Fox News host Greg Gutfeld warned that the mainstream media is often too quick to analyze and assess situations that call for more reflection. The “Gutfeld!” host sounded off Friday about the media’s coverage of last week’s mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
A transcript of Gutfeld’s comments was published on Fox News Digital. “It’s natural after a tragedy, I suppose, to report and report. It’s necessary. But then what if there’s not enough news to do more reporting?”
Gutfeld said the actual downfall of the media has been the tendency to speculate once reporting “runs dry.”
“Everyone tries to outdo each other and be more perceptive than you. Are you more emotionally affected than me? The news becomes as productive as an argument with a meter maid,” he said.
Gutfeld asserted that there are more factors at play in mass shootings tragedies than just the weapons that are used to kill innocent people.
“At least we should acknowledge our role in this. Right now, we just show up at the end of a crime,” Gutfeld said. “But that crime is off at the end of a long, ugly road featuring clues that make us wonder why we didn’t see it coming. It’s like terrorism.”
“You see how you could have prevented it after it’s already occurred. The problem is the bad guys watch TV news too,” he added.
Forget Georgia and Alabama. In the world of college football, TV is king. That is why BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe says adding the school was an easy decision for the Big 12 Conference last year.
“We gave ESPN a very unique window, a Mountain Time Zone window, which they could use to their advantage,” he recently told Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.
By 2025, the conference loses Texas and Oklahoma. Without the national brand power of those two schools, the Big 12 would likely lose value in the eyes of TV networks. A home field in the Moutain Time Zone means at least some of the conference’s games could start later. That would mean a conference headlined by teams like Baylor, TCU and Cincinnati wouldn’t always have to compete with powerhouses like the SEC and the Big Ten in the evenings and it would create a later television window.
BYU is set to join the Big 12 in 2023. At that time, the Big 12 will become the only power conference with members in three time zones.
Media rights have been an open discussion amongst the conference’s power players lately. Following the resignation of Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Nicole Auerbach, Matt Fortuna and Max Olson of The Athletic wrote that television will likely be the ultimate driver in the search for his replacement.
Holmoe said he knows it isn’t something his fans love, but exposure is what creates more brand value for BYU and BYU’s flexibility creates value for the Big 12 with ESPN.
“I get all kinds of complaints when we have another 8 or 8:15 kick time. But we’re on TV nationally. And when we’re on TV nationally, on the big game, we want those games. That’s one of our pillars. We want those exposures. We understand that could be a factor.”
He added that he expects many of the team’s conference games, once it joins the Big 12, will kick off after 8 pm locally (10pm on the East Coast), he does not expect that will be the case for every home game.
ESPN Arkansas’ afternoon host, Derek Ruscin, will not be on the air in the immediate future because of some commentary about a current Arkansas Razorback baseball player, Michael Turner.
Turner, who is the team’s catcher, was responding to a reporter’s questions about the Razorbacks’ struggles on the field. Turner’s responded was that the team is “trying to keep the circle tight and cut out a lot of the outside noise. It’s not always that easy to play here. There’s a lot of people that are fans, some are good fans, some are not good fans. And if you read Twitter after the game, it can get in your mind a little bit. So we’re just trying to keep the circle tight and keep moving forward.”
It was in response to those comments that Ruscin made his: “I’ll say it, and I wouldn’t say this about a young player, Michael Turner, he’s a fifth-year guy from Kent State, he’s a stupid ass, the catcher for the Arkansas Razorbacks,” during Friday’s Ruscin & Zach.
Ruscin wasn’t finished: “First of all, you’re not a Razorback, you’re a rental player and you’ve sucked, so thanks for nothing. Secondly, as a rental player, you do not get to come in here and criticize this fan base, you stupid ass. Not a chance. The question was about what’s wrong with the team, and you used the entire answer to take a swing at this fan base. You’re a disgrace, Michael Turner. You’re a disgrace! You should not get to wear that uniform again. What a loser! You know why they’re losing, because you’re a loser, and you’re the catcher. You’re in charge of this whole thing on the infield. You’re a loser and a disgrace. And you can’t get out of this program soon enough.”
Ruscin’s show airs throughout the state of Arkansas. Also, the cluster of stations is tied strongly to the state’s most populous university as a radio partner.
