=Many of you know I’m a pretty avid sports fan – especially baseball.

I love everything about the game – it’s truly a marathon, the games are leisurely (OK, slow), and hope springs eternal every spring.  Sadly for my Tigers, it is still June but already, many are writing this season off.  Back when spring training begans, some thought my Bengals would be competitive.  But it was not to be.  Yes, injuries have been plentiful.  But the team’s off-season free agent signings and trades have not been especially successful.

And that includes catcher Tucker Barnhart, apparently a great guy who has not gotten untracked at the plate. The Tigers acquired  fan favorite Barnhart in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds.  As I write this post, he his batting an anemic .226 with  homeruns and just seven RBIs.

Earlier this month, he posted a photo on one of his social page of a burning bat in his home fire pit.  This is not Barnhart’s first foray into superstitions around his Louisville Sluggers as evidenced by the pics below.

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It’s been said that baseball is the most superstitious of all the major sports.  Writer Deborah Minter has written there are as many superstitions as there are baseball players. Seemingly, every baseball player has their own unique rituals.

That was on display a couple weeks ago in Anaheim when the hapless Angels took the field against the Boston Red Sox.  The team was in the middle of a long losing streak.  And their manager, Joe Maddon, had been fired.

I checked in with the biggest Angels fan I know – Rita Wilde – former KLOS program director, and L.A. radio personality.  And the team’s prognosis was far from bright:

“The Angels suck and need a new owner.” Full stop.

When you lose Rita Wilde as a fan, you’ve hit new lows. The team was willing to try anything to stoop their losing streak.

Anything.

Even changing the rituals of their walk-up songs – those favorite, lucky songs each players picks that accompany their strolls up to home plate to take their at-bats.  So in what had to be a Herculean effort to change their luck, the entire Angels team changed their walk-up music to all songs by…

…wait for it….

Nickelback.

Holy Chad Kroeger.  When you choose Nickelback, you’re hauling around gigundous amounts of baggage.  But when you’re riding a 12-game losing streak, you pull out all  the stops.  The gnarly story was abundantly covered on social media, perfect platforms for copious amounts of insults, snark, and vitriol.

A story on MLB.com catalogs the Angels changing up their ritual. It started with the leadoff man,  the amazing Shohei Ohtani who walked out to Nickelback’s “Photograph” (instead of his usual “The Greatest Show” from ‘The Greatest Showman.”

The fans knews something was up.

Here it is, folks: Shohei Ohtani walking up to Nickelback’s “Photograph.” pic.twitter.com/DV1RHeOVUN

— Sarah Wexler (@SarahWexler32) June 9, 2022

And it went downhill from there, as each successive player in the Halos lineup swaggered up to home plate to  songs from the mighty Nickelback.  Here’s the playlist:

1. Shohei Ohtani – “Photograph”
2. Jo Adell – “Rockstar”
3. Jared Walsh – “How You Remind Me”
4. Matt Duffy – “Someday”
5. Juan Lagares – “If Today Was Your Last Day”
6. Brandon Marsh – “When We Stand Together”
7. Jack Mayfield – “What Are You Waiting For?”
8. Kurt Suzuki – “This Afternoon”
9. Tyler Wade – “Animals”

I’m sure some of you are asking, “Why not Creed?”  Or ABBA.  Or Weird Al?  No one’s taking responsibility for the prank.

So, did the ritual changeup work?

The Angels tragically dropped the game 1-0 to the Bosox, manager Maddon lost his gig, and the 2022 season drags on.  Last night, the Angels found a way to lose 12-11 to the Kansas City Royals in extra innings, no less.

They might want to try Milli Vanilli.

And now we segue over to radio and its bizarre “Superstitions.”  (Cue up the Steve Wonder.)

It’s hard not to think of one of these best “WKRP in Cincinnati” episodes, “Baby, If You’ve Ever Wondered” – the one where “the book” comes in, the first since programmer Andy Travis installed the station’s new rock format.

