MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan and journalist Matt Taibbi clashed over the Twitter Files on multiple platforms last week, including during a contentious on-air interview that spilled over onto social media. Taibbi informed his Substack subscribers of the budding drama with a midday newsletter that ridiculed Hasan as a “Peacock’s farm team member.”
The men disagreed on the significance of Taibbi’s reporting on the Twitter Files. Hasan accused Taibbi of omitting crucial context and defending his work because it revealed “quasi-state censorship” related to various issues, including censorship of conservatives.
Hasan brought up a 2021 clip of Taibbi criticizing the idea of journalists being “handed things,” suggesting that he was hypocritical as he was handed the documents needed to report on the Twitter Files. In response, Taibbi once again highlighted MSNBC’s past to underscore the network’s imperfections.
“The hilarity of this coming from MSNBC, which did nothing but vomit up fake Russiagate stories that came straight from the FBI for six consecutive years that you guys still haven’t apologized for, is unbelievable,” Taibbi said.
The duo also bickered over nude images of Hunter Biden, and whether they violated Twitter’s terms of service, Hasan displayed receipts for various things he considered to be “errors” in Taibbi’s reporting. The nearly 30-minute interview mainly consisted of hostile moments and disagreements, with Hasan tweeting portions of the discussion in viral segments.
As the world becomes increasingly polarized, comparing the controversial comedy and podcasting giants Joe Rogan and Russell Brand to the seasoned political commentator Bill Maher raises questions about the role of humor and media in shaping public discourse.
Last week, MSNBC National Affairs Analyst John Heilemann joined Dan LeBatard on “South Beach Sessions” to discuss the difference between the three men. In March, Heilemann was on Bill Maher’s HBO show when Russell Brand confronted him about media bias.
“I’ve never seen Bill [Maher] in any conversation I’ve had with him, either public or private engage in the kind of bombastic, long-winded sophistry that Rusell Brand did on that show,” said Heilemann. “That’s not how Bill runs that show; that’s not how he behaves in public. I think that’s a huge difference.”
According to Heilemann, Maher typically refrains from participating in conversations that seek to silence opposing views. He cited an incident during Brand’s appearance on Maher’s show. Brand interrupted Heilemann and cited MSNBC as an example of a network that censors speech and presents news with extreme bias.
LeBatard commented that Brand and Rogan display a greater curiosity than Maher, who is already “formed” in his opinions and difficult to sway. While LeBatard acknowledged Maher’s unflagging intellectualism, he criticized him for directing his arguments toward a younger audience that may not be interested in his views. He likened Maher to someone “shouting at clouds.”
“On that show with Rusell Brand, he pointed out two interesting things, and they were in the middle of Brand’s bromides that there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans, and when Brand was yelling about Ivermectin Maher said he has a lot of serious doubts about how COVID was handled but that some people needed these policies,” Heilemann said.
Regarding the comparison of Joe Rogan, Russell Brand, and Bill Maher, Heilemann stated that he has not appeared on Rogan’s show and does not frequently listen to it. However, he noted that during Brand’s appearance on Maher’s show, Maher was speaking to a particular audience.
“Brand was aiming at the Rogan audience,” Heilemann stated. “I don’t know that Russell Brand is more curious than Bill Maher. I do think that there are a lot of people, and Bill is tapping into something when he expresses some of what a lot of people think are the excesses of woke culture. I don’t think it is like some giant threat to American society.”
CNN anchor Don Lemon is reportedly considering legal action over a recent Variety article that claimed he has a history of mistreating female colleagues. The report alleges that Lemon, who has been under fire for making sexist comments on-air, has threatened and demeaned female colleagues, including Soledad O’Brien, Kyra Phillips, and Nancy Grace. A source close to Lemon stated that he has consulted with attorneys regarding a possible lawsuit against the entertainment publication. CNN has declined to comment on the matter.
According to Variety, Lemon has been disrespectful and “diva-like” towards female colleagues, with allegations including calling a female producer fat to her face, accusing O’Brien of not being black, and sending Phillips a menacing text message. CNN investigated the text, removed Lemon from co-anchoring duties alongside Phillips, and demoted him to weekends.
CNN defended Lemon, stating that the Variety article provided “no actual proof” and “instead relies on anonymous sources” and “unsubstantiated claims from 10 to 15 years ago.” The network also said it was “unable to corroborate the alleged accounts.” Lemon released a statement through a spokesperson, calling the article “riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence” and based on “unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip.”
