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Chris Russo Explains How YES Simulcast Lifted Mike & The Mad Dog

BSM Staff
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This year, the YES Network will reach its 20-year anniversary. When the network began, programming was needed. Eventually, Mike and the Mad Dog with Mike Francesa and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo on WFAN was simulcasted on YES and it would remain that way until the show ended in 2008 (Francesa would be on YES until 2014). 

Before Opening Day last Friday, the YES Network aired a Yankees on YES! Welcome to Opening Day special. Part of that special featured a conversation Michael Kay had with Russo about the history of the simulcast. Russo said having the show featured on TV as well as radio gave the show a little bit of a lift.

“I think we kind of needed a little pick me up,” he said. “Remember we had done 13 years prior to YES and it was a little something different. My old boss said I’m the only guy in America who got paid for doing the same show twice. From that standpoint, it was a plus.”

Of course, being on TV had somewhat of an adjustment period for the duo, especially when it came to eating lunch. Plus, when Francesa and Russo were not getting along, it would have been easy for a loyal listener to tell, according to Russo. 

“Remember Mike and I used to have our little battles, so if you were a key listener or watcher, you can tell Mike and I weren’t getting along because we wouldn’t talk during the breaks.”

Of course, Mike and the Mad Dog was already a hit on WFAN. However, Russo felt having the visual element of the show increased its popularity outside of the tri-state area.

“You had a little more juice out of town because they couldn’t pick up the radio signal in other parts of the country. When I go to an event, they would say ‘oh, this is the 2 guys who do the show on YES’. Outside of New York, no question. You definitely felt that there was a visual element that added to your popularity.”

So, while the simulcast can sometimes hurt radio ratings, it did provide Francesa and Russo an even-wider platform to grow the show and their brand. 

WWE’s WrestleMania Sets Social Media Records, Beats The Super Bowl In Four Categories

BSM Staff
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For nearly four decades, the WWE has made a habit of smashing records with their annual event, WrestleMania. The company’s 2022 show, which took place last weekend in Dallas, Texas at AT&T Stadium was no exception. The action packed, highly entertaining two-night spectacular drew a total of 156,352 fans from all 50 states and 53 countries.

But as impressive as the WWE’s record breaking attendance and revenue numbers were, there was another story worth sharing. Vince McMahon’s company beat the NFL’s Super Bowl on social media in four key categories: impressions, engagements, video views, and video watch time according to Conviva. WWE set social media records by producing the highest total of Video Views, Hours and Impressions for any event in company history.

Here are the numbers that stood out:

  • Impressions: WWE: 2.2 Billion Impressions vs. Super Bowl: 1.8 Billion Impressions
  • Video Views: WWE: 1.1 Billion Video Views vs. Super Bowl: 618 Million Video Views
  • Video Watch Time: WWE: 13.1 Million Hours compared vs. Super Bowl 3.56 Million Hours
  • Engagements: WWE: 87 Million Engagements vs. Super Bowl: 78 Million Engagements

WWE generated a record 1.1 Billion views across Facebook, Instagram, Snap, TikTok, Twitter, which resulted in a massive 47% increase from WrestleMania 37. The company also recorded 785 Million Minutes/13 Million Hours of video consumed on social, up 29% from last year, and a record 2.2 Billion Impressions, which was 10% better than their 2021 show.

Other notable figures which stood out included the two highest engagement posts in event history. Cody Rhodes’ return to the WWE, and Pat McAfee’s match with Austin Theory, which led to follow up in-ring action with Mr. McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin were huge social media hits. Cody’s return produced a whopping 500,000 engagements. The McAfee-Theory match delivered more than 450,000 engagements.

Some will point out that WWE’s event is a two-night affair whereas the Super Bowl takes place on one night. The length of the show is also a factor with the WWE holding a 3 to 1 advantage in terms of air time. Regardless, WWE’s social media impact can’t be denied. Those are insane numbers for engagement and viewing, and to keep fans interested for two-nights from start to finish is no easy task. Judging by the numbers, Vince McMahon’s company hit a homerun.

