CNN has announced the second season of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? will begin early in 2023.
The 10-week season will begin airing on HBO Max on January 6th, 2023 and the best portions of the interviews will air on CNN beginning on Sunday, January 8th.
“I’ve loved bringing both HBO Max and CNN audiences these honest, timely conversations in the first season of our show,” Wallace said in a statement. “Our guests have made news, offered surprising revelations, been their authentic selves and shared touching anecdotes, really allowing people to get to know them. It’s been so much fun to get a chance to reinvent the wheel in collaboration with two storied brands, and I’m thrilled that the show has been resonating so strongly with our viewers.”
Wallace concluded the first season of the show — that featured interviews with the likes of Mark Cuban, Judd Apatow, Alex Rodriguez, and Shania Twain — with interviews of Quentin Tarantino, Billy Porter, and Kara Swisher.
According to a release from CNN, season two will “continue to feature guests across the spectrum of news, sports, entertainment, art and culture.”
The summer racing series owned by racing legend Tony Stewart was launched in 2021 in conjunction with CBS to air in primetime on Saturdays, featuring former racing stars of NASCAR, IndyCar, and other series on short-tracks around the country. The series is tailor-made for TV, working within a two-hour television window with breaks in the action covered by feature segments on the competitors.
On ESPN, the series will be used to revive the Thursday Night Thunder branding the network used for previous motorsports programming.
“Thursday Night Thunder is where guys like me, who were just starting our careers in USAC, got the chance to make a name for ourselves because of its presence on ESPN,” Stewart said. “It’s great to see Thursday Night Thunder return, but to also be a part of it all over again with SRX.”
The addition of SRX is an expansion of motorsports programming for the worldwide leader. ESPN currently airs the entire F1 schedule, and has previously aired NASCAR, CART, IndyCar, and USAC events.
“SRX has been an impressive property in its first two seasons and has produced competitive and exciting action,” said ESPN President of Programming and Original Content Burke Magnus. “We look forward to bringing live racing back to summertime Thursday nights on ESPN with SRX.”
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the BNM Top 20 presented by Steve Stone Voiceovers. This series runs a total of seven days, and it is designed to recognize the News/Talk radio format’s top shows, hosts, brands and programmers for the 2022 calendar year. To make sure you stay informed on each day’s results please bookmark our website, follow BNM on Twitter at @BNMStaff, visit us on Facebook at Barrett News Media or sign up for our daily newsletter, ‘The Rundown‘ by clicking here. The support is greatly appreciated.
The seven categories examined during the course of the next week and a half will include the industry’s top national shows and original digital shows, as well as the best morning, midday and afternoon shows, and the best stations and programmers in both Major (#1-#20) and Mid-Sized (#21-Below) markets. We separate large and mid-sized cities since the opportunities and challenges are different between the two. Not included in our lists are NPR brands and shows. Maybe down the line we’ll change that or add an extra category but for now, terrestrial outlets are our focus.
As a whole, the News/Talk radio format is offered on more than two thousand stations. Only the country format is larger in size. We try our best to make sure the top shows, hosts, programmers and brands are listed for voting consideration and allow room for our voters to add a nominee if for some reason they’re not listed on our document.
As you review these results, please keep in mind that they represent the collective opinions of forty four industry programmers and executives. I want to thank each and every individual who took the time to participate in our voting process. Altogether we had representation from fifteen companies and thirty six different cities, which was excellent.
As it pertains to the voting, here are a few things to be aware of.
#1 – Our executive voters were asked to pick their Top 20 selections for each category based on a few key factors; quality of show (ear test), originality, ability to entertain-inform-connect across multiple platforms, ratings success, clearance (national shows) and industry buzz. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have different tastes, work for different groups, and value certain factors higher than others. This isn’t a perfect system but it’s the best one we’ve been able to create to showcase the industry’s best. Having done this for seven years for the sports talk format, we’re going to stick with it until another approach makes more sense.
#2 – Our executive panel consists of program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Beasley, Hubbard, Good Karma Brands, Cox Media Group, Radio One, Alpha, Bonneville, FOX News Radio, Hearst, Federated Media, Zimmer Communications, and Westwood One. We involve a large number of people in order to receive feedback from all parts of the country, and to avoid the results heavily favoring one company.
#3 – A total of 49 shows were included on our document for voting consideration in the National News/Talk Shows category.
