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People & Personalities: Ex-Redskin Cooley Finding Comfort Zone In First Season On Radio

In DC, Dan Steinberg wrote one of the Redskins' "harshest critics" this season was ESPN Radio 980 DC's Chris Cooley, a "31-year-old media rookie just 12 months removed from sharing a locker room with the players he now appraises." Heading into this season, he "was unusually positioned to diagnose the Redskins’ maladies." He has "identified players who looked like they weren’t giving maximum effort, players who weren’t talented enough to contribute and players who failed at their assignments." Reporters assigned to the Redskins beat "began tuning in for his analysis, and fans buzzed over it." Red Zebra Broadcasting VP/Programming Chuck Sapienza, whose company owns the station, said of Cooley's analysis, "It’s become a monster; it gets almost as much response as anything we do." Longtime DC-area sports radio commentator Andy Pollin said of Cooley, "I’m really amazed that he’s doing this because my experience with athletes is they’re hesitant to do it, especially with athletes they’ve played with." Cooley said that four or five players "have reached out to him with questions about his critiques, which they’ve mostly heard of second-hand" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/27).

GOING NATIONAL: In Charlotte, Tom Sorensen reported Monday is WFNZ-AM host Taylor Zarzour's final day with the station, but he is "staying in town." Zarzour on Jan. 6 "will begin his new show, Bleacher Report with Taylor Zarzour, on Sirius Radio." The show will run from 11:00am-2:00pm ET. He will "broadcast from a studio at his Charlotte home." Zarzour said of the new show's format, "You basically take the two or three biggest topics in sports each day and run with them." He added of why he left WFNZ, "Just to do a national show is too good of an opportunity to pass up for my family" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 12/29).

BOSTON'S BEST: In Boston, Chad Finn handed out his '13 "sports media superlatives" for the city. Finn named CSN New England Celtics broadcaster Mike Gorman as "Best play-by-play voice"; NESN baseball analyst Dennis Eckersley as "Best color and studio analyst"; Patriots radio play-by-play voice Bob Socci as "Best newcomer"; WEEI-FM's Kirk Minihane's addition to the "Dennis and Callahan" show as "Best third voice added to a program"; and WBZ-FM's "Toucher and Rich" as "Best radio program" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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