Inside CNN, employees are reportedly tired of the negative press surrounding Lemon, who has been in the spotlight for various incidents, including chewing out “CNN This Morning” co-host Kaitlan Collins after a broadcast in December. The morning show reimagined under Lemon, Collins, and co-host Poppy Harlow, has struggled in ratings since its launch in November. Some staff members are frustrated that Lemon’s behavior makes the network the story instead of the news they report.
Whether Lemon will pursue legal action against Variety remains to be seen, but the allegations have spotlighted his past behavior towards female colleagues. The controversy also highlights workplace harassment and mistreatment of women, particularly in male-dominated media and entertainment.
Over his career in sports media, Mike Greenberg has hardly concealed his favorite teams on the air, most notably his fandom for the New York Jets. As “Gang Green” aims to make a change at quarterback in an effort to compete for a Super Bowl championship, the team seems confident in its chances to land Green Bay Packers quarterback and perennial Hall of Fame inductee Aaron Rodgers.
The Packers did not qualify for the NFL playoffs for the first time in three seasons last year, and it left Rodgers, who had previously pondered over remaining with the franchise, questioning whether it was prudent for him to remain a Packer, request a trade, or retire.
In an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show last month, Rodgers detailed his decision-making process, which entailed a stay at Sky Cave Retreats in Southern Oregon isolated in complete darkness for four days and four nights. He entered the retreat envisioning making a decision to retire from football and emerged content with continuing to play football – and doing so for the New York Jets.
Greenberg has long been a proponent of Rodgers joining the Jets and pledged to embark on the darkness retreat himself if the situation manifested itself.
“I make no secret of the teams I root for,” Greenberg said. “I guess there are some people who think that’s not the right way to go about it, but I couldn’t imagine any other way to go about it. I cover sports because they’re fun. I cover sports because they’re games people play that bring people joy and entertainment.”
Throughout the entirety of his career, Rodgers has donned No. 12 and is statistically one of the greatest players to ever do so. Yet there are other prominent athletes both in and out of football who have called that number their own – including quarterbacks Joe Namath, Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, and Tom Brady among others.
One day following Greenberg’s morning television show Get Up on ESPN, he was having a conversation with several others about these storied quarterbacks who wore the number, and then choosing who owned it.
“It was like a lightbulb went off over my head,” Greenberg said. “I’ve always wanted to write a sports book, and I’ve never had a good enough idea. Finally, I had a good enough idea.”
Shortly thereafter, Greenberg called content producer and researcher for Get Up, Paul “Hembo” Hembekides, and pitched him his book idea. After Hembekides agreed to perform research for the book that Greenberg would write, the two formally met to outline the concept and how they would approach the project.
Very quickly, though, Greenberg realized he was about to author a book about sports legends without several distinguished names – such as Serena Williams, Jack Nicklaus, and Jesse Owens – just because they did not wear jersey numbers. It felt wrong to omit athletes who played sports that did not assign numbers; therefore, the premise of the book had to undoubtedly change.
“We realized [that] we had to come up with a creative way to include all athletes in sports and assign numbers for them to own,” Greenberg said. “That process was a lot of fun, and I hope that people will enjoy reading that part of it.”
Greenberg offered the example of Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain, who played 14 seasons in the NBA wearing the No. 13, yet is associated with the No. 100 since he famously set the league record for most points scored in a game. The feat still stands to this day and is known by most sports fans; therefore, it simply made more sense for Greenberg to assign Chamberlain that numeral as opposed to his actual uniform number.
The motivation to write the book was multifaceted in nature for Greenberg, who hosts different types of programs on a variety of platforms for ESPN. He never thought, however, that he would reach this point based on his assimilation into the industry. Yet his unwavering passion, combined with taking advantage of fortuitous opportunities, has brought him to the point of being one of ESPN’s longest-tenured and most recognizable personalities with no signs of slowing down.
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From the time he was 5 years old, Greenberg remembers sitting in front of the television at his home and announcing football games, in part after his first idol Howard Cosell. Most conversations in his youth revolved around sports, with both of his parents and brother invested in the local teams. After attending Stuyvesant High School in New York, N.Y., Greenberg made the move to Evanston, Ill. as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University where he proceeded to study journalism.
While a large majority of aspiring sports media professionals often participate in student media outlets and other extracurricular activities, Greenberg partook in none of it. His studies at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism represented the bulk of his experience, and he continues to regret not immersing himself in the school newspaper (The Daily Northwestern) and radio station (WNUR).
