During The Vince Coglianese Show Wednesday, the WMAL host took issue with the way MSNBC’s Chuck Todd characterized the reaction by Hispanic and Latino voters to the news that Donald Trump had been charged for his handling of classified documents.
Todd claimed there is a “faction of South Florida that is very conservative” and called the group “MAGA Hispanics”. He argued they “rally around an almost common cause of injustice” in lockstep with Trump.
Coglianese argued Todd was making a “racial judgment” of the Trump supporters.
“Do you hear the way he’s speaking? He’s making a mockery of them,” Coglianese said. “He’s patronizing the Hispanic Americans of South Florida, saying that they feel like they have a common cause with Trump.
“He’s also trying to explain to his audience why what they’re seeing on their screen may not match up with what they’ve been hearing from MSNBC for years. ‘Wait a second, we were told that people who are not white hate Trump because Trump hates them. What is going on here?’ And so Chuck Todd trying to figure out a way to break the news in the most patronizing way possible.”
Coglianese’s comments came after he criticized the way CNN handled the news, pointing to Jake Tapper alerting the network’s control room to stop showing Trump celebrating. Coglianese called CNN “handmaidens for the government when it serves the purpose of Democrats”.
Tucker on Twitter has continued despite a cease and desist letter from Fox News. Radio host Charlie Kirk believes Tucker Carlson is only getting better as the series grows.
During a conversation about the indictment of former President Donald Trump on The Charlie Kirk Show, Kirk mentioned that the topic was covered in the latest episode of Tucker on Twitter.
The Turning Point USA founder argued that Carlson continues to reach a wide audience with his digital videos, which is welcomed.
“Tucker Carlson pinpointed this in his latest video, which I think was his best video…his voice is totally needed. 75 million views so far.”
The third episode of Tucker on Twitter dropped on Tuesday, which came after he was given a cease and desist letter by Fox News in an attempt to end the program. The network contends that Carlson is still under contract and is prohibited from producing videos for a competitor, which it belives includes Twitter.
However, Carlson has argued that the videos are protected under his First Amendment right to free speech.
Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer representing Carlson, shared on Twitter that he “will not be silenced — by the far left or by Fox News.”
The Miami Dolphins will have both their English and Spanish radio broadcasts under the same roof. The team announced today that iHeart Miami’s TÚ 94.9 FM will be the new flagship of the team’s Spanish language broadcast.
“We, at TÚ 949, are thrilled and honored to welcome the Miami Dolphins,” Enrique Santos, iHeartLatino President and CCO and WZTU morning show host said in a press release. “The Dolphins are not just a team, but an organization that truly embodies the diversity and culture of South Florida. Fins up!”
TÚ 94.9 FM will carry every Dolphins game this season. The station will also have pre and postgame programming. Games will also be available on Dolphins.com. Shoulder programming will also be available on the iHeartRadio app and station website.
Roly Martin and Eduardo Martel return as the Spanish voices of the team. They have called Dolphins games together since 2018.
“iHeartMedia Miami and Tu 94.9 FM are delighted to partner with the Miami Dolphins to carry games in Spanish,” added Shari Gonzalez, Market President of iHeartMedia Miami/Fort Lauderdale. “It’s an honor and an opportunity to amplify comprehensive coverage to South Florida’s loyal fans and beyond our borders. We are excited to work together with the team to provide top-quality game day coverage in English and now Spanish too.”
Late last year, the team announced it was partnering with iHeartMedia for its English language broadcast. That call will be heard every week on FOX Sports 940 AM and Big 105.9.
Scott Van Pelt has been an ESPN mainstay since he joined the “Worldwide Leader” in 2001, and throughout his decades-long career, he has contributed to the platform through a variety of different outlets.
Since 2015, he has been the host of his own solo nighttime edition of SportsCenter broadcasting from Washington, D.C. Approaching the decade mark as a featured host of the network’s longtime flagship program, Van Pelt has started to think about his future in sports media and on the show itself.
In a recent appearance on SI Media With Jimmy Traina, ESPN SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt revealed he does not see himself hosting the show for many more years, as he is looking to transition to a new phase of his career.
“My contract doesn’t run that long,” Van Pelt said when asked if he would host the show for at least three more years, “and there are conversations to be had about what all is part of it. At some point, you just [have] to step aside and let somebody else have it.”
Van Pelt did divulge that if ESPN approached him with similar money that the LIV Tour was offering PGA Tour golfers to join its entity, then he would remain on SportsCenter and tell people about all the action every single night.
“At some point, it’s Tuesday night and you’re following the White Sox and it’s like, ‘That’s fun too,’ but it’s just not the same level of juice as a night like this,” Van Pelt explained. “Or you’re following taped programming – it’s a 30 for 30 and here you come. Coming off a game, at least there’s a game.”
