Time to give you a few links.
Newsday had a special section congratulating WFAN on its 20th Anniversary. Included were a few stories. Neil Best chronicles the early days of the station until now. Best’s next story discusses how Suzyn Waldman (the first voice heard on the station) and Mike Francesca pursued jobs at the FAN. Here are some station milestones. No talk station can survive without callers. WEEI in Boston has its regulars such as Frank from Gloucester, the late Butch from the Cape and the Man on the Way Up. WFAN has its regulars. If you listen regular to Mike and the Mad Dog, you’ll know neither are graduates from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, but Chris Russo certainly has had his malapropisms. And one of the more notorious hosts was Sid Rosenberg who has battled drug and gambling demons along with getting suspended for racial comments about Venus and Serena Williams and was on the air with Don Imus on the day the comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team were made.
Newark (NJ)Star-Ledger has its own series of stories on the FAN. Matthew Futterman has a profile of Ian Eagle who rose from an intern at WFAN to producer of Mike and the Mad Dog to play-by-play of the Nets and Jets to CBS where he does the NFL and NCAA Tournament. And Futterman gives some of best … and worst moments of WFAN.
We’re getting more reaction on the firing of Bud Collins from NBC. The Palm Beach Post has Bud saying this isn’t retirement for him and he’ll seek employment from either ESPN or the Tennis Channel. In his Newsday blog, Neil Best writes that Bud will be missed. I’m sure there will be more articles tomorrow.
The Sports Media Watch blog has a look at the ratings when the Williams sisters are in contention for a Grand Slam title.
Mike Battaglino of the New York Post looks at John Turturro’s portrayal of the late Yankee Billy Martin in The Bronx is Burning which will be shown on ESPN this month.
The Indianapolis Star regurgitates the Big Ten Network’s press release on its launch. Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press has his take on the first day of the channel.
David Barron in the Houston Chronicle has a bunch of news and notes today.
For those of you who have XM Satellite Radio, you’ll be pleased to know that it’ll have All Star Game Week covered from wall to wall. And the Orbitcast satellite radio blog has details of the NHL becoming exclusive to XM. It had been heard on both Sirius and XM the last two seasons.
Bill Burt of the Lawrence (MA) Eagle-Tribune goes after Michael Wilbon for making comments about why African Americans don’t want to come to Boston.
That’s it for now.