Instead, he was more focused on fostering a social life and his work in the classroom and is aware of how lucky he is that the recursivity did not prove precarious in his ability to build a sustainable career. Today, he reflects back on that experience and renders it a warning to others as to what not to do in order to effectuate a viable portfolio to gain genuine experience and the necessary repetitions to land a job in this competitive field.
“You should do the opposite of what I did,” Greenberg advises. “….There’s so much opportunity now with podcasting and all sorts of other outlets that [students] should absolutely be taking advantage of all that, and I absolutely should have been too. Sometimes I’m embarrassed at how little of that I actually did until I got out of school.”
Upon his graduation from Northwestern University, Greenberg joined WMAQ-AM, a station broadcasting in the news format, where he served as a sports anchor and reporter. Over the preceding decade, the station had experimented with a variety of formats, including country and talk, and eventually moved to an all-sports format complete with new call letters by 2000.
Those new call letters – W-S-C-R – began on a different frequency (AM 820), and Greenberg immediately started working behind the scenes hoping to be afforded a chance to cover Chicago sports teams. The situation benefited him in that the station did not hire a full-time anchor to deliver sports updates on the air, giving Greenberg a chance to appear on the air and divulge the latest scores and information about sports teams to an inquisitive audience.
A few months later, the station moved George Ofman into the studio to deliver these updates regularly, someone with whom Greenberg is friendly to this day. Before he was working out of the studio, Ofman had been on-site covering sports teams as a reporter, appearing across programming to discuss news, conduct interviews and draw conclusions based on what he had observed.
With his move to the studio came an opening to serve as a reporter, something station management decided to give Greenberg, who had long been imploring for a way to be around the teams. At the age of 24, Greenberg was covering the defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls featuring superstars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, witnessing the team’s quest for a second consecutive championship.
By the time the summer came around, Greenberg was working from Platteville, Wis. covering the Chicago Bears’ training camp, a team that was led by head coach Mike Ditka and quarterback Jim Harbaugh. A few years later, Greenberg augmented his presence in media by writing a weekly column for the Copley News Service, and also began working in television reporting for SportsChannel Chicago, and, eventually, Chicagoland Television (CLTV).
With little to no previous experience reporting, Greenberg was cognizant that he had been bestowed a prime circumstance to cultivate his growth in sports media and jumpstart his career. From covering the World Series and the Super Bowl to appearing on television and radio as a trusted voice in the No. 3 media market in the country, he ensured he worked hard and stood out within the media landscape.
“I don’t even know how to begin to explain all the ways that [it] shaped me,” Greenberg said. “It’s where I learned everything; it was the reason that I was able to go to ESPN; it was the reason I was ready when I got there…. That was an incredibly fortunate series of circumstances that befell me, and it changed my life completely.”
As a beat reporter, Greenberg was around the teams for most days over the span of four years, through which the Bulls captured two NBA championships. In watching Michael Jordan from his perspective, Greenberg drew a connection between his work as a journalist and Jordan’s as a basketball player in what it took to achieve “greatness.” Years after his retirement, Jordan remains a prominent figure and firmly rooted in basketball vernacular, and the debate as to who is the greatest player in league history continues to be amplified.
Contentious, yet astute debate is a hallmark of sports talk, whether it be between hosts on the radio or fans attending a game. It is the basis on which Greenberg authored his newest book, as there is a legitimate conversation to be had over who owns a number, especially when comparing athletes across different sports in different eras.
“No. 21 – should it be Tim Duncan; should it be Deion Sanders; should it be Roberto Clemente?,” Greenberg said. “I gave my opinion. I’m sure many people will agree and others will disagree, and that’s where the debate comes in.”
Three years into his tenure at ESPN, Greenberg began hosting a national radio show alongside Mike Golic, appropriately named Mike & Mike, and it quickly became a hit with listeners and one of the most successful programs of all time.
Before that though, Greenberg had joined the network in 1996 where he anchored programming on the new ESPNEWS channel and eventually was named as a host of the heralded show SportsCenter. Through his formative years on national television, Greenberg meticulously focused on applying and refining what he had learned from reporting in a local market to doing so on a national scale.
Looking back on the day he signed his contract to work for ESPN, the network is hardly recognizable. Although its main focus remains and has always been bringing consumers the latest news, information and opinions about their favorite players and teams, the execution of that goal has shifted with evolutions in technology and dynamic consumption patterns.
When I got to the network, the internet was a brand-new phenomenon,” Greenberg said. “Everything is different and we have adapted and evolved as every industry has with all of the changes in technology. There are a lot of ways that everything has changed, but that’s overwhelmingly the biggest one, and it remains overwhelmingly the biggest challenge going forward – to make sure that we are staying on top of what our audience wants.”
