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Gary Parrish Show Leaving 92.9 ESPN For New Digital Home

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The Gary Parrish Show now belongs to the Memphis Grizzlies. The host announced that Friday was his last show on Audacy’s 92.9 ESPN. It will now be distributed by the Grizzlies’ Grind City Media.

“I’ve been presented with an opportunity to leave 92.9, my family and I have weighed the pros and cons of staying or going, and every other time we’ve decided to stay,” Parrish wrote on his Facebook page. “I still believe we made the right decision in each of those instances. But this time we were presented with an opportunity that’s simply too good to pass up for a variety of reasons. So, this time, we’re making a move. I hate that I am walking away from something I built and love but am excited to get started with this new adventure.”

Gary Parrish is a Memphis native. He wrote for the Commercial Appeal prior to joining CBS. He had been with 92.9 for over a decade.

In moving to Grind City Media, Parrish notes that he will get to work with Chris Vernon again. They will each have their own shows, while making regular appearances with one another. Vernon had been at 92.9 until 2016.

“I grew up listening to sports-talk radio in the Memphis market,” Parrish said in thanking everyone with Audacy and ESPN 92.9 for their support over the years. “If you would’ve told me when I was a teenager that I’d get to host an afternoon drive-time show on a big FM station in my hometown, wow, what a dream. And it really has been a dream. I’m forever indebted to Dan Barron and everybody at 92.9 who made it possible for me to talk there for 13 years, and to Bennett Doyle and Brad Carson for helping me succeed as my producers.”

Grind City Media launched in 2016 and currently boasts a roster of 12 podcasts including Vernon’s show and Rise & Grind with Jessica Benson. Gary Parrish says his show will join the lineup in April.

Early Bowl Games Seeing Viewership Gains

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Early Bowl Games Seeing Viewership Gains

December is called “the most wonderful time of the year” for plenty of reasons. For most, it is about the holidays. For college football fans though, it is all about the bowl games, and early rating info suggests that ESPN is enjoying some serious interest.

Four bowl games have already scored more than 2 million viewers. Those are the Las Vegas Bowl (Oregon vs Florida), the Celebration Bowl (Jackson State vs North Carolina Central), the LA Bowl (Fresno State vs Washington State) and the New Mexico Bowl (SMU vs BYU). the Fenway Bowl (Cincinnati vs Louisville) just missed the 2 million mark.

Ratings are up year over year for the Celebration Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl.

The ratings seem to suggest that there is passion for lower-tier bowl games, but big names still matter. Three of the five most-watched games so far have included at least one team from a power five conference. Another, the Celebration Bowl, was the final game Deion Sanders coached at Jackson State.

Bowl Season executive director Nick Carapelli told Front Office Sports that he is not worried about the effects that the College Football Playoff has on games played in mid-December.

“The College Football Playoff is great for the game of college football,” he said. “That being said, Bowl Season is equally important, if not more so, for a greater number of institutions.”

Pat McAfee: ‘NFL Should Invest Some TV Profits in the Pro Bowl’

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On Wednesday night, the NFL revealed the rosters for the 2023 Pro Bowl. Players from 30 of the league’s 32 teams received the honor. On his show Thursday, Pat McAfee said it is a big deal to the players, particularly those named an all-star for the first time. He doesn’t think it is viewed that way by the public though.

According to the former punter, the NFL has allowed the Pro Bowl to become something of a punchline by letting the narrative that players do not want to participate in the game continue to exist.

His solution? If there is a problem, spend the money necessary to fix it. He noted that the NFL makes more than $1 billion per month on media rights deals alone.

“The NFL should want Pro Bowlers to be held at a standard,” McAfee said. “‘Oh, these are our best players. Our all-stars. Our superstars.’ And they make money off of the Pro Bowl game, a lot of it. That’s a part of those media rights deals.”

The NFL has the money to spend, for sure. But spending would cut into the profits that the league and its team owners can take home.

In McAfee’s eyes, the Pro Bowl does not have to be something that struggles to find an audience. There has never been a better or easier time to make the product better.

“I just think you can invest in things, and when you do they get better. That’s something businesses should think about doing, most specifically the NFL should think about doing in this time of gross profit. This is the most the NFL has ever profited in its entire life. This is a time, I think, where you can invest in some things and bring them back to a standard I think the NFL would want and the Pro Bowl is certainly one of them.”

Nick Faldo Doesn’t Regret Leaving TV Behind

BSM Staff
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Earlier this year, Sir Nick Faldo announced his retirement from golf coverage on both CBS and Golf Channel, and in an interview with Golf.com’s James Colgan, said he doesn’t regret leaving the work behind.

