Home Blog Page 2178

Al Michaels: I Hope We Don’t Have to Flex Any Thursday Night Games

Derek Futterman
-
0

Last week, NFL owners approved flex scheduling for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football. The move gives the broadcast property the ability to flex up to two games between Weeks 13 and 17. NBC’s Sunday Night Football and ESPN’s Monday Night Football have the same privilege.

Throughout last season, many fans and media pundits recognized play-by-play announcer Al Michaels’ displeasure with aspects of the schedule. In fact, many of them applauded the league for its decision on social media in order to ensure Michaels receives better games to call. Michaels has gone on the record previously stating that he knows all the games will not be as thrilling as expected and that it is difficult to play on a Sunday-Thursday schedule more than once.

“Flex [scheduling] is fine,” Michaels told Barrett Sports Media, “but I’m hoping that the games as scheduled are good enough that we won’t have to flex.”

Now, teams will be able to play on Thursday nights up to two times per season, making some teams immediately ineligible for flex scheduling, but still potentially inconveniencing fans. John Mara of the New York Giants and Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers previously criticized an iteration of the proposal and were among the cohort of owners to continue to vote against it.

The league’s executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media, Hans Schroeder, said in a statement to Yahoo Sports that fans were used to the changing schedules on the other broadcast properties.

“We have Week 18 games, where all games are listed as ‘TBDs’ and could go any time on Saturday afternoon or Sunday,” Schroeder said. “And we have wild-card, divisional and playoff games that could get scheduled on short notice, so I don’t want fans to think we aren’t going to be sensitive to that and won’t do our best to communicate thoroughly and as early as we can.”

Amazon Prime Video and the NFL entered into a 11-year media rights agreement in March 2021 worth approximately $1 billion per year to the rights for Thursday night games. The OTT streaming service and other local channels accumulated an average of 9.58 million viewers over its 15-game package. The metric was down 41% from the previous year’s figure of 16.2 million it amassed over FOX, Amazon, NFL Network and other local channels, but attracted the lowest median viewer age (47) since 2013.

5 Media Sources You Can Count On To Deliver News, Not Misinformation

BNM Staff
-
0
5 Media Sources You Can Count On To Deliver News, Not Misinformation

The internet is a beautiful thing, except when it is not. At a tap of your finger it brings a world of information, or a firehouse of disinformation. Rabbit holes of conspiracy theories and unvetted “news” from every angle of the political, medical and economic spectrum. The internet is NOT to be trusted, and frankly the world needs to get off the web at least 22 of the 24 hours in a day. 

Gone are the days when trusted filters with long track records and editors with green-shaded visors poured over copy for sources and evidence. Today, we are bombarded with tweets, blogs, and aggregates written by anyone with a computer who claims “I do my own research”. 

So, as a public service I here now recommend the following list of 5 vetted, trusted sources of information and news which have systems in place to avoid misinformation, and when they make mistakes, retract and revise. Yes, the New York Times and many in the mainstream media made huge errors in the run up to the Iraq War, but they later admitted as such and chastised themselves.

This list will consume under 2 hours of your day and allow you to sound smart at dinner parties, pick a President, know the sports scores and go about your day.

1. Turn off cable news, unless there is a major breaking news; a new war, a school shooting, plane crash or otherwise. And then tune into CNN which has the world’s largest TV reporting staff, way ahead of any other domestic broadcast service. The rest of the time, CNN and the other major cable networks MSNBC and Fox are filled with comment and opinion. While that can be entertaining, it is not news and not necessary. My guilty pleasure is Rachel Maddow. 

2.  Watch one or more of the 3 evening network TV broadcasts and 60 Minutes on Sunday. Even watching all 3 nightly news programs takes less than an hour if you fast forward through the commercials. They are a quick 18 minutes of news, a summary of the top stories of the day reported with perspective and in most cases experienced journalists. They have seasoned editors who vet each story and best of all, there is no time for opinion. No commentators, just news. CBS is my favorite, NBC a close second. But that’s subjective, the most popular is my former place of employment for nearly 20 years, ABC. CBS has 2 excellent Washington political correspondents, Ed O’Keefe and Robert Costa, former newspaper reporters (Washington Post) with an emphasis on straight reporting, rather than looks and performance. NBC has Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O’Donnell and Peter Alexander, with years of experience. ABC has Jon Karl, Martha Raddatz, Pierre Thomas and the up and coming Mary Bruce, all of whom know their stuff. 

