CHAPTER 18: Thumbs Up

Our exit from 105.7 The Fan was disappointing. But the station’s program director left us with no choice. Besides, the toxic environment seemingly fostered by CBS Radio, was a major deterrent as was the ugly red-headed stepchild treatment sent our way. Something they barely even tried to conceal.

That kind of behavior trickles down the hierarchal chain of command. Fortunately for The Fan, they really are the only game in town. The sports talkers in town on the AM dial are barely listenable and are seemingly powered by a hamster’s running wheel, held together by duct tape and gorilla glue. And let’s not forget the regular grandstanding from the guy who once boasted that he ran a station with balls. Today, he’s a talking head with no credentials.

So, The Fan has little reason to change their ways as long Baltimore remains a one-horse sports talk town. But there are alternatives. Several well-informed fans who can talk circles around some of the guys you hear on The Fan are available via podcasts – if you’re interested in intelligent sports talk. The podcast platform is one that we’ve dabbled with since our exodus from The Fan. It’s an interesting form of media that seems to be at its best when compartmentalized.

For my money, the best podcasts are broken into short, topical segments. Consumers need to be able to seek out specific content with easy access. It’s important to distribute the content in an informative and concise way. Media is so fractured these days and there are so many alternatives. So, making your points succinct and memorable are keys. I’m reminded of something the late, great Tom Petty said often when writing new songs. His approach to writing was driven by this credo: “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus”.

But I also think there’s value in uniqueness of content. You may recall that our approach on The Fanimal, described in Chapter 17, was to combine Ravens-centric sports talk with music. The musical component of that thematic approach took me down a new path.

As long as I can remember, I’ve held a soft spot in my heart for musicians trying to make a living doing what they love the most. “Do what you love, love what you do.” The challenge for these musicians is not only to find a way to make ends meet doing what they love, but also to sustain it, to stay current, relevant, and perhaps most challenging, sound good doing it. That’s something that flies in the face of Father Time.

This empathy for the plight of a local musician inspired me to start Music Fanimal. With the assistance of Red Dog Agency (highly recommended by the way), we set up a studio to record interviews with local artists to allow them to tell their stories complemented by 2 to 3 songs sandwiched between topical discussion.

We did about 15 or so of those interviews and seemed to be gaining traction, until…

COVID happened.

The momentum derailed. The interviews stopped. I was forced to refocus my energies in order to survive in a world that was just flipped on its side. Consequently, Music Fanimal is on hiatus. Not quite as bad as The Police or Oasis, but certainly up on the shelf. I hope that we one day breathe life into again.

Thumbs Up

For years I have embraced the responsibility to write about matters from the heart that have been loosely connected to RSR, the Ravens, the NFL or Baltimore. A perfect example of that is the piece I recently posted about Brooks Robinson which appears on both RSR and ESR, aka Eutaw Street Report. These stories matter to fans. They matter to me and while the subject matter is sometimes sad, it seems to help others and those of us at RSR mourn a loss, weather adversity or shed a positive light on something meaningful to our community.

My wife affectionately refers to me as a mushball. I find that these days my eyes “sweat” a lot more than the used to. Maybe my family and friends have just unlocked supressed emotions, and now that I’m on the back end of middle-age, I’m ok with expressing them. Whatever the motivation is for these genuine public displays of emotion, as long as they seem appropriate, I’ll keep pumping them out.

With age comes wisdom and given the platforms we’ve developed, there’s always a place for me to share life experiences that are relevant to our audience. But I’ve had to be mindful of that audience and our role within it. Too many sentimental journeys could water down our product – it could turn off those who spend time at RSR for football news, analysis and commentary. Out of respect to RSR and because I believed that there is a need in the world for good news, I reached out again to Red Dog Agency to help build a platform for feel good stories. ThumbsUp247.com was the result of that vision.

Turn on the news and what do you see? More times than not it’s bad news. If little Johnny knocks over an elderly lady with his bike and later claims that it was her own fault for not walking faster, it makes headlines. BUT…if little Johnny parked his bike and helped the lady cross the street safely, no one lifts a finger to share the good deed. We need to hear about good deeds because they inspire even more of the same. Larry Dukes, Red Dog’s President shares that opinion.

But ThumbsUp never got traction. It’s a noble effort, one that even attracted contributions from others, but soon the energy for the project weened. It didn’t gain the support we had hoped. It only served to reaffirm our position that bad news seems to sell. It’s an indictment upon society in a way.

ThumbsUp did nothing to dispel this societal behavior. Maybe others aren’t so easily inspired. But we tried.

One story that captured my attention back in 2019 was that of  a couple Lamar Jackson fans, a father and son from the Louisville metro area.

The story was documented here at RSR by both me and the father and son, Tim and TJ Heil. WMAR 2 did a great job of reporting on it as well. I encourage you to watch the short video below. A very touching story. Thanks again, Jamie Costello and Erin McPherson.

It’s stories like Tim and TJ’s that matter most. Sports offer a platform to galvanize a community. It brings people together. Our teams provide something in common to share and enjoy. At the very outset of this History of RSR, I shared a story of how the Ravens helped repair a broken family. With the Heil family, the Ravens also helped to repair a broken heart and deepen the bond between a father and son.

In the next chapter we’ll tell the story of how a young Ravens fan with aspirations of being a journalist, connected with RSR, and how he’s used the experience to propel his career in the media.

And it’s all ThumbsUp!

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