Paul Pierce recently elevated eyebrows by claiming Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was no longer one of the five best players in the NBA during a KG Certified broadcast on Showtime with Kevin Garnett. The interaction simply highlighted the interest Dave Portnoy has in bringing the pair to Barstool Sports.
During the NBA In-Season Tournament Championship Game Saturday evening, Garnett said James’ play proved he’s still one of the best in the game. Pierce staunchly disagreed, before claiming Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Jayson Tatum as players that were all better than the four-time champion.
The interaction between Garnett and Piece garnered nearly 6 million views on social media, with the two arguing about whether or not either one knew anything about basketball.
The interaction featured the two eventually shouting at each other, which caught the eye of Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
Portnoy — a noted Boston sports fan — claimed he admires the two former Celtics stars, and would love to bring them to his company.
“My bi monthly post saying I’d give my left arm to have these guys on Barstool Network,” Portnoy wrote in a post to X, as he shared the video of the interaction.
My bi monthly post saying I'd give my left arm to have these guys on Barstool Network pic.twitter.com/cEwR7I4zai
The two former NBA greats wouldn’t be the first former stars to join Barstool Sports. Pat McAfee, Deion Sanders, Alex Rodriguez, Jake Arrieta, and Arian Foster are just a few of the names that have done work with the digital outlet in recent years.
The news of Shohei Ohtani agreeing to terms on a 10-year contract worth $700 million to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers sent the sports world into a frenzy on Saturday afternoon. Bob Costas is aware of the impact this signing – which keeps Ohtani in a major U.S. market – will have on the game of baseball.
Dan Patrick welcomed Costas onto his program on Monday morning to offer his perspectives on the record-breaking contract for the two-way superstar. Costas said that the Dodgers will be able to amortize the $700 million investment, a monetary figure that is a record for the most guaranteed earnings in a professional sports contract. Costas was asked the Angels lack of success and answered questions about the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum selection process as well. By the end of the interview, Patrick wondered whether or not Bob Costas had ever been asked to serve as the general manager of a baseball team.
“No, no, no, no,” Costas replied, “and neither was I ever broached despite all the talk about being Commissioner of baseball, and I always said, ‘I’m neither interested nor qualified, so forget it.’”
Patrick believes that Costas could have been a really good Commissioner had he landed the role. Conversely, Costas does not think himself to be qualified in that the role contains negotiations that require a certain kind of merit and temperament. Rob Manfred has served as the Commissioner of the league for the last nine seasons, and despite criticism from some fans, the game continues to prove a lucrative endeavor and attained bolstered attendance concurrent with rule changes meant to hasten play and augment offensive output last season.
“The analogy I always used was, ‘If you think a particular columnist is astute politically, that doesn’t necessarily mean you think he or she should run for president or be a Supreme Court justice,’” Bob Costas said. “Their role is to offer thoughts and people weigh it for whatever it’s worth. I was a commentator about baseball, not just calling games, but about the state of the game. I even wrote a book about it, and if people appreciated that, well that was my contribution.”
Over the weekend, the 124th football matchup between the Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen took place from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. and there were plenty of festivities throughout the day underscoring the tradition associated with the game. Specifically before the game, ESPN brought College GameDay outside of the venue which included Pat McAfee’s kicking contest and a special appearance by Bill Belichick as the guest picker.
Throughout the football season, there have been rumors of Belichick being fired as the general manager and head coach of the New England Patriots upon the conclusion of the year. Although he won six Super Bowl championships during his tenure with the franchise, the team currently sits in last place in the AFC East division with a 3-10 overall record.
Belichick’s father was an assistant coach for the Navy football team for 34 seasons, and College GameDay analyst Lee Corso was with the team for three years coaching defensive backs. Both Bill Belichick and Lee Corso recalled memories from their days with the team, including presenting footage of Corso as the team prepared for a game against the Army football program. At the program’s conclusion, Belichick provided the moment everyone was waiting for when he made his selection on camera.
“Alright, so he puts on a Navy helmet and they go, ‘Woah, woah, woah!,’” Fred Toucher said on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “I don’t mean to let the cat out of the bag, but he had it in his hand the whole time. They knew it was coming but they still have to pretend.”
