Just in time for the start of the new Baltimore Orioles season, 105.7 The Fan has brought back popular O’s weekday pre-game show Baltimore Baseball Tonight.
The show will air on Audacy-owned station in Baltimore and make its return on March 30. Bob Haynie will host alongside Mike Bordick and Jim Hunter. The trio will also be joined by Ryan Ripken, son of Hall of Famer and O’s legend Cal Ripken Jr.
“We are thrilled to be bringing Baltimore Baseball Tonight,” 105.7 The Fan brand manager Chuck Sapienza said. “The show was received so well last season, and we look forward to building off that momentum again this season. Adding Ryan to the team brings a critical young voice to the show, and his perspective having been a part of the organization and his deep family ties to the team are invaluable.”
Fans tuning in to the show on a nightly basis can look forward to hearing in-depth coverage of the Orioles including recapping the previous night’s action, pre-game sound from manager Brandon Hyde and a look at the upcoming game’s pitching matchups. Additionally, the show will also break down the biggest news across the league.
The show will be live on location at Pickles Pub near Camden Yards when the Orioles are at home. The first Pickles Pub remote broadcast will be on April 6 ahead of Balitmore’s home opener against the Yankees.
Fans tuning in to the White Sox/Astros Opening Night game on ESPN on March 30 will also hear from legendary pitcher Roger Clemens.
The network announced on Thursday that the former Boston, Houston, Toronto and Yankees ace will join Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez and Buster Olney for the broadcast.
“We’ve enjoyed working with Roger during his impressive KayRod Cast appearances and can’t wait for him to join our Opening Night broadcast team as a special guest game analyst,” said Mark Gross, ESPN senior vice president of production and remote events. “The insights Roger has gained from his storied career, including his ties to Houston, will help inform the audience as the Astros begin their title defense and the sport begins a new era of gameplay.”
The new era reference there is in regards to the implementation of the pitch clock at the MLB level this year, in addition to the elimination of the defensive shift.
Clemens will be filling in for David Cone on the ESPN broadcast, who will be fulfilling his obligations to the Yankees calling their season opener on YES Network.
ESPN 1000 is slated to host a 25th anniversary celebration, and if you waited to purchase tickets, you’ve waited too long.
The station announced Thursday afternoon that the Friday event is officially sold out. The celebration will be broadcast live from the House of Blues in Chicago from Noon-6:00 PM, and will welcome the station’s biggest personalities, hosts, contributors, partners, and fans.
“ESPN 1000 is thrilled to host the station’s biggest names and most impactful people in one room on Friday to celebrate 25 years,” ESPN 1000 Director of Content Danny Zederman said. “We will look back at our success and also look forward to our exciting future as the Home of the Chicago Bears and the Chicago White Sox.”
Those scheduled to appear include Michael Wilbon, Sarah Spain, Jay Cutler, Robbie Gould, and Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan.
“When Good Karma Brands purchased ESPN 1000, we knew the incredible impact of the station and its most notable figures have had in the Chicagoland area,” ESPN 1000 Market Manager and Good Karma Brands Senior Vice President Keith Williams said. “The standout moments over the last 25 years are endless, and we are excited to celebrate with our partners, fans and teammates at the House of Blues.”
Rumors have continued to circulate that CNN is interested in bringing CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King to the network for a primetime interview program.
The reports have linked King with TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley, who admitted he had had discussions with the network about a potential program, and was only considering it due to King’s involvement.
However, at AdWeek’s Convergent TV Summit Wednesday, King said stopped short of conriming the reports, and also denied she had any interesting in departing her longtime television home.
“I’m very close to Chris Licht. I like him very much, but on that question, ‘me no speak English,’” King joked. “Let’s just say I have two years left on my contract with CBS, and I have no intention of leaving CBS.”
King has hosted CBS Mornings — which rebranded from CBS This Morning in 2021 — since 2011, and said added she has no interest in stepping away anytime soon.
“I like the fact that I sit here at 68 years old, Walter Cronkite had to retire at 65. Just think about that for a second,” said King. “I marvel at that. He had to retire at 65 and didn’t want to. I’m not even thinking about retiring, and I love that I work with 20 somethings, 30 somethings, 40 somethings, and don’t feel like the old lady in the room. I don’t feel that way.”
CNN primetime host Anderson Cooper is adding a Sunday evening program to his duties with the network.
The Whole Story — which will debut on Sunday, April 16th — will focus on a singluar topic each episode. The debut episode will center upon the current state of San Francisco, with CNN anchor Sara Sidner contributing reports on the “political and social issues plaguing the city”.
Other topics for future shows include women beliving that baby powder sold by Johnson & Johnson caused their cancer, migrants seeking refuge at the Southern border, the coronation of King Charles II, and pyschadelic mushrooms, among others.
