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.
Country music icon Tracy Lawrence has announced that he will be stepping down as the host of his syndicated radio show “Honky Tonkin’ with Tracy Lawrence” after ten years.
Beginning in January 2025, the show will be hosted by the nationally syndicated morning show duo, “Big D & Bubba.”
Lawrence said, “It’s been a joy and an honor to spend all these years with listeners, sharing laughs, stories, and great Country music with people who have the same love for these songs that I’ve always felt.”
“What an amazing job T.L. has done,” says Big D. “We’ve been fans of Tracy’s for years, and we are excited to do our best to take the show to the next level with more artist interviews, listener interaction, and some of the best Country music ever made!”
Bubba adds, “Tracy Lawrence is genuinely one of the coolest and most talented people we’ve had the pleasure of working with. What an incredible run as the host of ‘Honky Tonkin,’ and we couldn’t be more thrilled about what’s coming next for Tracy! Likewise, moving forward, we are excited that we have the honor of taking over as hosts and celebrating the Honky Tonk hits that we love while getting to hang with our heroes and artist-friends, sharing amazing stories week after week! We’re fired up and ready to go!”
“Honky Tonkin’ with Big D & Bubba” is a weekly three-hour Country radio program that highlights songs from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
Since the early 1990s, Big D & Bubba have been influential figures in Country radio, forging connections with many notable artists of their time.
“Honky Tonkin’ with Big D & Bubba” will continue to be produced by Silverfish Media and distributed by Compass Media Networks.
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.
Millions of eyes were on Netflix Friday night as Mike Tyson fought Jake Paul. KFAN host Dan Barreiro believes the NFL has to be terrified after what he saw.
A reported 60 million viewers tuned into the broadcast that was mired with technical difficulties. During his Sunday Sermons show, Barrerio called the broadcast an “utter and abject disaster.”
“Despite that buffering signal being on my screen over and over again, I still stayed with it,” he said, as he pounded the table, saying he was duped by the offering. “Occasionally, when it would stop reloading, it would take me back to about an hour and a half before the fight. And then I’d have to manually attempt to fast-forward it closer to the place where it had paused before.”
Netflix is scheduled to broadcast a pair of Christmas Day games from the NFL next month, with some arguing that the trial run of Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul showing the streaming giant isn’t ready for massive live audiences.
Dan Barrerio is in that camp.
“It was even worse than some of us might have hoped. Aren’t the Christmas games, at least a couple of the Christmas games for the NFL on Netflix? They’ve got to be a DEFCON 1 regarding the technological issues. A number of people I know couldn’t even — would click on it, and they couldn’t even actually get to the broadcast. Not to mention, by the way, the production values regarding the broadcast itself. The broadcasters? Awful, wretched.”
Netflix is scheduled to broadcast games in Pittsburgh, as the Steelers face the Kansas City Chiefs, and in Houston with the Texans hosting the Baltimore Ravens.
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.
In what may not be his most popular take ever, combat sports insider Ariel Helwani, who worked on the Netflix broadcast of the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight has said people should not be complaining about anything that took place Friday because they didn’t pay for it. Helwani acknowledged that people do, in fact, pay to stream Netflix, but that this broadcast wasn’t like an old-school pay-per-view where you had to pay directly for it to watch.
Additionally, Helwani took major exception to anyone who said they were “conned” by the fight. Helwani addressed all of this on the latest edition of The Ariel Helwani Show.
“There’s two things that kind of get under my skin when I see the aftermath,” Helwani started out. “Number one, it’s the people who, never talk about boxing, don’t watch boxing, don’t care about boxing, don’t have a DAZN subscription, aren’t watching Top Rank on a Saturday or Friday night, aren’t watching PBC on Amazon, and I see them saying, ‘we need to stop being conned by this, we need to stop falling for this, we need to stop giving this our attention so that boxing can clean itself up once and for all’.
“You don’t watch boxing to begin with. You don’t give a sh** about boxing. And you weren’t conned by anything. The only thing that you did was convince yourself that Mike Tyson was going to show up as the 1987 version of himself and turn back the clock and shut up the guy that, for whatever reason, you can’t stand.”
Helwani vehemently disagrees with the takes that people didn’t get what they tuned in for. His believe is that people had an expectation just for the Tyson-Paul fight and if they were let down, it was their own fault.
“You’re the sucker,” he said. “You convinced yourself of this. No one conned you, no one told you that he was going to turn back the clock, and no one told you that this was the best of boxing. Because if you stuck around for Barrios-Ramos, if you stuck around or showed up early for Taylor-Serrano, you would have seen the best of boxing. And the issue with boxing over the years has been put one fight at the top and nothing on the bottom. This card didn’t do that.”
Helwani pointed out that the second battle between Taylor and Seranno will go down as the most watched women’s sporting event in U.S. history. “That’s incredible,” he said. “But spare me the, ‘we were conned again’.
