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Day 1 of NBA Draft Averages 4.41 Million Viewers on ABC and ESPN

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Day 1 of NBA Draft Averages 4.41 Million Viewers on ABC and ESPN

The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday night averaged 4.41 million viewers on ESPN and ABC and won the night on television, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. This is up 18% year-over-year, which is compared to the one-night NBA Draft that aired last June. The 2024 NBA Draft is being broadcast over two days for the first time in the history of the event, and included top prospects such as Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr and Reed Sheppard. Several trades took place during the NBA Draft as well, which were reported on and broken down on both broadcasts throughout the night. The ABC and ESPN broadcasts peaked with over 5 million viewers at 8:15 p.m. EST.

According to a report from Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, first-round viewership of the NBA Draft declined by 11% on the year. Yet the viewership figure was up from 2022 when the event averaged 3.99 million, which included Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith Jr. being taken in the top 3.

Kevin Neghandi hosted ABC’s coverage of the NBA Draft with analysts Stephen A. Smith and Bob Myers providing insights and analysis. Malika Andrews hosted the ESPN coverage for the event with analysts Jay Bilas, Andraya Carter and Richard Jefferson. The broadcasts included contributions from Adrian Wojnarowski, Monica McNutt, Bobby Marks and Jonathan Givony as well.

Day 2 of the 2024 NBA Draft started on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. EST from the ESPN Seaport District Studios in New York, N.Y. Andrews, Smith, Myers and Wojnarowski, four of the five members of NBA Countdown, were all on hand for the event providing studio coverage and analysis. The NBA Draft is the third most-watched sports draft audience of the year thus far, behind the first two nights of the NFL Draft that drew 11.63 million and 5.05 million viewers, respectively. Additionally, the WNBA Draft on ESPN averaged 2.45 million viewers, the most-watched edition of the event in the history of the league.

Vic Lombardi: Adrian Wojnarowski Posts NBA Draft Selections Early Because Shams Charania Does

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Vic Lombardi: Adrian Wojnarowski Posts NBA Draft Selections Early Because Shams Charania Does

As the first night of the NBA Draft was taking place from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., basketball fans were awaiting to see which players would be selected in the lottery round. The NBA Draft was broadcast on ABC and ESPN live, showcasing highlights, analysis and breakdowns of the selections. Akin to other years in the draft though, ESPN senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski was posting the selections before they were made.

Additionally, The Athletic senior NBA insider Shams Charania was doing the same thing on social media while also taking part in the Inside the Association Draft special for Stadium. Brett Kane voiced his displeasure towards the paradigm that has been established during Thursday morning’s edition of Moser, Lombardi and Kane on Altitude Sports Radio.

Kane acknowledged that the show had discussed ESPN during its coverage of the NBA Playoffs and Stanley Cup Playoffs, conveying that it has taken “a giant step downward” for reasons he does not know. As he divulged his tradition of watching the first round of the NFL Draft regardless of if his team is picking, he found it more difficult to do for the NBA on Wednesday night.

The NBA Draft is being broadcast over a two-day span for the first time in history, and Kane believes it is an event made for television. This led him to wonder why Wojnarowski posts the selections shortly in advance, something that can potentially take away the intrigue of hearing the announcement in real time.

“I can tell you exactly why,” co-host Vic Lombardi said. “…Because Shams is.”

Wojnarowski and Charania used to work together at Yahoo Sports on its basketball platform, “The Vertical.” Since they have parted ways from the brand and moved to new outlets, there have been perceptions of a rivalry between the two NBA insiders. In fact, there are even trackers to determine how quickly they posted draft picks in advance of their announcements. This rivalry is also of frequent interest surrounding free agency and the trading deadline and has been acknowledged by Klutch Sports Group founder Rich Paul as being “good for basketball.”

Although Lombardi believed the more salient question pertained to the difference in production on ESPN for the NBA Draft as compared to the NFL Draft, he agreed with Kane that it can be annoying to have the picks revealed ahead of time.

“It’s supposed to be a television show,” Lombardi said. “Part of the allure of a television show is not knowing the results until they happen. It would be like watching The Sopranos and you’ve got Shams tweeting you, ‘Oh, Uncle Junior’s going to get Chris here.’”

Kane concurred with this sentiment, emphasizing that it would be similar to watching the Oscar Awards and finding out who won before the fact. Lombardi articulated that the reason Wojnarowski reveals this information is because Charania does it. The rationale for Charania doing it, co-host Marc Moser presumed, was that “they don’t have the Draft,” although the subject was not defined within that assertion.

