The Office Hours Interview w/ Ernest Wilkins

Carly Fisher is an award-winning journalist who’s byline has appeared in publications like GQ, Fodors Travel, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, High Times, Leafly, Wine Enthusiast, Brides, Saveur, Edible and NBC. Her work on CNN's "Family Meal" earned her a prestigious James Beard Award nomination in 2018. She’s one of the people in my life who I have to clear my schedule to hang out with because we will talk for hours about anything. This episode, we discussed how legalized cannabis is going to make things boring (3:32), why nobody should aim for the “local experience” while traveling (21:00), media and her forthcoming new book, Easy Weekend Getaways to the Hudson Valley & Catskills: Short Breaks from New York City!!!

Carly Fisher is an award-winning journalist who’s byline has appeared in publications like GQ, Fodors Travel, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, High Times, Leafly, Wine Enthusiast, Brides, Saveur, Edible and NBC. Her work on CNN's "Family Meal" earned her a prestigious James Beard Award nomination in 2018. She’s one of the people in my life who I have to clear my schedule to hang out with because we will talk for hours about anything. This episode, we discussed how legalized cannabis is going to make things boring (3:32), why nobody should aim for the “local experience” while traveling (21:00), media and her forthcoming new book, Easy Weekend Getaways to the Hudson Valley & Catskills: Short Breaks from New York City!!!

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Your Homework for the Week:

I’m a really big fan of DaBaby! I’m a really big fan of Joe Coscarelli! Read this!

Learn about 4 letters that changed the way I communicate at work: B.L.U.F.

Did you know that Soul Train—the show that put black music on TVs across America—got its start in Chicago? Did you know that even after the show moved to LA, Chicago kept its own version running daily for nearly a decade?

TUNES:

If you enjoyed this story, forward to a friend and tell them to sign up for the newsletter!Office Hours is written by Ernest Wilkins. Follow me everywhere @ErnestWilkins or email me here.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at officehours.substack.com/subscribe

There are 48 historically black colleges across the US that operate football programs. These programs don't receive the same media coverage as the larger D-1A (also known as FBS, think Florida State and Michigan) schools despite averaging crowds that rival some of the programs in big conferences.

Don’t believe me? Here’s last season’s football attendance data from the NCAA itself:

The schools in green are HBCU’s. Now look at the average attendance for FBS schools overall:

4 HBCU programs playing in the second-tier of D1 football — Jackson State, Southern University, Florida A&M and Alabama State — outdrew the following FBS (Tier 1) schools: Ball State, Bowling Green, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Eastern Michigan, FIU, LA-Monroe, UMass, Miami (OH), Middle Tennessee State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Illinois, Ohio, San Jose State, South Alabama, Texas State, UNLV, UTEP, Western Kentucky and Western Michigan.

What’s crazier: Jackson State (avg. 24,770 and alma mater of Walter Payton) outdrew Kansas, Marshall, Southern Miss, Toledo, Troy, Tulane AND Wyoming last year.

Serendipitously, Jemele Hill’s must-read piece in The Atlantic that dropped this morning about the idea that black athletes should consider HBCU’s as a way to tip the scales of the ridiculous amounts of cash being made and spent by non-HBCU’s paints even starker numbers:

“The NCAA reported $1.1 billion in revenue for its 2017 fiscal year. Most of that money comes from the Division I men’s-basketball tournament. In 2016, the NCAA extended its television agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting through 2032—an $8.8 billion deal. About 30 Division I schools each bring in at least $100 million in athletic revenue every year. Almost all of these schools are majority white—in fact, black men make up only 2.4 percent of the total undergraduate population of the 65 schools in the so-called Power Five athletic conferences. Yet black men make up 55 percent of the football players in those conferences, and 56 percent of basketball players.

Black athletes have attracted money and attention to the predominantly white universities that showcase them. Meanwhile, black colleges are struggling. Alabama’s athletic department generated $174 million in the 2016–17 school year, whereas the HBCU that generated the most money from athletics that year, Prairie View A&M, brought in less than $18 million. Beyond sports, the average HBCU endowment is only one-eighth that of the average predominantly white school; taken together, all of the HBCU endowments combined make up less than a tenth of Harvard’s.”

Enter HBCU Gameday. The self-funded media platform spotlights HBCU sports and aims to fill the wide open lane by creating quality content that resonates. They launch their first-ever television program this weekend just in time for football season, so I got on the phone to talk with HBCU Gameday founder Steven Gaither to learn about his background, the sincere need for sponsors and partners in this space and the HBCU teams to watch this season.

