After Jason Benetti signed a deal to join FOX Sports, many wondered who would be the play-by-play broadcaster for Peacock’s MLB Sunday Leadoff package. We now know that Brendan Burke has filled those shoes.
Burke — the current television voice of the New York Islanders — has network experience, working NHL broadcasts for both NBC and TNT. His work with TNT will cause him to miss the first several broadcasts of the streaming platform’s package, as the NHL Playoffs commence.
Chicago Blackhawks television voice Chris Vosters is expected to work the MLB games on Peacock while Burke is handling his NHL Playoffs duties for TNT, according to The New York Post.
The 38-year-old has also worked in a fill-in role for John Sterling on New York Yankees radio broadcasts. It is reported that both the franchise and WFAN are high on him as a potential replacement for Sterling, but Burke has previously stated that “At this point, I’m a hockey guy“.
The report also claims NBC had “significant talks” with Baltimore Orioles television play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown for the role, but did not reach an agreement.
In the debut season of the package, Peacock paired Benetti with analysts from the participating teams, and that arrangement is expected to continue for 2023.
Hal Jay, the host of the “WBAP’s Morning News,” is set to return to the Dallas airwaves on Monday, April 3rd, after a nearly two-month absence following a successful heart transplant.
Hal Jay was missing from the “WBAP Morning News” lineup after the holiday season. On January 16th, he explained to his audience that he had experienced two ventricular tachycardia events within a week. Medical professionals at Baylor Scott & White Hospital had informed him that his heart was irreparable.
After being added to a transplant list, doctors said the estimated waiting period for a new heart would be 2 to 6 months. However, Jay didn’t have to wait that long. On February 3rd, a heart had become available, and he would undergo surgery that night.
Jay underwent the transplant surgery the following day, and after several hours of recovery, he returned to his hospital room. Remarkably, just nine days after the surgery, Hal was discharged from the hospital and could drive back home to Fort Worth with his wife, Ann.
WBAP had been consistently airing promos with Hal Jay’s voice, and on March 29th, listeners finally received the news they had eagerly awaited. Hal made a triumphant announcement declaring his return to the airwaves with the exciting proclamation, “I’m coming back!”
Hal Jay has been a vital member of the WBAP team since 1981 and is currently in his 42nd year with the station.
Syndicated radio host Dana Loesch is discussing an incident in the White House press briefing room involving a reporter claiming press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre demonized him. Simon Ateba, a White House reporter for Today News Africa, has frequently challenged Jean-Pierre.
During a recent special visit to the press room by the cast of Ted Lasso, Ateba once again demanded to be allowed to ask a question. He accused Jean-Pierre of mocking the First Amendment, which several other reporters defended. Other reporters told Ateba to mind his manners in the press room.
Loesch remarked that one aspect of the clip that caught her attention was the conduct of the other journalists. She questioned the free press’s loyalty and said reporters should support their fellow journalists by asking questions.
“He (Ateba) is there because he has serious questions to ask,” Loesch said. “He wanted to ask his questions; he didn’t want to sit there for a press tour of Ted Lasso, which is what they were doing it for. I was shocked by that because he is rarely called on.”
Loesch shared disappointment at the negative response she witnessed in the media towards Ateba’s attempt to ask a question.
“From programs like The View, I expect it, but from other reporters who were there, what blows my mind, if that had been a Republican administration when people like Jim Acosta would yell questions, he was defended.”
Ateba joined Loesch to delve into the intricacies of the press briefing room at the White House. According to him, CNN analyst, Brian Karem, was among those who criticized him.
“He’s very disrespectful; he was removed from the White House because he became violent in the Rose Garden,” said Ateba. “He was fired in 1992 by a TV station because he was rude to President Bush. He confronted President Trump’s press secretary and was warned many times.”
“Simon Ateba is one of the few real journalists left in the world,” added Loesch.
Studying to attain a law degree is an intensive task that requires commitment and dedication, along with having an erudite understanding of different types of law and standards of litigation. Completing law school is usually laborious for most students since the occupation involves meticulous preparation and the application of knowledge into real-world situations pertaining to intricacies such as burdens of proof, depositions and arraignments. Of course, the job of an attorney is to represent a plaintiff or a defendant and advocate on their behalf, and while much of their time is spent in offices and courtrooms, some have given broadcasting a try. It is fair to consider Jay Bilas a part of that group, specializing in commercial litigation and all things college hoops.
History scholars are surely cognizant of a maxim authored by former Pennsylvania governor and American pantologist Benjamin Franklin which states, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” It is evident that preparedness is paradigmatic in effectuating a greater chance at success, mitigating ostensible roadblocks before they occur. Bilas, through his law training, was taught methods of preparing for cases and today is of counsel at the law firm Moore & Van Allen.