Toucher surmised that the College GameDay panel all needed to fabricate their reactions to Belichick revealing and wearing the Navy helmet on camera. As he continued his remarks, he queried if other people would pretend if they were on that panel. Show contributor Rob “Hardy” Poole conveyed a sarcastic response about being caught in a suspension of disbelief and playing to the camera before bluntly answering that he would not.
“I can tell you as someone who’s been in media for over 20 years that there’s no way that I would react that way to it,” Toucher said. “I wouldn’t be a dick and say like, ‘I knew you were going to put it on,’ but I wouldn’t go, ‘Woah, woah, woah!’”
Poole received a text message on Saturday that read “amazing” in all capital letters to discuss how Bill Belichick was doing on television. If he indeed finds himself out of a job after the season, it remains unknown whether or not he would consider pursuing this path, let alone remain involved with the game of football.
“I wasn’t going to say anything because I thought he was fine,” Hardy explained, “but then he was bad, but it wasn’t amazing either.”
“It’s Stockholm syndrome,” Toucher said. “No, it wasn’t amazing at all. In fact, it was below average. I would counter that he is worse than most of the guests that they have on. They have comedians on and stuff that are paid to entertain. Bill Belichick – that’s not him – but going, ‘It’s the jolly roger,’ and, ‘This is writing in another language.’”
He compared the instance to Rex Ryan, who began making regular appearances on ESPN in 2017 and is a member of Sunday NFL Countdown, in that Ryan seemed uncomfortable in front of the camera in the beginning.
“Yeah, Rex didn’t even get the five-minute rule,” show contributor Jon Wallach said, referring to the mulligan some eminent figures receive when first appearing on the air. “He was bad right from the start.”
“Right, and that’s for somebody with a personality; with a discernible personality,” Hardy replied. “If Belichick has one, I don’t know what it is.”
The Broadcasters Foundation of America has announced the launch of its 12 Days of Giving campaign.
In the social media campaign, the foundation will share thank you notes from grant recipients, positive stories about radio and television hosts, producers, employees, and owners, and also make a push for charitable giving to the organization.
“We need to reach radio and television professionals across every channel at our disposal,” said Broadcasters Foundation President Tim McCarthy. ‘The 12 Days of Giving Social Media Campaign’ is a great way to raise funds and awareness of our mission, especially among junior-level people in broadcasting.”
“‘The 12 Days of Giving Social Media Campaign’ is a great way to raise funds and awareness of our mission, especially among junior-level people in broadcasting,” added Broadcasters Foundation Chair Scott Herman.
In the past 20 years, the Broadcasters Foundation has distributed more than $20 million in aid to those in the industry. In 2023 alone, that figure will reach $1.8 million.
When Shohei Ohtani inked a 10-year contract reportedly worth a record $700 million to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, it sent the baseball world in a state of shock and euphoria. Mike Mulligan and David Haugh speculated on such as well and reacted to the events of the previous few days on Monday morning.
Specifically on Friday, social media users noticed a private jet flying from Anaheim to Toronto, prompting people to assume that it was Ohtani traveling to the country to officially sign with the Toronto Blue Jays. It turns out that the plane transported Shark Tank investor and entrepreneur Robert Herjavec and his children back from a vacation in Southern California, much to the disappointment of fans who were hoping that it was Ohtani making his decision.
Instead, Ohtani announced the news of his agreement with the Dodgers on Instagram on Saturday afternoon, completing a protracted pursuit to land the two-time American League MVP that reports say lasted over a year.
Moreover, it brought inaccurate reports to light from several venerated members of the media who have been covering MLB for many years. MLB Network insider Jon Morosi in particular confirmed that Ohtani was on the plane, but later issued an apology for promulgating misinformation.
Today, I posted reporting that included inaccurate information that Shohei Ohtani was traveling to Toronto. I regret the mistake and apologize to baseball fans everywhere. I am deeply sorry for letting you down.