ESPN Arkansas market manager Tommy Craft released a statement early Friday evening detailing Ruscin’s upcoming absence. His statement read “Derek Ruscin will be taking time away from his afternoon role on ESPN Arkansas stations. His comments during Friday’s show concerning Michael Turner went too far and did not meet our companies’ standard for quality content.”
I recently appeared on a podcast, Monetize Media, to discuss the growth of Barrett Media. The conversation covered a lot of ground on business topics including finding your niche, knowing your audience and serving them the right content in the right locations, the evolution of the BSM Summit, and why consulting is a big part of our mix but can’t be the only thing we do.
Having spent nearly seven years growing this brand, I don’t claim to have all the answers. I just know what’s worked for us, and it starts with vision, hard work, consistency, and a willingness to adapt quickly. There are many areas we can be better in whether it’s social media, editing, SEO, sales, finding news, producing creative original content or adding more staff. Though there’s always work to be done and challenges to overcome, when you’re doing something you love and you’re motivated to wake up each day doing it, that to me is success.
But lately there’s one part of the job that I haven’t enjoyed – the hiring process. Fortunately in going through it, I was able to get to know Arky Shea. He’s a good guy, talented writer, and fan of the industry, and I’m thrilled to share that he’s joining us as BSM’s new night time editor. I’ll have a few other announcements to make later this month, but in the meantime, if you’re qualified to be an editor or social media manager, I’m still going through the process to add those two positions to our brand. You can learn more about both jobs by clicking here.
Working for an independent digital brand like ours is different from working for a corporation. You communicate directly with yours truly, and you work remotely on a personal computer, relying on your eyes, ears and the radio, television, and internet to find content. Because our work appears online, you have to enjoy writing, and understand and have a passion for the media industry, the brands who produce daily content, and the people who bring those brands to life. We receive a lot of interest from folks who see the words ‘sports’ and ‘news’ in our brand names and assume they’re going to cover games or political beats. They quickly discover that that’s not what we do nor are we interested in doing it.
If you follow us on social media, have visited our website or receive our newsletters, you’ve likely seen us promoting openings with the brand. I’ve even bought ads on Indeed, and been lucky enough to have a few industry folks share the posts on social. We’re in a good place and trying to make our product better, so to do that, we need more help. But over the past two months, Demetri Ravanos and I have easily done 50-60 calls, and it’s been eye opening to see how many mistakes get made during the hiring process.
Receiving applications from folks who don’t have a firm grasp of what we do is fine. That happens everywhere. Most of the time we weed those out. It’s no different than when a PD gets an application for a top 5 market hosting gig from a retail employee who’s never spoken on a microphone. The likelihood of that person being the right fit for a role without any experience of how to do the job is very slim. What’s been puzzling though is seeing how many folks reach out to express interest in opportunities, only to discover they’re not prepared, not informed or not even interested in the role they’ve applied for.
For instance, one applicant told me on a call ‘I’m not interested in your job but I knew getting you on the phone would be hard, and I figured this would help me introduce myself because I know I’m a great host, and I’d like you to put me on the radar with programmers for future jobs.’ I had another send a cover letter that was addressed to a different company and person, and a few more applied for FT work only to share that they can’t work FT, weren’t interested in the work that was described in the position, didn’t know anything about our brand but needed a gig, were looking for a confidence boost after losing a job or they didn’t have a computer and place to operate.
At first I thought this might be an exclusive issue only we were dealing with. After all, our brand and the work we do is different from what happens inside of a radio or TV station. In some cases, folks may have meant well and intended something differently than what came out. But after talking to a few programmers about some of these things during the past few weeks, I’ve been stunned to hear how many similar horror stories exist. One top programmer told me hiring now is much harder than it was just five years ago.
I was told stories of folks applying for a producer role at a station and declining an offer unless the PD added air time to the position. One person told a hiring manager they couldn’t afford not to hire them because their ratings were tanking. One PD was threatened for not hiring an interested candidate, and another received a resume intended for the competing radio station and boss. I even saw one social example last week of a guy telling a PD to call him because his brand was thin on supporting talent.
Those examples I just shared are bad ideas if you’re looking to work for someone who manages a respected brand. I realize everyone is different, and what clicks with one hiring manager may not with another, but if you have the skills to do a job, I think you’ll put yourself in a better position by avoiding these 5 mistakes below. If you’re looking for other ways to enhance your chances of landing an opportunity, I recommend you click here.
