Sports

How Phil Mackey Digitally Evolved Sports Radio Into SKOR North

Published

3 weeks ago

May 15, 2025

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Since the dawn of MySpace in 2003, social media use in the United States has continued to grow like a runaway freight train. With every new innovation comes another audience to connect to, engage with, and entertain. For over twenty years, traditional broadcast radio has faced challenges in how to grow audience through social platforms as the industry gives way to a more digitally educated audience with more ease of search and shortened attention spans. Very few sports radio stations have tackled the challenges of growing on social media like SKOR North, headed by Phil Mackey.

For the last 15 years, Mackey has been one of the leading minds with Hubbard Broadcasting in Minnesota, transforming what was ESPN 1500 into SKOR North, a totally digital sports media juggernaut. Mackey, whose background began in traditional sports radio, understands the mistakes that sports radio stations make in regard to how audiences find content in today’s playing field.

“We think of radio as the only distribution platform that we should pour our energy into, and if we get to the other stuff, so be it,” said Mackey. “The problem is when we half-ass those other platforms—social media, the longer form platforms, podcasts, or YouTube—what we’re doing is preventing people from discovering our content.”

A study from Data Reportal shows that of the 411 million mobile connections that were active in the United States in early 2025, it found 253 million total social media user identities, equating to 73% of the population of the country. The highest user bases are found on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, according to the study.

With Social Media Week underway this week, Mackey discussed how, over his time in the sports radio industry, he has seen stations and personalities be too narrow-minded when it comes to reaching the audiences available on social and digital.

“It’s hard to continue to try and keep the legacy business thriving if we’re cutting off all access to younger people that might stumble into our brands,” noted Mackey. “We’ve got to think more about content and brand across all of the platforms, even if radio remains our core business and our legacy business.”

Evolving Sports Radio Into SKOR North

The approach changed for Mackey in the fall of 2018 as he met with Hubbard Radio Minnesota Vice President/Region Manager Dan Seeman and developed a strategy that would transition a traditional radio programming lineup on ESPN 1500 to a compilation of shows and podcasts that migrated to a podcast network. Rebranded as SKOR North, the station continued to produce between six to eight hours of live radio each day. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the country, another transition was made as all the locally created content moved to digital media.

“We thought about radio for decades as the center of the wheel and everything must point back,” said Mackey. “The brand and the content are the center of the wheel, and distribution are the spokes around it. We have to treat all of those platforms, even if they don’t lead directly to revenue right now. We have to treat them as lifelines for the audience.”

For the first time ever, the radio industry’s digital revenue for a calendar year surpassed $2 billion in 2024, according to the latest RAB-Borrell Associates Digital Benchmarking Report. The issue remaining for most sports radio brands is how to truly take a locally produced product for digital and monetize—a struggle that Mackey faced head-on with the transition of SKOR North.

“It’s an education process internally and externally,” explained Mackey. “The content and audience building has been about three years ahead of the revenue building. Early on, we were selling radio spots and throwing in added value for podcast and social media exposure. Now it’s the other way around. Companies are buying the YouTube and podcast product, and we are selling radio completely separately as an ESPN-branded radio station.”

Mackey notes that there is no difference in selling social media or a podcast network compared to a radio program. The characteristics of building an audience, connecting a community, and then connecting the community to local advertisers is the core of how any sales department should approach the task.

“It’s a constant discussion and education process about where media is going and where it is right now,” Mackey says.

Being Social Is No Longer A Choice

While there is no one way to approach how personalities and sports radio brands should always approach a social media strategy, the need to do so is paramount. With so many content options presented to a consumer in a given day, it is becoming more difficult by the hour to connect with audiences and market a product—more now than ever. Instead of playing to just a specific group of social audiences to market your sports radio brand or talent, Mackey notes it’s an all-in competition.

