Sports Radio News
ESPN’s Al Jaffe To Retire


Jason Barrett is the owner and operator of Barrett Sports Media. Prior to launching BSM he served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He has also produced national shows for ESPN Radio including GameNight and the Dan Patrick Show. You can find him on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or reach him by email at [email protected].
Sports Radio News
Cumulus Reaches Settlement with Dan McDowell & Jake Kemp
“They each appreciate one another’s sincere efforts to resolve their differences so that everyone involved can move forward.”


Jordan Bondurant is a features reporter for Barrett Sports Media. He’s a multimedia journalist and communicator who works at the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond. Jordan also contributes occasional coverage of the Washington Capitals for the blog NoVa Caps. His prior media experiences include working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Danville Register & Bee, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, WRIC-TV 8News and Audacy Richmond. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @J__Bondurant.
Sports Radio News
Dukes & Bell Laugh at Ex-Producer Going Hollywood After Becoming Morning Show Host
“How much has changed when Squid used to tell us, ‘I can’t afford that,’ and now, Mike, he’s talking about packing a Louis bag.”


Jordan Bondurant is a features reporter for Barrett Sports Media. He’s a multimedia journalist and communicator who works at the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond. Jordan also contributes occasional coverage of the Washington Capitals for the blog NoVa Caps. His prior media experiences include working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Danville Register & Bee, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, WRIC-TV 8News and Audacy Richmond. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @J__Bondurant.
Sports Radio News
Boomer & Gio Break Down Fight Between Tiki Barber & Joe Benigno
“Here’s Tiki, 0% body fat, all-time leading rusher for one of the great franchises in history, has run marathons in like seven different countries, and he’s got to deal with this wacko on Zoom.”
Sports Radio News
ESPN’s Al Jaffe To Retire

Dubbed “The Kingmaker” by then-SportsCenter anchor Rich Eisen in 1996, Al Jaffe earned the royal moniker through his 28-year ESPN career. Jaffe, whose real title is Vice President, Talent Negotiation and Production Recruitment, retires Friday following a career where he hired and negotiated contracts with scores of ESPN broadcasters.
Linda Cohn, Rece Davis, Neil Everett, Mike Greenberg, Suzy Kolber, Kenny Mayne, Karl Ravech, Robin Roberts, Stuart Scott, Mike Tirico, Trey Wingo and Stan Verrett are among the many that Al hired at ESPN.
When he joined SportsCenter in 1987, he also hired production assistants, the gateway position to the ESPN production department. The “Jaffe Quiz” which tested the sports knowledge and instilled fear into applicants, included everything from knowing who won the Vezina Trophy to naming the backup catcher of the Kansas City Royals.
Hundreds of people working today in sports television passed the quiz and launched their careers as ESPN PAs, including several current ESPN leaders from Senior Vice President, Production and Remote Events Mark Gross to Senior Vice President, Production College Events Stephanie Druley.
Al says the best part of his job has been identifying and recruiting new talent, particularly taking chances that later paid dividends.
“It’s been gratifying seeing people do well and get rewarded for talent and hard work,” he says.
His 15 minutes of fame began in 2004 when his talent scout skills and quick wit were put to use on-air as the Simon Cowell-like judge for Dream Job, an ESPN show designed to uncover new on-air talent.
The three seasons of Dream Job even led to a live stage show version at ESPN the Weekend at Walt Disney World, with Al the featured judge who, in the spirit of the happiest place on earth, heaped praise on the contestants.
He also got to play himself in a “This is SportsCenter” spot featuring agent Scott Boras (see below) and anchor Scott Van Pelt.
Out of the thousands of resumes he received, his favorite was sent to him inside a plastic wiffle ball bat.
He also remembers one very aggressive candidate who followed him into a men’s room at a conference to hand him a tape and a resume.
Neither approach landed the people jobs. It seems the Kingmaker preferred traditional qualities like smarts and experience.
Credit to ESPN Front Row where this story was originally published

Jason Barrett is the owner and operator of Barrett Sports Media. Prior to launching BSM he served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He has also produced national shows for ESPN Radio including GameNight and the Dan Patrick Show. You can find him on Twitter @SportsRadioPD or reach him by email at [email protected].
Sports Radio News
Cumulus Reaches Settlement with Dan McDowell & Jake Kemp
“They each appreciate one another’s sincere efforts to resolve their differences so that everyone involved can move forward.”

The legal dispute between Cumulus Media, Susquehanna Radio and former The Ticket hosts Dan McDowell and Jake Kemp is officially over.
The station on Tuesday evening released a statement saying that a mutually agreed resolution of litigation has been reached.
“They each appreciate one another’s sincere efforts to resolve their differences so that everyone involved can move forward,” the statement read. “The parties wish each other well.”
McDowell and Kemp resigned from The Ticket in July after discussions between the station and the duo on a new contract had reached a stalemate. The big discrepancy centered around McDowell and Kemp’s desires to have a podcast outside of their sports talk radio hosting duties.
Dan and Jake would later launch a Patreon-funded podcast called The Dumb Zone, which was a play on the name of their show on The Ticket, The Hang Zone. Cumulus/Susquehanna sent a cease and desist prior to filing a lawsuit against the pair in federal court.
The company alleged that McDowell and Kemp launched their podcast while still actively employed at the station and formatted the podcast similarly to the radio show, targeting the same audiences.
The company alleged McDowell violated a six-month non-compete clause in his contract, which would’ve prohibited him from radio or media work from the time his employment was finished.
“The Dumb Zone does not occur at any specific time. It is not published daily or even on five consecutive work days. There is nothing about The Dumb Zone that prevents or discourages listeners from listening to The Ticket at any time,” a legal response to the Cumulus suit filed on behalf of McDowell and Kemp said. “To the contrary, Ticket listeners choose to listen to The Ticket based on the content The Ticket broadcasts. If Plaintiff suggests that its audience has shrunk, it’s not difficult to identify the primary reason.”
Mediation in this case started at the end of August. In mid-September, a motion to dismiss the lawsuit was filed.
Since it ultimately was an employment matter, the legal argument for McDowell and Kemp was that federal court was not the proper venue.
Lawyers for the pair argued that they didn’t violate their non-disparagement clauses by discussing some of what ultimately led to their departure from The Ticket.
“None of these four things appear to be ‘confidential information’ even under the extremely broad terms of the confidentiality rule at issue here,” the filing said.
Now that the case has settled, both parties can move on.