“Their little battle; their little war that they’ve been waging for years, they can’t calm down,” Lombardi said. “Just guys, go to your corners and calm down for one night.”

Lombardi concluded that the news being shared during the NBA Draft represents a battle between Wojnarowski and Charania. Kane believes that it does not benefit anyone else but them and questioned earlier in the segment if he needs to stay off his phone because of the newsbreaking.

“You can wait an extra minute,” Kane said. “Wait for it to actually be announced on television, and then send it out or whatever.”

NFL Ordered by Jury to Pay Over $4 Billion in Damages in Sunday Ticket Case

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NFL Ordered by Jury to Pay Over $4 Billion in Damages in Sunday Ticket Case

The National Football League has been ordered to pay approximately $4.7 billion in damages after it lost a jury trial regarding the anticompetitive aspects of the NFL Sunday Ticket broadcast package. Following deliberation, a jury in Los Angeles federal court sided with the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit on Thursday afternoon. The jury vote claims that the league colluded with DirecTV, CBS and FOX to raise the price of subscriptions to watch out-of-market games.

The league has now been ordered by the jury to pay $96.9 million in damages to the commercial class and $4.61 billion in damages to the residential class. These damages are also tripled under federal antitrust law, thus equating to more than $14 billion. U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez could still rule in a manner that would eliminate the jury verdict. In a statement released shortly after the ruling, the league stated that it will appeal the decision.

“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” a spokesperson for the National Football League said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.”

NFL Sunday Ticket is currently available through YouTube and YouTube TV as part of a media rights deal valued at a reported $2 billion annually over seven years. The broadcast package had previously been distributed by DirecTV, which is said to have paid $1.5 billion per year. DirecTV was not involved in the trial after the judge agreed to allow it to send customer claims against the company into closed-door arbitration.

Within the trial, it was revealed that the NFL declined a proposal from ESPN to lower the price of the package to $70 per year and include single-team packages. NFL Sunday Ticket currently costs $349 per year on YouTube TV, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calling it a “premium product” during the trial.

“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit,” a spokesperson for the National Football League said in a statement. “We thank the jury for their time and service and for the guidance and oversight from Judge Gutierrez throughout the trial.”

NFL games were responsible for 93 of the 100 most-watched television broadcasts in the United States last year, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. The class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 2.4 million residential subscribers and over 48,000 commercial establishments that purchased NFL Sunday Ticket.

590 The Fan KFNS Hosts Talk About Local Programming Coming to an End

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590 The Fan KFNS Hosts Talk About Local Programming Coming to an End

590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis has told its staff it will end all local programming after tomorrow’s shows. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, owner Dave Zobrist is trying to find a buyer for the radio station. As he pursues a sale, KFNS will air national shows on the station starting Monday July 1st. The Fox Sports Radio lineup will be utilized to offer programming to local listeners.

Many of the station’s hosts talked about the situation today on the air.

Morning host and former NHL player Cam Janssen summed up his time with the radio station saying, “A lot of ups and downs, but…I had a damn good time. Yesterday was just a godawful long day…I feel proud of the audience. We started this thing, and they stuck by us….I had a great time trying to entertain all you guys. Yesterday was weird, it was like a club to the head. Everything always works itself out I feel, it always does….in my life, in my experience everything works out, you keep working hard, you’re nice to people things just take care of itself…but it does suck.”

Co-host Jim Hayes said, “590 has a rich history. I know there’s been a lot of ups and downs, but I hope somebody buys it. Not necessarily for our show…but 590 should be still standing.”

Frank Cusumano, who is sports director at the NBC affiliate in St. Louis and has had his show on KFNS for most of the last 30 years, said, “I am really disappointed because it has been a really cool almost 30-year run. The only people that I am thinking about are the people now who need to find work and stay in this industry.”

“It was tough hearing the news yesterday…I love both my jobs, but this has really been fun. TV, you get four minutes to tell the world about sports. Here, you get to tell the world about your life and life in general, and food, just everything. You can let it all hang out on AM talk radio, so I have enjoyed the heck out of it.”

Midday host Kevin Slaten who announced his show will continue on his website said it came down to a sales problem. “It’s an age-old maxim, if you don’t sell you can’t win. And you’ve got to be able to sell. You’ve got a great lineup, great content but if you can’t sell it, you can’t make money. And the sales staff, sorry, was just never that good. It never developed and if you don’t develop a sales staff you don’t win. As simple as that.

