New podcast conversation with Kevin Belbey, Director of Sports Broadcasting for The Montag Group. He’s a sports broadcasting agent who provides great insight into the broadcaster/agent dynamic. Topics of discussion include:
Going to the Newhouse School at Syracuse and realizing that sportscasting wasn’t going to be his future.
Why getting an agent isn’t a path to get out of a career rut.
Occasionally,
after nearly four years of writing this blog, it’s difficult to come up with
fresh topics to write about. Sometimes there just isn’t anything exciting
happening in my career. This week, inspiration was not a problem, as I’m
writing this from the media room at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, which of
course is the host of the Final Four!… Read More
With the Final Four coming up this weekend, everyone below
the NBA level will be done calling hoops for the year. While some will move right
into a baseball schedule, many of us are entering a period of down time. It’s a
great opportunity for broadcasters to go on vacation, be around friends and
family, and work other jobs that actually pay the bills.… Read More
I’ve said for many years that I believe Joe Buck is one of
the most unfairly criticized sportscasters in the business. He consistently
rises to the occasion and nails the biggest moments on many of the industry’s
biggest stages. He’s the type of broadcaster where the game feels bigger when he
is on the call. It’s why I was excited to finally dive into his book
“Lucky Bastard,” where he goes deep into the ups and downs of his life
and career thus far.… Read More
Watching NCAA
Tournament broadcasters call four games a day with only a short window to prep
has always seemed like an incredibly difficult task. I’ve also always wondered
how I would handle making the jump to a television-style call for basketball
when all my experience is on the radio side. This weekend, I received the
opportunity to dive head first into both by calling the live stream webcast for
the Junior College DIII National Tournament in Rochester, Minnesota.… Read More
Episode 86 of the podcast features Charley Steiner, the radio voice of the LA Dodgers and long time ESPN Sportscenter anchor. Topics of discussion include:
How hearing Vin Scully as a seven year old led to falling in love with sportscasting.
His first reaction when he learned he was going to be working as the Dodger announcer after a lifetime of being a fan.
Last night I called the first of nine basketball games in six days. That gauntlet includes a high school game on the radio yesterday, a double header Wednesday evening at the Minnesota State Girls Tournament, and six games for the web stream of the NJCAA DIII National Tourney over the weekend. Needless to say I’m knee deep in prep and don’t have time to write a new blog post this week.… Read More
After covering nine hours of gymnastics last week, I was
completely exhausted. I had a splitting headache, and my voice was barely
audible the next day. On Tuesday I was scheduled to call a basketball game and
still wasn’t recovered, but I was able to put mind over matter to get through
it. On Wednesday my voice completely broke down, but that didn’t remove the
basketball game from my schedule that evening.… Read More
In this episode I chat with Bill Spaulding, broadcaster for Harvard, the Ivy League Network, and Olympics coverage on NBC. Topics of discussion include:
The pressure to sound smarter broadcasting to an Ivy League audience.
When he knew he wanted to be a sportscaster.
Going to Syracuse and why it was an easy decision.
How difficult is it to get into the Newhouse School?
