Adding Fred Smoot To The Cooley & Kevin Show Would Be A Game Changer For AM Sports Radio!

By Richard Lyons - MAR 2016 It's been (4) days since ESPN980 has rolled out its new show line up which features Cooley and Kevin from 7:00 am to 11:00 am. Personally, I was a big fan of the Sports Fix Show, I really enjoyed the on-air chemistry and priceless bickering that Kevin and Thom gave to its listening audience. I would always tune into the show during my lunch hour and would cap off the afternoon with Inside The Locker Room.

On Monday, (5-2-2016) Kevin announced that Thom Loverro will continue to be part of the ESPN980 team, however his new commentary role will be facilitated in a more reduced or limited capacity. Per Kevin, Thom will periodically make guest appearances on the Sports Reporters Show and he will also function as a "fill-in host” for other ESPN980 segments as needed.

The Sports Fix Show was very popular among DC Sports Fans and it had a solid fan-base of callers, listeners and associated celebrity guests. - So I am still a little baffled as to why ESPN980 decided to breakup one of its flagship programs.

But I am no fool, ESPN980 reshuffled its programming deck for a reason and obviously someone successfully presented a “new vision” to management to ultimately propel ratings for them to undertake such of a tall order that embeds a high level of risk. The Cooley and Kevin Show has a huge obstacle to overcome to appease its current fan base and ultimately trump the superior Nielsen ratings of its now arch rival “The Junkies” - 106.7 The Fan. So let’s peel back the onion and take a deeper look as some of the complexities at hand:

1. The Cooley and Kevin show as a new tandem, first and foremost must secure, appease and grow its current fan base while minimizing the audience churn that is associated with the complexity of change. Hence- do everything that they can to keep people from switching to 106.7 The Fan.

2. The Cooley and Kevin Show is on the air for (4) hours instead of (2) and this alone adds an unwavering amount of programming pressure for the hosts to keep the audience engaged for such a long period of time without being excessively repetitive. From a shows line-up perspective, the producer now has to develop and prepare for (16) meaningful segments of content as topics are generally sliced into 15 minute blocks. To accomplish this, the producer will have to develop new skits and associated content to keep the audience engaged.

Cooley and Kevin love to talk about the Redskins and quite frankly they are very good at that, however you can’t rehearse the same topic of discussion over and over again day-in and day-out; it will quickly become a bore for the listening audience. Four hours of yapping on the radio is long time, so I would expect that they will slowly embed new topics of discussion such as: MMA, golf, tennis, professional wrestling, boxing or even rating movies. After listening to Cooley and Kevin for (4) days; it is apparent that this duo will eventually develop into a cohesive tandem similar to was Kevin and Thom produced over time. However there has been several instances where Cooley and Kevin were inadvertently stepping on each other during different segments and the program seemed a bit dry and repetitive usually around the (3) hour mark or close to 10:00 a.m. So for me, the show appears to run out of gas after 3 hours and I found myself switching over to Grant & Danny @ 10:00 a.m. to get a fresh and new perspective of the DC Sports climate. Switching over to 106.7 The Fan @ 10:00 a.m. works for me because it provides a new perspective of hot topics and it frees me from listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show which is god awful! So I listen to Grant and Danny at 10:00 am and I switch back over to ESPN980 at 1:00 pm to listen to Inside The Locker Room. O.K. enough of my radio routine, lets get back to the issue at hand- Cooley and Kevin.

I think that (4) hours of Cooley and Kevin is too long of a session based on the current chemistry and overall personality personas of both hosts. That's why they consistently bring in Al Galdi during different segments of the show, it's a quick energy boost- a different voice that maintains the critical element of flow. Now don’t get me wrong, Kevin Sheehan is a very talented sports host and he is a true DC sports nerd/historian and I say that in a good way. And Chris Cooley is a terrific football analysis and upcoming sportscaster however when combined there is no element of humor in the room. Thom Loverro provided the humor aspect for the Sports Fix through his high pitch voice and associated rants and priceless antics. However with Cooley and Kevin there is no humor element and without this ingredient the program sputters from time to time. But I have a solution to this problem.

Fred Smoot would be a great addition to the Cooley and Kevin show; he would bring the element of humor and associated liveliness/pick me up needed to propel this program to the next level. Fred Smoot is a great conversationalist who brings a lot of energy and personal experiences to the table, he likes to talk and he is very good at it. In addition, Smoot is a well known DC Sports celebrity with a loyal following and he is widely respected by DC Sports Fans as a very knowledgeable and funny sports commentator.

Fred Smoot was a well established sports analyst who had several commentator gigs with major sports networks such as CBS Sports, ESPN and Comcast. However, on 25 November 2014, Fred Smoot was charged and arrested for misdemeanor domestic assault against his live-in girlfriend. Once the story broke, Fred was immediately suspended by all the sports networks as this situation occurred during the Ray Rice elevator knockout era. During this time-frame any professional figure remotely accused of domestic violence was publicly hanged and deemed the scum of the earth. However on 5 January 2015, Smoot was found not guilty of all charges; however he has yet to be reinstated back into the TV and Radio broadcasting community.

The Cooley and Kevin Show would be a great opportunity for Fred Smoot to re-enter the game of radio broadcasting. If Scot McCloughan was given a 2nd chance to excel at what he’s good at- in light of all his demons (alcoholism and marriage problems) then why not extend that same offer to Fred Smoot. Fred would make an immediate impact to ESPN980’s audience viewership, specifically the Cooley and Kevin Show. His rolodex ready access to other celebrity figures coupled with his humoristic tone and high energy persona would complement and propel the Cooley and Kevin Show to the ultimate goal of being the # 1 rated DC-based Sports Show in the morning. In addition, adding Smoot to the show would alleviate the need for Kevin and Cooley to overcompensate during slow periods of DC Sports news. All in all, capturing a larger audience pool equates to better ratings which commands more advertising dollars. ESPN980 Let’s Do This! It's A Win Win For All Parties Involved!