Few people have lived and breathed sports talk radio quite like Kent Sterling. From hiring and coaching some of the nation’s top talent to now running the mic himself, Kent has built a career on sharp preparation, authentic storytelling, and a genuine love for the games that bring people together.
As program director and host of Sterling in the Morning on WGCL in Bloomington, Ind., Kent mixes humor, insight, and honesty in a way that keeps fans coming back for more—whether they’re tuning in live or catching him on YouTube.
In this Work Happy Q&A, Kent shares why authenticity always beats cleverness, how technology has opened new doors for storytellers, and the surprising life lessons he’s learned from legends of the game.
The UpWrite Group: We typically see you broadcasting at least a couple times a day. During the off-season, when games aren’t being played, how do you keep your coverage fresh and engaging while still giving fans compelling stories about the team?
Kent Sterling: The NFL offseason is so brilliantly formatted it never gets dull. After the season, free agency is coming, then the draft, rookie minicamp, OTAs, and then minicamp. There is always enough pulsing of fresh information it never gets old.
It helped this year that the Pacers rolled through game seven of the NBA Finals, and there was a change in coaches with IU Basketball too. That coupled with a genuine excitement and enthusiasm for sports keeps me rolling!
In your career, what has been the most surprising lesson you’ve learned about connecting with an audience?
That the key to performance is being real. Some think it’s cleverness, intellect, jokes, insight, whatever. None of that means anything unless it’s delivered honestly from the heart. There are comedians with great jokes but no authenticity who are not as popular as comics without good material who bring only relatability and authenticity. We all know which are more successful in reaching an audience.
Then there are comedians with both. Those guys are Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle. With those guys, an audience feels like they are telling them a personal story in a one-on-one way. That’s greatness.
How have changes in technology shaped the way you approach storytelling?
The best thing about technological advances is no one needs a news director to hire you to do the job. With a smartphone, you are good to go. If you want to add lights, a tripod, and a mic, you can do it for $500 total.
Hit a couple of buttons, use smart search engine optimization, and stick with it, and all of a sudden you make better money than if a TV station HAD hired you.
What keeps you passionate about your work, even after covering countless games and seasons?
I got into this kind of late. My background was in media management, where I would teach hosts how to do what I do know. I’ve kind of gone full circle, but in the opposite direction. All that aside, sports is always a little bit different and everyone has his or her own unique story. There are parallels between sports and life that help us be more wise in our choices, and those are fun to examine.
I’ll give you an example.
Anthony Richardson is a kid filled with almost impossible-to-fathom athletic gifts, but talent will only take you so far in the NFL. He needs to embrace the detail-orientation and work ethic he never paid attention to high school and college. Can he grow up quick enough to reach his potential before the Colts GM and coach give up on him? If he can, THAT is a great story. Multiply that by 53, and you have one of 32 NFL teams.
Over the years, you’ve had countless conversations with athletes and sports figures. What’s one that really changed how you see the game—or even life?
I had a chance to emcee an event with Johnny Bench a couple of years ago at a fundraiser. I had dinner with Johnny and then had a conversation with him on stage in front of a couple hundred people. The way he viewed sports and life was inspiring. He was so open to telling great stories about his career and then also relating them to his current life.
He’s a father of two relatively young kids, and still learning about fatherhood in his mid-70s. His baseball career ended at 35, but his life continues to evolve. The great thing about hosting those events is that your job is to become friends with the guest during the time you are on stage. Johnny was generous enough to accommodate that for three-and-a-half hours.
You interview athletes who play on the biggest stage and make astronomical salaries, how do you relate to them so well in your interviews so they feel comfortable opening up and going beyond the standard soundbites?
My job is to make them trust me quickly enough that they are willing to share personal information when we first meet. Maybe I have a talent for listening in a way that makes them want to talk. Listening is always the key to an interview, just as it is in improv or acting. By listening, the next question always avails itself. My questions are always driven by curiosity… about something I truly want to know.
Coaches are great because of my background in media management, I know about the challenges of managing both downs and ups. Everyone understands a coach needs to lead, but he or she also needs to be led. That’s the tricky part: Getting along with the GM or AD. Being publicly responsible for a lot of things caused by decisions made by someone else is really difficult. It requires some finesse, and only someone who has walked in those shoes gets it.
In the media scrum how combative or collaborative is it working with other affiliates and what’s the atmosphere like behind the scenes? How often does someone beat you to your question in a press conference, and how do you pivot in the moment?
It differs by city a little bit. The media people in Indianapolis are very generous and cooperative. When I know the print guys are asking questions because they need quotes, I lay low. I generally ask questions in a scrum when I feel like the coach or player gave an answer to a fair question that is either incomplete or requires more context.
I’ll also never try to put them in a position to sound foolish. I’m not trying to play gotcha – and really no one does here. I would much rather do a one-on-one because the follow-ups are always where you get the gold, and follow-ups are very difficult to get in a scrum.
In the media scrums, do you ever hear questions and think what a bone-headed question?
I like that question because it’s so important in helping young people in media do their jobs. Whether a question is good or bad is determined only by the quality of the answer. There was a TV sports guy in Indy who would always ask bizarre questions that made everyone wince. What didn’t make us wince were the answers, which were always the best of the scrum.
The willingness to sound like a dolt in front of media types in order to get a great answer is a rare talent. Everyone would roll their eyes at this guy’s questions, and then all of us would use the answer.
What advice would you give to someone who dreams of working in sports media but feels intimidated by the competition?
Three things: Just do it, never be intimidated, and never see peers as competition. Like we were talking about earlier, anyone can afford the equipment so that is no impediment to creating content, so don’t wait to get a job to perform.
Media is such a tough business with staff reduction an almost constant worry, most media types are actually very welcoming. It took me a minute in life to figure out all the insecurities I have are shared by others, no matter how confident they seem, so being intimidated is something you just have to get over.
Media is so disposable that taking it too seriously is a mistake. We’re not brain surgeons with dire consequences for an occasional mistake. Work as hard as you can today, celebrate the successes, learn from the mistakes, and get a good night sleep. Repeat daily.
When you were a kid, how would you have answered the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Would the kid version of yourself be happy with how your career turned out?
I always wanted to be part of a team, whether it was baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, whatever. I still want that. I’m still that kid. Now, it’s part of media, but I still crave being part of that shared commitment, collaboration, and fun.