Golf Coverage Not Lost In The Woods

Those that question the publicity surge about Tiger Woods during and following his 2nd place finish in last weekend's PGA tournament did not realize that CBS' coverage of the final round had ratings 69% higher than the same day in 2017. Tiger still means ratings for the networks.

The challenge is on over the next few months for the networks which televise the big golf tournaments to come up with a younger and rising star, unless Woods manages to continue his strong performance.


It won't seem quite like ESPN when Bob Ley begins the six-month sabbatical he announced earlier this week. Ley said he is "stepping back to re-charge" and that the idea is "fully 100% mine" on social media to confirm this. He will begin his leave from network, which he joined near the very beginning in 1979, starting October 1st and return on April 1st.

Quite the time to return, marking the start of the baseball regular season, the NCAA Final Four, and leading in to The Masters. While he is away, ESPN will have Jeremy Schaap, Ryan Smith, and Kate Fagain filling in on Outside The Lines.


As we roll into weekend 2 of the NFL exhibition games we continue to have network regular season play-by-play voices calling games on TV for various local telecasts.

Justin Kutcher is calling the local Atlanta Falcons games, Dick Stockton calls the Miami Dolphins games, Dave Pasch calls the AZ Cardinals, Joel Meyers calls the New Orleans Saints games, Beth Mowins calls the Raiders, Chris Myers calls the Tampa Bay Bucs, Ted Robinson continues to call the San Francisco 49ers, while Adam Amin calls the Chicago Bears (replacing Sam Rosen in that role).  Steve Levy calls the Denver Broncos (with Brian Griese), while Curt Menefee again calls the Seattle games and Spero Dedes calls the L.A. Chargers.


BOSTON: The most recent radio ratings again showed that the combined ratings of WEEI-FM and WBZ-FM would top the market for most overall listeners. Yet, both stations showed decreases from the previous month even with WEEI-FM coming in at #8 and WBZ-FM Sports Hub at #10. Boston continues to bring the strongest sports radio ratings of any market in the country.


PITTSBURGH: KDKA-FM 93.7 The Fan is tweaking its weekday lineup starting after Labor Day and in time for the Steelers regular season. Colin Dunlap will be joined by Chris Mack in morning drive, while Mack will continue to host the pre-game and post-game shows for the Pirates broadcasts. Bob Pompeani will become a contributor on The Ron (Cook) and Joe (Starkey) Show middays from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller will continue to host "Poni and Mueller" from 2 to 6 PM with The Paul Zeise Show airing from 6 to 10 PM evenings when there is no play-by-play.


CHICAGO: Congrats to Tom Quinlan upon his retirement last week as Sports Editor of The Daily Herald newspaper. Quinlan spent the past 40 years with the same publication, starting as a copy editor and having previously served as Metro Editor.


NASHVILLE: Joe Leadingham is leaving Channel 2 after nearly five years as a sports anchor for a position in medical device sales. The 34 year old Leadingham did not rule out eventually returning as a sports radio host, having guest hosted on both The Zone and The Game.


LAS VEGAS: KTNV-TV has added Jackie Kostek to its sports reporting staff. Kostek comes from WCIU-TV Chicago and a reporter role. She also served as a digital host for the Chicago Blackhawks.