“I think it was time to do something else,” said Faldo. “I want to do other things.”

Faldo said he has spent the majority of his time since retirement at his 125-acre ranch in Bozeman, Montana, and is focusing on other things.

“I’m fed up talking golf,” Faldo said. “TV is a great life, but I’ve been on the road since I was 18.”

Since he stepped away, Faldo has amassed a following of more than 23,000 on TikTok, and says he’s not being idle.

“I’m not sitting on my ass, no. Well, some days I am, which is nice. But most days, we’ve got other bits going on.”

Seth Payne: ‘Greg Gumbel May Have To Have A Tough Conversation With Himself’

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It is safe to say that outside of Western Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, there weren’t a lot of people paying attention to the Steelers’ win over the Panthers on Sunday. The television call of the game has become a story that has people in media circles talking though after Greg Gumbel misidentified Mitch Trubisky multiple times on a single drive.

Gumbel, who was on the call alongside Adam Archuleta for CBS, referred to the Steelers’ quarterback by Sam Darnold’s name. Darnold was in the game, but he was playing for the Panthers.

Thursday morning, the mistakes were a topic of discussion on Payne & Pendergast on Houston’s Sports Radio 610. Host Sean Pendergast noted that Greg Gumbel has had a storied career, but he is getting older now and wondered if that played a role in the mistakes. He also wondered why CBS allowed it to keep happening.

“At some point, don’t you kind of elbow him and say ‘It’s Trubisky’?” he asked his partner Seth Payne.

Payne said he wouldn’t expect Archuleta or a CBS producer to correct Gumbel in the middle of a play. He added that overall, he didn’t think it was such a big deal, but it is worth asking some tough questions.

“He’s not known for that,” Payne said. “He might have to have a conversation with himself.”

Greg Gumbel is 76-years-old. He began calling NFL games for CBS in 1988. He has called the on-field action for Super Bowls and for the Olympics and hosted studio coverage of countless events. His face is well-known to American sports fans.

Payne said that fact could play into how Gumbel feels when he watches the tape back. He knows how these moments have affected other broadcasters closer to the end of their career than the beginning.

“I’m not doing this to protect anybody, but as a show of respect to some veteran broadcasters who do play-by-play who retired. They said they could sense they weren’t as sharp as they used to be and they didn’t want to go down that road where you start making little errors like that here and there and you can just tell that you aren’t what you once were.”

He reiterated that he did not think it was a particularly big deal that Greg Gumbel misidentified Mitch Trubisky, particularly because Sam Darnold was a part of the game. Little mistakes do happen. He added that he hoped that rather than it being a wake up call that it is time to retire, Gumbel would view it the way aging athletes do an realize that his self care routine my have to change in order for him to be as sharp as the audience is used to seeing him.

KZRG Holds Christmas of Hope for Joplin Foster Children

BNM Staff
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KZRG Holds Christmas of Hope for Joplin Foster Children

KZRG in Joplin, Missouri recently partnered with Fostering Hope to ensure that foster children in the area had toys and more during the Christmas holiday.

During December, the station worked with local businesses, churches, and station listeners to bring in donations to help the charity ensure they could provide many Christmas memories to children. “We’ve had an overwhelming response to our campaign this year. We are able to spend more per child,” Fostering Hope Executive Director Sarah Burch told the station. 

“Our Children are our greatest treasure. KZRG’s partnership helping our local foster kids is a great honor,” said Program Director Peter Thiele. 

In total, nearly 650 children will receive gifts due to the station’s efforts.

Moon Griffon Joining Weekday Lineup at Talk 107.3 in Baton Rouge

BNM Staff
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Moon Griffon is returning to Baton Rouge on Talk 107.3 once the calendar turns to 2023.

Griffon began his radio career in Monroe, Louisiana nearly three decades ago, but is a native of the Baton Rouge region. He now returns to the Louisiana capital to host The Moon Griffon Show weekdays from 9:00-11:00 AM

“We are excited to add Moon Griffon to the Talk 107.3 weekday lineup and increase the amount of local programming,” said Guaranty Media Vice President and General Manager Gordy Rush. “The Hayride calls Moon Griffon the State’s most prominent talk host and we think the timing is perfect with the upcoming elections in 2023.”

The addition of The Moon Griffon Show to the Talk 107.3 lineup creates a slight shuffle in the daily offerings. The Fox News Rundown will now move to a 4:00 AM timeslot on the station. Meanwhile, The Brian Kilmeade Show will air from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM.

