Ryan Porth knows better than to follow his recent promotion to program director at The Score with wide-ranging changes. The station outpaced its sports-talk rival, ESPN 1000, in the winter ratings book and held strong in the market overall. Why fix what isn’t broken?
“I don’t foresee a lot changing with what listeners are going to hear,” said Porth, who was promoted from assistant brand manager last Friday. “We’re lucky to have a programming staff that’s so talented and seasoned with Chicago sports. I’m still going to be leaning on them. When I see opportunities to weave in ideas, I will. But I don’t see ideation as a weakness at all with this team.”
Porth’s promotion coincided with longtime program director Mitch Rosen’s ascension to vice president and brand manager. Porth, 33, now oversees the day-to-day programming.
“Ryan has fit in at The Score great,” Rosen said. “His knowledge and thought process in the digital space has been terrific, and his guidance with our producers along with coaching has been impressive. He and I will continue to work closely on a daily basis with content both on the air and on all of our platforms. His promotion allows me to work on big-picture plans for The Score and develop new ideas and concepts.”
Porth, a Cincinnati native, arrived at The Score in January 2022 after spending 9½ years at sports-talker The Game in Nashville. In August 2016, the station underwent massive change, and within months he moved from afternoon-show producer to assistant PD to interim PD to permanent PD.
“I had no choice when I was thrust into the interim PD role one week before football season,” Porth said. “In Nashville, football season is everything. I was thrown into a hurricane figuring out how to be a program director, and somehow I came out on the other end of that.”
That experience helped Porth find success in Chicago, whose expansive sports scene gave him a “bit of a jolt” upon his arrival. But sticking to personal and professional lessons he learned at The Game has helped him excel.
When he made the jump from producer to program director in Nashville, Porth’s relationships with his colleagues immediately changed.
“I had to learn pretty early on that there’s not one way to communicate with people,” he said. “There’s a staff of 20, there’s 20 different ways because everybody digests things differently. That was one of the biggest things that I had to learn. I had zero experience with that before I was thrown into that role.”
Porth also learned the importance of local content from Bud Walters, president of Cromwell Media, which owns The Game.
“He always harped on that, and I’ve grown to appreciate as the years have gone on that local always wins,” Porth said. “When I was first becoming PD, I may not have appreciated that as much as I do now. The more local content you can have, the better off you’re going to be.”
Remote patrol
- The Cubs-Twins game Friday night will air exclusively on Apple TV+. Wayne Randazzo, Dontrelle Willis and former Sun-Times Cubs reporter Russell Dorsey will have the call.
- Jason Benetti and A.J. Pierzynski will call the Astros-White Sox game Saturday night on Fox.
- The NBA Draft Lottery will air at 7 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN from McCormick Place. The Bulls have a 1.8% chance of joining the Bears and Blackhawks as recipients of the No. 1 pick.
