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ESPN’s Kimberley A. Martin is Making Waves Going Toe-to-Toe with Stephen A. Smith, Mike Greenberg, and Others

John Molori
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ESPN’s Kimberley A. Martin is Making Waves Going Toe-to-Toe with Stephen A. Smith, Mike Greenberg, and Others

Power, strength, confidence, presence – these are the words that come to mind when I watch ESPN personality Kimberley A. Martin, a woman who has staked her claim as one of the best football commentators on television. Martin’s work, chiefly on ESPN’s Get Up and First Take, has been remarkable.

In these days of walking on eggshells and avoiding controversy, the issue of gender is often one that people avoid, but let’s not do that here. The fact of the matter is that Martin is usually the only female analyst on any given sports talk show panel. Molly Qerim is alongside on First Take, but she is the host of the program, and while she ably engages in debate at times, her main job is to move the show forward, pace the program, and run the rhythm of the broadcast.

Moreover, Martin’s fellow panelists are not television neophytes like Rob Gronkowski or Tom Brady. She is sitting side-by-side and going toe-to-toe with grizzled and glib former players like Tedy Bruschi, Shannon Sharpe, Jeff Saturday, Dominique Foxworthy, Bart Scott, Damien Woody, Dan Orlovsky, and Harry Douglas. These are hardened NFL veterans who know the ins and outs, and X’s and O’s of football.

In addition to former players, Martin also debates some of the best gabbers in the TV game right now including the legendary Mike Greenberg and Stephen A. Smith. This pair is unquestionably the most articulate, prepared, and knowledgeable duo on television today. They have seen it all in every format through multiple generations.

Such is the heady backdrop in which Martin does her stuff. On the Thanksgiving Day edition of Get Up, Martin gave some real talk about the diversity of the Lions’ offense and how head coach Dan Campbell set the tone for the team by saying that they were not going to lose at home on Thanksgiving Day anymore.

She was also omniscient questioning whether Matt Eberflus is the head coach that can really develop quarterback Caleb Williams over the next few years. Just 24 hours later, Eberflus was fired by the Bears.

When asked whom she trusted more as a QB, Tua Tagovailoa or Jordan Love, Martin pointed to the fact that Tagovailoa still has not proven that he can win a game in cold weather. She also said that Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur has been excellent at mitigating mistake opportunities for Love with a strong running game.

Sure enough, Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs had 117 yards from scrimmage and a rushing touchdown as the Packers beat Miami 30-17 at Lambeau Field.

Martin is unafraid to stray from conventional wisdom. She went against the popular grain saying that the Dallas Cowboys should keep Mike McCarthy as head coach next season. In addition, while she did pick the Pittsburgh Steelers to make the playoffs, she pointed to their red zone efficiency as a potential obstacle to going deep in the playoffs. I like the way Martin moves from generalities to specifics. It is a key weapon in her debate arsenal.

In a conversation as to whether the 2024 version of the Kansas City Chiefs could win their third straight Super Bowl, Martin emphatically answered, “Yes sir.” She talked about how everyone is downgrading KC, but noted that they always find a way to win big games. Again cutting through the BS, Martin pointed out that the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs are 45-11 overall between November and January.

Martin’s excellence comes from experience. Before joining ESPN, she was a Senior NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports and co-hosted an all-female weekly football show called Cover 3. She was also an NFL beat writer for the Washington Post and Newsday, and a columnist for the Buffalo News. In addition to First Take and Get Up, Martin has also been featured on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, Fantasy Football Now, NFL Live, Around the Horn, SportsCenter, and ESPN Radio.

Martin is outspoken, passionate, and extremely smart. Her takes are original and filled with the right mix of stats and sass. Her weekly repartee with Smith on First Take is especially entertaining. It is very difficult to go up against Smith in a head-on debate. He cuts through an argument with great relish, like a chainsaw in a $5,000 suit, but Martin never backs down from her points. She lets Smith roll, waits her turn, and then does some cutting of her own, calling Smith out on any hypocrisy or double talk.

More than just talk, Martin is a terrific listener. In fact, some of her best takes actually come from hearing opposing viewpoints. She is adept at breaking down and analyzing a game or a player and seems to look at football from a different perspective. She often focuses on the personal side of the game and is a champion of players who have overcome obstacles or been overlooked. Martin’s chops as a newspaper reporter are apparent. You can tell that while she has a tremendous on-air charisma, she is still a writer/reporter at heart.

Martin does, however, recognize that her current gig is on television. She gets that it is a visual medium and her fashion sense and enthusiastic style stand out in an extremely positive way. At times, Martin’s facial expressions show that she is just waiting to pounce on a fellow debater’s dissertation.

