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Under The Radar – August 29, 2017

Jason Barrett

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Traveling for business makes it tougher to keep up with developments that don’t dominate the headlines, but despite the challenges, we’ve got plenty for you to digest this week. A reminder, to have your personal or station news included in a future edition of this column, email your information to [email protected].

Now on to this week’s news.

ESPN has confirmed the release of a brand new podcast starting this Wednesday August 30th. Ian Fitzsimmons and Kirk Herbstreit will team up for a college football heavy podcast. The program is simply titled Herbstreit & Fitzsimmons.

Staying on the subject of new podcasts, CBS Sports Radio host Jim Rome is launching one too. One cool feature of the new podcast will include listeners having an opportunity to be a part of it. Rome has set up a new voicemail (949-385-0447) which allows fans to phone in. Good material may be used on future episodes.

A podcast episode worth passing along comes from Oklahoma City where WWLS host Carey Murdock caught up with the play by play voice of the University of Oklahoma Toby Rowland. The two men worked together earlier in their careers and reunited on this podcast to discuss the role of official broadcasts, innovations which could make broadcasting games more exciting, and more. To hear the conversation click here.

Last week, ESPN President John Skipper appeared for an interview on The Mighty 1090 in San Diego with Dan Sileo. Given the timing of national news stories involving the worldwide leader, it was wise of Skipper to make a public appearance. To hear the interview click here.

92.9 The Game in Atlanta has filled its vacancy for evenings. Former Portland morning host Andy Bunker has taken over the evening shift formerly held by Mark Zinno. “The Bunker Mentality” now occupies the airwaves M-F 7p-11p ET.

Congratulations to ESPN 1000 radio host John Jurkovic. The Chicago midday host has been chosen for induction into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. The event is scheduled for October 2nd at McCormick Square’s Wintrust Arena.

Capitol Broadcasting’s 99.9 The Fan and its website WRALSportsFan.com have welcomed three college sports reporters to their roster for the upcoming 2017-2018 season. Ben Swain has been assigned to covering Duke. Turner Walston is tasked with reporting on the University of North Carolina. And James Curle will handle the assignment of covering North Carolina State.

Baltimore Ravens radio broadcasts on WBAL and 98 Rock this season will include four former players. Joining Gerry Sandusky and Stan White for four games each will be Dennis Pitta, Todd Heap, Justin Forsett and Jarret Johnson.

In football radio news out of Los Angeles, KNX-AM, 1070 Newsradio, will debut its daily Pro Football Insiders Report starting Monday August 28th. The station’s insiders are Dan Fouts, Chris Myers, Jackie Slater and Andrew Siciliano. Their reports run weekdays at 7:20a, 10:20a, 5:50p and 7:50p.

Former Detroit Sports 105.1 host Jake Chapman has signed on as an update anchor with 97.1 The Ticket and WWJ Newsradio 950.

Sports Radio 810 WHB in Kansas City has extended its programming partnership with the Kansas City Chiefs to bolster its weekday content during football season. The partnership doesn’t grant WHB the opportunity to air Chiefs games.

When Charles Barkley is willing to host for four hours on your radio station, you take full advantage of it. That’s exactly what 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia is doing this Tuesday. Barkley will join afternoon host Mike Missanelli from 2p-6p ET. The two have worked together numerous times before, and always put on a great show together.

Nashville Predators radio broadcasts on 102.5 The Game this season will include former defenseman Hal Gill. Gill replaces Brent Peterson who shifts to pre and post game shows alongside Darren McFarland. Gill will work game broadcasts with Pete Weber.

Sticking with hockey radio broadcasts, 105.9 The X in Pittsburgh has inked a multi-year extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins to continue serving as its broadcast partner. The new deal keeps the two sides together through the 2020-21 NHL season.

Vancouver’s Sportsnet 650 has filled the remainder of its on-air lineup. The station has confirmed the additions of Satiar Shah, Perry Solkowski, Jawn Jang, and Randip Janda.

Further down the west coast in Fresno, Christopher Gabriel has been brought in to host afternoons on 940 ESPN. Gabriel previously has hosted in the market for Power Talk 96.7 and AM 1400.

