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Longtime Pitt Broadcaster Dick Groat Dies

BSM Staff
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Former MLB and NBA star Dick Groat died Thursday at the age of 92 after complications from a recent stroke.

Groat served as the color commentator on the University of Pittsburgh basketball broadcasts from 1979 through 2019.

Groat was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates 1960 World Series team and was announced as a member of the club’s Hall of Fame class for 2023. Additionally, he was the third overall pick in the 1952 NBA Draft and is one of only 13 players who played in both leagues.

After starring at Duke University in both sports, he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.

“As great of a sports legend as Dick was, he was a better human being,” Pitt play-by-play voice Bill Hillgrove told the (Pittsburgh) Post-Gazette. “… I think his humility stood out above everything. If anybody should’ve been carried away with himself, it was Dick Groat.

“He was a very special friend. I lost a big brother,” Hillgrove added.

Tributes to Groat came in both on the radio and on Twitter.

“What a legend. It’s overused with people, but it’s fitting for Dick Groat,” 93.7 The Fan’s Colin Dunlap said as the news broke.

“I had opportunities to meet him a bunch of times, and opportunities to talk with him. A fantastic person,” former Pitt Panther and The Fan Morning Show co-host Dorin Dickerson added. “Condolences to his family, his friends, and Bill Hillgrove, who was one of his best friends.”

Longtime college sports broadcaster Tim Brando paid tribute to Groat in a tweet, calling him “a better human being than player” and a “Pittsburgh icon”.

Peter Schrager Explains Why He Doesn’t Tip NFL Draft Picks on Twitter

BSM Staff
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The NFL Draft is known for its wild unpredictability. And yet, NFL insiders have continually fought over whether or not they should report picks on Twitter before they’re shown on the television broadcast. NFL Network’s Peter Schrager believes it shouldn’t even be an option.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Thursday, Schrager gave an impassioned plea for why fans, and McAfee himself, should avoid Twitter during the night of the NFL Draft.

“The agents and the team knows before the pick’s announced, and I’m usually on some thread where I’ll be given the tip. But I take no great joy in spoiling that for everyone,” admitted Schrager. “This is the draft! This is what we want! This is one of the few things in the NFL that could truly blow us away. I’m gonna say this: turn off the Twitter tonight.”

Schrager’s insistence to turn off Twitter came after he told the show to treat the NFL Draft “like it’s 2004”, and just simply react to the events of the evening, rather than having a heads up on who is about to be taken due to following other NFL insiders.

In the past, ESPN and NFL Network instructed its reporters not to tweet selections before the picks had been announced. However, other NFL reporters not working with those organizations are privy to the same information, and continually tweet out the information in advance of the broadcast.

McAfee pointed out that NFL reporter Ari Meirov feels similarly to Scharger, but has used the edict from ESPN and NFL Network to his advantage and shares the information before reporters like Adam Schefter, Chris Mortenson, and Ian Rapoport.

Mike Greenberg: NFL Draft ‘My Favorite Assignment By Far’

BSM Staff
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Mike Greenberg is making final preparations to host ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage for the third time, and he can’t wait for the event to finally kickoff.

“It’s my favorite assignment of the year, by far,” Greenberg told ESPN 1000’s Waddle & Silvy. “I love having a daily TV show, I love having a daily radio show, I adore hosting NBA Countdown with these legends that I work with, and doing the Finals last year, and actually saying ‘Welcome to ABC’s coverage of game one of the Finals’ was genuinely one of the great thrills of my life.

“I’ve said many times one of my true regrets is my dad didn’t live to hear that, because it was one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had. But for fun? This is, by far, the most fun event. It’s so unpredictable. I just love it. I love the energy. We’re supposed to have 300,000 people out here tomorrow…I absolutely love everything about this event.”

Greenberg then shared he has been waiting on the opportunity to return because “I did not think I did my best last year”. He said in 2021, each team in the first round took their full 10 allotted minutes, so he was used to that cadence. But that was not the case in 2022.

“The picks came so fast. The pick has been made, Mel is the first 15 seconds of his reaction, and I get in my ear from the producer ‘The envelope is in, 60 seconds until the commissioner’. And I’m like ‘What are you talking about? I’m not ready in 60 seconds. I’ve got eight million other things I plan to do.’ And it kept going like that, and it took me eight picks or so to get comfortable in that rhythm.