It is clear that her background covering NFL teams in Washington, Buffalo, and New York has given her solid contacts throughout the league. She has a rapport with players and coaches, and inside info to dole out when necessary. Perhaps Martin’s greatest strength is her feel for the drama of the NFL season. She gets that it is a week-to-week soap opera.

Smith likes to say that his regular Stephen’s A-List is “fluid.” Well, so is the entire NFL season and Martin understands this. She is a media professional for sure, but has a unique way of tapping into the fan psyche as well. Uniqueness is a watchword for Martin. When she makes a point, it’s not something that I’ve heard ten other people say already.

There are a lot of great female football broadcasters out there now, but while many of these women are in sideline reporter or host roles, Martin is in the trenches, in the fray, and part of the linguistic melee. Martin’s fearlessness crosses into societal matters and discussions on inequality and biases both in and out of sports. Social issues? No problem. Political topics that leak into sports? Sure. Off the field problems for players and teams? Absolutely. Martin takes on all discussions and debates and, in doing so, has become a vibrant and vital part of ESPN’s talent roster.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Music Radio Should Be Creating Events And Doing The Unexpected

Robby Bridges
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Music Radio Should Be Creating Events And Doing The Unexpected

Fifty years ago this year, when Frank Sinatra returned to performing after a brief self-imposed retirement, the first concert he did was largely the show he’d been doing previously, but held in New York’s Madison Square Garden, it was recorded as a live album and a tv special titled “The Main Event.” It was announced by Howard Cossell, no less! When Sinatra came on stage, it was an event, a history-making every performance each time.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, with the “Glicked” phenomenon, the simultaneous release of the movies “Wicked,” “Gladiator II”’+ “Moana 2”, the box office saw its best Turkey holiday ticket sales in five years—an event. Meanwhile, on TV, network coverage of the Cowboys-Giants game averaged nearly 40 million viewers.

NBC’s telecast of the Macy’s parade was the highest rated ever, with 31 million tuning in. Event. Speaking on NBC, they have one of the few network shows where every episode is hyped and anticipated: “SNL.” Event. Forget broadcast for a minute and think newspaper. Conservatives all over America went out and got a paper with the Trump election victory headline as a historic keepsake, just as liberals did a year earlier when it read “Trump indicted.” Events.

So, it begs the question, with the ever-intense competition for ears, what are and what can radio content creators do to create event radio? We’ve seen traditional entertainment avenues, in TV, movie theaters, or papers, still draw huge numbers with the right moment; what about radio?

Of course, in many cases, creators are wearing multiple hats at a radio station, and many are navigating unfamiliar waters in building a social media and video footprint for their shows/content, some newly with the massive cuts inflicted by the bigger ownership groups (Hi Bob, Hi Mary, Hi Caroline! Don’t even think about it, David).

What can creators do to make every show an event? Can we raise expectations for the unexpected? Can we attract attention? Can we do things that truly matter in the community? Can we harness social assets to build cume? Sure, no one grand slams every at-bat, but can we strive to make every word choice matter every break?

Can we break some molds, take some chances, and try something fresh more often? We can and we should. Radio content should be an event at least some of the time to stay relevant and meaningful to consumers. Creators today should do everything they can to make that happen, and owners should give them every possible resource to do it. And now, on with the show….

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Anatomy of a Broadcaster: John Buccigross

Andy Masur
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Anatomy of a Broadcaster: John Buccigross

When you think about either incarnation of the NHL on ESPN, it’s hard not to imagine the face of John Buccigross. He has been a featured broadcaster both times and his love of the sport always comes out. Buccigross is one of the more popular hosts of the NHL on the network, thanks to his relatable style and fun-loving personality. The return of the sport to ESPN has given Buccigross a second life in the hockey world.

“I’ve always loved hockey, I grew up with the game, and to be able to cover it now, to be a rightsholder is just pretty cool,” Buccigross told Awful Announcing in 2022. “There’s nothing like being a rightsholder, especially when you’re around a sport that you love. …And as we’ve gone through this first year as a rightsholder, going to different arenas, we’re always welcomed with open arms and a red carpet.”

Buccigross was raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, before moving to Steubenville, Ohio, at age 11. He played basketball at, and graduated from, Steubenville Catholic Central High School. He then graduated from Heidelberg College where he majored in communications and theater arts.

