Sports Talk Radio
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highest nationally syndicated sports talk radio shows, with 220 affiliates,
including 3 in Canada, and the rest distributed among 44 states and the District
of Columbia (The Jim Rome Show, 2009). The show exemplifies personalitydriven programming, with the host, Jim Rome, arguably one of the most
recognizable and influential names in sports today. Although Rome does
occasionally appear for in-person events—and has a separate, but related
television show—his greatest influence is largely acknowledged to have
occurred through the vehicle of radio and his ability to build community is based
within this medium.
In order to examine how The Jim Rome Show achieves this level of
community, McMillan and Chavis’s definition of community will be used as the
primary theoretical framework. McMillan and Chavis (1986) posit that
community requires four aspects: membership, influence, integration and
fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. An examination of The
Jim Rome Show shows clearly how this popular culture paradigm utilizes
components from each of these aspects to develop community.
Membership
In some ways the very openness and lack of exclusivity that makes radio
popular might limit its ability to create a sense of membership. The need for
boundaries, emotional safety, a sense of belonging and identification, personal
investment, and a common symbol system are all part of how McMillan and
Chavis define membership, and The Jim Rome Show firmly establishes these
elements.
In terms of the boundaries, a new listener experiences a definite entry point
into The Jim Rome Show since the language and style of discussion has unique
properties not easily understood initially and that distinguishes it from other
sports radio shows. Rome often says that new listeners and affiliates need to
give themselves a week to be able to understand the jargon and rhythm of the
show, creating a kind of entry point or initiation rite, making the group appear to
be more exclusive and thus desirable.
There is a clear text or language to the show, and the ability of listeners to
attend to this is directly related to their level of “inclusion” in the group. Some
of this dynamic is particular to the genre of sports talk radio. Linguists argue
that there is a specific “register” for “sports announcing talk,” that is, a specific
set of rules and patterns in language structure and other linguistic characteristics
(Ferguson, 1983). In order to attend to this concept of register, listeners must
make some investment to learn the text of the show, and by learning the shared
language (a type of common symbol system), they achieve a sense of belonging.
The shared language is sometimes referred to on The Jim Rome Show as the
“smacktionary,” the terms and phrases peculiar to the show. Although the
“smacktionary” has been at times available on the show’s website, it is currently
not posted there, underscoring the importance of engaging with the audio
experience of the show. Longtime, consistent listeners will understand the inside