Educate Yourself Before Applying – take some time to read the job description, and make sure it aligns with your skillset and what you’re looking to do professionally before you apply. Review the company’s body of work and the people who work there. Do you think this is a place you’d enjoy being at? Does it look like a job that you’d gain personal and professional fulfillment from? Are you capable of satisfying the job requirements? Could it potentially put you on the path to greater opportunities? If most of those produce a yes, it’s likely a situation to consider.
Proofread Your Email or Cover Letter and Resume – If the first impression you give a hiring manager is that you can’t spell properly, and you address them and their brand by the wrong names, you’re telling them to expect more mistakes if they hire you. Being detail oriented is important in the media business. If this is your introduction to someone and they have a job you’re interested in, you owe it to yourself to go through your materials thoroughly before you press send. If you can have someone else put an extra set of eyes on your introduction to protect you from committing a major blunder even better.
Don’t Waste People’s Time – You’d be annoyed if a company put you through a 3-4 week process only to tell you they didn’t see you as a viable candidate right? Well, it works the other way too. If you’re not seriously interested in the job or you’re going into the process hoping to change the job description later, don’t apply. If the fit isn’t right or the financials don’t work, that’s OK. Express that. People appreciate transparency. Sometimes they may even call you back in the future when other openings become available. But if you think someone is going to help you after you wasted their time or lied to them, trust me, they won’t.
Don’t Talk Like An Expert About Things You Don’t Know – Do you know why a station’s ratings or revenue is down? Are you aware of the company’s goals and if folks on the inside are satisfied or upset? Is the hiring manager someone you know well enough to have a candid professional conversation with? If the answers are no, you’re not helping your case by talking about things you don’t have full knowledge of. You have no idea how the manager you’re talking to has been dealing with the challenges he or she is faced with so don’t pretend you do. Just because someone wrote an article about it and you read it doesn’t mean you’re informed.
Use Social Wisely – Being frustrated that you didn’t get a job is fine. Everyone goes through it. Asking your friends and followers for advice on social of how you could’ve made a better case for yourself is good. That shows you’re trying to learn from the process to be better at it next time. But taking to social to write a book report blasting the hiring manager, their brand, and/or their company over a move that didn’t benefit you just tells them they made the right move by not bringing you in. Chances are, they won’t be calling you in the future either.
Former “Daily Show” host and passionate veteran’s rights advocate, Jon Stewart, spoke out against the lack of physical support shown at the “Rolling to Remember” event in Washington D.C this past weekend.
According to the official website, the three-day event hosted by AMVETS, seeks to raise awareness about veteran suicide and 80,000 plus veterans that are missing. The event culminates in a motorcycle demonstration ride around D.C.
Stewart observed the lack of veteran presence in the crowd.
“The people sitting behind me — it’s hard not to be here today and not get frustrated again,” said Stewart. “Because as I look out in the crowd, I see the same thing I always see: Veterans and their families and caregivers.”
According to Mediate, Stewart went on to say that he receives plenty of verbal support for advocating for veterans but when it comes time to show up, people for short.
“This is Memorial Day weekend. Man, you’re going to read the tweets this weekend,” said Stewart. You’re going to look at the Facebook pages and you’re going to think to yourself, ‘Oh, does America love me. Boy, they love us,’” he said.
“You’re going to go to Applebee’s. They’re going to give you baby back ribs. Probably 20% off, not even 10%, because of how much they support you.”
CJ McCollum isn’t done playing in the NBA yet, but he is already set to begin his media career. The New Orleans Pelicans guard will make his debut as an ESPN analyst during the NBA Finals. The assignment is part of a multi-platform deal he has signed with the network.
“It is my honor to be joining the ESPN family in this new role and I am excited to bring what I feel is my unique perspective, based on my vast knowledge of the game that I’ve gained during my nine years as a player in the NBA,” McCollum said in a press release. “To have an opportunity to put my journalism background to use on the largest stage with the many talented professionals at ESPN is a dream come true.”
McCollum joins another Western Conference star in landing a media deal while still active in the NBA. Draymond Green signed as a contributor to TNT and a podcast host for The Volume before the start of this season.
Thursday will see McCollum debut as an analyst with the studio crew for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He will launch a podcast for ESPN that will drop new episodes year-round. He is also scheduled to appear as a game analyst during the network’s coverage of the NBA Summer League.