ROAD TO ESPN

The road to ESPN for Buccigross wasn’t a long one, it was more like a cul-de-sac. Buccigross worked at WPRI-TV in Providence, R.I. He started as the station’s weekend sports anchor in 1994, and later was named weekday anchor. Before WPRI, Buccigross worked at a local news network, Cape 11 News, in Massachusetts from 1989 to 1994.

In 1996 he joined ESPNEWS as an anchor, just prior to the 24-hour sports news network’s launch. He appeared on ESPNEWS for a couple of years before making the transition to ESPN2 as the primary host of NHL 2Night, a 30-minute show dedicated to hockey highlights and news. He was with the program from 1998-2004. During that time Buccigross also contributed a weekly NHL column for ESPN.com.

Buccigross is part of ESPN’s NHL team as a play-by-play commentator for select NHL games. He also hosts The Point, a weekly hockey-focused studio show on ESPN2. In addition, Buccigross is an occasional host of SportsCenter, a program he anchored regularly before ESPN re-acquired the rights to NHL games.

ESPN and the NHL

He’s always been a hockey guy and was not exactly giddy when ESPN lost the NHL broadcasting rights to NBC back in 2005. Buccigross, though, got a big gift, when the network regained the rights to the league in 2021. Proving his passion for the sport, the news of the NHL’s return hit him hard.

“I was surprised after the announcement how emotional I got,” Buccigross told Boston.com in 2021. “I was driving around, and actually started to tear up. It was kind of weird, I don’t know why. I don’t know if it was those 16 or 17 years that we were kind of carrying the torch for the NHL, and to have the hope that it would return to ESPN finally fulfilled.”

“I think part of the emotional response for me was that fans kept bringing it up on social media after the news was official, playing the old “NHL 2Night” jingle. Nothing gets into your soul like music, and just hearing a few notes of an old song can bring memories flooding back.”

WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN PARM’S FOR DINNER

Thanks to his large social media following, Buccigross is sharing his love for Chicken Parm. I mean what’s not to love about Chicken parm right? Just ask my wife, if it’s on the menu where we dine, it’s going to be in front of me shortly. 

Buccigross is known to post photos of his own chicken parm and rates others’ submissions. He said that also started with Ray Ferraro on NHL Tonight.

“I gave him [Ferraro] the nickname of “Chicken Parm,” because he would mention that a lot of hockey players liked to have chicken parm in the afternoon,” Buccigross said in the 2022 story from Awful Announcing.

“I don’t think I even had chicken parm growing up, because we never really went to nice restaurants; McDonald’s was fine dining for me. So, I’m 32, 33 years old and I go ‘Huh, I really like this chicken parm. It’s always good, it’s tasty, it’s simple.’ So, I just start tweeting pictures of my own, maybe a couple of pictures of myself making chicken parm for my kids. And people would show me theirs, and I’d go ‘That’s nice,’ and then I just started to rate it at one point. And then all of a sudden, they’re flooding in, and it becomes this little fun thing. I roast some people’s chicken parm. It’s all about engagement on social media, and I think I have a little bit of a touch with how to engage people, do it in a nice way, a funny way, not a cruel way.”

Now, some teams have been bringing him chicken parm in the booth, when he’s there doing a game.

Buccigross relayed to Awful Announcing, “They did that in Seattle. And once another team sees that, they’re like ‘Oh, we’ve got to do that! We don’t want the Kraken to one-up us!’  So, it’s happened in Carolina and Chicago and Buffalo now. And the rest of the cities need to get on the chicken parm wagon. It’s nice when teams copy other teams when I benefit with chicken parm. Broadcasting makes you hungry, let me tell you.”

WHY IS HE SO GOOD?

Passion. Fun. Creativity. Knowledge. These four pillars set him apart from many others, especially those that cover hockey like he does. You can feel his enthusiasm and it resonates with true hockey fans and even the casual ones. His segments are enjoyable, entertaining and yes, informative as well. Breathing life into his coverage and analysis.

Buccigross is an excellent storyteller as well. The stories are often about things he’s experienced, that are interwoven with historical examples and facts. This helps the viewer understand the anecdote. 

I like the way he interviews players as well. It seems like there is a mutual respect between broadcaster and skater. Hockey players understand that they need continuous coverage to grow their game in the US and Buccigross knows how to get some personality out of the players. It’s critical for fans to see that side of a player, to ‘get to know’ that individual and want to see him play. Buccigross respects the game and players appreciate that and are more willing to ‘open up’ a bit when they are on his show.

Making things fun for the viewer is something else Buccigross excels in doing. He’s got his catch-phrases, like “nahmally good”, which is a play on “normally good.” Painful moments on the ice are met with an, “Oh, Knights of Columbus that hurts!”