Greenberg co-hosted Mike & Mike with Golic from 2000 until 2017, making it one of the longest-running sports talk radio shows in history. As the show received positive feedback among listeners, it was added to the ESPNEWS television lineup in 2004 and continued to air on ESPN2 until its final episode.
Additionally, Golic and Greenberg contributed across ESPN programming, including serving as the lead broadcast team for the Arena Football League and calling an annual Monday Night Football game with former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka for three years.
Before they began working together, Golic had been hosting The Bruno-Golic Morning Show with sports commentator Tony Bruno for a year; however, the host position became open when Bruno resigned from the network for what was reported as “irreconcilable differences” between him and ESPN Radio management.
The change required Golic and Greenberg to quickly develop chemistry, something that is never guaranteed in creating sports radio shows and composing a sound that would allure listeners in various different marketplaces with broad rooting interests.
“If there’s more than one host, then those people need to have chemistry, and that’s a very elusive quality,” Greenberg said. “It’s usually not something you know until you try, which is why a lot of things don’t ever really get off the ground because it’s not until they actually start doing the show that you realize, ‘You know what? These people really aren’t meant to be together.’”
When Mike & Mike ended, Greenberg ceased hosting a sports radio show and instead began working on the network’s primary channel as the host of Get Up, a new morning show originally featuring Greenberg, Michelle Beadle, and Jalen Rose. The show currently features Greenberg and a rotating panel of analysts, and it recently set viewership records for its most-watched January on record by averaging 445,000 viewers.
Moreover, Get Up combined with First Take, hosted by Molly Qerim featuring Stephen A. Smith, accumulated 100 million views on YouTube, up 2% from the previous year. As the host of a morning program on ESPN, Greenberg views his role as being a facilitator, someone who renders comfort in his guests and accentuates the qualities that allow them to adequately inform and entertain the audience.
“It’s a really fun challenge because we have so many different people,” Greenberg said. “Every day, basically, is a different show. My job is to get to know all these people who are coming on and know how to put them in a position to be the best they can be.”
Greenberg is equipped with a similar task, albeit with a recurring cast, on NBA Countdown, a show that precedes the NBA on ESPN predicated on previewing matchups and discussing the news around the league. Featuring a panel of the aforementioned Rose and Smith, along with longtime sports journalist and co-host of Pardon the Interruption, Michael Wilbon, Greenberg holds himself responsible for eliciting compendious responses from his analysts that precipitate additional conversation and/or spark debate.
Although he never got to the point where he could succeed Walt “Clyde” Frazier as the starting point guard for the New York Knicks, Greenberg in essence plays the position and assists his panelists, and occasionally knocks down a three-point basket by expressing his opinions.
“I try to produce the show from the chair, which is to say [that] I’m trying to think about what is the best for the show in its entirety,” Greenberg said. “….I think all hosts have one thing or another that they’re good at, [and] I think if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s bringing out the best in all the people who are around me.”
Two years into hosting Get Up, Greenberg made his return to the national radio airwaves by adding a new solo program titled #Greeny. The show airs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST and brings consumers the perspectives and opinions of Greenberg; in basketball terms, he is essentially scoring more than he is passing.
On this show, Greenberg is front and center – after all, the show is eponymously named after his pseudonym “Greeny,” – and he proffers his erudite perspectives on sports, the history of which he learned through his avidity for learning. It is the second reason he decided to write his fifth book and the first that primarily focuses on the progression of sports history and everything he has learned over the years.
“I loved reading sports history books; it’s where I learned everything I know about sports,” Greenberg said. “What I’m hoping is that people who read this, whether they agree or disagree with the choices that we made, will learn [something about] every one of the sports legends in this book.”
Greenberg is in the midst of recovering from a cardiac ablation, a type of heart surgery utilized to correct problems pertaining to the rhythm of his heartbeat. Furthermore, there have been instances over the last year where he has been criticized for being absent from his radio show, with McAfee addressing his audience and entreating him to get back into the studio.
Despite balancing many different roles with ESPN, Greenberg has no plans of altering his schedule and considers himself extremely fortunate to be in his position. He and Golic were inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcasting Hall of Fame, along with the National Radio Hall of Fame, and Greenberg himself is a member of the Medill Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University.
Through it all, he wants to remain at the forefront of innovation and seek new ways to reach and expand the audience, the way in which they consume the programming notwithstanding.