“Hopefully we can find some guys or women who want to buy the station. And that’s what we’re trying to do. I know everybody’s working towards the same end, everybody would like to see that as the end result…so that’s what we hope for.”

Marquee Sports Network to Televise First All-Female Broadcast in Chicago Cubs History

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Marquee Sports Network to Televise First All-Female Broadcast in Chicago Cubs History

Marquee Sports Network has announced that the Chicago Cubs television broadcast on Friday, July 7 will feature an all-female crew, consisting of play-by-play announcer Beth Mowins, game analyst Elise Menaker and field reporter Taylor McGregor. This will mark the first time a broadcast of this kind has taken place in Cubs history and will also include celebrations of women in baseball during the pregame and postgame shows. Social and digital media platforms will highlight the broadcast as well, along with play-by-play calls submitted by young Cubs fans. Moreover, fans will be able to interact with the broadcasters through social media ahead of the afternoon game against the Los Angeles Angels from Wrigley Field.

“Beth, Elise and Taylor excel at what they do for Marquee Sports Network,” Diane Penny, general manager of Marquee Sports Network, said in a statement. “While combining their excellence from the field to the broadcast booth marks another ‘first’ in Cubs history, it signifies yet another opportunity for our team to serve fans in a meaningful and memorable way. We look forward to an outstanding broadcast, and we know they’ll continue to be inspirations for the next generation of broadcasters.”

Mowins has called select Chicago Cubs games since 2021, becoming the first woman to work as a play-by-play announcer in the history of the organization. Outside of her work with Marquee Sports Network, she primarily broadcasts men’s and women’s college sports games for ESPN. In 2017, she became the first woman to call an NFL game. Earlier this year, Mowins was the play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s all-women NBA broadcast alongside Monica McNutt and Katie George.

“Elise and Taylor are outstanding to work with, and I’m thrilled that we will have this opportunity to work together for this historic Cubs broadcast,” Mowins said in a statement. “It’s always an honor working in the Wrigley Field broadcast booth and we are all looking forward to this special broadcast.”

Menaker has been a member of Marquee Sports Network since 2020, working as a field reporter and studio host. During the 2022 season, she became the first woman to work as a television analyst for a Cubs game. Menaker became the first woman to broadcast a Cubs game as a radio analyst last season as well. While attending Cornell University, she was a four-year starter on the school’s softball team and inducted into its athletics Hall of Fame.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Beth and Taylor on this special day at Wrigley Field,” Menaker said in a statement. “It’ll be exciting to share this broadcast with Cubs fans and particularly with young girls who may dream of one day getting involved in this great game. My mom always told me that I could accomplish my dreams, no matter how big, and I hope to inspire young girls and boys to do the same. Dream big.”

McGregor joined Marquee Sports Network at its launch in 2020 and is the primary field reporter for Chicago Cubs television broadcasts. Additionally, she works with MLB Network as a host and at ESPN on its college football game coverage in the fall. Before joining the regional sports network, she worked in Denver, Colo. with AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain for two seasons on Colorado Rockies games.

“It’s always a joy having the opportunity to work with Beth and Elise, and to be a part of this first all-female broadcast is something that we’re looking forward to,” McGregor said in a statement. “I always appreciate having the chance to show young fans, especially girls, the many opportunities in the game of baseball and this broadcast will be a great demonstration of that.”

The Cubs Live! pregame show for the Cubs-Angels game on Friday, July 7 will begin at 12 p.m. CST. First pitch of the game is scheduled for 1:20 p.m. CST from Wrigley Field and will include Mowins, Menaker and McGregor making history on the first-of-its-kind broadcast for a Chicago Cubs game.

Clay Travis: ‘If You’re Entertaining on the Radio, You Should Be Able to Make a Living’

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Clay Travis: ‘If You’re Entertaining on the Radio, You Should Be Able to Make a Living’

The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show is one of the biggest radio shows in America, with hundreds of affiliates and millions of listeners. And Clay Travis believes that should be a lucrative opportunity for anyone who can accomplish it.

During the pair’s program, Clay Travis argued that as a free speech advocate, he has to support the ability of those he disagrees with to have a voice in the industry, but knows many might not agree with that stance.

“Premiere (Networks) and iHeart have people across the spectrum. Lots of people who disagree with everything I say. Heck, I think iHeart distributes Keith Olbermann and I think, basically, he’s an insane man,” said Travis. “But if people want to hear Keith Olbermann’s opinion, I think they should. I think you should be able to make a living on your opinion, whether you’re far left, far right, wherever the heck you are on the political spectrum. Hell, if you’re apolitical, in many ways.

