User:Jason Barrett

Jason Barrett is a radio broadcasting professional based in San Francisco, California. He is the Program Director for 95.7 The Game (KGMZ-FM) which is the flagship station for the Oakland Athletics.

Barrett was born in Brooklyn, NY and lived there until he was 13 before moving with his family to Monroe, NY. He began his radio career with 1110AM (WTBQ-AM) in Florida, NY as an on-air sports talk show host, news anchor, producer/writer, production assistant and sales person. During that time he would give David Hagen and Rob Ryan their first regular on-air hosting opportunities in the sports radio business. Hagen has since gone on to work on-air and behind the scenes for WQAM and Sirius/XM and Ryan is the former Play by Play announcer for Vermont Basketball.

After 5 years with WTBQ he moved to the now defunct 1340/1390 ESPN Radio (WALL/WEOK) in Poughkeepsie, NY where he would serve as a producer and update anchor on the Athletic Supporters Show with Rick Zolzer. Following a year of working with the show on-air and behind the scenes he was promoted to full-time afternoon drive host and Program Director.

1340/1390 ESPN Radio would go thru a format change after being purchased by Cumulus media and Jason would then move across the hall to ratings powerhouse 101.5 (WPDH-FM) where he would produce the "Coop and Mikey" morning show in addition to handling news anchor duties and street stunts. He was also the host of the "No Holds Barred" wrestling show which aired on Sunday nights at 9pm.

Following his stay with WPDH, Jason headed north to Albany to join former WPDH staffers John Tobin and Bob Wohlfeld on the "Wakin Up With The Wolf" morning show on 106.5 WPYX. The stay would be short lived however as Jason would then be summoned to join ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT just 6 months later.

Jason joined ESPN in February 2004 starting as a Producer on the show "GameNight". During his first year producing he would work with John Seibel, Chuck Wilson, Doug Gottlieb, Sean Salisbury and a rotation of other hosts which included Erik Kuselias, Mark Madden, Mike Schopp and Jack Arute. The network would then look for a permanent partner to work with John Seibel and Jason would play a strong role in the network bringing in Freddie Coleman who Jason had crossed paths with during his time in Poughkeepsie and Albany.

After 1 year on "GameNight" Jason would be promoted in February 2005 to lead producer of "The Dan Patrick Show". Jason would work with the show for 12 months and was on hand as lead producer during the time when Keith Olbermann would return to the network after a long hiatus. During his time on the show Jason would be responsible for creating the DP/KO parody song, Mike Tyson spelling bee and lining up Alex Rodriguez to join the show after not appearing on it for more than 3 years.

After a 2 year run with ESPN, Jason would move to Philadelphia to assume the role of Program Director for Sports Talk 950AM (WPEN) which has since evolved into 97.5 The Fanatic. During his short stay in the city of brotherly love Jason would give Rob Ellis his first regular taste of on-air radio hosting plus he would move Harry Mayes from update anchor to host and hire Brian Seltzer as a PT Update Anchor. Rob and Harry have since gone on to regular hosting careers in Philadelphia and Brian is now a FT reporter for the radio station.

After a short stay in Philadelphia, Jason would head to St. Louis where he would take over the reigns as Program Director for 590 The Fan (KFNS). Jason would spend 21 months running the station before leaving the station in March 2008. During his time with the station, top 5 ratings were achieved during Barrett's first 6 months but corporate mandates to reduce payroll would ultimately impact the station's performance. As a result Barrett and his employer Big League Broadcasting would end up in court over his contract, a case which was ultimately settled.

Then in September 2008, Jason would be hired to program a brand new radio station in St. Louis, 101 ESPN (WXOS-FM). The station would launch January 1, 2009 with Randy Karraker, Bob Ramsey, D'Marco Farr, Pat Parris and Bryan Burwell hired as on-air talent. The station would later add Bernie Miklasz and replace Parris with Bob Stelton and in less than 15 months on the air, the station would become the most successful sports radio station in the city's history. During Barrett's time the station would become #1 in the market with Men 25-54 and would consistently deliver top 3 performances in the Arbitron PPM ratings. Then in June 2011 Barrett would leave the station after a 21 month stay in order to join Entercom Communications as Program Director for 95.7 The Game (KGMZ-FM) in San Francisco.

To launch 95.7 The Game, Jason would bring in on-air personalities Brandon Tierney, John Lund, Whitey Gleason, Mark Kreidler, Dan Dibley, former 49er Eric Davis, Greg Papa, Mychael Urban, Chris Townsend, Roxy Bernstein, Matt Steinmetz, Matt Maiocco, Brodie Brazil, Drew Hoffar, Scott Reiss, Henry Wofford, Rick Tittle and a few others. During the station's first year ratings progress was made but the station has not climbed into the top 10 with Men 25-54 as of June 2012. The jury remains out on whether the station will be able to unseat market leader 680AM (KNBR).