“It was a crazy Friday in Major League Baseball media,” Haugh said on Mully & Haugh on 670 The Score. “I wonder how much Ohtani’s agents worked and manipulated the process behind the scenes; maybe fed some respected reporters some bad info to get the Dodgers thinking that the Blue Jays were going to be all in.”
According to an in-depth story from Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated, the Dodgers were uncertain whether or not the team would land Ohtani on Friday night. It also claims that the team saw the report of the private jet flying to Toronto and decided to go all-in by increasing their offer. Although much of the remuneration is expected to be deferred, Ohtani is now projected to make $11.7 million per month, $432,099 per game and $50.01 per second under this new deal.
“I got to tell you the idea that they used national baseball writers to jack up the price is pretty wild,” co-host Mike Mulligan said. “They fed information to people that they were headed to Toronto. I think that’s been reported or that’s the conspiracy theory, right?”
The discussion on the Chicago sports radio program continued to surmise as to why the Chicago Cubs did not land Ohtani. The team had been reported as being involved in the bidding process, although much of the information surrounding the free agency has been shrouded in secrecy. As a former reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Mike Mulligan is familiar with having to verify information.
At the moment, the Dodgers have yet to officially announce the deal that Ohtani is signing with them, which could indicate that the deal is pending the completion of a physical. Once everything becomes official, the Dodgers will officially have a lineup featuring three players that have won a combined five Most Valuable Player awards, along with plenty of depth up and down the roster.
“I think that the Dodgers always seemed to be the team that he was going to land on,” Haugh said regarding Ohtani earlier in the segment. “It seemed inevitable from the beginning. We built up our hope here; it seemed a little bit remote all the time. You kind of knew it, but it was fun to dream a little bit because of how good he is.”
“I just think that the Cubs probably stopped bidding on this; I’m guessing $550 [million] tops, something like that,” Mike Mulligan added. “That was one of the rumors. It starts going up and you kind of must know at that point that if you jump in and you pay more than the next guy, you’re going to get him.”
On Saturday afternoon, the Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen faced off for their annual matchup – the 124th such occurrence of the signature contest – and broadcast by CBS Sports. Army extended its win streak to two games over Navy, but the day was about much more than the game on the gridiron.
Outside of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., ESPN College GameDay was situated and featured guest picker and New England Patriots general manager and head coach Bill Belichick. Additionally, there were the traditional ceremonies that took place inside the stadium featuring the Army cannon that has become synonymous with the game itself, fired at kickoff and during other momentous occurrences during the matchup.
The matchup was televised on CBS Sports featuring play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler, analyst Gary Danielson, and sideline reporter Jenny Dell on the call. On Monday morning’s edition of Boomer & Gio on WFAN and simulcast on CBS Sports Network, a caller expressed their opinions of the broadcast – not during play itself, but rather pertaining to halftime.
“Now halftime is all about pomp,” the caller said. “…Why did CBS Sports bring the counterfeiters, those three jabronis; why did they have them talk and not let us show the viewers the actual halftime?”
Appearing on the halftime program Saturday included host Adam Zucker with analysts Rick Neuheisel and Brian Jones. The presentation that was televised on CBS Sports seemed to perturb this caller though, as he would have rather seen what was taking place inside of the stadium. Instead, the panel discussed the game at hand and performed the task that was assigned to them by the company, and in so doing was subject to the vitriol of viewers missing out on the on-site festivities.
Luckily for Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti, the program had CBS Sports producer Stephen Waldron on the line, who was asked by Giannotti to answer the question from the caller.
“I would say they’re definitely not jabronis,” Waldron explained, “and I didn’t watch the game, so I can’t comment on it.”
Esiason is a member of The NFL Today and will be on the road for the AFC Championship game in January to determine one of the two teams playing in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Nev. He compared the jobs of members of College Football Today to what they are doing on the NFL broadcast, simply fulfilling the roles and parameters thereof assigned to them.
“They’re doing their pre, halftime, and postgame jobs just like we would,” Esiason said.
Another conservative talk station is coming to Houston in the new year. 920 Patriot Talk Radio is set to debut in the market starting January 1st.