“The way I watched sports when I was in my 20s is totally different [from] the way my son and my nephews and others that I watch with consume it,” Greenberg said. “I’ve got to make sure I’m on top of that or I’m going to get left behind. That’s the biggest challenge for me and for all of us in the industry, and I think that will continue to be for the foreseeable future.”
From the very beginning, Greenberg’s goal was to find a way to remain immersed in sports since he did not have the athletic wherewithal to pursue a professional career. Now, he is the lead host of two national television shows, a national radio show, and the network’s coverage of the NBA Finals and the NFL Draft. He hopes his career as a versatile professional inspires others and promulgates captivating ways to ruminate on sports and be distinctive amid a crowded media ecosystem.
“It’s a miracle that this has happened to me,” Greenberg said. “I do it because I love it, to be completely honest with you. I have the best job of anybody I know, and I don’t have any intention of stopping any time soon.”
Got Your Number: The Greatest Sports Legends and the Numbers They Own is available wherever you get your books and is split into 100 short chapters delineating the choices Greenberg and Hembekides settled on, along with the context for each selection. The book is largely sold out, with a select few hardcover copies available at the moment, and is the encapsulation of Greenberg’s enamorment towards professional sports and its ensuing culture.
“Babe Ruth; Muhammad Ali; you name it,” Greenberg expressed. “That’s what the book is. It’s a combination of sports debate and sports history. It’s sort of a new beginning for me, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
J. Cole was not talking about conference commissioners in 2016 when he released the song “Everybody Dies”. On the track though, he raps a line that probably seems prophetic to George Kliavkoff and every network executive he has tried to get interested in doing a deal with the Pac-12.
“If they weren’t talking ’bout the bread, these motherf***ers be toast.”
The SEC and Big Ten are sitting pretty with the best media rights deals in college sports. Members of the ACC may not be completely satisfied, but the conference has security in a long-term deal with ESPN. The Big 12 got its new deal done last year.
The Pac-12? It kinda seems like that motherf***er be toast.
Welcome to 2023. College sports are not ruled by tradition or donor money anymore. All that matters is your conference’s TV deal. That is the source of the bulk of any program’s income. If your conference doesn’t have a great deal, you never close the door to a new opportunity. If your conference has no deal at all? It’s time to panic.
George Kliavkoff took over as commissioner of the Pac-12 from Larry Scott. Scott seemed like a savvy hire at the time, coming from the world of television rather than a career college sports administrator. He was supposed to revolutionize the conference and make it a media force for the future. What Larry Scott actually did was cement the Pac-12’s place firmly behind the eight ball.
He didn’t just eschew partnering with an established media company to launch the Pac-12 Networks, he actively repudiated the cable and satellite operators he needed on his side to make such a risky venture successful. He didn’t just waste money on real estate, he wasted so much money on some of the most expensive real estate in America. He turned what is called “The Conference of Champions” into the laughing stock of college football as one of the sport’s Tiffany programs, USC, withered into mediocrity.
How could things be any worse than that?
Well, the conference was about to find out. USC is still the conference’s most relevant media property. Los Angeles is still its most important market. A little over a year after Scott got the proverbial boot, USC bolted the Pac-12 for the Big Ten and took fellow LA resident UCLA along with it.
At the time, it seemed bad. I don’t know that we could have predicted how bad it actually was or what “bad” would look like. Other schools leaving would have made sense. Anyone in the media or that follows college football could have wrapped their heads around that. They had seen it before. But not finding anyone interested in paying for the remaining ten schools’ games? Yikes!
For years, we have known ESPN/ABC as the dominant player in the college sports world. FOX announced its presence in style with Big Noon Saturday a few years ago and really kicked the door down with its new Big Ten deal. CBS was in the game to a lesser extent but still was a player. NBC dabbled, but now with the help of the Big Ten, is increasing the size of its footprint.
We cannot say for sure that all of those networks rejected doing business with the Pac-12 entirely. We can say that they didn’t want to do business with the league at the price tag that they were presented. At this point, there may not be any shelf space for Pac-12 inventory even if the league swallowed its pride and offered broadcasters a big discount.
George Kliavkoff, who was hired last year, promised that not only would the Pac-12 have a TV deal. It would have a deal worth more than the ones FOX and ESPN put together for the Big 12, a league that not so secretly longs to poach more schools from the Pac-12.
Ummm…oops.
As the commissioner of the league, Kliavkoff cannot tell the industry that his product is not valuable. He cannot send signals that the entire value of the Pac-12 was wrapped up in USC, but he needed to set realistic expectations.
This is college sports, specifically football, which drives the bus for all other college sports. It’s not the MLS. Embracing new distribution models isn’t really what we do here.