The University of South Florida has launched a new 24/7 digital streaming audio channel with iHeart Radio. The new channel debuted on Saturday August 26th and features game broadcasts, coaches shows, replays of classic games, and more.

Lafayette sports radio station ESPN 1420 welcomes Greg Larnerd to its roster. The 27 year old product of Sandy Hook, CT will host “The Word with G” weeknights from 6p-7p starting September 12th. He’ll also host the Acadiana postgame show.

Congratulations to Bryan Drozda on being named the new Fantasy Sports Radio Producer at SiriusXM.

KCBS in San Francisco has added Carolyn Burnsed as the station’s newest sports and traffic anchor.

Former ESPN Ithaca host and program director Jeremy Menard has accepted a new position as the Manager of Television and Radio Operations at Ithaca College.

Learfield Sports has hired Kelly Burke as a new host and analyst.

In television news, Meredith Gorman has been named a new team reporter of the New England Patriots.

FOX Sports has also made a hire. Mark Gunnels has signed on to join the sports television company in Los Angeles.

CBS Sports has named Kenzie Stanford a new associate producer.

A week can’t go by without The Athletic making another hire. The latest to join the digital platform is Jeff Pearlman. His addition follows the recent arrival of MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal.

In Seattle, Sheil Kapadia has left ESPN after covering the Seattle Seahawks for the past two seasons. His position has been replaced by Brady Henderson who has left 710 ESPN Seattle after spending seven years with the radio station.

And more locally driven content sites are on the way. The latest comes from Buffalo where Dave Davis has announced the arrival of a new digital venture called The Buffalo Star. The new website which will focus on covering the Bills and Sabres is expected to launch in less than two weeks.

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Jason Puckett Launches PuckSports.com

“I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

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Logo for PuckSports.com

Jason Puckett, who decided to walk away from a contract offer from iHeartMedia’s KJR in Seattle after finding out his partner Jim Moore had been laid off, has launched a new venture – PuckSports.com. ‘Puck’ has a baseball opening day show posted on the Puck Sports YouTube page and also posted an introductory message about his new venture and what led to creating it.

“I wanted to talk to you guys, the listeners out there, the viewers out there, sorry for all of this,” an emotional Puckett said. “Sorry for what has happened and what has taken place. Thank you for all of the comments and the well-wishes and what you have said about myself and Jim.

“It has been a whirlwind of a last few days, for sure and I do want to say that I feel for the people that we used to work with. “I know it’s not easy to go through that, I have been on that side of it many, many times in this industry when someone is let go and you have to sit there and answer all the questions about them and for them…It’s unfortunate and it shouldn’t be that way, but the reality of this business is it’s like that.”

Puckett then told his fans that PuckSports.com and YouTube are where you will be finding his content along with Moore. “I am going to take what I have learned over the years and apply it to a new age of media,” he said and noted this was a direction he had been thinking about for a while.

As for what took place that led to his decision to not sign his contract and talk away, he said, “I just want to take you briefly back to last week. I don’t want to get too much in the weeds, I’m not here to lay any blame or point any fingers at anybody…there’s too many good people that I have worked with that I don’t want to drag into this. It was a process that was at times handled fine, handled perfectly, and at other times it got to a point where it just went on too long. But that’s corporate media and that’s what happens.”

Continuing on Puckett said, “…I had been without a contract since about January…when I was away from the station that was something that we and the station agreed upon…to see if we could get something done and we were all hopeful that we would…I was only supposed to be gone a couple of days…unfortunately as these things sometimes happen, it just went a little bit longer…We received the deal and it was what we wanted, but unfortunately with that news a few hours later came the news from corporate that Jim had lost his job. Obviously there was a mix of emotions with that from me.

“I wrestled with that and the decision and what I would do. It was hard for me to move forward…I couldn’t fight the perception more than anything that I had received a new deal while at the same time, my partner and good friend, guy I love to death, who I grew up reading…it was a hard reality…The loyalty I have, I couldn’t live with myself even though Jim knew what the truth was.”