Andrew Marchand Just Wants To Report On What You Can See And Hear

Peter Schwartz
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When Andrew Marchand set out on a career as a sports writer, there was always one aspect of the business that intrigued him – the business of sports media. During his college years and when he was just starting out as a sports writer, Marchand quickly developed an interest in that particular side of sports and it would turn out to be the bread and butter of his career.

“I just have a passion for it,” said Marchand, now a sports media writer for the New York Post.  “That’s always fascinated me. I don’t think everyone necessarily would want to cover sports media but for me, there’s really nothing I’d prefer to cover more.”

During his career, Marchand has covered teams like the Yankees and Mets, but he has established himself as a go-to source for fans to get breaking news and trends when it comes to goings-on in the sports media. Whether it’s local sports radio wars, who is going to get a marquee play-by-play or analyst job, or what network or streaming service is going to land a television rights deal, Marchand is consistently in the know of what’s happening and it’s a subject that fans care a great deal about.

Sure, fans want to know what’s going on with their favorite players and teams but they also have a vested interest in who they are listening to on the radio and who they are watching on television.  

“I think what sometimes has been lost through the years, kind of pre-internet, is just how much interest fans have in this,” said Marchand. “If you look at the business deals, they’re for billions of dollars. The NFL just did their contracts with the TV networks and Amazon as well that will add up to $110 billion so that’s huge business and that’s a big story.”

It’s a huge story and there are many people who pay close attention to anything and everything when it comes to sports media, especially the NFL.

Of the 100 highest-rated shows on television, 75 of them are NFL games. That’s a lot of eyeballs on what is inarguably the most popular sport in the United States. In addition to who is playing in the game, what’s at stake, any star players that are in action, and the popularity of sports gambling, sports fans are also dialed into who is calling the action.

There’s been a lot of NFL broadcaster news recently with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman moving from FOX to ESPN’s Monday Night Football and with Al Michaels teaming with Kirk Herbstreit to form the broadcasting combo for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. Sports fans have big opinions on the sportscasters they watch and listen to, and Marchand has the platform to give people the information they’re looking for.  

“Everyone has an opinion about ‘I like this guy’, ‘I like this woman’, ‘I don’t like this guy’, ‘I don’t like this woman,’ said Marchand. “So, they all have an opinion and everyone can have one.”

A lot of people grow up loving sports but they realize at a certain point that maybe we’re not going to get to play catcher for the New York Yankees, right wing for the New York Islanders, or tight end for the New York Jets…well, at least that’s what I was thinking when I was 8, 9, or 10 years old. I do remember watching a baseball game on television with my father and telling him that I wanted to be a sportscaster when I grew up.

Being a sports reporter is a bit more relatable to a lot of sports fans than being an athlete.

“Most of us know we can’t do anything Lebron (James) can do on a basketball court but could you be like Mike Breen or Ian Eagle?” said Marchand. “Maybe not at their skill level because as it turns out it’s much more difficult than people realize but it’s much more relatable that ‘I can do that’ and you have an opinion on it.”

And you know what they say about opinions right? 

Everyone has one and it’s no different for Marchand covering sports media. There is a similarity between covering an athlete or a team to covering a sportscaster or sports talk show host in the sense that you’re reporting on the story and the fans have an interest in what’s going on.

With that reporting also comes the potential for writing something both positive and negative about the subject. An athlete may get upset about something that is written or said about them, but that is generally regarding performance on the field, court or rink.  

A play-by-play announcer, reporter or host can get criticized or lauded simply because of an opinion.    

“What I’m covering is subjective,” said Marchand. “In radio, there are ratings so that kind of means something but still you can have an opinion on a show. If you’re writing about a football broadcast, there’s no scoreboard at the end. I write opinion, but I really try to make my hay on reporting. My thing always is trying to report what you can’t see or hear so that to me is where the money is.”  

So, what goes into being a good sportscaster?

When it comes to being a host, a host certainly has to be knowledgeable and likeable.  