Working as a lawyer, however, is not Bilas’ full-time job. That would be working for ESPN as one of its top college basketball commentators, providing analysis of players and teams both on studio programming and courtside for select matchups. His journey in sports media, unconventional in and of itself, kept him around the game he has fervently scrutinized in a variety of roles. It has afforded him a chance to disseminate his esoteric perspectives on the sport based on his previous experience – voluminous and stratified – along with his means of interpretation.
“I’ve learned about the game since I’ve played it and since I was an assistant coach,” Bilas said. “That’s been one of the great things about this job. If I had stayed as an assistant and had [my] own program at some point, I probably wouldn’t know as much about the game as I feel like I know now.”
Indeed, Bilas has been present around several accomplished college basketball programs through his role at ESPN, something that would not have been possible had he remained a member of the Duke University Blue Devils men’s basketball team’s coaching staff.
Led by head coach Mike Krzyzewski for 42 seasons, the team won five national championships and qualified for the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament 36 times, posting an overall record of 97-30 and 13 appearances in the Final Four. Krzyzewski, an undisputed savant of the game, recruited Bilas to play for the team as one of the top high school basketball prospects in the country.
Before Bilas considered institutions in which to matriculate, he participated in an interview with a local media outlet where he expressed an interest in broadcasting after playing basketball. In his youth, his mother encouraged him to try a variety of different activities, including various debate courses and competing in ballroom dancing, shaping him into a multifaceted, avant-garde recruit with recognizance in many different subject matters.
Interested basketball programs took notice and made sure that they introduced Bilas to executives in their communication departments during his visits, giving him a more comprehensive understanding of interacting with the media. During his visit to Duke University, Krzyzewski introduced Bilas to Chuck Howard, an 11-time Emmy-winning producer with ABC Sports and pioneer in sports broadcasting.
In the end, Bilas had a decision to make between playing for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes; the Syracuse University Orange; the University of Kansas Jayhawks; or the Duke University Blue Devils. Shortly thereafter, he found himself packing his bags to travel from his hometown of Los Angeles to Durham, N.C. and immersing himself in its system and the shrewd intellect of Krzyzewski.
On top of that, his conversation with Howard led to Bilas landing a job with ABC Sports during the summers as a runner where he assisted in the production of signature events. Some of these spectacles included the 1983 PGA Championship, the 1984 Summer Olympics (held in Los Angeles) and Monday Night Baseball broadcasts featuring premier voices of “America’s Pastime.”
“It just kind of got me interested in it,” Bilas said, “and I just sort of pursued it, I guess, from there…. “I think [that for] anybody who gets into this kind of thing, you’re always thinking, ‘Well, can I do this? Is this something I should do?’ Chuck was very positive all the time.”
Bilas was a four-year starter under Krzyzewski and faced off against difficult opponents, most notably the University of North Carolina Tar Heels featuring a dynamic guard by the name of Michael Jordan. After winning the NCAA Division I men’s basketball national championship in 1982, “His Airness” proceeded to win six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and is referred to by many basketball pundits as the greatest player of all time.
He also was a two-time participant in the Olympic Games including in 1984 before his NBA debut, meaning that Bilas covered him when working for ABC Sports. He and the Blue Devils had ended Jordan’s Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) career just a few months earlier in an epic 77-75 upset, but it was one of the few games Bilas did not start because of an injury he had sustained three days earlier.
As a member of one of the highest-scoring college basketball recruiting classes ever assembled – which featured Mark Alarie, Dave Henderson and Johnny Dawkins in addition to Bilas – the team developed and made it all the way to the 1986 NCAA Division I men’s basketball national championship game. Although Duke was defeated 72-69 by the University of Louisville Cardinals, the team helped set the foundation in place for the program to thrive in forthcoming seasons.
Upon graduating Duke University with a degree in political science, Bilas was drafted to the National Basketball Association in the fifth round by the Dallas Mavericks; however, he never played an NBA game. After some time playing professionally in Italy and Spain, Bilas returned to Duke University where he served as an assistant coach on the basketball team and worked to earn a law degree. Having served as a player and a coach, Bilas has utilized these experiences to handle and implement feedback from media bosses over his time in the industry, rounding him into a bonafide professional and adept colleague.
“You welcome feedback because it lets you know what other people think and people whose opinions you really value and whose judgments you value, and you act on it, especially when it’s right and reasonable,” Bilas said.
“When you get criticism – constructive or otherwise – you have to ask yourself [first] if it’s right, and if it’s right you need to deal with it. Second, if it’s reasonable, and if it’s reasonable, you need to consider it carefully; if it’s unreasonable, you just dismiss it. I’m not saying that’s what you do with your bosses because anything you get from your bosses is going to be reasonable.”
