The talk-show ratings race is a bumpy road
for 610 Sports’ CDot and Danny. 13
05.20.15, vol. 8, issue 4
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‘Drive’
The hosts of “The Drive” on 610 Sports Radio are Carrington “Cdot” Harrison (left) and Danny Parkins. The show’s producer is Ben Heisler (center, in the control booth).
LISTEN UP, GUYS
HOW DANNY AND CDOT PUT ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES ON “THE DRIVE” AND BEGAN DRAWING MORE LISTENERS TO THEIR SPORTS TALK SHOW.
By Aaron Randle, Special to Ink
Photos by Jill Toyshiba, [email protected]
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D
Simply reviewing the scores from last night’s games doesn’t cut it for Parkins on “The Drive.”
”We’re going to come at it from a different angle,” he said.
“This is a relationship,” Harrison (right) says of his partner, Parkins. “You have to concede some
things to the other side in order for it to work.”
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anny Parkins pauses
for a moment, taking in
what his co-host,
Carrington Harrison, has just
said.
“My mother,” Parkins says
to Harrison, “does not look
like Steven Tyler, you jackass!”
“Steven Tyler looks like
your mom!” repeats Harrison. Then finally, almost in
apology, adds, “Not the other
way around!”
For listeners, the dialogue
between Parkins and Harrison
is jarring and hilarious. For
Parkins and Harrison, it’s
Tuesday. Yet it’s this type of
madcap impulsiveness that is
key to sports talk radio. Stern
and Charlamagne wield offthe-cuff variety like a sledgehammer. So, too, do Cowherd, Rome and Le Batard.
Now it’s Danny Parkins and
Carrington “CDot” Harrison
taking their swing at things as
co-hosts of KCSP 610’s “The
Drive” afternoon radio show.
Parkins, 28, along with
Harrison, 26, and their producer, Ben Heisler, 27, form
what 610 thinks is the youngest sports-talk trio in the
country. They’re opinionated
and rowdy, bringing irreverent
zeal to AM radio — the old
man’s playground — and for
the first time in nearly two
decades helping the station
stake a credible claim as
Kansas City’s go-to source for
sports discourse.
“We don’t want to be a
sports-talk station,” Heisler
says. “We want to be a station that’s talking about what
sports fans are talking about.”
For “The Drive,” that
means fewer by-the-numbers
discussions and traditional
sports fodder, and more
off-the-path topics.
“We all have this,” Parkins
says, pointing to his iPhone.
In fact, Siri can communicate
box scores and stats quicker
than Sirius XM. The omnipresence of sports information created a challenge for
sports radio. Simply rehashing last night’s game is no
longer a viable format.
“We’re going to come at it
from a different angle,” Parkins says.
It’s the first Monday in May
and the biggest show of the
year so far. The past 72 hours
have offered a packed schedule: a Royals-Tigers series,
the NFL Draft, NBA playoffs,
the Kentucky Derby and the
Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
Other stations are discussing draft grades, the
state of boxing, and X’s and
O’s. “The Drive” does some
of this, of course, but not
without veering left a bit.
“MJ’s in the fourth row of
the fight, and there’s this guy
with his big Samsung Galaxy
cellphone planted in front of
him,” Parkins says. “Like,
who’s the douche with the
$250,000 seats blocking His
Airness with his big-ass
cellphone?”
Later, Harrison reads messages from the 610 text line, a
thread where listeners chime
in with their quips. Today
“The Drive” wants to know
what listeners would buy with
Royals starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie’s current 6.52
ERA if translated to cash.
“A 40 and a pack of condoms,” Carrington reads. “I
think I like that one.”
It’s the kind of cheap gimmick that critics say the show
profits from. It’s a secondplace station’s attempt at
shock value: pair two inexpensive rookies in prime
time and hope they lure immature ears.
The notion has teeth. The
station has skewed young
and reckless with hosts before in an attempt at a radio
coup.
It failed.
Kevin Kietzman and WHB
810 AM have outflanked a
litany of 610 wannabes, including Nick Wright, a nownationally syndicated phenom
considered one of the medium’s biggest fledgling stars.
Novelty, history has shown,
stands no chance against
standard.
❚ ❚ ❚
Three summers ago a
22-year-old kid, fresh off
seizing his dream job, sat in a
doctor’s office, despondent
and suffering depression.
“That was probably one of
the hardest times of my life,”
Harrison says.
He’d landed his first major
on-air gig, co-host on “The
Danny Parkins Show” from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m., and it was a
nightmare.
“I couldn’t stand Danny,”
Harrison remembers.
Before joining Parkins,
almost all of Harrison’s professional experience came as
understudy to his mentor,
Nick Wright. Wright, however,
on his own upward trajectory,
soon departed for a bigger
market and national syndication in Houston, leaving
Harrison to fend for himself.
“This was an arranged
marriage,” Parkins says. “I
didn’t pick Carrington.”
Parkins came to 610 four
years ago,an ’09 Syracuse
grad with a degree in broadcast journalism and years of
grooming — he’d done radio
in some capacity since his
sophomore year of high
school. He’s a Jewish kid
from Chicago, the son a
broker and financial manager.
