Beyond a Brand: The Unconfined Approach of Stephen A Smith

This year’s Forecast 2026 is shaping up to continue the tradition of great speakers and transformational information. It’s the most educational seminar that I attend annually. From shortly before sunrise to a bit after sunset, it is one great speaker after another. Leaders for Radio and Television are always in attendance. In recent years as media delivery on multiple platforms has become commonplace, we’ve seen the expansion of topics from participating speakers with broad knowledge. The most important parts of media are presented and discussed. Financial, sales, content creation, media and consumer trends are at the core of Forecast. This year is no exception.

One of the guests is known as a talent, but in reality is so much more. That’s ESPN’s Stephen A Smith. I’ve been honored to interview Stephen A at two previous media events. I will be interviewing him at Forecast 2026 and the approach will be very different. Our discussion will not be focused on his performance as a talent, and it won’t be a rehash of his rise from the ashes having been terminated from ESPN during the early days of his career, but rather as the CEO of Straight Shooter Media. That is the parent company where everything that isn’t ESPN comes from for Smith.  A business that he’s building into a modern day multimedia content platform.

When I first met SAS, it was through a mutual friend who shared that Stephen A, following termination, had found himself doing mornings on Fox Sports Radio. He asked me if I could coach him and help him make the transition from TV to radio. The leadership at Premiere Radio Network, syndicator and distributor of Fox Sports Radio, and the head of the Fox platform were welcoming and collaborated on the guidance given to Mr. Smith. If you read the aforementioned book that he authored, you will see a man living in a different time and facing different life challenges than those that he faces now. You’ll also better understand his need to be heard, and perhaps why his delivery is sometimes described as loud and overly animated.

His rise wasn’t by chance – it’s the result of a total commitment to working hard and succeeding, a barrier-breaking approach that reshaped how audiences connect with content and how companies deliver it.  It was a period of listening and learning. Smith is a an excellent storyteller and communicator whose intelligence comes from his constant curiosity. He asks “Why” a lot. I’ve never worked with an individual who was more dedicated to “getting it right.” Maybe that comes from his early days as an athlete. Maybe it’s the challenges of a tough life, single parent upbringing, or his competitive spirit, but I suspect that Stephen A. has exceeded  even his own expectations.

The man is a bestselling author having written and released the book “Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes” in 2023. Smith is also an actor and has had a recurring role on General Hospital since 2007. As if these accomplishments aren’t enough to be what would be a full career for most media stars, his name has been mentioned repeatedly as a potential candidate for a Presidential run in 2028. He often shows up on social media as click bait. We’ve not seen a multimedia personality like Stephen A Smith since Oprah Winfrey or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

SAS’s career serves as a model for today’s evolving media landscape. Given the competitive field faced by legacy media, a “pure play” approach is no longer enough to be successful. I like to refer to it as “using every part of the cow.” That is spreading content across multiple platforms. We’ve seen radio shift from the initial fear of promoting podcasts on our own airwaves because of the belief that it encouraged the audience to leave the radio station. Some broadcasters have eschewed newsletters, social media, YouTube, putting cameras in their studio, and there even some whose stations are without their own App. There’s no future for the broadcaster who takes an ostrich-like approach to content distribution.

Smith is a big radio guy who recently returned to the medium with a weekday show on Mad Dog Sports Radio, and he is also talking politics once a week on the POTUS Channel, both on SiriusXM. It is commonly acknowledged that radio as a medium is battling its fair share of perception issues in the outside world. I’ve heard it described as a melting ice cube, despite the overall consumption of audio being in a growth cycle. This reality should be enough to drive all members of legacy media to move forward as content distributors on multiple platforms.  Despite this need for greater reach, creating great content remains at the core of audience attraction.

I am curious as to Smith’s answer if asked for a blueprint for OTA Radio. If he were running a traditional radio company today, what's the one big bet he’d make?  To be fair, without the pressure of debt, the decision making process is unencumbered. Still, his answer would be of interest to anyone willing to think outside of the norm. My hope is to hear from Smith why he chose to return to the medium on satellite, and why not terrestrial radio? Much in the way Rush Limbaugh lifted Radio, Stephen A Smith on terrestrial radio could be every bit as attractive.

He has been outspoken about recent threats to the First Amendment. Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez says we have a “weaponized FCC” under Chairman Brendan Carr. That’s an argument for those on DC’s M Street, but Smith has spoken out in a similar vein. The topic is one of concern. Even ignoring the political leans of the largest broadcast entities, be it Liberal or Conservative, censorship is a two edged sword. It cuts both ways.

It’s no secret; traditional radio operates under FCC licensing, which means the livelihood of everyone in radio is ultimately at the mercy of the FCC. Podcasts, streaming platforms, SiriusXM - none of them have that vulnerability. We’re looking for answers as to how radio competes with that regulatory asymmetry, if it is at all possible. In that way we are dependent on the government and legislative changes to level the competitive field.

When you ask what the differentiator is between radio and the DSPs, or what content will be attractive to an audience, so much is dependent on the Talent. Yet we see the elimination of talent in many situations because of financial stress.  It’s disappointing that despite the opportunity to use personalities to generate additional revenue through endorsements and appearances, a key benefit to attracting an audience has been diminished in value. The loss of a job, and being unemployed for a year, are among those things that motivated Stephen A Smith, as individual talent, to become an ecosystem of influence.