“A good talk show host…you want to hang with that person,” said Marchand. “It’s not about that they know more than anybody else because, by the nature of the job, they don’t. They can be well-read and they can be informed in cases but the idea that they’re in a studio and they know more than the people that are out there every day is just ludicrous.”

There is also an entertainment element of being a good sports talk show host, but with that also comes the potential for not being truthful with the audience. There’s a saying that ‘you can’t put lipstick on a pig’ and that could also apply for hosts who try to talk about a subject that they’re not knowledgeable about.

If you don’t know anything about hockey, it’s probably not a good idea to force an opinion because loyal sports fans can see right through you.

“I personally like it if they’re honest,” said Marchand. “I don’t really like people who fake it or say things that are just wrong just to try to get a rise. I’m not a fan of that. They don’t need to be larger than life.” 

As far as play-by-play is concerned, it’s all about the announcer painting the picture on the radio or being the trusted voice that supplements the images on your television. There are really no shortcuts when it comes to being a solid play-by-play announcer because there’s a lot of work that goes into it.

“Number one is preparation,” said Marchand. “You have to know what you’re talking about. Number two, I would, say is a passion for what you’re talking about because the people who are watching or listening are choosing to watch.”

In addition to sports media deals and contracts, Marchand also spends a good deal of time covering the local sports radio battle in New York. WFAN, the first all-sports radio station in the United States that launched in 1987, competes with ESPN Radio New York, which made its debut in 2001. The ratings war between the two rival stations has been well-documented for more than two decades.

“It’s not the most read thing that I do by far, but it has become to where it has a life of its own,” said Marchand. “It’s not the most fun thing to cover just because the ratings and how they’re interpreted over the years have been looked upon differently which kind of made for a grey area.”

That grey area comes from a ratings system that is a bit complicated and, in many ways, controversial because now there is a combination of fans who listen on traditional radio and those who tune in via streaming. There always seems to be a disagreement as to the true rating and what should be included.  

“(The system is) made for those of us who write about it in some respects to be a judge when we really don’t want to be and we didn’t even create the system,” said Marchand. “I would even argue that the system that we use isn’t necessarily the best. If I were the one creating it, I don’t think I would use 25-54-year-old males. I think you can argue that we’re leaving out a lot of people who should be included.”  

So, Andrew, what’s the solution?

“It’s not my place to change the rules,” he says. “There’s always complaining on both sides and that’s part of the job. I don’t want to be the judge on this thing and what streaming is and what should count.”

Sports media is something that caught the attention of the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand a number of years ago. He’s made a career out of being a trusted reporter for fans, as well as many of us in the industry who also crave this information.

Chris Vernon May Have Delivered The Perfect Bit

Demetri Ravanos
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Chris Vernon May Have Delivered The Perfect Bit

I have been thinking for the last three days about how exactly I wanted to write about Chris Vernon and his Masters update. If you are a sports fan and have spent even a second on social media since Thursday, you have heard the phrase “Thass whass goin’ on at Uh Gussah!” followed by the obligatory “brrrip brrrip!”.

The versions we got on Thursday and Friday, recapping rounds one and two, were admittedly way too long, but hear me out. The bit just might be perfect.

Back in ye olden days of radio, what was the only goal of content? It was to be memorable. If what you did was memorable, people would want to hear it again. They would want to make sure their friends heard it. String together enough memorable bits, conversations and interviews and you could create an army of fans that would go out and evangelize for you. Pick out any shock jock from the 80s and 90s. That was the formula for all of them.

Fast forward to 2022, and “be memorable” has morphed a bit. Now, the goal for content is to be shareable. Memorable is just part of the equation, and that is where Chris Vernon got things so right.

My relationship with golf is very similar to my relationship with video games. When people ask if I golf, my answer is always that I will, but I’m probably not the right guy to ask. If they insist, I tell them that the only way they are going to enjoy this is if we treat it as something we do because we’re hanging out. Literally any expectations beyond that, and I am not the guy you want to play with.

