Although the show’s run will end on the Raiders flagship station, the Silver and Black Today podcast, live video episodes, and the news website will continue to cover Las Vegas’ hometown team.
What started as a journey creating the first independent Raiders news website based in Las Vegas, and progressed to a successful and popular daily radio show on the NFL team’s flagship station, will come to an end this Friday, February 26th.
While the announcement may be a surprise to many of you, it’s a necessary progression for me personally and professionally.
I’ve spent the last four years building the Silver and Black Today brand from the ground up. We built a small but powerful following on the website which led to a great following on our podcast when we launched it back in 2018. Within just a year, our “Las Vegas Raiders Report” podcast (we later changed the name to Silver and Black Today to be more inclusive of the fanbase) was named the 2018 Top Podcast of the Year by the Nevada Press Association beating out the big daily newspapers and others for that honor.
That led to our first big break in radio as Dan Kearney at Entercom’s CBS Sports Radio 1140-AM in Las Vegas offered us a weekly show that ran for over two years. It was the first and only all-Raiders talk show in the market for a whole two seasons before the team moved to the valley. That was the visionary in Dan and we’ll always be grateful for the opportunity he gave us. That opportunity included our live broadcast from London in 2019 and the building of a strong and loyal listener base.
Because of that listener base, and following in social media and on the website, when the Raiders selected Lotus Broadcasting as their official radio home in the summer of 2020, Silver and Black Today was asked to be a part of Raider Nation Radio and its launch on August 3rd. It was an incredible opportunity to move to a daily format on the NFL’s first station devoted completely to one team – the Raiders.
But, it’s time to step aside as I announced on our show this past Friday. Without health, you have nothing and I have some health fights to fight and that and my family take priority over the grind of doing a daily radio show. What many probably don’t realize is the Silver and Black Today (website, radio show, et al) were a passion and a second job for me. I have a full-time job in the world of communications and marketing. Needless to say, the past 4 years of Silver and Black Today mean working – in essence – two jobs, mostly seven days a week. That has taken its toll so it’s time to focus on the most important things in life.
While I prepare for surgery in a few weeks, I ask that you keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers. I’ve already received such a massive outpouring of positive thoughts and messages from our great readers and listeners. For that, I thank you.
I want to thank all of our contributors and folks who helped with the radio show over the years including my co-hosts Qiant Myers, Chaz Osborne, and Kelly Kriner. A special tip of the cap to our producer David Stepanian and our engineers Chris Chapman and Dmon Cotton. A radio show doesn’t happen on its own and each one of these fine men helped make Silver and Black Today the show you heard each day.
I’d also like to thank, again, Kyle Englehart who has a program manager who saw what we had built with SBT on the radio and brought us to Raider Nation Radio. I also want to thank Natalie Marsh at Lotus Broadcasting for the opportunity to be part of a unique NFL flagship station. Also, to my colleague JT The Brick who has always been the consummate professional and was always willing to talk about how we make Raider Nation Radio better. Thanks also to all my teammates at RNR 920-AM for their hard work, dedication, and perseverance through launching a new radio station in the midst of a pandemic. It was an honor to share the airwaves with you.
A special thanks to the Las Vegas Raiders organization and Marc Badain who, throughout the building of Silver and Black Today online and on the air, was always fair and responsive to us.
I also want to thank our loyal sponsors who, through their support, brought you the show every day: Tommy White and Eddie Ramirez at the Laborers Local 872, Attorney Michael Troiano (our first and most loyal sponsor), Dr. Jennnifer Marone, Dr. Andrew Marone, and Aiden Marone of Dr. Jen’s Nutrition, and our good friends Sam Mirejovsky and Ashley Watkins of Sam & Ash who believed in the show enough to become our title sponsor. These are the businesses who support Raider Nation Radio and bringing you the daily Raiders content you can’t get anywhere else. Make sure to support them and their businesses.
Most of all, I thank you – the readers and listeners. The element I will miss most about being part of a daily radio show will be the interaction with the callers and guests. Although we’ll still get the interaction with guests on the podcast, there’s something special about daily sports radio and the passion of Raiders fans from all over the world. Without the loyal listeners, callers, and readers, none of it would have been possible.
I am forever grateful for your loyalty, support, and contribution to the show. You are always what made it fun and engaging.
So, I take a break for a bit here but I and the rest of Silver and Black Today aren’t going anywhere. We’ll see you down the road and don’t forget to make sure you keep checking out the website, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss new content when we publish.
Thank you, again, for helping us reach the heights we have. There are new peaks to climb and I can’t wait for you to be a part of it.