OVERTIME CHALLENGE

Beginning with the 2012 NHL Playoffs, Buccigross began hosting the #Bucciovertimechallenge on Twitter (now X), asking users to guess the player (one for each team) who would score the game-winning goal for every overtime game throughout the course of the playoffs. Selected winners receive a branded item from his online store. It’s become a charitable arm as well. His website www.bucciot.com, contributes to hockey related and hockey led charities.

OTHER CHARITY WORK

Buccigross wants to honor his longtime friend and colleague Barry Melrose and raise money for an important cause in the process. Melrose left ESPN last year after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Buccigross helped to launch a website called www.assistmelrose.com to raise money for Parkinson’s research.

“Barry has given his life to hockey. Let’s do something for him, as he battles Parkinson’s,” the website reads.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Promo Meeting: Ideas, Concepts And Thought Starters For Music Radio

Jeff Lynn
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Promo Meeting: Ideas, Concepts And Thought Starters For Music Radio

Welcome to the Promo Meeting.

In this new, once-a-week feature, we will highlight stations with ideas that, well, let’s be honest, you can steal or adapt for your station. When I was programming, a friend I considered to be a great programmer told me, “If you steal a promotion from me, you have stolen twice.”

If you have something unique that you would like to share or have highlighted, I would love to hear from you—email jeff@barrettmedia.com

A timely idea is “Reverse Porch Pirates.” A station drops presents on listeners’ doorsteps while dressed up like the burglars in the Home Alone movie. Use your database to select homes in your hot zips and surprise them. Be sure to get a video for social media.

An easy and perhaps overplayed theme is the “12 Days Of Christmas.” I recently heard from stations that had given it a new spin. Every Christmas, there are must-have toys and games. They have the hot ones and are doing the “12 Plays Of Christmas.”

97.7 WQDR Raleigh is hosting “Hope for The Holidays.” Working with the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, the station is fulfilling the Christmas wishes of over 1,000 needy children. Donations of a new toy and cash are accepted. Here is the webpage set up.

At Christmas time, the need for blood donations spikes, largely due to the number of elective surgeries in January. How about hosting a “Bleed For Aldean” blood donation drive for Country stations? Give away Aldean merchandise and send one person to an Aldean show or a visit to one of his bars in Nashville, Gatlinburg, or Las Vegas.

This one is from the brilliant and slightly twisted mind of Paige Nienaber at CPR Promotions. “Tree For All” is a simple way to dress up Christmas tree giveaways. Work with a local supermarket or a tree lot that will likely trade for mentions.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Music Radio Has 10 Of The Top 20 Share Leaders in November PPM

Jeff Lynn
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Music Radio Has 10 Of The Top 20 Share Leaders in November PPM

Music Radio has ten of the top 20 market-leading stations in audience share in November PPM.

With Classic Hits and Urban leading the way, here are the stations that set the pace as the Music Radio leader in their market.

From Nielson Audio AQH share persons 6+ Mon-Sun 6 am to 12 am PPM Markets November 2024

iHeartMedia’s Adult R&B KJMS V100 – Memphis 14.4-16.0

Audacy’s Adult R&B WQMG 97.1 QMG – Greensboro 13.6-12.9

Waterloo Media’s Adult Hits KBPA 103.5 Bob-FM – Austin 12.2-11.2

Cumulus Media’s Classic Hits KCMO 94.9 KCMO- Kansas City 12.0-11.0

Audacy’s Classis Hits WOCL 105.9 Sunny FM – Orlando 11.7-11.0

iHeartMedia’s Classic Hits WMJI Majic 105.7 – Cleveland 9.3-10.8

Audacy’s AC WRCH Lite 100.5 – Hartford 9.9-10.2

Audacy’s Rhythmic Top 40 WZMX Hot 93.7 – Hartford 9.5-10.0

Cox Media’s Adult R&B WHQT Hot 105 – Miami 9.1-9.9

Anaheim Broadcasting’s Classic Hits KOLA KOLA 99.9 – Riverside 9.2-9.6

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Disney Move Shows Importance of Sports to Streamers

BSM Staff
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Disney Move Shows Importance of Sports to Streamers

Sports programming, until recently seen as the last best hope for linear broadcast and cable TV, has quickly become the ultimate weapon in what’s left of the streaming wars. This week, the Walt Disney Co. added an ESPN tile to its Disney+ app. It is also making some sports content, including live NBA, NHL games and Australian Open golf coverage available to people who don’t subscribe yet to ESPN+.

The move precedes next fall’s launch of ESPN flagship, which will enable streaming subscribers to watch all of ESPN’s content.