The industry has rightfully snickered at the possibility that more than 50% of the conference’s inventory would be available exclusively on streaming services. It chuckled when names like Ion and The CW were mentioned as possible new homes for the conference and then downright guffawed when LIV Golf showed just how ill-equipped for sports coverage The CW really is.
Right now, the conference and its ten remaining members are hanging tough. University of Utah athletic director Mark Harlan even publicly called out a report from CBS’s Dennis Dodd that said the Big 12 is in contact with his school and three others about leaving the Pac-12.
But how long will that remain true? If Pac-12 games really are airing on Saturdays after twenty-year-old reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and an infomercial for Rodent Sheriff, would schools like Utah and Oregon want to stick around? If Kliavkoff is banking his conference’s appeal in the market on Deion Sanders being at Colorado, does it really have broad appeal in the market?
Kliavkoff needs to get something done soon and it needs to be something that his member institutions recognize as valuable. There is no surpassing the Big 12’s paycheck at this point. Take what is being offered on a short-term deal.
Figure out how to start talking about the bread quicker next time or else motherf***er, you be toast.
There’s no question that the sports broadcasting industry has gone through a seismic change in recent years and that has to do with the added emphasis on sports gambling and the industry really leaning toward younger people. But, depending on the situation, there is still a place for veteran and experienced broadcasters to still have a piece of the sports announcing pie, particularly as it pertains to play-by-play. For Tim Brando, that piece of the pie is still there as he recently signed a new three-year contract to call college football and basketball games for FOX Sports.
His new deal allows him to reach a couple of milestones that were very important to him.
“I wanted to get to 40 years on national television which I will in 2025,” said the 67-year-old Brando. “I wanted to see my career get to age 70 in a business now that is obviously driven more now by young people than people of my generation.”
In any line of work, the older you get the more there is a chance of not being able to do your job as well as you used to and there have certainly been examples of that over the years. But in sports broadcasting, there have been legendary voices like Al Michaels, who is still going strong. Storied announcers like Keith Jackson and Verne Lundquist were at the microphone for decades during their careers.
And you can put Tim Brando on that list as he still has the passion and excitement for what he does and still wants to do.
“I still believe I have a lot to offer,” said Brando. “I believe my fastball and my breaking pitch are as good as they’ve ever been in the booth and courtside at basketball so who knows. I’ve been at this a long time and I want to continue to do it at the highest level I can. When you get to this stage of your life and your career, your aspirations and your goals are more immediate than they are long-term.”
Brando’s began his sports broadcasting career at the local level as the assistant sports director of WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he called LSU Men’s and Women’s basketball games. He then moved on to ESPN in 1986 where he would call games and was the first host of College GameDay while also hosting SportsCenter and ESPN’s coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.
In 1996, Brando joined CBS Sports where he was the host for College Football Today while also doing play-by-play for college football and basketball as well as NFL games from 1998 to 2003. His run at CBS ended in 2013 and that’s when he had some options including the opportunity to go to ESPN’s SEC Network.
It was June 2014 and Brando was still a free agent. That’s when he received a call from FOX Sports.
“They had asked me to come out and meet with everyone in management there,” said Brando. “We were that close to football season. I’m a free agent and I don’t know what I’m going to be doing in the fall of 2014. That’s as close as I’ve ever cut it as a free agent.”
As the saying goes, “There’s no place like home” and Brando would make FOX his new home.
“I really wanted to be a FOX guy,” said Brando. “That was really where I had my sights set. It would have been really tough if I had missed a college football season. I was really excited and I can’t believe I’m going into my 10th year. That’s amazing to me.”
It’s been at FOX where Brando has been able to complete his bucket list of calling college football games at iconic stadiums like the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, “The Big House” in Michigan and “The Horseshoe” in Columbus. Brando lists Curt Gowdy as his broadcasting mentor, but he considers Keith Jackson as his college football role model because if Jackson was at the microphone, you knew it was a big game.
“(Jackson’s) energy and his enthusiasm and his approach to the game was synonymous with the sport no matter what part of the country he was in,” said Brando. “That’s the way I wanted to be perceived. It’s a big game so Brando is there.”
Brando not only loves what he does but he also likes to share his experiences with young broadcasters and offer them some advice about the business.
After all, he’s been doing this for a while so if Tim Brando talks, you should listen.
“If you want to get into this business and be successful at it, you cannot just love the sport,” said Brando. “You’ve got to love the business and the business has a lot of landmines in it and can blow you up at any time. You have to navigate your way through some of those.”
