Cole R.

Hyman
6/11/15
Professor Tonkins
The Bryce Johnson Show Internship: Case Study

Bryce Johnson began his radiobroadcasting career as an undergraduate student at

Appalachian State when he created a nationally recognized show called SPORTS YAPP.
This show moved with Bryce to Charlotte and became the afternoon show with Fox
Sports 730. Then, in 2012 Bryce created, produced, and began hosting the UNPACKIN it
radio show that is now syndicated on affiliates around the world. It currently airs each
weekend on stations in Boston, Charlotte, VA, OH, TN, PA, MS, among others. This
show is one of a kind as it talks about both the national and local pressing stories in the
world of sports, while also tying in faith and how the two work together. He does this by
interviewing various athletes, coaches, and broadcasters that develop inspiring
conversations about sports along with family and the individuals faith. This show has
both a one-hour show and a 30-minute show on 105.7 FM and 960 AM in Charlotte. It is
also available to be heard on over 100 affiliates around the world, along with post shows
available on iTunes.
On March 23rd, of 2015, Bryce Johnson began his new show called The Bryce
Johnson Show, which has its headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. The show
actually airs in Asheville, North Carolina from 8am-10am on Talk Radio 1350. It is just in
its beginning stages but will be become independently, nationally syndicated very soon.
Along with Bryce are two on-air contributors named Brad and Brian, and a producer

named Zack. Bryce has both of these shows running currently, with The Bryce Johnson
Show, Monday through Friday and UNPACKIN it, on the weekends.
The biggest competition to Bryces shows are WFNZ AM 610 and FOX Sports
98.7 which are both sports radio stations in Charlotte, North Carolina along with ESPN
Radio 1310 and 970 AM which is in Asheville, North Carolina. These are competition to
his show because they will take away local listeners to both of his shows and are both
more homes of more well known established shows.
The Bryce Johnson Shows motto is, A show that is disrupting the current
landscape of corporate sports radio by bringing the personal touch to personality-driven
radio and leading the next generation of sports talk. With a local show feel and quality of
a national show, this fresh take on sports talk delivers topics and stories that are relatable
and insightful, while going beneath the surface of average sports talk. The dynamic show
cuts through the clutter of typical network radio, according to Bryce Johnson. Also,
UNPACKIN ITs motto is, A nationally syndicated sports radio show that unpacks the
most interesting stories, opinions, issues, and debates from a faith perspective. With
Bryces high-energy style and passion to encourage listeners, he shares his thoughts on
faith and sports, as well as life and entertainment, according to Bryce Johnson.
Bryce Johnson is the founder and CEO of both shows and will be my supervisor
this summer. He is also, the co-founder and CEO of Fandom Media, which is a small
business that he shares with the other co-founder and CEO named Brad Bradley. I look
forward to helping improve this show throughout the summer with my skills of research,
social media intelligence, on-air experience, and board operation experience. It is a very
exciting opportunity as both shows are within their first years of coming to be and my

supervisor is very open to allowing for me to contribute in meaningful ways. The sky is
the limit for these shows as they truly take a step away from the normality of a sports talk
show by adding a personal and relatable element that appeals to an extremely wide
audience.
I first interviewed Bryce Johnson, who is the big man in charge of everything that
is going on with the Bryce Johnson Show. He has been in the radio business ever since he
stepped foot on Appalachian States campus and loves what he does. He finds what he
does appealing because as he says, I enjoy creativity, connecting with people through
listeners, guests and others on the team, communicating constantly, asking questions, and
always finding things out about guests and stories. This job meets all of those aspects and
more. He also really likes that he has a daily outlet to be able to talk about life and
sports. Bryce never said that being a sports radio host was easy by any means but he did
say that, I have a large amount of freedom to get what I want to do, as it is MY show.
Needless to say, he finds his job extremely appealing.
Once again, he never said that this business was easy. There are many challenges
that he has to face on a daily basis. He said, Standing out and setting myself apart from
others can be a challenge as there is a lot of noise out there today. It can be a struggle at
times when there arent that many stories too talk about, which requires for me to dig
even deeper into researching for my show so that I can provide a unique and cleverly
planned out show to my listeners. Things can get tough when there arent that many
games going on later in the summer in the world of sports, but Bryce is always doing his
best to put in the time and effort to give his listeners above and beyond what their
expectations are on a daily basis.

