Radio Row
There's simply no overstating the crush of media in Miami for Super Bowl week, and next to Media Day, it's at it's most frenzied and absurd at Radio Row. This is where every radio station in America gets a glamorous setup of a 5x7 folding table and a phone line to broadcast its programming. They make it sound big time, though, don't they? "Liiiiiiiive from the SUPER BOWL IN MIAMI!! This is 'T-Bone Sanders' of 10-20-84 AM, THE SPORTSASAURUS!!"
They're literally lumped one on top of one another, one radio show bleeding into the next. I got to wondering how this would work if it was "TV Row?" Imagine if Hosea Sanders stepped on Larry's Cook County budget lead-in? Could the walls withstand the sheer volume of Robin and Tamron Hall combined?
I visited radio row just to witness the spectacle of it, but after spotting some Pro Bowlers wading through the masses, I decided (against my better judgement) to try and get some Super Bowl predictions. But at Radio Row you can't just approach a guy without having interference run on you by one of his handlers. We had the agents, the agents in training- the young Ari Gold wannabes dressed in a suits they ate peanut butter sandwiches for a month so they could afford. I take a mocking tone because you would too, if some clown interrupted your interview request with a wagging finger as he negotiated a new Mid-East peace plan on his Bluetooth wireless.
And there are plenty of people with a product or service to push. The PR reps approach you like shot girls at a business convention happy hour: "This is the new T120 portable hard drive from Magnitech. Here . . wear a sticker!" Oh, the old sticker sales pitch. Nothing makes me want to buy a product quite like it's sales rep trying to make me look like I'm 9 years old.
And if you' re gonna give me a sticker, at least make it a scratch-and-sniff.