Professionally at least, Par-
kins is manic and Type A to
the teeth. Ask him about
ratings and market-share
demos, and he’ll give them to
you backwards. Super competitive and hell-bent on
winning, Parkins strategy for
preparation is over-preparation.
“I was the five-minutesearly guy,” Parkins says. “He
was the five-minutes-late
guy.”
When Harrison joined
Parkins that summer, he had
little more than an apprenticeship under Wright, threefourths of a mass communications degree from Missouri
Southern and “a dozen or so”
610 on-air shifts under his
belt.
Harrison foils Parkins the
way smooth jazz foils heavy
metal. He’s from Kansas
City’s east side, the son of a
City Hall worker and firefighter. He’s easygoing and more
annoyed than motivated by
the male ego and ratings rat
race that dominate talk radio.
If Parkins is Felix Unger, neurotic and obsessive, Harrison
is Oscar Madison wondering,
“What the hell for?”
To prep for the show, Parkins manicured show itinerary
to the minute. Harrison preferred personal space and
time to vibe out to music to
clear his head. Parkins
thought Harrison should, like
himself, arrive at work early.
Harrison thought Parkins
should go to hell.
“It’s like a college player
who gets to the NFL and
doesn’t realize how much
work it’s going to take,” Harrison says about himself.
Screening calls and providing occasional remarks on
Wright’s show was one thing,
taking the driver’s seat and
co-hosting a four-hour show,
another. It was a task Harrison
admits he was unprepared
for.
“I didn’t know how to handle it,” he says.
After a year of anchoring his
own morning show, Parkins
had begun to acclimate to his
role as a solo host at 610 and
was uneasy about being
thrown into a partnership with
someone with such limited
experience.
“There was a resentment,”
he says.
On air, the two were talking
over each other, cutting one
another off midsentence,
recycling themes.
“It was just bad,” Parkins
says.
Harrison gained a proclivity
for perhaps the worst thing a
Ben Heisler,
producer of
“The Drive,”
attended
grade school
with Danny
Parkins. The
two are both
Chicago
natives and
Syracuse
University
graduates.
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Parkins and Harrison have been on-air partners at 610 Sports Radio since 2011.
public figure can: Google.
He’d often search his name
there and on Twitter to gauge
listener reaction, to devastating effect.
“Imagine every day, four
months, five months, people
telling you, ‘You suck at your
dream job,’ ” Harrison says.
Since he first heard local
broadcaster Steven St. John
some 15 years ago, a job in
radio was all Harrison had
ever wanted. He’d realized
that dream now. Only
problem: He sucked at it.
“I wasn’t even watching
games,” he says.
He’d go home after a show
and do nothing, retreat to his
room and sleep or listen to
music, choosing not to watch
the games he’d be expected
to discuss in depth for hours
with Parkins the next day.
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aded as work prep.
“I was alone and stuck,”
Harrison says.
And so he found himself,
confessing to a doctor who
prescribed anti-depressants.
Meds, he says, that helped
him feel “a whole lot better”
and inspired a pivotal moment of clarity.
In some circles it’s called a
“Come to Jesus,” when two
parties lay out some hard
truths to achieve clarity and
perhaps reconciliation. Harrison and Parkins refer to it as
“The Winstead’s Talk.” When
Harrison stepped outside in
the middle of a date at Winstead’s on the Country Club
Plaza to go to his car and call
Danny to hash out their issues.
“We didn’t trust each other,
flat out,” Parkins says.
Harrison criticized Parkins
for his dictatorial ways and
micro-managing, Parkins
maligned Harrison’s ability to
transform lethargy into an art
form.
“This is a relationship,”
Harrison says. “You have to
concede some things to the
other side in order for it to
work.”
The change wasn’t instant,
but it was a turning point. For
the first time the two understood and began to learn from
each other.
Now the two are at the
station three hours before
show time, brainstorming
talking points and show segments, reviewing stats and
scores, and prepping the
show with Heisler.
“I really believe we outwork
everyone,” Heisler says.
Like Parkins, Heisler is a
Chicago native and Syracuse
grad. His audio production
skills (he was a producer at
Sirius XM in D.C.), familiarity
with Parkins (the two went to
grade school together) and
baseball knowledge made
him an attractive prospect for
610 (the official radio home of
the Royals).
He crafted the nuances
that indoctrinate the selfdeprecating, devil-may-care
identity of “The Drive” with
listeners. This translates to
extras like customized
tongue-in-cheek intros halfvenerating, half-mocking
frequent guests (national
writer Jeff Passan, Royals
broadcaster Rex Hudler, KC
Star beat reporters Andy
McCullough and Terez Paylor,
etc.), and rap parodies like
“Big Hosmer,” a Heislerrapped remix to The Notorious B.I.G.’s classic “Big
Poppa.” (Heisler’s version was
such a hit that Royals first
baseman Eric Hosmer has
said on air he’d consider the
version for walk-up music at
Kauffman Stadium.)