ESPN is getting more than just an active NBA player. CJ McCollum also serves as the president of the NBPA. That creates some added value and expertise and insight in an area of the game many players are unable to contribute.
This week, Good Morning Football ended up winning a Sports Emmy for the best daily studio show. It is a show that has turned into part most football fans’ morning routines. However, there will be new people on the panel eventually with the departures of Nate Burleson and Kay Adams.
This week, one of those left, Peter Schrager, was on The Pat McAfee Show.He did not have a name for McAfee that would fill the role Adams leaves behind and he isn’t going to interfere in the process of the executives picking the next host.
“I would think that there is going to be a long line of people who will want that,” he said. “Those are massive shoes to fill. I don’t know where they are going for that and I don’t play coach or GM. I’m just going to sit back and if they ask my opinion, I’ll give it. But, for now, I trust the executives to hire someone who is going to take care of that hosting job.”
As for Burleson’s seat, the show has used a number of ex-players to fill-in. Schrager likes it that way because he can learn many different stories each week:
“Nate and I can finish each other’s sentences. Now, you have a guy I don’t know the story this player is going to tell. I don’t know where he’s going to take it and I think it’s kind of cool for us.”
“I won’t do it without McVay. I begged him. He’s just out….He’s getting married this offseason. He’s got his honeymoon. He’s like, we’ll pick it up another offseason. I’m upset. I love doing it. All these new coaches, Sean and I would have had a good time with it and we talked about it, but it’s his decision and he’s saying no and I totally get it. He’s really good at it and he liked it. He’ll have opportunities and you see some of these numbers that these guys are getting. Trust me, he’s aware.”
Things were very far from normal on Thursday night on the set of Inside the NBA. During the postgame show, Warriors fans threw objects at Charles Barkley as TNT was broadcasting live outside of the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Friday morning on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Shan and RJ discussed the scene and said things felt out of the ordinary long before anything was even thrown.
“You know that moment? Everyone’s joking around. Everyone’s having fun, then someone doesn’t take the joke as a joke anymore and all the fun is sucked out of the room and things are awkward and serious?” Shan Shariff said. “That’s what happened yesterday on Inside the NBA both in the pregame and the postgame.”
Barkley had been picking on Warriors fans calling them annoying and describing San Francisco as having “dirty ass streets full of homeless people” throughout the series.
Shariff said even in the pregame show, it seemed that the Inside the NBA crew was wary of the crowd gathered behind them.
“It felt like yesterday instead of having fun and cutting loose, it felt like they were trying to prevent a riot.”
After a rolled-up t-shirt struck Barkley, he got up and acted as if he was going to throw a ceramic coffee mug into the crowd. Shariff said it was clear that Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith thought Barkley was about to be involved in an altercation of some sort.
RJ Choppy disagreed though. His immediate thought in seeing the video was that Barkley was just taking his ribbing of the crowd to the next level like a WWE superstar might.
“I think he knew the wrestling role, but I don’t think the other guys did,” Choppy said.
Sean and RJ expounded on the wrestling comparison, saying that he had a specific event in mind. He compared the way the crowd treated Barkley on Thursday night to how the crowd at ECW’s One Night Stand in 2006 treated John Cena. Cena and security may have thought they knew what was coming, but it was clear when fans started throwing chairs at the WWE champ that their ire was more serious than anticipated.
There can be peace for the time being. TNT’s NBA season ends at the conclusion of the Western Conference Finals. It will be interesting to see if this animosity returns in the 2022-23 season.
Don LaGreca has been working on Rangers radio broadcasts since 2005, and has served as the backup play-by-play announcer for the last few seasons, filling in for Kenny Albert when he is unable to be on the call. Because of Albert’s responsibilities in calling national playoff games on television amid the new media rights agreement between the league and its partners (ESPN and Turner Sports), La Greca has called more Rangers games of late, and received positive reviews.
Yesterday on The Michael Kay Show on 98.7 ESPN New York, Kay mentioned the compliments callers have been giving La Greca for his ability to call hockey games, some of whom credit him for introducing them to the sport.
“The one thing hockey is is underexposed,” said La Greca. “Because you hear a lot of people say, ‘Boy, I didn’t realize how much fun this sport is; how great it is to go to a game,’ because a lot of us don’t grow up around it.”
