610 Sports Radio Host Danny Parkins continues to win over fans with his incredible interviews with sports professionals while offering his honest opinions on both local and national sports teams. (Photo property of 610 Sports Radio)
By: Jacob Elyachar
One of the most popular on-air personalities in Kansas City sports radio is Danny Parkins. From hosting his self-titled morning show to filling in for the 610 Sports Radio afternoon show, Danny continues to light up the Kansas City metropolitan area while focusing on the latest in the world of local and national sports and balancing time between talking to local athletes, sports journalists and enthusiastic sports fans.
I recently had the chance to correspond with the rising sports host and we talked about how he got into radio, the layout of “The Danny Parkins Show” and his advice to people who want potential careers in radio.
Jacob Elyachar: How did you get into the radio business?
Danny Parkins: The first time I ever considered doing radio was my sophomore year of high school in chemistry class when a kid named Matt Wettersten, who was a year older than me, told me about the station we had at our high school. I had just got cut from the golf team and wasn’t going to be playing any sports competitively in the winter due to an impending back surgery and he said it was a great way to be around sports without actually playing them. My first time on the air was doing the play-by-play broadcast of a women’s volleyball game. Now, I have no interest whatsoever in women’s volleyball (except for the spandex and bikini’s), but being on the air sharing my personality while talking about a game was great.
By the time I graduated I hosted a talk show before school, interviewed local and national celebrities, did the play-by-play for our basketball team in the state tournament, became the sports director – and my most significant high school radio accomplishment – organized and hosted a 15 hour radio-thon to benefit tsunami relief that raised over $18,000. That was when I really recognized the power of radio and what kind of difference it could make, and how I wanted to be involved with it the rest of my life.
JE: Could you please tell readers about your time as a radio personality in the Kansas City Metro Area?
DP: I’ve hosted “The Danny Parkins Show” in Kansas City for just over 14 months now and I really have no complaints. I’ve lived in the Chicago area my whole life with the exception of Syracuse (where I went to college) and I didn’t know what to expect. Sports radio is incredibly popular in this city as evidenced by the fact that a city this size has not one, but two, widely listened to sports – talk stations. That speaks to the passion of the sports fans in Kansas City, which makes this a truly special place to have a sports-based radio show… Now if the Royals and Chiefs could just win a few more games, we’d have all our bases covered.
JE: What have been some of the obstacles that you faced throughout your career? How did you overcome them?
DP: The biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome in Kansas City is not being from here. My mom’s whole family is from KC and I’m familiar with the area, but I’m a Chicagoan who roots for the Cubs, not a local who lives and dies with the Chiefs and Royals. To some, that’s a positive because I provide an objective perspective. But to most, I think it takes them time to realize that I’ve worked extremely hard to learn the history of the local teams, including KU, MU and Kansas State, to the point my opinion can be respected as somewhat of an authority on the subject.
JE: Could you please share the layout of the show for readers who have not had the opportunity to listen in to your show?
DP: The goal of my show every day is to cover all the local and national stories, in as fun, unique and insightful manner as possible. Hopefully you’ll be learning something one minute and laughing the next, all while making your day or job go by faster. There is no greater compliment a listener can pay me than “I listen to your show at work and you help make my day go by.” It’s why I put in the hours I do and it’s why I love the job.
JE: What are your plans for the remainder of 2012?
DP: To hopefully make it to 2013 with a job? It’s radio, so you never know. Plus, the Mayans might have something to say about that for all of us so who knows what the future holds.
JE: Could you give any advice for people who want to have a career in radio?
DP: The cynic in me would say: don’t. It’s a brutally competitive business with limited job security where you are only as good as you’re last ratings book. So if you can’t handle pressure, it’s not the job for you. People say, “I hear the money in radio isn’t very good.” That’s not the problem at all if you’re good. I’m young and starting my career and make a pretty damn good living for myself. The truth is, while it’s tough at the beginning, the ceiling of the business is limitless. If you do a good show in a good time-slot at a good station for a good amount of time you’re going to make a killing.
So I guess my advice would be to be willing to put in the work, network with people in the industry, practice your craft (podcasting sites are free so you don’t need to have a job in radio to get a job in radio), and attack it with everything you have. It’s easy to be average in this business and plenty of people are. But to be great, and I’m not there yet, you have to work incredibly hard to get to where you want to be and that’s what I’m trying to do right now.
To learn more information about Danny and 610 Sports Radio, visit the station’s Website: http://www.610sports.com/ and to connect with Danny on Twitter, you can follow him at: @dannyparkins.
