As of press time, not so much as a "no comment" or a denial from WQAM Miami's Sid Rosenberg regarding a Miami Herald report that the sports talk host is being chased for an alleged gambling debt:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/12/2635294/radio-host-sid-rosenberg-alleged.html#storylink=misearch
This story was also picked up by several radio trade sites, but also without a reaction. There are some stories where a lack of reaction or denial can be interpreted as being accurate. From being a sports fan, sports reporter, and media consultant over the past 40 years, the lack of a denial or even a comment is disturbing. (I should mention that I do not recall meeting or knowing Mr. Rosenberg and have no further information beyond this report.)
It's easy to think, "So what?" when learning about the possibility that a sportscaster has been gambling thousands of dollars. Of course, Sid is not the only person to do this (if indeed the story is true). However, I'd like to think that those whose job it is to report information to us as sports fans do not have anything else riding on this information.
Sports betting is very often dictated by where the money is going. How do we know that a sportscaster who is a heavy gambler is not "reporting" information about key players or teams which could sway a potential bet? Suppose a sportscaster has bet thousands of dollars on Cleveland against Detroit later tonight. Suppose that same sportscaster only "reports" on an injury which could impact the status of a key Cleveland player for that game. This could make the casual betting fan lean toward putting his money on Detroit. If enough fans put more money on Detroit, it increases the payoff if Cleveland wins.
In the Rosenberg situation, the lack of a denial or comment also brings to light that Sid had just returned from a suspension by WQAM. The reason? Gambling.
This Miami Herald story includes a report of the gambling establishment supposedly contacting the radio station. How and why did that story get out? Since the reputation of a major radio station and well established sportscaster are at stake, wouldn't a complete denial of such a contact be shot down before it became public?
Although we don't need background checks on every sportscaster out there, this situation indicates a need for dealing with the situation more thoroughly than seems to be happening thus far. Given how the pro sports leagues will not put a team in Las Vegas or Atlantic City and have discipline in place for any players involved in any way with gamblers, how "news" is reported to sports fans could be playing a part in how thousands and thousands of dollars change hands, legally or not.
Meanwhile, the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Golf Tournament last weekend drew more media attention, just as it drew more viewers than usual. CBS-TV saw its highest ratings for this tournament since 1997 on Sunday (2/12) when Tiger Woods issued a challenge to Phil Mickelson early in the final round. The Sunday ratings were up more than 95% over last year's.
Many credit the stronger (than recent months) performance of Tiger Woods for drawing the added interest. Here, I'll credit something totally different. The NFL. After another very strong ratings season, this past Sunday was the first one since August without NFL football on. Sports fans are used to having "must see" TV every Sunday, and settled on golf. Frankly, ABC/ESPN blew it by only having one NBA telecast during the afternoon on ABC which didn't start until 3:30 PM ET, and then putting a doubleheader on ESPN that night.
ABC does not seem to be pushing the NBA as much this season. There was no "early" telecast on Super Bowl Sunday, as networks have done in the past (other than a so-so game on NBA-TV instead that day). Then, they should have had a marquee matchup doubleheader this past Sunday in an effort to establish the NBA as "must see". Even with the shortened season after the lockout, TNT is among the networks showing noticeable ratings increases so far.
Not to pick on televised golf, but if the Pebble Beach National had gone up against the NFL, these paragraphs would have been about something completely different.
NBC is beefing up its NHL coverage, showing what is essentially an NHL tripleheader next Sunday (2/19). Starting at Noon ET with 3 regional games, NBC will then show the Boston at Minnesota game at 3 PM ET nationally. Then NBC Sports Network will carry the New Jersey vs. Montreal game with coverage starting at 6 PM ET.
NBC Sports Group also announced a 5-year contract to televise Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) football and basketball games. The new contract includes NBC Sports Network and its Comcast SportsNet regional networks. This announcement seems much overblown. Those that made a big deal about this announcement seem to have overlooked that the CAA includes the likes of Towson University, George Mason, Northeastern, Drexel, Hofstra, and others. These are all excellent institutions. That is not in question. It's just that the 'typical' college basketball fan isn't waiting for the schedule to come out to alter their days for the Delaware vs. North-Carolina-Wilmington telecasts. What this "announcement" really means is that NBC Sports Group is seeking live programming for its networks in place of informercials for fitness products and some of the other oddities taking up time on their sports networks during odd hours.
