Good Karma Brands and ESPN Madison have announced the station’s afternoon drive show, Rutledge and Hamilton with Jim Rutledge and Matt Hamilton, will add Molly Brown and become Jim, Matt, and Molly. The show airs weekdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The change will take place starting July 15.
“We are so excited to welcome Molly to the show!” said Hamilton, a Team USA Gold Medalist in Men’s Curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics. “Fans can continue to enjoy our sports-comedy vibe, with Molly adding new perspectives and insights.”
Brown has been a recurring guest and fill-in host on the show since it began early in 2022. She is also ESPN Madison’s marketing manager.
Jim Rutledge said, “Molly Brown is one of the most talented people I’ve worked with, and I’m excited to add her talent and personality to the show!”
Danny Parkins is back in Chicago after two days in Los Angeles filling in on the TV side for Colin Cowherd. Parkins talked with Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes on 670 The Score before his show started about the experience.
“It was incredible,” he said when asked about how it went. “It was a bucket-list thing. I mean, he is one of the best sports radio hosts in the history of the medium. The show is a massive operation. Their crew is great. By far, the biggest platform that I’ve ever fronted. It was really, really cool.
“I am not going to even pretend to undersell it or be weird and self-deprecating. It was not something that I really thought was a possibility not that long ago and then it’s become a possibility and then when they said, ‘Do you want to do it?’ I immediately said ‘Yes’ and it was really dope.”
When he was asked about the studio and the operation of the show, Parkins said, “It’s huge…I would say legitimately 30-plus foot ceilings. It’s at FOX, their lot. Undisputed, Skip Bayless’ show is in the same room as Colin’s studio and there’s no break.”
Parkins explained the one show ends and Cowherd’s show begins at about the exact same time.
“So, then you are monologuing to a one-shot, doing national TV and Skip Bayless and Rachel Nichols and Keyshawn Johnson are just walking out,” Parkins described. “They are in one corner of this huge room and you’re in the other corner of this room…and you’re just monologuing for the biggest monologue of your life.”
Parkins talked about the studio setup itself and said, “There’s no component of the studio that is like a radio studio.” He said you cannot see your producers, you are mostly just looking into and talking to the camera.
Parkins said, “It’s a huge operation,” and explained there were nine people around a conference table, “and that’s just for the content creation of the show, that’s not for the camera operator, floor director, technical stuff.”
After relaying a story about how great the researcher is that works for Cowherd and how all the people worked together, Parkins simply said, “It was very cool, very brief…it was fun.”
The National Basketball Association has reportedly finalized media rights contracts that will maintain The Walt Disney Company’s ESPN as a media rights partner and add Comcast’s NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video as new league partners. These 11-year agreements will be worth a collective $76 billion, according to a new report from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, citing executives with direct knowledge of these deals. Warner Bros. Discovery, which had broadcast the NBA under properties it currently owns since 1984, could try and use contract language to match a deal. The company is reportedly expected to target Amazon’s package should it decide to go through with the effort.
The NBA Board of Governors will meet on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nev., although it is unknown if the entity will be approving the agreements at this time. That step of the process, however, is expected to be a formality. Under these new television deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video, which begin with the 2025-26 season, there would reportedly be national telecasts of NBA regular season games nearly seven days a week, according to sources cited in the report. The report states that NBC will alternate showing conference finals with Amazon’s Prime Video, while ESPN will present a conference final and the NBA Finals every season in the new media rights deal.
ESPN/ABC will remain the exclusive home of the NBA Finals and will reportedly pay $2.6 billion per season for its entire media rights package. ESPN and the NBA did not reach an agreement before the end of its exclusive negotiating window, according to the report, since ESPN did not move off its position of forsaking any part of the NBA Finals. The network will broadcast fewer regular season games, moving from 100 to somewhere in the range of 80. Amid the NFL season, these games will be broadcast on Wednesdays and Sundays, with Saturday night contests being within the ABC window. After the NFL on ESPN concludes for the season, ESPN will also broadcast games on Friday nights.