It’s not just playing golf either. Just like with video games, while it isn’t my thing, I understand why golf is fun for those that are playing, but I will never get what is fun about watching someone else play.

So to say that my interest in The Masters was low is probably overstating my interest in The Masters.

Chris Vernon and his crew, which included a bumblebee, a dog, and a walrus, put on a show. His rapping and their dancing oozed fun. I don’t care what the leaderboard standings were and I loved it. People that lived and died with Tiger Woods’s place on the leaderboard loved it too. It didn’t matter how you felt about golf, cheap pimento cheese sandwiches or the color green. We were all in on the joke.

Sports radio could use some inherent silliness from time to time, and Vernon delivers on the regular. That’s not to say he is always silly, but there is a reason that so many people in Memphis followed him when he left radio to create exclusively digital content. He can recognize a situation that is ripe for parody and plan out how to make the most of it.

Remember, this is the same guy that, according to SEC Network’s Spencer Hall, brought an accordion to SEC Media Days for years, because Nick Saban told him in an interview that he had taken lessons when he was a kid. My understanding is that Alabama’s sports information staff would routinely steer the coach away from Vernon’s set up after that.

The Masters has its devotees. I don’t get why, but it does. That is undeniable.

What I do understand is why there is a legion of fans that wait for April to hear Chris Vernon drop his latest Masters Update. For so many of us, it is the real “tradition unlike any other”. He has been dropping them since 2017.

Vernon found a clever way to localize a national event. It sounds right. The beat and the delivery is a perfect recreation of Three Six Mafia, 8 Ball and MJG. It sounds like the city that chants “Whoop that trick!” as a rallying cry for its NBA franchise.

He created a style perfect for haters and devotees to enjoy equally. The gold chains under a green jacket are something Augusta National members would recoil at. It’s something the rest of us, even the ones that pine to be members, can laugh along with.

Every second of the videos the group created is absurd. Who is the joke on? Does it matter? It is just funny, and that is why we want to share it. That is why the video gets shared all over the internet and referenced on SportsCenter Sunday morning.

Funny, memorable, shareable. That is the formula for creative content in 2022. Chris Vernon nailed it with his Masters Updates. Smart hosts, producers and programmers can’t recreate it verbatim, but they can study why the bit works so well year after year.

A New Media Face for Bitcoin

BNM Staff
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A New Media Face for Bitcoin

Sometimes an excellent message is lost because of the messenger.

Perhaps the messenger lacks knowledge. Maybe the communication skills are missing. Possibly, the messenger lacks vision or a channel to deliver the message. Or maybe the message can be so darn complicated that it is difficult to distill down to concepts that are easy for normal, non-technical folks to understand.

Many in the digital asset space have said Bitcoin suffers from these difficulties. And some are also now saying that one of their own has grown into the ideal messenger to bring the message to the masses.

“You’ve been absolutely killing it, you’ve been relentless, you don’t let up with the hosts,” said Peter McCormack, the trailblazing host of the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast. “You don’t let them interrupt you. You just came on; I’ve seen two specifically, you’ve come on like a f–king steam train, and some of the best clips I’ve seen of people talking about Bitcoin.”

McCormack was referring to Natalie Brunell, the buoyant host of the Coin Stories podcast, who he welcomed onto his highly-respected program recently.

“I finally feel like I’m kind of in my zone and feel like I am, sort of, I found my calling,” Brunell responded humbly. “I’m really passionate about Bitcoin, and I want to spread the message and use my skills that I acquired over the last ten years to do that.”

Brunell acquired those skills through her early career in journalism, and it was only recently that she made the move full-time into Bitcoin education and programming. Just last week, she helped anchor Bitcoin Magazine’s live coverage of the Bitcoin 2022 Conference from Miami.

“We think you are the best we’ve got to be out there in the mainstream talking about Bitcoin. We think you are the best,” McCormack said.

Going unsaid is one of the most obvious attributes she brings, that of being an eloquent woman in a space dominated by males. Most digital asset hosts openly admit that their audiences skew heavily male, an obstacle they feel the industry will need to surmount to reach the heights many of these insiders foresee.