But perhaps most important, the process at the networks makes for few mistakes. Each script is reviewed by “the rim”. That consists of a senior producer, the executive producer and in most cases, the anchor/managing editor. Opinion, error and bias are flushed out. As are grammatical mistakes. 

3.  Respected national newspapers: The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Reading the top stories in these papers takes more time, but each has more actual reporters than television, radio or blogs. Their reporting is straight and dependable. And in an hour over morning coffee you will be educated and filled with data and information that will be useful when you encounter the hate filled disinformation flooding your direction each day on the internet. 

4.  If you have time, move to the second tier of newspapers on line. More regional in their coverage….the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution or your local paper. 

5.  The Daily podcast. An arm of the New York Times, this half hour or so audio deep dive into one subject of importance makes one smarter. Each weekday morning the hosts who are decidedly not radio veterans with big voices or rapid fire cadences, interview a Times reporter about a story on their beat. From the Supreme Court to Congress to the White House and beyond. Another guilty pleasure: Countdown with Keith Olbermann, decidedly from the left, but smart and a great writer/performer. 

That’s it. We would all be better served by limiting our intake. Choose a few of the myriad of would be news organizations. Make your own list, chosen after they have earned your trust. I know I have left out the scores of narrowly focused internet outlets from Politico to the Daily Beast. Mostly because they are insider type publications or in many cases aggregators which merely take from other news sources and re-publish to the internet. I’m not saying don’t read them but they can be done without for the general reader. 

Also save your precious time by avoiding the tabloids, from the NY Post to the Daily Mail. And agenda publications like Breitbart and Daily Caller. They are not dependable, and they are filled with conspiracies and disinformation. 

Use Facebook, TikTok and Instagram to share memories and photos, not conspiracies. And Twitter to alert you to ongoing events or breaking news. But switch to your trusted sources after the alert. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, my feed has become a deluge of hate and right wing drama. 

It’s hard to look away, but we would all be better off if we did. 

Jeff Van Gundy: ABC/ESPN Have Different Job Than Teams in NBA Finals

Derek Futterman
-
0

ABC and The Walt Disney Company will present the NBA Finals for the 21st consecutive season beginning on Thursday, June 1 at 8:30 p.m. EST. After a thrilling Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night, the matchup has been established as the Miami Heat taking on the Denver Nuggets. This year’s presentation of the NBA Finals will be the first time all weeknight games will begin at 8:30 p.m. EST, and games on Sundays will commence at 8 p.m. EST. The broadcast team of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson will be at the helm bringing fans all the action.

Breen will be calling his 18th NBA Finals, which is the most ever for a play-by-play commentator, and should the series reach a fifth game, will reach 100 NBA Finals games called for his career. Van Gundy and Jackson have been on the call for 17 and 15 years, respectively, and have had the chance to witness history in the making. They know none of it would be possible without the team ESPN has amassed, but are surprised it has lasted this long because of their experience coaching.

Over the years, both Van Gundy and Jackson have reportedly considered and/or interviewed for a variety of head coaching jobs, and each believe the other should be afforded another chance on the sidelines.

Van Gundy most recently served as head coach of the Houston Rockets and Yao Ming, but was relieved of his duties after a Game 7 loss in 2007. Jackson, who played under Van Gundy on the New York Knicks, guided Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors to establish a culture and foundation built on winning championships. He was let go the season before the team captured a championship under head coach Steve Kerr in 2015.

“To be able to do it with friends makes it very rewarding,” Van Gundy said of calling the NBA Finals. “With all the upheaval that we have at times in TV [and] management, to work with Tim [Corrigan] and Mike, Mark and Lisa [Salters] really makes it like it’s home.”

Both Van Gundy and Jackson are honored to share the broadcast desk with Breen, who has had his fair share of memorable moments throughout his commentary career. He was recently recognized as the winner of the Sports Emmy award for “Outstanding Personality/Play-by-Play” for the second consecutive year, maintaining duties calling NBA games nationally for ESPN/ABC and locally on MSG Networks.

“Time and time again, to hit the right note and hit the right key at the right time is like watching Michael Jordan or [having] Magic Johnson or Nikola Jokić sitting alongside us,” Jackson said. “It’s something that I don’t take for granted.”