“At SKOR North, we still create content for all of our different platforms, but we prioritize podcast and YouTube as the business drivers, with the other social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X) as marketing tools for us,” said Mackey. “We still put some revenue on those social platforms, but we consider those to be top-of-the-funnel, short-form, discovery-driven strategy versus the longform strategy.”

Furthermore, Mackey suggests that any sports radio talent or show that may have trouble finding which clips to use to market on social platforms should come in with a plan.

“I absolutely think if you’re going into a live radio show, you should be thinking in your pre-prep what are the things, topics, subjects that could be great on other social platforms,” said Mackey. “Always have your radar up for what could translate to more bite-sized or snackable platforms. Quite frankly, if you’re not thinking about that, it’s going to be hard to gain traction on those platforms where the younger audience is waiting to be connected with.”

A Talent’s Job Is To Build On Air And On Social

Sports radio personalities also differ on how they use social media to connect with their audience. Some talent choose to be more open and engage with their following, while others prefer to stray away, fearing too much exposure. Unfortunately, there are dangers and consequences that come from how some talent use social media, with no seven-second delay to protect them. This leads to some in the industry choosing to completely ignore social media usage altogether, which Mackey says would be a huge mistake.

“I think it’s hard to just not be engaging because part of your job is to build that community,” said Mackey. “We pride ourselves at SKOR North saying we are the most fan-friendly interactive podcast in the Twin Cities. If you are a fan with an opinion on something, we will create space for that interaction. If I were to go dark and never reply to anybody in a comment section or on social media, would I really be aligned with our mission statement as content creators? Probably not.”

Under Mackey’s leadership, SKOR North continues to be a model of success for how companies can take a traditional model and reshape it for a new generation of consumers utilizing digital and social media. As he embarks on his fifth anniversary of being named Director of Digital Content Development for Hubbard Radio, Mackey is always on the lookout for the next great challenge as an industry leader in the evolution of sports content.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

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Sports

Duos from Austria, Greece, Czechia, Netherlands and Slovakia earn zonal tour medals with FIVB Empowerment – FIVB

Duos from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Austria, Greece, Czechia, Netherlands and Slovakia claimed zonal beach volleyball tour medals last week. A BVA Tour stop took place in Balikesir, Turkiye, while a MEVZA Tour event (pictured in the main photo; source: mevza.org) was held in Innsbruck, Austria, with teams from Turkiye, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary also […]

Published

17 minutes ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Duos from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Austria, Greece, Czechia, Netherlands and Slovakia claimed zonal beach volleyball tour medals last week. A BVA Tour stop took place in Balikesir, Turkiye, while a MEVZA Tour event (pictured in the main photo; source: mevza.org) was held in Innsbruck, Austria, with teams from Turkiye, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary also making their way to the podiums.

BVA Zonal Tour in Balikesir

Greece’s Dimitra Manavi & Elisavet Triantafillidi defeated Dutch wild cards Benthe Essink & Lieke Gijsen in the women’s final of the BVA Zonal Tour event in Balikesir, while the bronze went to Romania’s Francesca Ioana Alupei & Beata Vaida. In the men’s competition, Greek representatives Stavros Ntallas & Dimitrios Chatzinikolaou took bronze, while Yusuf Ozdemir & Batuhan Kuru delighted the home crowd with a win over Bulgaria’s Dimitar Mehandzhiyski & Dimitar Kalchev in the gold medal showdown.

The Greek federation’s beach volleyball department has so far been allocated a total of USD 262,500 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national duos, who have been working under the guidance of Konstantinos Pothitakis and Efstathios Chandrinos. The Dutch federation has so far been granted a total of USD 217,600 in national beach volleyball team coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment. Their women’s pairs benefit from the expertise of Cypriot coach Antreas Savvidis.

The top-seeded Greek team of Dimitra Manavi & Elisavet Triantafillidi finished runners-up in their pool in Balikesir, but then cruised through the playoffs without dropping a single set in three matches played. They triumphed on top of the podium after a 2-0 (21-9, 21-14) sweep of the final against fifth-seeded Benthe Essink & Lieke Gijsen of the Netherlands, who reached the gold medal showdown undefeated in three games played. Second-seeded Romanians Francesca Ioana Alupei & Beata Vaida settled for bronze after mastering a 2-0 (21-17, 21-9) win over Moldova’s Ana Nicolaev & Valeria Gherman.

