I did encounter a few setbacks in my preparation for the 2001 campaign. I failed to get on KFXN in Minneapolis. That state was just tough to crack. I got my way in the Bible belt with the Carolinas and Louisiana. I convinced the good folks up in Washington State which was a bruiser of a state when it comes to moral laws. Of the top 50 sports stations in the country I failed in Minneapolis, Seattle, and Tampa. I was able to get the consolation prize in both Seattle and Tampa as we settled for highly rated talk radio programming and 2nd rate sports talk show respectively.
In 2000 Claude wanted to be on WQAM in Miami. In 2001 the crown jewel was WFAN-New York. This was the big sports radio station in his hometown of New York City. Claude already had the crown jewel with the Jim Rome Show but WFAN was his personal big prize. So I spent a lot of time working with top executives at WFAN. Since I had already dealt with Mel Karmizon the CEO of Infinity Broadcasting and co-CEO of Viacom through Brett the doors were open at WFAN, an Infinity station to deal directly with the top guy. I cannot remember the guys name because we never cut the deal but we spoke frequently for a few weeks during the summer of 2001 trying to iron out a deal. I was able to arrange a time to meet with him when he came out to Los Angeles. We met at Brett Rateaver's office on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles just down the street from Peterson Publishing and Larry Flynt's Hustler building. During our meeting, the President of WFAN demanded a $1,000,000 commitment from BOS to get on the air. I knew Claude wanted WFAN and it was the top local station in the country in the #1 market in the country so I wanted it also because the numbers were 2nd to only Jim Rome. I responded to the President of WFAN by saying that I couldn't get him a larger budget than what was placed on Rome but I could come close. Our meeting ended as I informed both Brett and the president of WFAN to not hold their breath and I would see what I could do and come back to them with a reasonable offer.
I tried to convince Claude that the $1,000,000 commitment was reasonable and we should seriously consider offering WFAN at least $400,000. This was extremely tough for Claude to swallow. He could only relate to KNBR in San Francisco and KTCK in Dallas. Both of those stations BOS alone was spending in excess of $105,000 for a ten week campaign. Also Jim Rome had a weekly audience of 2,000,000 listeners; WFAN had about 1/5 of the audience. I emphasized the limitations that Premiere Radio had put on us by limiting us to one spot per day and with WFAN we would be running around 15-20 spots per week. This just never sank in with Claude and he told me to counter with $200,000 for WFAN but not a penny more. Unfortunately the deal died which I consider one of my biggest failures when it came to online gaming advertising. I should have pushed harder. Based on our results from Jim Rome I estimated WFAN with a $400,000 buy would have been 2nd to Rome and one of our top local stations.
The preparation for the 2001 campaign certainly took its toll on my personal life. I was committed to taking advantage of the opportunity afforded to me by BOS. I would work around the clock putting together schedules, lining up talent, writing scripts, negotiating terms for advertising with the media, traveling to radio stations, media companies, etc. By the time the 2001 ad season was to start I was prepared 10x over and could rattle off all of the stations we were on, the times when the spots were to play, the talent recording the spots or announcing them live, the rates, the talent fees, the sales representatives, the laws of each state, the terms of agreement, the ad copy, and the breakdowns based on each of the brands. I knew everything short of the station’s mascot and I knew some of those too. What I did that year they needed about 20 professionals to replace me. I also was paying bottom dollar which Claude loved and I did it by consolidating the dollars from all the brands. We also eliminated a lot of competition by consolidating dollars and setting up a group consisting of the sports books in the Mall San Pablo just like the BCS which reserves the top bowl games for the big money schools conferences and tries to shut out the small schools with less revenue.
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