Regardless of gender, breaking into the mainstream is a challenge for anyone.

“I want to get on more shows. It’s funny; people ask me why haven’t you been on CNBC yet? Why not CNN? You know, it’s hard because, for some reason, Fox Business and some of the other outlets have been more prone to want to discuss Bitcoin, as opposed to some of the other outlets,” Brunell replied. “I’m not a big CEO that purchased Bitcoin on my balance sheet, so I would love to get out there more if I can, and hopefully that’ll happen.”

“But you’re an insider in that world,” the intrepid McCormack responded, alluding to Brunell’s stellar career in media and journalism. “You know how it works.”

“Yeah, a little bit. A little bit,” Brunell acquiesced. “But I still think that Bitcoin, there’s still so much that people just don’t understand, which has been an advantage to me, right? Because if mainstream media got it, I probably wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing right now and making a career of it. So I feel like I’m kind of running full speed because I got a head start sort of understanding and learning all this myself. But once mainstream media pours in, I don’t know what will happen. They won’t really need me anymore.”

One of the traits that makes Brunell such a well-qualified Bitcoin educator is her deep appreciation for personal freedom. She was born in Poland and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of five, as her parents yearned for the opportunities America offers citizens, regardless of their place of birth.

“My parents have all these stories of what it was like when it was Communist. They really always dreamt of coming to the United States. My mom just had this vision of the American Dream and coming to the U.S.,” Brunell said. “She watched a lot of American films, which I think is why I was naturally predisposed to loving film and T.V. and just media in general. She always had things on, and she loved the old classic Hollywood movies and how they depicted American life.”

With her mother as the driving force, it took 20 years before her family was able to make the move to America and the suburbs of Chicago. When Natalie arrived in an American elementary school, she didn’t know a single person or speak the English language.

“It’s like this feeling when you know you’re different. Everyone kind of thinks you’re weird and doesn’t understand the food you’re bringing to lunch, thinks your language and accent is weird,” she recalled, remembering her early school years as a recently-immigrated student.

She eventually changed her name officially from Natalia to Natalie in an effort to fit in. Financially, there were many challenges in her early days in Chicago. In their first apartment, she and her brother each had their room, while her parents slept on a pullout sofa in the living room. Her family of four shared a single bathroom.

Brunell is bright, engaging, and clearly a “people person,” which helped her assimilate quickly by talking and interacting constantly with friends. Even at her young age, she had the natural talent and desire to communicate and express herself, a skill set that today helps her make the sometimes-complicated topic of Bitcoin seem simple and understandable to the viewers. And not only understandable, but fun and exciting as well!

“I believe that the American Dream shouldn’t be so hard to achieve. I feel like the country was founded on such amazing principles of self-determination and freedom, and we’ve lost that along the way. I’ve always been a believer that if you’re a good person and you work hard, you should be able to achieve the things that you want,” she told McCormack. “And it’s not going to be all equal. We’re not all equal, and we don’t all have the same motivations and desires, but I think you should have a shot, you know.”

“I think certain types of journalists are predisposed to understanding or getting Bitcoin straightaway,” McCormack complimented Brunell. “I think there’s two types of journalists – they get it, or they want to fight it. There’s no middle ground, and the ones that want to fight it are usually shitty journalists who don’t do the proper research. The ones who get it, they suddenly just want to work on it.”

Brunell noted that, even in her younger years, she felt a strong pull toward media and journalism.

“I always wanted to work in T.V. or film, and I grew up sort of having a ton of media on at home because it helped augment my parents’ English skills,” she said. “Whether it was T.V. shows that were more on the scripted, fictional side or just news. We were a family that watched a ton of news, like Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters interviews, Oprah, all of it was on all the time.” And as she matured, she felt even more compelled to the idealistic nature of true journalism.

“I remember being young and just thinking what an incredible job. What a noble profession; you get to interview leaders and big celebrities. I’m this little girl in the suburbs of Chicago who came from a foreign country. It just seemed like this amazing job,” Brunell said.