Women’s results and standings

On the men’s side, top-seeded Greek pair Stavros Ntallas & Dimitrios Chatzinikolaou reached the last four without dropping a single set, but then they yielded to third-seeded home favorites Yusuf Ozdemir & Batuhan Kuru in a 2-0 (21-17, 21-9) semifinal. The Greeks bounced back with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) sweep of the third-place match against another Turkish duo, Tuna Imdat & Baris Guldali, to snatch the bronze. Both Ozdemir & Kuru and fourth-seeded Bulgarians Dimitar Mehandzhiyski & Dimitar Kalchev reached the final undefeated. In the gold medal showdown, the Turkish team proved stronger on the way to a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) victory.

Men’s results and standings

15 men’s and 11 women’s teams from Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania and Turkiye took part in the competition.

MEVZA Zonal Tour in Innsbruck

The entire men’s podium at the MEVZA Zonal Tour event in Innsbruck was occupied by FIVB Volleyball Empowerment beneficiaries – Austria’s Laurenc Grossig & Maximilian Trummer with gold and Felix Friedl & Florian Schnetzer with bronze, and Slovakia’s Lubos Nemec & Adrian Petruf with silver. Also with support from the program, Czechia’s Andrea Lorenzova & Mariana Tomasova took the women’s bronze. In the final, Austria’s Lia Berger & Lilli Hohenauer beat Hungary’s Stefania Flora Kun & Lilla Villam.

Austria’s beach volleyball has so far been allocated USD 84,000 in coach support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment, in addition to another USD 6,000 for a national team coaches development knowledge transfer program. Greek coach Georgios Kotsilianos has been in charge of their men’s national duos. The Slovak Volleyball Federation’s beach volleyball department has been funded with USD 126,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their national beach volleyball teams. Slovakia’s men’s pairs train under the guidance of coaches Martin Suja and Lubica Siposova. The Czech Volleyball Federation has received USD 168,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their women’s beach volleyball teams and another USD 24,000 in national team coach development knowledge transfer programs. Their women’s pairs take advantage of Argentinean coach Sebastian Menegozzo’s expertise.

Second-seeded Austrians Laurenc Grossig & Maximilian Trummer went through the entire tournament in Innsbruck without losing a set in five matches played. In a hard-fought semifinal, they outlasted sixth-seeded compatriots Felix Friedl & Florian Schnetzer by 2-0 (25-23, 21-17) and went on to celebrate gold after a 2-0 (22-20, 21-13) victory over top-seeded Slovakians Lubos Nemec & Adrian Petruf in the final. Nemec & Petruf started the tournament with a surprising loss, but then pushed through to the last match with four wins in a row. Friedl & Schnetzer recovered with a tight 2-1 (24-26, 21-16, 15-13) win over eighth-seeded Krystof Oliva & Vaclav Kurka of Czechia.

Men’s results and standings

With three wins in a row, fourth-seeded Czechs Andrea Lorenzova & Mariana Tomasova reached the last four. Their winning run was interrupted in the semifinals by the Austrian champions-to-be, second-seeded Lia Berger & Lilli Hohenauer, with a narrow 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) defeat. Lorenzova & Tomasova bounced back with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) upset of top-seeded Slovenians Tjasa Kotnik & Maja Marolt for the bronze. Berger & Hohenauer went on to master a 2-0 (21-14, 21-11) sweep of the final against third-seeded Stefania Flora Kun & Lilla Villam of Hungary and complete a perfect run of five straight-set victories in the tournament.

Women’s results and standings

28 men’s and 28 women’s duos from Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Israel, Slovakia and Slovenia took part in the competition.