“And, obviously, the first eight picks are the most important ones,” the ESPN host continued. “The very beginning is the most important part, and I felt like I kinda blew the first hour. Or at least I didn’t do as well as I wanted to do. I watched it back, and it’s never as bad as you think it was, but I want to be my best in this event because it’s the biggest event I do.”

Gregg Giannotti: ESPN’s Firing Marly Rivera ‘An Absolute Atrocity’

BSM Staff
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ESPN fired MLB reporter Marly Rivera after she reportedly directed a string of obscenities at a fellow reporter, who is the wife of Major League Baseball’s Vice President of Communications. WFAN’s Gregg Giannotti was dumbfounded by the development.

While discussing the situation on Boomer & Gio Thursday morning, Giannotti insinuated a double standard was at play.

“There’s been a ton of times in locker rooms where media guys have gotten in disagreements and called each other names,” Giannotti said. “The fact that Marly Rivera gets fired for this is absolutely an atrocity.”

“There has to be something else on top of this,” countered co-host Boomer Esiason. “Maybe this was a ‘last straw’ or something like that, maybe? There’s got to be more to the story, and there’s got to be something underlying. I know ESPN is laying off thousands of people while giving many people on the air millions of dollars. They’re laying off, what, 7,000 people? Maybe this was a good excuse to do that.”

As a point of fact, ESPN is not laying off 7000 people. The Walt Disney Company, which owns ESPN is. The layoffs are taking place across multiple divisions of the company, not just inside ESPN. Rivera’s exit was unrelated to the layoffs.

“That’s one of the things that popped into my head. They weren’t planning on firing her, there’s an incident and ope, ‘We can fire you for cause now, and send you on your way’. That would be even worse. She’s done a nice job. I don’t know what type of colleague she is. Maybe it is that situation where things have been stacked up…it just seems like this was a one-time incident that ended up getting her to lose her job. Which just sucks.”

Esiason mentioned several times how impressed he had been with Rivera’s ability to analyze and report on the game, saying she was “relaxed, and had very good knowledge, and takes on the game”.

“There’s no way she should lose her job over this. Just absolutely no way,” concluded Giannotti.

Sports Media Reacts to Death of Jerry Springer

BSM Staff
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Sports Media Reacts to Death of Jerry Springer

Longtime TV host Jerry Springer died Thursday at the age of 79.

After serving as the mayor of Cincinnati in the late 1970s, Springer debuted the Jerry Springer talk show in 1991 to mimic The Phil Donahue Show. In 1994, Springer revamped the show’s format to become more sensationalized, which led to many controversial situations and confrontations. Springer concluded the program in 2018.

In addition to his scandalous television show, he was also a local news anchor at WLWT in Cincinnati in the 1980s and 1990s.

The show transcended pop culture, news, and current events, and reached millions of daily viewers during its peak.

Many in sports media were shocked by the announcement of Springer’s passing, shared their memories of the host on social media, and fondly remembered his famous closing line “Take care of yourselves, and each other”.

Ice Cube Crashes Parkins & Spiegel’s Radio Mock Draft

BSM Staff
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There is never a bad time to have a great producer. Parkins & Spiegel found that out when the guest they had scheduled to make a mock draft pick for the Las Vegas Raiders had to bail at the last minute and Shane Riordan came through with a rap legend as a replacement.

“No way, Shane! Shane said if he cold texts this guy and he makes the pick, it will be the biggest moment on the show this year,” Danny Parkins said as it was revealed who was stepping in. “Making the pick for the Las Vegas Raiders – Ice Cube!”

Ice Cube has been a Raiders fan going back to his youth when the team played in Los Angeles. When asked who he would select for the Raiders, Cube wasn’t specific. He just knew the need.

“We need some DBs man,” he said. “We need some DBs. I don’t care. Cornerback, safety, top on the board. Get him!”

Matt Spiegel suggested Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez, to which Ice Cube responded “Can we get two of them?”.

After Cube hung up, Shane Riordan came on air to reveal how the bit came together. It was a stroke of good luck in a moment of panic for himself and sound engineer Chris Tannehill.

“We were trying to think of Raiders fans in here and it was like ‘Cody Decker?’ No. He didn’t pick up the phone,” Riordan said. “Tanney’s like ‘What about Ice Cube?’ and I said ‘Hold on. I have his cell.’”

Even after getting in touch with the Big 3 owner, Riordan still didn’t have things locked down. He revealed that initially, he did not think Ice Cube was going to participate.

“He texted me back ‘Dude, I’m so out of the loop. I don’t even know what I would say.’ I said ‘Okay, I’ll just feed you the pick. I’ll just give you a pick.’ He said ‘Great,’ so I gave him Will Levis and he just blew that off completely.”