And that now brings us to today’s category – National News/Talk Shows. These programs have the largest reach, are distributed by some of the biggest and best networks in the business, and in some cases, they even broadcast on digital and television outlets. Many that appear on this list are responsible for generating strong ratings and revenue growth and digital impact, and as we kick off the series, it’s my pleasure to announce the first winner of our debut series.
Congratulations is in order for The Sean Hannity Show. Sean’s program received strong support from our voters, picking up thirteen (13) 1st place votes, the most of any program in any category on this year’s BNM Top 20 of 2022. BNM congratulates Sean, his radio team, Julie Talbott and the entire Premiere Networks staff on receiving this year’s top honor, as well as every other show which earned a spot on this year’s list.
Now, here are the full results of “BNM’s Top 20 National News/Talk Shows of 2022!”
Additional Notes:
Sean Hannity finished 71 points in front of Clay & Buck, earning a category high thirteen (13) first place votes. George Noory had the second most first place votes with five (5).
Spots 21-25 were occupied by Guy Benson, Megyn Kelly, Chad Benson, Charlie Kirk and Todd Starnes.
The closest contests saw Ben Shapiro edge George Noory by 2 points, and Michael Berry hold off Guy Benson by 3 points.
Of the 49 shows eligible for consideration this year, thirteen (13) received at least one 1st place vote.
Here is the remaining schedule for the BNM Top 20 of 2022.
Tuesday December 13 = BNM Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Morning Shows of 2022
Wednesday December 14 = BNM Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Midday Shows of 2022
Thursday December 15 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Afternoon Shows of 2022
Friday December 16 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Program Directors of 2022
Monday December 19 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Stations of 2022
Tuesday December 20 = The Top 20 Original N/T Digital Shows of 2022
A reminder, BNM will have a big announcement following the Top 20 series on Wednesday December 21st. Make sure to visit the website that day to learn what else we’re up to.
Taylor — who rose to prominence at ESPN during her work on College GameDay — joined NBC last year after fallout from a leaked phone call of Rachel Nichols claiming the only reason Taylor had been given a bigger role at the network was due to the color of her skin. Nichols later apologized on-air before she also departed ESPN.
In addition to her work on Football Night in America, Taylor also worked on NBC’s coverage of both the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics.
NBC will be home to the Big Ten’s primetime slate beginning in 2023.
According to the release of the latest Twitter Files, brands of some of the most influential conservative pundits were blacklisted and flagged for alleged misinformation.
What we may never know is what role, if any, Twitter suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story may have played in the 2020 election.
On Friday, “The Five” co-host Jesse Watters discussed the role that censorship plays in American culture and the possible fallout from such actions.
“Let’s look at what the children had to suffer through,” said Watters via Fox News Digital. “If you have a legitimate doctor that’s been at Stanford Medical School and you’re in a pandemic that we haven’t seen in a hundred years and he’s trying to give his opinion, his medical opinion about important information to try to save the lives of children, the mental health of children and that’s being censored.”
Watters said when you run a billion-dollar corporation like Twitter and you align yourself with the government, you’re “poisoning the country and you’re stealing people’s votes.”
“This is the biggest scandal that I’ve ever lived through and no one in the mainstream media is treating it with any respect,” he added.
Journalist Bari Weiss released the second installment of the Twitter Files last week, which shed light on how the platform’s former management team went about blacklisting and flagging certain high-profile accounts.
Some of the names included syndicated radio hosts Dan Bongino and Charlie Kirk, the Libs of TikTok, and world-renowned health policy professor Jay Bhattacharya.
On Friday, author and radio host Bill O’Reilly weighed in on the latest developments during his regular weekly appearance on “The Glenn Beck Show.”
O’Reilly said the important part of the story is that the Republican House, which has promised to investigate social media’s influence on the 2020 election, can now subpoena the people responsible for blacklisting and flagging prominent accounts.
“That is a colossal advantage for people who want to know the truth,” he said.
O’Reilly called Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter a “great thing for America,” whether you like Musk or not.
“So, what he’s basically done is said, I know how corrupt this company is and was. Now, I’m going to embarrass the previous people by dripping out terrible things that Twitter did,” remarked O’Reilly.
O’Reilly stated that former Twitter employees most likely won’t face charges due to election interference but that the American people will know that the “fix is in.”