Along those same lines, PlayOn Sports Network announced plans to debut a high school sports related TV channel later this year including high school sports events from what is already 21 states. While I understand and appreciate increased coverage of high school football and basketball, it should be on a local or regional (at most) level and not on a national platform. The network's release points out the millions of high school sports participants and how many millions attend or watch high school sports across the country. While those statistics are true, they are due to the local schools and clearly not because there is a demand for high school sports across the board, especially for a 24-hour network.
Somebody will be expected to help defray the costs of producing live telecasts from around the country. And you can easily guess that the PlayOn Sports people expect it to be paid from cable and satellite subscribers each month whether they care or not. I'm already paying my local cable provider each month for their local access channels which showcase an occasional local high school game. I don't wish to pay to see high school games from hundreds of miles away with schools and players I have never heard of and have no interest in.
My other problem with this is how it takes away from local radio stations. If and as even more high school football and basketball games are televised, it tells even more local radio stations they don't need to broadcast the local high school games anymore. And instead of going with live programming from their studios, the radio stations will continue to pick up syndicated and network shows.
MLB Network is adding to its on-air studio staff in time for the start of spring training. Alanna Rizzo joins MLB Network from ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain where she appeared on Rockies telecasts, and previously covered the Brewers as weekend sports anchor at WISC-TV Madison. Scott Braun also joins MLB Network, coming over from ESPN where he handled college basketball play-by-play for ESPN and covered the Miami Heat for the ESPN web site. Also joining is Lauren Shehadi, who comes over from the CBS Sports web site. Shehadi has also been a sports anchor at KXMC-TV in Minot ND and worked at Comcast SportsNet Washington.
Sorry to learn that "The Fabulous Sports Babe", Nanci Donnellan, has left Tampa's ESPN 1040 due to serious health issues. She was one of those "love her or hate her" broadcasters when she became the first female to host a national sports show in the mid-90's. Whitney Johnson, formerly with WDAE 620, has taken over the Noon to 3 PM show from Donnellan on ESPN 1040.
NEW YORK: It is now official that Josh Lewin joins Howie Rose in the Mets' radio booth starting with the coming season on WFAN, replacing Wayne Hagin. Lewin plans to continue handling San Diego Chargers radio, which will make for some long weekends both in the air and on the air.
JACKSON: Still another loss in the sports media world. Frank Underwood of WBFG 96.5, who covered sports for nearly 10 years, passed away on Sunday (2/12) after a brief but undisclosed illness.
Showing posts with label nbc sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nbc sports. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
A Not So Super Sports Week
Competition among networks is one thing, but completely different handling of a similar situation is another. In an unfortunate coincidence, both CBS and Fox Sports have been faced with a reporter putting out a premature death story within 24 hours of the actual occurence. Yet, the aftermath was the opposite for each network.
On Saturday Jan. 21, a report from CBS Sports that Joe Paterno had passed away was denied by the Paterno family. However, Paterno passed away the following morning. The reporter, Adam Jacobi, was dismissed from his position by CBS within the following week because of this. To his credit, Jacobi went on Twitter and (over the course of multiple posts) told his followers "CBS had to let me go for the Paterno story going out the way it did, and I understand completely. I had an awesome 17 months with CBSSports.com. I'm sorry to everyone, most importantly the Paterno family, for how it ended."
In this instance, not even the dismissed employee questioned the move and why CBS had do make it.
We flash back to November 7, 2011, less than 3 months ago. The sports world and especially the boxing world lost Joe Frazier who passed away that day. Yet, the night before (Nov. 6), Fox Sports Radio host Mike North went on the air on his national radio show and reported that Frazier had already passed away. North, realizing his error before the show was over, apologized for going with the then erroneous report. Since that time, North has been promoted to more on-air work on Fox Sports Network, while no word of any disciplinary action was announced, if any was even taken.
Although I have my opinion on how both networks should have handled this situation, what is noteworthy is that these two major networks each took a separate road out of this. North not only remained on the air without any publicly known consequences, while Jacobi lost his job, for the very same infraction.
My hope is that reporters and news and sports directors will learn from these incidents. The idea is not always to be "first" to report a story. Rather, it is to use your sources and check your facts. It's not as though these were local radio station guys reporters fresh out of school. As a sports fan, I would like to think that the likes of CBS and Fox would have and use their vast resources to check the facts before they report anything. Instead, we all continue to get far too many of the "ESPN is reporting that......" going out on other major networks, most of which should be using their internal resources instead of taking the lazy approach of stealing a possible story from another source.