Throughout the last several years, ESPN has revamped its lineup of SportsCenter hosts and pairings on the air, including forming the duos of Randy Scott and Gary Striewski; and Ashley Brewer and Stan Verrett. Van Pelt, meanwhile, has remained in the midnight EST slot and is widely considered to be the face of the television property. The approach the network asked him to take in hosting, however, has shifted since the turn of the century.
“When I started here, they [didn’t] want you to have any personality or opinion,” Van Pelt said.
Traina asked Van Pelt how he reacted when reports surfaced that ESPN was signing Pat McAfee to a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to bring his eponymous digital show to its linear platforms. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post later reported his salary to be around $15 million, a figure McAfee did not confirm when asked for comment by the outlet shortly thereafter.
Van Pelt was pleased to see McAfee receiving the money the network gave to him, a similar sentiment to Stephen A. Smith, because it effectively resets the market for future negotiations.
“Not negatively,” Van Pelt said when learning of McAfee’s reported salary. “I’m thrilled for anyone in our business who gets paid, sincerely. If you do a pocket-watching thing where you’re worried about what others make, then you’ll waste a lot of time being bummed out. I’m well-compensated for my time.”
ESPN drew for signing McAfee during the layoffs. A concurrent report about staffers at ESPN’s Bristol headquarters being displeased with the choices of the network further aggravated the sentiment; however, those in the media business seem to have an understanding of the value McAfee brings to the airwaves.
“People use the word ‘optics,’ and they say, ‘Oh, the optics,’” Van Pelt said. “Disney’s running a business, and if you believe that Pat McAfee and that show and the ways that he can be used for the company are going to grow viewership, then you spend money. In business, you spend money to make money, and I think everyone understands that concept.”
Bloomberg Radio has ended its local afternoon show on its Boston area affiliates, ending local programming on the stations.
Kim Carrigan, Tom Moroney, and Joe Shortsleeve of Baystate Business have all departed as have reporters Anne Mostue and Janet Wu. Producer Peter Lagace has also exited. The program was previously aired on Beasley Media’s 1330 WRCA in Boston. It also was broadcast on stations licensed to Brookline, Newbury Port, and Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Nationally syndicated Bloomberg Businessweek is now airing in the timeslot previously occupied by Baystate Business.
“We have made the decision to replace our local afternoon radio program in Boston with our network Bloomberg Businessweek show, effective today,” Bloomberg Global Head of Audio Anthony Mancini said in an internal memo obtained by the Boston Business Journal. “We will redeploy these resources into on-demand audio and podcasts, as well as live video streaming of our national product.”
Mancini added that “integration” between the company’s podcast and radio teams would grow in the coming months, and that employees should expect more video content to be produced.
Norm Hitzges is ready to say goodbye to sports talk radio in Dallas. On Thursday morning, he announced that Friday, June 23 will be his last day on air at 96.7/1310 The Ticket.
For residents of the Dallas Metroplex, Norm’s is a voice synonymous with sports talk. His career started nearly 50 years ago. He dedicated his career to the medium over 30 years ago with his first full-time show at KLIF. He joined The Ticket in 2000. For the last eight years, he has been partnered with Donovan Lewis on the station’s midday show.
“I’m so proud to be a part of what The Ticket has built—a ratings dominator in a fantastic sports city,” Hitzges said in a press release. “I shall so miss the daily ‘rush’ of being on the air. But after 48 consecutive years on the air in Dallas doing sports talk, it’s time to move on to the next phase of my life, whatever that may be.”
It isn’t just fans that hold him in high regard. Norm Hitzges has been honored by the Texas Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the Dallas All of Sports Association and the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in his career.
Hitzges is not leaving The Ticket entirely. He will continue to be part of special event broadcasts. He will also continue to support the unhoused population of North Texas with his annual Norm-a-Thon, which has raised nearly $9 million for Austin Street Center over the last 22 years.
“From the minute Norm hit the airwaves 36 years ago on KLIF and then the Ticket you could tell he was a special communicator,” Dan Bennett, Regional Vice President for Cumulus Media in both Dallas and Houston added. “He truly Is one of Dallas Radio’s great storytellers and he kept it going with Susquehanna and then Cumulus all these years. Not many have that kind of staying power. We wish him every happiness in his well-deserved retirement.”
On Tuesday night, the Oakland Coliseum held 27,759 attendees for a fan-organized “reverse boycott” event, protesting the team’s impending move to Las Vegas, Nev. The crowd was nearly 22,000 people larger than the night before, and even attracted Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong to join the emotive, perturbed crowd. Inspiration for the event itself derived from a tweet from Athletics fan Stu Clary, who refers to himself as the “Unofficial Mayor of Vacaville.” The demonstration was a topic of discussion in the days leading up to the event on local radio stations KNBR and 95.7 The Game.
