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106.7 The Fan Extends Deal to Remain Washington Nationals Flagship

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106.7 The Fan has announced it has reached a multi-year extension with the Washington Nationals to remain as the MLB club’s radio flagship.

Nationals fans will continue to hear game broadcasts on the station, and those living inside the club’s broadcast territory will be able to stream the radio broadcasts on the Audacy app.

“Opening Day is finally here and we’re thrilled to celebrate the return of baseball season by extending our partnership with the Washington Nationals,” said Audacy Washington D.C. Senior Vice President and Market Manager Ivy Savoy-Smith. “We’re looking forward to continuing to serve as the home for everything Nats for the foreseeable future and give the team’s fans a front row seat to the action on the field and top storylines throughout the year.”

The Nationals have called 106.7 The Fan home since the 2011 season. Beyond game broadcasts, the station will welcome Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo to The Sports Junkies every Wednesday at 9:00 AM throughout the season. The station will also air segments titled “Nats Insider”, hosted by broadcaster Dan Kolko that feature player interviews and features. Those segments will air all along the Nationals Radio Network.

“We couldn’t be happier to partner with Audacy in bringing Nationals fans even more of the interviews and exclusive access they love,” said Lerner Sports Group COO Alan H. Gottlieb. “From in-depth interviews with execs and top players, to off-the-field profiles and more Spanish and English bilingual content than ever before, Audacy offers a comprehensive look at our ball club from all angles.”

Todd Markiewicz Departing 97.1 The Fan

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Longtime 97.1 The Fan Vice President and Market Manager Todd Markiewicz has announced he is leaving the sports radio station.

Markiewicz has been named the President of the 1870 Society, a Name, Image, and Likeness collective working with Ohio State athletics and Learfield to devise NIL strategy, fundraising, and logistics.

In an internal memo, Tegna Columbus President and General Manager John Cardenas credited Markiewicz for helping to establish the brand as “the powerhouse sports station in the country. He has left an indelible mark in the Columbus market and within the sports/talk radio world by building The Fan with excellent programming, dominant ratings, and overall market share.”

Markiewicz joined the station in 2010. Under his leadership, 97.1 The Fan has routinely ranked as the highest-rated station in the Columbus market.

His final day with the station will be Friday, May 26th.

Gregg Giannotti: Doug Gottlieb Is ‘Using My Name’ To Deflect Blame From Himself

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Earlier this week, Doug Gottlieb revisited a gaffe he made on the set of CBS’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show a decade ago. On a set that included Greg Anthony, Charles Barkley, Greg Gumbel, and Kenny Smith, Gottlieb said that he was there to “provide the white man’s perspective.” Gottlieb owned that it was a poor attempt at humor, but Gregg Giannotti takes issue with the FOX Sports Radio host’s version of events that lead up to the televised misstep.

“If you’ll allow me, I’d like to clear my name for a little bit,” Giannotti said on Wednesday’s edition of Boomer and Gio on WFAN.

Gottlieb contends that he tried out a better rehearsed version of the joke in a number of other places before going on television and it was well-received. No one told him it was a bad idea or that if delivered in the wrong way, it could create problems. One of those places, according to Gottlieb, was CBS Sports Radio’s Gio & Jones.

One problem, the show did not exist in 2013.

“Here are my issues with this,” Gregg Giannotti said. “One, I wasn’t there. This was 2013 before the incident. I wasn’t even there. Two, he is placing blame now on whoever he told this to to stop him and say ‘Don’t do this on the set!’”.

Boomer Esiason, Giannotti’s WFAN partner said he can see how Gottlieb overlooked the reality that this joke would not land well with a general audience. Former athletes are used to joking with one another like this in locker rooms. Plus, being on a set with Barkley and Smith may have made Gottlieb think that he would get a little more leeway.

Esiason added that he can see how Gottlieb would assume Gio was there. The show on CBS Sports Radio that he was likely on was MoJo, which featured Brian Jones and Chris Moore. It became Gio & Jones in 2015 when Giannotti came to CBS Sports Radio from 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, where worked in 2013. More surprising to Esiason was the Gottlieb wanted to talk about this a decade after it happened.

“He’s still hanging on this,” Giannotti answered. “The issue I have is that he is using me, saying that he tried it out on me and that I found it hilarious but I should have stopped him from saying the joke when I wasn’t even part of this. I was talking about the god damn Penguins!”