And his other piece of advice…you don’t have to go 55 miles an hour all of the time.
“We’re guilty of wondering why we can’t do everything,” said Brando. “We want to do everything and we’re our own worst enemy. You have to have your eyes open and your head on a swivel. That’s part of the dilemma of the business. A lot of times, you can get lost when you start thinking about what’s next when what you have is already really good.”
And what Brando has now at FOX is really good for him. He signed his first contract extension with FOX Sports back in 2017. At the time, he knew his career was winding down and he said something that he is reiterating now with his new deal that runs through 2026.
“I said I can see the finish line here at FOX,” said Brando. “I meant it then and I mean it now. It’s the best place I’ve ever worked. They understand and appreciate for guys like us to do what we do. They put the game first which I think is awesome and the people I get to work with are tremendous.”
There are a lot of choices for sports fans when they turn on their television to watch a game. For a long time, Brando has been the voice of choice for college football and basketball fans and that is going to continue for three more years. After all, if it’s a big game, Tim Brando is going to be there.
The more experience I gain, the more I learn one particular lesson: the longer someone is in charge, the more they forget what it was like when they weren’t in charge. And sometimes, I think radio programmers sometimes do the one thing they can’t: lose their grip on reality.
The longer you stay the boss, the easier it is to believe that what you think is the right way, the best way, and the only way. It doesn’t take much to lose the pulse of your listeners, hosts, and producers if you’re not careful.
And it makes sense. You’re deep in all of the information and data that proves you’re the expert on what topics are best, what website strategy is best, where you can thrive on social media, and how to best use your sponsorship.
But, if you lose what your audience views as reality, it becomes a glaring issue. And that’s what happened last week.
I don’t know Sebastian Tomich. He’s the Chief Commercial Officer at The Athletic. Truth be told, I’d never heard of the man until reading his comments during an interview with Ad Exchanger.
When asked about the digital outlet adding advertisements after being purchased by The New York Times, Tomich said something that stopped me in my tracks.
“Sports fans almost want advertising to be part of their experience because they are used to all the integrations you see when you go to games and when you watch on TV.”
There is not a sports fan alive that wants advertising as a part of their experience. Not one. No one is going to Yankee Stadium to stare at the Utz Potato Chips sign. I don’t sit down in my recliner on a fall Saturday hoping and praying that ESPN will deliver me a difficult Aflac Trivia Question during a college football game.
No one wants advertising. No one. In fact, contrary to what many would have you think, people hate ads. Despise them. With the passion of a thousand burning suns. “Getting a flat tire on your way to work” might have a higher approval rating than commercials. Sports fans are, if anything, tolerant of the need for advertising, but there isn’t anyone who wants to be served up a constant barrage of ads.
You can’t misconstrue the general public’s excitement for Super Bowl ads to excitement for the adult diapers ad I hear Pat Hughes continually read during Chicago Cubs games on the radio.
This is judgemental, and I don’t necessarily care. In that statement, it appears Tomich is more wrapped up in what is best for the company, rather than the user. And that’s fine! That’s his job! But claiming that “sports fans want advertising” shows a view of reality has been lost. That’s what he wants, and by proxy, is what he wants readers of The Athletic to want.
I would bet my bottom dollar there’s no data that shows The Athletic subscribers prefer ads in the outlet’s content. Or any data whatsoever that shows sports fans are a-ok with having more ad impressions than hairs on their head.
The Athletic’s business model was solely about avoiding ads for the entirety of its existence until it was purchased by The Times, and I would venture to guess it was a major selling point for a large portion of its subscribers before it was forced to include ads as a way to sustain profitability. And subscribers are probably “ok” with ads, but no one is jumping for joy because of them.
You can’t force listeners, readers, or viewers into thinking the way you want them to. That’s just simply not the way it works. It’s quite simple to think “People will like what I tell them to like,” but it’s much more difficult to accomplish.
Sports fans aren’t dumb. They’re cognizant that companies need to make money. It’s business, and they know that. But there’s a line of demarcation. There’s very much a “don’t spit on my cupcake and tell me it’s frosting” viewpoint, and “sports fans want ads” is a big frothy glob of phlegm.
As the Chief Commercial Officer, Tomich must do what is best for the company. But you can’t let yourself get so wrapped up in what is best for the company that you completely lose sight of who you’re serving, what their expectations are, and why they’re consuming your product in the first place.
Keep your finger on the pulse of your listeners. I’d argue go as far as keeping one foot in the listener pool at all times and doing your best to straddle the middle ground, but I’m realistic. It’s easier said than done.