The NBA Finals matchup between the Heat and Nuggets presents an interesting quandary towards sports media pundits since both teams were featured one time throughout the regular season on NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC. When asked if the league has a responsibility to promulgate teams in smaller markets en masse, Van Gundy and Jackson both concurred that it is simply not the case.

“They’re going to do what they think is in their best interest to capture the audience,” Van Gundy said of the NBA. “I don’t think it’s on ESPN/ABC or the league; I think their job is different than it is for the teams. The teams are trying to become as good as they can to win championships, and the broadcast team angle is to try and find games and matchups that attract the most customers and consumers.”

Van Gundy pointed back to how the Warriors were hardly featured in the national spotlight prior to the rise of Curry, and now are a frequent part of the schedule and secure multiple showcase matchups. Next season, he expects the San Antonio Spurs to be featured often because of the organization’s expected selection of international sensation Victor Wembanyama with the first overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft.

“Players, teams and organizations benefit from the money made and the money spent,” Van Gundy stated. “You can’t take the money and complain about the coverage too.”

As he has expressed in the past, Van Gundy reiterated his belief in condensing NBA games into a two-hour window in order to be more conducive to viewership. He would also consider eliminating free throws until the final four minutes of the game, instead automatically rewarding players for points they would have received on an attempted basket.

Van Gundy also made mention of the length of replay reviews, some of which turn out to be meaningless, and would therefore eliminate them unless it is on pivotal shots at the end of quarters or differences between two-point and three-point baskets. Most notably though, he hopes the league cuts halftime to five minutes, conveying how personnel referring to making “halftime adjustments” is trite and not necessary for the future of the game.

“I do agree with cutting halftime shorter and I believe [that] the replays can be a lot shorter and quicker with decisions made upon reviews,” Jackson replied. “Those two things [in] shortening the game would be two things that I would definitely cosign.”

As the start of the NBA Finals draws closer, media professionals will keep a close eye on the ratings across television and streaming platforms. ESPN reported its most-watched playoffs on its platforms over the last 11 years, averaging approximately 5.8 million viewers through the conclusion of the Western Conference Finals. Last year’s NBA Finals featured the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics, two of the most fiscally valuable and popular teams in the league, and resulted in a 22% increase in viewership from the year prior. This year, the Nuggets and Heat represent a deviation from the norm in that both teams originate from media markets outside of Nielsen Media Research’s top 10 in terms of total size. While devoted basketball fans will surely be intrigued by the superstar matchup of Nikola Jokić against Jimmy Butler, neither analyst is sure it will end up breaking viewership records.

“I hope it’s a resounding success and a celebration of two teams who did a tremendous job navigating their playoff runs,” Van Gundy said. “Even if it’s not the most highly-rated Finals – and I don’t know if it will be or won’t be – but even if it’s not, I think it still speaks well about the league.”

“There’s tremendous stories throughout this Finals, and I echo what Jeff talked about,” Jackson added. “Just give it a chance, and you will be absolutely floored at the product that’s on the floor.”

Each broadcast of the NBA Finals on ABC will be preceded by NBA Countdown featuring Mike Greenberg, Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Jalen Rose and Adrian Wojnarowski. Moreover, Thursday’s Game 1 will be accompanied by the NBA in Stephen A’s World alternate presentation featuring Smith and a guest list to be announced on game day.

Michael Smerconish Examines The Decline of Newspapers

BNM Staff
-
0
Michael Smerconish Examines The Decline of Newspapers

Given the rise and acceptance of online media, printed newspapers have become less important in day to day life. Prior information reported by Pew Research says that since 2004, weekday newspaper circulation in the United States has plummeted by 57%. Additionally, newsroom employees in the newspaper industry have dropped by 51% between 2008-2019.

On today’s edition of The Michael Smerconish Show, the death of newspapers was a focus of conversation. The longtime radio and television broadcaster, author, and newspaper columnist expressed sadness after learning a prominent newsstand in Philadelphia had decided to stop selling newspapers. The decision was made due to slumping sales and the news industry’s challenges brought on by the digital age.

“Apart from me feeling nostalgic for the ink rubbing off on my fingers as I’m on a train to Washington, what’s really going on here is that those papers are often the glue that hold together communities,” explained Smerconish. “If nobody is at the school board then you get some of the shenanigans that are happening at school boards across the country.”

Smerconish shared information reported by the Associated Press in 2022 which claimed that newspapers were dying at the rate of two per week. The print industry had six thousand three hundred seventy seven active newspapers in May of 2022, down from eight thousand eight hundred ninety one in 2005. That represents a drop of two thousand five hundred and fourteen over the period of seventeen years.