Puckett said he was aware Moore was planning to step away from the radio show at the end of the year and was looking forward to the nine months they would have left to work with one another. Then, when iHeartMedia made the decision to make Moore a casualty of their latest round of layoffs, Puckett knew he needed to revisit the idea of starting his own venture.

He said, “It has kind of changed my timeline as far as what I wanted to do and where I felt I was at…I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

Puckett said several of the show’s regular guests would stay with the show and he thanked several sponsors who he said would remain supporters of the show with the new venture. ‘Puck’ noted that starting next week, “…We get underway in full force…I’m going to continue to try and make people laugh and entertain you and talk about sports…and all of the other things you have become accustomed to with this show.”

As he started to wrap up, Puckett said, “I’m jumping into the deep end of the pool and I am going to see if I can swim or sink.”

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Kirk Minihane: WEEI is “Going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in Afternoons”

“Maybe the two most sensitive c***s in the history of radio. That’s a show we are going to ruin.”

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Photos of Kirk Minihane and Rich Shertenlieb

As the speculation continues on where Boston sports talker Rich Shertenlieb will end up, one former WEEI host said he has the scoop on what is going to happen. Kirk Minihane, now with Barstool Sports, said, “What I heard was, initially, was they were moving Rich Keefe from nights to middays, moving Adam Jones from afternoons to middays and keeping Fauria there, and moving Andy Gresh to afternoons…But now it appears Rich Shertenlieb is going to do afternoons with Andy Gresh.”

On Wednesday, Boston Globe sports and sports media columnist Chad Finn put out a post on X, saying, “Didn’t think Rich Shertenlieb would end up at WEEI after leaving Sports Hub. I do now, most likely in afternoon drive. Audacy management has been telling people to expect changes.”

Minihane continued commenting on the matter, saying, “It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful. Maybe the two most sensitive c***s in the history of radio. That’s a show we are going to ruin…we haven’t done that in a while, we are going to take that show down…Once that show starts, we are just going to blitz them with phone calls because Gresh can’t handle that.

“What they don’t understand, because they are so dumb, is that…Rich Shertenlieb has no fan base…no fan of [Toucher and Hardy] in the morning is going to be like ‘I’m not going to listen to Felger in the afternoons, I’ll now listen to Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb.’ It’s going to be dreadful.”

Recapping what he has heard the rest of the WEEI lineup will be, Minihane said, “…And then in middays you have Adam Jones, failed afternoons. Rich Keefe who has now failed middays, drivetime, nights and is now going to fail again in middays… and Christian Fauria who has never drawn a rating in his life.”

WEEI has not commented on any of the speculation. BSM will have more as the story unfolds.

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Former 670 The Score Host Tommy Williams Has Died

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Photo of Tommy Williams
Courtesy: Lakeshore Public Media

Tommy Williams, who was heard for a decade on 670 The Score, died on Wednesday at the age of 66.

Williams began his broadcasting career in his hometown of Gary, Indiana in 1982 at WLTH before moving on to The Score. In 2003, Williams became the PA Announcer for the Gary Southshore RailCats of the American Association where he had his signature call to get the attention of the fans, “People, People, People.”

A story in The Times of Northwest Indiana said, “The longtime RailCats public address announcer and Lakeshore Public Media sports journalist was known for broadcasting countless games, interviewing countless athletes and covering Region sports at all levels. The Gary native and co-host of “Prep Sports Report,” “Prep Football Report,” and “Lakeshore PBS Scoreboard” often signed off shows saying, “Gary, Indiana, you know I love you.”

“The cadence he had in his voice echoed across the Region in a way we may never see again. He was widely known and widely loved,” Tom Maloney, vice president of radio operations at Lakeshore Public Media told the paper.

“He’d want to be remembered as the voice of Lakeshore sports,” his Regionally Speaking co-host and producer Dee Dotson told The Times. “Most people will remember him for covering prep sports all the way up to semi-pros. He’ll be remembered for treating each of his subjects like they were world champions. His depth of knowledge of sports at all levels is commendable. He was a walking encyclopedia of stats.” 

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