With this year’s tournament having been the first Final Four without a qualifying No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed – and busting all brackets in the process (there is approximately a 1 in 9.2 quintillion chance of compiling a perfect bracket) – it was an intriguing watch for college basketball fans. Bilas was part of ESPN’s coverage live from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on College GameDay and called the semifinal matchup between the University of Connecticut Huskies and University of Miami Hurricanes alongside Brian Custer on ESPN’s international feed, syndicated to over 180 countries worldwide.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all event, but it’s as compelling a sporting event as I’ve ever watched and certainly that I’ve ever been a part of,” Bilas said. “I think there’s something special about having played in it, and [having] a role as an assistant coach and then having a role as a broadcaster. You’ve seen it from a lot of different angles – and before all that, I consumed it as a fan. I was the same kind of kid that watched it and dreamed of doing that someday, so there’s a dream aspect to it that’s really cool, and it’s something you have a hard time putting it into words.”
When it comes to sharing his opinions of college basketball, Bilas has worked at the craft of broadcasting to divulge compendious insights and viewpoints to viewers. Having that ability came in part because of his experience following, playing and coaching basketball, along with his abilities as a lawyer. Yet part of what makes Bilas a versatile broadcaster and the recipient of numerous industry honors, including the Curt Gowdy Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, is by starting his sports media career in radio.
Less than a year after Bilas graduated law school and relinquished his duties as an assistant coach, he was offered a chance to work with Bob Harris on the Duke Radio Network as a color commentator for basketball games. He was hesitant about making the jump because he knew it would make it difficult to regularly practice law, but was urged to do so by legendary play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg, whom he met while in college.
“He felt like it was really good training,” said Bilas regarding Enberg’s view of radio. “If I remember right, he said, ‘Television is color by numbers, but the real artists are in radio.’ I think starting there really helped me because the play-by-play person is the one that paints the picture.”
Enberg was helpful for Bilas throughout his formative years in the industry, and they ended up working with one another beginning in 2003 covering the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament for CBS Sports.
Over the years working with ESPN and CBS Sports, Bilas has had the good fortune to be paired with play-by-play announcers such as Dan Schulman, Sean McDonough and Brent Musburger, and thoroughly enjoyed his time working with each of them. With Enberg though, the two formed chemistry on the air and a friendly relationship off the air, including one memorable outing to Belmont Abbey College, the place where Al McGuire first coached.
“We spent the whole day there and saw his old office [and] walked around the campus,” Bilas remembered. “He told Al McGuire stories all day. It was just a wonderful day; he was just a very thoughtful human being and very kind. I think that came through with him as a broadcaster.”
Even though he worked with CBS Sports for parts of its March Madness coverage, Bilas has primarily been with ESPN since 1995, causing him to diminish the amount of work he can do as a lawyer. As he assimilated into the network and its coverage of college basketball, Bilas’ abilities to make sense of the action stood out wherefore he earned desirable assignments. In attempting to describe his commentary style, Bilas underscored the importance of being genuine with your audience, ensuring his analysis is precise and any criticism is justified.
“I just kind of say what I see and interpret the game [in] the way I understand it and the way I was trained,” Bilas said. “….Getting inside all these different programs and being in their scouting reports and their practices and their coaches’ meetings over the last 27 years has taught me more about basketball than I think I ever could have learned if I had just stayed on that particular path I was on.”
Amid a typical college basketball broadcast, there are ebbs and flows engendering the accentuation of information and entertainment, along with balancing objectivity and subjectivity. Through this multifarious discourse, consumers in part remain engrossed in the on-air product, although some pundits would argue that the games themselves are the primary drivers of ratings and revenue rather than the commentary.
Even so, listening to a lackluster broadcast booth can foment indignation and displeasure from consumers, sometimes acting as a catalyst for viewers to change the channel.
“I think all of our jobs in this are saying the right thing at the right time in the right tone,” Bilas said. “….There are certain times when somebody may take something the wrong way or not how you intended it. I don’t place that responsibility on the listener. If I didn’t get the point across for them to understand it in the way I intended, that’s on me.”
Occasionally, Bilas will be criticized by viewers for showing bias towards one team, an accusation he considers an example of fans being unreasonable. Game commentary, in essence, is meant to communicate what is happening during a contest.
The broadcast equips statistics, graphics, detailed preparation and quotes from interviews to enhance its storytelling and provide context to moments. National commentators will usually place more attention on the team winning the game and/or discuss what everyone is talking about, maintaining their ethos and objectivity while doing justice to the product on the floor.
“Of course I may have said some nicer things about the team that won than the team that lost; that can happen,” Bilas expressed. “You kind of ask the question sometimes: ‘Which was more biased? My mouth or your ears?’”
