The Craig Larson Interview

Posted Wednesday, Sep 28, 2022, on HoodWave Disability Radio as a project training exercise. Craig Larson Jr. is a program director at Galmedia in Houston, Texas. He started in sports media in the late 1980s while attending Columbia College in Chicago. He interned at AM 1000 in Chicago, covering the Bulls, White Sox, and Blackhawks during their championship years. Chet Coppock mentored him and opened doors for him in the industry. Craig doesn't have a favorite sport now, but growing up in Chicago during the 80s, he was a fan of the Bulls, Bears, and DePaul basketball. He enjoys taking his kids to NBA games. He appreciates modern stadiums with all the amenities compared to the older ones. He wants to see a Saints game. The best part of his job is that every day is unique and different. He loves covering stories and connecting with athletes. He plans to continue working in sports media for many more years. Hello, this is your host, Daniel Hood, on HoodWave Disability Radio. My guest today is Craig Larson Jr. Craig, a program director at Galmedia in Houston, Texas, who has worked in major market radio for decades, including stints in Chicago and Los Angeles. Craig is an avid Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Clippers, and DePaul Blue Demons fan. Craig is married to his wife of 20-plus years and has two children and their dog, Milo. And now, please enjoy our show. So, how are you? I'm good. I'm pleased to be with you this evening. So am I. Okay. I have some questions for you. The first question is, how did you get started in sports? Well, yeah, that's as good of a place to start as any. So I think in earnest, in terms of covering sports, it began for me in the late 1980s. I was enrolled at a broadcast university; it was a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia College in Chicago. And big difference between attending or watching games on television as a fan versus being credentialed as a media member, working at the college radio station opened many doors for me. Probably the most significant door that opened up was about a year into my studies; I received an internship at a radio station that still exists today. I'm not that old; I AM 1000 in Chicago. And that was an exciting time in Chicago sports. The year I started there in 1991, the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan had won their first of many championships. And the other two teams that we had the broadcast rights to the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Blackhawks were equally competitive, they were championship contenders. Being in that atmosphere, being in the environment, and getting to know and develop relationships with athletes and organizations pretty much propelled and firmly set the path I would embark upon all those years ago. That was 30-plus years ago now. The second question I will ask is, how did you get started in sports media? Yeah, so a gentleman by the name of Chet Coppock took me under his wing; I think it's essential for future broadcasters if you're lucky and you're fortunate enough, you'll have a series of either role models or mentors or individuals who take a vested interest in you and help you either become what your full potential is and maximizing your full potential or just giving you the confidence to become and ascend. It's very challenging if you're always an outsider on the outside looking in. So, fortunately, I worked my butt off for Chet. The original thing was that maybe I was supposed to be there twice a week. Chet was on the air six days a week; that's back then. And so I made it a point whenever he was on the air, I was there. And so that reaffirmed my interest. I developed an incredible rapport, friendship, mentorship, him to me, and all of that. So, he opened many doors for me and taught me a lot about the industry. Okay, the next question I will ask is, what would it be if you had a favorite sport? Well, it's interesting, and that's a fantastic question. When I grew up, it was a magical time in the sense that watching and consuming sports in the mid-1980s, I was blessed and fortunate that I didn't have a favorite sport to watch or cover or attend because, in that particular window in Chicagoland sports, Michael Jordan arrived to town as a rookie and put the Chicago Bulls on the map in 1984-85. The 85 Chicago Bears, that was the last time the Bears won the Super Bowl. That particular team is still thought of and is highly regarded as one of the greatest teams ever. That overlap didn't necessarily overshadow but overlapped with Michael Jordan's arrival in town. Then, in the late 1970s and early to mid-80s, Paul's basketball was ranked, if not number one in the country, for men's college basketball. If they weren't number one, they were usually going to a Final Four or on the cusp of the potential to go to a Final Four. And so you throw all that in a pot. The White Sox in 83 won their division. The Cubs the following year, I'm not a Cubs fan, but the Cubs won their division the following year in 1984. So it was just impossible growing up with all that, almost like in a fishbowl, to have all that. Something was compelling to watch every night, independent of the time of year, time of month, and a meaningful baseball game. Michael Jordan, every night, did something magical that you had never seen on the court that transcended the game. Of course, there was the football team and the Bears that 85 season, which they still talk about today. So, back then, I did have a favorite thing. I took it all in. I think today it's different. It's whatever my children get a rush out of. My kids find baseball too dull when I take them to baseball games. They would much rather go to an NBA basketball game. I think they enjoy more wire-to-wire nonstop action. They don't appreciate the subtleties in baseball. So I don't know. I'm just happy to go anywhere these days and sit in any stadium or arena I can, given where we were in the world two years ago when sports, by and large, was secondary to the pandemic and shut down in large part. I'm just happy we're here in 2022. You know what's interesting? I think I told this before. My wife, I guess it was last year, took me to the first Twins game at Target Field, believe it or not. I've never been there. So it was my wife's unique; she went special and took me there. I thought that was quite fascinating. Got a slight sunburn. Honestly, I don't believe it was me. I guess my wife got sunburned. That's a good point because you never forget that first experience. And many cities, I mean, you're not unique in that. You think about Minneapolis in recent years, Target Field, which you're referencing, where the Twins play. That's a relatively new ballpark. I don't even believe it. It might be seven years old but still in the single digits. Beautiful ballpark. I think candidly, I went to the Metrodome many times in the 90s. I guess it blows the Metrodome out of the water. And then you've also got the new football stadium, which hosted the Super Bowl a few years ago. And that all enhances the stadium experience as a fan. It's much better when you can walk into a