As a Philly native, my family may disown me for writing this, but sometimes you must go into enemy territory to learn. With apologies to the Shomby clan, here goes.
I happened to be a resident of Dallas/Ft Worth in the ’80s and ’90s and got to live and be a part of, at some points, the rise of the Dallas Cowboys football team. The new Netflix documentary America’s Team rekindled those memories, particularly one.
It was midseason 1989, when the Cowboys made what was called then, “the worst trade in NFL history.” New Head Coach Jimmy Johnson and New Owner Jerry Jones shipped superstar Herschel Walker, their ONLY star at the time, to the Minnesota Vikings for several second-tier players and a bunch of draft picks, and the media crucified them.
I was there and a part of said media. Believe me when I say it was absolutely brutal.
Jimmy and Jerry had already displaced a legend in Hall of Fame Coach Tom Landry earlier that year when Jerry bought the team, so there wasn’t a lot of love from the fandom anyhow. What people didn’t see at the time, buried in the Walker deal, was that mountain of draft picks. Three short years later, those picks turned into Emmitt Smith, Darren Woodson, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith… and three Super Bowl trophies in four years.
It looked crazy at the time. It rewrote the rules later. It’s become the standard for rebuilding a team in the NFL. And I’ll reiterate from last week’s column – radio needs that kind of boldness now.
Stop Waiting, Start Rewriting
The days of doing it the “way we always have” are over. Boldness doesn’t come from clinging to what worked yesterday. It comes from daring moves that look risky—sometimes foolish—in the moment. The Cowboys weren’t saving face in ’89; they were building a dynasty, and they were doing whatever it took to get there despite the objections from the status quo.
The question is: what Herschel Walker trade are you willing to make?
What Boldness Looks Like for Radio
In 1989, Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson showed that the bold survive – and more than that, they thrive. (Although there are lessons that will come in a future column about how to sustain that boldness and continued success, which Jerry, by himself, has been unable to do.)
For radio, boldness might look like this:
- Flipping to a format direction that may scare some management and staff. Go back to July 1, 1987 and there was one company (Emmis) that thought that, maybe, it was time to broadcast sports 24/7. Not just games but hosts who actually TALK sports. That was WFAN in New York and the rest is history.
- Turning sales upside down by building creative, experience-driven packages instead of 30-second spots.
- Investing in talent and local presence when everyone else is voice tracking or running syndication. Recently, Jeff Warshaw of Connoisseur Media, after his company’s purchase of Alpha Media radio stations, said he would be adding, NOT subtracting, on air talent.
- Leaning into transparency (Domino’s tracker-style) to rebuild trust with listeners and clients. See my Radio Ink column – Opening the Curtain: How Transparency Can Redefine Radio
Closing Challenge
The “woe is me” chapter of radio has been written and rewritten multiple times. Now it’s time to write the “whoa, they did what?” chapter. The Cowboys did it in ’89. Who in radio will do it in 2025? Here’s to being bold!