Since the launch of College GameDay in 2005, Bilas has been a part of its panel as an analyst, causing him to adjust his approach in presenting information. He affirms that the setting cultivates discussion in less of a granular manner than game commentary, instead expounding on the landscape as a whole.
Additionally, Bilas interviews college basketball players in a segment called “94 Feet” for the show, conversing so viewers can learn more about them away from the court. He also appears on other ESPN studio programming, including Get Up!, SportsCenter and select ESPN Radio programs.
“I’ve always tried to just be conversational with my colleagues in the studio,” Bilas said. “I’m answering the question that a colleague asked and having a discussion with my cohort.”
When he is not calling games or voicing his opinions in the studio, Bilas may be writing a story for ESPN.com. In working to disclose his ideas and thoughts to readers, he believes they last longer because of the means through which they are being delivered. In today’s information-driven era with a dwindling attention span and emphasis on timeliness, possessing an alacrity to serve his audience is critical for him to adequately perform his versatile role.
There are opportunities, however, for Bilas to go into detail about topics, just as he did on the definition of “toughness” in his New York Times bestselling book titled, “Toughness: Developing True Strength On and Off the Court.”
“In my life as a lawyer, I had to do a lot of writing,” Bilas said. “You try to convey your thoughts in as concise a way as possible. That’s similar to what you try to do on the air when you’re speaking, but I’ve done a lot of writing over the years and I’ve always really enjoyed it.”
When crafting its booth for Thursday Night Football, the management team at Amazon Prime Video made what was perceived by many people to be a questionable decision in pairing Kirk Herbstreit with Al Michaels. Herbstreit, a former player and insightful college football studio analyst and color commentator, worked a total of 49 assignments in the fall – 33 of those being live game commentary and 16 being appearances on College GameDay. By assimilating himself into broadcasts of National Football League games, he brought unique perspectives realized from his time covering players in college that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Moreover, he was able to implement what he observed during NFL games into his college football coverage, better informing viewers on how the game is changing and what the next generation of players needs to do to prepare.
Bilas has called some NBA games throughout his career, but his primary focus is on college basketball. Where a comparison between Herbstreit and Bilas can perhaps be drawn though is in Bilas’ coverage of the NBA Draft on ESPN through which he discusses the intersection between college and professional basketball. Additionally, he talks about the transition period and characteristics of draftees to supply context to the broadcast.
“Most of these players I see in high school – so you cover them when they’re younger and as they develop to the pro level and how they translate to the pro level,” Bilas said. “I’m not necessarily covering the NBA; you’re covering talent being drafted by the NBA.”
Leading up to the 2014-15 college basketball season, Bilas agreed to a contract extension with ESPN that resulted in him being added to ESPN Saturday Primetime telecasts of college basketball games. While he has appeared on the network’s platforms as a color commentator, studio analyst and writer, he is able to promulgate his thoughts regularly through his use of social media platforms.
Over his career, Bilas has been able to amass large followings across several different mediums despite not having a legitimate strategy in terms of creating and sharing content.
Since being purchased by Elon Musk, Twitter has endured a variety of changes, including removing its signature blue verification check marks from accounts that do not subscribe to its new “Twitter Blue” service. The forthcoming change has received plenty of criticism, being loathed by many users who state it will make it difficult to know the legitimacy of Twitter accounts.
Some people are referring to the shift in strategy as an apocalyptic occurrence that will destroy the platform and companies such as ESPN and The New York Times are declining to expense their employees’ subscriptions should they choose to purchase one. In addition, star athletes including Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes have stated that they will decline to pay for verification.
Whether it is sharing opinions on college basketball, posting game highlights and other content or simply tweeting out Young Jeezy lyrics, Bilas uses Twitter in a variety of ways. He declines to engage with many users in the comment sections though, calling it an unhealthy practice, and limits his time on social media to safeguard against the ostensible dangers it presents.
“I don’t think it’s one of my main functions,” Bilas said of social media. “I enjoy it; I’m still trying to figure out some of it.”
When them boys was playing games, I was busy playing chess. I'm real and I'm self-made, I'm what you call a threat. I gotta go to work.
When looking at today’s media ecosystem, virtually any user has the ability to select what, when, where and how to consume content, along with being capable of producing their own independent media and amplifying their own voice. Digital platforms have revolutionized the ways information is shared and connections are fostered and maintained among people, precipitating a culture featuring influencers: prominent users online who have built a significant following.
Even before the onset of college athletes being able to monetize their name, image and likeness (NIL), they could be considered part of this group; however, their impact has surely been aggrandized since then with marketing and promotional deals to supplement their play.
