“I firmly believe if anyone wants to get into the media business, you have to know how to tell stories and you have to know how to work the gear,” said O’Brien. “You learn how to do that in local news. They throw you into the deep end nine times out of 10, and I was definitely prepared for my next step in my career and beyond.”
“The older I got, the more I found myself more of the sports media than the games sometimes. ESPN and SportsCenter was a huge part of my life back in the day before the internet. It's always been there and has always been an interest.”
“That to me is what I felt I always wanted to do at the highest level is to be on the desk in the studio,” said Rothstein. “I love waking up on a studio day and compiling information to add to our coverage. It’s the gas in the engine.
“I do them whenever I want,” said Francesa. “I do them the length I want to do them. I do them on any topic I want to do but basically, I’ve done sports. They’ve been received very well.”
“I like to beat to my own drum,” said Bissonnette. “I love the freedom. As much as I love everything network-wise… and getting to experience that side of [the industry], I’ll always want to do my own film projects. I’ll always want to say and be able to kind of bring things in the direction I want to bring them and be silly about it because it’s just sports and I think it should be silly.”
“You need to be a good listener to be in radio,” expressed Zederman. “It’s not always about talking – a lot of radio has to do with listening; listening to what’s going on with the fans; listening to what’s going on with the talent.”
A big part of Dukes’ success is the fact that he doesn’t take himself too seriously, just like some broadcasting giants like Stern and David Letterman.
“We have an easy job,” expressed Van Gundy. “We watch the game and we try to convey what has happened, what could happen or what should happen. That’s not about preparation as much as it is [about] studying the teams over the course of the year.”