NBC is expected to present select NBA games on Sunday after the conclusion of Sunday Night Football and on Tuesdays during the season as well. Peacock, NBCUniversal’s OTT streaming service, is reportedly expected to have exclusive NBA game telecasts on Mondays. The company is reportedly paying $2.5 billion per season and will broadcast NBA games for the first time since 2002.
Amazon’s Prime Video is reportedly expected to present select NBA games on Thursday nights following the conclusion of its Thursday Night Football season. Throughout the entirety of the regular season, the streaming platform is said to be broadcasting games on Friday nights and Saturdays. The streaming company is reportedly slated to pay $1.8 billion per season for its package of media rights, which will also include the In-Season Tournament. The company is expected to add two to three play-by-play announcers and is said to be interested in hiring Ian Eagle, who currently calls sports for TNT Sports, Westwood One, CBS Sports and YES Network.
The NBA is entering the final season of its nine-year media rights deal with The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC) and TNT Sports worth $2.6 billion per year. Next year could be the final season of Inside the NBA, the TNT Sports award-winning studio program, although the network could reportedly produce the show in some form without games, according to Marchand.
Charles Barkley announced that he will be retiring from television following next season no matter what happens after previously giving his candid assessment on the NBA media rights negotiations. The report divulges that all three NBA media rightsholders are expected to pursue him or could try and bring the entire Inside the NBA cast to its platform, which also includes host Ernie Johnson and analysts Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny “The Jet” Smith.
Since it was founded in 1993, the V Foundation for Cancer Research has raised over $353 million for cancer research grants across the United States and is among the preeminent organizations involved in the space. Founded by former ESPN analyst and championship-winning basketball coach Jim Valvano, the organization ensures that 100% of its direct contributions support cancer research from scientists investigating different types of cancer in all stages of its progression. In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of ESPN host Stuart Scott’s enduring ESPYS speech in which he implored audience members to “Fight Like Hell,” all donations up to $75,000 will be matched to benefit the V Foundation’s Stuart Scott Memorial Cancer Research Fund.
Shane Jacobson, the chief executive officer of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, is preparing for the ESPY Awards tomorrow from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. The event will be hosted by 23-time Grand Slam women’s champion Serena Williams and include presenters and attendees from the sports and entertainment industries. Jacobson discussed the significance of the foundation recognizing the impact of Scott during an appearance on ESPN Radio’s UnSportsmanLike show on Wednesday morning.
“We appreciate all the work that ESPN does to shine a spotlight on cancer and cancer research, and this year was critically important for us to dial in more deeply into the legacy that is Stuart Scott,” Jacobson said. “Obviously a Hall of Fame broadcaster and SportsCenter host at ESPN. His legacy continues though, given the priority that he lived his life through, which is, ‘Fight. Fight like hell,’ and that message rings true, and so our ability to focus on cancer health disparities exclusively through the ESPYS this week is absolutely important”
Jacobson expressed his disappointment in that cancer remains a serious problem, stating that more Black men and Black women are being diagnosed with cancer and have higher mortality rates than their white counterparts. He expressed that cancer is awful for all communities but presents a particular challenge in Black communities. The V Foundation, he said, is doing something about it and leading in the space.
“A hundred cents on every dollar goes through the V Foundation to these researchers, and through these researchers, we connect with so many families that are going through the fight and the inspiration that is the, ‘Don’t give up, don’t ever give up’ spirit,” Jacobson said. “[It] is something that we know matters because it’s a fight. It is a fight against an opponent, cancer, and that fighting spirit, I think, rings true, and it proves itself over and over again.”
Upon the founding of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, Jacobson said that cancer survivorship has improved by 33 percentage points. Additionally, more than 4 million people remain alive today because of that cancer research, further underscoring the importance of the V Foundation and its mission.
The ESPY Awards will air live on Thursday, July 11 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC and help raise awareness and funds for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. ESPN has helped in raising over $200 million for the V Foundation over the past 31 years and also has current and former employees on its board of directors, including Jimmy Pitaro, Steve Bornstein, George Bodenheimer, Rita Ferro, Jay Bilas, Sage Steele, Norby Williamson and Dick Vitale. Jacobson revealed news of a special part of the awards show that will air on Thursday pertaining to the V Foundation for Cancer Research within his interview as well.