I want to be clear here: If you work for a consumer brand around college football and basketball and you aren’t already targeting companies like HBCU Gameday for sponsorships and partnerships opportunity, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. That blind spot is costing you cash and cultural cachet. Stop fumbling the bag.

TUNES:

I can’t stop listening to this song!!!!!!!!

If you enjoyed this story, forward to a friend and tell them to sign up for the newsletter!Office Hours is written by Ernest Wilkins. Follow me everywhere @ErnestWilkins or email me here.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at officehours.substack.com/subscribe

There are 48 historically black colleges across the US that operate athletic programs. Despite being members of the NCAA in Division 1 and 2, those athletic programs don't receive the same media coverage as the larger D-1 A (also known as FBS) schools despite averaging crowds that rival some of the programs in big conferences. Enter HBCU Gameday. The self-funded media platform spotlights HBCU sports and aims to fill the wide open lane by creating quality content that resonates. I got on the phone to talk with HBCU Gameday founder Steven Gaither to learn about his background, the sincere need for sponsors and partners in this space and the HBCU teams to watch this season.

There are 48 historically black colleges across the US that operate athletic programs. Despite being members of the NCAA in Division 1 and 2, those athletic programs don't receive the same media coverage as the larger D-1 A (also known as FBS) schools despite averaging crowds that rival some of the programs in big conferences. Enter HBCU Gameday. The self-funded media platform spotlights HBCU sports and aims to fill the wide open lane by creating quality content that resonates. I got on the phone to talk with HBCU Gameday founder Steven Gaither to learn about his background, the sincere need for sponsors and partners in this space and the HBCU teams to watch this season.

(AAW Wrestling at Chicago’s Logan Square Auditorium)

When’s the last time you watched professional wrestling? If you’re like most Americans over the age of 30, you grew up in a world where promotions like WCW, WWE and ECW were on television nationally and names like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Goldberg were household names. After years of falling out of the mainstream, this fall will see the biggest slate of wrestling programming on TV since the late 90s. I felt like it was time to take a look at the business of wrestling and who better to help walk me through it through former wrestler Danny Daniels who now runs AAW Wrestling, a popular independent promotion based here in Chicago.

YOUR HOMEWORK NEXT WEEK:

If you’re in Chicago, sign up to come see me interview Thelonious Martin at the Apple Michigan Avenue store as part of the Chicago Music Summit!!!!

Speaking of, there will be a live taping of Office Hours later this year in Chicago! More on that to come!

TUNES:

Inspired by Coach Taggart deciding to BOSS UP on the other 129 coaches in D-1 college football…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

If you enjoyed this story, forward to a friend and tell them to sign up for the newsletter!Office Hours is written by Ernest Wilkins.Follow him everywhere @ErnestWilkins

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at officehours.substack.com/subscribe

When’s the last time you watched professional wrestling? If you’re like most Americans over the age of 30, you grew up in a world where promotions like WCW, WWE and ECW were on television nationally and names like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Goldberg were household names. After years of falling out of the mainstream, this fall will see the biggest slate of wrestling programming on TV since the late 90s. I felt like it was time to take a look at the business of wrestling and who better to help walk me through it than Danny Daniels, the owner of AAW Wrestling, a independant promotion based here in Chicago

When’s the last time you watched professional wrestling? If you’re like most Americans over the age of 30, you grew up in a world where promotions like WCW, WWE and ECW were on television nationally and names like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Goldberg were household names. After years of falling out of the mainstream, this fall will see the biggest slate of wrestling programming on TV since the late 90s. I felt like it was time to take a look at the business of wrestling and who better to help walk me through it than Danny Daniels, the owner of AAW Wrestling, a independant promotion based here in Chicago

Our guest this week is Eddie Sanders, an intellectual property lawyer based in Chicago. In his life, he’s been a part of Chicago’s creative community as both an artist manager as well as a legal aide to countless members of the superstar musical talent the city cranking out on the regular these days. Hear about his upbringing, how he pulled off getting engaged on-stage at Lollapalooza 2019, what brands can do to get better creative partnerships as well as sharing a cultural concept native Chicagoans will recognize anywhere: the art of the “finesse”.

Our guest this week is Eddie Sanders, an intellectual property lawyer based in Chicago. In his life, he’s been a part of Chicago’s creative community as both an artist manager as well as a legal aide to countless members of the superstar musical talent the city cranking out on the regular these days. Hear about his upbringing, how he pulled off getting engaged on-stage at Lollapalooza 2019, what brands can do to get better creative partnerships as well as sharing a cultural concept native Chicagoans will recognize anywhere: the art of the “finesse”.