In the first year of the NCAA allowing NIL deals, college athletes earned an estimated $917 million, with many of the highest earners being women in college basketball. Bilas has been outspoken against the entity’s principle of amateurism, which stated that college athletes participated in sports because of their love of the game, while coaches, executives and administrators profited from annual multibillion dollar earnings. He has expressed how the NCAA spread what has turned out to be a false narrative stating that compensating athletes would hurt women’s sports in order to protect its own interests, in addition to advocating for the educational value associated with building and managing a brand.
Bilas asserts that college athletes have always had a voice, but digital media and NIL have made it where they need not express themselves through traditional media outlets. Instead, athletes are able to instantaneously share how they feel on digital media platforms, whether that be through social media posts, live streams or podcasts. Athletes feel empowered and are arguably more direct towards their legions of fans than ever before, a trend that continues to augment in prominence across various professional sports.
“There’s no downside to this,” Bilas said. “It’s all just one, moderate step toward where athletes are going to be in the future, and that’s being compensated to their fair market value and being allowed the same economic rights as literally everyone else. They’ve never had that, and they still don’t have that.”
As March Madness comes to a close with tonight’s national championship game between the San Diego State University Aztecs and the University of Miami Hurricanes, Bilas legitimately does not have an interest in one team to win a game over another. In fact, he has not had a rooting interest in virtually any college basketball games over the last 30 years – aside from the contests his son, Anthony, played as a member of the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons – depicting objectivity and an inherent absence of bias in his work.
“When I started in broadcasting, that was the first time I had ever gone to a game where I didn’t care who won,” Bilas said. “It’s been 30 years now where I’ve gone to countless games without caring who wins, and that was a different feeling at first.”
Following the conclusion of the college basketball season, Bilas’ contract will expire with ESPN amid an organizational restructuring of The Walt Disney Company under new CEO Bob Iger, which will reportedly result in company-wide layoffs eliminating $5.5 billion in operating costs. The strategy was uncovered ahead of an annual shareholder meeting today where Iger is expected to field questions over his strategy and the company’s involvement in sports media through ESPN.
As part of the restructuring, ESPN is now considered to be its own entity and is being overseen by Jimmy Pitaro, who earned the title of chairman in the process. Since then, Pitaro has established a new executive leadership team which included naming Burke Magnus as president of programming and original content. ESPN veterans such as Norby Williamson, Stephanie Druley and David Roberts report to him in order to foster continued success and innovation pertaining to the network’s programming and future strategy.
Consumers may have a louder voice, but finding an open door into traditional media outlets can, perhaps, be considered more difficult than ever before. When he was young, Bilas received sagacious advice from his father, who operated a television sales and repair business, which stated: “The best way to get a job is [to] do the one you have.” These words encapsulate part of the reason why Bilas remains invested in the moment. He implores young people to do the same, focusing on the journey more than the destination, but being intentional in their actions and how they present themselves to an industry fueled by innovation, hard work and passion.
“I’m not looking beyond what’s in front of me today, and it doesn’t mean I don’t have plans [or that] I [have] never planned anything,” Bilas said. “I don’t think about sort of those kinds of goals and, ‘Accomplish this; accomplish that.’ I just want to accomplish enjoying what I’m doing, and if I do that, whatever opportunity comes my way, I’ll be able to evaluate it in time.”
I watched WrestleMania for the first time in my life this weekend.
Not because I’m not a WWE fan. I’m not. And I’m not knocking it if that’s your bag. More power to you. I was a huge WWE fan as a kid. Growing up in the Attitude Era was a fantastic time to get into professional wrestling. But, like many other things, I outgrew it.
When I was a huge wrestling fan, though, the idea of buying a pay-per-view was about as likely as me landing on the moon. The WWE decided to move its pay-per-views to the WWE Network in 2014, which increased my chances of watching WrestleMania, but the idea of me paying $10 a month for the WWE Network was about as likely as me landing on the moon.
However, when WWE Network was absorbed into Peacock, that made the organization’s premier events more accessible to someone like me who would call themselves an insanely casual fan…and even that might be too strong of a word to describe my WWE fandom.
I subscribed to Peacock late last year when the offer was too good to pass up. When NBC moved Days of Our Lives to the streaming platform, it offered a yearlong subscription for $2 a month for all of the women in nursing homes who still watch the show to be able to subscribe. So I pounced.
Truthfully, I have hardly used the subscription, but with MLB Sunday Leadoff, the IndyCar Series, and the Big Ten coming to the platform, I’ll probably see an increase in my usage.
Peacock was the home of WrestleMania on Saturday and Sunday night, and the entire time I watched, one question continued to circulate in my head: Why isn’t this on NBC?
Do you know what was on NBC Saturday night? Neither do I. Sunday night? Nope.
The more I pondered the question, the more I couldn’t come up with a truly great answer.
