Success Stories: ESPN Radio’s Tim McCarthy

Tim McCarthy

It’s time to write a series of success stories about radio, against all of the negative news. What is it that ESPN Radio is doing that’s working so well? They’re up healthy double digits in their stations business and network business as well—that’s on top of double digit increases in the year prior. We’re talking to the folks that are making that happen.

Today, we’re talking with Tim McCarthy, Senior Vice President, ESPN O&O Radio Stations overseeing the station group. McCarthy had served as President & GM of 1050 ESPN Radio, the New York flagship of ESPN Radio, since the station first started broadcasting in September 2001.

Under McCarthy’s leadership, beyond the burgeoning success story of WABC, 1050 ESPN has enjoyed parallel growth in audiences.

McCarthy has acquired the broadcast rights to many of New York’s leading sports teams.  1050 ESPN Radio is the radio home of the New York Jets, New York Knicks and New York Rangers.

He joined the Disney Group of radio stations in 1990 serving first as an AE with WPLJ-FM, moving across the hall three years later to become Sales Director for both 77WABC and WPLJ.  McCarthy became General Manager for legendary News/Talk station 77WABC in 1999 and presided over the acquisition and start up of 1560 AM Radio Disney.  He held the dual roles of GM for 77WABC and 1050 ESPN Radio until 2006 when 77WABC was part of Disney’s sale of the ABC Radio Group. McCarthy also served as Chairman for the 2007 New York State Broadcasters Association and was President of NYMRAD, the New York Radio Marketing Association.

Outside of the office, McCarthy is very active with the Epilepsy Society of Southern New York. He presents an annual major fund-raising golf event for the Society and started a children’s camp each summer for children with Epilepsy.  Tim lives in New Jersey with his wife, Colleen, and daughters, Megan and Tara.

Tell us how you successfully compete with WFAN in New York City with ESPN 1050.

We don’t necessarily compete with ‘FAN.  ‘FAN -- they do what they do, they do it very well.  It’s no different than there are five or six contemporary hit radio stations in New York -- we’re just another sports station.  Our presentation is different.  I think the great thing that we bring to the table is the ESPN credibility – its experts are second to none, and our opinionated hosts. Our demographic is affluent, and it is younger the ‘FAN.  Obviously we’re very competitive and we’re going to take advantage of any opportunity we can. Ultimately, our goal is to do a better job presenting sports for our listeners and advertisers than anyone else.

There is a lot of sports out there to cover that you don’t necessarily have to try to do the same thing they’re doing or vice versa.  It’s a big sports world out there and there are a lot of teams in that big city.
We are lucky to have wonderful play-by-play partners in the Jets, Knicks and Rangers. You don’t get any better brands than those in New York City.

Tell us some of your success stories with WEAE in Pittsburgh and then ESPN 1050.

1250 has a wonderful reputation of serving the sports fan in Pittsburgh over the years. I think the changes we made – putting Scott Paulsen and Mike Logan together – will create an effective afternoon show.  In New York, what I’m most proud of, is that we put this radio station on.  We took over a station that no one listened to -- it was mostly block programming, and made it very successful.

It was ethnic, right?

We took over a station -- seven years ago this week -- without a tremendous stick, and now we have a cume of 500,000.  I’m really proud of the culture we’ve developed at 1050, not only internally, but within the ad community.

It is obvious that advertisers in New York want to be associated with the ESPN brand, and we try to live up to those expectations.  I’m very proud of our sales performance – we have had double-digit growth every year, and 2008 is not different – we’re up 13% over the 2007 level. That’s pretty impressive for a stand alone station whereas Clear Channel and CBS each have six stations.

What’s it like running WEAE and the “Burgh” where obviously sports and the Steelers are just so important in that town? 

Like New York, Pittsburgh has a tremendous passion for sports, particularly the Steelers and Penguins. Our goal at EAE is to work closely with those brands and continue to be the No. 1 sports station in Pittsburgh.  Unlike New York, there are much less choices, so you have to “Bull’s Eye” the Pittsburgh fan, and we’re doing that. Most recently we’ve added Jerome Bettis and Mike Logan of the Steelers, and I love what we’re doing with high school football -- most markets would stay away from that, but football is so prevalent in the Pittsburgh area.

