SiriusXM radio calls audibles for sports shows in pandemic
When you oversee 19 sports stations, radio programming is a daily challenge. During a pandemic, it can become like throwing a no-hitter, scoring a hat trick and winning a NASCAR race all in one.
Just ask Steve Cohen, SiriusXM’s senior vice president for sports, whose company broadcasts everything from baseball to hockey to soccer to football to golf to, well, you get the idea.
Cohen and his team had to devise plans for the 19 sports channels SiriusXM radio produces. Some stations have kept their programming lineup in the two months since the pandemic halted sports. Other channels taped shows that ended up airing in their normal time slots. Regardless, some quick thinking for the short and long terms was needed.
“We were totally reinventing how we do things,” says Cohen, who has been in sports broadcasting for more than three decades. “We quickly had to identify which channels needed to stay live and what was most important, while taking into account the safety of our staff.
“The day everything was postponed, we knew we were going to be challenged. Our goal throughout has been what we could do to be entertaining.”
And informative, naturally. With so much uncertainty surrounding the sports world, SiriusXM’s on-air talent needed to adjust their roles. Cohen says what has pleased him most is their transition into being talk show hosts. With a base of longtime subscribers and regular callers, keeping a daily routine was important.
“They have had to talk about Netflix and what they are doing to take care of themselves. It has been great to hear that because we are all going through this together,” Cohen says.
Even though most of the hosts already were doing shows out of their homes, they had to make some adjustments with producers having to work remotely.
The Mad Dog Sports Radio and NFL
Radio channels — two of SiriusXM’s most popular sports outlets — were able to run close to normal because of NFL free agency and the draft. Mad Dog Sports Radio also maintained its lineup and was able to delve into other topics throughout the sports world.
Former NFL team executive Pat Kirwan, the longtime host of NFL Radio’s “Movin’ the Chains” afternoon show, has been working almost exclusively from home since he was hired in 2004. The only times he sees co-host Jim Miller, the former NFL quarterback, is when they are at the Senior Bowl, Super Bowl, training camp or league meetings.
Kirwan explains that technology has progressed greatly during his 16 years with the network, going from using ISDN lines that had to be installed for home studios to a high-speed fiber internet connection that delivers better quality.
“We can do a show without seeing each other. The only time we step on each other’s toes is when we want to,” Kirwan said. “Every couple of years the technology takes us to a deeper and better place.”
Which certainly has come in handy the last few months, particularly during the NFL draft, when SiriusXM covers every selection.
Even with commutes to the office on hold pretty much everywhere, many of the 34.8 million total subscribers are still tuning in by accessing the SiriusXM app on their phones or via portable home speakers. A company executive recently said that overall weekly active users via streaming have increased 30 percent since January.