Camden Yards Express never materialized. It could have been something special and admittedly, if Tony Pente wanted to revisit the idea of a joint partnership, I might even welcome the opportunity. But I won’t sit around holding my breath. There’s plenty to keep me busy with Russell Street Report.
Between 2013 and 2017 things were humming along quite well at RSR. Attrition did find its way into our little shop, but we managed to add a few other “street free agents”. Derek and I had run and continue to run a lean, albeit efficient operation and at this point there’s no need to change things. But like anything in this world, life can throw you a blindside blitz here and there. How you handle those unexpected pressures can define you.
Such was the case in September of 2017.
Along with my wife and a couple of friends, we traveled across the pond to London when the Ravens were scheduled to take on the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium. We planned to stay for a week, and we traveled on the Saturday just prior to Sunday’s game.
Our American Airlines flight left out of Philadelphia. Our hope was to sleep on the plane in order to be fresh when we landed at Heathrow in the morning, London time. The intended restful flight didn’t work out as planned.
I paid a little extra to get assigned seats. The seating diagram was misleading, and I ended up paying $40 extra per seat for seats that were at the very back of the plane – seats that butt up against the back wall; seats that did not recline. Like WTF?
To make matters worse, the flight attendant station was just behind us and one of them seemed to be shooting for the gold in the Olympics of run on sentences. One after the next after the next in this excessively loud and annoying nasally voice. And wouldn’t you know it, my earbuds weren’t charged!
Finally we landed in London and the adrenalin kicked in – spiked by the expectations for the week ahead. These feet would soon walk upon the hallowed grounds of Abbey Road. We jammed a ton into that first day despite running on empty. The next day was game day.
Wembley Stadium was great. The creature comforts were top-end and I thought it was so interesting to see a variety of team colors throughout the stadium. These fans weren’t celebrating a team per se. They were celebrating the NFL.
We tailgated with Ravens fans from all over Europe and it shocked me with delight that our publication was well-known by many of these fans. The atmosphere was electric. The adrenalin ran through my veins like a freight train. And as the lovely lady sang “God Save The Queen” just before kickoff, her voice was like that of an angel. What an experience!
But in a moment, it all came crashing down. The soaring vibe was shot down out of the sky, blown to smithereens. My phone lit up like a Christmas tree. Text messages came flying in about the Ravens from angry fans and customers who suddenly wanted nothing to do with the team – a team that had several players drop to their knee during the National Anthem on British soil in protest of things said by then-President Donald Trump.
Our seats at the game were in the club level, in-line with the Ravens sideline and as such, I didn’t see the players kneeling. I was so enthralled by the pregame activities and at that moment, I just wanted to soak it all in. Those text messages shattered the exhilaration.
The thrill was gone.
I kept those text messages to myself. I didn’t want to ruin the mood for my wife and our friends. But Ruthie (my wife) reads me like a book. She knew I wasn’t right and asked me a couple of times if I was OK, before I finally conceded. I couldn’t shake the mood and the way the game was being played, the way the Ravens absolutely soiled the bed, didn’t help. They were skull-dragged by an inferior opponent.
So, I showed Ruthie the text messages. She was then as somber as me, followed shortly thereafter by our friends Krys and Will. My business was in peril.
I reached out to my customers who were ready to pull their ads in protest – they wanted nothing to do with the Ravens. A few were very patriotic citizens who stood tall beside the flag. I asked that they hold tight and allow me to visit with them upon my return home from England. Each agreed.
When I did get back and subsequently met with each customer, they all agreed to stay on with RSR. I did have to make alterations to their ads, one even requesting that their ads make it clear that they are patriots. We dodged a bullet and I’m happy to say that each customer still supports what we do at RSR to this very day. Sometimes adversity has a way of bringing people closer together. We’re blessed with customers who run great businesses and are even greater people.
The Ravens lost that game 44-7. At one point it was 44-0 and I secretly hoped that they would be shut out until the late Ryan Mallett connected with Ben Watson at the game’s 3:24 mark.
I learned shortly after this debacle that the Ravens took the field as a heavily divided team. There were several players who thought the entire team should take a knee. Most refused, but the travel to London coupled with a torn squad proved to be a recipe for disaster.
Prior to the events in London, I thought the NFL was Teflon – that it was so tight, so in demand, so enormously popular with its reach now expanding into Europe, that nothing could stop the league’s momentum. I was wrong.
Some fans took great exception to the kneeling, and they quit on the NFL, some temporarily, some permanently. Just yesterday, I played a round of golf with some friends and acquaintances. As we wrapped up the round and headed to our cars, one of the guys playing in another foursome looked at my Ravens golf bag and said, “I once had that bag. Nice bag. But I burned it when the Ravens took a knee. I sold my PSL’s, and I’ve never looked back. I’m a military man and after that, I was done.”
This experience forced me to take a closer look at our operation. Perhaps we should diversify, offer more platforms, take a new approach. But before we decided on something new, we opted for something old.
As I mentioned earlier, I was a regular guest on The Coach’s Buzz heard on AM 1300. The show came to an end with Coach Buzz’ passing but Miles Goodman, Coach’s long-time co-host, expressed interest in doing a show with me. We started to cobble a plan together which eventually materialized into us doing a new show on 105.7 The Fan, Saturday mornings from 8am to 9am. We dusted off an old name for the show – The Fanimal.
The intent was to provide Ravens insight, interviews, game analysis, predictions, etc. all complemented by music. We even thought to have some musical discussion. It was a lot to cram into a 1-hour program but the fast pace and the added element of music quickly gained appeal, even at that early hour.
My initial idea was to feature a singular musical artist each week. I ran the concept of our show by The Fan’s sales manager, who drew up the 26-week contract for the program. All seemed to check out fine and we started in October of 2017.
The morning of our very first show I walked in with my iPod. Those were the days when I kept my music and phone separate. I set up a playlist of Tom Petty tunes to play in and out of the commercial breaks. I assumed that with all the gadgetry the 105.7 The Fan Studios had at their disposal, connecting an iPod would be a no brainer. Nope. Couldn’t do it.
I then asked the board op how they played music for their daily programming. He informed me that they use Spotify. So I showed him the list of songs I wanted to play. “Can’t do it!”, he said. Apparently brokered programmers aren’t covered by The Fan’s ASCAP license and therefore we couldn’t play copyrighted material. I was left to choose from songs that made Muzak seem like a critically acclaimed creation.
I wasn’t happy with the aforementioned sales manager.
We suffered through the noise in and out of 1 break. Afterwards, I instructed the board op not to play any at all. We weren’t exactly off to a happy start for The Fanimal.
During the week preceding our second show, I got an idea. What if instead of playing copyright music, we have local musicians come in and play covers or do originals, or both. I ran this idea by the sales manager, and he gave us the green light although warned us that it might not sound all that great.
It did! It absolutely sounded great.
Being a big music fan as well as a friend to many local musicians, I had plenty of people that I could reach out to and join us in studio. And the added benefit of that approach, THEIR fans would tune in and listen to The Fanimal, initially to hear the local musician, although my hope was that they’d enjoy the program so much, they’d return again and again. And that’s exactly what happened! Before long we were the No.1 rated program in our time slot, particularly in the highly desirable demographic of 25-52 years of age.
The Fanimal provided a spark during a time when we needed one.
Unfortunately, the spark soon flickered and would eventually burn out.
(In Chapter 17, we’ll explain why our association with 105.7 The Fan would come crashing down…forever.)
One Response
It’s a destination, Tony. Stay with it. As the song goes, you are trying to leave something behind… and I appreciate your efforts.
Your old friend, Gil