What major sports entity doesn’t have its marquee event(s) on network TV? The only ones I could muster were UFC, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and the NCAA Tournament National Championship game airs on TBS every other year. Feel free to correct me, but I think that’s the list.
There are obvious differences between operating a show on NBC and Peacock, but in the portions I watched Saturday, the only thing that would have been remotely questionable on network TV was Pat McAfee accusing The Miz of having “tiny balls”.
In all likelihood, NBC wouldn’t give WWE six hours of airtime each day. But airing live on NBC from 7:00-11:00 PM ET each night would be a fantastic get for both the network and the wrestling promotion. WWE could utilize matches earlier on the card on Peacock while saving the creme-de-la-creme for NBC.
When the business model changed from pay-per-views to “get wrestling fans to buy the network for 12 months at $10 per month”, WWE was changed for good. It has done a phenomenal job of utilizing product placement, creating branded segments and matches, and incorporating sponsorship into its marquee events.
Now just imagine what the expanded reach of network television could provide in sponsorship.
While I believe WrestleMania absolutely works on network TV, the decision isn’t up to me. And frankly, neither WWE nor NBC/Peacock have any reason to consider a change.
WrestleMania 38 was the most-watched event in WWE history, according to the promotion. Peacock claims it was the second-most streamed event in the streaming platform’s history, behind Super Bowl LVI.
The event likely drives Peacock subscriptions, and if WWE is ok with the streaming platform utilizing it’s content for that purpose, who am I to judge?
But, in my estimation, if you’re going to go head-to-head against the Final Four, it might as well be without one arm tied behind your back. NBC’s television rating for Saturday night was likely abysmal. It wouldn’t be that way if WrestleMania 39 had been on the schedule.
It’s much easier to reach casual fans with a more accessible platform — linear, over-the-air television — than behind a paywall, no matter how insignificant the subscription fee might be. And if WWE wants to return to the massive cultural influence it held during its heyday, putting its marquee event on NBC isn’t a bad idea.
When Justin Shackil was getting ready to call a New York Yankees game on the radio last June 17th, he wasn’t nervous for his Bronx Bombers play-by-play debut.
After all, doing baseball play-by-play on the radio is something that just comes naturally for the New Jersey native.
“I don’t think it hit me until about five minutes before the first pitch of the first game I did in Toronto,” said Shakil. “I said ‘There’s no turning back…lets go’. It was such a fun experience doing that for about ten games last year.”
Longtime Yankees radio play-by-play voice John Sterling had decided to start taking some games off and not travel as much so flagship station WFAN and the Yankees used several people, including Shackil, to fill in for the legendary broadcaster. And now Shackil, who has been working for the Yankees as part of their digital team, is in his first season as a full-time member of the radio broadcast team hosting the post-game show and also filling in for Sterling on play-by-play for about 30 games.
Having this opportunity was something he had in the back of his mind during his fill-in run last season.
“I thought it was a possibility but I didn’t think too much about it because I really didn’t know what anyone was planning until they talked to me about it further in the off-season,” said Shackil. “Once that became a possibility, obviously, I really wanted to be able to do it and I’m just fortunate that they decided to choose me.”
Shackil, who will continue his role on the Yankees digital team as well as being a fill-in clubhouse reporter and studio host for YES Network, took a unique path to the Yankees radio opportunity. A graduate of Fordham University, not far from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, Shackil embarked on a minor league baseball play-by-play career that took him to the Trenton Thunder (Yankees AA), the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs AA) and the Mobile Bay Bears (Diamondbacks AA).
In 2012, Shackil decided to come home to the New York area and take a job as a sports anchor for WCBS Newsradio 880.
“I felt like that was a little bit more stable at the time,” said Shackil.
Between 2012 and 2022, Shackil called a few spring training games for the Cubs and also picked up some other random play-by-play assignments. In 2016, he joined the Yankees digital team and with that came another opportunity to fulfill his objective.
“The big goal has always been to cover baseball full-time, whether it was in play-by-play, studio hosting, reporting, on the radio, on TV, national, local, whatever it was,” said Shackil. “I just wanted to be involved covering the game on an everyday basis and I was willing to go anywhere for that.”
Aside from that handful of Cubs spring training games, Shackil wasn’t getting any regular reps in terms of baseball play-by-play. Still hoping for another baseball play-by-play opportunity, he remembered something that longtime radio executive Eric Spitz told him.
“He said no one is going to fill a play-by-play position with someone who isn’t doing it regularly,” said Shackil. “I thought ‘Hey, I’ve always had this minor league experience in my back pocket and nobody is going to be able to take that away from me’. But you still need to be doing it and stay fresh in that regard.”
