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Ben Rogers and Jeff "Skin" Wade co-host the Ben and Skin Show weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon on 103.3 ESPN Radio. They are local guys who root for the local teams and happen to have about the coolest job on the planet.
They've known each other since seventh grade, but did not set out to be sports talk show hosts. Their master-plan was to be rappers, and they actually formed their own group known as "Suns of Sol." It is the mixture of all of these elements, from music to video to sports, that helps make their show continually entertaining in a format that often gets bogged down in labor disputes, college football scandals and pro athletes getting arrested at the local mall.
With the Dallas Mavericks in the finals, it was only natural to chat up the two biggest Mavs fans I know. I caught up with Ben and Skin at Northpark Center following a live remote on the day of NBA Finals Game 4.
JB: Let me start off by saying I am quite envious of your job. How did you guys get your start?
BEN: I was working in TV sales and KSTAR 49 was running the Mavs games. Because it was owned by USA Network and run nationally out of Miami, all they had locally was the sales department. I was already doing a Mavs blog called The Rogers Report. They had a need for a local two-minute segment. So I talked to the general manager, Rick Mills, and told him I had a friend named "Skin" who knew everything about basketball and asked if we could do the pre-game segment for the Mavs. He gave us our break with the TV version of The Rogers Report.
JB: And you parlayed that into your own sports talk radio show?
BEN: At the end of that season, the Mavs broadcast rights were sold to TXA 21 and when I went to them and asked if we could keep doing The Rogers Report, they said "no, we're good." I thought our 15 minutes was over and then FOX Sports 1190 contacted us and we did a weekly one-hour show over there called Basketball Jones. Then we parlayed that into the Mavericks post-game show on The Ticket.
SKIN: We loved The Ticket so it seemed like a natural fit when we got our foot in radio to try and find a way over there. But it was all about doing creative stuff in some type of capacity.
JB: How long were you at The Ticket?
BEN: We were there for seven years and we had worked our way up to where we would be classified as the Sixth Man, as we filled in on vacations and did weekends and post-game shows. We did everything we could as a bench player, but we were playing for the world champs and every show was rated No. 1. There just weren't any opportunities and they actually helped us get our first full-time show over at Live 105.3.
SKIN: We thought we were going to do a comedy show. We got there August 25 and they flipped station formats to sports on December 12 and became The Fan. We had no idea the switch was coming.
JB: What was that like replacing the top dog in the DFW market in Russ Martin?
BEN: Russ was great to us and we were replacing a legend. So that was already a tough spot. And then they brought in a new program director who had a notoriously challenging personality. He made our lives miserable and wanted to separate us -- one in morning drive, the other in afternoon drive. We have been friends for 25+ years, we are a combination package. Some of the execs felt our pain and graciously let us out of our contract to free us from the guy who was making our lives miserable. Ironically, we would replace another legend when we arrived at ESPN when Michael Irvin left the station.
SKIN: Two years ago when the Mavs were playing the Spurs in the playoffs and the Rangers were off to a horrible start. I was on the Mavs TV broadcast, but was told at The Fan to not talk about "your Mavericks." So I'm down in San Antonio for the series that night and I see Randy Galloway, who I don't really know and we are on up against. He comes over to me and says, "We've got to get you on over with us (ESPN 103.3)." And I was thinking "that is the greatest thing I have ever heard." It has been an amazing turnaround from where we were to where we are at ESPN. We are at a place where we feel like we are wanted.
JB: Let's talk about the Mavs. Back in the '90s when we watched Fat Lever and Alex English and Walter Bond, did you ever think there would be two Finals trips in five years in Dallas?
BEN: Skin and I have both been hardcore fans from back in the '90s, when they were terrible. I feel that you stay a fan of your local teams ... your whole life. You ride or die with them. You don't jump onto a front-runner, but at the same time, I think fans have a right, almost a duty to be vocal. With success, your expectations increase.
JB: Last fall, you guys followed the Rangers on their trek to the World Series. You were with the team in Tampa, New York City and San Francisco. And now you are going to Portland, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City and Miami following the Mavs. Talk about that experience.
BEN: We are living our dream. Being on the road, while some media companies are slashing budgets, we are there for everything. We have a partnership with driversselect.com that affords us the opportunity to do the travel. It brings a lot to the show, since sometimes we're the only local media there. In that regard, it's been a magical ride of us being fans and living our dream through our dream job. It really is cool to be there and ask the questions that fans want to know because we are them and they are us.
JB: On that note, what is the worst job you have ever had?
BEN: I sold shoes here at this very Northpark Mall. I sold women's shoes. I was Al Bundy.
JB: Talk a little about your rap group, Suns of Sol.
BEN: The idea was that we would rap about funny stuff. I could just be from my little suburb and do that. I really thought we were going to be huge rap stars, but that just never quite worked out.
SKIN: What's funny about all that, though, is that we did pretty well. We did get an offer from Next Plateau, which had Salt-N-Pepa. We ended up getting on a lot of big bills and one of the bands we did a lot of shows with got a big record deal. So we were kind of close, not just a bunch of guys playing in the garage. Ultimately, rap is a young man's deal. Suddenly you're 25 and it's like you are too old for the whole thing.
JB: You guys deal with all of the local athletes. Who are your favorites?
BEN: It's impossible to choose just one. Tyson Chandler because he is so down to Earth. There is no ego. He will jump on our show and start singing. Another would be Dirk. He is so selfless and such a humble superstar. CJ Wilson is an all-around amazing guy. Derek Holland is like a little brother to the show. I enjoy having Martellus Bennett on the show. And we love Deion Sanders.
You can follow Ben Rogers on twitter @benandskin and Jeff "Skin" Wade @skindoeshoops. They love social media and interacting with listeners as their mantra is #GrowtheShow.
FOLLOW JAY ON TWITTER @THEFAMOUSJAY
