As a lifelong sports enthusiast, Jimmie Allen couldn’t be having more fun at work. His talk radio program, “After Hours Sports” on 1620 AM, The Zone, set a new standard for brokered shows and has triggered a positive chain reaction he never could have imagined.
Jimmie began his radio show by purchasing airtime, which meant he not only had to fill his two hours with content every week, but he also had to pitch his show to businesses, convincing them that advertising during his program was a wise investment. Finding high schools interested in showcasing their sports and outstanding student-athletes wasn’t so hard. However, overcoming his reticence to become a salesman and embody all the negative connotations that word held for him was an obstacle he had to push himself to overcome. He eventually worked through his malaise and discovered that not only was he good at convincing businesses to advertise on “After Hours Sports,” he enjoyed telling them about a program whose reach expanded far beyond what he could dream.
Students’ Lives Are Being Changed
The pride is unmistakable in Jimmie’s voice as he tells story after story of the amazing and goal-oriented students he’s hosted on the show. He knows of at least eleven students who have received college scholarship offers after appearing on “After Hours Sports.” His efforts to include typically marginalized sports, such as women’s softball and volleyball, have proven wildly popular, with three times the audience of his more conventionally male-focused segments. On occasion he receives personalized mail from the parents of one of his guests, thanking him for the impact the opportunity to be on the air had on their child.
One student guest really stood out. This young man was a swimmer at Jimmie’s alma mater, and he dreamed of being a sports radio host in his own right one day. Jimmie invited this student to fill in as a guest co-host on occasion. The student went on to Youngstown State but returned home and interned at “After Hours Sports” over the summer, gaining practical experience in promotions and productions. That internship eventually resulted in the student being hired to work with ESPN Cleveland.
As Jimmie has invited coaches to send their most deserving students to be guests on his show, he has seen something powerful happen again and again. These student-athletes, who have been working, training, and competing, for the most part in obscurity beyond their own campuses, become confident and articulate. Their pride in their teams, their aspirations for the future, and their youthful optimism cannot be quelled. He has provided them a venue, and there they find their voices.
The Radio Station is Prospering
The concept Jimmie has developed through “After Hours Sports” is achieving success no other brokered program on 1620 AM has been able to achieve.
Jimmie attributes his success to two key factors. First, he casts a broad net to attract a wide audience by appealing to sports enthusiasts, parents, educators, and much of the community at large. Second, he is drawing in an enthusiastic listening audience, as well as an increasing number of companies willing to invest their marketing dollars in commercials during his program. The station has been so pleased with the resulting increase in income that he’s been recruited to fill in for other daytime radio programs. He now hosts his program four days a week.
Doorways to New Opportunities Keep Opening
During March Madness this year, Jimmie found himself courtside in Detroit for Creighton University’s Sweet Sixteen playoff game, for he is now also the host of the Creighton Men’s Basketball Post-Game Show. In that moment, he had an epiphany; he was living a life beyond his wildest dreams. Every day, he is getting paid to do what he loves– talk about sports— and build relationships around them. Every night, he gets to go home to the most important people in his life, his wife and his daughters.
Jimmie’s successes have not lulled him into complacency, not by a long shot. Recently he asked on the air if anyone would be interested in a podcast for entrepreneurs, one in which business owners would be interviewed to discuss their companies’ work and vision, again helping to give a voice to those who needed to be heard. Within the first hour after his question, he had already received 156 messages of interest. Clearly this was an unmet need, so Jimmie developed the podcast. While only eleven episodes in at the time of this writing, his fledgling podcast is already attracting 1500 listeners a day.
How Does He Do It?
Jimmie identified relationships with people as the most important factor in his success. Echoing the sentiments of Warren Buffett, he said, “Believe in people and trust people to do the right thing, and you’ll be surprised how people will jump in.” An investment in a person has a multiplying effect. as it can positively impact teams, families, and businesses too.” His own entrepreneurial experience has provided compelling evidence that Jimmie knows exactly what he is talking about.
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