“American people know about 20 percent of what is happening to them,” O’Reilly added. “We all walk around in a free society, and we think we know how our government is working and things evolve, and we don’t. It’s at a crisis level now because it’s easy to suppress a story like Hunter Biden.”
Outkick founder and syndicated radio host Clay Travis said shifting business models have altered the way media consumption occurs. During his radio show Friday, Travis cited The New York Times and The Washington Post as examples of outlets that feed narratives to keep their millions of subscribers engaged in their product.
“The Clay & Buck” host said newspapers across the country have had to shift their business imperative following the evolution of classified advertisements, which were once the dominant stream of revenue for the traditional paper.
“So back in the day, if you wanted to buy a puppy, or a used car, or a place to rent, the classified ads charged you by every line and by every word, they made money hand over fist,” said Travis. “Then Craig’s List came along and that’s the evolution of the business.”
Travis said The New York Times was one of the first newspapers that promised to cover news from a neutral perspective.
“Suddenly, they were able to sell their newspaper to everybody in the city whether you were a Democrat or a Republican, it was the newspaper of record in the city it was not partisan,” said Travis. “And then the radio came along. Suddenly we had this popular culture emerge where people could just gather around the radio.”
Travis said there was a 50-year period where radio created a vacuum for consumers that ended in the early 1980s when cable news rose to prominence.
“Cable was all about serving niche audiences,” he said. “ESPN for sports, CNN back in the day used to try and serve everyone for news.”
Travis stated that as cable news evolved and Craig’s List diverted most advertising revenue away from newspapers, companies were forced to turn to a subscription-based model.
“The circulation business collapses with the internet and instead of selling advertisements designed to appeal to the largest possible audience, the new business imperative becomes that we have to get subscribers digitally,” he said. “If you look at the numbers, the New York Times and the Washington Post overwhelmingly have left-wing subscribers.”
Travis added because The New York Times and The Washington Post cater to mostly Democrats, there is an insatiable appetite for news reported from one side.
“They are not in the business of telling you the truth,” he said. “They’re in the business of telling left-wingers what they want to hear.”
I once had a very wise co-worker tell me to live life, and see life, in the “gray”. That many people would find everything black and white, and if you could see the gray, you had a leg up on others. I’m not certain there’s a more black-and-white human being — and radio host — than Dan Dakich.
Dakich departed The Fan in Indianapolis late last week. If you believe the reporting of The Indianapolis Star’s Gregg Doyel, it was a long time coming. The sports columnist revealed earlier this summer that it was a forgone conclusion Dakich would be fired by new station owner Radio One for telling “tasteless” jokes in the presence of his station’s new leadership group at a golf outing that left them “mortified”.
What you see with Dan Dakich is what you get: He is brash, opinionated, and unconcerned with your opinion of him.
If you were to draw a line from Bowling Green, Ohio — where Dakich worked as a head coach for a decade at Bowling Green State University — and Indianapolis, I live not far from the midway point of that “as-the-crow-flies” line.
I have never met Dakich, but know those who have worked with him — both as a coach and a radio host — and a small smattering of his former players. Opinions of Dakich are as black-and-white as his personality. One former player believes Dakich’s leadership, stewardship, and investment in his life is the sole reason he has been somewhat successful in his professional career. I know another that — if Dakich were on fire — wouldn’t pee on him to put the fire out.
Dan Dakich is everything I should dislike in a sports radio host. Obnoxious, boisterous, unrelenting, close-minded, needlessly controversial, and often believing he’s the smartest man in the room.
And yet, I can’t help but find myself drawn to him, as so many of his loyal listeners are. There’s a somewhat admirable quality — in a day-and-age of ever-changing principles — for his steadfast and firm stance in what he believes. There’s simply is no ambiguity on what he believes. Wait around long enough, and he’ll let his feelings known.
For each person celebrating his radio demise, there was an equal and opposite reaction of Indianapolis-area listeners lamenting the fact that the market’s strongest, most opinionated voice would no loner be heard every afternoon.
When the news came down Thursday afternoon that Dakich would depart the station, I can’t say I was surprised. Flatly, Doyel reported Dakich would be fired, eventually, in a July column detailing his falling out with the former college basketball coach. And I can’t imagine his radio bosses were thrilled that it’s marquee host had also begun a digital show — Don’t @ Me with OutKick — that mixed his outspoken sports opinions with his outspoken conservative political beliefs. It was, frankly, a relationship destined for a breakup from the beginning.