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Sports

Olympic-level coach integral to the sport

A man described as a pioneer of swimming in New Zealand says he was not a swimmer of note himself, and “sort of drifted into coaching”. Pleasant Point man Clive Power has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to swimming in the King’s Birthday Honours. Mr Power has […]

Published

47 minutes ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

A man described as a pioneer of swimming in New Zealand says he was not a swimmer of note himself, and “sort of drifted into coaching”.

Pleasant Point man Clive Power has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to swimming in the King’s Birthday Honours.

Mr Power has dedicated more than 50 years to coaching and mentoring both coaches and swimmers at all levels, and was instrumental in the success of some of New Zealand’s top swimmers and swim coaches.

He said the honour was a surprise, but one he was very appreciative of.

While for most of his career he was based in the North Island, and in the recreation department at Christchurch Polytechnic, he and his wife Joyce moved to Pleasant Point 14 years ago, to be closer to their two sons.

He picked up the role of coach at CBay when it opened, until a permanent appointment could be made.

At 79, he says over the last couple of years he has “slowly petered out”.

“It’s really time to step down and let the next generation come through.”

Educated mostly in Te Awamutu, before heading to university and teacher’s college, his physical education background led to his career in coaching.

“I used to look after ‘the baths’ and drifted in to coaching from that point on.

“I wasn’t a swimmer of any note at all, I played mostly water polo, but there wasn’t the same number of coaches at that time, and it was just how things happened.”

The sport had changed considerably over the past 50 years, from lifting weights made out of concrete in the garage, to today’s high-performance centres.

“You had to be creative, you had to think about things a little more deeply, to make things work.”

Holding several positions at regional, national and international levels including as New Zealand swim team coach for several tours, Commonwealth Games, Olympics Games and Paralympics Games, Mr Power said there had been a lot of highlights.

“To focus on one would be unkind to a lot of the athletes I coached.”

However, his involvement in taking paralympic swimming from something “pretty gratuitous” to today’s sport for high performance athletes in their own right and on an equal footing to their able-bodied fellow athletes, was particularly satisfying.

Now enjoying being based in South Canterbury, Mr and Mrs Power were making the most of the opportunity to explore in their motorhome.

“As with everybody that gets to this point, you have to pass on your thanks to family members.

“There’s a hell of a lot of sacrifices that go into careers, you can’t be whistling off overseas without that support.”

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Wyoming’s Ryker Holtzen will compete at 1st career NCAA Track and Field Championships | University of Wyoming

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1 hour ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

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USA Men’s Junior National Team Roster Announced For Upcoming World Aquatics U20 Water Polo Championships

Story Links Irvine, CA – June 5 – The USA Men’s Junior National Team roster has been announced for the upcoming World Aquatics Men’s Junior World Championships (U20) starting later this month in Zagreb, Croatia. Head Coach Jack Kocur will lead 15 of the top up and coming athletes from around the country […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Irvine, CA – June 5 – The USA Men’s Junior National Team roster has been announced for the upcoming World Aquatics Men’s Junior World Championships (U20) starting later this month in Zagreb, Croatia. Head Coach Jack Kocur will lead 15 of the top up and coming athletes from around the country into action starting on June 14. Team USA was drawn into Group A and will meet Croatia, Hungary, and Montenegro in group play. A champion will be crowned on June 21. Live streaming and statistics information will be available ASAP.

Men’s Junior National Team (Hometown/School/Club)

