Sports Radio News
Rob Parker: The Big Paychecks For NFL Broadcasters Never Go to Black Guys
“Rob Parker said that he was inspired to write the Deadspin piece after Amazon hired Kirk Herbstreit to be the analyst on its Thursday Night Football coverage.”
Published
2 years agoon
By
BSM Staff
The NFL has been under a microscope for many years now for the lack of men of color in head coaching positions. FOX Sports Radio’s Rob Parker thinks there is another area where the league’s hiring practices should be questioned. He wrote a piece for Deadspin this week pointing out the lack of black former players in discussion for analyst roles on the league’s premier broadcasts. He explained his position Wednesday night alongside Chris Broussard on The Odd Couple.
Parker pointed out that rarely do black players get a spot on prime-time broadcasts. That is where the money is.
He pointed out that three black men have been in the booth throughout the history of Monday Night Football. Combined, those three men spent six seasons on the broadcast. He also noted that plenty of black broadcasters and former players end up on pregame shows.
“I’m not saying there aren’t any opportunities, but the big paying jobs, and the biggest ones so far have not had that guy in there,” Parker said.
He pointed to the salaries of Tony Romo and Troy Aikman and said networks don’t often make those paydays available to black men. He specifically called out Aikman, who recently signed a $90 million contract at ESPN. Parker said that he is good at what he does and has stature in the league thanks to his history with the Dallas Cowboys, but there is no reason his Cowboys teammate Michael Irvin shouldn’t have the same opportunities in the broadcast booth.
Broussard agreed saying that the NFL should prop Irvin up as its answer to what Charles Barkley is to the NBA on TNT.
Rob Parker said that he was inspired to write the Deadspin piece after Amazon hired Kirk Herbstreit to be the analyst on its Thursday Night Football coverage.
“He never played in the NFL. He’s Mr. College Football, and even in that spot, they gave it to somebody that didn’t even play in the league,” Parker said. “I’m not saying that means he can’t talk about the game or analyze the game. He played great as the quarterback at Ohio State, okay? I know his resume. I’m not saying he’s not qualified, but even that job, Chris! Even that job with Amazon went to another white guy.”
Michael Strahan has been mentioned as a candidate to take over for Aikman in FOX’s top NFL booth. It wouldn’t be a primetime game, but it is regularly one of the NFL’s most-watched windows. Would that come along with one of these mega-paychecks?
Sports Radio News
101.9 The Horn in Austin Sold to Norsan Media
Norsan has appointed Edgar Saucedo as Southwest Market President overseeing all of the company’s Texas operations and Ramon Loo as Austin Program Director.
Published
9 hours agoon
April 19, 2024By
BSM Staff
A Radio Insight report says Norsan Media has purchased 101.9 The Horn in Austin, Texas from Genuine Austin Radio. According to the report, Norsan had already been operation a couple of Genuine Austin Radio’s stations and will now take add the rest of their stations, which also includes country stations 99.3 FM.
The report also says Norsan has appointed Edgar Saucedo as Southwest Market President overseeing all of the company’s Texas operations and Ramon Loo as Austin Program Director.
The Horn used to also be on 104.9 FM and was the University of Texas flagship station for Longhorn athletics. That stopped when Norsan took over the signal to air Regional Mexican programming. The Texas Rangers games air currently on The Horn.
Should anything change with the programming or format at The Horn, we will keep you posted.
Sports Radio News
AJ Hoffman Headed to Mornings on San Antonio’s Sports Star
“Excited for my next chapter post-Vegas and stoked to start building an audience in San Antonio!”
Published
10 hours agoon
April 19, 2024By
BSM Staff
AJ Hoffman announced via his X account he will be back on local radio in Texas doing mornings at San Antonio’s Sports Star. “Life announcement,” Hoffman wrote. “I’m moving back to Texas. Starting May 6, you can find me back on local radio, doing mornings on San Antonio’s Sports Star. Excited for my next chapter post-Vegas and stoked to start building an audience in San Antonio!”
Hoffman had worked for several years at ESPN 97.5 in Houston and was most recently in Las Vegas serving as the executive vice president and director of digital content for Pregame, an information site for sports wagering.
Hoffman had hosted the popular show, The Blitz, with Fred Faour for more than 10 years and then became the station Program Director in 2019. He exited the station in the summer of 2021 to take the position with Pregame.
San Antonio’s Sports Star made a change earlier this year in mornings when Rudy Jay left the station in mid-January. RJ Ochoa, Managing Editor of the ‘Blogging the Boys’ website, took over for Jay, doing the show with station Program Director Rob Thompson.
Life announcement.
— AJ Hoffman (@AJIsTheReal) April 19, 2024
I’m moving back to Texas. Starting May 6 you can find me back on local radio, doing mornings on @SASportsStar
Excited for my next chapter post-Vegas, and stoked to start building an audience in San Antonio!
Sports Radio News
Steak Shapiro About Pat McAfee: “Dude, Relax”
“That is the definition of cringe. You have to be authentic.”
Published
12 hours agoon
April 19, 2024By
BSM Staff
Sports radio has spent a lot of time during this football offseason talking about Bill Belichick. From his ending in New England to the search for a new head coaching position to being a free agent in the sports media world, his name has come up often. Steak Shapiro and Sandra Golden hit on the topic this week during The Steakhouse on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta.
A lengthy story from ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler this week reported Belichick may not have landed the Atlanta Falcons head coaching position because of a conversation Falcons owner Arthur Blank had with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Another part of the story says the executives around Arthur Blank didn’t have Belichick in their top 3 of candidates which had interviewed for the position.
The same report also divulged that Belichick is expected to sign a deal with Omaha Productions to provide analysis and is interested in potentially coaching either the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles or New York Giants after taking this year off.
The same day, The Pat McAfee Show had Belichick on as a guest and announced the coach would join McAfee and team for their annual Draft Spectacular.
Shapiro and Golden talked about the article as it related to Atlanta, but also about Belichick’s appearance on McAfee’s show. “[Belichick] on McAfee trying to be this lighthearted guy that loves The Pat McAfee Show, it’s a stretch dude, that is a stretch.”
“That is the definition of cringe,” Golden replied. “You have to be authentic.”
Shapiro does an impersonation of McAfee talking excitedly about hanging out with Belichick and said, “Dude, relax, relax…the whole thing…I wish we hadn’t gotten started on this…”
Back in late January, McAfee had said on his show about Belichick, “I would like to let everybody know…I will make this promise that if Bill Belichick is going to do TV, ol’ Pat McAfee will be in the running to try to get Bill Belichick to join our progrum [sic],” McAfee said. “Belichick… knows everything about the NFL. Every game that’s ever been played…every player that’s ever been great — that’s why he was so great on [NFL 100 All-Time Team]. And after what we saw on College GameDay, he’s got moxie too. He’s great on TV, I think we’ll all be incredibly lucky if that’s the case.”
