The Next Best Thing

In the final episode of series one – we speak to Lead Presenter on Derby County’s club channel Owen Bradley. For years before joining the club, Owen worked his way up through the BBC at local radio station BBC Radio Derby starting on the BBC’s ‘Blast Reporter’ scheme known now as ‘Kick-off Reporter’ and from there he became the station’s main sports presenter covering his boyhood club. In the meantime, he was also working for BBC Radio Nottingham on their Ice Hockey commentary covering his other boyhood team – The Nottingham Panthers and covered their first championship win in 50 years. Across this time he was nominated two years in a row for the prestigious Radio Academy’s 30 Under 30 in 2016 and 17. Owen left the BBC in 2017 for an exciting opportunity at Rams TV, a club channel that is now leading the way in the industry and is acting as a trailblazer to others in their position. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin Freelance Football Opportunities:If you want to or are currently freelancing in football media, you may be interested in signing up to 'Freelance Football Opps' It's a subscription-based newsletter that finds jobs across writing, design, video, and any other opportunities each week. For more info follow them on Twitter @FFOpps or visit their website: https://freelancefootballopps.com/

This week, award winning radio producer and broadcaster Rob Nothman joins The Next Best Thing podcast. Rob has worked for the BBC for over 25 years, reporting from Olympic Games, World Cups, Wimbledon, Test Match Special and all the golf majors.  He's more recently taken on a role at the BBC as a voice coach, helping some of the industries top broadcasters and pundits perfect their craft. It's been an incredible journey for Rob and one you'll certainly enjoy hearing about. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin Freelance Football Opportunities:If you want to or are currently freelancing in football media, you may be interested in signing up to 'Freelance Football Opps' It's a subscription-based newsletter that finds jobs across writing, design, video, and any other opportunities each week. For more info follow them on Twitter @FFOpps or visit their website: https://freelancefootballopps.com/

This week we’re taking a look at a different part of the journey – our guest is The Athletic’s Derby county reporter Ryan Conway who got his first full-time job in the industry 16 months ago.We chat about how tough it was for him like many others coming out of university waiting for that first opportunity. He tells us about a long coach journey that eventually landed him his dream job when the editor of The Athletic Alex Kay-Jelski gave him a phone call he'll never forget.In his debut season covering Derby County, he encountered FFP investigations, a drink driving incident, the sacking of club captain Richard Keogh and the arrival of England and Manchester United's record goalscorer, Wayne Rooney. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin

Marcus is currently one of the faces of Amazon Prime Sport's tennis coverage. For the next two weeks, he'll be working on the US Open as tennis continues its return from the coronavirus pandemic. Marcus started his career at BBC Radio Merseyside and stayed there for three years before moving into national radio at BBC Radio 5 Live and presented the first-ever sports bulletin on the station. He then went onto Sky to work for Sky Sports in its infancy where he presented their football coverage and later their tennis output for 12 years.  Marcus gives an honest insight into his regrets, mistakes, and some of the best moments in his career. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin

Adam Smith is Head of Boxing at Sky Sports and alongside Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn, he's played a huge role in revitalising the sport. They've taken boxing back to its glory days, selling out arena's all over the world and in this week's podcast, we find out how. His dream began as a child commentating into his dictaphone on whatever sport was available and now he's done nearly every HUGE fight in recent years. To name a few, Adam's been the voice of Anthony Joshua and Katie Taylor's rise, Mayweather vs McGregor, the Youtube fight between KSI and Logan Paul plus so many more big occasions. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin

BBC Sport's Ian Dennis joins the podcast this week and we hear about his journey through local radio covering the likes of Newcastle and Leeds United. He opens up on some of the key advice that still remains with him to this day and shares an evening he'd rather forget in the commentary box. His journey in local radio ended in 2002 when he joined BBC Radio 5 Live Sport and after years of hard work and incredible commentary on some of the biggest occasions in football, Ian achieved his dream of commentating a World Cup final in 2018. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin

Steve Crossman presents Premier League Sunday on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport but a lot of hard work and dedication has got him to that point. We go back from when he first found radio and tells us how he made his dream a reality. We explore the world of freelance and get our first look into the BBC's World Service where Steve made his name and eventually got the chance to work for 5 Live sport.  Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin

The wonderful Gigi Salmon joins the podcast this week and gives us our first look into the world of tennis! She's covered all the top grand slams and worked with some of the best in the business. During the pod, Gigi recalls the first moment Sue Barker handed over to her on centre court at Wimbledon and the time her co-commentator FELL ASLEEP! Gigi has also worked at Chelsea FC for over 20 years now and we discuss the change she's seen in that time amongst the likes of Roman Abramovich, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and many more. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin

This week we get our first look into the Athletic through their senior football writer, Oliver Kay. The Athletic burst onto the scene here in the UK last summer and made quick work of snapping up some of the best sports journalists out there including Oli. Prior to joining the Athletic, he worked at the Times for 19 years, the last ten of them as their chief football correspondent. He's an award-winning author and on top of that, a very humble guy who has some brilliant insight into the industry. We discuss supposed media agendas, the pressure to be an online presence in modern-day journalism and Oli opens up on the day he was approached to join the Athletic. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin

One of the greatest commentators of all time, Clive Tyldesley joins the podcast this week. Clive has covered World Cups, European Championship's, Champions League's and FA Cup's so to hear some of the stories and lesson's he's learnt in that time is fascinating as we take an in-depth look into the craft of commentary.    We talk about his early days covering Nottingham Forest and Liverpool in commercial radio, his time at the BBC and how it's been over the last 22 years being ITV's lead football commentator. Contact:Twitter: @TNBTpodInstagram: @TNBTpodEmail: [email protected] Podcast music by Craig Medlin:Twitter: @CraigMedlin