“I’m not going to give away the exact announcement yet – you’ll have to tune in – [Serena Williams is] going to be making an announcement in this space of cancer health disparities with a partner of the V Foundation,” Jacobson said. “It is going to be a record-setting announcement which will be an investment in the spirit of Stuart Scott in the need to address cancer health disparities. We can’t wait for her to share the big news.”
Austin Karp and Mollie Cahillane of the Sports Business Journal talked about the merger of David Ellison’s Skydance Media and Paramount on the latest edition of The Sports Media Podcast. While there are many hurdles to clear, the terms of the deal were agreed to and the structure set with Ellison set to become CEO of the new company some are calling ‘New Paramount’ and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell coming on as president.
Karp asked Cahillane, “What is the biggest impact on sports for this deal?”
“I do not think the merger of Skydance and Paramount, more of a takeover rather than a merger, is going to have a massive impact on their sports properties,” Cahillane said. “CBS has long relied on sports…and with Jeff Shell coming in as President, we are talking about former NBCUniversal Jeff Shell, sports aren’t going anywhere. I don’t see them as part of any of the offloading that is planned for the Paramount properties.”
“I don’t think that sports is going anywhere, it’s actually going to be helped, if anything,” Karp agreed. “Like you said, Jeff Shell, seasoned sports executive…the guy knows sports in and out and so does David Ellison, the owner of Skydance.
“Skydance Sports, for a couple of years now, has been a marquee partner of the NFL in terms of creating content. They’ve done some of the documentaries, like the Jerry Jones one that was just sold for $50 million to Netflix. They’re the ones that were kind of behind the Kansas City Chiefs doing this movie with Hallmark that’s going to be coming out…If you combine the expertise that RedBird Capital, which is some of the money behind Skydance, has in sports, it really portends well for the future of CBS Sports and Paramount as a player out there in the space.”
According to Variety, Skydance said the deal has an enterprise value of $28 billion, with Skydance itself valued at $4.75 billion. Skydance and its partners will reportedly invest more than $8 billion into the company.
The projected closing date for the sale is by Sept. 30, 2025.
KFI AM-640 in Los Angeles is set to debut a new Sunday show led by reporter Steve Gregory and features journalism students from around Southern California.
Studio 640 features students from community colleges as well as public and private four-year institutions and offers insight into how younger generations view news topics and also talk radio as a whole.
“Right now, we have the two largest demographic groups living simultaneously on the planet – GenX / Boomers and Millennials,” KFI AM-640 Program Director Robin Bertolucci said. “This show is an effort to bridge the divide and bring the generations together with understanding and clarity.”
The program airs Sunday at 2:00 PM and lasts for two hours. It bills itself as similar in style to Meet the Press and Real Time with Bill Maher.
“Studio 640 not only builds a conduit between our news operation and area journalism schools, but also offers students a professional experience they can learn from and use to start their own careers,” added Gregory. “The bonus is hearing about everyday events through the POV of a journalism student.”
There are requirements for students hoping to appear on a panel for the show. According to KFI, a student panelist must be enrolled in an accredited college/university with a primary focus on journalism, broadcast, and/or communications. The student must also be a contributor to a college/university newspaper, radio station, television station, digital news outlet, or podcast. Independent journalists enrolled in school may also be considered.
Studio 640 will make its debut on Sunday, July 14th.
The ESPN My Wish series is making its return for a 17th season on Sunday, July 14 and will feature a variety of athletes across different leagues. Since the start of the series in 2006, the network has worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to fulfill 83 sports-themed wishes for children who have critical illnesses. The award-winning series will continue to be hosted by Chris Connelly and will tell the stories of five children within segments on SportsCenter, the first of which will debut on Sunday.
“I’ve been part of My Wish since its inception, and I’m still just amazed by the resilience, strength and optimism of the children and families whose stories we share,” Connelly said in a statement. “I think we’re all grateful for the chance to show these wishes restoring hope and happiness to those who’ve had to endure so much.”
The San Francisco 49ers, Katie Ledecky, Duke Men’s Basketball, Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins and Freddie Freeman and the Los Angeles Dodgers all took part in the series to actualize the wishes of the children. New features will air during the 6 p.m. EST edition of SportsCenter Monday through Thursday next week, and all features will also be played again during additional versions of SportsCenter. Moreover, these features will be available through a special landing page on ESPN’s website and on the Make-A-Wish website as well, and editions of the videos will be shared on ESPN social media platforms.