For instance, the football star from Jeanette, PA.
Right.  Some of the things we’re doing with the Friday night games and those things are just dramatic.  We’re looking at all our stations, and we’re looking to touch sports fans in different ways.  Everyone looks at radio, but the reality is radio is encompassing a lot of things -- podcasting, audio, the Internet.  The more places we can touch a fan, at any age, the better off we’re going to be because people listen differently.  They’re on the Internet at different times.  They use their I-pods.  They may not have enough time to listen during the day, but they may download what they want later in the day.  If we don’t pay attention to that, we’re just going to miss the boat. I think we’re pretty far ahead of a lot of competitors in terms of addressing those needs.

You’ve got play-by-play for the Jets how does that make a difference and how do you capitalize on that?
The Jets have a fantastic brand, and are great partners to work with. During the football season we build the entire station around the New York Jets – they become our biggest personality. And I’m very lucky the Jets feel the same way. They understand the value of what it takes to build a consistent brand -- thus the acquisition of Brett Favre.

Tell us about the comparisons and contrasts of running a talker like WABC with the two sports stations you run now.
There’s not much of a difference. It comes down to content, and the right people to execute it. I’ve been lucky to have both at ABC and now 1050 ESPN, including Sean Hannity, and now Mike & Mike in the Morning and Michael Kay. 

The charitable endeavors like the Epilepsy Society of Southern New York--how did you get involved in that?

I started it seven years ago after the sudden death of my brother, Chris. I felt that there was nothing for the families and kids of those folks with epilepsy on a social level because most people don’t understand it.  I just wanted to develop something that opened up opportunities for social events for the kids and their families.  I have a golf tournament every year which is all about family and friends raising money for kids with epilepsy.

Your revenues--you did cover ESPN 1050/WEPN. What about WEAE?

The Pittsburgh market is going through a tough time right now. However, I feel the new GM, Mike Thompson, has a good plan going forward to drive the stations to new levels.  That does not mean there are not revenue opportunities that we are addressing.  There are still plenty of opportunities to grow revenue at EAE. I think going forward, with Mike & Mike, the new afternoon show, and some of the other shows, they have they have an opportunity to really expand across all the dayparts and really sell the entire radio station. 

You’re doing great in New York, you’re working on Pittsburgh. But bottom line, people would like to know how you make things work in such a tough economy and with the Internet pulling so many ad dollars from radio.  How you make things works on a national and local ad sales level when things get challenging like they are now?

I think there are two things to that.  One, you have to create solutions for advertisers. If you come up with creative concepts, advertisers will still want to spend money, but they don’t want to waste their money on just normal spot avails. Two, provide great content – local or national – that touches many platforms, including podcasting, instant messaging, and streaming video. When you can touch advertisers on multi-platforms in one shot with a great idea, then it works.  

Any other strategies for success?

One of the strategies we try to use--and I tell my sales team--is to put yourself in advertiser’s shoes first, before you start giving them some hodge-podge of stuff that you want to sell.  Think about their perspective, what do they want to accomplish?  What are their budget objectives?  How have you treated them in the past?  What have you done in the past to make them successful or not successful?  Think about it from their point of view first.  Then, just over-deliver. And after you over deliver, document how you over-delivered for the advertiser.

So, that’s what we’re trying to do with this series--bring some light to radio’s success stories.  Your boss, Traug Keller, came up with the idea to do this series.

I’m truly lucky to work with someone like Traug, who has such passion for what we do in radio, and invests in various ways to deliver our content as well as ways to monetize that content. I think our stations, and the Radio Group, are thinking alike – to be on the offensive, not the defensive.  We have an ‘Idea-Generating” meeting every quarter when we look for ‘What’s Next?’ Ultimately, we look at the possibilities, not the problems. I think, Carl, you probably realize every time you interview someone at ESPN, you’re probably pretty psyched when you get off the phone because we’re all pretty passionate about the radio business.  What could be better than working for a great company that is still investing in the product that is the business you love?