Doyel made compelling — and frankly fair — points about Dakich’s shift from opinionated radio host to self-absorbed media darling. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel as if he was one of the best sports radio hosts in America. I remember being asked by a representative from a national sports radio network who they should consider hiring from an open mid-day slot. Without hesitation, I responded “Dan Dakich”.
Even after all of his controversies, of which there have been many, I remained a Dakich fan, working on separating the art from the artist. Dakich has undeniably stepped in it a time or two, but has also done numerous works of charity throughout the Indianapolis-area. The same can be said for his time in Bowling Green. There are several off-the-record stories of families in the city finding unexpected money or gifts at Christmas time that wouldn’t have had it otherwise, with the message of “everyone deserves to have a great Christmas” and a wink and a nod with an index finger over a closed mouth.
And yet, he has completely lied about some situations or things he has said on the air, and treated those in the Indianapolis media completely unfairly. His running one-sided feud with ESPN.com reporter Stephen Holder — who claims he’s never even met Dakich let alone spoken to him — is puzzling. His ongoing feud with writers from The Star have featured moments so unpleasant that they’d make Ted Cruz’s appearance on The View look like a church service.
So…who is Dan Dakich? Is he the obnoxious loud-mouth on the radio or is he the community-minded, people person who enjoys helping those around him succeed? How should I feel about him? Should I be able to separate the person from the acts?
Honestly, I don’t know, but — like most every other topic — the truth is probably somewhere in the gray.
As a midfielder, Cassidy Hubbarth was responsible for contributing on offense and defense for the Evanston Wildkits soccer team – and she had to maintain her stamina in order to perform at a high level. Thanks to her play and that of her teammates, the group won the Illinois High School Association Class AA State Championship for the 2001-02 season. Throughout her time in high school, Hubbarth played more than just soccer, as she also developed her skills on the hardwood and followed the Chicago Bulls at the height of their dynasty led by Hall of Fame guard Michael Jordan.
Even though she enjoyed playing sports, Hubbarth knew from her time in middle school that she wanted to pursue a career in sports media. One day when she and her family were watching Fox NFL Sunday, Hubbarth found herself captivated by sideline reporter Pam Oliver and her role on the broadcast.
“I remember seeing her do a talkback interview with one of the players and it just kind of finally opened my eyes to, ‘I’m not just watching the game but I’m actually enjoying coverage about the game,’” Hubbarth recalled. “That’s the moment I decided that this is what I want to do. I honestly don’t think I thought of any other career after that point.”
Although she was an athlete, Hubbarth made sure she maximized the opportunities available to her at Evanston Township High School to hone her broadcasting skills. She was a member of the radio, television and film club in the school and also did play-by-play for boys basketball home games when she had time in her schedule.
Hubbarth had always looked to attend Northwestern University located in her hometown of Evanston, Ill.; however, her family did not have the necessary means to send her there. Because of this, she went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a freshman on several grants and worked at both the school’s radio and television stations. That year was especially difficult though because of her father’s diagnosis with throat cancer – and Hubbarth prioritized being there for her family through the arduous circumstance.
Fortunately, her father recovered from the disease and is a cancer survivor, but the hardship motivated Hubbarth and her family to find a way to afford tuition at Northwestern University. Once she was accepted, Hubbarth officially transferred as a sophomore to study within its acclaimed Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
During her time at the university, Hubbarth was a member of the Northwestern News Network and volunteered her time in the athletic department helping stream football press conferences. It was her earliest experience in digital media, an expansive niche in the industry that has been prominent throughout her career.
She received her first two jobs out of school from the university’s job fair – one as a traffic reporter and producer at WMAQ NBC5 Network in Chicago; the other as a producer and host for Intersport, a sports production company that created short content for Sprint Exclusive Entertainment on flip phones. Immediately working in both news and sports media, she gained unique perspectives and recognized the lack of dichotomy between these two ostensibly contrasting sectors of the industry.
“I think they kind of learn from each other [about] how to collect the right information and what question to ask [while] trying to capture the right emotions of certain stories,” Hubbarth said. “When it comes to that early part of my career, it was just kind of a grind doing traffic and really not knowing where the hell I was going but trying to tell people places to avoid. Then also working [in] sports media at Intersport, [I was] trying to figure out how sports media was changing digitally.”