Meanwhile, ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio are among those providing fans around the country with wall-to-wall coverage leading into Sunday's Super Bowl, whether they want it or not. Other than in the participating teams' markets, I can't believe that the casual football fan needs to hear a full-length story about an offensive lineman's personal life, hotel prices in the host city, and other such "stories" that fill up the airwaves in place of the NBA, NHL, and college basketball games and results. The vast majority of sports fans I talk with, both within and outside of the media, don't care what commercials will be shown during the telecast either. That sports specific radio stations and TV networks spend any time on this fluff amazes me (but not in a good way). Most of this material is fine for Entertainment Tonight or shows which are not targeted specifically toward sports fans.
Within the Giants and Patriots markets, the Super Bowl hype all week is a different story. Many fans can't get enough. (Except for things such as actual news reports that Chris Mad Dog Russo "said hello" to WFAN's Mike Francesa on radio row on Monday.)
On the New York side, WFAN has Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason (morning team), Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts (middays), and Mike Francesa (afternoons) all broadcasting for at least some of this week from Indianapolis. Since WFAN is also the Giants' flagship station, the broadcast team of Bob Papa, Carl Banks, and Howard Cross will also appear throughout the week, as well as beat reporters Paul Dottino and Peter Schwartz. Benigno and Roberts will host a local WFAN pre-game show from 2 to 5 PM on Sunday.
In addition, WFAN and sister station WBZ-FM The Sports Hub Boston are doing some sharing and on air "mingling" with the hosts on each station.
WEPN 1050, New York's ESPN station is also on the scene at Indy along with its national coverage from ESPN Radio. This leads up to what WEPN plans as the "world's longest post-game show" with Bill Daughtry hosting for the entire overnight.
In Boston, both WEEI and WBZ-FM will broadcast the game to top off their week of non-stop coverage.
SAN ANTONIO: KZDC 1250 plans to continue with Jason Minnix as the lone host of its afternoon drive show after dismissing Chris Duel, who had been co-host until last week. The station cited ratings as the reason over and above cost-cutting, pointing out that ESPN's Mike & Mike morning show has been drawing higher ratings than the local afternoon show. We shall see if taking off one co-host instead of both makes a difference in the ratings over the next few months.
MINNEAPOLIS: Michelle Tafoya is heading for sidelines. Not just for the Super Bowl coverage on NBC. From her afternoon drive show on WCCO Radio after nearly three years. Tafoya will do occasional fill-ins for the station but is expected to increase her duties with NBC.
HOUSTON: Another big change on the Houston sports landscape. Just before the Astros relocate to the American League at the end of this year, Bob Allen will no longer be handling sports on KTRK Channel 13, or any other station. Allen has been Sports Director since 1975 (having joined Channel 13 in 1974), but announced last week (on Jan. 24th) that he plans to retire toward the end of this year. Allen began in Houston in 1971 at KPRC-AM. He joined KTRK-TV as a weekend anchor, replacing Dan Lovett when he (Lovett) left for WABC New York.
CHICAGO: While the Bulls are off to the best start in the shortened NBA season, the TV ratings are off to just as good of a start this season. Comcast SportsNet has been setting ratings records for the Bulls telecasts this season. Although it did not exist during the Michael Jordan era, last Wednesday's (Jan. 25) against Indiana had the highest regular season ratings for any Comcast SportsNet Chicago telecast (including Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs) in its history. Overall, through last week, CSN's Bulls telecasts are up more than 50% over last season's.
LOS ANGELES: Local NBA telecast ratings are also soaring for one of the city's local teams. That isn't the story. That the "team" is the Clippers certainly is. After all these years, it appears people are actually watching the Clippers to see the Clippers. Now Fox Sports West has actually expanded its Clippers pre-game show to a full hour. It's news to a lot of local basketball fans that they actually had a Clippers pre-game show before this season.
NEW YORK: The near future of Kim Jones is still up in the air (but not on the air - yet) after she reportedly has left the YES Network. Although she has appeared with Mike Francesa on occasion, the word is she will go with a national source, possibly NFL Network.Still another loss for the sports media, as Channel 5's Oren Stevens, most recently a contributor on Sunday's "Sports Extra" has passed away from cancer at the age of 73. People around the country might remember Stevens from his acting role in the movie "Downhill Racer" with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman from the late 60's.
