling and Ole Miss. With over 43,000 followers, he's an incredible following on social media. In 2016, Tony Kornheiser even mentioned the account on an episode of PTI.
Before the Twitter account started, the man behind the Bunkie Perkins Twitter account had a sports blog. It had a decent following, which would soon follow to social media.
"So I had, I don't know if you want to call it a built-in following, but some people that followed me," Perkins said. "It's just grown organically. Honestly, I don't really care about this point. It's great for what it is, and it's also not great for what it is. I just try to find a happy medium somewhere in there."
He has a job outside of sports meda that's completely unrelated. Truthfully, he does the Twitter account strictly for fun and entertainment. There's no hard push for it to turn into another professional opportunity.
"I get asked to go on radio shows and do podcasts, but at this point, I'll really only do it if it's a friend of mine," Perkins said. "I think the most fruitful thing that's come out of my account is legitimate friends that I've made. A great example is I'm currently in Eugene, OR going to play golf with the guys of No Laying Up. We started an online friendship that has resulted in us hanging out several times a year and playing golf. That is more important for me."
Davidson and Perkins have both built an incredible following but have different preferences as to what they want to get out of it. Whereas Davidson is ready to chase down his new passion for sports radio, Perkins is more interested in making potential friendships and not taking the app too seriously.
Davidson will excel in sports radio. I've done enough weekly spots with him to know he's a great fit for our station, but I was blown away when we hosted the two-hour postgame show together after the OU Spring Game. In an honest attempt to not inflate his ego or pump up the recent hire made by my station, we meshed immediately and he asked great questions to the numerous guests we had on-site. He's informed, but he also has a great on-air presence.
How does a guy that doesn't have radio experience just show up on the air and be great? Did hosting the Twitter Space have a huge impact on that?
"I think the Twitter Spaces absolutely helped," said Davidson. " It was my training to get into radio, because of the way I ran it. I ran it specifically like a talk show. I was the host and had a couple of co-hosts and I was steering the show. It got to the point where people in the administration were contacting me and asking to steer the conversion away from Lincoln Riley and more towards Bob Stoops and the positivity around the program. They knew I had the ear of the fanbase. That was definitely a part of my training.
"Secondly, I feel like I just consume a lot of media. One of my favorite interviewers is Sean Evans with Hot Ones. I think he may be the best interviewer there is. I tend to gravitate towards people who are really good interviewers or entertaining on the air. I think it's rubbed off, just because that's what I like to consume."
But why radio? Davidson could have easily started a YouTube show by himself or taken his talents to a larger digital forum. What's his draw to sports radio?
"I enjoy speaking with informed people," said Davidson. "Most of my sports discussions happen on Twitter. Not a ton of people on Twitter are informed about the argument, because a lot of them are in more of your listener category. They are on Twitter to be informed. It's a lot of swimming through the mud, this guy really knows what he's talking about, let's walk out some theories with this guy, I can learn from this guy, all that kind of stuff.
"Secondly, Twitter is like a microwave. Your points have to be quick and catch on. That's why hot takes live on Twitter. There's a character limit. With radio, it's more of an oven. It's a whole cooked meal. The microwave is good for popcorn, but if you want the Sunday roast, you want to let it cook. Radio gives you the time to have a really good argument and have really good points."
Regardless of what comes their way, Davidson won't stop his OU Rumors and News Twitter Spaces and Perkins won't stop cracking hilarious jokes on Twitter. Well, unless one particular thing happens.
"I have a running gag about Houston Nutt and I've always said the day he gets a coaching job is the day I leave Twitter," said Perkins. "I can take it or leave it a little bit at this point, I enjoy it, especially during sporting events and it's fun to keep up with it while you're watching games, or if something crazy happens. At some point, you get Twitter fatigued. I like to be funny. I think I'm relatively funny and I follow a lot of people that are relatively funny. If I come up with a joke and tweet it out and if certain people like it, that's all the Twitter fulfillment I need."
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