The debut of Thursday Night Football was a ratings success for Amazon Prime Video. The game, which featured Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers delivered 11.8 million viewers exclusively to the streaming service.
In addition to viewers on the stream, another 602,000 watched in Los Angeles on FOX 11, while 555,000 watched in Kansas City on KSHB 41, the local NBC affiliate. Amazon’s feed of the game was also available to more than 300,000 bars and businesses through a partnership with DirecTV. Altogether, Amazon averaged a total audience of 15.3 million according to a company press release.
“By every measure, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video was a resounding success,” shared Jay Marine, Amazon’s global head of its sports division, in an internal note to staff.
Marine continued ”Our first exclusive TNF broadcast delivered the most watched night of primetime in the U.S. in the history of Prime Video. This is a massive achievement. During our TNF broadcast, we also saw the biggest three hours for U.S. Prime sign ups ever in the history of Amazon – including Prime Day, Cyber Monday, and Black Friday. Our measurement shows that the audience numbers exceeded all of our expectations for viewership.”
Last year’s debut of Thursday Night Football, which was exclusive to NFL Network, produced 7 million viewers. The debut of Thursday Night Football on FOX last year, which was simulcast on NFL Network, generated 15 million viewers.
Amazon Prime Video promised advertisers an audience of at least 12.5 million viewers, down from the 20 million viewers FOX would experience during its peak. According to AdAge, Amazon was asking for $500,000 per 30-second commercial, compared to the $635,000 FOX averaged.
After announcing 11 games would air locally on KTLA Tuesday, the Los Angeles Clippers and Bally Sports are continuing to negotiate a new contract after the previous deal between the pair expired earlier this summer.
According to a report from Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times, says that discussions between the two entities have and will continue, noting that only 39 of the club’s games for the upcoming season are available to Bally Sports. The Clippers will play on TNT, ESPN, ABC, or NBA TV 32 times in the 2022-2023 season, in addition to the 11 games that will air exclusively on KTLA.
The Bally Sports regional sports networks have experienced some hardships recently. According to a report published yesterday, the Sinclair-owned Diamond Sports, which owns 21 regional sports networks, could be faced with bankruptcy in “three to six months” if a buyer isn’t found. Some teams report nearly 30% of all revenue from local television rights, which the Bally Sports-branded channels claims wouldn’t be required to pay under bankruptcy protection. The New York Post reported MLB, NHL, and NBA could join together to buy the networks. 14 MLB teams, 12 NHL teams, and 16 NBA teams air their games locally on the Bally Sports networks.
A shuffle of shows has begun at 1210 WPHT in Philadelphia, as morning host Rich Zeoli will shift to afternoons, and former Philadelphia host Nick Kayal will return to the city for mornings, beginning Monday, October 3rd.
“I’m not there in the mornings for the kids, I’m not there in the evening for the kids,” Zeoli said. “Because I gotta prep and then I gotta go to bed. And in the mornings it’s on Bridget (Zeoli’s wife) to get the kids school.”
He continued by saying “I didn’t want to leave, and I’m not leaving, because I love this place. I love Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, but I have to think about my life, and I have to think about my kids, and my lifestyle, and I have to think about the future. And what the future possibilities could be for me.”
Zeoli said this was not an easy decision, but he can be a hands-on dad and husband with the move. Zeoli has three children under the age of 10. He joked if Kayal “screws up mornings” that Zeoli will “kill him in his sleep”.
Zeoli’s move to afternoons replaces The Sean Hannity Show during the 1210 WPHT lineup. The station will now be all-local from 6:00 AM-7:00 PM.
Kayal tweeted the news, saying current news anchor Dawn Stensland and co-host/1210 WPHT Brand Manager Greg Stocker will remain on the show.
Kayal began his radio career in Philadelphia working at 97.5 The Fanatic before joining SiriusXM’s Bleacher Report Radio for an afternoon show. After a stop as a columnist at Philly.com, he joined 102.5 The Game in Nashville as a morning host alongside Braden Gall and former NFL wide receiver Derrick Mason. In 2020, Kayla joined 92.9 The Game in Atlanta as a part-time host.
“I am looking forward to a new challenge,” Kayal said in his announcement on Twitter. “Going from sports talk to news/political talk. Over the last 6-7 years, but increasingly over the last 3 years, my appetite for political content has increased and now I finally get to voice my opinions on these subject matters.”
“Domestic violent extremist” is a new political buzzword, and conservative radio host and podcaster Charlie Kirk is tired of the phrase already, pointing out, in his view, it is only used to describe conservatives.