For Disney, added ESPN ensures that Disney+ Plus becomes a streaming platform that appeals to all members of the household, with sports Disney’s family entertainment and off-network and  more grown-up fare provided by Hulu.

“This launch really highlights Disney as the preeminent, global Storyteller that can bring together entertainment and Sports in a truly unique way like no other streamer,” said Alisa Bowen, president of Disney+, while introducing the ESPN tile.

In the broadcast world, big sports events are often been used to give entertainment shows a boost. The show that airs after the Super Bowl gets sampling and if it’s can become a hit. 

Bowen said she believed the same thing could happen in streaming. 

There is “a long and successful history of being able to launch new shows off the back of major sporting events. And you know, that’s certainly an opportunity for us.” she said.

“But above all else, this is about repositioning. Disney+ as something with content for the whole family, and the ability to really build that co-viewing and family experience off the back of sports and general entertainment, Is a really big part of that evolution,” Bowen added

The new bundle is designed to compete with the streaming leaders Netflix and Amazon (YouTube has viewers, but other than NFL Sunday Ticket, it hasn’t invested in sports content.)

Amazon Prime Video has jumped into sports with both feet. Its $1 billion per year bet on the NFL appears to have paid off, with its Thursday Night Football franchise attracting millions of live viewers each week. Amazon doubled down, paying $!00 million for Black Friday Football, which seems to be on the road towards creating a new holiday for celebrating sports on TV.

The NBA tips off on Prime Video next year as part of a $1.8 billion rights deal, and Amazon is eying a way to provide local streaming for Major League Baseball.

Netflix, which long said it would never get into sports, is paying the NFL $150 million to stream two games on Christmas Day. With its technical infrastructure optimized for video on demand, Netflix and its subscribers experienced buffering and other glitches when millions tried to watch Mike Tyson sort-of fight Jake Paul last month. 

Assuming it can work out the live programming bugs, having NFL games should boost Netflix’s advertising business. Before two years ago, Netflix also seemed determined to stay out of the advertising business. But once it decided to sell commercials, being able to stream NFL games became more than just a good idea.

Last month, Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix announced that its NFL in-game inventory was sold out, with FanDuel and Verizon among the sponsors. 

FanDuel will be the exclusive pregame sportsbook betting partner with a sponsored in-show feature that will feature FanDuels wagering odd for the games. Verizon will be the official sponsor of a pre-kick segment that will run before the games.

The NFL games will also test Netflix’s ad-tech capabilities, including the ability to dyanmicall insert commercials into live streams, which isn’t easy. Amazon and Disney appear to have mastered this already.Netflix has said it plans to launching its in-house ad tech in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world in 2025.It  hired former media agency exec NICOLL PANGIS to oversee the rollout.

Comcast NBCUniversal’s streamer Peacock was built with live programming in mind, but its launch was stifled when the 2020 Olympics was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, Peacock paid the NFL $110 million to stream an exclusive Wild Card Playoff Game. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins delivered 27.6 million viewers and brought Peacock about  3 million new subscribers. Peacock saw similar subscriber growth this year as viewers flocked to its coverage of the popular Paris Olympics.

Peacock will be upping its bet with NBA games next season as part of NBCU’s $2.6 billion deal with the league.

Ed Desser, president of Desser Media and a long-time industry executive and consultant, said that sports may not be vital for all streamers. 

“If you’re Netflix, you’ve got enough critical mass. You can maybe have a little bit of sport,” Desser said.

”But increasingly sports is a vital port of the game and there are subscribers you can get with sports that you probably can’t get any other so, so for those, you’re going to need to hove some key offerings,” he said.

Desser said that the leagues are making sure that they have a position in streaming, and at the same time, streamers are looking to have a position in sports.

“In a way, you’re seeing some of the historical practices of bundling together content and trying to come up with something for everyone continuing,” Desser said. “I see it as being quite similar to what has been going on in the entertainment business for as long as I’ve been in it.”

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

The Watch: CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip

Garrett Searight
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The Watch: CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip

Few shows in the cable news world have made as much noise in recent months as CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip.

Just yesterday, the program helmed by Phillip was in the headlines after nationally syndicated radio host Erick Erickson called it “an embarrassment”, and that “CNN should be embarrassed to air it.”

“I want no part of it and the show’s existence makes me question the direction of the whole network as it struggles to find its footing,” Erickson said after noting he had been invited a place on the panel alongside Phillip several times before telling his assistant to turn down every offer. “News Night is discrediting to the whole network. I have made the editorial decision on my own radio show to stop airing clips of the program because I do not want to give it any attention. I think the show is a cry for help from CNN and, if they think this show is a good idea, they need no help. They need to be rebuilt. Paging John Malone.”