In a statement, CNN CEO Chris Licht said the show “goes behind the headlines, touching every continent and corner of the planet, as we bring our viewers into the heart of the essential stories of our time.”
CNN producer Susan Chun — who is currently the Executive Producer of Anderson Cooper 360 — will serve in the same capacity for the new program.
In addition to his current primetime program, Cooper also works as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, which also airs on Sunday evenings.
The Women’s NCAA Tournament loses money under its current broadcast deal, but that is because it is undervalued according to a Sportico study. The tournament is currently included in a television package featuring all NCAA championship events, excluding men’s basketball, that the organization sold to ESPN.
There has been a string of good news for women’s college basketball in recent years. This year’s tournament alone has seen viewership highs and sold-out ad time. The national championship game is set to air on ABC, marking the first time since 1995 the event has been on network television.
All of that momentum has the NCAA rethinking its television structure for the Women’s Basketball Tournament.
“Somebody’s watching women’s basketball,” legendary South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told the AP. “Somebody feels like we’re in high demand, and obviously the decision-makers that put us on now realize that they’ve got to keep putting us on.”
Endeavor has been hired by the NCAA to explore selling the tournament as its own television product instead of including it in that package ESPN currently holds for other NCAA championship events. The organization is expected to make a decision on how to proceed in the fall.
Not only are ratings rising. Attendance revenue for the Women’s NCAA Tournament is growing too as women’s sports see their popularity surge in the US.
“It’s an exciting time. Year over year, we continue to demonstrate the value that women’s basketball brings to that space,” Lynn Holzman, the NCAA vice president of women’s basketball, said. “It’ll be exciting to see what the results are of this for the sport itself, but also for the NCAA more broadly in our championships.”
The New York Yankees are welcoming a new voice to their broadcast team. WFAN announced the hiring of Justin Shackil on Thursday.
Shackil will primarily serve as the host of postgame shows. He will also be in the booth alongside Suzyn Waldman on occasion. A press release states that he will fill in for John Sterling as the play-by-play voice of the team for around 30 games in 2023.
“Justin is no stranger to the Bronx and his passion for the pinstripes makes him the ideal person to join the iconic duo of John and Suzyn in the booth,” said Market President of Audacy New York Chris Oliviero. “His contributions to the broadcast last season were terrific and well received, so we’re excited to see him return in this enhanced role.”
The New York Yankees are going to keep Justin Shackil busy. He will also serve as a reporter on the team’s YES Network broadcasts for 40 games this season. His other duties with the Yankees include scoreboard host, digital host and reporter.
“As someone who made listening, watching and attending Yankee games a major part of their youth, receiving the opportunity to join John and Suzyn in the WFAN radio booth is certainly the ‘pinch-me’ moment of my baseball broadcasting career,” said Shackil. “I’m grateful to Audacy for this chance, and to the Yankees for trusting me and expanding my role with an organization I value so highly.”
Justin Shackil will stay busy. The new role at WFAN is an addition to an already busy workload that includes covering the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty and college basketball for YES and covering boxing for DAZN. He will also continue to co-host the Toeing the Slab podcast with David Cone for Jomboy Media.
Despite the fact that he has been a regular on many of Meadowlark Media’s shows, David Samson was not officially part of the network until now. Starting next week, his podcast Nothing Personal will join the Meadowlark roster.
He will not work for Meadowlark exclusively. Samson announced on Twitter that he will maintain a role with CBS Sports.
“I’m also grateful to CBS for giving me the opportunity, immediately following my career in Major League Baseball, to start my own show and I look forward to continuing my role with them as an MLB analyst,” he wrote.
David Samson is a regular guest on The Dan Le Batard Show and has been working with John Skipper on the network’s Sports Business podcast.
Le Batard has made a running joke out of Samson being the focus of many Marlins fans’ anger. He routinely blames Samson for ruining the passion for Major League Baseball in Miami.
“The guy who ruined it all is officially coming aboard Meadowlark Media, finally!” Le Batard said on his Thursday show announcing the news as a chorus of boos played in the background.
“What can I say? This has been the greatest onboarding situation of all time, Dan,” Samson joked. “You’ve really got yourself quite a company.”
WEEI has suspended producer Chris Curtis after he used a racial slur to describe ESPN’s Mina Kimes earlier this week.
During a discussion about the top 5 “nips” — a slang term for small bottles of alcohol that are facing a proposed ban in Boston — morning hosts Greg Hill and Courtney Cox were naming alcohol brands before Curtis said “Oh, I’d probably go Mina Kimes”.
“Nip” is a racial slur against people of Japenese descent. The term is a shortened form of Nippon, the Japenese word for the country.
Kimes’ mother is of Korean descent.