“Every time you turn on the television they’re talking about domestic violent extremists. We watch MSNBC so you don’t have to,” Kirk said. “So when they talk about domestic violent extremists, who exactly are they talking about? Well, they’re trying to create a caricature. They’re trying to create an idea that half the country is ready to start and foment a civil war. When you look at the news — especially in the last couple of days — you have to ask the question who exactly is committing the acts of domestic violent extremism? Who’s the one actually doing domestic violent extremism?”
Kirk then continued by pointing out the lack of media coverage surrounding the murder of a North Dakota teenager.
“Did you hear about the incident of somebody who hunted down a teenager based on their political views? Do you think you would have heard about the story of a 41-year-old man who got in a car and hunted down an 18-year-old, if that 18-year-old was a black Democrat? You think you would have heard about that story? Would you be getting push notifications from Apple News? Front page of CNN.com? Do you think that it would be something that would probably get denunciations from every major political leader?”
The Charlie Kirk Show host then lamented the use of the phrase and how it will be used to continue government overreach.
“We are being lectured to, non-stop, by the people in the activist press, about domestic violent extremism. They’re talking about it on cable television, they’re talking about it in congressional hearings, they’re talking about it as justification to expand and strengthen the Patriot Act, and this entire national security leviathan.”
The Toronto Raptors announced their broadcast plans for the upcoming season. The team’s radio broadcasts will be split between Sportsnet 590 The Fan and TSN 1050 Toronto. A new voice is joining the team this season as Jevohn Shepherd has been announced as the analyst for all games on 1050 AM.
Shepherd was a captain for the Michigan Wolverines in 2009. He never played in the NBA, but his pro career took him overseas with stops in Germany, Netherlands, and Spain. He was also a member of the Canadian National Team from 2005 until 2017. Now, Shepherd serves as the general manager of the Ottawa Blackjacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
“I used to be the kid up in Sprite zone,” Jevohn Shepherd said on Twitter. “This means something to me.”
Paul Jones will handle play-by-play for all 82 Toronto Raptors games. When the team is heard on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, Eric Smith will be his play-by-play partner.
Fox News’ “Outnumbered” Wednesday discussed Don Lemon’s now viral clip of a segment in which a British Royal commentator reacted to his question about slave trade reparations.
Lemon was shut down by Hillary Fordwich after he suggested that King Charles III spend his inherited wealth on “reparations for colonialism.”
“What an interesting discussion that is,” said contributor Raymond Arroyo. “Lemon didn’t expect the truth bomb to drop on him at that second.”
“England is facing rising costs of living,” Lemon said, “and you have those who are asking for reparations for colonialism … and some people want to be paid back and members of the public are wondering, why are we suffering when you have all this vast wealth? Those are legitimate concerns.”
FNC panelist Cheryl Casone accused CNN of discussing colonial reparations just hours after Queen Elizabeth II passed away.
“I mean really within an hour of her death, Christiane Amanpour started talking about reparations, at that moment. Obviously, somebody at that network is pushing that narrative and Don Lemon picked up on it,” Casone added.
Philadelphia radio host Dom Giordano insisted that Fox News Meteorologist Janice Dean not forgive former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after Kathy Lee Gifford suggested she do so.
Giordano shared his thoughts about the situation Wednesday during his show on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.
“It’s amazing how people talk about forgiveness,” said Giordano. “I would say no, Janice Dean should not forgive Andrew Cuomo.”
According to the New York Post, in the early days of the pandemic, Andrew Cuomo ordered nursing homes to accept sick patients. As a result of that decision, COVID-stricken patients encountered other senior citizens with compromised immune systems. As a result, the virus spread, and hundreds of elderly patients died.
Giordano explained that a large part of forgiveness must be admitting mistakes and some degree of repentance.
“Janice Dean’s in-laws were killed by the Cuomo policy,” he said. “It wasn’t just that people just make mistakes, you know the type of arrogance and stuff that went into this [decision]. Why in the world would I forgive that?”
Cuomo and his aides reportedly plotted to discredit Dean after she came out publicly against his nursing home decision.
Gifford told Dean on her podcast that she should “pray he (Cuomo) becomes a good Catholic like you are.”
“This forgiveness stuff in our society falls back not the people that committed the crime but the people that were bludgeoned,” Giordano said. “I think she (Dean) wants justice, I think she at least wants some admission of it.”
The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens said tweets from Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah about Queen Elizabeth II and George Floyd prove an obvious and inherent bias.
During her podcast Wednesday, Owens said Attiah tweeted that Black and brown people around the world who were subject to horrendous cruelties and economic deprivation under British colonialism are allowed to have feelings about Queen Elizabeth.