To be forthright, I don’t sustain myself on a heavy diet of cable news. The programs — whether it is CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Newsmax, or NewsNation — they’re almost all, in my opinion, echo chambers just parroting talking points in hopes that as many folks as possible will latch on and say “Yep, that’s what I agree with.”

Which is why I disagree with Erick Erickson’s synopsis that CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip is “not good. It is not smart or sharp. It is preening and often deeply ignorant.” It’s the equivalent of my mid-60s mother saying Taylor Swift sucks…it isn’t designed for someone like Erick Erickson to like it.

That might be the biggest criticism of CNN today in that many expect it to be the middle-of-the-road cable news channel, that simply says “Here’s what’s going on in the world,” like it was in its heyday. But, unfortunately for CNN, cable news viewers, and the American public, that doesn’t really draw much of an audience anymore. If it did, networks like HLN wouldn’t be a zombified version of a cable news channel. But I digress.

I found Phillip’s show certifiably ok. I viewed the same episode — Tuesday, December 3rd — that Erickson did. Well, let me take that back. I watched what I could of Tuesday’s episode, which is a transgression in and of itself by CNN. Apparently, they don’t want people watching this show. Is an entire replay available on the CNN app on Roku? No. Could I watch the episode on HBO Max? Also no. Maybe it was on CNN.com? Guess again. So, I settled for viewing the majority of the show in segments from YouTube. For a network that’s supposedly embracing a strong digital future, I’d say they have quite a way to go.

But that’s not on Abby Phillip or her show. And the biggest issues I had with the show weren’t her fault, either. The camera angles and camera shots used on the show often leave much to be desired. For instance, the shot below is awkward. It’s a side-angle of the host, the back of Scott Jennings, and an overloaded side of an awkwardly shaped desk.

Regardless of what conservative radio hosts may say, Abby Phillip is the star of the show. She should be prominently featured, and not taken from a side angle that makes me wonder if Scott Jennings uses Head & Shoulders.

Furthermore, having that many people on one show, simultaneously, is a recipe for disaster. Which is the biggest issue of CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip. There is a lot of talking over one another. It’s bound to happen when there are 6 people jockeying for airtime, with points to make, and a general inability to let someone complete their point before the want to interject.

I thought, as a host, Phillip did an adequate job of attempting to direct the traffic. But that job should be done pre-emptively, not reactively. A host can’t wait for the dialogue to become so mired in murmurs that someone has to throw up the proverbial stop sign. It’s too late at that point.

To her credit, she also did an excellent job of explaining the credentials of those assembled. Assuming I just tuned in, Phillip eloquently noted who New York attorney Arthur Aidala was and why his opinion on the topic at hand mattered. Because, in reality, I did just technically “tune in”, didn’t see the explanation of who the assembled panelists were, and would have been left wondering “Why in the world should I care what this guy has to say?” But when his bona fides are explained, it makes perfect sense.

There was a great moment when the panel disagreed about the importance of allegations made against Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and his treatment of women and potential issues with alcohol. Phillip said she “didn’t see the difference” between a spousal relationship and a mother-son relationship being protected, which Aidala pounced on like a lawyer, saying “Good. Your honor, objection,” in a light-hearted moment that showed that the situation wasn’t nearly as serious as many other cable news shows would handle it. Aidala later made the point “Admit what you can’t deny and deny what you can’t admit,” about how Hegseth should handle the allegations, which is the perfect axiom for the situation.

One of the reasons the Phillip-led program works is the willingness of Scott Jennings to step into the “Lion’s Den” as a token conservative voice. Comments made by Jennings have gone viral on social media, especially in conservative circles, in recent months as he’s often outnumbered on the panel. But Jennings, for lack of a better term, is a reasonable Republican. He rarely makes outlandish, hyperbolic statements in an effort to “own the libs.” He offers a differing viewpoint that is often made in a respectful tone and manner, a rarity in today’s cable news environment.

Overall, was the show clunky at times? Definitely. Are the camera angles weird? Absolutely. But when you focus on the content at hand, I thought Abby Phillip asked pointed questions of her panelists, make interesting counterarguments, and did a good job helming what could easily be viewed as a chaotic environment in what I witnessed.

I didn’t find CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip to be “embarrassing” or “discrediting” to the network as a whole. I found it compelling and interesting, despite its flaws and problems. But then again, that might be because it’s probably geared much more to someone like me and not a conservative radio host.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.