Ice Cube revealed to Parkins & Spiegel that he does have a direct line to Raiders owner Mark Davis. He said he will not do it, but if he wanted to, he could call Davis and tell him how he feels about whoever the team selects Thursday night with the 7th overall pick.

Mike Gorman To Return To NBC Sports Boston For Celtics/Hawks Game 6

BSM Staff
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Mike Gorman To Return To NBC Sports Boston For Celtics/Hawks Game 6

Mike Gorman is hitting the road for the first time during the NBA Playoffs. After missing Games 3 and 4 as he recovered from eye surgery, a doctor cleared the NBC Sports Boston play-by-play man to travel to Atlanta with the Celtics for Game 6.

Celtics fans have heard Gorman call their favorite team’s games for the last 41 seasons. That was interrupted in February when he suffered a detached retina.

The games he missed were never about not being able to see the action. He has reportedly recovered well from surgery. Flying and the changes in pressure that come with it could have caused serious complications for him.

NBC Sports Boston took a very non-traditional approach to games 3 and 4. The network did not use a traditional play-by-play man on the broadcasts. Instead, two former Celtics players, Brian Scalabrine, and Eddie House, covered the game. Both men have served as analysts alongside Mike Gorman during the regular season.

News Media Reacts to Death of Jerry Springer

BNM Staff
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Longtime TV host Jerry Springer died Thursday at the age of 79.

After serving as the mayor of Cincinnati in the late 1970s, Springer debuted the Jerry Springer talk show in 1991 to mimic The Phil Donahue Show. In 1994, Springer revamped the show’s format to become more sensationalized, which led to many controversial situations and confrontations. Springer concluded the program in 2018.

In addition to his scandalous television show, he was also a local news anchor at WLWT in Cincinnati in the 1980s and 1990s.

The show transcended pop culture, news, and current events, and reached millions of daily viewers during its peak.

Many in the news media were shocked by the announcement of Springer’s passing, shared their memories of the host on social media, and fondly remembered his famous closing line “Take care of yourselves, and each other”.

Kim Klacik to Host Middays on WCBM

BNM Staff
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Conservative radio host Kim Klacik is moving her program on Baltimore news/talk station WCBM to middays.

On Monday, May 1st, Kim Klacik Live will be heard from 9:00 AM-Noon. She takes over for Derek Hunter, who has left the station.

“I am excited to join the team at WCBM and have the opportunity to engage with listeners in the Baltimore area,” said Klacik. “I believe that conservative principles and policies are the key  to unlocking the potential of this great city, and I look forward to sharing my ideas and insights with the WCBM audience.” 

Klacik joined the station earlier this year after previously working at WBAL.

“Kim Klacik is a rising star in conservative politics and we are thrilled to have her join our team at WCBM,” said WCBM Program Director Sean Casey. “Her energy, passion, and commitment to Baltimore are second to none, and we know that our listeners will appreciate her insights on the issues that matter most to them.” 

Casey added that Hunter’s departure was a difficult decision, but was the result of the station doubling down on its local focus.

“It was a result of WCBM’s ongoing efforts to better serve its listeners by offering more diverse programming options. While Derek Hunter has a loyal following, the station decided to go in a different direction to attract a broader audience.”

1010 WINS Anchor Lee Harris Exiting

BNM Staff
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1010 WINS Anchor Lee Harris Exiting

After nearly 30 years, 1010 WINS anchor Lee Harris is leaving the New York all-news station.

In an internal memo obtained by Barrett News Media, 1010 WINS Vice President of New York News Ben Mevorach shared that Lee “is not retiring” but that his “insane 3:00 AM wake up is coming to an end”.

“For nearly 30 years, Lee has occupied the morning drive slot at WINS. Day in and day out he spoke the language of most New Yorkers. He could be funny, irreverent, or sarcastic. He viewed the world and everything in it with a healthy dose of skepticism, often pointing out the absurdity of a story or sound byte along the way,” Mevorach said.

“He took occasional on-air shots at (John) Montone and editor story selections…but always (well almost always) from the perspective of how a true New Yorker would have reacted. He could be biting and caustic and incisive. By definition, he had a mordant wit. He is a New Yorker through and through.”

Harris has served as the station’s top-of-the-hour morning news anchor since 1995.

Mevorach thanked Harris for his tenure with the station, concluding he was “the signature voice of the greatest news station that ever was. It was a magnificent ride”.

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