You can watch it here.

And that “a little close to real life” episode got me wondering about other weird pre-ratings superstitions the many PDs I’ve worked with drag from market to market.

The day the ratings come out can bring otherwise strong and confident programmers to their knees.  If you’ve never experienced the moment, you cannot apprecciate what PDs go through.  As they say, “If you know, you know.”

Not every programmer has a pre-ratings ritual, but a whole lot do.  (Did I?  No.  On ratings day, I didn’t even have the bandwidth to think about a superstition.)

So, I checked in with a few of my favorite “radio showrunners,” and here is just a partial list of their irrational customs they practice right before the numbers come out.

Of course, they’re all tried and true rituals – they work every time.

Keith Cunningham – KLOS

I always park in the same spot on ratings day and I have to get a Diet Coke about five minutes prior to release time.

Terrie Carr – WDHA

I have a lot of “quirky” rituals in anticipation of a ratings book.

Hanging feedback on our studio door is one! A few weeks before I start popping positive listener messages on out studio door that people email to us. I don’t know why! But I need a certain amount posted by ratings day!

Also we prefer our Morning Man “Jim Monaghan” is out of our building. We’ve had some beyond amazing books with him NOT inside our WDHA hallowed halls WHEN numbers come down…Jim….”GET OUT”! …….

Also I cannot wear a white shirt. I’m huge on artist shirts but on ratings day mine cannot be white.

I also feel our best numbers happen when we have a major concert in town on ratings day.

And I need to wait at least 4 minutes before logging into Nielsen.

Orlando Davis – WiLD 94.1, Tampa

My superstition is that I force myself to only look at our shares, first (which is more difficult those times when we’re not atop the ranker) if I look at another station it feels like I’m not hugging my own kid, after the dance recital, before others.

My attention goes to my baby, then the others.

Buzz Knight – Buzz Knight Media 

I had this weird obsession on ratings days to avoid listening to a competitor completely. I couldn’t even accidentally hear them. Felt it was bad karma to hear them.”

I was pretty fortunate with the results generally so I kept doing it.

Mike Stern – Jacobs Media

Once upon a time in a cluster I worked at, two program directors would wear suits and ties on ratings day and then go get their shoes polished just as the ratings came down.”

David Moore – KSLX, Phoeni

I have a clothing ritual. If I get a good week when wearing a specific shirt and shoes, then I will wear them until a bad week happens.

I am also very concerned with the color of the shirt/shoes. Generally blue is the luckiest followed by green then black. I have had bad luck with anything in the red/purple family and stay away from gray.

Dave Richards – Audacy, SVP Programming

It wasn’t as much a ritual as it was an event that was forced on me by a higher power. Early in my career, mid 80s, on “book day”, I’d pace. A lot. I’d walk a mile around the office, completely in my own neurotic haze. Wouldn’t talk with anyone. Like walking off the anxiety before it could happen.

Then like clockwork, 15 minutes before getting the advances, the book or copies of another stations data shuttled crosstown in a manila envelope, my stomach would trigger my entire insides. I’d go through some kind of unnatural, volcanic gastric eruption. I didn’t experience anything like it before or after. The recovery was quick and I’d act like I was fine the whole time.

Sure, it’s funny to think about now, but really speaks to the incredible pressure programmers put themselves under.

Perhaps the all-time “Sultan of Superstition” was Andy Bloom who confided he had “too many to mention.”  Andy’s rituals could be its own standalone blog post.

So what about you?

Time to spill.  In the “comments” below (or on my social pages), feel free to regale us with your bizarre habits, rituals, and idiosyncrasies you put yourself through whenever the ratings are near your door.

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Fred Jacobs

President & Founder at Jacobs Media

Fred Jacobs founded Jacobs Media in 1983, and quickly became known for the creation of the Classic Rock radio format.

Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.

In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.

Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.

Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.

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