“So, the idea here is that Black Americans have been subjected to horrendous cruelties under British colonialism. Ok, I got it, Karen. Now, what were your thoughts on George Floyd?”
Owens reminded her listeners that Attiah was sympathetic to George Floyd’s case. Tweeting how she can recall when Floyd was crying out for his mom when he was under the knee of officer Derek Chauvin.
“First, fact check. I should remind you that regarding calling out for his mama, his girlfriend who was white testified on the stand that she was mama,” Owens said. “Floyd had called his girlfriend mama in previous arrests, and she testified to that fact.”
Owens said while Attiah tweeted that Floyd should receive Times “Person of The Year” Attiah branded Queen Elizabeth a terrible person in which Black people have suffered tremendously.
“George Floyd, how many arrests did he have? Nine in total?” Owens said. “If you talk about this and you’re black like me, they (media) call you a slave trader or Uncle Tom.”
Liam McHugh used to do everything on NBCSN, then the network shut down. That let him become the anchor of TNT’s NHL coverage. He talks about it all with Stephen Strom.
Milestone moments in Major League Baseball don’t happen every day. The lead up to such an occasion is usually stressful. There is a nervousness in the organization, the fan base, of course the player is feeling it and so are those getting set to call the big event. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on the team broadcasters because, these moments live forever. This call will be a part of history, just as the accomplishment by the player will be.
I started thinking about these incredible moments, when hearing that John Sterling would return to the booth for Yankees road games. The long-time voice of the New York Yankees said he was cancelling some scheduled days off, so as not to miss Aaron Judge’s pursuit of Roger Maris’ team record for home runs in a season. Judge is also flirting with a chance at the Triple Crown. I can’t say that I blame Sterling. Seems like he should be there and now he will to witness some possible history.
There have been many huge moments in the game in my lifetime, that have also been etched in my mind thanks to the call of the broadcaster. I’m going to focus on a few of them here. Each broadcaster had a story about the lead up to the moment and some shared advice for future play-by-play announcers, who may find themselves in a similar situation.
HANK AARON 715
There are two calls of Hank Aaron’s memorable home run in 1974 that are the ones best associated with the moment. Milo Hamilton’s exclamation of “There’s a new home run champion of all time, and it’s Henry Aaron.”, resonates with many, as Aaron passed Babe Ruth that night on baseball’s all-time home run list. Hamilton’s call nailed the action as it was happening in his own style.
The other call people think of, was the one by Vin Scully, who was the Dodgers announcer when Al Dowling delivered the pitch that Aaron hit over the left field wall. Scully’s style was more eloquence than fluff. He would take the historic action on the field and make it hit home to baseball fans and non-fans alike. He put things into perspective, gave them context beyond the field.
“There’s a high drive into deep left-center field, Buckner goes back… it is gone!” Scully said. He then said nothing for about 25 seconds, as Aaron rounded the bases and joined his teammates at home plate. Scully felt that hearing the crowd cheering and fireworks going off told the story better than he could. When he broke his silence, he put the moment into the proper context of the times.
“What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world.” he said.
“A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron, who was met at home plate, not only by every member of the Braves, but by his father and mother.”
Scully says he never had anything scripted for that epic home run call. “I never do that,” Scully said during an interview in 2014 on WFAN in New York. “I really concentrate on the moment… I’m afraid that if I tried to prepare, I’d be so eager to get my marvelous words out onto the air [that] I might do it prematurely and be wrong.”
With that frame of mind, there was really not a lot of pressure on the great and iconic announcer. He just let his instincts take over.
MARK McGWIRE 62
The Summer of 1998 was one of home runs. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were battling it out to see who would break Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. Each would pass the mark, but it was McGwire that got there first.
Joe Buck, was the young lead play-by-play announcer on Fox’s baseball coverage. The network was set to cover the game between the Cardinals and Cubs on September 8, 1998. McGwire had already tied Maris and was looking for the record.
Buck was asked repeatedly, for months about what he would say if he was fortunate enough to be behind the mic for the record breaker.
“I had come up with, ‘There it goes. Here it is. A new single-season home run champion with 62. Mark McGwire as he floats around the bases and into the history books.’ I even had it written on my score sheet to make sure I wouldn’t mess it up,” said Buck after that Tuesday night game.
The best laid plans theory took over, because the 62nd home run was not a majestic, ‘no-doubter’ like many expected it to be. It barely cleared the left field wall at Busch Stadium and barely stayed fair. That’s a tough home run call any day of the week, but it was so magnified that night. Even Buck, who was only 29 at the time, adapted to the situation and scrapped the script.