NEW ORLEANS: Just as Bob Allen is leaving Houston TV, a similar change in New Orleans where WWL-TV's Sports Director Jim Henderson is retiring this week after 34 years. The good news for Saints fans is that Henderson is not retiring. He plans to continue indefinitely as the radio voice of the Saints, which he has done since 1982. WWL-TV is presenting reflections of Henderson's career with the station on all of its nightly newscasts this week in a fitting tribute.
BOSTON: Former first baseman Matt Stairs has been added as a part-time studio analyst for its Red Sox telecasts. NESN will also add Jenny Dell as its field reporter for Red Sox games. Dell comes from ESPN where she has appeared on the X Games and events on ESPN.com, and replaces Heidi Watney who has moved to Los Angeles.
HARTFORD: WPKX-FM has officially relocated from Enfield CT to Windsor Locks, which is closer to Hartford, and now carries ESPN Radio. The station is reportedly developing a local afternoon drive show. WPOP 1410 already carries ESPN on the AM side out of Hartford.
On Saturday Jan. 21, a report from CBS Sports that Joe Paterno had passed away was denied by the Paterno family. However, Paterno passed away the following morning. The reporter, Adam Jacobi, was dismissed from his position by CBS within the following week because of this. To his credit, Jacobi went on Twitter and (over the course of multiple posts) told his followers "CBS had to let me go for the Paterno story going out the way it did, and I understand completely. I had an awesome 17 months with CBSSports.com. I'm sorry to everyone, most importantly the Paterno family, for how it ended."
In this instance, not even the dismissed employee questioned the move and why CBS had do make it.
We flash back to November 7, 2011, less than 3 months ago. The sports world and especially the boxing world lost Joe Frazier who passed away that day. Yet, the night before (Nov. 6), Fox Sports Radio host Mike North went on the air on his national radio show and reported that Frazier had already passed away. North, realizing his error before the show was over, apologized for going with the then erroneous report. Since that time, North has been promoted to more on-air work on Fox Sports Network, while no word of any disciplinary action was announced, if any was even taken.
Although I have my opinion on how both networks should have handled this situation, what is noteworthy is that these two major networks each took a separate road out of this. North not only remained on the air without any publicly known consequences, while Jacobi lost his job, for the very same infraction.
My hope is that reporters and news and sports directors will learn from these incidents. The idea is not always to be "first" to report a story. Rather, it is to use your sources and check your facts. It's not as though these were local radio station guys reporters fresh out of school. As a sports fan, I would like to think that the likes of CBS and Fox would have and use their vast resources to check the facts before they report anything. Instead, we all continue to get far too many of the "ESPN is reporting that......" going out on other major networks, most of which should be using their internal resources instead of taking the lazy approach of stealing a possible story from another source.
Meanwhile, ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio are among those providing fans around the country with wall-to-wall coverage leading into Sunday's Super Bowl, whether they want it or not. Other than in the participating teams' markets, I can't believe that the casual football fan needs to hear a full-length story about an offensive lineman's personal life, hotel prices in the host city, and other such "stories" that fill up the airwaves in place of the NBA, NHL, and college basketball games and results. The vast majority of sports fans I talk with, both within and outside of the media, don't care what commercials will be shown during the telecast either. That sports specific radio stations and TV networks spend any time on this fluff amazes me (but not in a good way). Most of this material is fine for Entertainment Tonight or shows which are not targeted specifically toward sports fans.
Within the Giants and Patriots markets, the Super Bowl hype all week is a different story. Many fans can't get enough. (Except for things such as actual news reports that Chris Mad Dog Russo "said hello" to WFAN's Mike Francesa on radio row on Monday.)
On the New York side, WFAN has Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason (morning team), Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts (middays), and Mike Francesa (afternoons) all broadcasting for at least some of this week from Indianapolis. Since WFAN is also the Giants' flagship station, the broadcast team of Bob Papa, Carl Banks, and Howard Cross will also appear throughout the week, as well as beat reporters Paul Dottino and Peter Schwartz. Benigno and Roberts will host a local WFAN pre-game show from 2 to 5 PM on Sunday.
In addition, WFAN and sister station WBZ-FM The Sports Hub Boston are doing some sharing and on air "mingling" with the hosts on each station.
WEPN 1050, New York's ESPN station is also on the scene at Indy along with its national coverage from ESPN Radio. This leads up to what WEPN plans as the "world's longest post-game show" with Bill Daughtry hosting for the entire overnight.