So to stay fresh, Shackil took his laptop and a mixer into a broadcast booth at Yankee Stadium and recorded mock radio broadcasts about 20 times a year. The broadcast booth he was using just happened to be the office of his boss Greg Colello, the Yankees’ Executive Director of the Scoreboard and Video Production.
Shackil was prepared last year when the Yankees were looking for candidates to fill in for Sterling.
“I gave them something that is essentially the product that they were going to get…a Yankee game,” said Shackil.
For Shackil, calling baseball games on the radio is like riding a bike…you don’t forget how to do it.
“You can call it confidence,” said Shackil. “I don’t think it’s cockiness on my end. I just know that out of everything that I’ve done in terms of assignments, I just know that I can call baseball on the radio. It’s something that I’m extremely confident in.”
Those mock broadcasts in his boss’s office earned Shackil that fill-in opportunity last season and that led to him landing the radio post-game gig this year along with being the regular fill-in on play-by-play.
And when he does play-by-play, he’s going to be himself and that was something that Sterling stressed to him during a couple of conversations before opening day.
“The biggest piece of advice he lent me was do it my way,” said Shackil. “That’s something that I do always carry with me from being a college student because it was ingrained in us then. The biggest thing that you can bring into the booth is yourself because no one else can do that.”
Shackil also has a great relationship with longtime Yankees radio analyst Suzyn Waldman and not just from the games they worked together last season.
“I’ve worked alongside Suzyn in the clubhouse just being around the team working home games in the Yankees digital space,” said Shackil.
For a young broadcaster who wants to become a major league announcer, the general rule of thumb is to start in the low minor leagues and move around the country and work your way up the ladder from level to level. That’s not the only way to get to “The Show” and certainly getting a big-league job in your backyard is an even harder accomplishment.
Shackil took a different road than most, but his path to pinstripes has worked out very nicely.
“I grew up here,” said Shackil. “I grew up watching the Yankees with my grandmother. I learned the game through her and things just happened to fall into place where I’m working for the team that I grew up rooting for as a child and not having to leave New York. I consider myself extremely lucky.”
Now a Yankees broadcaster, Justin Shackil has earned the opportunity to channel his inner Lou Gehrig.
Fox News late-night host Greg Gutfeld announced his upcoming book, The King of Late Night, which shares his journey to becoming the top host in late-night television. The book is set to release on July 25th. Gutfeld is approaching his second anniversary as the host of Gutfeld!, which happens on April 5th.
During the reveal of the book cover, Gutfeld expressed his excitement, stating that it was “awesome.” The exterior features a muscular rendition of himself towering over popular late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Fallon. Gutfeld is also shown holding his beloved dog, while liberal competitors such as former MSNBC anchor Brian Williams and ex-CNN host Brian Stelter are depicted in the background.
Gutfeld humorously recounts his rise to fame in the book, including never-before-shared stories about his early career, going up against the liberal media, and flipping the script on the comedy landscape. He explains how he turned a throwaway time slot show in the middle of the night, Redeye, into a cult classic, leading to his appearances on The Five and eventually landing his late-night spot with millions of viewers each night.
Gutfeld! has seen significant growth since its launch, with double-digit gains in all categories and an increase in its share of the late-night audience from 19% to 28%. It has surpassed competitors like ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and has the highest median income with viewers aged 25-54 and 18-49. It’s also the number one late-night program with upscale viewers (100k+) in viewership and the younger demographic.
According to Fox News, in the most recent quarter at 11 PM/ET, Gutfeld! has maintained its lead over several of its late-night broadcast competitors, drawing in over 1.9 million viewers and 301,000 viewers in the A25-54 demographic. As Greg Gutfeld approaches his second year as a late-night television host (April 5th), his show outperforms ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1.5 million P2+) and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1.4 million P2+) in terms of viewership.
As WWE puts a bow on its signature premium live event, WrestleMania, it appears the company is putting a bow on its anticipated sale.
CNBC reported Sunday that the wrestling promotion is talking to UFC parent company Endeavor Group about an acquisition. Details of an agreement could be revealed as soon as Monday.
The network reports Endeavor would take a 51% ownership stake in WWE, with the company shareholders retaining the other 49%. WWE would be under the Endeavor umbrella and join UFC to form a new, publicly traded company.
Even with the sale, Vince McMahon will remain in some form of control. Endeavor Group CEO Ari Emanuel would become CEO of WWE, while McMahon, 77, would be the executive chairman. Current WWE CEO Nick Khan would become president of WWE with the sale.
McMahon retired last summer amid an investigation into misconduct, but he returned in January to effectively oversee the sale of WWE as a publicly-traded company.
Sports journalism is in a precarious position. A little less than a decade and a half ago, the entire industry gave Twitter more power than nearly any other online platform. Now Twitter is changing in a big way, and a lot of news breakers need to figure out how they are going to adjust.