Brunell eventually majored in journalism at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles. She then earned her Masters in Journalism at Northwestern. It was a continual rise of the ladder of success for the woman who once felt she would consider herself financially successful if she simply had a house with a garage. In fact, her family’s financial struggle started after immigrating to America and worsened with the great financial crisis of 2008. During that time, the family lost everything, including their home, to bankruptcy.

And that led Brunell to Bitcoin.

“It took this ten year career being in news and exposing myself to some of the biggest crises facing this society – interviewing people on a day-to-day basis facing poverty, homelessness, civil unrest, public corruption – for me to finally start to connect the dots. Because when I discovered Bitcoin and finally went down the rabbit hole, I was like, oh, this is the problem. Oh, this is the problem that’s also impacted my hard-working, amazing, good family. And now I will do anything possible to help everyone I can, first understand the problem, and know that Bitcoin is the solution.”

Today, Brunell delights viewers and listeners through her YouTube and audio podcast, discussing Bitcoin topics with the industry’s leading voices. The best and brightest in the space appear with Brunell and watch with satisfaction as she so concisely and compellingly spreads the word on national media.

For McCormack and the other Bitcoin influencers, developers, and O.G’s, Natalie Brunell is officially one of them. And she is now also one of the most influential.

University of Chicago Student Calls Out CNN For Inaccurate Reporting

BNM Staff
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University of Chicago Student Calls Out CNN For Inaccurate Reporting

A Chicago college journalism student raised some eyebrows recently after confronting CNN’s Brian Stelter about the mainstream media’s role in distributing fake news.

Christopher Phillips, who attends the University of Chicago, participated in a conference called “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy.” Phillips addressed Stelter regarding several stories that CNN has been wrong about in a now-viral tweet. 

“They push the Russian collusion hoax, they push the Jussie Smollett hoax, they smear Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh as a rapist, and they also smeared Nick Sandmann as a white supremacist,” Phillips told Stelter.

Stelter’s first reaction drew scattered laughs from the crowd, “It’s time for lunch.”

“All the mistakes of the mainstream media and CNN, in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction. Are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence, or is there something else behind it?” Phillips asked Stelter. 

Phillips, who also writes for the Chicago Thinker, pointed out that CNN dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation – a story that the New York Times later confirmed as accurate.

“I think it’s important when talking about shared reality and democracy, all these networks, all these news outlets have to defend democracy. And when they screw up, admit it.” Stelter said. 

Stelter denied that CNN was a propaganda arm of the Biden administration.

“And with regards to the regime, I think you mean President Biden? The last time I spoke with a Biden aide, we yelled at each other,” Stelter added.

1010 XL Celebrates 15-Year Anniversary

BSM Staff
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1010 XL Celebrates 15-Year Anniversary

Jacksonville sports station 1010 XL first hit the airwaves on April 2, 2007, broadcasting live from the NCAA Final Four. The station’s goal was to bring local sports talk to the Jacksonville airwaves with live programming in place from 6a-7p Monday through Friday. A local investor group funded the start-up and the staff was built from the area’s most prominent sports personalities from radio, television and writers. 

Since then, the station has continued to grow. An FM signal (WJXL-FM 92.5) was added in 2012, the radio rights to the Jacksonville Jaguars were secured in 2014, and the Florida Gators joined the station in 2021. Those additions combined with regular investments in on-air contributors, increased local programming, which now extends weeknights to 10pm ET, and the creation of an all-female weekly show ‘Helmets and Heels’, which helped launch the careers of numerous female talents have helped the brand cement its position in the local marketplace.

But those weren’t the only moves made to assure sustained success.

1010 XL has also partnered with the PGA, and featured play by play of high school sports and other local colleges. As the appetite for sports betting content increased, a content partnership was formed with VSiN. And now with the world seeking content across multiple platforms, the station has made a full fledged commitment to becoming multi-platform focused, making video, podcasting, and social media a key part of its programming strategy. The willingness to adapt and take risks are a key reason why the station has remained an integral part of the Jacksonville sports community, and one of the market’s top local billers.