In Boston, both WEEI and WBZ-FM will broadcast the game to top off their week of non-stop coverage.
SAN ANTONIO: KZDC 1250 plans to continue with Jason Minnix as the lone host of its afternoon drive show after dismissing Chris Duel, who had been co-host until last week. The station cited ratings as the reason over and above cost-cutting, pointing out that ESPN's Mike & Mike morning show has been drawing higher ratings than the local afternoon show. We shall see if taking off one co-host instead of both makes a difference in the ratings over the next few months.
MINNEAPOLIS: Michelle Tafoya is heading for sidelines. Not just for the Super Bowl coverage on NBC. From her afternoon drive show on WCCO Radio after nearly three years. Tafoya will do occasional fill-ins for the station but is expected to increase her duties with NBC.
HOUSTON: Another big change on the Houston sports landscape. Just before the Astros relocate to the American League at the end of this year, Bob Allen will no longer be handling sports on KTRK Channel 13, or any other station. Allen has been Sports Director since 1975 (having joined Channel 13 in 1974), but announced last week (on Jan. 24th) that he plans to retire toward the end of this year. Allen began in Houston in 1971 at KPRC-AM. He joined KTRK-TV as a weekend anchor, replacing Dan Lovett when he (Lovett) left for WABC New York.
CHICAGO: While the Bulls are off to the best start in the shortened NBA season, the TV ratings are off to just as good of a start this season. Comcast SportsNet has been setting ratings records for the Bulls telecasts this season. Although it did not exist during the Michael Jordan era, last Wednesday's (Jan. 25) against Indiana had the highest regular season ratings for any Comcast SportsNet Chicago telecast (including Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs) in its history. Overall, through last week, CSN's Bulls telecasts are up more than 50% over last season's.
LOS ANGELES: Local NBA telecast ratings are also soaring for one of the city's local teams. That isn't the story. That the "team" is the Clippers certainly is. After all these years, it appears people are actually watching the Clippers to see the Clippers. Now Fox Sports West has actually expanded its Clippers pre-game show to a full hour. It's news to a lot of local basketball fans that they actually had a Clippers pre-game show before this season.
NEW YORK: The near future of Kim Jones is still up in the air (but not on the air - yet) after she reportedly has left the YES Network. Although she has appeared with Mike Francesa on occasion, the word is she will go with a national source, possibly NFL Network.Still another loss for the sports media, as Channel 5's Oren Stevens, most recently a contributor on Sunday's "Sports Extra" has passed away from cancer at the age of 73. People around the country might remember Stevens from his acting role in the movie "Downhill Racer" with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman from the late 60's.
NEW ORLEANS: Just as Bob Allen is leaving Houston TV, a similar change in New Orleans where WWL-TV's Sports Director Jim Henderson is retiring this week after 34 years. The good news for Saints fans is that Henderson is not retiring. He plans to continue indefinitely as the radio voice of the Saints, which he has done since 1982. WWL-TV is presenting reflections of Henderson's career with the station on all of its nightly newscasts this week in a fitting tribute.
BOSTON: Former first baseman Matt Stairs has been added as a part-time studio analyst for its Red Sox telecasts. NESN will also add Jenny Dell as its field reporter for Red Sox games. Dell comes from ESPN where she has appeared on the X Games and events on ESPN.com, and replaces Heidi Watney who has moved to Los Angeles.
HARTFORD: WPKX-FM has officially relocated from Enfield CT to Windsor Locks, which is closer to Hartford, and now carries ESPN Radio. The station is reportedly developing a local afternoon drive show. WPOP 1410 already carries ESPN on the AM side out of Hartford.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
August 23 Update.....
Here we are getting ready for the barrage of sports on TV during the month of September, including the start of the NFL and college football seasons while the baseball races for the post-season will come to an end. But it's also time to look ahead to the October-November period. Although it's too early to tell, it's not a certainty that the NBA will have its scheduled season underway on time at the end of October, just as the World Series is coming to an end.
Yet, NBC and its family of networks are surging forward at high speed to have plenty of NHL action ready for an increasing viewing audience. It could be NBC wishing to show a more aggressive approach toward televising major sports, or it could be positioning for a weeknight audience that may not have a steady diet of NBA telecasts. It is probably a combination of the two.