“Down the left-field line, is it enough? Gone! There it is, 62. Touch first, Mark, you are the new single-season home run king.” Buck then laid out to let the pictures tell the story his words couldn’t.
“That home run shot was the old script-buster. Any long, drawn-out call that you had drummed up someday away from the ballpark, you could forget it,” said Buck. “That’s one of those you watch. You keep your head up, and you hope you got it right.” He did.
BONDS 756
The 2007 baseball season had its share of moments, but maybe none bigger than one swing of Barry Bonds’ bat. Put aside whatever feelings you may have about the legitimacy of the record, instead put yourself in the position of Jon Miller who had the opportunity to call one of the biggest moments in baseball history.
He was asked about what he might say when Bonds hits No. 756?
“That’s about the 1,000th time I’ve been asked that question,” he said to the LA Times. “It all depends on the circumstances — where he hits hit, the crowd reaction. A lot of things will come into play.” Miller said at the time.
Here’s the call: “Bonds one home run away from history. And he swings! And there’s a long one, deep into the right-center field, way back there. It’s gone! A home run, into the center-field bleachers, to the left of the 421-foot marker. An extraordinary shot to the deepest part of the yard. And Barry Bonds, with 756 home runs, he has hit more home runs than anyone who has ever played the game.”
The unrehearsed call worked for him. Television voice Duane Kuiper only prepared for one aspect of the milestone home run.
“I write the number of the home run in big letters on either a piece of paper or on the counter,” he told The Oklahoman. “I always felt like the only thing you can really do to look bad is get the number wrong. If you get the number right, at least you’re off to a good start. If you get the number wrong, you can’t put that bullet back in the gun.”
PETE ROSE 4192
September 11, 1985. That was the night that Pete Rose became baseball’s all-time hits leader. He broke Ty Cobb’s 57-year-old record at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. On the call, Marty Brennaman, the long-time voice of Reds’ baseball and his partner Joe Nuxhall.
Marty: He levels the bat a couple of times. Show kicks and he fires. Rose swings…
Joe: There it is! There it is! Get down. Get down. Alright!
Marty: And there it is. Hit number 4192. A line drive single into left-center field. A clean base hit. And it is pandemonium here at Riverfront Stadium. The fireworks exploding overhead. The Cincinnati dugout has emptied. The applause continues unabated. Rose completely encircled by his teammates at first base. Bobby Brown of the San Diego Padres coming all the way from the third base dugout to personally congratulate Pete Rose. And the kind of outpouring of adulation that I don’t think you’ll ever see an athlete get any more of.
Brennaman toldthe Athletic in 2018 how he got ready for that call. Again,there was no scripting involved.
“I know guys that try to plan what they are going to say and make it clever and memorable,” Brennaman said. “I was never that good. I could never plan something like that and make it sound anything other than contrived.” Brennaman added, “We knew it was going to happen. It was just a question of when. I never gave it any thought as to what I was going to say when it happened. The only thing you hope for is that whatever you say captures the moment and you don’t stumble over your words because you know you’re going to hear it ad nauseam for the rest of your life.”
The vocabulary alone in the call made it memorable for sure.
CUBS WIN WORLD SERIES
This one was bound to happen, eventually, right? As former Cubs’ broadcaster Jack Brickhouse once famously said, “any team can have a bad century.” That was the Cubs, suffering from 108-years of championship drought. But things would change in early November 2016 in Cleveland. The Cubs and Indians (now Guardians) were going to a Game 7 to decide it all. Think about the enormity of the final call of this game. For Cleveland it would also end a drought, not quite as long as the Cubs’, but still in the several decades range, 68 years to be exact.
Pat Hughes is the longtime Cubs play-by-play announcer. He told Sports Illustrated on the precipice of the series, how he would handle a final call with the Cubs winning it all.
“Here are two different conclusions to a ballgame: One has the Cubs leading 11–0 and they win the game, the other has Kris Bryant belting a game-winning three-run home run for the victory,” Hughes said. “Those are two completely different feelings and our call will be dictated by how the game finishes. You don’t want to plan out something because it may not feel the actual feeling of the moment. You always have a few thoughts that go through your mind, and if the Cubs win the World Series, I will say something about them being the World Champions. But you don’t want to script it out word for word.”
Here’s how it turned out. “A little bouncer slowly toward Bryant. He will glove it and throw to Rizzo. It’s in time. And the Chicago Cubs win the World Series! The Cubs come pouring out of the dugout, jumping up and down like a bunch of delirious 10-year-olds. The Cubs have done it! The longest drought in the history of American sports is over, and the celebration begins.”
All the elements are there. The energy, the realization that the Cubs actually won a championship can be felt. One for the ages.