Jordan Bondurant is a features reporter for Barrett Sports Media. He’s a multimedia journalist and communicator who works at the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond. Jordan also contributes occasional coverage of the Washington Capitals for the blog NoVa Caps. His prior media experiences include working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Danville Register & Bee, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, WRIC-TV 8News and Audacy Richmond. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @J__Bondurant.
Sports Radio News
Dukes & Bell Laugh at Ex-Producer Going Hollywood After Becoming Morning Show Host
“How much has changed when Squid used to tell us, ‘I can’t afford that,’ and now, Mike, he’s talking about packing a Louis bag.”

Former Dukes & Bell producer and now The Morning Shift co-host Beau “Squidbilly” Morgan turned some heads at the 92.9 The Game on Tuesday morning just casually mentioning that he owns a Louis Vuitton travel bag.
Morgan is the executive producer for the Atlanta Falcons radio crew, and he will be making the trip to London for Sunday’s game between the Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium. On the morning show earlier in the day, Morgan said something when talking about traveling to England that Carl Dukes couldn’t resist discussing with Mike Bell.
“I need help about a weather report this time of year,” Morgan said in the brief clip Dukes played on their show Tuesday afternoon. “I can only take my little small Louis bag so I don’t know how much to pack.”
“How much has changed when Squid used to tell us, ‘I can’t afford that,’ and now, Mike, he’s talking about packing a Louis bag,” Dukes said.
“I’m literally dumbfounded,” Bell responded.
Dukes and Bell weren’t trying to rain on or put down the success Morgan has had at The Game, but it was just hilariously shocking to learn that Beau could afford a luxury brand like Louis Vuitton.
“Guys, this is what we do,” Dukes said. “We push people to become very successful, and then Mike this kind of stuff happens.”
“I had to share it with our audience because I loved it. It was funny,” Dukes later added. He mentioned that part of what made the clip so great was the reactions from Morgan’s co-hosts Mike Johnson and Tiffany Blackmon. “And Beau, I hear you man. You know what, just don’t forget the little people as you continue to move up alright?”
Bell figured since Morgan was traveling with the team for this trip, Beau probably had to step his luggage game up just a little bit.
“I guess when you’re traveling with the Falcons you do have to look like a baller to keep up with the styles in the room,” Bell said.
It obviously was all in good fun. Morgan caught wind of the segment and responded on Twitter not long after hearing.

Jordan Bondurant is a features reporter for Barrett Sports Media. He’s a multimedia journalist and communicator who works at the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond. Jordan also contributes occasional coverage of the Washington Capitals for the blog NoVa Caps. His prior media experiences include working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Danville Register & Bee, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, WRIC-TV 8News and Audacy Richmond. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @J__Bondurant.
Sports Radio News
Boomer & Gio Break Down Fight Between Tiki Barber & Joe Benigno
“Here’s Tiki, 0% body fat, all-time leading rusher for one of the great franchises in history, has run marathons in like seven different countries, and he’s got to deal with this wacko on Zoom.”

Even if WFAN is in the news for something a little less than flattering, the station does not run from it. That was evident on Tuesday morning as Boomer & Gio broke down the argument between Tiki Barber and Joe Benigno on Evan & Tiki from Monday afternoon.
Gregg Giannotti found it tremendously entertaining. Boomer Esiason says he had not seen the video, but had read about the argument.
“I was laughing,” Esiason said. “Then, of course, I started to think that, you know, you have, you know, obviously passionate fan. in Joe, who is just going to be screaming and yelling, and you have Tiki, who’s a very reserved, smart bright that is not going to want to put up with the frickin nonsense.”
Both hosts agreed that Tiki Barber and Joe Benign will not let this ruin their relationship. Giannotti said that there is no denying that Barber took Benigno questioning his work personally. He very clearly pointed to the screen Benigno appeared on and said “that’s bullshit.”
Giannotti added that the visual is even better than the audio.
“Joe, who I believe just turned 70, is wearing a jet sweatshirt, a Jets hat. He’s got a Joe Namath Jersey thumbtacked to the wall behind him, and he is screaming at Tiki Barber’s credibility in breaking down Zach Wilson,” Giannotti said. “Here’s Tiki, 0% body fat, all-time leading rusher for one of the great franchises in history, has run marathons in like seven different countries, and he’s got to deal with this wacko on Zoom.”
“Well, welcome to talk radio,” Esiason joked.