Gregg Giannotti: New NFL Sunday Ticket Package Confusing

BSM Staff
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Gregg Giannotti: New NFL Sunday Ticket Package Confusing

A new NFL Sunday Ticket package was officially announced Thursday morning, with the league migrating the platform to YouTube TV for the 2023 season and beyond. One of the provisions in the announcement confused WFAN morning hosts Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti.

In the announcement, the NFL said “starting next season, NFL Sunday Ticket will be available on two of YouTube’s growing subscription businesses as an add-on package on YouTube TV and standalone a-la-carte on YouTube Primetime Channels.”

That “a-la-carte” wording led Giannotti — a Minnesota Vikings fan living in New York — to question whether he could purchase solely Vikings games. The option to buy single NFL games or the NFL games of one particular franchise does not currently exist and reportedly will not be offered in the new Sunday Ticket package. Giannotti then wondered if he would need a YouTube TV subscription to purchase Sunday Ticket.

“All of this crap is confusing, but this is particularly confusing,” Giannotti said. “Does that mean that you have to have YouTube TV and sign up for their subscription before you can sign up for Sunday Ticket?”

“Yeah, I would assume so,” Esiason said. “You have the free app on your phone. You can also sign up for an additional aspect of the app.”

After a back and forth between producers and update anchor Jerry Recco disagreed on what the “al a carte” pricing meant for the package, the record was set straight that you can add-on NFL Sunday Ticket to your YouTube TV bundle similarly to that of Showtime or HBO.

“That makes a little more sense,” Giannotti said.

Later, Recco questioned what the move means for DirecTV.

“They’re in a lot of trouble,” Recco said.

“They should hire Sam Bankman-Fried to turn things around for them,” Giannotti joked, to which Esiason replied “he’ll be back in town soon”, referring to the disgraced cryptocurrency exchange founder of FTX, who is currently in federal custody facing charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.

Drive Time Metrics Secures In-Car Radio Patent For Data Analyzation

BNM Staff
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Drive Time Metrics Secures In-Car Radio Patent For Data Analyzation

Rhode Island-based Drive Time Metrics has secured a sixth patent, the latest to monitor in-vehicle media content to provide data on listening and viewing habits from consumers.

“More audio is consumed in vehicles than any other listening location and, now that cars are getting connected, audio/video and other media data collected from vehicles can provide comprehensive analytics at mass scale,” Drive Time Metrics CEO Rod McKenzie said.

“Media data collected from vehicles can have many uses including measuring audience, targeting ads, and measuring ad effectiveness. The potential scale of this data is of critical importance to the audio industry, especially for broadcasting which still represents the majority of in-car listening.”

Drive Time Metrics currently has the ability to measure and report data on both AM/FM radio, as well as the largest digital platforms like Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Pandora.

“In audio, we are moving to a world of large-scale census data, rather than small-scale samples, similar to what is already happening to TV/video measurement,” said McKenzie.

NFL, Google Announce YouTube TV New Official Home of NFL Sunday Ticket

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NFL, Google Announce YouTube TV New Official Home of NFL Sunday Ticket

The NFL and Google have officially announced the NFL Sunday Ticket package will air on YouTube TV beginning for the 2023 season.

The partnership was much-rumored earlier this week after talks between the league and Apple reportedly broke down. According to reports, Google will pay the NFL roughly $2 billion per season to host the service.

“We’re excited to bring NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels and usher in a new era of how fans across the United States watch and follow the NFL,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “For a number of years we have been focused on increased digital distribution of our games and this partnership is yet another example of us looking towards the future and building the next generation of NFL fans.”

The package launched in 1994 exclusively on DirecTV, where it has stayed until this season concludes. NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers will not need a subscription to YouTube TV to access the service, while YouTube TV subscribers can add-on Sunday Ticket for an additional cost. Details on what the service would cost on a new provider were not made available.

“YouTube has long been a home for football fans, whether they’re streaming live games, keeping up with their home team, or watching the best plays in highlights,” said Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube. “Through this expanded partnership with the NFL, viewers will now also be able to experience the game they love in compelling and innovative ways through YouTube TV or YouTube Primetime Channels. We’re excited to continue our work with the NFL to make YouTube a great place for sports lovers everywhere.”

One of the issues presented by hosting the service on a digital platform is the potential for bars, restaurants, and other establishments to still feature the service. In a statement, the NFL said it will work with YouTube to “determine additional ways to support distribution of NFL Sunday Ticket in commercial establishments”.

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