Where Helwani went next may not sit well with some as he tried to make the point that most people have Netflix anyway and didn’t go out and purchase it just for this fight. “You know why you weren’t conned?” Helwani asked. “You didn’t pay a cent for it. It was part of your Netflix subscription. If you would have paid $70, and Dana White said it himself, you have a leg to stand on. This was essentially free. No one told you to sign up. You all had it already.”
Where Helwani went next may be something he wants to rethink. For those watching social media the night of the fight it was clear people struggled to maintain a quality connection. While reports say over 800,000 people filed reports about troubles, it is fairly obvious the number of people affected was way more than that.
Similar to how Netflix has handled it, Helwani made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal and who cares anyway, since you didn’t “pay” for it.
“And so, this idea that you were conned, this idea that, oh my God, the stream, this and that, yeah, of course that was annoying, but you didn’t pay for it,” Helwani attempted to rationalize. “It was all on the house. It was all extra added value.”
“You got great fights beforehand, and you got what you should have expected in the main event.”
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.
To begin Morning Joe on Monday, MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski shared they met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
The pair have been vocal critics of the President-elect in recent years, but said it was “time to do something different” as his second term inches closer.
“For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, why wouldn’t we? … Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different,” Brzezinski concluded. “And that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him.”
On social media, the President-elect shared his version of the meeting, taking a shot at Scarborough.
“This morning, ‘Morning’ Joe and Mika, who owe their careers to me, went on their show and claimed to have met with me,” Trump wrote. “They made it sound like we had a summit. The truth is, Joe begged to meet with me after our Big Win, and when I finally agreed, he approached me like a scolded dog. He should consider himself lucky that I didn’t have him thrown out of beautiful Mar-a-Lago.
“Mika was charming, as usual,” he concluded.
The reaction to the meeting was swift. Some observers applauded the candor and ability to put differing politics aside. Others were flabbergasted by the decision, throwing insults at the hosts.
Wow! More conversation with people you disagree with! I love this but suspect many of you will not! Fierce Trump-critics Mika & Morning Joe meet with the President-elect at Mar-a-Lago. pic.twitter.com/qLj6nuggx5
To political reporters, commentators, liberals, moderates: After this fawning, humiliating, network-destroying surrender, if you go on @Morning_Joe you have endorsed and bought into #VichyMSNBCpic.twitter.com/gyfoFInYcR
We are told that people like Trump are beyond the pale, that his supporters are Nazi-like domestic threats on the verge of violence at every moment. We’re told Joe Rogan is a danger to society who must lose his job and be subject to 2 wks of maximally nasty national news coverage… https://t.co/DY7VupxykX
Joe and Mika share how they recently visited Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
“Joe and I realized it’d time to do something different. And that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but with him.” pic.twitter.com/yl9GEHjsMF
Joe and Mika went to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, not because they're practicing any actual introspection, but because they're frauds.
The key line – how they're going to "do something different"… by not just talking about Trump but talking TO him. No one normal thinks like… pic.twitter.com/43IFKMuQew
I can't believe they weren't immediately placed into journalist internment camp. Or fed to the alligators! Well come January… "Joe and Mika visit Mar-a-Lago" pic.twitter.com/j07OxhveKe
Morning Joe went to see Trump this weekend. After 7 years of brainwashing & destroying American discourse, he wants to play nice. Legacy media can’t be destroyed fast enough. Hopefully RFK can put the nail in the coffin by getting rid of big pharma funding pic.twitter.com/0M656Maz4m
The same show & hosts that told you Biden was fine & fit, that told you Trump was Hitler, have cozied up to Trump at Mar-a-Lago this weekend to reopen communication. If you watch their bullshit you have no self respect pic.twitter.com/awZotUHCVg
Total frauds Joe and Mika visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump, after claiming he was an authoritarian, fascist, Nazi who will end Democracy — which they never actually believed. pic.twitter.com/jfoyDM4xdK
Why is anybody surprised? Since 1998 I've said Scarborough was the worst person I'd ever encountered in this business. He proves me right, year after year.
.@BuckSexton: "As an avid Morning Joe watcher, I felt betrayed because I had been reliably told for months that, if Donald Trump won the election, the entire republic would fall apart — that he's a fascist, that he is, in fact, Hitler." pic.twitter.com/85Vrjbeq6D
— The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) November 18, 2024
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.
This past Friday, the “Lamont & Tonelli” show abruptly ended at Cumulus Media’s Classic Rock 107.7 The Bone in San Francisco.
The Bay Area duo have been on the air together for 35 years.
The station’s website currently does not list a morning show. Neither the station nor its parent company, Cumulus Media, has responded to Barrett Media’s requests for comments.
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.
TNT Sports and Amazon Prime Video are set to take over a portion of the NASCAR schedule in 2025, and it has announced Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Steve Letarte will be in the booth.
It is a return for Alexander. He called NASCAR on TNT races from 2010 to 2014 when it most recently held the package.
“I’m very excited to return to TNT Sports as they renew their coverage of NASCAR,” said Alexander. “I have great respect for Dale and Steve and look forward to calling races with them.”