“If you’re entertaining on the radio and in audio, I think you should be able to make a living. And that’s become an old-fashioned view. But I’m confident that we’re in a better place now than we were in 2017 because of people like Rush (Limbaugh), because of people like (Premiere Networks President) Julie Talbott,” Clay Travis continued. “Over time, the truth wins. I really do believe — I’m an optimist in that way — I do believe that the truth wins.”

Radio Most Trusted Medium, New Survey Shows

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Radio Most Trusted Medium, New Survey Shows

At a time when trust in mainstream media continues to shrink, terrestrial radio still has the trust of an overwhelming majority of Americans.

A new survey from Katz Gradio Group of 1,000 adults shows that in a variety of mediums, radio is the most trusted among those respondents.

Of those surveyed, 79% claimed radio was trustworthy to very trustworthy. That figure tops newspapers (77%), television (68%), and magazines (68%).

Meanwhile, social media finished last at just 28%, making it the least trusted medium for U.S. adults.

According to Katz, older adults — those aged 55+ — showed the most trust in radio at 83%. That number did not drop significantly throughout different demographics, however, as 75% in the adults 35-54 demo trusted the medium — second behind newspapers — while 79% of those 18-34 held trust in the medium, again topping the list.

“Our simple probe into the minds of consumers turned up some encouraging news for the radio industry and advertisers,” the company said of the study.

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T to Host on ESPN Radio

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WWE Hall of Famer Booker T to Host on ESPN Radio

2-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T and his broadcasting partner Brad Gilmore are taking their show, The Hall of Fame, national. Justin Barrasso of SI reports the pair will host this Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET as UFC 303 occurs.

Booker T and Gilmore air their show on ESPN Houston and on 102.5 The Game in Nashville. They also post their show as a podcast, which is available through all major podcasting outlets. The SI report says the two will do future episodes during big WWE and MMA events.

“We’re thrilled to connect with an even larger audience,” Booker told Barrasso. “We’re honored to be part of ESPN Radio.”

The show talks wrestling and about Booker T’s career, but also MMA and other pro sports.

Gilmore is also an on-air personality for CW 39 in Houston and works with Booker on his Reality of Wrestling promotion.

Bill O’Reilly: I Demanded Fox News Let Me Moderate a 2012 Presidential Debate

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During his tenure at Fox News, Bill O’Reilly was a cable news titan, featuring huge ratings for the network. He says he attempted to parlay that fame into a spot as a presidential debate moderator but with no success.

While appearing on 77 WABC’s Sid and Friends in the Morning Thursday, O’Reilly shared the five questions he would ask former President Donald Trump and the five questions he would posit to President Joe Biden if he had been tasked with serving as the moderator for the 90-minute event.

After sharing his questions, O’Reilly revealed in 2012 that he marched into former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes’ office and demanded a chance to moderate a debate between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.

“I walk in — and I had a great relationship (with Ailes) — he respected me. And I say, ‘Hey, Rog. Let’s shake it up, alright? Let’s let me — alone — moderate this debate.’ Because I know that both Romney and Obama are classic evaders,” O’Reilly said. “They are the best in the world at evading direct questions. That’s true. I said, ‘I’ll hold them to account, you’ll get the highest ratings in the history of Fox News. It’ll be a worldwide phenomenon, and it’ll be important for the country to see the two presidential candidates have to answer the questions.’

“He looks up at me and he goes ‘Fox would like to do debates in the future,’ implying that if he ever unleashed me that Fox would never get another debate in history,” O’Reilly said with a chuckle. “I laughed. I actually laughed.”

O’Reilly was unsuccessful in his quest to moderate a 2012 presidential debate. The clashes between Obama and Romney were ultimately moderated by ABC’s Martha Raddatz, CNN’s Candy Crowley, and CBS’ Bob Schieffer.

The Rob Carson Show Adds Affiliates in Memphis and California

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The Rob Carson Show Adds Affiliates in Memphis and California

Newsmax Radio’s The Rob Carson Show has added a pair of new affiliates to its growing list of partners.

The program can now be heard on AM730 KQPN in Memphis, which is part of the network put together by John Fredericks with stations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, among other locations. Carson’s show will air in the Noon timeslot on the station.

Additionally, the weekend show hosted by Carson can now also be heard on KHTS AM 1220 in Santa Clarita, California, just north of Los Angeles. It will air on Saturdays at 3 PM.

The two stations join a long list of outlets carrying the nationally syndicated program.

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