Alan Hahn Questions Peter Rosenberg for Watching TNT Broadcast of Knicks-Magic Instead of MSG Networks

BSM Staff
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Alan Hahn Questions Peter Rosenberg for Watching TNT Broadcast of Knicks-Magic Instead of MSG Networks

The New York Knicks have won eight out of their last 10 games played, recently defeating the Orlando Magic to advance to the quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup. As part of the final night of group stage play within the in-season tournament, TNT Sports was on hand to broadcast the game with a commentary team of Brian Anderson, Reggie Miller and Lauren Jbara.

The sports property within Warner Bros. Discovery is currently in its final season broadcasting live NBA games and will enter into a new, 11-year agreement with the league next year that includes select international rights and digital functionalities. Yet the matchup was not an exclusive national broadcast, meaning regional sports networks covering the Knicks and Magic were also on hand at Madison Square Garden for the proceedings.

Basketball fans who receive MSG Networks were able to watch the local broadcast of the game featuring play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, analyst Walt “Clyde” Frazier and reporter Alan Hahn. As a result, consumers in the New York metropolitan area effectively had a choice between the local and national feeds. When Peter Rosenberg posted a picture of new Washington Commanders gear he received as a gift, a television was visible in the background with the Knicks game on TNT. Although Rosenberg is a Celtics fan, he is a co-host of The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York, the flagship radio station for Knicks games.

“I just need to understand something here,” Hahn said on Tuesday’s edition of the Bart & Hahn midday show. “How are you watching – Reggie Miller was on the call, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I want to hear that instead of Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier.’ Peter Rosenberg, what are you doing? How do you have that game on?”

Hahn presumably took umbrage towards Rosenberg viewing the game on TNT Sports because he was reporting for the matchup. At the end of the game, he interviewed Knicks guard Jalen Brunson on the court about the 121-106 victory. Hahn was also in the Knicks locker room collecting postgame sound from the rest of the team, which has a 13-8 record and sits fourth in the Eastern Conference standings. Rosenberg addressed the reasoning for watching the game on MSG Networks during Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Kay Show.

“I would like to apologize to my friend, Alan,” Rosenberg said as piano music played in the background. “It’s a bad job by me. I am a team player, I support my guy, I love the MSG broadcast. I wouldn’t describe Mike Breen as my best friend, but I certainly consider him someone I’m friendly with and also support, in addition to Alan and many others there. But with my DIRECTV streaming service, you turn on your [TV], and it will just throw suggestions at you, and in the case of this, there’s a TNT one, there’s an MSG one. I clicked on TNT, and that was it. It was thoughtless, it was wrong and I won’t do it again.”

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Sean McManus: If You Have a Broadcast Network Without the NFL, ‘You’re Going to Go Out of Business’

BSM Staff
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Sean McManus, the longtime chairman of CBS Sports, recently retired from the position leading the Paramount Global subsidiary after attaining record-setting viewership of Super Bowl LVIII in February. The matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers ended in a thrilling overtime victory for the Chiefs and averaged an estimated 123.7 million viewers across all platforms, rendering it the most-watched television program of all time, according to Nielsen Media Research. McManus departed the company after subsequent broadcasts of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and The Masters Tournament. David Berson succeeded him in the leadership role, currently serving as the president and chief executive officer of the division.

McManus was named executive in residence within the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management. The institution is located within the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which offers programs for aspiring professionals in sports business. McManus was on hand at the university for a fireside chat, which was moderated by Puck sports correspondent and longtime journalist John Ourand.

Within their conversation, McManus reflected on the similarities between when he started at CBS Sports in 1996 to the present day, explaining the appeal of sports as being the most valuable programming within live television. Outside of an occasional news event, such as a presidential debate, he explained that sports is the only way to attract a live audience and articulated that it continues to become more dominant.

“I mentioned in a class today that 94 of the top 100 programs in all of television last year were NFL programs, 94 out of 100,” McManus said, “so if you have a broadcast network and you don’t have the NFL, you’re going to go out of business. It’s as simple as that.”

McManus was an instrumental part of CBS Sports reacquiring rights to the NFL despite the plausibility of such an outcome being perceived to be a longshot. CBS had dropped from the top-ranked network in prime-time television to No. 3 in the category, but he was able to convince the league to negotiate its AFC package of games. The company ended up paying $500 million per annum for NFL games within the AFC on Sundays, representing a 130% increase to what NBC had been paying the previous four years. Since that time, CBS has remained a broadcast partner with the NFL and broadcast nine Super Bowl championship games. Under its current 10-year media rights contract with the league, Paramount Global reportedly pays $2.1 billion per season.