But if you lose your grip on what your listeners, viewers, readers, or any consumer views as reality, you’ve committed one of the cardinal sins.
It’s one of the very few things — in my humble opinion — that you can not allow yourself to do as a programmer.
Baseball fans who listen to game broadcasts on the radio are among the most loyal and dedicated in sports, and a new study from Katz Media indicates those fans are also more engaged and have a higher household income than other MLB listeners or followers.
According to the study, listeners of play-by-play broadcasts have a higher household income and net worth than the average fan.
“MLB listeners are heavy hitters with deep pockets and high spending power,” Katz said via Inside Radio.
The study polled almost 12,000 baseball fans, and those who said they tend to listen to games on the radio are not only higher earners, but also they’re more likely to buy team merchandise, bet on baseball, play fantasy baseball and even attend games in person than the average fan.
Katz also noted that with how dedicated baseball radio listeners are, advertisers are more likely to spend to be a part of broadcasts.
“Not only does play-by-play connect advertisers with some of the most desirable consumers in the country, it links them to local teams, giving them the opportunity to have their brand names mentioned alongside a sports fan’s favorite brand: the home team.”
WFAN morning show Boomer & Gio held a live show for their audience in Jersey City over the weekend, and among the guests featured was New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas.
Douglas appeared as a surprise to the sold out crowd, and it didn’t take long for him to be pressed about the trade negotiations between the Jets and the Green Bay Packers in order to acquire future hall of fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The trade talks have been a nonstop topic of discussion in New York since Rodgers revealed on The Pat McAfee Show last month that he desired to be a Jet and that the Packers have been holding up the process.
But Douglas got the Jersey City crowd on their feet at the Boomer & Gio live show when he reassured the audience that Rodgers will be under center at MetLife Stadium come September.
“He’s gonna be here,” Douglas said.
Rodgers hasn’t spoke publicly since his appearance with McAfee, but he said after the season ended and having a change of heart about playing another season versus retiring, he knew his time in Green Bay had come to an end.
The addition of Rodgers would make the Jets one of the odds-on favorites to win the AFC East this year. The Jets haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010 when New York made consecutive AFC championship game appearances.
Where do the Golden State Warriors of the 2010s/early 2020s rank among the NBA dynasties? Former NBA on NBC play-by-play voice Bob Costas says they’re up there as one of the greatest, but not in the same echelon as the 90s Chicago Bulls.
In an appearance on Willard and Dibs on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco on Friday, Costas was asked about the parallels between the Bulls and Warriors. He said you can’t compare the two without also considering the other dynasties between them with the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers of the 2000s, but Golden State’s run is up there with the Michael Jordan-era Bulls.
“I think the Warriors come close to it,” Costas said. “But I think the Warriors are probably the closest to that Michael Jordan Bulls run. But there are differences which are not the Warriors’ fault.
Costas went on to say that Steph Curry is “one of the most compelling players to watch in the history of the NBA” and that he symbolizes everything Golden State in this era. But he said the reach of Jordan in the 90s to the American public is not the same as the reach that Curry and the Warriors have had some 30 years later.
“The Warriors run takes place during a period of time when the NBA is essentially – I’m not counting local television – a cable product,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with the presentation on cable. The studio show on TNT is the best studio show in the history of sports. Barkley and Shaq and Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson are terrific. And the games are well-called.”
“These games in the 21st century are less present in the general public imagination than they were in the 80s on CBS when it was Byrd and Magic and Dr. J,” Costas added.
Bob also went on to say that network TV at that time was the lifeblood of getting the NBA into the most homes possible.
“Those games were on NBC. We would show doubleheaders and sometimes tripleheaders on network television when the media landscape was much, much different,” he said. “And primetime games not just in the Finals, but in the early rounds of the playoffs on weeknights.”
“The Warriors do not have that platform on a national basis,” Costas continued. “In the Finals, yes, but even in the Finals, much of the country hasn’t followed them all the way through whereas that was the case with Jordan and the Bulls. Not just in any given season, but one season built upon another upon another. It was a decades or more-long epic story of Michael Jordan going back to his game-winning shot in 1982 for North Carolina.”
Bob also hit on the fact that the NBA of today has evolved so much since Michael Jordan won his sixth championship. He said the Warriors dynasty is just different and it’s hard to try to compare two different eras of basketball.
“It’s not fault of the Warriors or the Spurs or the early 2000s Lakers or whatever it might be,” Costas said. “There’s just something about Jordan and the Bulls that cannot be approached.”
