Mitch Holthus has been one of the most distinctive NFL radio voices during his 30 years as the play-by-play announcer of the Kansas City Chiefs. His voice was absent Sunday for the franchise’s game after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

In a post to X, Holthus said he tested positive for the virus on Friday, and attempted to find a way to broadcast Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers remotely, before ultimately coming to the realization that it wasn’t feasible.

“I appreciate everyone who spent most of the day Friday trying to figure out how I could broadcast this game 2020 studio style,” Holthus wrote. “If it was (a) home game could maybe have had (an) isolated booth. But no way to pull it off on road, and (I) would never put anyone in that travel party in jeopardy, especially those who are immune compromised.”

He called the situation a “challenging 60+ hours”.

Mitch Holthus claimed he had not missed a Chiefs broadcast in 30 years — calling more than 500 consecutive games for the team. However, he concluded that he would start a new streak of broadcasting the team’s games next week.

On Sunday prior to the start of NFL action, ESPN broadcast the College Football Playoff Selection Show, which revealed the four teams that have been deemed as eligible to compete for the CFP National Championship. On Monday’s edition of Fescoe in the Morning on 610 Sports Radio, co-host Bob Fescoe discussed how the CFP will soon expand to 12 teams, which he says will not be as intriguing because of the addition of several games, and argued that ESPN and the CFP missed the boat by hosting the show when it does.

In fact, Fescoe did not tune into the reveal live, instead learning of the teams selected through social media and ESPN platforms.

Fescoe’s argument centered around the fact that there were several marquee NFL matchups on the schedule, including a showdown between two NFC contenders expected to compete for a Super Bowl championship – the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles. Later in the day on Sunday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers defeated the rival Kansas City Chiefs with both award-winning singer/songwriter Taylor Swift and the most decorated gymnast in Olympics history, Simone Biles, in attendance at Lambeau Field.

“When they announce it yesterday, they’re taking a lot of good show topics away from a lot of people,” Fescoe said. “You’re screwing us, ESPN, by doing that, right? You’re screwing your own people by doing that.”

Bob Fescoe suggested that the teams should have been announced during halftime of the Monday Night Football matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars, retaining a captive audience and driving conversation about the choices on Tuesday. With the NFL playing 13 games throughout the day on Sunday, he asserted that the league took away momentum from the College Football Playoff, something that could ultimately harm the scope of sports media coverage.

“Today, how much debate would be going on right now?,” Fescoe asked. “How awesome would it be to have a Monday to have all the blowhards like us have the opportunity to debate who should be in and who shouldn’t be in, and what [Paul] Finebaum says and what this guy says? It would have been outstanding to hear the calls from Alabama [and] other people screaming why they should be in. They missed out on that – they did.”

Starting in the next college football campaign, the CFP will officially expand to 12 teams and add more games ahead of the expiration of its media rights deal with ESPN after the 2025 season.

In the final selection show under the existing four-team format, Fescoe believes that it missed the mark by having it take place on the same day as a packed slate of NFL games. He does agree with the decisions of the committee and affirmed that it will be exciting to watch the teams face off to play for a National Championship.

As a radio host though, Bob Fescoe expressed the downsides to such a move and the other shortcomings therein.

“That’s why the four-team playoff is fun because everybody has an opinion; everybody has a feeling,” Fescoe said. “I think they got it right. It’s a TV show, and the sooner we can all realize that sports is a glorified TV show, the better off we’re going to be, and they’ve got the best made-for-TV matchups.”

Tim Hill, the former program director and co-host of the morning show at 107.5 The Game in Columbia is suing Cumulus Media for failing to accommodate religious beliefs that he claims are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This lawsuit, which has been filed in the U.S. District Court in the locale, is related to Hill’s refusal to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, something that was mandated by the company. In August 2021, Cumulus became the first broadcast radio company in the United States to institute such a mandate, which occurred ahead of its return-to-office date of Oct. 11. Inside Radio was first to report the news of Hill’s lawsuit against the company.

The lawsuit, which also alleges unlawful discharge, breach of contract, and retaliation, states that Tim Hill had worked from home for 18 months beginning in April 2020. With the announcement of the vaccine requirement, he requested religious accommodation to be exempt and answered additional questions about his request from the head of human resources when asked. The next day, his request was denied because of the “undue hardship on the company due to the nature of Plaintiff’s employment position.” Hill’s lawsuit affirms that Cumulus had no further inquiry about his religious beliefs and how they would conflict with the policy.

As the disputation continued, Hill suggested alternative methods to receiving the vaccine, which included masking, social distancing, wearing a face shield, continuing remote work, and installing an air filtration system with no cost incurred upon the company. These proposals were denied without “any interactive process,” according to the complaint. Tim Hill was fired on Oct. 11, 2021, for refusing to get the vaccine and is now suing for back pay, front pay, emotional distress damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest, and attorney fees.

Cumulus has yet to file a response to the lawsuit, the second such litigation due to its policy. Former News/Talk 98.9 WKIM Memphis morning show co-host Bob Boccia filed a similar lawsuit in May of this year, which the company denied in court.