Cassidy Hubbarth has been with ESPN since 2010 working on several signature properties, most notably the NBA. (Photo: ESPN Press Room)
Hubbarth joined Comcast SportsNet Chicago in 2008 working as an associate producer with wide ranging tasks and responsibilities. The movement from optimizing sports stories and information for nonlinear digital platforms to contributing to live television broadcasts gave her a new perspective on the ferocity and efficiency required when working on a deadline.
Additionally, it helped her develop aplomb in these types of situations, burgeoning her overall versatility. She describes it as her “grad. school,” expanding on what she learned and experienced as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University.
“Cutting voiceovers; writing shot sheets; making sure I was on deadline and making sure there were no typos in the scripts for the anchors; these were things that I learned in school,” Hubbarth said. “As far as having the intensity and the pressure of live shows happening, that experience taught me a lot about live TV essentially and all the work that goes into putting together a live broadcast.”
Starting in fall 2009 though, she only worked at the outlet four days of each week, ending each Wednesday by taking a flight from Chicago to Atlanta This was to work her other job overseeing social media for SEC Gridiron Live on Fox Sports South, a studio show previewing the upcoming college football action in the Southeastern Conference. Then she would travel to an SEC school to be among the fans and film “Cassidy on Campus,” a digital segment for the show giving viewers an inside look at the game atmosphere.
“To be exposed to SEC football was a different beast and understanding that fandom and being able to capture that fandom on social media which is really what social media has done for sports fans – it’s allowed them to have a voice and a say basically in the coverage of their teams,” Hubbarth said. “….I created comment sections on our Facebook pages and I was trying to engage with viewers and break down that wall between viewers and our show.”
While she enjoyed the early part of her career working both in front of and behind the camera, Hubbarth always coveted covering basketball and bringing viewers stories to enhance broadcast coverage. It is what enthralled her to sports media in the first place – and she knew ESPN would be just the place to do it. Out of college, Hubbarth had considered applying to join the production assistant program at the network and moving to Bristol, Conn., but instead decided to take opportunities closer to home that allowed her to get on the air.
During her time working at both Comcast SportsNet Chicago and Fox Sports South, Hubbarth felt she had the momentum necessary to move upwards in the industry, perhaps at a national level. Her feelings were validated when she received a call from ESPN inquiring about her interest to join the network as an independent contractor to help develop its digital platforms. Once she auditioned and subsequently landed the job, she moved to Bristol, Conn. within a month and put the wheels in motion to excel in the next chapter of her career.
“It happened quick; it happened fast,” Hubbarth said. “….[I was] basically hosting the simulcast of our college football games and college basketball games on ESPN3 before we had the app. As ESPN was launching their digital streaming network, I was essentially the face of it.”
From her early days at ESPN, Hubbarth established professional relationships with her colleagues and found mentors to help ease the transition in leaving her home market to join a distinctive, national brand. When Hubbarth was young, she found inspiration for watching Erin Andrews and Michele Tafoya work as sideline reporters on NFL broadcasts, reporting on what would otherwise perhaps be concealed storylines.
At ESPN, Stuart Scott, a longtime SportsCenter anchor who passed away from appendiceal cancer in 2015, had a profound impact on Hubbarth and encouraged her through his work ethic and dedication to the craft to endure and chase her dreams.
“I think so many times when I would be talking to him in the hallways at ESPN and he would not be feeling well and dealing with just all the emotions going in his head with his daughters and his health,” Hubbarth said. “He would step on to that studio floor, the light would go on and he would absolutely give it his all until the light went off.
“You could see that it was taking so much out of him, but it was also giving him so much that he took so much pride and so much joy into this business – which is such a gift to be able to do. I try to remind myself of that in times where I’m dragging or not feeling grateful for the opportunity I have.”
After hosting various shows across the network including Highlight Express with Jorge Andres; SportsNation with Christian Fauria and Jarrett Payton; The Word with Jemele Hill and Sarah Spain; and various digital series including This Day in Sports History, College Football 411 and NBA 411, Hubbarth made the move to covering the Association on a full-time basis.