Currently a Hispanic music station, the new offering will feature Dan Bongion, Rich Valdez, Rob Carson, Wendy Bell, Fox News updates, and Fox Business News reports on the AM station.
“We’re excited to bring Houston listeners a better choice in News/Talk radio,” Hispanic Broadcasting Inc. President Matthew Velasquez told Radio Ink. The mission of Patriot Talk 920 AM is to become the leader in conservative talk radio with programming that reflects our core values of family, faith, and freedom.”
920 Patriot Talk Radio will be heard on KYST-AM, a 5,000-watt daytime, 1,000-watt nighttime signal that almost covers the entire Houston market.
The station joins 740 KTRH, AM 700 KSEV, and 1070 AM KNTH The Answer in the conservative talk radio space in Houston.
KFI-AM 640 afternoon host Ken Chiampou called it career last week after working alongside co-host John Kobylt since 1988 at various stations.
In his final John and Ken show, several celebrities, co-workers, and former California political figures wished Chiampou well, before the longtime host said his goodbyes to longtime listeners.
“I’ve been asked over the years two completely divergent points of view. There’s people who say, ‘Oh, you just sit on the air and talk to another guy for three hours? Well, it’s got to be easy. I’d like to do that.’ And then there’s the extreme other side. ‘How do you do that? How do you come up with stuff to say? How do you know what to do? Oh, I’d be so scared.’ The truth is, it’s somewhere in between,” Chiampou said in his final segment.
“But I always knew I had to do it with somebody else. So I ran into you and it worked from day one. I appreciate that. And I’ve been very lucky to have this career and make this much money,” the longtime host joked.
Chiampou noted he’s hosted the program from home for the past three years, which was a welcomed change from the long commute he handled for 16 years before the pandemic forced him to lead the show from home.
“We accomplished a lot. I don’t think there’s another team in talk radio that was on as long as we’ve been on,” Kobylt said. “That had an audience as large as we’ve had over 30 years now and made as much money for their companies as we have. And if there’s a record book for that, we’re in it and I want to thank you, you’ve been the perfect radio partner.”
Kobylt extended an invitation for Ken Chiampou to join the program whenever he’d like, which the longtime host appreciated before saying “I tend to not look back, but you never know”.
They worked at 103.7 WMGM in Atlantic City for a while before launching New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton in 1990. In 1992, the duo joined KFI as afternoon hosts. The pair briefly joined 790 KABC in 1999 before returning to KFI for the duration of their run together.
John Kobylt will continue to host the 1-4 PM timeslot at the Los Angeles station. He will host The John Kobylt Show by himself as a lead-in to Tim Conway Jr.
WCBS 880 anchor Steve Scott has announced his return to the New York all-news station after missing more than a month from a recent injury.
Scott shared that he’ll return to work Monday after rupturing his patella tendon while descending subway stairs in the city on November 14th. He shared he had reconstructive surgery on his injured knee in November, and has been slowly working on a return to his news anchor duties with the Audacy-owned station.
“So many nice people, many of whom I don’t know personally, have reached out over the past month to send good wishes. I really appreciate everyone’s kindness,” Scott wrote in a thread on X. “I’ve been waiting for this day. I’ve really missed being on the air on (at WCBS 880),” he said before joking “I just hope I remember how everything works in the newsroom.”
4/4 I’ve been waiting for this day. I’ve really missed being on the air on @wcbs880. I just hope I remember how everything works in the newsroom. Thank you again – I look forward to talking with you at 1pm. Steve ????
Scott has served as an afternoon news anchor at WCBS 880 since 2006. He joined the stations after spending 20 years in news radio in Chicago, including 13 years at WLS 890. Steve Scott is also the former President of the New York Press Club.
Welcome to the second annual Barrett News Media Top 20 series recognizing News/Talk radio’s best for 2023. This series is voted on by news/talk radio program directors and executives all across the country. To stay informed on each day’s results please bookmark our website, follow BNM on Twitter at @BNMStaff, visit us on Facebook at Barrett News Media or sign up for our daily newsletter, ‘The Rundown‘ by clicking here. We appreciate the support.