Steve Letarte joins TNT Sports after previously working in the NASCAR on NBC booth. He served as crew chair for Dale Earnhardt Jr. from 2010 to 2014, winning the 2014 Daytona 500 in the process. He left NASCAR to join the NBC broadcast team in 2014.
“I am looking forward to joining the team at TNT Sports and working alongside Dale Jr. again in the booth,” said Letarte. “TNT has a long history of covering NASCAR and I am excited to contribute to that history next season when the green flag waves on TNT’s coverage in June.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. had previously been announced as a member of the TNT Sports broadcast crew. He was sentimental about the sport’s return to the network.
“It’s so nostalgic to see TNT Sports return to NASCAR,” said Earnhardt Jr. “I enjoyed watching their coverage back in the day. I’m looking forward to being a part of the team and working with Adam (Alexander) and (Steve) Letarte.”
The crew of Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will also be the team for the Amazon Prime Video portion of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule beginning in 2025.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dale, Steve, and Adam as official members of the Prime Video family,” said Prime Video Director of Global Live Sports Production Jared Stacy. “We are excited for this group to bring their collective experience, passion and credibility to NASCAR fans as we begin our coverage next season.”
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.
While Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT along with the NBA and Disney/ESPN is celebrating the announcement of lawsuits ending and Inside the NBA staying, apparently some earlier reports that said all members of the famed TNT show were under long-term contracts have turned out to not be completely accurate. SI’s Jimmy Traina has reported Shaquille O’Neal’s contract expires July 1, 2025.
Traina reports that since the others on the show, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley each do things outside of their Inside the NBA agreement, such as the NCAA Tournament, they have different contract setups. O’Neal only works on Inside the NBA and thus his contract expires at the same time the network’s contract with the league does.
Traina wrote, “While sources say Shaq wants to remain on the show, he’s frustrated that there has been congratulations and press releases hyping that Inside the NBA is remaining the same while he is currently not under contract to be with the company next season.”
Ernie Johnson has been with the show the longest, having started for its second season in 1990. Kenny Smith joined as an analyst in 1998, followed by Charles Barkley in 2000 and Shaq in 2011. Others such as Magic Johnson, Reggie Miller, Chris Webber and Draymond Green have also served as analysts on the show.
The show has won nineteen Sports Emmy Awards and Johnson has won seven awards as a studio host. Charles Barkley has won five awards as a top studio analyst with the most recent one coming this year.
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.
KFI-AM 640 Program Director Robin Bertolucci exited the iHeartMedia Los Angeles news/talk station earlier this month after 22 years of leading the brand. And while it was bittersweet, she says the timing was right.
Bertolucci — alongside her husband, FOX Sports Radio executive and AM 570 LA Sports Program Director Don Martin — departed on November 8th. The pair have stated it was their decision, as the exits came days before iHeartMedia made widespread cuts to the KFI newsroom, as well as the FOX Sports Radio staff.
In a conversation with the Los Angeles Daily News, Bertolucci said the timing was right.
“It was a breakup,” she said. “Totally mutual. It was time. I am at peace. It was a good time to go, but leaving hurt. It was very hard to say goodbye.”
In addition to programming KFI, Robin Bertolucci also served as Program Director of The Patriot 1150 AM.
iHeartMedia Executive Vice President of News/Talk and Sports programming Chris Berry is serving as the interim PD of KFI-AM 640 on an interim basis.
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.
Howard Stern has warned that there will be significant repercussions if Netflix customers face streaming difficulties again during their NFL Christmas broadcasts.
During the Monday episode of his Sirius XM radio show, Stern addressed Netflix in response to the widespread backlash over buffering issues and outages experienced during the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on Friday.
“I don’t know how this stuff works, but you gotta make sure it works,” Stern said. “You f–k up people’s football, there is hell to pay. You better not.”
Stern mentioned that Netflix will host two significant NFL matchups on December 25.
In a highly anticipated game, the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
The Ravens are set to face the Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Both teams are expected to be strong contenders for the postseason, and the high stakes of this matchup will add to the game’s intensity.
Stern expressed his concerns following widespread frustration among fans regarding quality and buffering issues that plagued the Tyson-Paul card. Down Detector received over 88,000 reports of streaming problems on Friday night alone.
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.
Aaron Cunningham has been appointed Events Coordinator for The New Flo 107.1, STAR 101.5, and KPOF-AM 910 at Pillar Media Denver. He is recognized for his contributions to the Christian music industry under the stage name Cyfë II.
Cunningham will develop and oversee local events that engage listeners and enhance community connections, thereby promoting the stations’ visibility in Denver.
Cunningham said, “This opportunity absolutely came about as a move of God; the way everything in my life up until I was hired has been orchestrated. I feel like this opportunity is bigger than me. I see this position as a way to serve my community in the ministry and gift of music that God has given me. Glory to God.”
Pillar Media Brand Director Matt Stockman added, “I’m thrilled to welcome Aaron to the team. His creativity, passion for the community, and love for God will all be instrumental in helping us connect with the people of Denver in meaningful and impactful ways.”