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Russillo Discusses Staying At ESPN

Jason Barrett

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Last week Ryen Russillo confirmed on his Twitter feed that he had re-signed with ESPN, a welcome move in these parts. I’ve written often how much respect I had for the show he and Scott Van Pelt did for ESPN Radio—not only were they authentic, they didn’t toke the easy drug of lowest common denominator sports talk. Russillo also fronted college football and NBA shows on ESPN and ESPN Radio and even if you disagreed with his analysis, you come away respecting that he does the preparation. Over the weekend, I emailed him some questions, and below is our conversation verbatim:

SI.com: Why did you decide to re-sign with ESPN?

Russillo: The obvious answer is that it’s ESPN. I’ve been here almost 10 years. I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt more appreciated than now. I wanted to live in L.A. and do something different. I wanted to challenge myself and get away from the east coast after a difficult two years for my family. One of my parents got sick, then they got divorced and I was dumped 30 minutes before my show, twice. These last two years have sucked and I wanted to go swimming. I’m not bull——– you. And I miss [Fox Sports host and good friend] Charissa [Thompson]. During my time here it’s been weird. I had one manager tell me to not talk on the air during the baseball show I hosted. My favorite quote was “we need Scott to talk more but don’t feel like you need to talk less.” So I was ready for something different. But these guys have been incredible. They made me feel like they really wanted me.

​SI.com: What was the deciding factor in the reason you are remaining at ESPN?

Russillo: I like it here. I honestly love coming to work each day.

Also, more television exposure, which has been an issue in the past. I love talking NBA and wanted a chance to do that more. I was the first person at ESPN to say that LeBron was going back to Cleveland that week. That was sourced information. I said all season Kevin Love was re-signing with Cleveland. I sit on all this info because it doesn’t always work well for a radio segment. TV will help with this.

SI.com: What has management told you about your role on ESPN Radio heading forward?

Russillo: They haven’t said anything except to keep doing what I’m doing. I know the numbers for Scott and I were really good the last few years. Maybe that continues, maybe it doesn’t. But I feel really lucky to be trusted to keep this going.

SI.com: Is it your preference to work solo at ESPN Radio, or to work with a partner?

Russillo: A partner. Solo radio is the hardest thing to do in this business. It’s harder than anchoring, play by play, writing for a deadline. It’s not even close. I’ve done all of these things. There are times I’d rather an interview be solo or a time I have something to say where I don’t want anyone else getting in. But for the most part I’m better listening to someone I respect and making it a conversation. [Colin] Cowherd doesn’t get enough credit for this. We don’t take calls because calls are terrible. Three hours solo is tough to pull off. In the past I think I was good solo for 1/3 shows and I wasn’t doing it regularly so that made it worse. The scariest feeling ever is being on the air and realize you are boring as “F” and you wish you could change the channel on yourself. When I get older I just want to take calls for five hours and tell people how tough my job is. Calls are a crutch.

SI.com: How much television will you do as part of this new deal?

Russillo: A lot. It took a long time. [Executive vice president] John Wildhack really changed things for me here. He pushed to get me on TV two years ago and I can’t tell you how thankful I am for that. I did TV for the Celtics for six years. I was doing post-game for the NBA Finals in 2008 sitting next to Tommy Heinsohn. [Comcast SportsNet New England news director] Kevin Miller in Boston took a chance on me and I’ll always be grateful for that. People were like “who is this guy?” But it worked, so I always wanted that to be part of my future.

Credit to Sports Illustrated who originally published this article

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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”

“It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful.”

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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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