Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Episode 331 of the Sports Media Podcast features Ty Schmit, a producer and on-air personality of The Pat McAfee Show, a live weekday sports talk show that launches on multiple ESPN platforms on Sept. 7.  In this podcast, Schmit discusses his job for The Pat MacAfee Show; how guests and story ideas are selected; the challenges and frustrations of booking guests; how much he and the staff were kept in the loop when McAfee was meeting with potential employers for his next move; why ESPN can be a good fit for the show; using non-ESPN people; why he decided to apply to work for McAfee as an intern; moving to Indianapolis fulltime without having a guarantee that McAfee would keep him on after his internship; his ability to do a Lou Holtz impression on demand; the possibility of booking Iowa women’s basketball standout Caitlin Clark, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 330 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night lead analyst Todd Blackledge. Blackledge’s first call will be West Virginia at Penn State on Sept. 2 at 7:30 on NBC and Peacock. Big Ten Football will air each week on NBC and stream live on Peacock. In this podcast, Blackledge discusses why he left ESPN for NBC; how NBC made him feel wanted; being the lead of a college football package; his opening weeks of the season and how he is preparing for them; how he’s trying to find chemistry with new partner Noah Eagle; whether he views ABC’s Saturday Night Football as competition; his upcoming Big Ten podcast with Eagle; whether he can separate someone hating to see the Pac-12 dissolve with the reality that the new Big Ten teams strengthens NBC’s schedule; the loudest stadium he has been to as a broadcaster, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kendall Baker, senior writer for Yahoo Sports, talks about impactful sports curation, the importance of newsletters, and his new morning newsletter. Jenni Carlson discusses leaving legacy newspapers, the impact of sports columnists, and the launch of selloutcrowd.com, a new sports digital startup.

Episode 328 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features ESPN play by play broadcaster Chris Fowler. In this podcast, Fowler discusses his role as ESPN’s lead tennis game-caller; his preparation for the upcoming U.S. Open; the Alcaraz-Djokovic Wimbledon final; how he sees the immediate future of the men’s and women’s game; the challenge of calling tennis off a monitor; his August and September college football schedule with Kirk Herbstreit; his new agreement with ESPN; being assigned the Saints-Panthers; Rams/Bengals and the Week 4 Falcons at Jaguars game as part of the NFL’s International Series at Wembley Stadium in London; working with Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick; his love of the Olympics; working in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup; why he enjoys podcasting and using social media to offer short-form thoughts, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 327 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Marc J. Spears, senior NBA writer for Andscape and one of the prominent NBA voices in the country.  In this podcast, Spears discusses being awarded the Curt Gowdy Media Award by the Basketball Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game of basketball; the experience of being honored in Springfield, Mass; joining ESPN in 2016 as a senior NBA writer with the Undefeated, now known as Andscape, and how ESPN has changed from 2016 to 2023 from his perspective as a writer; writing about race and culture and how people react to that; how NBA players feel about playing in Toronto; why players have given him access over the years; LSU women’s basketball; the role of agents in NBA stories; hosting and producing a new show about food and wine that will air on Hulu on August 28, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Burke Magnus, President of content at ESPN, discusses ESPN's aggressive approach in retaining the NBA, interest in NCAA women's basketball tournament, future World Cup rights, upcoming College Football Playoff package, the failed negotiations with the Pac-12, ESPN's deal with Penn Entertainment, ESPN's approach to pay television and direct-to-consumer services, and the integration of Pat McAfee's show into ESPN's lineup.

Episode 325 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features three guests. First up is Men in Blazers  co-founder Roger Bennett and USWNT midfielder and podcaster Sam Mewis, who have combined forces with longtime USWNT center back Becky Sauerbrunn to broadcast on Twitch during the Women’s World Cup. Bennett and Mewis will be live on the Men In Blazers’ Twitch feed for the Women’s World Cup semifinals and final. In this podcast, Bennett and Mewis discuss how they approach a second screen experience for soccer fans; why they have had audiences of more than 500,000 viewers on their Twitch feed; Mewis on watching the WWC coverage this month and how that differed from how she consumed media as a player; the next evolution of Men In Blazers; Mewis’s post-playing interest in working in the media and more. Dodd discusses his new book with Mark Dent, “Kingdom Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs, and How a Once Swingin' Cow Town Chased the Ultimate Comeback”; the roots of Kansas City and how it is Everytown USA; why Mahomes has succeeded; how Dodd views Mahomes historically; why Kansas City is unique as a sports town; why Dodd sees Mahomes as similar to Steph Curry; New York City sports versus Kansas City sports and how media coverage differs in each city and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 324 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features the Editor In Chief for college football at The Athletic, Stewart Mandel. In this podcast, Mandel discusses the impact of Fox and ESPN on the Pac-12 no longer existing as we knew it; his reporting on Apple’s offer to the Pac-12; college sports administrators wanting linear television despite the declines in viewership and households; the Pac-12 title game as a PPV play?; Oregon and Washington in the Big Ten; why realignment content draws significant page views; what will happen with Stanford and Cal; how this impacts non-college football sports such as women’s college basketball; what this will look like five years from now, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 323 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Chad Finn of The Boston Globe and Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. In this podcast, the group discusses ESPN’s decision to let go of Mark Jackson; the likely new NBA Finals booth of Mike Breen, Doris Burke and Doc Rivers; how much influence the NBA has in selecting broadcasters; viewership for the Women’s World Cup; Carli Lloyd’s commentary and the blowback for it; Nickelodeon hosting the first ever alternate Super Bowl telecast; the declining subscriber numbers for cable sports nets; the Pac-12 and media; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 322 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features WWE star Becky Lynch. In this podcast, Lynch discusses how she views getting mainstream attention versus traditional wrestling press; how she decides on what media interviews she wants to do; whether she is a different interview depending on the media outlet; how she processes what is written about her; navigating interviews where some people want her in character and storyline, and then other interviewers want you to talk about the business of wrestling or her career; how she looks at social media big picture and why she needs to be judicious with how much she reads about herself online; her upcoming autobiography and the process of writing it; whether she would consider broadcasting as a post in-ring performer; how she believes one can connect with an audience; and more. (Note: WWESummerSlam will air live at 8PM on this Saturday on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else.) You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices