Originally Printed in The Herald Tribune’s The Ticket
Radio DJ: Steve Huggins
Radio station:WSRQ 106.9 FM & 1220 AM
Name of program: “Sports Mafia”
When to listen:noon Saturdays
Base of operation: Sarasota
When started: September 2010
Style/genre: Sports talk
Bio: After an international upbringing courtesy of his father’s military affiliation, then his own, Steve Huggins landed on the Suncoast.
Pursuing a love of sports talk radio, he phoned-in to a Tampa show one day and asked if he could watch what they do. That led to an intern position where he helped out on the weekends — live programming, attending sporting events — whatever was needed, which got him into a paid job (on WFLA 970 AM) doing the same things.
Moving to Sarasota for an opportunity at the old WAMR 1320 AM where he worked on “The Scott & Jake Show,” Huggins is proud that they covered every facet of the sports world, seemingly “any game, at night, that we could pick up,” he said, including local school sports, NFL, and live remote broadcasts.
He said, “It was a lot of fun and I think we did a lot of good back then, it was a lot of good information that came out of all that.”
In 2006, Huggins moved to Dayton, Ohio’s WONE, to help launch its switch to an all-sports format. It was there that the “Sports Mafia” was born, as an afternoon program hosted by Huggins and some of the other production staffers.
It ended when he left, moving to Baltimore for a year before returning to Sarasota in 2008 after urging from friends Scott (Hayes) and Jake (Jacobson) — of the aforementioned “Scott & Jake Show.”
Not long after, the production directing position opened at WSRQ 106.9 FM/1220 AM, where he’s now responsible for day-to-day operations, producing and loading spots — basically making sure programs run when they should.
Plus, Huggins re-started “Sports Mafia,” a program that’ll include guests who correspond with the in-season sports (for example, in football season, they’ll invite folks from the NFL, college and high school teams).
In addition to focusing on teams within this market, he’ll report on the organizations as a whole (such as news on ticket sales and stadium events, for example), and plans different co-hosts for each in-season sport.
Current co-voicer is former Bethune-Cookman football player Jay Stuck.
Quote: “There’s one thing I really learned in this business … if you’re doing a show — you want to make it entertaining, informative and also educational. So we really wanted to focus on those three things putting the ‘Sports Mafia’ together… .”
Where to listen: tinyurl.com/wsrqsm
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