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Under The Radar – March 13, 2017

Jason Barrett

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One of the busiest week’s yet for the UTR column. A total of 23 news items are included in this piece. If you have a future news tip, press release or promotion you’d like to share, you can reach me by email at [email protected]. Now on to this week’s news.

Expect some news to trickle out this week from a few national sports radio networks. A couple of interesting developments that should generate some conversation inside sports radio circles. Stay tuned.

As I reported Friday on Twitter, former ESPN Dallas host Matt Mosley was brought in to host shows Friday and Saturday on SiriusXM’s College Sports Nation. Sources say Mosley could be in play for a larger role with the network. Stay tuned for further details.

Bad news was delivered on Friday inside the offices of FOX Sports 640 in West Palm Beach. The radio station which broadcasts into the city of Miami and at one point featured Sid Rosenberg on its airwaves, terminated its only remaining local program, the morning show. As a result, Joe Raineri and his supporting staff were let go. With Alpha Media taking over control of the station, the plan is to feature national programming going forward. Raineri is looking for his next opportunity. To learn more about him you can visit his website by clicking here.

One move which hasn’t received any attention but has taken place in Los Angeles, Fred Roggin and Rodney Peete are now hosting middays together on AM 570 LA Sports. The previous program LA Today was hosted by Bill Reiter and Leeann Tweeden. Reiter left for CBS Sports‘ digital team in September, and Tweeden moved to KABC in February. Roggin and Peete have been having some fun with the audience, giving them an opportunity to help name their program.

Staying in California, congratulations to Erik Peterson, who has signed on with TMZ Sports as a Talent Coordinator. Peterson has previously served as a Producer for The Beast 980, FOX Sports Radio, Westwood One and ESPN Radio.

After reporting last week that WFAN and CBS Sports Radio anchors would assume more responsibility on WINS and WCBS, it appears that further adjustments are taking place on the CBS Sports Radio Network‘s overnight schedule. Anchor Peter Schwartz announced via Twitter that his overnight shift was coming to an end, but that he’d remain involved with the network on a part-time basis.

Elsewhere on the national stage, ESPN Radio anchor Steve Lenox has revealed that he’ll be contributing to ESPN’s college baseball coverage in 2017 on the SEC Network and ESPNU. Lenox officially got started on Friday, calling Florida A&M vs. Bethune Cookman alongside Jay Walker.

Getting caught up on some ratings data, Sports Radio 810 WHB in Kansas City turned in a big January book. The station finished in the top 3 in middays and afternoons, and in the top 4 in morning drive. Overall the station finished 3rd M-SU 6a-Mid with a 6 share, with middays registering the top monthly performance. With baseball season just a few weeks away, local competitor 610 Sports should benefit from the return of the Royals. The team’s games are played on their airwaves, and help the brand deliver higher numbers. But play by play aside, WHB has to feel good about their standing right now.

KOA Newsradio 850AM and 94.1 FM in Denver has announced new multi-year contracts for Colorado Rockies radio broadcasters Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemmel. Corrigan has been part of the play by play team for the past 14 years. Schemmel has been involved for the past seven.

Speaking of baseball, a tip of the cap to former St. Louis sports radio anchor Sara Dayley who has been added to the St. Louis Cardinals television team for the 2017 season. She joins a crew which includes Dan McLaughlin on play by play, and Al Hrabosky, Tim McCarver, Ricky Horton, and Jim Edmonds as analysts. Dayley will contribute as a reporter and host to Cardinals Live, the team’s pre and post-game show, along with Jim Hayes and Scott Warman. Former Cardinals Rick Ankiel and Brad Thompson (101 ESPN afternoon show host) will also contribute as studio analysts.

Congratulations to Kyle Bailey who’s signed on with WFNZ in Charlotte. Bailey previously worked as a host for Kirkman Broadcasting’s 98.5 The Zone and ESPN Charleston, and prior to that he spent time hosting in Blacksburg, VA for Super Sports 101.7 and 105.3 The Bear. Bailey had recently been filling in on the Charlotte sports talker, and will now join the station on a permanent basis as a host and executive producer.

North of border in Toronto, the Toronto Sports Media blog has learned that 590 The Fan is adding Ben Ennis to the midday show alongside Andrew Walker.

In Houston, Alex Del Barrio of Sports Radio 610 has confirmed that he’ll be joining the Houston Dynamo radio team alongside Jeremy Branham. The Dynamo play their games on 610.

A little further to the west in Austin, 104.9 The Horn has added Ashley Kamrath to help oversee the radio station’s digital efforts.

105.7 The Fan in Milwaukee is bringing back Seth Everett as a baseball season contributor. Everett will provide a weekly check in every Wednesday at 12:05pm CT with The Fan’s midday host Bill Michaels. Michaels’ program not only airs on The Fan, but it’s also distributed on affiliate stations throughout the state of Wisconsin.

Alpha Media’s ESPN Myrtle Beach 1450AM has added an FM simulcast on 105.5 FM. Both frequencies will continue airing the entire ESPN Radio lineup.

ESPN 94.9 The Game 2 has signed on to carry Cincinnati Reds baseball. The station will air over 130 regular season Reds baseball games in the Nashville market.

A change is taking place in Decatur, Illinois. Aric Lee has confirmed that is program is moving from 1050 ESPN to 1340 WSOY. Lee will be heard weekday afternoons from 3p-5p CT starting on 3/13.

Bobby Corser has left his position as executive producer at Rip City Radio in Portland. Corser is looking for his next opportunity and can be reached by email by clicking here.

The Frozen Four will have a new voice contributing to its broadcast coverage. Colby Cohen has been summoned to call the action this year for Westwood One. The hockey tournament officially begins in early April.

Congratulations to Nate Lundy and Shawn Drotar‘s 5280 Sports Network. They’ve added J.J. Jerez to serve as the site’s Colorado Avalanche reporter.

Nashville’s On Demand Sports Talk Show “A To Z Sports“, hosted by former 94.9 The Game 2 hosts Austin Stanley and Zach Bingham, have added Mark Harris to report on the Nashville Predators.

Deb Antonelli will call men’s NCAA Tournament basketball games later this month on CBS, making her the first woman to do so in over two decades. Antonelli has called men’s and women’s hoops since the early 1990s, but this will be her first time broadcasting “March Madness.” She’ll work alongside Carter Blackburn and Mike Gminski.

And last but not least, congrats are in order for Josh Santry, who is leaving IF Management after 11 years, to join CAA Sports. Santry will remain based in New York City while working for CAA.

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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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