Elon Musk’s crusade to piss away $44 billion has created a catch-22 for our industry. How do we respond to the elimination of legitimate verification? Losing that blue check is going to cost some trust.
How is the audience going to know if it is the real Adam Schefter reporting that the Buccaneers are trading Baker Mayfield to Baltimore straight up for Lamar Jackson (I’m trying to manifest it) or if it is some troll that has just copied Schefter’s profile page and left out the c in his handle?
Going forward, the only way to verify that you are who you say you are is to pay the monthly fee to subscribe to Twitter Blue. Is paid verification any better than not being verified at all? We’ve already seen the chaos it causes.
Plus, let’s be real. Once we all know you paid for a special shape, why should we take you seriously? Personally, I’m going to call you a thirsty dork and never stop making fun of you.
On a more serious note, you’re going to be compromised. If you’re willing to pay $8 to cut corners for visibility and notoriety, why would I not assume you are doing the same with your information? Vetting takes time. Typing “I’m hearing” or “sources say” in front of a rumor you heard from a waiter who may or may not have served Kyrie Irving last night gets you to those likes and RTs a lot faster.
“But Demetri,” you say, “that’s what most reporters do anyway! I know because Aaron Rodgers said so.”
Yeah, Aaron Rodgers is a boring dweeb with no personality of his own. He just copies whoever he is with or whatever he sees gets attention. He’s exactly the kind of guy that would pay for Twitter verification.
So is Elon Musk and that is what got us here.
Ian Casselberry wrote a great piece for us last week that perfectly explained why reliable identity verification is so important for Twitter to function the way it was meant to. The blue check is about credibility. It is for the public’s peace of mind, not the verified’s ego.
When you turn on SportsCenter and hear that Pete Thamel is reporting that USC is suspending a star receiver, you can trust the information is really being reported by Thamel, because you can see him on the screen. When you read in The Athletic a reports from Shams Charania that Jaylen Brown wants out of Boston, you can reasonably expect that The Athletic would not let someone else publish information under its NBA insider’s name.
Those assurances don’t exist on social media platforms. Twitter needs guard rails the public can trust so that the public can trust the news that is reported on Twitter.
The fact that someone like Elon Musk doesn’t get that isn’t a surprise. As you read this, there are probably people explaining that to him and are telling him that damaging the credibility of information on Twitter will damage its value. Yet, he continues to plow ahead with his paid verification model.
He is not a serious person. Unfortunately, because he has the ability to completely tear down a tool that has been invaluable to the industry, the sports media does have to take him seriously.
By the way, I reached out to Schefter before I started writing. He said that because so much was still unknown when we connected (Friday afternoon), he didn’t want to say anything. That seems fair enough, right?
Elon Musk bought Twitter because he wanted chaos. I don’t think he ever really had a plan to make things better. I don’t think he really had a passion for social media or democracy. He’s rich. He got made fun of a lot on the platform, so he was going to buy it and destroy it.
Want to know a really good way to accomplish that goal? Change Twitter in a way that forces it’s most reliable user base to choose between two options, both of which will damage the user’s credibility.
Roger Clemens joined the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast crew last Thursday for Opening Night coverage between the defending World Series champion Astros and the Chicago White Sox.
On 670 The Score in Chicago, hosts Danny Parkins and Matt Spiegel weighed in with their thoughts on Clemens’ performance on the mic.
“I came away impressed by Roger Clemens as a broadcaster for someone who doesn’t do it,” Parkins said Friday on Parkins & Spiegel. “But also kind of struck by, this is Roger Clemens.”
Spiegel added that it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Clemens was going to shine in the booth.
“Clemens has always been a good talker,” he said. “And it’s once he got over that defensiveness from the fact that so many of the loathsome things that he’s done in terms of cheating and lying to Congress, he can talk baseball. He’s a guy that people have gone to for decades now to try and learn some of the things that he knows how to do.”
“He’s an authority figure, and he’s Roger Clemens,” Parkins added. “He’s one of the five best pitchers I’ve ever seen in my life. And he’s there and he’s fawning over an ace pitcher. It felt big.”
Spiegel noted that he found it interesting that Clemens joining the booth wasn’t such a turn off for him as it usually is when he tunes in to ESPN baseball coverage and hears Alex Rodriguez.
“I wonder why I’m not as disgusted by Roger Clemens as I am by Alex Rodriguez?” Spiegel questioned. “Because Roger cheated the game as viciously and as directly as A-Rod did.”
“I feel like there’s something a lot more honest about him as a cheater than there is about A-Rod as a cheater,” he added. “Is it also the fact that A-Rod is so weird and so plastic with the entirety of his personality? Is that what it is? I don’t know man.”
