His work is well known. His bowties are instantly recognizable. The smile is always present, and why not, right?
When you’re Ernie Johnson and you host one of the best studio shows on television, there’s a lot of reason to laugh and be happy. Johnson is a versatile broadcaster, the kind you can plug into any situation and know the job will be done well. In addition to his work on TNT’s Inside the NBA, Johnson hosts Turner and CBS’ coverage of NCAA March Madness and is the lead play-byplay announcer for Turner’s coverage of Major League Baseball and the PGA Championship. It’s already a very impressive resume. Add to it the NFL, The British Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics and you have the complete package.
During the shutdown of sports, Johnson is trying to stay busy while at the same time helping young journalists. He is not a fan of fake crowd noise and he has as much fun hosting with Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal as it looks like he does.
I caught up with Johnson this week and he was kind enough to answer some questions. We started with his work in the NBA and as studio host of Inside the NBA.
Andy Masur: In general, how much fun is it to host Inside the NBA on TNT? You guys seem to have a blast every time you’re on the air.
Ernie Johnson: It’s as much fun to do as it appears on the screen. We all realize how fortunate we are to have a job that requires us to watch basketball and then talk about it. I mean if you hear that job description who wouldn’t say “Sign me up!”? Kenny, Charles and I have been together for 20 years, Shaq for the last 8.
With producers like Tim Kiely and Jeremy Levin, we’ve been able to come up with a show that broke out of the traditional mold of studio shows, so that it became very unpredictable, very spontaneous, freewheeling—call it what you will. And we haven’t been afraid to venture outside the traditional boundaries and voice our opinions on social issues, politics, whatever topics the average fan was talking about, we were going to talk about too.
AM: What are some of the keys to hosting alongside 3 high profile former players and entertaining personalities?
EJ: I think the key is always to know your role, know your material, know how to prepare, and know that the show is not about you. Working with Kenny, Charles, and Shaq is about as much fun as you can have in this job. You just have to keep in mind that they’re the ones who played the game at the highest level. Nobody in the audience cares what I think is going on in a team huddle with a second and a half to play, but these guys have all been there. We need to hear from them.
My role is to move the show along from point A to point B to point C, and be armed with the latest information from around the league which will spark conversation. That information can be anything from a key stat to a quote from a player or coach which begs a response from our trio of NBA players. I think the reason our show has been successful through the years is that no matter how “high profile” the personalities may be, nobody has tried to make the show about themselves.
AM: I know a lot of us in this business are looking for ways to stay active and relevant in the sports world. Looking at your Twitter account I noticed you started “Ernie’s Journalism School”. How did that come about and how much fun was it for you?
EJ: It was born out of a feeling of “okay, what do we do now?” which popped up in the first few days of the NBA’s suspension of play. As a journalism student at the University of Georgia way back when, my favorite classes were those in which a professor would bring in a guest speaker who was already doing what I wanted to do one day. We as students were able to fire away with any questions we had about what it’s like in the real world. Now after 40 years in the business, one of my favorite things to do is return to my Alma Mater and talk about our industry, and answer questions.
So, I talked to Turner’s social media team, just asking what possibilities were out there, and they mentioned Twitter Live. I’ve been on Twitter for years but never realized there was a Live element to it. So, I just thought with so many college students’ lives turned upside down maybe I could give the journalism students out there an outlet to ask questions. So I reached out to some of my friends and told them what I was thinking—a daily, hour long session—in which they would take questions the students could type in Live, and basically tell their stories—where they started—how they moved up—advice, that kind of thing.
I just basically went through the contacts in my phone and was so pleased to get such positive response. So, students got to hear from the people they see on their screens, or whose stories they read, and ask ‘em anything they wanted. I didn’t know at the time that it would run Monday through Friday for six weeks, but before it was all done the students had heard from about 35 different people who were in the business—from Scott Van Pelt to James Brown to Andrea Kremer to Brian Anderson, and on and on. I’ll admit it too, I learned a lot, even after this long in the business.
AM: What a great idea! I’m wondering what kinds of things have you learned during this pandemic about the importance of sports in our society? I know I miss them greatly!
EJ: I’ve always said that sports are a great distraction to the pressures of real life and that’s just been amplified during the course of the pandemic. Even if you don’t sit down and watch an event from start to finish, you might have it on as background noise for whatever else you’re up to, and you’re checking back to see the score, who’s leading the tournament, that kind of thing. I think you saw how much people miss live sports, watching something without knowing who’s gonna win, with The Match: Champions for Charity. Sport just gives us that escape valve that’s been missing for months now.
AM: Along those lines, there’s been a lot of talk recently that network TV broadcasts will pump in fake crowd noise and perhaps use virtual fans during games held with no fans. What are your thoughts on that possibly happening?
EJ: I vote ‘no’. We all realize the situation we’re in with no fans. There’s no need to fake it. It might be interesting to hear all the things you normally don’t during a telecast because they’re drowned out by crowd noise.
Amen to that.
A note about that golf event he referenced earlier in our conversation. Johnson was supposed to be in Florida for “The Match”, but didn’t attend for personal reasons. In an emotional segment before the broadcast he described the reasons.
His son Eric has dealt with Muscular Dystrophy for years and since 2011 he’s depended on a ventilator to breath. Johnson said his son would be at great risk of dying if he contracted COVID-19. Said Johnson in the piece aired before the event, “I just didn’t think it was worth the risk of bringing in an unseen foe into our house.”
Ernie Johnson, tremendous broadcaster and equally tremendous as a father.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
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