“I don’t know if it’s really
expected that they’re having
this much fun on the other
side,” Heisler says, referring
to 610’s main competitor,
WHB. “We’re doing all we
can to try and change the way
people view sports-talk radio
here.”
❚ ❚ ❚
It’s a slower Tuesday in
sports, so there’s time for a
friendly bet. Harrison doesn’t
think his co-host can name
five Michael Jackson songs.
“ ‘Smooth Criminal’!
Boom!” Parkins slams his
hands down on the desk
during an off-air commercial
break. He’s been struggling
for about five minutes to
name a fifth MJ track. “That’s
five!”
“Yea,” Harrison says casu-
ally. “But look at the struggle!
The greatest entertainer of all
time, and he can barely get
five. It’s just sad, bro.”
In 2013, about a year after
the Winstead’s talk, the pair
began to strengthen their
synergy and produce a higher
quality of radio. It was then
that program director John
Hanson, noticing growing
potential in Harrison and
Parkins as a tandem, made
the decision to move the then
23- and 26-year-olds to the
prime 2 to 6 p.m. time slot.
“The decision wasn’t based
on age,” Hanson says. “It was
based on their talent and their
ability and their ceiling.”
He saw an opportunity to
groom stars. He knew it
would take time but thought,
with persistence, Parkins and
Harrison could rule.
“In a boxing sense, (the
move) was about jabbing, not
knockouts,” he says.
Veteran media critic Greg
Hall doesn’t buy it. For more
than 20 years Hall has kept
his ear to Kansas City’s sports
media scene.
Now a columnist for the
Platte County Landmark, he
has also written for The Star,
the Johnson County Sun and
“Off the Couch,” an online
column where he often critiqued local sports coverage.
Hall covered the radio
scene when Don Fortune and
980 AM monopolized the
sports airwaves in the ’90s,
and when Kevin Kietzman and
810 snatched the crown away.
Hall has been one of the
most vocal critics of “The
Drive.” He’s especially tough
on Parkins, going so far as to
call his on-air antics “catty”
and “childish” on his blog.
“I think they limit themselves by saying, ‘Hey, we’re
going to be the younger
alternative,’ ” Hall says.
“Sure, they’ve got good
chemistry, but honestly,
chemistry just is not that
important to compelling
radio.”
Does he think “The Drive”
can beat WHB and Kietzman?
“No.”
According to Hall, “The
Drive” needs better interviews, less time devoted to
personal lives (“You’re not old
enough to be that interesting”) and more controversy.
It’s true, in the era of sports
TV personalities like Skip
If Parkins is Felix
Unger, neurotic and
obsessive, Harrison
is Oscar Madison
wondering, “What
the hell for?”
Bayless, controversy is successful. The hotter the take,
the better. But for “The
Drive,” it’s not sustainable or
necessary for success.
“I don’t know why there
has to be angst. We’re talking
about sports,” says Harrison.
“There are very serious
things in life that there should
be angst about. The Chiefs’
draft isn’t one of them.”
The scoreboard — the
current one, anyway — vindicates “The Drive’s” perspective.
“When you look at their
shares, I would bet there’s
not 10 sports talk shows in
the country that had a better
March,” Nick Wright says.
“People around the country
are noticing.”
In January, February and
March — for the first time
ever — 610 had the largest
share of the 18-49 male demographic in the city, a consecutive three-month success with younger listeners
that not even Wright was able
to achieve during his time at
the station. Granted, the
station’s March numbers may
be getting a boost from
broadcasting Royals preseason day games.
“This is what I can say,”
Wright continues. “If Danny
and Carrington ever were to
leave, and I have no reason to
believe they do, they would
not have a shortage of people
wanting to hire them. That’s
not speculation.”
Job offers and young listeners are nice, but in the context of the main goal of radio
supremacy they are hollow
victories.
What matters in radio is the
the 25-54 male demographic.
How many ears in that specific age range can you get to
tune in to your show — and
your show’s advertisements
— on a daily basis? “The
Drive” may dominate the
younger tier, but Kietzman
has more than a decadelong
stranglehold on older listeners with more buying power.
610 wins battles while 810
wins the war.
It’s the third week in May,
and the official April ratings
numbers are out. Parkins
leans back in his office cubicle
chair, hands behind his head.
He smiles.
“We won,” he says. “In
every demographic for April.”
Nielsen Audio ratings (formerly known as Arbitron)
confirm that “The Drive” has
defeated Kietzman’s show in
every ratings demographic
across the board, including
25-54. This includes a day-byday breakdown of the month
— “The Drive” beat Kietzman
even on days when the station didn’t benefit from airing
Royals games.
It is the first time Parkins
and Harrison’s show has
stood atop the ratings in its
history and only the second
time ever for the station.
“We won,” Parkins repeats
when he takes the air 30
minutes later.
He opens the show with an
eight-minute address thanking Harrison and Heisler,
admonishing naysayers and
looking toward the future.
“This is no long-term victory,” he admits. “But it is promising.”
Harrison cuts into Parkins
moment of gravitas with his
trademark flippancy.
“I’m just glad we’re not
getting fired.”
June 4–6
Appointment Now.
1901 Main Street, Loft
Kansas City, MO 64108
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