“We greatly appreciate our partnerships with the Jaguars, Gators, PGA and local colleges and high schools,” said President and General Manage Steven Griffin. “I really believe we have realized our goal to be Jacksonville’s local sports outlet. We have more that we can and will do, but we have a programming, sales and support staff I wouldn’t trade for any in the country.”

To help the station celebrate 15-years in operation, the hosts are reflecting and reminiscing with callers, guests, and key people who have helped the brand enjoy sustained success. Additionally, 1010 XL created a 15th Anniversary video series, The Voices of 1010 XL, where on-air hosts have shared their personal stories related to the growth of the brand and their respective shows. It can be found at the 1010 XL YouTube Channel by clicking here.

Melanie Newman Joins MLB Network

BSM Staff
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Melanie Newman is going to be extra busy this baseball season. In addition to her work with MASN covering the Baltimore Orioles, it was announced today that she is now a part of MLB Network.

She will be a part of Apple TV+’s Friday Night Baseball coverage, which is produced by MLB. She will also host studio shows on the network.

“Melanie is a terrific broadcaster, who we’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with over the last year,” said Marc Caiafa, MLB Network’s Senior Vice President of Production, said in a press release. “Having her officially on our team contributing to our programming makes us that much stronger as we start a new season.”

The network has been busy adding talent this offseason. The addition of Melanie Newman comes after announcing that Ruben Amaro, Jr., A.J. Andrews, Alex Avila, Ariel Epstein, Hannah Keyser, Keiana Martin, Cameron Maybin, Jake Peavy, Hunter Pence, Bo Porter, Siera Santos and Xavier Scruggs had all joined the network already.

“I’m thrilled to be expanding my role at MLB Network and adding the Friday night games on Apple TV+ to my Orioles work,” said Newman. “These opportunities are very exciting – a dream come true, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Lara Logan: Fox News Doesn’t Want Independent Thinkers

BNM Staff
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Media personality Lara Logan criticized Fox News, a network she used to make regular appearances on, during a segment Wednesday on the nationally syndicated “Eric Metaxas show.” Logan accused Fox News of forcing her out, asserting that the network doesn’t want “free thinkers.”

“I mean, there is no doubt about that. They don’t want independent thinkers. They don’t want people who follow the facts regardless of the politics.”

Last year, Logan compared Dr. Anthony Fauci to Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who performed cruel medical experiments on Jewish prisoners. The remarks about Fauci didn’t elicit any negative feedback for Fox News, but they did spell the end of her appearing regularly on the network.

“They (Fox News) don’t want people who follow the facts regardless of the politics,” Logan said. “I always don’t belong to any party; I don’t belong to any one side. And while people want to cast me as the darling of the right side.”

Logan added that she laughs when people tell her that the media is biased but bases their opinions on what media outlets write about her.

How to Survive (and Hopefully Thrive) in a Digital Revolution

BSM Staff
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It is easier than ever to create and distribute sports-media content. This means more opportunities regardless of the medium you work in.

On the one hand, this is great for anyone who creates content. Not only has the number of potential employers increased in almost exponential terms, but it’s now possible to produce and distribute content yourself.

On the other hand, this is incredibly challenging for anyone who creates content. Not only are you going to be asked to make more of it, but you’ll be asked to tailor that content to the contours of different platforms it will be distributed on. It’s almost like a twist on that Spider-Man mantra about great power coming with greater responsibility: With greater professional opportunity comes bosses asking you for more contributions.

I have some first-hand experience, not just from 8 years as a radio host in Seattle, but for 14 years before that, I was a newspaper reporter. One of my favorite memories from that industry’s transition to online publication came after the staff meeting in which The Seattle Times was declared to be a “Digital First!” operation.

“More work!” chanted the city-hall reporter, clapping his hands twice, “Same pay!”  