Staying in the here and now in the industry of communications is very important
for anyone who works within the field as things are constantly growing, changing, and
evolving. Bryce likes to keep up with the newest technology and how to adapt to the
streaming age, especially pertaining to radio. He is subscribed to several radio experts,
twitter blogs, and e-mail blogs that keep him up to date on the industry. Mainly in the
radio industry, Bryce likes to keep up with new TV shows and their formats as well as the
Late Night television hosts and their knack for creativity. He also said, I enjoy to read
articles on ESPN, RealClearSports, and For The Win to get a good mixture of mainstream
and under the radar headlines and stories in sports. The industry requires a lot of hard
work and preparation to be successful.
Bryces career began at Appalachian State where he started out as a producer for
the schools football game and then worked his way all the way up to becoming the playby-play guy for three years. He also made a sports talk show while at Appalachian State
called SPORTS YAPP that ended up becoming nationally recognized. As a student he
interned for two years at WFNZ, which was a local radio station in Charlotte for FOX
SPORTS 730. Bryce said, Experience is so important. Hands-on experience is even
more important. I think that what I learned in my internships helped me develop my skills
to another level and also taught me the importance of making connections with people
and building relationships with them. He then ended up working for Sports Spectrum
magazine, where he wrote part of the Mike Vick autobiography, and became a nationally
recognized magazine columnist. Bryce made it clear that, Being able to do it all is so
important in todays day and age. A well-rounded person will get much farther in life than
one who is not. Most recently, he got an opportunity to do a Weekend show called

UNpackin it, which then got syndicated nationally, and is now the host of The Bryce
Johnson Show and co-owner of Fandom Media, which produces TBJS.
Toobtainthosejobs,Brycesaid,IhadalotofdeterminationasIhavebasically
createdmyownjobthroughoutmycareer.Ittookalargeamountofhardworktogetto
whereIamtodayandIhavereallyhadtousemycommunicationskillseverystepofthe
way.Hispathtowhereheisnowwasntasimpleandeasyprocess.Itcausedhimtodo
anythingandeverythingtogettheattentionofotherstogivehimachance.Brycesaid,I
hadtolearnhowtobeextremelyhumble,becausetheradiobusinessdoesntmakealot
ofmoneyandwhenIstartedout,IhadtodothingsthatIdidntnecessarilywanttobe
doing.Attheendofthedaythough,beinghumbledhashelpedmeinsomanywaysandI
believedhashelpedformetodevelopmyconfidence.Healsokeptstressingthe
importanceofneverburninganybridgeswithanyonethatyoucomeacrossof,ashesaid,
Youneverknowhowthatpersonyoumetcanhelpyouinthefuture.
AsIlookedathisvoicereel,Iwasveryimpressedwithhowcleanandconciseall
ofhisbestclipswereplacedtogether.Itmadelisteningtohisfiveminutereelinteresting
andentertaining.Hedidnothaveaneportfolio,buthedidsaythat,Intheradio
businessyourvoicereeliswhatcanmakeorbreakyourcareer.Allittakesisfortheright
earstocomeacrossofit.Alwayshaveyourbeststuffonit,andbeuniquetoshowcase
yoursoundandhowitisdifferentfromeveryoneelses.Healsostressedtheimportance
ofbeingaselfevaluatorandalwaysknowingyourstrengthsandweaknesses.Bryceis
thetypeofguythathasalotonenergyandIhavebeenabletoseehowthattranslatesto
himbeingonair.