During an appearance on The Greg Hill Show Thursday, Curtis shared that he has been suspended until next Wednesday. He defended his actions by saying he meant to say the name of actress Mila Kunis, who is not of Asian ancestry, rather than Kimes. He called the situation a “pathetic failed attempt at a one-liner”, labeling his actions “sophomoric and sexist”.
In response, Kimes has changed her Twitter avatar to a photo of the actress.
The NCAA Tournament this year has been an incredible one on the court. Tons of drama, upsets and great stories. That’s kind of the norm when it comes to March Madness, right? Expect the unexpected. Just look at my bracket if you don’t believe that statement. What has also been extraordinary this year is the job the sideline reporters have been doing, handling the in-game coach interviews. It’s a recent thing during the Big Dance and the interviews have been met with varying degrees of acceptance from the audience. Nonetheless, the interviewers have been up to the challenge.
There is an extra layer of preparation that is needed. It’s a tough spot for them and for the coach, to talk as the game is going on. Granted, the interviews are done during timeouts, but that’s when a coach is supposed to be coaching, right? There is pressure on both parties, but I believe there’s more on the reporter.
Bringing viewers inside the game seems to be the way things are trending lately. Having players and coaches mic’d up during games is one way to do it. Last year, ESPN took the in-game interview to a new level. In 2020, ESPN became the first network to produce live conversations
with players who are actively participating in the game being televised. In 2022 ESPN featured live player conversations with the booth in nearly all of their MLB broadcasts. ESPN boasts them as ‘a first of their kind for a game that counts across any network.’ A press release from the network earlier this month says ‘The two-way player conversations will continue in 2023.’
Baseball is the ideal sport for these conversations, it moves slower, allowing time to get into subjects with the guests. Although, with the pitch clock in use this year, there might be a little less time than in years past. Still, not every player is directly involved in every play of the game. The guy that hit the home run with one out, has nothing to do unless two quick outs are made, or the team bats around. The manager has a bench coach and other coaches to keep an eye on things while the boss is busy for 60 seconds. It’s not ideal, but it works.
I love the access, but it’s not for everyone. Some hardcore fans hate the intrusion as much as some of the players and coaches, but I don’t think the majority of people feel that way.
Last year at the NCAA Tournament, the CBS/Turner sideline reporter started to interview each coach during a media timeout. Fans were not used to seeing this take place in a college basketball game. Pregame and postgame yes, but in-game? Nope. How will the coach that’s ahead handle it? How about the guy that’s losing?
This is why all the pressure is on the sideline reporter. They understand fully what’s going on in the game and have to tread lightly in both cases. Most of the coaches understand that this is part of the ‘big money’ event and know that they will be interviewed. It’s one thing to agree to this condition before the game gets going, but it’s another during the game. Emotions run high in the heat of the battle. You never know what might set someone off.
Preparation is vital. As the reporter, you have to know the situation each coach is in at the time. Understanding the moment and what’s important. Paying attention to the game, in addition to the other responsibilities you have might be stressful. Listen to the broadcast you are a part of, because you can gain great insight and knowledge from the analysts. Most of the time they are former players or coaches that have been in the situation your interview subject is currently experiencing.
For example, in a tournament game between Michigan and Colorado State in 2022, Jamie Erdahl was the sideline reporter. She first interviewed Rams Head Coach Niko Medved at the under 12 time out of the first half. Erdahl asked one question about how to offset Michigan’s size and length. Medved was actually quite engaged and gave a better-than-expected answer. He didn’t give away any strategy, but talked about it being early and sending help to the post.
At the under 8 time out, Erdahl talked to Juwan Howard. She had two questions, one about him being the one to call time out and not waiting for a dead ball. Howard said he needed to get the team organized and calm the jitters. He said the team committed too many turnovers already. Her second question followed up, asking if Howard attributed the turnovers to Devonte Jones’ absence. Excellent job of paying attention and asking the right question and quickly.
These interviews have become more a part of the norm when watching tournament games. I think coaches are getting more used to it, but it doesn’t always mean they’re ready to be a willing participant. The best thing a reporter can do is have some empathy and a respect for the time commitment. Don’t go into the chat thinking you can ask 3 questions, have a really good one ready and if needed and if time permits, ask a quick follow up. Brevity will win the day for the coach and the audience in kind.
Don’t expect a coach to give you a bunch of specifics or reveal a gameplan strategy. You can’t expect that they will, so be careful with that line of questioning. Creating controversy is not going to win you, the interviewer, any points. It’s not your job to ask “60 Minutes” type questions when you have 60 SECONDS to get an answer. Leave that stuff alone in these cases.
It’s difficult, but don’t be upset if you don’t get great answers to your question or questions. Remember there’s a game going on and the main responsibility of that coach is his team and its success. You may get lucky and a charismatic coach like a Tom Izzo, will give you a great soundbite. He’s the exception rather than the rule. Sometimes it’s not about what they are saying. It’s about them saying something, anything to enhance the broadcast.