1. Charles Mills (Tiburon, CA/USC/San Francisco Water Polo)

2. Baxter Chelsom (Los Angeles, CA/UC Davis/Los Angeles Premier)

3. Peter Castillo (Costa Mesa, CA/UCLA/Newport Beach WPC)

4. William Schneider (San Clemente, CA/Stanford/Mission WPC)

5. Jonathan Carcarey (Santa Maria, CA/Pepperdine/SOCAL)

6. Gavin Appeldorn (Newport Beach, CA/Princeton/Newport Beach WPC)

7. Ryder Dodd (Long Beach, CA/UCLA/Mission WPC)

8. Ryan Ohl (Greenwich, CT/Stanford/Greenwich Aquatics)

9. Landon Akerstrom (Costa Mesa, CA/UC San Diego/SOCAL)

10. Connor Ohl (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS/Newport Beach WPC)

11. Benjamin Liechty (Newport Beach, CA/UCLA/Newport Beach WPC)

12. Bode Brinkema (San Juan Capistrano, CA/UCLA/Mission WPC)

13. Kiefer Black (San Diego, CA/Naval Academy/La Jolla United)

14. Max Zelikov (Boca Raton, FL/Stanford/South Florida WPC)

15. Corbin Stanley (Yorba Linda, CA/Long Beach State/SOCAL)

Staff

Jack Kocur – Head Coach

Felix Mercado – Assistant Coach

Alex Rodriguez – Assistant Coach

Derek Clappis – Assistant Coach

2025 World Aquatics Men’s Junior World Championships Schedule (subject to change)

June 14 – USA at Croatia 1:00pm et/10:00am pt

June 15 – USA vs Hungary 11:30am et/8:30am pt

June 16 – USA vs Montenegro 11:30am et/8:30am pt

June 17 – TBD

June 18 – TBD

June 19 – TBD

June 20 – TBD

June 21 – TBD

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Delorenzi Named to PSAC Spring Top 10 Team

Story Links LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Gannon men’s golf standout Giovanni Delorenzi (Reggio Emilia, Italy/International School of Modena) has been selected as a PSAC Spring Top 10 honoree. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference announced the ten recipients early this afternoon. In addition to Delorenzi, Gannon women’s golfer Ditte Petersen also earned a spot on […]

Published

3 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Gannon men’s golf standout Giovanni Delorenzi (Reggio Emilia, Italy/International School of Modena) has been selected as a PSAC Spring Top 10 honoree. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference announced the ten recipients early this afternoon. In addition to Delorenzi, Gannon women’s golfer Ditte Petersen also earned a spot on the coveted team.

The five men’s PSAC Top 10 honorees also included Jacob Houtz of Mansfield, Seton Hill’s Ian Korn Ryan Miller and Matthew Muthler of Lock Haven

The Top 10 Awards, selected by the PSAC’s sports information directors, recognize student-athletes who distinguish themselves in the classroom as well as in the arena of competition. The conference designates Top 10 Award winners (five men and five women) after each of the sports seasons: fall, winter, and spring.

To be a candidate for the Top 10 Awards, a student-athlete must have achieved a minimum of a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average and must be a starter or key reserve with legitimate athletic credentials.

A junior, Delorenzi is an Environmental Engineering major with a 3.968 GPA. He was named to the 2023-24 CSC Academic All-America At-Large Team as a third team selection. He helped the Golden Knights win a first-ever PSAC Championship and finish tied for first place at the NCAA Div. II Atlantic/East Regional to earn a berth at the NCAA Div. II National Championships for the fourth time in five years.

The native of Reggio Emilia, Italy previously earned PING All-Atlantic Region honors for the third straight season. He also earned first team All-PSAC honors for the second straight year and was a second team choice in 2023-24.

In 13 tournaments and 32 rounds Delorenzi finished with a 73.1 average, the second-best average on the team. He had three top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes, including a second-place showing at the PSAC Championships while shooting a 3-under par 213. He finished tied for fifth at the NCAA Atlantic/East Regional, helping Gannon earn a berth as one of 20 teams in the National Championships. He finished at 5-over par 221 at the Regional.

Delorenzi had three rounds in the 60’s, including a low of 66 in the UC Golden Eagle Fall Invitational, and 14 rounds of par-or-better.