The six categories featured this year are news/talk radio’s Major and Mid market morning, midday, and afternoon shows, the top program directors and radio stations, and the format’s best national talk shows. Major Markets represent shows, stations, and PDs operating in markets #1-#20. Mid Markets are for markets #21 and below. Not included in our lists are NPR brands and shows. Maybe in the future we’ll change that or add an extra category but for now, mainstream talk radio outlets are our main focus.
As you review the results in this category, please remember that they represent the collective opinions of fifty four (54) news/talk radio programmers and executives. We try our best to make sure the top shows, hosts, programmers and brands are listed for voting consideration. Industry decision makers are then asked to vote on market categories based on where their stations/shows operate. We don’t participate ourselves in the voting process, we simply add up and present the results.
I want to thank Barrett Media’s Digital Director Alex Reynolds for doing an awesome job on this year’s graphics, as well as each PD and executive who participated in this process. We had representation from fourteen companies and forty different cities, which was even better than last year. For those who didn’t vote and were invited to do so, I hope you’ll change your mind next year. It’s good for the format if you’re involved, and depending on the final votes, it can benefit your staff, sales team, and company, and excite your audience and advertisers.
Moving on to the voting, here are a few things I’d like you to be aware of.
#1 – Our executive voters are asked to rank their Top 20 selections for each category based on a few key factors; quality of show (ear test), originality, ability to entertain-inform-connect across multiple platforms, ratings success, clearance (national shows) and industry buzz. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have different tastes, work for different groups, and value certain factors higher than others. This is not a perfect system but it’s the best one we’ve come up with to showcase the industry’s best. Having run it for eight years with the sports talk format, we’re going to stick with it until another option arises that makes it better.
#2 – The executive panel consists of program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Hubbard, Cox Media Group, Townsquare Media, Salem Media Group, Radio One, Alpha, Bonneville, FOX News Radio, Westwood One, Federated Media, and Zimmer Communications. We involve a large number of people in this process in order to receive feedback from all parts of the country, and to avoid the results heavily favoring one company. Given the variety of people in this process, it means there’s no guarantee that success last year will be duplicated this year.
#3 – A total of 46 major market morning shows appeared on ballots turned in by our executive panel in the Major Market Morning News/Talk Shows category. These shows start the day for news/talk radio stations across the country, and are asked to create compelling local content, and deliver strong ratings and revenue success for their respective stations. Many of these shows have made a major impact in their local markets, but only can earn top billing.
Which brings us to this year’s winner. The top honor once again belongs to KFI’s Bill Handel. The radio hall of famer repeats as the category winner thanks to nine (9) 1st place votes from our executive panel. BNM congratulates Bill, Robin Bertolucci and the entire KFI staff on securing the top spot again, as well as every other show which gained a spot on this year’s list.
Now, here are the full results of “Barrett News Media’s Top 20 Major Market News/Talk Morning Shows of 2023!”
Additional Notes:
Bill Handel finished far ahead of runner up Sid & Friends. Handel held a 122 point lead, an even more impressive feat over last year. He earned a category high nine (9) first place votes.
Spots 21-25 belonged to Chicago’s Morning Answer with Dan Proft & Amy Jacobson, Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross & Colleen O’Brien, Wayne Cabot & Paul Murdane, Colorado’s Morning News with Marty Lenz and Jeana Gondek, and Jackie Paige & Jonathan Carlson.
The closest contests saw WTOP Morning News beat Len Berman and Michael Riedel by 4 points, and Michael Berry edge Steve Cochran by 1 point.
Of the 46 shows to appear on submitted ballots, fourteen (14) received at least one 1st place vote.
Here is the remaining schedule for the Barrett News Media Top 20 of 2023.
Tuesday December 12 = BNM Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Midday Shows of 2022
Wednesday December 13 = BNM Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Afternoon Shows of 2022
Thursday December 14 = BNM Top 20 National N/T Radio Shows of 2022
Friday December 15 = BNM Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Program Directors of 2022
Monday December 18 = BNM Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Stations of 2022