Whatever the reason, NBC is very active in preparing to cover the upcoming hockey season and kick off its 10-year agreement with the NHL. Versus (which will be called NBC Sports Network starting Jan. 2) now plans 90 nights of "exclusive" NHL coverage, a significant over 54 nights from last season, along with expanded pre and post-game programming.
Even NBC itself is starting earlier than usual, planning an "original six" matchup for the Friday after Thanksgiving between Boston and Detroit during the afternoon. Versus will start the regular season with a doubleheader on opening night, Thursday Oct. 6th and show a total of 7 live games over the season's first 7 nights. NBC and (by then) NBC Sports Network alrady plan to televise 10 games during the final 7 days of the regular season to gear up for next spring's Stanley Cup playoffs. In a significant upgrade, NBC and NBC Sports Network will have telecasts of every Stanley Cup playoff game, even if on a regional basis, for the first two rounds of the post-season. Then, they will carry exclusive telecasts of the both Conference semi-finals and, as always, the Stanley Cup Finals.
NBC Sports Network will also have flex scheduling for its new Sunday Night NHL games. This is all in addition to an increased schedule of games picked up by NHL Network, bringing NHL action to many hockey fans just about every night during the season. If the NBA isn't ready, the NHL will be.
If and as the NBA season gets going, TNT and NBA-TV have added a new studio host for their telecasts. But he's a familiar face. Vince Cellini returns to Turner Sports and will host "GameTime" on NBA-TV during the season, working on nights Ernie Johnson doesn't. Cellini anchored sports on CNN in the late 80's back when CNN had regularly scheduled extended sportscasts.
MIAMI: The replacing of the late Jim Mandich on the Dolphins' radio team took all the way into the exhibition game season, but it's hard to question the choice. None other than Bob Griese will be the third man in the booth, joining Jimmy Cefalo and Joe Rose on WINZ 940. The team was able to talk Griese out of retirement, since Bob had left ABC/ESPN after 24 years as an analyst there. Of course, Griese stayed close to the Dolphins, using his Augusts to appear on Dolphins exhibition game telecasts for more than 20 years.
DETROIT: Local fans want to watch a winner, or in the case of this past Friday (8/19), two of them. The Tigers were playing the first game of their big weekend series vs. the Cleveland Indians at home, while the Lions happened to be playing in Cleveland at the same time. The Tigers game had a slightly higher rating for its Fox Sports Detroit telecast, made even more impressive when you realize that more than 40,000 attended the game in Detroit. (That would be at least one more ratings point if they could only watch on TV instead.) The Lions' win over Cleveland ran about an hour after the Tigers game ended, and the football ratings on WXYZ-TV increased more than 20% during that period.
Fox Sports Detroit is adding a weekly half-hour high school football score and highlights show, starting this coming Friday (8/26). Friday Football Overtime will air at Midnight late Friday and again at 11 AM each Saturday. FSD will also air the high school football state playoffs in October and November.
While Philadelphia adds an FM simulcast to its all-sports station there, Detroit is losing its version. The highly rated WXYT-FM The Ticket will lose its simulcast on 1270 AM after four years as of September 12th. The AM station will air syndicated (non-sports) talk shows, while 97.1 continues as is.
PITTSBURGH: Penguins telecasts will again have the announcing team of Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey calling at least 70 games on Root Sports. The pair was without a contract following last season and just signed what was announced as a multi-year deal.
LOS ANGELES: It's a long long way from his 25+ seasons of calling Dodgers games, but 72-year old Ross Porter has taken an assignment to call some high school football and basketball games for a streaming web site operated by IBN. Porter will do a "prep football game of the week" most Friday nights, along with some basketball games and other program features for the site.
MEMPHIS: ESPN 680 + 92.9 has added the Memphis Grizzlies play-by-play to its lineup starting, well, whenever the next season does. To beef up its Grizzlies coverage, play-by-play voice Eric Hasseltine now hosts the 2 to 4 PM sports talk show. The station also carries Tennessee Titans football.
SARASOTA: WTMY 1280 has changed to all sports and become The Sports Fanatic. At this point, its weekday local shows are Rich Spedaliere with "Spitz On Sports" from 6 to 9 AM and "The Sports Ministry" from 3 to 6 PM, with Fox Sports Radio filling up the remainder. It will also air Florida State football along with Riverview High School games.
Yet, NBC and its family of networks are surging forward at high speed to have plenty of NHL action ready for an increasing viewing audience. It could be NBC wishing to show a more aggressive approach toward televising major sports, or it could be positioning for a weeknight audience that may not have a steady diet of NBA telecasts. It is probably a combination of the two.