Signed the petition. Something I’ve been thinking about: a “reverse boycott” day of protest: We pick a random weeknight game and sell it out, showing that can support is not the issue All fans arrive with signs demanding Fisher keep the team in Oakland and/or sell the team
Ironically enough, the Athletics received approval from the Nevada Legislature for the public funding necessary to build a $1.5 billion stadium with a retractable roof just off the Las Vegas Strip on the site of the Tropicana Hotel. If the move is approved by Gov. Joe Lombardo and Major League Baseball – both of whom are expected to sign off on the decision – the Athletics would depart Oakland, Calif., the locale the team has called home since 1968. Despite not acknowledging the reverse boycott in its statement, the team did donate all ticket revenue from Tuesday night’s game to local community organizations.
“We thank the members of the Nevada State Legislature and their staff for their hard work, due diligence and attention to detail as we work to bring the Athletics to Las Vegas,” the team said in a statement. “We are especially grateful for the legislators’ time and dedication to shepherding this bill through the process, including the special session.”
The reverse boycott, according to spectators who attended the game, felt like a last-ditch effort to convince the Athletics to stay. Throughout the contest, fans participated in planned chants – including going silent to start the fifth inning and then breaking out in a dulcet chant of, “Sell the team!” If the exercise does not prove to be successful, the fanbase feels it has made its voice heard by communicating that the area’s perceived lack of interest and passion for the team is not the problem. 95.7 The Game producer, board operator and Oakland Athletics fan Evan Giddings filled in for Matt Steinmetz on the midday Steiney & Guru program, and he provided his perspective to listeners on what it was like to be a part of history.
“It was individually special to every single person,” Giddings said. “I can only share what I felt, but I felt a sense of community; a sense of togetherness; and something, that frankly, has escaped the Oakland Athletics and their fanbase for quite some time.”
There are several points of view being posted on social media platforms and videos of the ordeal being shared. What was not planned, however, was the Athletics being the hottest team of baseball and entering the contest with a six-game win streak. The Athletics ended up winning Tuesday night’s game 2-1, sending the fans home happy. Before the contingent left the Oakland Coliseum though, it made a point of throwing trash onto the field to express their displeasure with the team’s ownership and plan to leave town.
“Go Green – no pun intended – but I loved the climax that was the trash throwing,” show co-host Daryle “The Guru” Johnson said. “I’m not that type of guy – I was – but Evan, that’s what it was about when people were asking, ‘Why are they going? What’s the goal?’ To me, throw the trash because that’s what ownership has done to the fanbase!”
Shayna Rubin, a reporter covering the team for The Mercury News, recently joined the program and was highlighted on Wednesday for her coverage of the situation. In her reporting about the game, she eloquently described the night as “a chance for people that had been beleaguered and voiceless to speak out,” along with the ostensibly blatant attempt to disband the community. Giddings’ mother is from the San Diego area, and he remembers the way in which the Chargers left to move to Los Angeles, Calif. and the brand-new SoFi Stadium.
“I’ve seen the playbook in which they try and turn the city against each other, and last night, everyone made it known that it’s not about the city; that it’s not about the people that do not show up,” Giddings articulated. “It’s about the support and the love for the A’s, and the sense of community.”
.@ShaynaRubin on the Oakland A's Reverse Boycott: "It's something we've never seen before. It's a historic moment. The team is on the precipice of moving after 55 years and this an opportunity for beleaguered fans to speak out against it."
Being among the fans, Giddings recognized many familiar faces and felt a nostalgic sentiment pervade the atmosphere. Hearing the drums, the familiar “Let’s Go Oakland” chants and seeing the sea of green and gold colors brought him back to his childhood. In fact, he walked every inch of the stadium to interact with people and implored listeners to call in to disclose how they feel about the situation. It was emblematic of a meta-catharsis of sorts, with baseball fans in the Bay Area making a trip to the ballpark to voice their displeasure with the organization but enamorment towards the Athletics as a team.
“People made it a point to be there, and it almost felt like it was the last game ever in Oakland,” Johnson added through observations he made on social media. “It’s not, but that was something I’ll never forget.”
The Reverse Boycott in Oakland last night moved me. Explained with @DDDGURU why the "one night stand" was special, earlier today on @957thegame.
The Athletics and its fans have endured a turbulent period in the team’s history, including as it pertains to its media coverage. Over the last decade, the team briefly left terrestrial radio to start its own “A’s Cast,” and relieved NBC Sports California play-by-play announcer Glen Kuiper of his duties after he said a racial slur on the air. Team president Dave Kaval previously stated the team lacked “fair and balanced” coverage in the Bay Area in a Twitter exchange with 95.7 The Game afternoon host Damon Bruce. The interaction was incited by Kaval’s observation of low attendance at a San Francisco Giants game and questioning whether the San Francisco-based media would choose to comment.