He wasn’t entirely correct in this matter. I found it was much more than double the work, and that’s not a criticism of the newspaper’s approach. The adjustment was necessary for the survival of the business, and speaking specifically of that newspaper, the sports reporters who took on a heavier digital workload came to be more valued. Unfortunately, you also run the risk of being swamped by more people asking you to do more things in more places.

Sound familiar?

I thought so.

So consider this the opening chapter in my handbook “How to Survive (and Hopefully Thrive) in a Digital Revolution.” I know, I know, the title is kind of clunky. This whole thing is a work in progress.

1) Prioritize

You need to know what your employer defines as your most important job functions and what it sees as the most valuable content. You may not agree with the priorities they lay out, but you absolutely have to understand what they are.

Create a hierarchy ranked in terms of importance. Over-the-air programming is likely to be at the top, at least for now. Is social media next? Is it an original podcast? How about online articles?

You need to know what they want and what they value to make an informed decision about how you’re going to spend your most important commodity: your time. This is especially true in the digital media business, which is not subject to the same limitations as traditional media.

A newspaper’s content is limited by the physical space of the printed page. An over-the-air radio station’s programming is restricted by time in the schedule. Those limitations simply don’t apply to digital content, which is really exciting because you don’t have to wait to be given a spot in the lineup to show you can attract an audience. It’s also potentially overwhelming and opens the chance you may spend too much time creating content that your employer doesn’t value at the expense of what they do value.

2) Don’t Wait To Be Given Marching Orders.

Sell your employers on a few experiments. Try stuff. Be willing to incorporate some new things into what you’re doing.

In 2005, I began covering the Seattle Seahawks for a local newspaper. Mike Sando was covering the same team for the Tacoma News-Tribune, but he increasingly focused on the digital product not just with a blog, but by posting audio files of the press conferences and interviews online. He didn’t just serve an audience that didn’t want to wait until the next morning’s paper to learn what was said, he developed that audience.

Within a few years, Sando had been hired by ESPN and now works for The Athletic. His willingness to experiment with a new way of covering an NFL team functioned like a pole vaulter’s fiberglass stick, flinging up into a higher tier of the industry.

It’s not just the audience you learn about, though. Sometimes it’s you. I began using Twitter in 2009 while working as a reporter for The Seattle Times. Adopting the new technology gave me a (brief) headstart on others who soon followed, but that platform also provided an outlet for both my sense of humor and my willingness to share details about my life, which didn’t come through in my articles and columns for the newspaper. It has built an audience that followed me, personally, to my career as a radio host and now as a self-employed writer.

3) Don’t Try To Do Everything.

OK, so far you’ve got the list of priorities that has been laid out by your employer, and some new stuff that you want to try. Now comes the third pool of potential work: Ideas or initiatives that come from your boss or corporate overlords. This is the trickiest group because in a practical sense, you’re almost certainly not going to have time to try EVERYTHING they bring up. But in a professional sense, it’s risky to decide you’re not going to try ANYTHING they suggest.

What you can do is ask for clarity on two things:

  1. How do they see this piece of content working? There’s a chance that it will be something that is legitimately exciting for you, and if it’s not, at least you’ll understand both the concept and the hope.
  2. Where does this fit into the list of your job’s priorities? This not only provides you with a sense of how much of your time should go into this, but it forces your boss to commit to how much time they want you to spend on it.

4) Mix From The Three Pools of Work

The sports-media industry is changing, and if you keep fulfilling the job requirements as if this was the 1990s, it’s a recipe for extinction. But disregarding those core requirements entirely and plunging headfirst into new types of content is risky. If those new types of content aren’t successful, or just as bad, aren’t valued by your employer, what are you left with?

My advice is to mix from the following three pools of content that have been identified:

  1. Identify and fulfill the core functions of your job. This part is non-negotiable and is almost certain to consume the majority of your work week;
  2. Develop and actively experiment with one type of content that piques your interest or you consider promising;
  3. Be open to ideas that are handed down to you, too, but make sure you get clarity on where they should figure into your work week.

More work? Yeah. That’s probably the reality of a digital workload, but these rules should help you navigate the new opportunities without getting swamped by the workload.

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