If those facts weren’t enough to depress you if you’re an advocate for newspapers remaining alive, here’s another. A total of three hundred sixty newspapers have been shut down since the pandemic took place in 2020.

iHeartMedia Tells Staff Not to Use External AI Programs

BSM Staff
-
0

Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic as more people become familiar and play around with the capabilities of programs like ChatGPT. If you work with iHeartMedia though, you better not be doing that on company time.

AllAccess.com obtained a memo from iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman and President/COO/CFO Rich Bressler that explicitly forbids employees from using ChatGPT “without explicit direction from your team lead.”

In the memo, Pittman and Bressler write that the company is developing its own AI solutions. 

“We want to be smart about how we implement these tools to protect ourselves, our partners, our company’s information and our user data,” the memo reads. “For example, if you’re uploading iHEART information to an AI platform (like ChatGPT), it will effectively train that AI so that anyone — even our competitors — can use it, including all our competitive, proprietary information.”  

The memo also states that certain segments of the company are already using AI “with great results.” 

While there is no elaboration regarding the company’s further plans for AI and how it may effect programming staff, Pittman and Bressler do write that they are “excited about expanding that to make everyone’s work faster and more interesting, and allow us all to make the best use of our time by freeing us from our more mundane and rote tasks.”

Max Kellerman: I am ‘100%’ a Boston Hater

BSM Staff
-
0

There was a time when the reaction Max Kellerman had on Tuesday to the Miami Heat winning the Eastern Conference Finals would not have been allowed on any ESPN platform. The network used to require its talent play things down the middle and not acknowledge their own fandom.

Fast forward to 2023, and things have changed. What makes these personalities fans is highly valued by the network, and that is why Tuesday morning, ESPN Radio’s morning show could revel in the results of the previous night’s game.

“Yesterday was a great day in the life of a Boston hater,” Kellerman said. “Which is me one hundred percent. One hundred percent I root against the Boston teams as a New Yorker.”

Max Kellerman is outspoken about his love for the Knicks and Yankees. Seeing another Boston team complete a comeback after being down in a league championship series 0-3 would not have been bearable. 

“Spoken like a true Yankees and Giants fan,” his Keyshawn, JWill and Max co-host Jay Williams said with a smile on his face.

Kellerman wasn’t done though. He called watching Bostonians walk away dejected after getting their hopes so high “so pleasurable to watch.”

“The fact that this thing got to a Game 7 at Boston, no one’s ever done it. They’re going to host the game. Here it comes! They cut the game to single digits. Here it comes! Ooooooh, it’s so good! It’s so good.”

Plenty of ESPN personalities have let their fandom out in recent years. Mina Kimes is so associated with her love of the Seattle Seahawks that her colleagues took to social media to check on her well-being when the team traded Russell Wilson last season. Scott Van Pelt has always celebrated his Maryland Terrapins. Even hate has a place on the network, as Stephen A. Smith regularly makes time to mock the Dallas Cowboys.

Jerry Reinsdorf Acquires Stadium Controlling Stake from Sinclair

BSM Staff
-
0
Jerry Reinsdorf Acquires Stadium Controlling Stake from Sinclair

Jerry Reinsdorf helped launch Stadium in 2017. Now he is in charge again after his Silver Chalice Media acquired a controlling stake in the company in a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Both Silver Chalice and Sinclair have avoided public comments on the matter.

Sinclair is dealing with the fallout from its Diamond Sports Group filing for bankruptcy. It is continuing its reorganizing efforts to keep the Bally Sports regional networks afloat.

Stadium offers live sports, mostly from college conferences. It also offers studio programming and highlight shows. Programing features several well-known analysts including Shams Charania.

The network, which originates from the United Center in Chicago, is available on digital, cable and over-the-air platforms. It even provides content to some Sinclair stations and Bally Sports networks.

Reinsdorf has explored launching his own regional sports network at various points in the past. The deals between NBC Sports Chicago and the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox are set to expire in October of next year. Those two factors cannot be ignored as the teams’ owner acquires control of Stadium.

Dan Bongino Celebrates Two Years on the Radio with Westwood One

BNM Staff
-
0

Dan Bongino recently celebrated two years on the radio with Westwood One. The network offered a Sunday special of Bongino’s program, highlighting some of the top moments from the past week.