“The power of the ‘My Wish’ series lies in the beautiful way that ESPN honors these wish kids and their families by letting them share their inspiring stories with viewers,” Leslie Motter, president and chief executive officer of Make-A-Wish America, said in a statement. “Once viewers hear what these families have dealt with and overcome, they can start to see the critical role a wish plays in restoring hope, joy and a sense of normalcy to families.”
Lawful-Sanders earned the first post-debate interview with President Biden, before revealing that she utilized questions provided by the White House during the discussion in an interview with CNN.
In a subsequent CNN interview after the Lawful-Sanders and WURD parted ways, CEO Sara M. Lomax was adamant the station did not fire the host for her actions.
“Andrea resigned on her own volition,” Lomax said. “She was not fired. She chose to resign, and we accepted her resignation.”
Additionally, Lomax turned the criticism to the Biden White House. She shared that WURD has a longstanding policy that any interviews with White House personnel are required to go through station management. However, she alleged the administration “leapfrogged” and “intentionally bypassed” managers to go straight to Lawful-Sanders to get the interview accomplished.
Andrea Lawful-Sanders had been a member of the WURD lineup since 2019 before departing after the controversy late last week.
1080 KRLD has announced a pair of programming changes that will see former WDBO host Joe Kelley join the Audacy-owned station as its new morning host, while current host Mike Rogers will move to middays.
Kelley will helm The KRLD Morning News from 5-10 AM each morning, while Rogers will then host from 10 AM-Noon with a long-form, news-oriented show.
It is a homecoming of sorts for Joe Kelley, who previously worked in the Dallas market at Cumulus-owned KLIF and WBAP earlier in his career.
“I am honored to join the esteemed KRLD brand and embrace the responsibility of upholding the legacy crafted by generations of broadcasters,” said Kelley. “Returning to Texas—a place that resonates with familiarity and warmth—fills me with great enthusiasm. I look forward to further elevating KRLD’s prominence in the North Texas community.”
Meanwhile, Mike Rogers is a 32-year veteran of the news/talk station.
“We’re proud to unveil the next phase of KRLD’s new-look lineup by adding Joe Kelley and moving local favorite Mike Rogers to middays,” Audacy News & Talk Format Vice President and 1080 KRLD Brand Manager Drew Anderssen said. “Mike has resonated with our listeners for over three decades, and we have no doubt he will continue to provide informative, relevant content to them in middays. We’re equally excited to welcome Joe Kelley, who, with his rich background in news and multi-platform content distribution, will bring a wealth of experience and passion to our morning news.”
Matt McCall, who was added to the College of Charleston men’s basketball coaching staff earlier this year, has decided to step away from the program for personal reasons. In a statement that was released by the school and posted by McCall on X, he explained that he had engaged in reflection and discussions with his family and has decided to engage in other passions. Moreover, he thanked Chris Mack, Matt Roberts and the College of Charleston for the opportunity, which came after several years of broadcasting for a variety of entities.
“I love the game of basketball and [am] not closing the chapter on coaching, but I’ve found a new passion and path that I have really enjoyed in broadcasting,” McCall said. “I’ve had great partners the last two years in NBC Sports, Sirius XM, CBS Sports HQ and Field of 68 and I look forward to continuing my broadcasting career with whatever new opportunities come my way. College of Charleston is a special place, and they have a team in place to win. I wish Coach Mack, the entire staff, and the players nothing but the best.”
McCall had coached previously in his college basketball career, leading the University of Massachusetts program for six seasons. Prior to that endeavor, he was the head coach of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team that won the Southern Conference Tournament in 2016. McCall has also served as an assistant coach for the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball programs.
“I understand Matt’s decision to step away from college coaching,” Chris Mack, head coach of the College of Charleston Cougars, said in a statement. “I think he’s in a different stage in his life as his kids have grown, wanting to be more of a dad than a coach, [and] I truly get that. We will miss him but wish him all the best in his next chapter.”