In 2013, then-ESPN NBA coordinating producer Bruce Bernstein gave her the chance to host NBA studio coverage on both NBA Tonight and NBA Coast to Coast. At this stage of her career, Hubbarth was living out her dream – covering basketball nationally and serving as a vital part of the network to guide discussion and debate, informing and entertaining viewers.
ESPN NBA host and reporter Cassidy Hubbarth has grown into her role with the network’s coverage. (Photo: ESPN Images)
Over the years, she has worked with various analysts on these programs including P.J. Carlesimo, Chauncey Billups and Ohm Youngmisuk, and helped broaden her skill set on linear programming.
“The NBA is my favorite sport and it’s always been my favorite sport,” Hubbarth said. “….When I look back on my career and I think, ‘What is the time when I was feeling at my best?,’ it was on the NBA Tonight desk.”
Although both shows taped their final episodes in 2016, Hubbarth has continued to find opportunities to appear on the linear side of programming. Over the years, Hubbarth has served as a guest host across ESPN’s programming portfolio on shows including Get Up, First Take and SportsCenter, and has also contributed to Mike & Mike, a discontinued sports talk radio show that featured Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg and was simulcast on ESPN2.
“I’ve hosted basically every single show at ESPN except for NFL Countdown and College GameDay,” Hubbarth said. “I feel confident I can host anything in terms of seriousness or as formal as it needs to be…. I like to have a little bit more fun; have it be a little bit more loose; have it be more casual; more conversational. That’s typically my style.”
Part of that confidence was fostered in 2015 when Hubbarth was assigned to host Baseball Tonight. While she possessed knowledge about the game of baseball growing up as a fan of the Chicago Cubs, it was not her strength. As a result, the initial days hosting the show engendered anxiety resulting in her experiencing eye twitches because she never felt prepared enough for the show, which operated without a rundown.
Thanks to the team of analysts, producers and other ESPN personnel, Hubbarth assimilated into the role and consequently, started to feel increased sanguinity with each repetition.
“It got to a point at the end of the summer where I felt really, really confident that I could handle that desk. I was no Karl Ravech out there – I’m not saying I was good at it – but I think I did a decent job and I think I served the viewers, and I walked away from that experience very proud of myself. If I just work hard, put my mind to it and respect the role, I can do any job they put in front of me.”
Following that summer, in which she simultaneously hosted NFL Insiders and NFL Live, Hubbarth began hosting college football coverage on ESPN and ABC. She also explored the aural space, appearing on the NBA Lockdown podcast with Jorge Sedano and Amin Elhassan and on the first all-female ESPN podcast, The Hoop Collective, on Mondays with Ramona Shelburne and Chiney Ogwumike.
Whether it has been LeBron James, Luka Dončić or Damian Lillard, Hubbarth has interviewed a countless number of NBA players, coaches and team personnel before, after and sometimes during games. In having this type of access, she strives to enrich viewers with contextual information through enterprising stories and using her journalistic instincts to identify focal points, applying her vast preparation to the specific nature of her job.
“It’s understanding what teams are dealing with and making sure as the game’s going on, how those stories can best be told that compliments the viewing experience and doesn’t distract from it,” Hubbarth said. “That’s always a delicate dance of doing sideline because you can prepare a million stories, but if it’s not in the natural flow of the game, then you’re not really helping the broadcast; you’re just helping yourself.”
The NBA is genuinely a year-round league, piquing interest from consumers whether or not games are happening. Social media is a new content avenue that has given fans unprecedented levels of freedom to curate the content they are exposed to and consume on a daily basis.
Moreover, it has afforded them the chance to consume content related to basketball culture, something that was, for a long time, principally covered through magazines and other sports lifestyle media outlets. Today, the culture of the game has become just as prominent as the games themselves; therefore, consumers are hungry for content pursuant to their interests.
ESPN+ is the company’s direct-to-consumer subscription-based streaming platform, and Hubbarth is a regular part of its NBA coverage hosting various digital shows related to the Association.
Before its launch in the second quarter of 2018, she was hosting shows designed for social media platforms, including SportsCenter on Snapchat and Buckets on Twitter, the latter which was co-hosted by Rob Perez. She also hosted SneakerCenter, a seven-part mini-series on ESPN+ underscoring the influence of sneaker culture in basketball at large.
