I have always believed living in Los Angeles was the key because there were no other representatives of the industry actively pushing online gaming business like myself at the time on US soil that travelled with regularity to see the clients in foreign territories. Unlike most of the marketing executives in the industry I was very confident that I was conducting business with the highest of ethics and at no time did I break any laws, thus had no fear of backlash by authorities. I believed in the online gaming industry. I still do today although I feel it has been necessary for the US government to put up opposition since the industry has failed to take initiative to give back to the country that is its greatest supporter. The citizens of the United States made the online gaming industry what it is today. Thus the citizens of the United States should get some programs funded by online gaming for all of their support. Business is not all about taking, you have to give back and most of the industry has failed to do so. There are some very good companies in the industry that have shown excellent charitable contributions to US charities which should be acknowledged.
The Jim Rome show was a major prize for BOS considering less than two years earlier the online gaming industry was banned by the Jim Rome Show. Rome is about as anti-gambling as one can be always blasting gamblers as being less than desirable but the fact is the jungle dwellers that listen to the Rome show are gamblers. I think the gambling jungle dwellers enjoy the abuse that Jim gives them on the air much like a high powered executive enjoys an occasional ass whipping from a pint sized dominatrix. I met Jim Rome on the elevator at the Sherman Oaks studios along with other members of his team. While on the elevator Mr. Rome with the big voice was none too happy to know that I wasn’t going to use the complimentary tickets to his Tour Stop in Phoenix but would instead opt to meet up with a friend I hadn’t seen in years to play some golf. I am not sure whether Rome was being sarcastic or just joking when he asked Kraig if he could have the day off to go golfing instead of doing his tour stop. He might have been a bit spiteful considering he knew I was representing an industry that he loathed. Needless to say his first impression was not that great but bottom line, his show is the best in sports radio based on the number of listeners he draws and the talent that his team gets to do interviews. Also the world of gambling needs guys like Rome to instill the order or checks and balances. If no one ever questioned gambling than I believe fixed games would be far more prevalent.
The Rome show led to an immediate referral to Fox Sports Radio, which took the business immediately. Now we had two major names in sports media that would aid in opening up the doors to numerous other media companies throughout the United States. The 2nd phase of my plan was to go after all the local sports radio programming throughout the country. I was able to communicate through hundreds of radio stations by subcontracting with national media buyers for the major conglomerates of Clear Channel, ABC/ESPN, Infinity Broadcasting owned by CBS Global Media, Susquehanna, Citadel, Entercomm, Jefferson-Pilot and other independent stations throughout the US along with handling quite a few stations personally.
The account executive for Premiere Radio, Jerry Stehney was great. In good faith he made an introduction to a network of radio media buyers in Los Angeles which firm I will not name due to the lack of professionalism by one person led by Corky Flynt. Corky was a fast talking female in her 40’s that had been around the radio game for some time. She had great contacts and she really did a bang up job. Her problem though is she didn't care about the client only the money and almost cost me the account due to her deceitful nature. She just wanted to get spots on the air rather than getting approved spots on the air. One of many problems with online gaming advertising is one has to be very respectful on how they present themselves to both media companies and the public. Gambling is a lucrative business, just short of a license to print cash and you do not want to step on any toes or upset any anti-gambling groups because it’s too easy to run a clean business. So I had to get ad copy that was approved by both BOS and the media. This was no easy task and Miss Flynt certainly was not up to the task and she tried to force the square peg into the round hole by submitting non-approved radio ad copy hoping that the client down in Costa Rica would never hear the spots. Claude might not have been a marketing genius but he paid close attention to details when it came to getting a return on investments and knowing what advertising was representing his company in the US would never be an oversight. He called for stations to send ad copy of the creative or taped spots. When they started coming in I was extremely embarrassed, angry, and upset.
Fortunately Corky's top media buyer and my whipping boy of the time was the national sales representative for Infinity Broadcasting, Brett Rateaver. I questioned Brett's character for giving me a really inflated bad rate on one station that was a 1000% higher than what another sports book was getting. He went from goat to my own personal hero with the way he cleaned up Corky's mess after I relieved her of duties and Brett oversaw the 5 other national media buyers. Through adversity Brett came through with flying colors displaying the utmost professionalism despite our early disagreements. I apologized to him later for making harsh remarks towards him about what I thought were unprofessional tactics. I assume Brett made a lot of money off of the BetOnSports account. He forgave me over the phone but I feel the need to come out with a public admission stating that if you ever run across Brett Rateaver from Infinity Broadcasting or formerly from Infinity Broadcasting, you should want to do business with him because he goes the extra mile and then some. Everyone makes mistakes but professionalism is priceless and Brett is one hard working professional.
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