The 2023 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention and Career Fair is just a few weeks away and will feature accomplished names in the media at large. In late June, the organization announced that ESPN Head of NBA and Studio Production, Dave Roberts, and FOX Sports Radio host Rob Parker would be inducted into the NABJ Hall of Fame, honoring their achievements as “Black journalists and communicators who have made outstanding contributions to the industry.”
Rob Parker made an appearance on The Morning Roast on 95.7 The Game, but before they started asking him questions about sports in the San Francisco Bay area, Bonta Hill recalled his first experience at the annual event. Hill, who attended the City College of San Francisco at the age of 26, wrote and edited sports stories for The Guardian and was always looking for ways to broaden his skillset.
Whether it was through public address announcing, working as a newspaper correspondent or interning at radio stations, Hill was determined to stand out by breaking the mold of solely concentrating in one area. Even so, he was not entirely sure that being a multifaceted talent in sports media was a shrewd career move since the norm over the years was to concentrate in one area. Long before he was working with Greg Papa on 95.7 The Game, Hill attended his first NABJ Convention in New Orleans, La. and sought out the advice of professionals in attendance.
“One guy told me, ‘Man, you’re going to have to pick one. You’re going to have to either write or you’re either going to have to do radio,’” Hill told Parker. “I actually ran into you and you gave me five minutes – I’ll never forget it – you gave me five minutes and you said, ‘Young brother, do both. Don’t ever let nobody tell you you can’t do both.’”
Similarly to Hill, Parker was advised to select one career path rather than spreading his talent across various niches in the industry. All these years later, Parker is being inducted into the Hall of Fame, and he continues to write, edit, host a radio show and a podcast. Parker is the founder of MLBbro, an outlet dedicated to covering Black and brown Major League Baseball players of the past and present. Today, he hosts the Inside the (Rob) Parker podcast and The MLBbro Show Podcast – The Mixtape, while also operating the website.
When he was at ESPN, Parker remembers he would frequently grab meals with Jason Dumas, a production assistant, and one day, decided to ask him where he saw himself in the future. Dumas responded by saying that he wanted to be on the air, prompting Parker to advise him to prepare to leave ESPN. Few production assistants appeared on camera, and he ended up taking Parker’s advice and working around the country. Today, Dumas is working in San Francisco, Calif. as the sports director at KRON4 and NBA reporter for the digital outlet, Bleacher Report.
“I’m proud of him, and that story you told me, I’m glad that was your experience because people tried to tell me that as well about not doing more than one thing; it’s just not true,” Parker said. “Nowadays, that’s what everybody’s doing, but back then when I first started, I was doing local TV and I had a radio show and a newspaper column. People criticized me about spreading myself too thin and [said that] I should only be doing the column and whatnot. Here it is 37 years later and they’re putting me in the Hall of Fame, so I think I made the right decision.”
