JMV = A Guy’s Guy.
“The Ride”, and its host, sure has relatability. Always has.
WFNI learned the hard way. Even as 50,000watt 1070TheFan was growing in to a sports stalk powerhouse like few others in the nation – fueled by ESPN Radio affiliation, all of Indy’s major local sports play by play and a budding star in middays with Dan Dakich – 5,000watt WNDE remained the afternoon drive sports leader in Indy with its show “The Ride”. Listeners related so well to host John Michael Vincent (a.k.a. JMV) and his Hoosier-sports-fan-hospitality/companionship.
Beginning in autumn ’09, 1070TheFan finally took the afternoon drive sports talk lead; not coincidentally that was when JMV abruptly left 1260AM. After a 6 month hiatus from local radio, JMV returned this spring and recently sat down for a lengthy chat recently with IndyStar reporter Daniel Lee. While JMV weighed in with his opinion on wide variety of topics, most apparent was that he was born to do exactly what he’s doing now – hosting a sports talk show in Central Indiana. The following excerpts are most telling in that regard:
“What do you think makes for effective local radio?”
JMV: “…even though we look at this (Indianapolis) as a big city… we still embrace the local roots, the rural roots… and that’s me. I’m from a small community in southwestern Indiana… I’ve been all over these small communities… I think you embrace that and don’t hit them over the head so much with national story lines, keep it local… that’s always been my philosophy on how to go about doing sports in the afternoon here.”
“Media is all about hitting the right demographic… I’m high school class of ’87, you seem to appeal to that kind of demographic; guys who grew up listening to Quiet Riot and maybe like you found Phil Collins annoying.”
JMV: “That’s kind of my wheel house. (Ages) 25 to 50, I think I can speak to the younger generation in their twenties while also keeping what I know a lot about, ‘80s stuff & the ‘90s. It (the show) is a mixture of sports – certainly sports in the now – and a lot of stuff that other sports shows wouldn’t talk about. I love talking about pop culture stuff… to keep it hopefully interesting and entertaining.”
Entertaining, yes he is. Beyond just what ratings & other data show you, anecdotal feedback – specifically the vibe & spirit of his listeners calling in to give him shout outs – demonstrate his popularity.
Yes, JMV relates to his peeps.