McManus divulged that CBS Sports had previously televised NFL Christmas Day games for $35 million per contest and that the company had bid for this year’s slate of games as well. CBS and FOX, he explained, bid approximately $40 million per game, but the package ultimately went to Netflix for $100 million a game.

McManus referred to this rights fee as “pocket change” for the company, which attained $2.9 billion in third-quarter operating income (+52% YoY) and 30% operating margins on $9.82 billion of revenue. Netflix has been growing its advertising tier, recently reporting that it had 70 million subscribers nearly two years after its launch in 2022. As a whole, the platform has 282.7 million global subscribers and continues to experiment with sports content through documentaries, live events and other synergies.

“What’s changed a little bit is Netflix now is getting into the mix,” McManus said. “That’s bad news for the broadcast networks because their resources and their balance sheet is so much bigger than ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX. Apple has dipped its toe in the water with soccer. Amazon has bought Thursday Night Football, and they’ll pay whatever they need to pay.”

The fear for those at broadcast networks, McManus explained, was that Netflix and Amazon may eventually decide to bid on marquee packages, such as NFC games or Monday Night Football. Although he is not sure it is going to happen, he knows these companies understand the value of attracting that large of an audience. Yet he recognizes that Amazon pays the league approximately $1 billion per year for Thursday Night Football, whereas CBS and FOX had previously paid the league about $400 million to $450 million for the package while losing $75 million to $100 million annually. CBS ended up passing on the Thursday night rights, primarily because it had other NFL packages.

“If we didn’t have Sunday afternoon football, we would have made a huge effort to keep Thursday night,” Ourand said. “You have to have at least one package, else you’re kind of going out of business to be honest with you.”

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Bob Fescoe: Tom Brady is Better in Open-Form Discussion Than Live Game Broadcasts

BSM Staff
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Bob Fescoe: Tom Brady is Better in Open-Form Discussion Than Live Game Broadcasts

The Kansas City Chiefs organization has won three Super Bowl championships in the last five seasons, including hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the last two years, and the team is positioning itself to potentially garner the first three-peat in league history. As the franchise sits atop the AFC West division with a sterling 11-1 record, there have been observations by football commentators and analysts that the team does not look as dominant on the field. Nonetheless, the Chiefs have been able to secure victories in this regard, but it is something 96.5 The Fan morning show host Dusty Likins remarked has never been seen before. Comparatively speaking, he mentioned the 2003-04 Patriots and alluded to a recent appearance by Tom Brady on The Herd with Colin Cowherd where such a parallel was extrapolated.

Cowherd asked Brady to recollect what it was like playing on the Patriots at that time as the team secured three Super Bowl championships in a four-year span. In his response, Brady explained how the Chiefs, akin to those Patriots teams, were able to win close games. Earning victories in these scenarios is something he believes to be indicative of a really good football team. Brady proceeded to mention the impact of quarterback Patrick Mahomes and how dangerous he is late in games, along with the fact that the Chiefs defense has not allowed opponents to pull away in games.

“That organization does so many things the right way,” Brady said. “They’re going to be tough to beat in the playoffs. I don’t care who they play or where they play. It’s a lot like the teams that I played for at the Patriots. If you were going to beat us, man you had to beat us. We weren’t going to beat ourselves.”

Once the soundbite concluded, Fescoe simply replied by saying “Bingo” and emphasizing that it is what he has been trying to tell people for the past two years. Likins expounded on that point highlighting two things he took from the conversation. The first of these came through the credibility of Brady to discuss dynasties and how these teams attain victory. Moreover, he also disclosed starting to like Brady now that he is no longer on the gridiron.

“I like him better in that situation than I do on the games though,” Fescoe replied, leading Likins to explain how he thinks Brady has been okay in his first year calling games for FOX Sports. Brady is currently working under a 10-year contract reportedly worth a total of $375 million as part of the NFL on FOX lead broadcast team with Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi. FOX Sports will equip this commentary group on its broadcast of Super Bowl LIX this February from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La.

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Fescoe added, “but like that, where he’s kind of opining and telling you things of what he experienced and whatnot, I like those open-forum discussions better.”

Brady has made appearances on Cowherd’s program throughout the NFL season, offering his insights and perspectives to a national audience on FS1 and FOX Sports Radio. In addition to his sports media work, he also became a part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders this past October. As a result of his ownership interests, Brady is required to adhere to restrictions, such as not being able to attend production meetings, accessing team facilities or publicly criticizing officials or other clubs. These restrictions were put into place while his bid for the Raiders was pending in August ahead of the beginning of the NFL regular season.

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