Whatever the reason, NBC is very active in preparing to cover the upcoming hockey season and kick off its 10-year agreement with the NHL. Versus (which will be called NBC Sports Network starting Jan. 2) now plans 90 nights of "exclusive" NHL coverage, a significant over 54 nights from last season, along with expanded pre and post-game programming.
Even NBC itself is starting earlier than usual, planning an "original six" matchup for the Friday after Thanksgiving between Boston and Detroit during the afternoon. Versus will start the regular season with a doubleheader on opening night, Thursday Oct. 6th and show a total of 7 live games over the season's first 7 nights. NBC and (by then) NBC Sports Network alrady plan to televise 10 games during the final 7 days of the regular season to gear up for next spring's Stanley Cup playoffs. In a significant upgrade, NBC and NBC Sports Network will have telecasts of every Stanley Cup playoff game, even if on a regional basis, for the first two rounds of the post-season. Then, they will carry exclusive telecasts of the both Conference semi-finals and, as always, the Stanley Cup Finals.
NBC Sports Network will also have flex scheduling for its new Sunday Night NHL games. This is all in addition to an increased schedule of games picked up by NHL Network, bringing NHL action to many hockey fans just about every night during the season. If the NBA isn't ready, the NHL will be.
If and as the NBA season gets going, TNT and NBA-TV have added a new studio host for their telecasts. But he's a familiar face. Vince Cellini returns to Turner Sports and will host "GameTime" on NBA-TV during the season, working on nights Ernie Johnson doesn't. Cellini anchored sports on CNN in the late 80's back when CNN had regularly scheduled extended sportscasts.
MIAMI: The replacing of the late Jim Mandich on the Dolphins' radio team took all the way into the exhibition game season, but it's hard to question the choice. None other than Bob Griese will be the third man in the booth, joining Jimmy Cefalo and Joe Rose on WINZ 940. The team was able to talk Griese out of retirement, since Bob had left ABC/ESPN after 24 years as an analyst there. Of course, Griese stayed close to the Dolphins, using his Augusts to appear on Dolphins exhibition game telecasts for more than 20 years.
DETROIT: Local fans want to watch a winner, or in the case of this past Friday (8/19), two of them. The Tigers were playing the first game of their big weekend series vs. the Cleveland Indians at home, while the Lions happened to be playing in Cleveland at the same time. The Tigers game had a slightly higher rating for its Fox Sports Detroit telecast, made even more impressive when you realize that more than 40,000 attended the game in Detroit. (That would be at least one more ratings point if they could only watch on TV instead.) The Lions' win over Cleveland ran about an hour after the Tigers game ended, and the football ratings on WXYZ-TV increased more than 20% during that period.
Fox Sports Detroit is adding a weekly half-hour high school football score and highlights show, starting this coming Friday (8/26). Friday Football Overtime will air at Midnight late Friday and again at 11 AM each Saturday. FSD will also air the high school football state playoffs in October and November.
While Philadelphia adds an FM simulcast to its all-sports station there, Detroit is losing its version. The highly rated WXYT-FM The Ticket will lose its simulcast on 1270 AM after four years as of September 12th. The AM station will air syndicated (non-sports) talk shows, while 97.1 continues as is.
PITTSBURGH: Penguins telecasts will again have the announcing team of Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey calling at least 70 games on Root Sports. The pair was without a contract following last season and just signed what was announced as a multi-year deal.
LOS ANGELES: It's a long long way from his 25+ seasons of calling Dodgers games, but 72-year old Ross Porter has taken an assignment to call some high school football and basketball games for a streaming web site operated by IBN. Porter will do a "prep football game of the week" most Friday nights, along with some basketball games and other program features for the site.
MEMPHIS: ESPN 680 + 92.9 has added the Memphis Grizzlies play-by-play to its lineup starting, well, whenever the next season does. To beef up its Grizzlies coverage, play-by-play voice Eric Hasseltine now hosts the 2 to 4 PM sports talk show. The station also carries Tennessee Titans football.
SARASOTA: WTMY 1280 has changed to all sports and become The Sports Fanatic. At this point, its weekday local shows are Rich Spedaliere with "Spitz On Sports" from 6 to 9 AM and "The Sports Ministry" from 3 to 6 PM, with Fox Sports Radio filling up the remainder. It will also air Florida State football along with Riverview High School games.
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