new venue with all the modern-day luxuries and amenities than some places I walked into in the 80s. I mean, when I used to go to the original White Sox, Comiskey Park, let me think, that thing was built in 1910. So when I was going to games in the 1980s, it was already 70, 75 years old. There's nothing quite like today's arenas, the architectural design, and the advances they've made. Heck, even the jumbotrons in some of these stadiums. You find yourself watching the jumbotron more than the actual action on the field. What they've done is incredible. Yeah, I want, believe it or not, to see a Saints game. I have never been there. I haven't been there, not even at the Saints stadium. So that would be something I wouldn't mind doing one of these days. Sure. Here is the next question for you. What is the best part of what you do? The best part of what I do is I've never had the same day twice in this industry. And so it's not like that Bill Murray Groundhog Day movie, which I think it's called Groundhog Day, where he's repeating, I don't know if you've ever seen it, but he's pretty much reliving the same day over and over and over in the movie. I've never had that experience. Not that every day is incredible or glorious. There will be challenges and things you must overcome, some out of your control. But what I like about it on the content side is that the content is always unique and different daily. Sometimes, things you grew up watching or covering come full circle, and you can relive that once again. So, for example, the other night, when the Buffalo Bills were showcased on Monday Night Football, they convincingly won that game. They're probably going to go to the Super Bowl this year. They'll likely be the favorite if they remain healthy in that Super Bowl. It brings me back to when I first broke into the industry and covered the Buffalo Bills in my 20s. So, anyway, I've remained in contact with some of these guys. I'm now in my 50s. They're in their 50s and getting old. Classic iconic players from the 90s to talk about their careers, what they're up to, and this current Buffalo Bills team. That's awesome. That's incredible. Candidly, the Buffalo Bills haven't done a lot on paper. They haven't had much success since those great teams in the 90s. So, it's fantastic that they're now one of the elite teams in the National Football League. And those are the types of things I don't consider. Not too long ago, someone asked me how long I had been doing this because I'd been doing it for so long. How much longer had I kept doing it? I honestly don't know what I would do without it, to be perfectly honest and blunt. I don't think of reaching a certain age, year, or retirement age. I've done it my entire adult life. And if I'm fortunate and blessed enough, I'll continue to do it for many years ahead. So, I love it. I look forward to it every day. Producing a show, building a show, growing your distribution and your audience, and monetizing the product and content you put in the marketplace is always a great event. And just covering the stories and getting to know them. If you had told me as a 15-year-old kid that in my career, I would have attended, I don't understand, dozens of Super Bowls and Final Fours and met and hung out with Michael Jordan and any number of things, I would have said, whose life is that? That's the life I want. And I've been fortunate. That's the life I've had career-wise. What is the hardest part of sports media, and how do you deal with it day by day? The landscape that's a great question. It used to be that, well, in 1994, we were the first sports radio network. Now, there are; we were even first to the punch. I mean, ESPN radio in 1994 had weekend programming, but we were the first 24-7, and the network at the time was branded one-on-one sports. And we were the first live 24-7 national network, live 168 hours a week. And stations and affiliates who wanted to pick up sports, you're pretty much, we were the only game in town. If you enjoyed it, yes, you could hire local hosts in your respective market, but if you wanted extra programming on weekends, it was between us and ESPN. But if you wanted to show on a Thursday night, like we're talking about this evening, we were pretty much it from a national standpoint. Now, the landscape is so crowded. There are several 24-7 networks. There are all of these. So we're not just one. The playing field has increased substantially. You're fighting for those ad dollars. You're fighting for that content. I contacted a gentleman named Joe Seisman, who was featured on this NFL series that the NFL network does where they profile and chronicle the individual's career. It's called a football life, and it's an ongoing series. It's one of the higher-rated programs that the NFL network has. And anyway, I contacted Joe the other day. I was like, dude, you've got to come on and talk about this in advance of the show airing. Joe's like, Craig, I'd love to do it. It's got to be tomorrow at this time. And the reason why is I've got five of these things to do today and two more before you tomorrow. Call me tomorrow at 2.30. And so, again, it was just a tiny indication that I was not the only one knocking on that door. We'll do our version of that interview. I want to think that in our interview with Joe, because we've known him for so long, we'll ask different questions. He'll have different responses. It will be a unique interview. Should an audience member hear our interview versus something they heard earlier on another outlet or frequency? But again, it's a competitive landscape, but I've never shied away from competition. I'm competitive, just in my nature. So the challenge sometimes is that you're going up against many outlets, all trying to get the same thing. And if a coach, I guess to expand on that a little bit, if a coach or in a setting, let's say they only have a half hour, or let's say they're only going to do two interviews that week. How will you beat everybody else and be one of those two finalists or recipients of that coach's time? So that's one of the challenges that you face daily. Just the reality of, hey, we're not the only one requesting somebody. We're not the only ones requesting credentials or access to a major sporting event. We're not the only one requesting a guest. We're not the only one trying to get our programming cleared in a significant market. Everybody is. Everybody's doing all these things day in and day out, religiously. I can't think of anything else to say except what I wrote. Well, good. I mean, I've enjoyed being with you tonight, Daniel. And I mean, those were some well-thought-out questions. Hopefully, you got a bit more of a perspective of how I got into the broadcasting field and the sports arena and a snapshot of a day in the life of my wild world and universe. I'm glad we could spend a few minutes this evening. This has been fun. Yeah, it was fun. You just heard an interview with Greg Larson, Jr. of Gal Media, and Daniel Hood of Hoodwave Dispute Radio. If you want to learn more about Hoodwave or contribute and support us, go to www.hoodwave.org. Again, that is www.hoodwave.org.