The Sports Shop is more than just a sports talk radio show. By design, it’s a way of life, capturing the spirit of what happens when family, friends, and acquaintances gather to talk about the big game, who’s moving to what team, and who’s getting paid. It’s families watching Thanksgiving Day NFL or Christmas NBA. It’s everyday activities—the men at the barbershop and the women at the salon, and everybody at the cigar lounge, ready talk about what unites—a love of sports—rather than what divides (almost everything else!).
The Sports Shop is one of the fastest growing and most active sports talk shows on the air today. In radio good ratings and listeners do count. The show is fun with lots of personality, but more importantly, the sports topics and the mega sports star connections that are used every day. The show is super connected not just locally, but nationally, and that’s just part of why they have had success. It’s nice to have Duke, UNC, NCCU and NC State in your backyard also.
The payoff happened when Capitol Broadcasting discovered the duo when they first started and made a huge impression on a local AM station in Raleigh-Durham.
Reese explains, “We understand everyday we must talk about sports of interest that the audience is talking about. The audience will talk about the show if we talk about their sports interest. There are segments where we do tell the listeners what they need to know, but also what they want to know. We’ve been taught don’t look back. Every day we do our homework and give the locals what they want.”
Reese gives a lot of credit to his main coach–Lyles Media Group President Harry Lyles, who was the one who told him to create the show in the late 90’s when they first met. “I had the connections and the concept of the show, but Harry help me put all the pieces together and our success took off and continues to grow,” Reese said. “The Sports Shop is now full-time on Raleigh-Durham’s FM Capitol Broadcasting Sports station with other new opportunities to be announced soon.”
According to Kevin “KMac” McClendon, broadcast and business partner Erroll Reese is “one of the smartest, most connected people I know. He’s never misuses his network. Erroll uses his network to do great things—entertain people, run a successful business, and most of all, he takes care of people through supporting a wide range of charities in the Triangle and across the country.”
Erroll Reese’s journey started in Alabama, growing up to play college football at Alabama A&M University, alma mater of NFL great John Stallworth and member of the fabled Southwestern Athletic Conference. After college, Erroll’s earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, launching a 25-year career in the Raleigh-Durham area as a technology executive.
Erroll is an avid supporter of youth charities and early promoter of the NC Pro Am summer tournament that brings together professional athletes and talented youth for basketball and mentoring. Through his Pro Am connections, Erroll turned a one-off substitute opportunity to host a weekend sports radio show into the unstoppable combination of sports talk, music, culture, and a rabid nationwide listener base at home, work, and barbershops across the land.
Perhaps Erroll’s greatest attribute, says KMac, is his authenticity. “Erroll is just so genuine. He can be stubborn and hard-headed, but he’s so genuine. With my military background, I don’t function well when I don’t know who’s who in the foxhole. But with Erroll, you always know where you stand, that he has your back. He makes me and everyone around him better.”
Today, you’ll find Erroll Reese in a number of places—professional arenas, college and high school gyms, and golf courses, not to mention his favorite cigar shop and barbershops around the country—as he builds the Sports Shop into a multi-media powerhouse.
In the words of his broadcast and business partner, Erroll Reese, Kevin “KMac” Mcclendon brings a unique blend of qualities to their joint enterprise known as The Sports Shop. “KMac brings the edge to our show,” says Erroll. “He’s very intelligent, with the ability to adapt to any situation, qualities that really shine on live radio. He brings a very wide spectrum of perspectives to his work—a high level of education, diverse professional background, and he’s lived all over the world. With that level of perspective, he gets a little impatient at times, and he doesn’t suffer fools. So, if you bring it to the Sports Shop, you’d better back it up.”
Like Erroll, Kevin hails from the rural Deep South—Jones County, Mississippi to be exact. Also like his esteemed partner, KMac used collegiate athletics as his ticket to bigger stages in life, playing football at the University of West Alabama. Upon graduation, Kevin launched his career as a technology executive, first with the US Army’s communications operations in Washington, DC for nearly eight years, followed by a two-decade stint in multiple leadership capacities with Verizon, based in Cary.
A strong believer in the power of education, Kevin studied managerial and executive leadership at the Rutgers Business School.
The strong interpersonal skills developed from leading dozens of direct reports during his corporate career are evident in the quick rapport and rapid-fire wit that KMac ignites with the show’s revolving door of regulars and guests. With an encyclopedic knowledge of practically every sport, every game, and every player, you’ve got to get up a lot earlier than 6 am to slip anything past Kevin.
Erroll knows that above all else—his intelligence, wit, and adaptability—Kevin’s greatest strength is his accountability. “I’ve chosen to build this show, this business, with KMac because more than anything else, he’s dependable,” says Erroll. “Doing what we do takes a lot of work, not just three-hour shifts in the morning. There’s the show prep, for sure, and even more important, there’s the work to keep your knowledge. But you need a lot of energy for the level of community work we do, and he’s always helped with the heavy lifting and his attention to even the smallest details, the things others may let slip. We wouldn’t be here without each other, that’s for sure.”
I am Pam Thompson Smith— also known as THE FIRM. A proud UNC graduate (go Heels!), serial entrepreneur, radio/TV host, fundraising and grassroots marketing expert, event planner and host always doing the most, mother of an amazing daughter. Pam’s motto is that “It’s my passion that makes a difference in all I do.”
With over 25 years in Event Planning and Marketing, began her full-time entrepreneurship journey in 2015 as owner of Thompson Smith Consulting, a full-service consulting firm specializing in non–profit fundraising and development, special event planning and coordination, corporate events, marketing, public relations and community outreach.
Pam is the Executive Director for the non-profit African American Cultural Festival of Raleigh and Wake County where she guides the overall vision and coordination of programs, operations and fundraising.
In addition to being on air talent on “The Sports Shop Radio Show”, on WRAL-FM, She is the co-host of “The Art of Balancing It All” Podcast which airs on Pod bean, ITunes, Spotify and Google Podcast.
Pam received recognition as ACHI Magazine Woman of Achievement Award and also received a Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award.
One of her favorite quotes is when work is what you love to do, it is not work – it is SERVING! She loves her work and is THANKFUL for every opportunity to serve. She continues to serve clients across the Triangle and other areas in many roles. It is her PASSION that makes the difference.
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