“There’s so much content outside the lines of the game that it just continues to snowball for NBA fans who just can’t get enough,” Hubbarth said. “I think that’s at the heart of the success and then also the clips that you see on Twitter are easily digestible.”
Starting in 2018, ESPN+ launched Hoop Streams, a live, digital pregame show that takes place on-site supplementing its linear, national broadcast coverage before select matchups. Hubbarth has been the host of the show since its inception and is joined by a rotating cast of the network’s personalities, some of whom include Chiney Ogwumike, Kendrick Perkins, Gary Striewski and Jorge Sedano.
Before the suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season, the show was averaging 1.6 million streams per episode, reaching an all-time high of 2.4 million streams in February 2020.
Cassidy Hubbarth has hosted virtually every show at ESPN during her run with the company. (Photo: ESPN Images)
This season, Hubbarth has helped launch her third digital show with ESPN/ESPN+ in the last five years; this one is called NBA Crosscourt. Co-hosted by Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, the production is pre-recorded and streams on ESPN+ on Wednesdays and Fridays, bringing fans focused digital coverage of the league.
Moreover, the program utilizes ESPN’s coast-to-coast network of NBA contributors to provide viewers with a genuine panorama across the league featuring compendious local and national perspectives tailored to the wide array of fan interests.
“We are following the trends and culture of the NBA – and the culture of talking about the NBA,” Hubbarth said. “….Our main goal is not to inform; it’s to engage. That’s what this show is; it’s just to engage the NBA fan in you who is informed and taking [very] informed viewership to engage with just your excitement about the league.”
Last season, Hubbarth continued working on ESPN’s coverage of the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, an exhibition contest featuring former NBA stars and personalities from the worlds of pop culture, sports and entertainment. She had worked as the event’s sideline reporter and host for many years, but largely interviewed event participants throughout the broadcast. This year, she continued to host coverage but, unlike in years past, provided play-by-play amid conversation with analysts Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson.
“Us having fun on the air watching, I think, kind of breeds hopefully [the] viewers having fun watching it,” Hubbarth said. “That’s the whole point; the whole weekend is just the celebration of the league; a celebration of basketball, and…. I think not taking it [too] seriously is part of the way of being professional about it.”
As Cassidy Hubbarth continues hosting and reporting for ESPN, she looks forward to continuing to pioneer the growing emphasis on digital, direct-to-consumer content taking place throughout the sports media landscape. Launching her career working primarily behind-the-scenes amplified her viewpoint of the industry, and she makes it a point to understand everyone’s roles and the way sports media is changing at large.
“Take a professional approach just to how this business continues to grow because that will give you a leg up as employers are trying to figure out how they can continue to gain new viewers because that’s what everyone is looking for,” Hubbarth said. “….I had a genuine interest in how media was changing digitally. It allowed me to not just ride a wave, but to be a part of the wave.”
If you Google “Adam Copeland”, the first thing that comes up is “Adam Copeland…Edge-Canadian professional Wrestler.”
Not that people would directly confuse the former WWE “Rated R Superstar” with sports radio host Adam Copeland, but sometimes there is a bit of confusion.
“I’d say maybe once a week or once every two weeks I would get tagged on Twitter or on Instagram on something that was intended for him,” said Copeland.
“I’m 33 and I grew up in the ‘Attitude Era’. Me, my brother, and sister were huge WWF and WWE fans when we were kids. I was probably 12 or 13 when we found out that Edge had the same first and last name as me. I’ve tweeted at him a couple of times and he’s never responded but he’s interacted with the tweets.”
Back in the day, Edge and Christian were one of the best tag teams in WWE and today, Edge’s namesake Adam Copeland is part of another great team co-hosting Tolbert and Copes with Tom Tolbert weekdays from 2:00-6:00 PM on KNBR in San Francisco.
Copeland feels privileged an honored to be working with a Bay Area legend.
“Tom is a legend and has been doing this for 25 years or so,” said Copeland. “He has the NBA background and he’s what I think a lot of people think of in the Bay Area when they think of sports talk radio because he’s just like one of the guys. He’s a dude drinking beer and hanging out watching sports and more than anything a fan first than a former professional athlete.”
Copeland started at KNBR as an intern in 2009 and he had been hosting The Leadoff Spot on KNBR from 5:00-6:00 AM weekdays while also serving as a producer, board op and on-air personality for the Murph & Mac morning show.