ThesecondpersonthatIinterviewedwasoneoftheproducersonTBJSnamed
ZackMcGee.ZackwenttotheCarolinaSchoolofBroadcastingwithafocusinsports
broadcastingandgraduatedlastyear.SimilartoBryce,heloveswhathedoes.Zacksaid,
Igettotalkaboutsportsforaliving,soIcantcomplainatall.Assomeonewhois
veryyoungintheindustrytherearequiteafewchallengesthathehastoface.Zacksaid,
Itisaverycompetitivefield,andthisismyfirstfulltimeproducingjob,soIamalways
havingtolearnnewthings,sometimesfrommakingmistakes.Hewantedtomakeit
cleartomethatmakingmistakesactuallymakeyoubetterasyoulearnfromthemand
moveoninbiggerandbetterways.
StayinguptodateintheindustryofcommunicationsissomethingthatZack
constantlytriestodo.Hesaidthatheisalwayslookingintothenewestproductsandwhat
othersintheindustryofcommunicationsareusing.Specificallyhesaid,Adobe
AuditionisthemostimportantsoftwarethatIhavetouse.Itseemslikeeveryyearthere
isanewerversionofit,somestayinguptodateontheimprovementsandchangestoit
arevitalinmyjobofproducingTBJS.Zackenjoysreadingarticlesonwebsiteslike
ESPN,CBSSPORTS,andFORTHEWIN,andsaidthat,Watchingandreadingabout
sportsisnolongerahobbyofmine,itsmyjob.
ZackgothisstartintheindustryasaproducerforagolfradioshowinCharlotte,
andalsohelpedwiththeFridayNightFootballgameoftheweekwhereheproduced.
Lastsummer,heinternedwithESPN730CharlotteandmetBryceonedayinthestudio
andwasaskedtojoinTBJSteaminearlyAprilofthisyear.Hesaid,Building
connectionswithothersisextremelyimportantasitessentiallygotmetobeinthe

positionthatIamintoday.Zacksyoungdemeanorisveryencouragingtosomeonelike
mewhoisstrivingtoworkinthesportsradioindustry.Whenaskedaboutandwordsof
wisdomthathehadtoofferhesaid,Staythecourse,itsworthitintheend.Icantthink
ofabetterjobintheworldforasportsfan.Also,neverstopmeetingpeople.Zackalso
didnothaveaneportfoliobuthedidtalkabouttheimportanceofhavingastrongvoice
reel.Hesaid,Haveagodmixtureofyourfunniest,mostserious,andmostinformative
stuff.Peopleinthebusinesswantanythingbutsomeonethatisonedimensional.
Inconclusion,throughtwoweeksofworkingatTBJSinCharlotte,Ihave
enjoyedmyexperiencethoroughly.IlovethatIamgettingtheopportunitytohave
handsonexperienceeverydaythatactuallycontributestotheoverallprogressofthe
show.Asthisshowisbrandnew,Iamapartofateamthatisbuildingsomethingfrom
thegroundup.Withthatsaid,Ihavebeengracedwithatremendousamountof
responsibility.IgettocompletelywriteandproduceoneofBrycessegmentseveryday,
contributeonairduringliveradio,takechargeofallsocialmedia,andIamworkingon
creatinganewlogothatwillbetterportrayhisshowandbrand.Ithinkthatthe
organizationoftheirshowissomethingthatisveryappealingandsomethingthattheyare
doingright.EachnightBrycesendsoutaGoogleDocinemailtoeveryoneontheshow,
whichhasthetemplateforwhatwewillbetalkingaboutthenextday.Ilovethisbecause
allsixofusareabletoedit,addandmakeadjustmentstotheshowplanwheneverwe
wantto.ThisissomethingthatIwilldefiantlyincludeinmypreparationformyshowat
Elon.Idontlovethattheshowisfrom8am10ameverydaymeaningthatImustwake
upat6am.AsIamworkinginawarehousetomakemoneyafterIleavefromtheshow

eachday,itcanbeverytaxingandtiringonmybody.Ithinkthattheleadershipand
managementofBryceandBrad,thetwoowners,hasbeenextremelystrong.Theyare
alwayslookingoutfortheotherinternandIandalwayshaveourbestinterestinmind.A
situationthatIthoughtwashandledverywellwaswhenacallerlastweekhadsome
remarksthatwereslightlydemeaningtoBryceaboutacommentthathemadeonhis
show.Brycewasextremelykindtothecalleranddidnotfightbacklikemanyother
peoplewouldhavedone.Ithoughtthatitshowedalotabouthischaracter.Overall,Iam
lovingthisinternshipsofar!
Bibliography
1.Johnson,B.(2012,September13).Home.RetrievedJune12,2015.

2.Johnson,B.,&Bradley,B.(2015,April28).HOME.RetrievedJune12,2015.