Talk show hosting is the most difficult genre of sports broadcasting to master. It’s not even close. Not only are the subtleties of sports talk hosting not taught in schools, but many program directors don’t teach it either. They either don’t know how or they don’t make the time.

One guy who knows sports talk radio as well as anyone is Scott Masteller, Sr. Director at ESPN Radio Network. He’s a George Whitfield for sports talk hosts.

Scott spoke last year at STAA’s One Day Ticket to Sportscasting Success seminar. What follows are some of the tips he shared for improving your sports talk show. Look for a bonus post with Masteller’s tips for getting your next gig on Friday.

Play the hits

Figure out what your audience wants. Masteller says when he worked in Dallas, he quickly realized that fans wanted to talk Cowboys football year around. “Programmers have to go where they feel the most audience is.”
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Last week I was a panelist at the RadioInk Sports Radio Conference in San Diego. Some of the biggest hitters from the programming side of the industry were there – Bruce Gilbert, Scott Masteller, Mark Chernoff and Jack Silver, just to name a few. Super Agent Leigh Steinberg delivered the opening keynote. The two-day event was full of fabulous information.

Here are the top ten tips I heard for talk show hosts and program directors:
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“If only someone would give me a chance, I know I would do great.”

I hear this all the time from folks who want to be sports talk show hosts. They’re all the next Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd or Jim Rome. All they need is for some sports radio PD somewhere to give them a chance.

Instead of complaining about it, do something about it. Create for yourself the opportunity you seek to put your money where your mouth is. Podcast. It’s a great, easy and inexpensive way to hone your skills and demonstrate why you are sports talk radio’s next big star.
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Southern California is a haven for fans of sports talk radio. At any time, I can tune in to any of three Los Angeles stations and two San Diego stations. Despite having all those options, though, I find myself consistently tuning in to two shows each morning – Dan Patrick and Colin Cowherd. I do it because they take the same topics everyone else is talking about, but present them in ways I don’t get anywhere else. There are some common characteristics for how they do it. With that in mind, here are…

4 ways to instantly increase your sports talk radio ratings.
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