Fang's Bites

Sports Media Weekly No. 150 — Matt Yoder, Awful Announcing and Ian Eagle, CBS/Turner/YES/Etc.

After a week’s absence, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I are back with an all-new action-packed podcast. And because I’ve had my nose to the grindstone, I did not realize that we’ve reached podcast number 150. We have good guests here and didn’t realize the milestone, but no matter, we’re back with a bang.

My boss from Awful Announcing, Matt Yoder, joined Keith and me for our “Third Man In” segment. Among the topics we discussed:

• ESPN layoffs.
• The ESPN Upfronts.
• ESPN’s announcement of the SEC Network launching in August 2014.
• ESPN’s signing of the US Open.
• Former tennis star Andy Roddick signing with Fox Sports 1 (and Matt and I lobbying for Australian Rules Football to move to Fox Sports 2).
• The passing of Ken Venturi.

Our guest was Ian Eagle of CBS/Turner Sports/YES/Tennis Channel/Dial Global Radio.

The topics discussed:

• Tennis Channel’s coverage of the French Open in which Ian will have a big role.
• Ian’s experience of calling the first season of the Nets in Brooklyn.
• What he expects for the upcoming season for the NFL on CBS.
• Why fellow Syracuse alum Dave Pasch wants him to develop a secret handshake for Newhouse School graduates.
• Ian’s view of social networking and if he’ll actively join Twitter.

As you can see, a lot of things discussed in this week’s podcast. Check it out here. You can always subscribe via iTunes doing a search for “Sports Media Journal.”

Sports Media Weekly No. 145 — Paulsen, Sports Media Watch & Dan Levy, The Bleacher Report

We have another edition of the Sports Media Weekly podcast and we have two good guests. Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I talked about the news of the week and also had an interesting announcement from Dan Levy.

For the “Third Man In” segment, we brought in Paulsen from Sports Media Watch. We talked the following:

• NCAA Tournament Ratings
• NCAA Tournament coverage and how to improve it.
• The NBA on TNT’s strange experiment of having three analysts and no play-by-play announcer on Thursday.

Our guest segment had Dan Levy of The Bleacher Report and we discussed a few things with him including:

• The growth of The Bleacher Report.
• Turner Sports’ purchase of The Bleacher Report.
• The reason why Dan ended his podcast for the time being.

Then Dan used the opportunity to announce a new Kickstarter project to help fund a new graphic novel project, The Rise of the Umpire Robots that will launch this week. It’s a fascinating project and one that could lead to some bigger things.

A very fascinating podcast and another edition of breaking news on Sports Media Weekly. You can always find the podcast on iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal” or

Sports Media Weekly No. 144 — Ken Schott, Schenectady Gazette & Dave Pasch, ESPN

Back with another edition of the podcast. Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I return to talk about the news of the week and also have another guest from the world of sports media.

The “Third Man In” this week is Ken Schott, college hockey beat writer and sports media columnist for the Schenectady (NY) Gazette. We began this segment by talking about college hockey with Ken, discussing the recently-ended season for Union College which fell short of the Frozen Four. And we also talked about the increased amount of college hockey games on CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network.

Then we exchanged our thoughts on the following sports media news items:

• NCAA Tournament ratings
• CBS’ handling of Kevin Ware’s injury
• ESPN’s reporting of the video of former Rutgers coach Mike Rice’s abuse of his players
• MLB’s Opening Day and the official debut of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball team

Our guest for our second segment is Dave Pasch from ESPN and the Voice of Arizona Cardinals.

For this segment, Dave and I talked about the following:

• His busy schedule from fall into the spring especially in the month of March working the Pac-12 Tournament, the NBA, the NIT and the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
• Working with Bill Walton and how he got ready to work with him.
• Walton’s Ray Lewis and Bill Simmmons comments during the Pac-12 Tournament.
• The Dave and Bill Show’s popularity on blogs and on YouTube.
• The different nuances between men’s and women’s college basketball and the NBA.
• Calling the Arizona Cardinals during the good and bad years.
• Why Syracuse has produced a bumper crop of sports broadcasters and if there is a secret handshake among alumni.

A fun podcast and one that is a very good listen if I do say so myself. Subscribe to the podcast by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal” on iTunes. You can also listen to it

Sports Media Weekly No. 143 — Dave Sims, Dial Global Radio/Root Sports Northwest

Back with another edition of the Sports Media Weekly podcast. Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I discussed the news of the week in our first segment.

The news included the following items:

• Fox’s announcement that Tim McCarver will leave the network at the end of the current MLB season.
• CBS/Turner’s ratings for the NCAA Tournament which turned into Doug Gottlieb bashing on my part.
• The Old Big East signing a new rights deal with CBS for six years.
• Ratings for the USA-Mexico World Cup Qualifier on ESPN.
• NBC hiring Rebecca Lowe from the UK to become English Premier League host in August.
• Rick Reilly renewing ties with ESPN.
• The upcoming MLB season.

Dave Sims from Dial Global was the guest. Among the topics discussed.

• His calling play-by-play of the NCAA Tournament from the Salt Lake City sub-regional.
• The break-up of the Big East into the Old Big East and the Catholic 7 and memories of Dave calling conference basketball games.
• Calling two no-hitters last season, one on Fox and the other on Root Sports.
• Dave’s feelings about mentioning a no-hitter in progress.
• What we can expect from the Seattle Mariners this coming season.