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Blue Wahoos honor Gulf Breeze beach volleyball for defending state title

FSU, Miami in CWS Super Regionals; NFL minicamps run June 10-12 | 2MD College World Series Super Regionals begin Friday, June 6. See who FSU, Miami will play. Plus, Jags, Bucs and Dolphins set for mandatory minicamps. The Gulf Breeze Dolphins beach volleyball team was recognized at Blue Wahoos Stadium for repeating as FHSAA state […]

Published

3 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Gulf Breeze Dolphins beach volleyball team was recognized at Blue Wahoos Stadium for repeating as FHSAA state champions and national champions.
Seniors Izzy Beech and Karmyn Ferguson threw ceremonial first pitches.
The team achieved a 21-3 record in 2025, following a perfect 22-0 season in 2024.
The Dolphins have reached the state tournament three consecutive years.

A little less than a month after repeating as FHSAA state champions, and staying on top the MaxPreps national rankings, the Gulf Breeze beach volleyball team has had a few busy weeks.

The end of the school year had something to do with that.

Players had to go through their end-of-year testing, along with just the general festivities that come with being a graduating senior for the six on the team Dolphins that walked the stage at the Pensacola Bay Center.

But for a few minutes on June 5, in front of a few thousand fans at Blue Wahoos Stadium, the Dolphins took a chance to recognize just what happened during the 2025 season.

Gulf Breeze came into the season as defending champions, looking to have a good season once again. The team wasn’t exactly looking to stay on top as state champions, but just have a successful season. “And success can look a bunch of different ways,” Gulf Breeze head coach Chelsea Kroll added.

“We were successful in a lot of ways. Then it was just the jewel on top to be able to call ourselves state and national champions again,” Kroll said.

The recognition at Blue Wahoos Stadium included ceremonial opening pitches from seniors Izzy Beech and Karmyn Ferguson, who played together throughout the season and initially gave the Dolphins a 1-0 lead in championship match against New Smyrna Beach.

“It’s weird to think that we are done with our high school career,” said Beech, who was also on the Dolphins’ indoor volleyball team in the fall that made it to the state title game. “We’re excited to see what the future holds for us.”

“I don’t think it’s really set in for me, especially being a graduating senior,” Ferguson said, referring to repeating as champions. “It’s surreal that our high school careers have ended. It’s just crazy that it’s over. We accomplished a lot. But I feel like we should be accomplishing more.”

The cheers were plenty loud from the stands, and from the backstop where the rest of the beach volleyball team stood in support, as both players threw their pitches from just in front of the mound.

“I didn’t know how it was going to go. I was just hoping I wouldn’t toss it into the stands,” Ferguson said with a laugh.

Said Beech: “I was too worried about bouncing it (off the dirt), so I threw it a little high.”

Beech and Ferguson, along with the rest of the senior class, accomplished a lot with the Dolphins. For those who were with the team since the beginning, starting in 2023 when the group was in their sophomore year, Gulf Breeze has been to Tallahassee for the state tournament three years in a row.

The Dolphins, in their first year as a program, made it to the state quarterfinals before falling to New Smyrna Beach, which ultimately won the state championship. Gulf Breeze achieved an immaculate 22-0 season in 2024 to claim the state crown, before finishing 21-3 and defending that crown this season.

“Man, I’m going to cry. I’m going to miss them so much,” Kroll said when asked about the senior class. “All six of them have had enormous contributions to this team, both on and off the sand. It’s just an incredible group of girls that started this program with us, and now they’re moving on to bigger and better things. They’re leaving some really big shoes to fill next year.”

Both players and Kroll all acknowledged how special it was to be honored by the Blue Wahoos again. The team was recognized after their first state championship, as well. Allie Hepworth and Sydney Sutter, instead of an “opening pitch,” had an ceremonial bump-set-spike.

Sutter bumped the volleyball to Hepworth, who set up Sutter for a spike to home plate. But that doesn’t take away how special it was to be recognized, again, as national champions by the hometown professional baseball team.

“It’s pretty incredible that they want to give these girls the platform to be recognized in the community,” Kroll said. “We’re really grateful that the Blue Wahoos have that community outreach and are willing to do something like this.”

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