During the sixty minute special, Bongino welcomed former president Donald Trump for a 10-minute chat about political issues. After the Trump interview and an epic rant by Bongino on an issue raised by a listener, a conversation with James Lindsay about cultural Marxism aired.

The program wrapped up with a discussion between Bongino and Westwood One and Fox News host Mark Levin. Bongino credited Levin for taking a shot on him by allowing him to fill in on his national radio show when he had very little experience.

“Maybe I took a shot but you were running for office, and it was obvious to me that you were a few steps above,” said Levin. “You were a cop, secret service, studied philosophy, and I would listen to you talk, and in radio or TV, you either have it or you don’t, and you had it.”

After complimenting him for his loyalty, Levin praised Bongino for his show‘s success, and for his ability to connect with the audience.

“The audience comes first, everything else comes second,” explained Levin. “The company that we work for is wonderful but you can’t interfere with us and our audience. The audience is key, that’s what Rush taught me. They’ll stick with you if you stick with them. Don’t underestimate their intelligence.”

The conversation ended with Bongino and Levin talking about the issues surrounding AM radio. Both agreed that it’s a political issue that has little to do with the frequency where content is being offered. The two men believe it’s a case of corporate executives trying to reduce choice, something that both hosts vehemently reject.

Sad Bill Simmons Photo Inspires Social Media Jokes From Sports Media

BSM Staff
-
0

After an exciting three-game win streak to draw the Eastern Conference Finals even at three games a piece, the Boston Celtics fell short of a full reversal of fortune. The team was beaten soundly Monday night by the Miami Heat in Game 7, sending Jimmy Butler and company to the NBA Finals.

While plenty of Bostonians and Celtics fans mourned the loss, one sports media star became the focal point. A photo of a stunned Bill Simmons went viral as the game slipped further and further out of the Celtics’ reach.

Fans had a field day mocking one of the team’s most vocal celebrity fans. They were not alone. A number of Bill Simmons’s sports media colleagues joined in as well.

The Twitter account @ArtButSports creates content by comparing sports photos to famous works of art. Simmons’s picture was put next to Study Head of an Old Man from the 17th century.

The photo and tweets could not be avoided. They were all over social media and eventually elicited a reaction from Simmons himself, who seemed to take it in good stride.

Dan Le Batard: I Didn’t Know This Version of Mina Kimes

BSM Staff
-
0
Dan Le Batard: I Didn’t Know This Version of Mina Kimes

The new episode of South Beach Sessions starts with real sentimentality, as Dan Le Batard opens his conversation with Mina Kimes by telling her how proud he is of her rise to stardom.

Le Batard noted that when Kimes first started showing up on TV and radio at ESPN, he could see her stress. While he framed it as a standard she held herself to, it seemed clear she felt pressure to be right about every point she made. He noted that, as a man on ESPN, he enjoyed a benefit of the doubt and a level of trust from the audience that Mina Kimes didn’t.

Kimes has been public in the past about the abuse she puts up with on social media. She said it wasn’t as simple fear of racism or sexism that motivated her in that way.

“Certainly, some of it is being an outsider and looking different. That arouses all kinds of feelings in people, not only negative ones,” she said. “Some of it, also, when you’re new, they’re more likely to judge negatively. And that was true, but also, I think, Dan,  in retrospect, I could have gotten stuff wrong and I would have been fine. I could have made more mistakes and been looser earlier in my career and I would have survived.”

She compared the mindset of her early days on television to the way she feels now on the set of NFL Live. She describes the environment as one of true comfort. That has less to do with Laura Rutledge, Marcus Spears, and Dan Orlovsky and more to do with her approach to TV.

“It’s really fun. It’s really easy, and even if it’s not, great. It’s another day and it’s over,” she said.

Dan Le Batard noted that what Mina Kimes has now in her career “is true joy.” While he always enjoyed working with her on The Dan Le Batard Show and Highly Questionable, it is not something he always saw.

“I would say that Mina being that kind of comfortable with the experience was not something that was on Highly Questionable until the end.”

Le Batard has brought several of his favorite Highly Questionable colleagues with him to Meadowlark Media. He has said publicly that he hopes Kimes is next. In February, he tweeted at Bill Simmons that The Ringer will have to get in line behind his company to sign Kimes.

1...2,1772,1782,179...2,873Page 2,178 of 2,873