Monthly Archives: March 2011
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 50- Media in Richmond Get Set for Final Four
I’m going it alone for this week’s show as Ken Fang at Fang’s Bites had another obligation and could not join me. So no news segment this week.
We have two guests this week, both of whom are preparing to cover what is likely to be the biggest sporting event in their city this year. Steve Trosky is the Sports Editor at the Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch and Wes McElroy is the afternoon drive host at Sports Radio 910 WRNL also in Richmond, VA. Each takes time out to speak to us about how their respective organizations are planning to cover VCU in this weekend’s Final Four in Houston.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
SMJ Inbox- March 30, 2011
More and more great sports media information continues to make its way into the Sports Media Journal inbox…
ESPN Announces Coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament from Houston- ESPN has announced how it plans to provide extensive coverage of this weekend’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in Houston. Among the programming, daily SportsCenter and ESPNEWS reports from Houston beginning Friday, April 1st and special editions of College Gameday.
WWL Welcomes Jaime Moyer as Baseball Analyst- Former Major Leage pitcher Jamie Moyer has been hired by ESPN to serve as a baseball analyst. Moyer’s first appearance will be on Baseball Tonight tomorrow as part of ESPN’s coverage of Opening Day.
MLB Network Announces Live Game Coverage Opening Week- The MLB network will kick off its series of 30 Games, 30 Clubs, 30 Days with live coverage of the Seattle Mariners at Oakland A’s Friday at 10pm ET. Viewers in select markets will see the San Francisco Giants take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. MLB Network’s first produced telecast will be Friday, April 8th at 2pm ET when the Boston Red Sox host the New York Yankees.
MLB on Fox Announces Opening Weekend Coverage- The MLB on Fox will have three games to share with the country this Saturday. 59% of the country will hear Joe Buck and Tim McCarver telecast the Tigers and Yankees. 20% of the country will watch the San Francisco Giants at the Los Angeles Dodgers with Kenny Albert and Eric Karros. The remainder of the country will have Thom Brennaman and Mark Grace call the San Diego Padres at St’ Louis Cardinals.
PGA Shell Houston Open Kicks off on NBC and the Golf Channel- The NBC Sports Group will again provide coverage of this weekend’s PGA Tour event, the Shell Houston Open. The first two rounds will air from 3pm to 6pm ET Thursday and Friday on the Golf Channel. The Golf Channel will also have third and fourth round coverage Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 3pm ET with NBC taking over each day from 3pm to 6pm ET.
truTV has College Hoops All-Star Game from Houston- The 2011 Reese’s College All-Star Game will take place this Friday A
SMJ Inbox- March 29, 2011
It’s the Tuesday edition of the SMJ inbox…
More Crazy Ratings Numbers from the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament- CBS and Turner Sports are reporting that 99.9 million viewers watched a portion of the first two weeks of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. That number is 11% over CBS’ sole coverage of the tournament in 2010.
New ESPN Film Focuses on Nicklaus’ 1986 Masters Win- It’s been 25 years since Jack Nicklaus shocked the golf world by winning his sixth Masters at the age of 46 in 1986. ESPN Films will commemorate the victory with Yes Sir: Jack Nicklaus and the 1986 Masters. The film will debut April 6th at 6:0pm ET on ESPN. I, for one, am looking forward to it.
SI Releases MLB Preview Issue- As a Red Sox fan I have concerns. Sports Illustrated has released its Major League Baseball Preview Issue and the Red Sox are picked to beat the Giants in the World Series. Where’s my panic button?
Sirius XM Gets Set for Coverage of Another MLB Season- Sirius XM radio is getting set for another year of wall-to-wall coverage of Major League Baseball. The satellite radio services will have play-by-play coverage of every game of the season, across channels 175 to 189. You can get the complete schedule here.
TNT Promotes This Week’s NBA Twinbill- The Celtics at Spurs and Mavericks at Lakers will be this week’s NBA doubleheader on TNT. Coverage begins Thursday at 8pm ET.
Coach K to Interview Two Final Four Coaches on His Weekly Sirius XM Program- Butler Head Coach Brad Stevens and Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari will appear on the next edition of Basketball and Beyond with Coach K on Sirius XM Radio tomorrow at 7pm ET. Coach Krzyzewski is also scheduled to talk with former Georgetown coach John Thompson. The show can be found on Sirius channel 123 and XM channel 144.
Tennis Channel Brings Back Fitness Show- The Tennis Channel is bringing back for a second season Fit to Hit, a series that takes a and look at the world of sports diet and fitness from a tennis player’s perspective. The premiere episode is April 3rd at 7pm ET.
SMJ Inbox- March 28, 2011
Let’s take a peak, shall we, into what has come into the Sports Media Journal Inbox…
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Ratings Continue to Soar- CBS and Turner have announced that ratings for this year’s joint coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament are the highest in the last 6 years. To date, the average rating of the entire tournament on the four networks is 6.0, up 11 percent from CBS’ coverage in 2010.
March Madness on Demand Seeing Maddening Numbers- Over the first two weeks of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, there were 41.6 million view visits to the March Madness on Demand website run by CBS, Turner Sports, and the NCAA. That number is up an astonishing 60% in total visits.
Fox Sports Announces a College Game of the Week on FX Beginning this Fall- Fox has announced that it will produce a college football game of the week that will appear on FX beginning September 3rd. The 13 game schedule will feature match-ups involving teams in the Big 12, Pac-12, and Conference USA.
ESPN to Launch Corporate Blog Site- Who needs SMJ to talk about ESPN when the WWL can do it itself? ESPN has announced that it will launch a corporate blog site, ESPNFrontRow.com, beginning Wednesday, March 30th. The blog will be update daily and will be managed by the organization’s Communications Department. The site will provide readers with behind-the-scenes access as to what is happening at ESPN and will be run primarily by Sheldon Spencer, a 25-year sports jounralism veteran with stints at National Sports Daily, the Seattle Post-Intellegencer, and San Jose Mercury News.
“The goal for ESPNFrontRow.com is to provide fans a window into ESPN,” said Mike Soltys, ESPN vice president, communications, U.S. networks.
ESPN’s Kenny Mayne has recorded a video on the launch of the blog. View it here:
HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel Returns Wednesday- The next edition of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel will air on HBO this Wednesday night beginning at 10:00pm ET. The show will depart from its traditional format to focus on stories dedicated to the state of college sports in America.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tip-Off Times
The regional finals in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament takes place today and tomorrow. Here are the match-ups and announcer line-ups:
SATURDAY, MARCH 26th
4:30pm- Florida vs. Butler (Gus Johnson/Len Ellmore/Reggie Miller/Marty Snider) CBS
7:05pm- Connecticut vs. Arizona (Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery/Lesley Visser) CBS
SUNDAY, MARCH 27th
2:20pm- Kansas vs. VCU (Marv Albert/Steve Kerr/Craig Sager) CBS
5:05pm- Kentucky vs. North Carolina (Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg/Tracy Wolfson) CBS