A very good podcast. You can subscribe on iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal” or find it

Sports Media Weekly No. 142 — Greg Gumbel, CBS Sports

After a week away due to circumstances beyond my control, I’m back on the Sports Media Weekly podcast with Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal.

There’s no Third Man In this week so Keith and I reviewed what has been a rather busy week in the sports media.

We first began by looking at the start of March Madness on the networks of CBS and Turner Sports. Both of us don’t expect anything different from the last two years on the air. I did advise listeners that the authentication process for the March Madness Live app has been streamlined from last year and easier to do.

Keith and I reviewed last week’s news that TBS could start airing the NCAA Men’s Final Four next year, a year earlier than planned.

We moved to the media rights deals signed by the New Big East and the Old Big East with Fox Sports and ESPN, respectively. Keith and I discussed how the Old Big East left a lot of money on the table with ESPN two years ago and got left holding the bag as several teams defected for the ACC, Big 10 and Big 12. The Old Big East signed a six year deal with ESPN. The New Big East featuring the Catholic 7 and Butler, Creighton and Xavier has signed a 12 year deal with Fox giving Fox Sports 1 over 100 basketball games starting in November.

And we touched upon ESPN signing the Mountain West Conference for six years.

Our final subject was the Sports Emmy Award Nominations which were released today.

Greg Gumbel of CBS Sports was the guest. He’s been hosting the NCAA Tournament on CBS since 1998. We talk about his experiences on the set when he hosted the entire tournament solo from 1998 until 2010 through now as he shares the hosting duties with Ernie Johnson.

Greg tells us what it’s like working with Charles Barkley and Kenny “The Jet” Smith and having their dynamic in the studio.

He also compares and contrasts hosting to play-by-play of four games in the first days of the Tournament which Greg has done in the early 1990′s for CBS.

Then we discussed his hosting of the Selection Show and his preparation for the program.

Greg gives some great stories of how fans have reacted to the tournament and to the selections.

And then we move to discussing the Rolling Stones’ greatest album as Greg is a huge Stones fan.

Overall, a fun interview with Greg. We’re going to have him on again. The man gives great answers. Thanks to CBS Sports public relations for their help in securing the interview.

You can download the podcast on iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal.” Make sure you subscribe so you can automatically download it on your mobile or tablet. Or you can go

Sports Media Weekly No. 140 — Ed Sherman, The Sherman Report; David Hill, Regis Philbin & Mike Pereira, Fox Sports

After a week off, the Sports Media Weekly podcast returns in a big way. We have coverage of the Fox Sports 1 announcement with three interviews from the network unveiling held earlier this week in New York.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I did our News of the Week segment and Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report was our Third Man In. The Fox Sports 1 announcement in New York was the main topic as we discussed the implications of having the new network on the sports television scene.

We also talked about having the Catholic 7/New Big East about to be signed with Fox Sports 1.

And we moved to the news about ESPN and Keith Olbermann talking about him possibly returning to the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

The taped segments from New York were next. First up was a discussion with former Fox Sports El Jefe del Mundo and current News Corp. Senior Executive Vice President David Hill about the growth of Fox Sports over the last 20 years.

Then was a brief interview with Regis Philbin who will host “Rush Hour” on Fox Sports 1.

And the last interview was with NFL on Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira about how he joined Fox Sports and what his role would be on Fox Sports 1.

To subscribe to the podcast, search for Sports Media Journal on iTunes or you can go

Sports Media Weekly No. 139 — John Daly, Daly Planet & Rennae Stubbs, Tennis Channel

After a week hiatus, the Sports Media Weekly podcast is back and with a vengeance. It’s 44 minutes long and we have two guests! Normally our first guest is our “Third Man In,” but Keith could not join John Daly and I, so it’s only a two man interview, but Keith was in for our regular guest segment with the always lovely Rennae Stubbs.

Our news segment between Keith and I began with some personal housekeeping, the news announced by Matt Yoder, editor of Awful Announcing, that I’ll be joining the sports media site as a contributor. As mentioned in my earlier post, Fang’s Bites will still be my main priority, but I’ll be contributing various posts to the site that does a great job in covering the sports media.

We then moved to the Big East Conference and its return to ESPN after the Alleged Worldwide Leader matched an offer from NBC Sports Network.

Keith and I talked about the unique situation of the Los Angeles Dodgers having three separate channels in three different languages when it moves to Time Warner Cable next year.

And then we talked about my post on whether Fox Sports can find the right role for Erin Andrews.

John Daly of the great Daly Planet NASCAR TV site was the first guest. He and I talked about the coverage of the Drive4COPD 300 Nationwide race on Saturday covered by ESPN2 and the crash that marred the finish and led the network to extend its sign-off time. And John and I discussed the ratings and the subsequent coverage of the Daytona 500 on Fox. John opined on how Fox fared and what his site’s readers were saying about the network.

Rennae Stubbs of Tennis Channel, ESPN2, NBC Olympics and 7 Network in Australia was our second guest. Keith and I talked with Rennae about how she got an early start in broadcasting and how it’s led to her career in the both after her illustrious doubles playing career. We asked Rennae about her dynamic with this year’s Aussie Open runner up Li Na and why the players show more of their personalities in the Australian Open as opposed to the other Grand Slam tournaments.

We also discussed the number of networks Rennae works for and how she got the gig for the London Olympics for NBC. I ran out of time, otherwise I would have her about the Academy Awards and last Saturday’s UFC 157 event between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche. If there’s a Twitter feed you should follow, it’s Rennae’s. She tweets about everything including tennis.

Overall, a fun podcast and you can find it on iTunes under Sports Media Journal or listen right away,

Sports Media Weekly No. 137 — Neil Best, Newsday & Kevin Harlan, CBS/Dial Global/TNT

Back with our post-Super Bowl edition of Sports Media Weekly. Keith Thibault of Sports Media Weekly and I are joined by Newsday’s Neil Best as the Third Man in for our News of the Week segment.

The Super Bowl dominated our discussion. We talked about the ratings and viewership which were down from the two previous Super Bowls.

We also discussed the way CBS handled the Superdome blackout and why the NFL did not provide anyone to the network to answer questions as to why the power went out in the stadium.

And all of us went over the performance of Phil Simms which baffled us to no end and finally, we reviewed CBS’ production of the Big Game.

We then moved to the 2014 Olympics and NBC’s one year kickoff to the Games in Sochi. We previewed what NBC plans to do with the Winter Olympics one year from now.

And we ended with a look at Fox tapping Gus Johnson as its Voice of the World Cup.

Our guest is Kevin Harlan of CBS Sports, Dial Global Radio and TNT. Fresh off the Super Bowl, he and I talked about his calling another Big Game on national radio. Most of our conversation focused on the Super Bowl blackout and how it was handled on radio. We aired a clip of Kevin describing the scene courtesy of Dial Global Radio.

You can subscribe to the podcast like I have through iTunes doing a search for Sports Media Journal or go right here to listen

And as I have done in the past, I neglected to post last week’s podcast. Our third man in was Mike McCarthy, formerly of USA Today and currently of Sports Biz USA. Our guest was co-author of Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, James Andrew Miller. That was a very good podcast. And you can find it

Sports Media Weekly No. 135, Brian Berger, Sports Business Radio & Amy Van Dyken, Fox Sports Radio

Back with another edition of Sports Media Weekly. Now I forgot to link to last week’s edition and I’ll rectify that at end of this post, but first let’s go over this week’s podcast.

We begin with what Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I have dubbed “Third Man In,” a guest from the sports business or sports media world to discuss the News of the Week. For this week’s edition, Keith and I have invited Brian Berger of the Sports Business Radio podcast and his Everything is on the Record media training firm to talk both sports business and sports media.

We all started with the latest on the Manti Te’o story and how it progressed from our last edition when it just broke to what we have now with the Notre Dame linebacker appearing on his first television interview with Katie Couric and doing his very first Q&A session off-camera with ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap last week. We also talked about ESPN being lapped by Deadspin on the Te’o story and how the Te’o camp failed in many aspects to give closure.

And it led to a discussion of the Lance Armstrong interview with Oprah Winfrey and how it didn’t help his cause with the American people.

From there, we went to a talk about the NFL’s ratings for Conference Championship Sunday which were down compared to last year, but probably won’t give advertisers a reason to abandon ship. Plus we looked at Super Bowl storylines and advertising.

We ended the “Third Man In” segment with a talk about the return of the NHL to high ratings (for the NHL).

Our guest this week is the delightful Amy Van Dyken of Fox Sports Radio, co-host of Fox Sports Tonight with Rob Dibble. With Amy, Keith and I asked her about her transition from being a gold medal-winning athlete to being in the sports media.

We talked to her about how she got into broadcasting and covered her first Olympics in 2002 as a reporter and how she went from being a part of a morning show to sports radio.

And we also talked about her co-hosting Fox Sports Tonight.

Another fun edition of the podcast and you can find it on iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal” or going

Edition 134 of the podcast was a New York Capital Region episode featuring Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union who was the inaugural “Third Man In” for our News of the Week segment and Andrew Catalon of WNYT-TV in Albany and a host of networks including CBS Sports Network, NBC and Tennis Channel. Details of that podcast are at Sports Media Journal and of course, downloadable at iTunes and

Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 133 — Super Bowl XLVII on CBS Preview

This podcast featured three, count ‘em, three guest segments, all coming courtesy of CBS Sports and CBS Sports Radio. Those segments were quite good. You can ignore the news of the week segment as I had a touch of the flu and sounded horrible. It’s not long though.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I talked about the BCS Championship Game numbers on ESPN, ESPN’s apology for Brent Musburger’s comments on Miss Alabama, Katherine Webb, ESPN not renewing Rob Parker’s contract for comments he made about DC NFL Team quarterback Robert Griffin III and we talked about viewership numbers for NFL Wild Card Weekend.

Our guest segments from CBS Super Bowl Media Day from Tuesday are:

Sean McManus, Chairman of CBS Sports
Dana Jacobson and Brandon Tierney of CBS Sports Radio
Greg Gumbel, CBS Sports (with Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union)

It was a great experience to be at CBS for this event and I thank the fine people at CBS Sports Public Relations for their help in the interviews.

You can find the interviews at iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Weekly” or you can listen right away

Sports Media Weekly, No. 132 — Anita Marks, NBC Sports Radio

Our first podcast of 2013 and it’s a good one. I’m biased, but I like this edition.

As usual, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I discussed the news of the week.

We started with the report from Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated on Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis about to join ESPN when his playing days are over.

From that subject, we transitioned to the ratings announcements by the NFL, its TV partners and then Golf Channel touting their TV ratings and we chuckled that seeing these statements, it’s hard to not get cynical about the spin cycle.

We talked about the grilling accident that disfigured ESPN’s Hannah Storm, but not enough to prevent her from returning to television on New Year’s Day.

Our guest this week is the always lovely Anita Marks who launches a new weekend show on NBC Sports Radio on Saturday.

Keith and I talked to her about her hosting a pre and postgame shows for the New York Football Giants Radio Network and doing television work for the G-Men on MSG Network. I asked Anita about the Giants and why she felt they didn’t make the playoffs.

Anita discussed her time in Baltimore where she won over listeners during her four year tenure in the city.

She talked about fantasy sports and how it’s exploded over the years.

And we had Anita handicap the four Wild Card playoff games.

A fun podcast. Always good to have a guest who’s passionate about what she does. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes through “Sports Media Journal” or you can listen to it right away

Sports Media Weekly No. 131 — 2012 Sports Media Year in Review

This was a project that was quite close to my heart and it worked out quite well. Just about everyone I called was very receptive to providing their sports media stories of 2012 and their sports media predictions for 2013. I couldn’t ask for anything better.

We have a multitude of sports media writers and bloggers who have provided their top stories for this year and what they think will happen next year. The writers in order of appearance are as follows:

Barry Horn, Dallas Morning News
Chad Finn, Boston Globe
Dan Levy, The Bleacher Report
Ed Sherman, The Sherman ReportJim Williams, Washington Examiner
John Daly, The Daly Planet
John Ourand, Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily
Neil Best, Newsday
Richard Deitsch, Sports Illustrated
Ken Schott, Schenectady Gazette
Matt Yoder, Awful Announcing
Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times

Thanks to all for their contributions. You can head over to iTunes and search for “Sports Media Journal” for the podcast or

A Saturday Sports Media Notebook

Fridays are becoming way too busy for me. I need to find a way to stop it. Anyway, I have some links and thoughts for you in this latest edition of the notebook.

ESPN’s Sean McDonough hopes to return to the broadcast booth after undergoing surgery to correct a rare inner ear condition that caused him to hear things unusually loud. McDonough talked with Chad Finn of the Boston Globe and Michael Hiestand of USA Today about his condition and how it’s prevented him from going back to work.

Fox Sports’ Jason Whitlock has this takedown of ESPN’s First Take and Rob Parker.

So ESPN is dialing back the Tebowmania? Apparently not as Awful Announcing discovered.

Ben Koo of AA found out that NFL Films is producing an edition of “A Football Life” devoted to Steve Sabol. I’m looking forward to seeing this when the documentary is finished. To be honest, just one hour on Sabol’s career will not do justice to his impact on sports television.

As the future of The Big East is still being determined, the Catholic 7 all-basketball schools that have broken away from the conference appear to be talking to both Fox and NBC Sports Network to place their games on one or the other or both. Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated has an extensive article on the Big East’s future. I would think Fox would be the favorite or perhaps, ESPN might jump in to get a package of games.

If you want to know why NBC’s Sunday Night Football is the number one show in primetime television, you have to go back to its genesis when producer Fred Gaudelli worked for ESPN and was producing Sunday night games for the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Deadspin’s John Koblin has a great article on the teamwork between Gaudelli, analyst Cris Collinsworth and director Drew Esocoff.

Another good article from Deadspin on how NFL RedZone is cannibalizing the Sunday afternoon game broadcasts.

Former US Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton admits to the Wisconsin State Journal that she was a high-priced Las Vegas escort.

While Dan Patrick is on vacation for the holidays, Fang’s Bites fave Bonnie Bernstein will sub for him on Christmas Eve, next Friday and on New Year’s Eve.

In the latest edition of the Sports Media Weekly podcast, you heard former 98.5 The Sports Hub nighttime host Damon Amendolara talking about his new gig as the overnight host for CBS Sports Radio. The Boston sports radio station has named his replacement and it’s a familiar voice to sports radio listeners in the New England area.

For the next Sports Media Weekly podcast on Wednesday, December 26, it’s going to include several sports media observers providing their stories of 2012 and predictions for 2013. I’ve been gathering the stories and predictions from previous guests of the podcast. I hope you’ll enjoy them.

Awful Announcing has Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talking about his year-end sports media awards.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner says college sports are all about the money.

And Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times provides his top sports media stories of 2012 in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center.

That will do it.

Sports Media Weekly No. 130 — Clark Kellogg, CBS Sports & Damon Amendolara, CBS Sports Radio

Today is another action-packed podcast. Two guests. A CBS theme and lots of stuff.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I did a brief news segment. We began by talking about Rob Parker of ESPN apologizing for his incendiary comments on last week’s First Take regarding DC NFL Team quarterback Robert Griffin III.

We then moved to Jay Mohr being named by Fox Sports Radio as the new noon-3 p.m. ET host replacing Jim Rome who is going to CBS Sports Radio.

Keith and I opined on Thursday Night Football’s record-setting year in both length of schedule, ratings and viewership and how it has cut into the numbers for ESPN’s college football and the NBA on TNT.

We completed our segment on giving Richard Deitsch’s sports media awards a plug.

Our first guest is Clark Kellogg of CBS Sports, the main college basketball analyst for the Tiffany Network. We talked about his almost 20 year career with CBS, the beginning of his broadcast career after playing for The Ohio State University and the Indiana Pacers, how the experience of covering the NCAA Tournament has been in both the studio and at the game sites and some of his best memories of the tournament. Plus we discussed having Clark’s son, Nick, participating in the Tournament last season.

We also discussed CBS’ celebration of 75 Years of March Madness and an upcoming special that Clark will be part of, 75 Years: Behind the Mic that will air on Saturday, December 29 at 2 p.m. ET

And Clark also gave us his thoughts on what to look for in this college basketball season.

Our second guest is Damon Amendolara, the 1 a.m. — 5 a.m. ET host for CBS Sports Radio when it launches on January 2. We talked about his leaving 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston and heading for New York where he’ll help to launch CBS Sports Radio. Damon discussed his time working in Boston, how local markets are provincial and how some of the features that were successful on his Boston show will be handled on his CBS Sports Radio show and how he might start some new things for listeners.

I also asked Damon how he has made multiple appearances on the NFL Top 10 series on NFL Network dating back to its inception.

This was a fun podcast to be part of and I hope it comes across as you listen. You can find it on iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal” or just look for it

Sports Media Weekly No. 129 — Michelle Beadle, NBC/Access Hollywood & Ed Sherman, The Sherman Report

Time for another edition of Sports Media Weekly. We’ve reached edition no. 129 and just like in edition no. 103, it’s a Michelle Beadle/Ed Sherman doubleheader.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I had Ed of The Sherman Report join us for our News of the Week segment. We started with a look at how CBS made a turnaround and properly covered tragedy in the NFL during The NFL Today as compared to the week before. We all felt CBS made the right decision in devoting its entire first segment to Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Josh Brent’s DUI incident that led to the death of teammate Jerry Brown.

We also opined on the possibility of the NFL expanding its playoffs and how it would affect the league’s TV partners.

In addition, we discussed the Death of the Big East conference. Ed told us that the news has hardly made a ripple in his native Chicago.

Then, we went to the end of The Sporting News’ print edition as it will be go entirely digital by January.

Our other topics included ESPN dialing back its Tim Tebow obsession and Larry Merchant who will call his last fight for HBO this Saturday.

Our guest is the always lovely Michelle Beadle from NBC and Access Hollywood. We started by asking Michelle about covering the 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden in New York this week.

Keith and I asked her about the first-time experience of hosting the Olympics in London this past summer.

Then we went to asking her about her new NBC Sports Network show and Michelle told us “The Crossover” will debut Super Bowl week.

Overall, a very good podcast. You can listen

Sports Media Weekly No. 127 — Jen Royle, Sports Reel Boston

Another week and it means another podcast with my friend and podcast partner, Southern New England media mogul Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal.

As usual, Keith and I discuss the news of the week. We began with the news about ESPN buying the rights to the new college football playoff for 12 years beginning in January 2015.

In a related note, Keith and traded thoughts on Notre Dame’s impact on ESPN’s ratings for the BCS National Championship Game.

Continuing our football theme, we transitioned to the Thanksgiving NFL games and their high viewership.

We both looked at the new CBS Sports Radio morning show to be hosted by Brandon Tierney, Dana Jacobsen and Tiki Barber.

And we completed this segment with a discussion on the increase of fresh morning programming in sports television.

Our guest this week is Jen Royle who’s launching a new Boston-based website, Sports Reel Boston.

Jen tells us what led her to start the site. She lets us know some of the ex-Major League Baseball players and executives who will be contributing to the site. Jen gave us some background on her strategy for the website and the sponsors.

Some great stuff and Jen gives good insight on launching a site. You can download the podcast by searching for “Sports Media Journal” or you can go to download and listen right away by

Sports Media Weekly, No. 124 — Matt Winer, NBA TV/Turner Sports

We’re up to Podcast Edition No. 124 and Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I are steaming along as we continue to talk with the movers and shakers in sports media.

In this show, Keith and I talk about:

• The World Series on Fox.
• The NHL lockout effecting NBC Sports Network’s programming.
• Armen Keteyian being the first on-air hire for CBS/Showtime’s “60 Minutes Sports” launching in January.
• CBS Sports Radio’s ever-evolving daily lineup.
• The new cast of ESPN’s NBA Countdown.

Our guest was Matt Winer, studio host of NBA TV and host of the MLB Postseason on TBS plus the NCAA Tournament on CBS/Turner.

We talked with Matt on various subjects including his work at NBA TV, the recently completed MLB Postseason on TBS, the upcoming NBA season, how he’s enjoyed working with Turner Sports since leaving ESPN. And Matt and I talked about the Felix Baumgartner space jump that captivated the world a couple of weeks ago and how Matt watched everything unfold before he had to do his hosting duties on TBS.

Another fun podcast. Download it on iTunes by searching for “Sports Media Journal” or just go

Sports Media Weekly No. 123 — Greg Wyshnynski, Puck Daddy, Yahoo Sports

We’ve reached podcast edition 123 for Sports Media Weekly.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I talk about some of the sports media news including:

• NASCAR staying on Fox.
• Fox creating Fox Sports 1 on cable.
• Formula 1 leaving Fox Sports Media Group and heading to NBC/NBC Sports Network.
• Joe Buck’s NFL/MLB doubleheader on Sunday.
• The Dan Patrick Show TV simulcast leaving Fox Sports Net apparently for NBC Sports Network.
• And the NFL in London plus Beyoncé performing the Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show.

Our guest is Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy at Yahoo Sports.

With Greg, Keith and I talked about the latest developments in the NHL lockout including the latest proposal from the league to the Players Association. Greg mentioned how this could affect the season and how NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr would take the offer.

Greg talked about ESPN2′s presentation of the KHL last week and how NBC Sports Network is coping without the NHL.

I then asked Greg about his experience at Blogs with Balls 5 in Toronto earlier this month.

It’s a fun podcast because Greg is a funny guy. Download it on iTunes by searching for Sports Media Journal or you can

Sports Media Weekly No. 122 — Darren Rovell, ESPN & Mike Golic, ESPN Radio

It’s an ESPN twinbill for the Sports Media Weekly podcast. Nice to be able to speak to a Friend of the Podcast and a new guest on this edition.

As usual, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I go into the news of the week and it’s a brief segment. We talk about TBS’ coverage of the MLB Postseason and the return of NFL Network’s “A Football Life” and ESPN Films’ “30 for 30″ documentary series.

We then talk with ESPN’s Darren Rovell about his decision to leave CNBC and go to the Alleged Worldwide Leader. I asked him about his duties at ESPN and ABC News. Keith wondered about the fallout of the NHL lockout and the NFL referees lockout. In the wake of his appearance in last week’s 30 for 30 documentary, Broke, I asked Darren about the real value of the NFL Rookies Symposium which doesn’t seem to help players from becoming penniless when their careers are over. And I also asked Darren about Rule 40 which prevents Olympic athletes from using their sponsorships during the Games.

Then we aired an interview with Mike Golic, co-host of ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike. I talked with Golic at the live broadcast of their show at Gillette Stadium last Friday. I asked Mike about his longevity on the morning show. Also, being an ex-athlete, could he ever foresee the success of being a broadcaster following his playing days plus his thoughts on the explosion of ex-NFL’ers in broadcasting. And I ask Mike if he misses doing college football games.

Head on over to iTunes to download the podcast by searching for “Sports Media Journal” or you can go

By the way, I forgot to post

Sports Media Weekly No. 120 — Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times

Another edition of Sports Media Weekly. Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I are back talking about the news of the week and we focus on what else? The replacement refs and the impact on the NFL’s ratings which is none. However, Keith and I talk about how the story of the replacements have gone from just a sports story to one that has grown into discussion on the morning news shows, The View and other non-sports programs.

Keith and I were hopeful that an agreement with the real refs can be made in time so that the train wreck interest factor can be reduced.

And we talked about Time Warner Cable finally adding the NFL Network.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times is our guest. Joe is a TV writer and is part of the Company Town blog at LATimes.com.

Keith and I asked him about the new Time Warner Cable sports regional network that will rely heavily on Los Angeles Lakers games and content. Joe told us that the Lakers have control over who will cover the team on the network and that has already led to the dismissal of former NESN Red Sox reporter Heidi Watney.

We then went to talking about the NFL replacement referee situation and how the league’s television partners are not showing any muscle in getting the real officials back on the field.

Joe told us how the NFL ratings muscle can just about beat any programming including The Emmy Awards.

Keith and I then went off the beaten sports media path by talking about the new fall TV season as CBS and Fox have some red flags to be concerned with.

I also asked Joe about the Honey Boo Boo phenomenon and what he thought about Sunday’s Emmys.

Find the podcast on iTunes by doing a search for “Sports Media Journal” or

Sports Media Weekly No. 119 — Rob Stone, Fox Soccer

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal are back with another edition of our podcast.

In the news segment, Keith and I talked about the passing of NFL Films President Steve Sabol and his impact on the popularity of National Football League.

We moved to the story from Sports Business Daily that MLB will stay on course and keep both Fox and Turner Sports as TV partners with a few changes in the postseason.

We also talked about the NFL staying with Dial Global as its national radio partner, broached the horrible NHL lockout and NFL replacement refs.

Fox Soccer’s Rob Stone, host of the UEFA Champions League as well as Goals on Sunday, is our guest. We talked about the growing popularity of the UEFA Champions League in the US.

Rob discussed how the West Coast is embracing MLS faster than the East Coast.

We then moved onto the English Premier League and Rob’s hosting of Survival Sunday last May. And Rob also talked about how my Chelsea team is doing in the young season.

Overall, a very good podcast. You can listen to it

Sports Media Weekly No. 117 — Dave Goren, National Sportscasters & Sportswriters Association

Time for a new edition of the podcast. Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I are back to talk about the news of the week and talk with people in the sports media industry.

In this week’s episode, Keith and I talk about the opening of the NFL and some of the changes you’ll see on NFL TV this season.

In addition, we discussed the start of the college football season and how ABC fared in its premiere of Saturday Night Football.

We also talked about the machinations in the MLB TV negotiations and the competition between Fox and Turner to outbid each other while remaining in the baseball business

Keith and I looked at the soft launch of NBC Sports Radio this week and we also opined on Jim Rome signing with CBS Sports Radio.

And we finished our discussion with a look at Bobby Valetine’s contentious interview with WEEI in Boston on Wednesday.

Our guest this week is Dave Goren, the Executive Director of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Dave talked about the organization and its mission statement to promote sportscasting and sports writing, plus talking about the NSSA’s annual Awards Dinner which occurred earlier this year.

One piece of disclosure, I was Dave’s intern when he was the Sports Producer at WJAR-TV in Providence many moons ago. We shared a laugh over how long we’ve known each other.

If you want to join the NSSA and become one of the over 900 members of the organization, you can go here.

And to listen to the podcast, go to iTunes and do a search for “Sports Media Journal” or

Sports Media Weekly No. 115 — Joe Tessitore, ESPN College Football

The latest podcast is with the great Joe Tessitore, college football play-by-play and studio host, boxing host and all-around Jack of All Trades for ESPN. Check out the podcast on iTunes or

Sports Media Weekly No. 114 — John Ourand, Sports Business Daily/Sports Business Journal

It’s a return visit from Sports Business Daily/Sports Business Journal sports media writer John Ourand. If this were the old Larry King Live on CNN, I would say, “Our guest for the full hour! John Ourand!” However, this podcast rarely goes that long, but trust me, John is the guest on Sports Media Weekly with Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal for the full podcast.

We spent a good portion with John talking about his trip to London to over the first week of the Games of the XXX Summer Olympiad. John talks about covering the Olympics for the first time in a city where he used to live. He also discussed the sport he enjoyed attending the most and the sport that surprised him the most.

We also asked John about NBC’s reaction to the social media phenomenon, #NBCFail that took off during the first weekend of the Olympics, plus whether the tape delays that were prevalent will be a thing of the past in the next Olympics.

John also opined on the legacy of former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol who worked his last Olympics for the network.

We moved on to the strange story that broke last night that several Comcast SportsNet affiliates quietly dropped all Fox Sports Net programming as of July 31. And we talked about how the NFL preseason snuck up on all of us.

A fun podcast and one you should download from iTunes after doing a search for “Sports Media Journsl”. Or just

Sports Media Weekly, No. 113, Olympic Edition — Richard Sandomir & Bruce Beck

In ramping up for these Games, it had been my goal to get someone from London covering the Olympics for this podcast. Luckily, I achieved this goal in this podcast. And I’m proud to say that this is one our best editions.

This week, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I made this edition an Olympic theme and why not? We have two guests for you and it worked out that this is a New York theme, Richard Sandomir, the sports media and business writer for the New York Times and Bruce Beck, the sports director of WNBC-TV of New York.

We began with Richard and we spoke about his thoughts about NBC’s Primetime coverage of the Games and its familiar formula that goes back to 1992. Richard gave us what he thought was good about NBC’s coverage and what he felt was missing. He also opined on former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol’s interview with Joe Posnanski about how the Olympics are broadcast on US television. And we also discussed how NBC kept the Olympics in its stable through 2020.

Our second guest, Bruce Beck of News 4 New York joined us from London where he’s covering the Games for NBC’s flagship owned-and-operated affiliate in New York. Bruce gave us the flavor of the Games, this being the 5th Olympiad he’s covered. He explained the local angles he’s reported to viewers in the tri-state area and some of the more interesting stories he came across over the years. Bruce also told us of some of the sacrifices he’s made in covering he Olympics, plus he talked about the broadcasting camp that he and CBS’ Ian Eagle run for young teens.

This was a fun podcast to do and I hope it came across. Lots of good stuff in a 30 minute podcast so you can listen on that short trip in the car, on the bus or during your morning workout. You can find it on iTunes by searching for “Sports Media Journal” or go directly to the site.

Sports Media Weekly No. 111 — Drea Avent, NBC Olympics

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I are back for another edition of the Sports Media Weekly podcast.

As usual, Keith and I begin with the news of the week. We start with ESPN announcing that Samantha Steele will be the new host of College GameDay’s first hour on ESPNU. And we talked about her rise from Fox College Sports to Fox Sports Net to Longhorn Network and then to the ESON Mothership.

We moved to NBC releasing its Olympic mobile and tablet apps.

We also discussed ESPN’s Open Championship coverage and the August premiere of a new late night entertainment and talk show on ESPNU.

Our guest on this podcast is the very delightful Drea Avent who will be part of the NBC Olympics team. She’ll be covering the Women’s soccer tournament on MSNBC and NBC Sports Network.

We asked Drea how she got the gig, how she rose from working in local markets in Texas and Southern California to working the sidelines for the NFL on Fox last season.

Drea told us what her role in covering the US Women’s National Soccer Team for NBC and she gave us the storylines she’ll be reporting on during the 16 Days of Glory in London.

We’re going to have Drea on again. She was a fun interview. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by doing a search for Sports Media Journal, or you can listen to it right now by

Sports Media Weekly — Edition No. 109: Jim Williams, Washington Examiner

In this edition, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal have a guest for the entire podcast and that is the always distinguished sports media writer Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner and Bleacher Report.

For this edition, we had Jim on to discuss the news of the week and that began with Erin Andrews’ departure from ESPN for a bigger role at Fox. Jim told Keith and I about his friendship with the Andrews family going back to when Jim worked with Erin’s father back in the 1980′s. He also made reference to ESPN not wanting bigger than the brand and Erin was getting bigger than ESPN’s brand. And we also talked about Erin’s entertainment projects.

Then we moved to the Olympics and NBC’s ever-expanding list of announcers for the London Games later this month. We looked at some of the names calling the events and Jim mentioned how half of the announcers will be calling their sports off a monitor in New York rather than being in London.

We then talked about the New York Times article written by Richard Sandomir on the MLB TV rights negotiations. Jim and I felt NBC will be a huge player for baseball and how MLB will get rich from TV money.

Our next topic was Wimbledon and ESPN’s live coverage of the event. Jim yearned for Radio Wimbledon which is no longer providing audio coverage of SW19. Jim and I made reference to ESPN’s live tennis as compared to NBC tape delayed coverage.

And our last subject was the move by the National Football League to push its late Sunday afternoon doubleheader to 4:25 p.m. ET. Jim said it was a good move to reduce the overlap from the 1 p.m. regional games. I said it would cause a few problems for CBS as it would have to drop its 10 p.m. ET show, the Mentalist on doubleheader Sundays to ensure affiliates’ late local news will begin on time. I also mentioned NBC’s Football Night in America’s first half-hour would be killed going opposite the late games.

There you have it. A very good podcast. I pretty much told you everything that happened so you don’t have to listen now. Actually, do listen. Find it on iTunes by searching for “Sports Media Journal” or you can listen

Sports Media Weekly No. 107 — Boston Sports Blogapalooza Review

This edition of Sports Media Weekly is an extended podcast. We have four, count ‘em four guests this week and each guest serves a very good purpose. And each guest provides some interesting insight about Boston Sports Blogapalooza, a networking event for sports bloggers in the New England area. I’ve had the privilege to attend all four incarnations since they began in 2010. But we’ll get to the guests shortly.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I discussed the news of the week. That included a look at the ratings for the NBA Finals on ABC and the U.S. Open on NBC.

We also discussed the Jim Rome-David Stern tussle that happened last week.

We also opined on NBC News’ strange decision not to air the entire Jerry Sandusky interview with Bob Costas that originally aired on Rock Center with Brian Williams.

Boston Sports Blogapalooza was held last Saturday at The Place in Boston. It was an opportunity to bloggers to network and talk. It also allowed media members to talk with regular fans.

The interviews conducted for this podcast were with Joe Gill, the organizer of Blogapalooza and the webmaster of Boston Sports Then and Now.

The second interview was with Kat Hasenauer of Sports Girl Kat and she tells us how she has grown from having an interest in lacrosse to writing about college hockey and finding work with the Boston Herald through her contacts from Blogapalooza.

Our next interview was with Mike Petraglia from WEEI.com and he talks about the immediacy of the internet and how newspapers are being left behind.

And Jessica Camerato of Comcast SportsNet New England is our last interview and her experiences of being a Celtics reporter for CSNNE.com and the TV side.

A very good podcast if I do say so myself. Quite enjoyable and I hope you stay with the entire podcast. You can find it on iTunes under “Sports Media Journal” or listen right now

Sports Media Weekly No. 106 — Joe D’Ambrosio, UConn Radio Network/WTIC-AM

After a week off to tend to family matters, I’m back with Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal for our regular Sports Media Weekly podcast.

Since I wasn’t able to participate in and post last week’s edition, No. 105, I’ll link you to a very good interview Keith conducted with the legendary sportswriter Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated, NPR and HBO’s Real Sports. In that podcast, Keith discussed Frank’s career with SI, his new book, sportswriting in general, how women have advanced in sports reporting and the late, great sports daily newspaper, The National, which Frank was an editor. Really give it a good listen.

Now for this week, our guest is the Voice of the UConn Huskies, Joe D’Ambrosio. We’ll get to him in a moment.

In our regular news segment, Keith and I talked about the ratings for the NBA Finals and Conference Finals, the NHL Stanley Cup Final and the Belmont Stakes. We also talked about the good numbers for EURO 2012 on ESPN and the development that ESPN UK lost the rights to the English Premier League which could be a big blow for the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s British division.

Then we talked about ESPN’s upcoming coverage of Wimbledon later this month.

Joe D’Ambrosio of WTIC-AM and NBC Connecticut was the guest. In addition to his duties of hosting a nightly sports talk show on WTIC, formerly known as “the Pulse of New England”, and anchoring sports on NBC Connecticut, he has called UConn football and basketball dating back to 1992. Joe talked about calling UConn sports at a time when the basketball program for both the men and women were on the rise and calling multiple championships for both.

Joe gave us some insight into hosting sports talk in an area that is split between Boston and New York sports teams. And Joe also discussed how the Constitution State is a basketball-crazy state in a region that rarely gives college sports the time of day.

Keith and I asked Joe about the Connecticut sports media and how it used to blanket cover UConn sports to the point where just one reporter could be covering a basketball game. And Joe previewed both the Huskies football and basketball teams in what will be a transition year for the Big East Conference.

Definitely enjoyed talking with Joe and it was a very good interview.

Keith and I wrapped up talking about Boston Sports Blogapalooza this week, an event where New England sports bloggers network and get to know each other.

Head to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast under “Sports Media Journal” or you can listen right now by

Sports Media Weekly No. 104 — Steve Lepore, Puck The Media

This week on Sports Media Weekly, the guest is the hard-working Steve Lepore from the NHL media blog, Puck The Media.

As usual, Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I discussed the news of the week. It started with a talk on the ratings for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on NBC and that transitioned into the ratings for the NBA Conference Finals on ESPN and TNT. We also looked at the numbers of last Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600.

Then, we moved to Hard Knocks settling on the Miami Dolphins for this season after looking for teams and being rejected plus we talked about the return of the Pro Bowl.

And Keith and I talked about Hawk Harrelson and how “homers” can actually be a service to fans as long as they don’t forget about the other team.

Steve Lepore from Puck The Media was our guest and Keith and I congratulated him on his site’s move from WordPress to a section on SBNation. Steve talked about the genesis of Puck The Media through the last five years.

Then we talked about the ratings for the Stanley Cup Final, NBC Sports Group’s comprehensive coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

And Keith and I discussed what Steve is doing for SB Nation at the Stanley Cup Final. Finally, we ended on the scenario if CBC lost Hockey Night in Canada to either of its rivals, Rogers or CTV.

You can find the podcast on iTunes by searching for “Sports Media Journal” or you can listen right now by

Next week, I will not be part of the podcast, but Keith will have a guest and conduct the interview solo. You can head to Sports Media Journal next Wednesday for the next edition of the podcast.