Sean McManus: LIV Golfers Won’t Get Different Treatment During The Masters

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CBS Sports is preparing for coverage of its 68th consecutive year of The Masters, but the 2023 event could prove to be unlike any before it, and CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus is cognizant of the situation.

After several former Masters champions departed the PGA Tour for the upstart LIV Golf, many pondered what that meant for the sport’s major championships. The Masters decided to continue to allow the golfers who are now playing exclusively with the Saudi-backed league to compete for the green jacket. McManus shared that CBS will continue the showcase the golfers as it always has.

“We’re not gonna cover up or hide anything,” McManus said, as reported by Golf Digest. “As I’ve said so often, our job is to cover the golf tournament. We’re not gonna show any different treatment for the golfers who have played on the LIV tour than we do the other golfers. And if there’s a pertinent point or something that we need to, or we feel that we should bring up in our coverage on Saturday and Sunday, or on our other coverage throughout the week, you know, we’re not gonna put our heads in the sand.

“Having said that, unless it really affects the story that’s taking place on the golf course, we’re not gonna go out of our way to cover it. I’m not sure there’s anything that we could add to the story as it already exists. We’ll cover it as, as is suitable.”

Audacy Promotes Jenna Weiss-Berman to Executive Vice President of Podcasts

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Audacy has announced a promotion for Jenna Weiss-Berman to Executive Vice President of Podcasts for the company.

With the new role and title, Weiss-Berman will report to Auadacy’s Chief Digital Officer and President of Podcast and Streaming J.D. Crowley.

Weiss-Berman will oversee Audacy’s podcast network and studios, which include Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios. She’ll also work with the company’s sports and news programming leaders to develop and grow original podcasts for the company’s 2400Sports studios and the 28 local newsrooms across the nation.

“I’m excited to help bring together the world-class podcast businesses that already exist under the Audacy umbrella,” said Weiss-Berman. “We have a real opportunity to build a cohesive podcast brand that is greater than the sum of its parts, and I look forward to all that’s ahead.”

Previously, Weiss-Berman was the head of audio for BuzzFeed before joining Pineapple Street Studios, which Audacy acquired in 2019.

“As we commit to accelerating our digital growth and enhancing performance, we’re thrilled to expand Jenna’s role to further unify and streamline our content and business efforts across our leading podcast portfolio, enabling even more rapid development of new and original IP and better leveraging our talent across the entire Audacy portfolio,” said Crowley.

“Jenna’s strong leadership and deep industry relationships will propel us forward on our mission to be a leading partner of audio creators while super-serving listeners of all backgrounds and interests and enabling our sales teams to better serve our customers and partners with unique and compelling podcast opportunities.”

Weiss-Bermann steps into the role vacated by the departure of Chris Corcoran.

“His leadership, passion, and dedication are the creative force that successfully launched and built Cadence13 into the business that it is today, while also helping to position Audacy as a leading podcast company,” Crowley said of Corcoran. “I wish him continued success in his future endeavors.”

NFL Owners Not Voting on Flex Scheduling For Thursday Night Football

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Amazon will have to wait for flex scheduling. NFL owners decided to table a proposal that would allow the league to create more compelling matchups for Thursday Night Football later in the season.

That doesn’t mean flex scheduling won’t be a reality on Thursday nights this season. The owners have simply decided to wait until May to make their decision.

Earlier this week, Peter King of NBC Sports reported that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is pushing the idea. Coaches have been outspoken about how much they dislike it, complaining about managing injuries and the competitive disadvantage that would come with finding out you suddenly have a shorter week of preparation than expected. According to King, Goodell is trying to make Amazon happy after the first season of Thursday Night Football failed to deliver projected audience numbers for Prime Video.

League owners did take a step they hope will lead to fewer games between losing teams. Last season, teams could only be scheduled once for a Thursday night game. The owners decided to bump that limit up to twice per season.

Goodell defended the proposal against accusations that the league is prioritizing revenue over player safety. 

“We always look at the data with respect to injuries,” he told the media gathered at the league meetings. “That is what drove our decisions throughout the first 12 or so years of Thursday Night Football and how it’s evolved. I think the data was very clear: it doesn’t show a higher injury rate. But we recognize shorter weeks. We went through this with COVID, too.”

When the idea of flex scheduling is revisited in May, it will require the support of 24 team owners in order to become a reality. 

Joe Rogan: Media Leaves Out ‘What It Doesn’t Want Front and Center’

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Podcast host Joe Rogan has grown weary of the news media’s coverage of certain events and shared his belief that it only cares about presenting one side of arguments.

