Episode 92 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features ESPN broadcaster Joe Tessitore, who along with Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe will call the national college football semifinal game between Alabama and Washington on Dec. 31st.

In this podcast, Tessitore discusses why versatility can be a strength for sports broadcasters; how he prepares to call his college football assignments; the appeal of Tim Tebow and Paul Finebaum as sports broadcasters; working in Hartford with Gayle King as a local broadcaster; the skill set needed to call blow by blow boxing; why he’s not envious of Chris Fowler; the impact of the “Tess Effect,” which is a term used for all the close college football games he has called; why he loves hosting horse racing; working with analysts Teddy Atlas and Blackledge; the value of good producers; and much more.

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Episode 91 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features a a return of the roundtable sports media discussion with John Ourand, media reporter for the Sports Business Daily, and Jimmy Traina, writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback.

In this podcast, we discuss the uptick in NFL ratings over the past two weeks and whether it means anything for the long-term; the impact of Donald Trump’s election win on the NFL ratings versus a win by Hillary Clinton; why ESPN’s Monday Night Football schedule is always worse than the other rightsholders;

the heavy declining subscriber numbers for ESPN, FS1 and NBCSN and how much lower that number can go; what the immediate television future holds for Bill Simmons; where the UFC will go when its rights deal ends in 2018; why DG Media loves other podcasts more than this one, and much more.

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Episode 90 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features Cubs radio broadcaster Pat Hughes and Gary Cohen, the TV play by play voice for the Mets on SportsNet New York (SNY).

Hughes has been the radio voice of the Cubs for 21 years. Prior to that, he spent 12 years working with Bob Uecker on Brewers broadcasts. Cohen has been a Mets broadcaster since 1989 including working on the radio side until 2006. Both broadcasters – who were interviewed separately – are finalists for the 2017 Ford Frick Award, the highest honor a baseball broadcaster can achieve.

In this podcast, Hughes discusses how he handled the final moments of the Cubs’ historic World Series win; whether a World Series title changes listeners' perception of him; the differences in announcing for a good or bad team; what the immediate aftermath was like following the Cubs’ win; his passion for making audio tapes of some of baseball’s greatest announcers; and much more.

Cohen discusses how his job has changed since the 1990s; the use of sabermetrics in a TV broadcast; who evaluates his work and why that is important; how age has impacted, if at all, his broadcasting; the switch from radio to TV; how to navigate between wanting your team to do well but not being a homer; his favorite Keith Hernandez story; calling games for Columbia University’s WKCR as a college student with a soccer analyst named George Stephanopoulos; and much more.

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Episode 89 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features Paul Finebaum, who hosts “The Paul Finebaum Show,” which airs on ESPN Radio and is simulcast on the SEC Network. Finebaum is also part of the SEC Network’s “SEC Nation” and regularly appears on ESPN.

In this podcast, we discuss how Finebaum’s relationship with Alabama coach Nick Saban and what happened at SEC Media Day when the two got into a heated discussion; how he prepares for his show, especially when college football is not in regular season; how to take a regional show and make it popular nationally; what he thinks of Greg McElroy and Tim Tebow as analysts; what his relationship is with some of his well-known callers (e.g. Phyllis from Mulga Ala., Jim from Tuscaloosa); what finding success later in his professional life meant for him; how he thought his professional career had stalled before the New Yorker magazine profiled him; his advice for young people who do not consider themselves TV people, and much more.

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Episode 87 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features free agent NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz, the co-author of “Eat My Schwartz: Our Story of NFL Football, Food, Family, and Faith,” along with his brother Mitchell, who plays offensive line for the Kansas City Chiefs.

In this episode, Schwartz discusses how a pro athlete approaches making the transition to working in the sports media; how big city media is different than smaller city media; the impact of talking about religion and politics on Twitter; why he and his brother decided to write a book; being one of the greatest Jewish offensive lineman ever (yes, it is a small list), navigating being honest with viewers as a former player, and much more.

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Episode 88 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features Daniel Dale, the Washington bureau chief for the Toronto Star.

In this podcast, we discuss Dale's coverage of the 2016 Presidential campaign; how he approached his assignment; why he started to do daily fact checks of Donald Trump’s comments; the number of states he traveled during the campaign; how reporters regain the trust of citizens who distrust them; whether the truth matters in politics; why the pollsters were wrong; whether Canada's Conservative party is positioning itself as Trump; the most disturbing thing he witnessed over last 16 months; his coverage of Toronto’s City Hall from 2010 to early 2015, including former Mayor Rob Ford; how being a Canadian reporter in the States impacts his coverage of the election; his role for the Star heading forward, and much more.

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Episode 86 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features NFL Network analyst and host Brian Baldinger.

In the podcast, Baldinger discusses the NFL Network’s decision to suspend him for six months without pay because of he made on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia suggesting the Eagles place a bounty on Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott in Sunday night's game; how the NFL Network informed him of its decision; his explanation of the context in which he said those comments; whether the network’s suspension was far too harsh; whether he has apologized to Elliott; what this means for his career heading forward, and more.

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Episode 85 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features a roundtable sports media discussion with John Ourand, media reporter for the Sports Business Daily, and Jimmy Traina, writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback.

In the podcast, we discuss why NFL ratings have dropped this season and what it means for 2017 viewership; whether there is any validity to viewers protesting some players kneeling for the national anthem; what HBO will do with Bill Simmons’s “Any Given Wednesday;” ESPN’s declining subscribers and how much lower that number can go; whether FS1’s all-debate, all-the-time strategy will be successful; New York Times reporter Richard Sandomir leaving the sports media beat; the future for Mike Francesa and Mike Greenberg; the SI-Fox partnership; and much more.

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Episode 84 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features Elliotte Friedman, an NHL insider and reporter for Hockey Night in Canada and NHL Network, and a columnist for Sportsnet’s (Canada) website.

In the podcast, Friedman discusses the relationship between the Canadian media and the NHL, how he puts together his 30 Thoughts column each week, the biggest storylines in hockey in 2016-17, how the game is covered in Canada, what Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews mean for the league and Gary Bettman, the on-air changes at Hockey Night In Canada, mixing up Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in a race while calling the Rio Olympics for CBC and feeling like he let his country down; working on Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown, and much more.

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Episode 83 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features Washington Post reporter David A. Fahrenthold, who most notably has covered Donald Trump’s charitable giving through his Donald J. Trump Foundation, and most notably, broke the story of Trump bragging about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women during a 2005 conversation with Access Hollywood caught on a hot microphone.

In this hour-long episode, Fahrenthold discusses the parallels between political reporting and sports reporting; how he and his Post colleagues reported the Access Hollywood tape story; why he will not reveal the source to that story; how the Post verified the authenticity of the video; what it was like knowing he had a story that would have a seismic impact on an election; how he came to report on the Trump Foundation; why many of his non-responses from charities are those from the world of sports; his response to his reporting being called “badgering” by some in the Trump campaign; why the financial ties between Linda and Vince McMahon and Donald Trump is a white whale for him; whether he plans to write a book on his election reporting; the staff he works with at the Post; whether he has taken any extra security precautions for himself and family while reporting on this election; his love of the Houston Astros; whether he has allowed himself to think of such honors as the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting; and much more.

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