Mike Breen said what we were all thinking during his broadcast of the Knicks-Nets game on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
“Just don’t feel like broadcasting.”
It was an unbelievably beautiful and emotional tribute that left Breen in tears. All of America joined him in sadness.
Whether it was a local host in Los Angeles or even one of the many doing national radio shows, everyone behind the mic on Sunday felt exactly what Breen was feeling in that moment. But as tough as it may was, being on the air was an absolute necessity. Many Americans, whether they loved or hated the Lakers, whether they cheered or booed Kobe, all looked for an outlet to help cope with the sudden and unexpected loss. Sports radio was that outlet.
When the news broke, Greg Bergman, assistant PD at 710 ESPN Los Angeles knew his team had to get on the air. His first order of business, was to get on the phone with the station’s PD, Amanda Brown. From there, the two made the necessary arrangements to try and help carry the city through the day.
“We called Steve Mason and LZ Granderson, it was just really all hands on deck,” said Bergman. “We made contact with every host. We made sure to call a board op or two to come down to the station. We also had someone cutting up sound so that we could play it on the air. Our social team came down so that we could be putting out quotes on social media. They even had a guy outside Staples Center that was filming everything that was happening. We just had to make sure everyone was on the same page, being available and getting down there and going to work.”
Nick Cattles was hosting on ESPN Radio and planned on discussing, how just hours before he went on air, Lebron passed Kobe in career points. Unfortunately, his show took a more somber tone. There’s no script for how you handle a situation like the one that unfolded on Sunday. Especially when multiple erroneous reports were being floated around on social media. It’s already tough enough for a host to have to guide his audience through a tragedy like Kobe’s passing, it’s even harder when trying to decipher which reports are actually true to relay on the air.
“During a moment like that, you just have to take direction from the people above you to make it as easy as possible,” said Cattles. “It really came down to communication during the show, between producer and me, and then my producer getting the OK or the not OK from the top. ESPN is great when it comes to having enough hands on deck.
“There were a lot of people, when this story started to break, that were in the studio up in Bristol, if not hovering around the studio. It was difficult to try to focus on hosting while seeing everything that was coming through on Twitter, because you just didn’t know what was true and what wasn’t. I think in a case like that, you want to rest on the side of caution and not say something you’re going to regret later.”
One way to help get through such an agonizingly tough show, was to quickly book guests. Whether it was a reporter that covered the Lakers, a former player that played with or against Kobe or even someone that knew him personally, multiple perspectives and stories played well over the air on Sunday.
John Ireland, radio play-by-play announcer for the Lakers and co-host of Mason and Ireland on 710 ESPN LA was on the team plane when the news broke of Kobe’s passing. While on the air via cell phone with ESPN Los Angeles, he said, “I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to get over the looks of the faces of the people that were closest to him.”
Yes, that’s chilling to read. But it’s also authentic and real. As tough as it is, that’s the type of content his station can be proud of during such an emotional day.
Clips of former Lakers great James Worthy were played over the air on local stations in Los Angeles. Worthy said, “It’s something you don’t want to hear. And you can’t believe it when you hear it. Extremely devastating. My mother used to always say that you can’t put a question mark behind God’s period. Something has happened to a great person and a father that has given us everything.”
Station promos were specifically made for the day’s events. The unmistakable voice of Jim Cutler led-in from breaks with the read of, “We are with you today. Dealing with the news of the death of one of our favorite players and people to ever be a part of our life. Celebrating the life of Kobe Bryant on 710 ESPN.”
Anything and everything was used to try and provide an escape for the city, even if it was just for a few hours. Dave Shore was the Operations Manager for ESPN Los Angeles from 2010-2015. He was also a pregame host and sideline reporter for the Lakers’ radio broadcast. He witnessed first-hand how much Kobe meant to the community. He also thinks there isn’t a public figure that means more to the city.
“I think this was unprecedented,” Shore said. “Not only was it unprecedented nationally, with the way everyone felt like they lost a friend, but I think in Los Angeles, they lost a family member. Seeing the photos of what used to be just right outside my office there on the courtyard around the Staples Center, to see everybody that had shown up and were just standing and putting down flowers, that’s what they felt inclined to do. That’s what he meant to the city.”
Sunday was a tough day of radio, but one nobody that was behind the mic will ever forget. Steve Mason, alongside Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, said, “It just doesn’t seem possible.”
The trio spent their time Sunday on ESPN Los Angeles discussing his incredible career after basketball, what kind of father he was and how much his death stings the city. Between the three, things were said such as:
“There were new things with Kobe, that if you were a fan of him, you could take pride in. There were brand new achievements that didn’t just end the day he retired.”
“No matter what profession you’re in, you can apply the Mamba mentality to your work.”
“And of course, he loved being a dad. Gah, I’m going to tear up saying that in past tense.”
All of the emotion that was felt when the news broke didn’t fade off into the night. The hurt was still there when Monday morning arrived.
Colin Cowherd was one of the many that got choked up remembering Kobe. Petros and Money of AM 570 LA Sports had guests such as Clayton Kershaw, Mark Madsen, Cody Bellinger and others throughout the show to share their thoughts on his legacy. Though the initial shock may be gone, radio in Los Angeles will still have a somber tone for several more days.
But all you can do as a station is to work through it and give your listeners the best content possible. Whether it was hosts in Boston talking about the bombing at the Boston Marathon, New York City sports radio trying to pull the city together after 9/11 or the very situation going on with Kobe’s death in Los Angeles, this is where sports radio can never be duplicated. It knows the pulse of its city and what people need to hear. Like Shore told me over the phone, “There’s no one better than your local host to help walk somebody through by hand.”
Whether or not hosts in Los Angeles, around the state of California and even the ones hosting national radio shows know it, they served a major role in the healing process on Sunday. That’s truly what it’s all about. The consensus amongst the ones on the air will probably be that they’ve never experienced anything like this in their careers, but it should be one where many should take pride in the effort they showed on such a tragic day.
“I’m very proud of the way that we handled it,” said Bergman. “It was pretty incredible what they did on such short notice and without any objections. LZ Granderson flew down from San Francisco to be here. Travis Rogers drove from Santa Barbara to the station. Alan Sliwa, who did the last four hours, drove from Lake Arrowhead on his time off to come be here. Mason was at home doing his own podcast and other things, which he had to drop everything and leave to come down here. It was such a complete effort but also on such a difficult day. We’re all Kobe fans. It’s a Kobe town. I’m incredibly proud of what everyone did.”
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