When the opportunity was presented to him to co-host afternoon drive with Tolbert, Copeland admitted had some butterflies.
“I was really nervous about the gig,” said Copeland. “I never hosted a show with him. He’s the one guy I never filled in with. When they offered me the job, my first reaction was what does Tom think? He was intrigued by the idea and was looking for a different sound. He’s taken me under his wing and has been really good to me.”
Growing up a Giants, 49ers, and Warriors fan in the East Bay city of San Leandro, Copeland was destined — in a way — to be in sports radio. It’s like a scene right out of the movie My Cousin Vinny when Mona Lisa Vito is asked about her qualifications and expertise in automotive knowledge.
“My father was a mechanic. His father was a mechanic. My mother’s father was a mechanic. My three brothers are mechanics. Four uncles on my father’s side are mechanics.”
In the case of Adam Copeland…
“My dad was a radio host in the Bay Area for a long time and my sister is a journalist,” said Copeland. “My dad is also a comedian and a playwright. My brother is a musician.”
And so, Copeland has joined them in the entertainment industry.
He wanted a career in sports but just had to find the right way to be involved. Copeland was a pretty good baseball player for Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, California where he also played basketball, but becoming a pro athlete was something that was not in the cards.
So, he looked at other options.
“I want to be involved in sports,” said Copeland. “So, I took a kinesiology class in high school and I was like yeah, I’m not going to be a sports trainer. There’s no way I’m going to school for all of this medical background stuff we’ve got to do and so I started putting my head to it.”
When Copeland went to Chabot College, a junior college in Hayward, California, he started working at KCRH, the college’s radio station with a small FM signal that didn’t leave the parking lot.
“I was thinking I’m going to throw to a commercial break but there’s no commercial break,” said Copeland.
Working at that college station paved the way for Copeland to embark on a career in radio.
“I think once I got into college right out of high school is when I started making that decision that media and sports media is something that I wanted to do.”
From there, Copeland would go on to major in broadcast journalism at San Francisco State University.
And now, he’s co-hosting afternoon drive on an all-sports station that he grew up listening to and working with established veterans that inspired him to get into the business.
“It’s pretty special, said Copeland. “When I grew up in the East Bay and I learned to drive, I didn’t listen to music at all. I was never a music fan and I hardly ever went to concerts. I was super into sports radio so they were guys that I would listen to when I was learning to drive or I was driving my sister to high school. To work with some guys who are older than me and who I legitimately grew up looking up to is extremely special.”
And it’s from those veteran talk show hosts where Copeland learned what it takes to be a successful sports talk show host. Listeners tune in to get the hosts takes on what is happening in the world of sports, but there’s also an element of entertainment that makes for good radio.
Copeland knows exactly what his role is.
“I try to say frequently that I am not a journalist,” said Copeland. “We’re talking heads. We’re entertainment for the most part. While I do think it’s my responsibility when you’re reporting facts to report facts themselves and then it’s my job to give opinion on that and commentary on that. That’s the entertaining aspect to make good radio.”
As the calendar is set to flip from 2022 to 2023, Copeland is hoping that a successful first year in afternoon drive leads to bigger and better things in the new year.
Like climbing to the top of the mountain of his time slot.
“Be number one is first and foremost,” said Copeland. “To me, Tom Tolbert is such a big star that there’s no reason that he shouldn’t be number one. That’s our number one goal for sure and it’s about making KNBR the sustainable brand and carrying on the sustainable brand that KNBR has been.”
And beyond the success he’s enjoyed in radio, Copeland has his sights set on some other platforms in sports broadcasting.
“My hope is also to make the jump into television,” said Copeland. “I would love to get into some baseball and television stuff. I would love to be an analyst or a studio guy in that regard.”
And of course, there’s that piece of unfinished business of trying to meet Edge and maybe, just maybe, the time will come when Copeland meets the former wrestling star who shares the same real name.
“It’s something I always felt was pretty cool because I was into wrestling as a kid,” said Copeland. “I’m still hoping one day to get a chance to meet him. The Rated R Superstar’ is a pretty sweet nickname. I’ll roll with that.”
Right now, Adam Copeland is rolling with an afternoon drive show on a radio station he grew up listening to. Working with a Bay Area legend in Tom Tolbert, Copeland is doing his part to give KNBR a big “Edge” in the afternoons.
