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Around The World in Sports Radio and Television

Jason Barrett

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The latest sports media news across the country including details from the television and radio industries. As always, if you have a news tip to share, email me at [email protected]. Now here are the latest headlines.

  • ESPN Radio is taking over First Take on ESPN2 July 11-15. The show airs from 10a-12p ET. Molly Qerim will host all week and welcome a new duo or trio each day to give their takes on the day’s top stories. Steve Mason and John Ireland of ESPNLA 710 in Los Angeles will host Monday. Tom Waddle and Marc “Silvy” Silverman of ESPN 1000 in Chicago will sit in Tuesday. Don Lagreca, Peter Rosenberg and Rick DiPietro of 98.7 ESPN New York get the call on Wednesday. Bomani Jones and Freddie Coleman of ESPN Radio participate on Thursday. And ESPN Radio‘s Jalen Rose and David Jacoby wrap things up on Friday.
  • ESPN is losing one of its top television executives. John Wildhack, who spent 36 years in various positions before becoming the network’s executive vice president for programming and production, has agreed to become the new Athletic Director for Syracuse University. Wildhack is a Syracuse graduate.
  • Reporter Shannon Spake is exiting ESPN to join FOX Sports. She’ll serve as a sideline reporter for college football and basketball, and contribute to the NASCAR broadcast team on pit road and in studio. She’ll also have a sideline role on select NFL broadcasts.
  • The Portland Trail Blazers have announced that they’ve agreed to terms on a four-year extension with their television home Comcast SportsNet Northwest. The extension will cover the 2017-18 season and run through 2020-21. ROOT Sports NW was interested in acquiring the team’s television rights and reportedly offered more years but the Blazers liked the Comcast deal more.
  • FOX Sports Radio will have a strong radio presence at this year’s MLB All-Star Game. Both Colin Cowherd and Jay Mohr, will travel to San Diego to broadcast their shows on location on Tuesday July 11th and Wednesday July 12th.
  • After announcing his plans to leave 95.7 The Game in San Francisco for its local competitor KNBR, John Lund was pulled off of the airwaves after his show on Friday May 20th. Since then, he’s sat on the sidelines chomping at the bit to entertain local listeners. He finally gets to break his radio silence on Monday July 11th when he debuts in afternoon drive on KNBR with Tom Tolbert.
  • 107.5 The Game in Columbia, SC has made some changes to its weekday lineup. Bill Gunter has left 1400 The Team to join The Game in mornings where he’s now teaming up with Tim Hill who had been hosting middays. Hill previously left his TV gig on Columbia’s ABC affiliate to join the radio station in a full time role. With Hill moving into mornings with Gunter, Tommy Moody and Jay Phillips will occupy middays.
  • Duke play-by-play broadcaster Bob Harris has announced he will retire after the 2016-17 men’s basketball season. Harris began calling Duke games in 1976 and is the longest-tenured voice in ACC history. No word yet on who will replace him in the future.
  • Mike Hammer and Brian Shapiro are launching a new show in Las Vegas titled “The Vegas Take”. The show will air every Saturday from 2p-4p on CBS Sports Radio 1140 and 107.5-3 FM HD3. The show debuts on July 9th and will feature a special guest appearance from entertainment journalist Robin Leach.
  • Matt Harab is leaving the Rural Radio Network in York, Nebraska to move south to Houston, TX where he’ll join Yahoo! Sports Radio. Harab spent the past 21 months working for the local radio group as its news and sports director.
  • Sports radio host Jeff Weinberger, a fixture on the Memphis airwaves for the better part of five decades, passed away on Saturday. He was 62.

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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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