MSNBC and CNN have each received criticism after turning viewers away from comments made by former President Donald Trump after he was arraigned on federal charges Tuesday. 95.5 WSB host Eric Von Haessler has joined the list of critics.
“They are our guardians, they are protecting us, and I just want to say thank you very much. Because as a 59-year-old man, I do not have the ability, unfiltered, to just see the reality of the news of the day, and then use my years of experience and intelligence level and my brain to filter that out and digest all of that and come up with my own opinion,” Von Haessler said sarcastically. “After all, I didn’t go to the schools that Jake Tapper went to, and so, it’s possible for an idiot like me, to hear a lie, believe it’s a truth, and maybe even act upon that. Which would be dangerous to myself and others.
“And I just want to thank people like Jake Tapper, who are much smarter and wiser, than I could ever be. Check our resumes. He went to better schools than I did. I dropped out after the 9th grade. So I don’t have that ability,” Von Haessler jokingly continued.
“Do you think an idiot like myself can just look at the reality of the world and work that out? I need smart people to shepherd me like a moron who wants to get to the top of Everest. Can’t do it by myself. I need a sherpa like Rachel Maddow or Jake Tapper. Because when Trump was arraigned, and went through the process of saying ‘Not guilty’ 37 times…I could be fooled into thinking that that man was charming or anybody in the world should ever sing Happy Birthday to such a man.”
A recent admission from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that the social media platform limited the reach of content surrounding the origin of the COVID-19 virus has caught the ire of OutKick’s Tomi Lahren.
During her Fox News Commentary Wednesday, Lahren argued that the admission from Zuckerberg that he was asked by scientists to limit the reach of several posts that called into question the origins of the virus, among others, hurt the social media platform’s credibility. Lahren agreed.
“None of this censorship was about ‘science’ or ‘public safety’. It was all about control and protecting the COVID narrative,” said Lahren. “The acknowledgment of that by social media tycoons is great, but where is the accountability? Why are social media companies in the business of picking and choosing which narratives to elevate and which to silence? We deserve an apology, at the very least!”
It is not the first time Lahren has shared her displeasure with Facebook. In October of last year, she alleged the social media network had locked her out of her accounts after a video she posted was flagged as COVID-19 misinformation. In the video, she claimed that airline pilots were experiencing side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine mid-flight.
She also railed against a report that the Biden administration after the White House Digital Director asked Facebook to limit the reach of her posts, among others, for COVID misinformation. At the time, she alleged that the White House and Facebook had conspired to limit her First Amendment rights.
The 2023 baseball season has brought its fair share of surprising storylines and highlight-worthy plays, many of which have been a direct result of the various rule changes made by Major League Baseball.
Thanks to bigger bases, the pitch clock and limits on defensive shifts, the average game time is down by 26 minutes and runs per game are up. That has raised discussions about the pitching mound itself. Currently located 60 feet and six inches away from home plate, conversations are being held whether or not to move the mound back or lower it from its current 15-inch height.
MLB Network has explained and talked about the implications of the rule changes throughout the regular season. While it is widely viewed as a trusted source of information for baseball fans, a recent discussion on one of the network’s programs about injuries because of the rule changes caught the attention of Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton on Seattle Sports 710.
“I heard Al Leiter and the guy that talks a lot on MLB Network,” Wyman said, referring to MLB Now host Brian Kenny.
“I get that guys are throwing harder than ever,” Stelton replied, “but maybe they lower it; maybe they do something like that. Sixty feet, six inches – that’s where it’s at.”
The radio duo shifted the conversation to the legitimacy of the opinions from MLB Network personalities, especially since the broadcast outlet is owned by Major League Baseball itself. There will always be concerns about whether or not the personalities have the ability to convey how they truly feel about a manner. While many of them have surmised that they have the prerogative to dissertate how they feel, outsiders still have questions pertaining to the whole arrangement.
“We’re hearing from the people that cover the game,” Wyman said. “Of course you’re happy, J.P. [Morosi], that it’s a faster game.”
Wyman says it is a common sentiment among media members to want the games to progress quicker, as they can not usually leave the contests early. The opinions that truly matter, however, are those of the fans, and so far, the feedback has been relatively favorable towards the changes.
“I’ve not heard anyone complain about cutting the beer off or [not being able to] drink as much beer or [say], ‘It’s not such a monumental occasion when you go because it ends so quickly,’” Wyman expressed. “I have not heard any of that, so it seems to be going well.”
