When Mike Eaby discusses why he believes Westwood One stands out from the rest of the competition, he admits he has some level of bias. As someone who has been at the company for a majority of his professional career and witnessed the production processes firsthand, he believes the talent on National Football League broadcasts helps bring it a cut above the competition. Westwood One airs prime time NFL games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights throughout the regular-season in addition to playoff matchups, all culminating in the Super Bowl.
“The NFL relationship is extremely important to us,” Eaby said. “It is what America talks about, starting to become 365 days a year, is what America talks about is the NFL as they monopolize the entire calendar, so we love being in the NFL business. They treat us well – we love our partnership.”
The tradition of NFL football on the dial goes back 91 years to when NBC Radio aired a Thanksgiving Day rivalry game between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions on 94 stations across the country. Westwood One has been the exclusive network radio partner of the NFL since 1987, and it is currently in its 39th consecutive season presenting prime time NFL regular-season matchups and playoff games to approximately 500 stations in the United States. Cumulus Media purchased the company from Dial Global in 2013, and Eaby works closely with executives Collin Jones and Bruce Gilbert.
“They support our broadcast and they support the ‘NFL on Westwood One’ immensely, and I’ll forever be grateful for that,” Eaby said. “They are constantly pushing me to look at things different, look at things from a different perspective, and I think I’ve been able to do that, and it’s, I think, made our broadcast even better.”
Eaby is in his second year as vice president and executive producer of Westwood One, a role previously occupied by Howard Deneroff. In the two decades leading up to the promotion, Eaby worked alongside Deneroff and considers him to have been the architect of the company’s NFL broadcasts. It is a blueprint well-suited to a modern audience, thanks to the relative simplicity of radio.
“We’re on the go, we’re easy, and I know that with smartphones, TV is easy as well, but you can listen to audio just about anywhere,” Eaby said. “Pop in an earpiece and away you go, so I think that’s part of what makes us valuable. I think that from a Westwood One perspective, I’ve really tried to instill the mantra of, ‘We’re here to inform and entertain,’ and I think that that’s where we can kind of separate ourselves.”
Keeping listeners in the know
When it comes to reporting about NFL media partners, the spotlight primarily shines on television — particularly as the league looks to renegotiate its 11-year media rights deals as soon as next year. While the shifting television landscape generates the most attention, radio is a quieter model of stability.
“Radio has been radio since the first broadcast back in the ’20s,” play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan said on the Sports Media Watch Podcast last week. “I mean, there really has not been much change. Radio stations have changed, formats change, the technology has changed, but the play-by-play on radio has basically stayed the same.”
Radio is hardly obsolete and functions as an invaluable resource for broadcasters to convey their message and reach a larger audience. While far removed from the traditional console that used to adorn living rooms, the medium continues to serve a purpose in contemporary society.
“You’ve got this captive audience that is hanging on every single word that you say, so the emphasis on the broadcaster being right is paramount,” Harlan said. “Not that it’s less on TV, but the picture speaks so loudly that sometimes the words of the broadcaster don’t necessarily connect. But on radio, all you’ve got is your imagination.”
Harlan himself is part of this equation, powering the projector that plays the movie in the proverbial theater of the mind. “Sometimes, just the action doesn’t really get the point across at how big that play was or how spectacular that catch was or how big that, whatever, and our inflection can bring in that great, full picture in your mind.” Listeners have told him that they have sometimes sat in their driveway to continue hearing his call of the action rather than retreating inside and turning on the television.
Eaby calls Harlan a national treasure and values his ability to meet the moment during NFL game broadcasts alongside analyst Kurt Warner. The duo will work the Super Bowl in February, with Harlan part of a short list of radio voices that includes Marv Albert, Jack Buck and Don Criqui. These are voices Harlan has admired since his youth; in fact, he once sent Criqui a letter and received a personalized reply filled with anecdotes and advice.
Now in his 41st consecutive year as an NFL play-by-play announcer, Harlan never takes the Super Bowl responsibilities for granted. The game last season reached 700 U.S. stations and was also simulcast on SiriusXM, the NFL App, Google Home and Amazon Alexa.
“I always think, ‘How many broadcasters, play-by-play people, today would switch places with [me]?,'” Harlan said. “The only person that would not is the guy doing TV…. but everybody else, they would jump in my seat to do that broadcast, which is heard worldwide, in a heartbeat, and they would do it for nothing. Believe me, that assignment is so precious to me, and it is never lost on me of who has done that broadcast, who’s done that game, the great voices before me.”
Offering firsthand perspective
Harlan and Warner work on the Monday night broadcasts, which also feature Mike Golic Sr. on newly expanded pregame and halftime coverage. On the day before, however, Golic is on site at the Sunday night game to provide analysis alongside Ryan Radtke. This is their fourth season working together, and Eaby believes the pairing has hit its stride.
Golic himself is cognizant of how radio is a medium in which the play-by-play person is of critical importance, and he possesses a clear understanding of his role as analyst.
“In TV, you can see what happened, but in radio, you have to explain what happened and why it happened,” Golic said. “That’s the key. I played football, so I get to take people where they can’t go. I take them on the field. If I’m telling a story about practice, I take them on the practice field or I take them in the locker room, and I really try and paint that picture of what it’s like.”
Throughout the week, Golic balances his daily television show on FanDuel Sports Network with his game preparation, building out his boards and reviewing the latest news and developments. Once the game begins, he reacts to what is unfolding while collaborating with producers through the talkback function and staying in communication. A few hours later, Golic is in a car leaving the stadium and reviewing his performance with his colleagues before resuming his television work less than 24 hours later.
“It’s a busy week — it is — but I love it. I’m still involved in the game, still get to go to the game, still get to talk all sports.”
Growing the game abroad
Across the remainder of the talent lineup, Kevin Kugler anchors the Thursday night broadcasts and pairs with a rotation of analysts that includes Devin McCourty and Ross Tucker. There are also other prominent announcers who work throughout the season such as Jason Benetti, Noah Eagle and Ryan Harris, and the company works to keep them in the mix. Philadelphia 76ers play-by-play announcer Kate Scott has been calling soccer matches for Westwood One, and she became the first woman to call an NFL game for the company on Sunday when the Minnesota Vikings faced the Pittsburgh Steelers from Dublin, Ireland.
“She calls the Seahawks TV preseason broadcasts, she did a few Niners games back in the day on radio, and she is so good and so versatile that we’re like, ‘You know what? This makes sense. Let’s gate Kate on board with this,’ and I’m excited,” Eaby said. “I’m excited to hear her, she’s excited about the opportunity, and I just know she’s going to crush it.”
The Sunday morning matchup marked the 57th time an NFL regular-season game has taken place outside of the United States, and the second of seven such contests on the schedule this year.
There has been speculation that the NFL will potentially create a new TV package of international games, but on radio, Westwood One has already established itself as the home of the international games. “We’re doing all seven of their international games this year, and we consider ourselves an important partner with them in expansion,” Eaby said. “Having done a lot of those games myself, it’s interesting to see the perspective of the international fans, and I’m blown away every time.”
Looking towards the future while honoring the past
Westwood One is evolving its NFL broadcast coverage this season with a new website and app listeners can use to hear the broadcasts. The company now has a TikTok account and also posts YouTube Shorts in an effort to promote game calls in the fragmented media environment.
“As the digital landscape evolves — sometimes at a dizzying pace — we will keep up with it,” Eaby said. “We will continue to get our product out there. No matter how you want to consume it, we’re going to figure it out.”
There are many other broadcasts that Westwood One produces and disseminates to radio stations around the country during the sports calendar, such as NCAA March Madness, the National Hockey League, PGA Championship and Ryder Cup tournament. Westwood One also distributes “The Jim Rome Show” on satellite and other programs within the Audacy-produced Infinity Sports Network lineup.
As the autumn wind moves into the winter, Eaby is focused on crafting a broadcast product that remains a compelling option for sports fans and chronicling the twists and turns of the NFL season. In the end, one team will hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and Westwood One will be alongside media outlets across the world documenting the season at large and the chapters yet to be written.
“I want to make sure that we’re successful in that when a listener listens to our broadcast, at the end of the game, they know what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and, ‘Did we discuss the topics that are going to be discussed the next day at the water cooler?’ so to speak,” Eaby said. “That’s how I measure a successful broadcast — and no technical issues. Nobody likes technical issues in audio.”