La Greca realizes that he is in a unique position being the co-host of a sports radio show and an NHL play-by-play announcer, giving him a responsibility to communicate and opine on the game of hockey to his listening audience at large. He considers himself the second person to have such a distinction – the pioneer of which, while he may no longer be calling hockey games, still frequently discusses the sport on Twitter.
“When you look at the history of sports radio, the only person that I can think of that called games and was [as] passionate about hockey as I am that had a regular radio show was Howie Rose,” said La Greca. “And Howie Rose has been out of the sports radio game for 25 years.”
Rose was with WFAN from its launch on July 1, 1987 as its weekday nighttime host. Additionally, he served in the same role as La Greca, backing up Kenny Albert’s father Marv on Rangers radio broadcasts – where, in 1994, he delivered the illustrious call of Stephane Matteau’s game-winning, double-overtime goal in game 7 that sent the team to the Stanley Cup Finals. One year later, Rose left WFAN to begin calling games for the NHL’s New York Islanders on Sportschannel, and did not host a sports radio show during his time as a lead hockey play-by-play announcer.
While there are other sports radio hosts in the New York marketplace that exhibit a passion for hockey such as Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti, La Greca is the only one who actively calls the games – akin to how Michael Kay is the only active New York sports radio host who regularly calls professional baseball.
“You don’t have somebody who is as close to the sport as I am to have this kind of forum, so maybe there are a few people like, ‘Hey, I’m a fan of Don. I really don’t like hockey, but he calls a few games so let me listen,’ and it kind of opened a door that otherwise wouldn’t have been opened” said La Greca. “….I don’t think it’s anything that I’m doing. It’s just an opportunity that I have, and it is humbling and it’s pretty cool to hear and I hope those people stick with the sport.”
As Boston and Golden State bear down on respective trips to the NBA Finals, Adam Silver as well as TV executives have to be smiling. You probably couldn’t pick a better potential matchup when the postseason began, with the Celtics being one of the most storied franchises in league history and the Warriors returning to a comfortable spot playing for the championship after two years out of the playoffs – even if they weren’t the two early favorites when it came to the opening NBA Vegas Odds.
The timing is perfect for a Boston vs. Golden State Finals as well as the league still tries to get viewers back following a disastrous COVID bubble postseason in 2020 (in terms of ratings) and the loss of some fans who felt the NBA was getting too political. There are generations of Celtics fans spread across the United States, and Steph Curry is one of the top 2-3 most recognizable players to the casual fan so this could be the year the league declares they have returned.
The Long Road Back for the NBA
2020 was a disaster not only in the sports world but in the world as a whole thanks to the COVID pandemic. The NBA Bubble in Orlando has to be considered a success with zero positive tests, but even the playoffs felt like exhibition basketball with no home court advantage and no crowds in the stands.
Even having the Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals couldn’t draw in viewers with ratings hitting a record low of 7.5 million viewers on average over the six games, a 51% drop from the previous year. Game 3 during that series drew just $5.9 million viewers, an NBA Finals all-time low. Even with the Los Angeles market, the Lakers clinched their 17th title in Game 6 still only pulled in 8.29 million viewers.
The NBA is starting to rebound as it’s just a much better watch when fans are in the stands. The 2021 Finals saw a 32% increase in viewership compared to 2020 and the Bucks winning the title in Game 6 against the Suns was seen by 12.52 million viewers.
2022 Playoffs Have Been a Success
There have been an inordinate amount of blowout games during these 2022 playoffs – especially the Conference Finals – but the NBA has to like the news that fans are still tuning in. The first three games of Warriors-Mavericks drew an average of 6.9 million viewers, up 34% from Clippers-Suns a year ago. The Eastern Conference has seen single-game viewership at its highest since Cavaliers-Celtics in 2018. Even with double-digit margins of victory in Games 1-4, Celtics-Heat is drawing four-year individual game-highs in viewership.
Even the first two rounds of the 2022 NBA postseason averaged 3.71 million viewers over four different networks (ESPN, ABC, TNT, NBATV) which are the highest levels seen in the last 8 seasons. That number goes up to 4.08 million when you eliminate NBATV, which is up 15% from last year.
Hopefully, Golden State and Boston can deliver a memorable NBA Finals (if they both make it) that enthrals fans and keeps building on popularity moving into the 2022/23 season.