During The Joe Rogan Experience, the eponymous host shared his displeasure with the way current events are reported on.

“The media has lost its hold over the narrative,” said Rogan. “Now, the media conveniently leaves out anything that it doesn’t want to be at the front and center — in terms of things that people concentrate on and talk about.”

He then discussed stories he believes the general public has an interest in, but aren’t being covered, pointing to large protests in France over potential reforms in social security and also protests in Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans for changes to the nation’s judicial system.

“And you’re not hearing a f***ing peep about it, you know?” Rogan said. “All it is is ‘January 6th. January 6th. Did you see what they did? — Trump is coming back, but January 6th looms large.’”

“How about the fact that the guy who’s the president right now can’t form a f***ing sentence? He makes up words and stumbles through things and no one says a god damn thing about it,” Rogan concluded.

Kara Swisher on New York Times Exit: ‘I Wanted to Make What I Wanted to Make’

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Podcast host Kara Swisher exited The New York Times in June of last year to launch her new podcast On with Kara Swisher, in conjunction with Vox Media.

In a wide-ranging feature story with Vanity Fair, Swisher claims she simply grew restless with the bureaucracy of the Times.

“I just wanted to make what I wanted to make, and I didn’t wanna ask 86 people,” Swisher said. “They’re all really smart. They just aren’t me.”

According to the story from Vanity Fair, six staffers exited in a year or less after working on Swisher’s show with the Times, with one former employee saying “It was totally known across the Opinion audio department that this was a nightmare show to work for.”

Swisher defended herself by arguing that she wasn’t a manager of the show, simply the host, but added that she could understand that the pace she wanted to work at might not correlate with others.

“When something happens, I want to do it right away…they just didn’t wanna move that way. I totally get it, I completely respect it, but I just didn’t want to do the slower show. I wanted to do the fast-burn show. And so it was a real struggle.”

The podcast countered, however, by stating that she believed the Times failed “to hire the right people in the first place”.

“I didn’t hire them. I didn’t fire them. I didn’t do their reviews or anything like that. I wasn’t involved in anybody’s review, unfortunately,” Swisher said.

Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity Among Fox News Hosts Listed As Potential Witnesses in Dominion Suit

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As preparations begin for the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News, each side has prepared a list of potential witnesses to testify at the trial.

Dominion Voting Systems has accused Fox of purposefully airing claims about the 2020 presidential election that it knew to be false, while the network has countered by accusing the election machine company of using the media to create narratives surrounding the case that are untrue.

The cable news outlet listed 35 potential witnesses to the court this week. Concurrently, Dominion submitted 54 names, including Fox Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch, and his son, CEO Lachlan Murdoch, as well as Fox Corp. board of directors member Paul Ryan.

Former Fox News personnel, including Bill Sammon and Chris Stirewalt — who both exited the company after the 2020 election — were listed as potential witnesses by Dominion, as was recently fired producer Abby Grossberg. Grossberg sued the network after alleging that Fox News intimidated her to lie during her deposition. She was subsequently fired last week. Fox News contends Grossberg’s characterization is inaccurate.

Hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Bret Baier, Laura Ingraham, and Maria Bartiromo were also listed by Dominion as witnesses they’d like to see testify under oath.

Fox News was open to putting some of the hosts on the stand, as well as CEO Suzanne Scott and company President Jay Wallace.

A network spokesperson called the list presented by Dominion “needlessly expansive”, adding that it is “yet another attempt to generate headlines and distract from the many shortcomings of its case. Ultimately, this case is about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute right to cover the news.”

The trial is currently scheduled to begin on Monday, April 17th.

Eric Shanks Got Approval From Alex Rodriguez Before FOX Hired Derek Jeter

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Derek Jeter is going to work a very limited schedule for FOX next season. Still, before he came on board, FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks wanted the support of Jeter’s former Yankees teammate and on-again/off-again friend Alex Rodriguez.

Andrew Marchand is reporting that Shanks reached out to ARod personally. Rodriguez gave his approval to the network.

“Why wouldn’t we reach out?” a Fox Sports spokesman said when The New York Post reached out for confirmation.

While Derek Jeter is now part of the FOX family, fans shouldn’t expect to see him every time baseball is on the network. He is only scheduled to work “marquee events”. This season, those include the London series, the All-Star Game, and the World Series.

He will be at the desk alongside Kevin Burkhardt, David Ortíz, and Rodriguez.