NFL analyst Trent Dilfer said that he "has reached a multi-year extension with ESPN and will take on an expanded role this fall." THE MMQB's Kalyn Kahler notes Dilfer will join "Sunday NFL Countdown" and work "alongside former Seahawks teammate Matt Hasselbeck, Chris Berman and Charles Woodson." Dilfer: "I will be back, and in fact, doing more of an expanded role. It will be 'Monday Night Countdown' and 'Sunday NFL Countdown.' The Sunday morning thing is new for me" (MMQB.SI.com, 6/21).
PUTTING FOR BIRDIE: GOLF DIGEST's Peter McCleery wrote Fox' U.S. Open coverage at Oakmont was "a first-rate production sprinkled with sharp commentary." Particularly welcome "was Fox’s Flight track, a split screen showing the player swinging on the left with the hole and a shot tracer on the right." Features were "short but memorable, especially newcomer Ken Brown’s." Good sound "picked up player-caddie conversation and mics in the cup picked up the sound of balls being holed." However, balls "flowing across the green to show break and movement as players putted didn’t really work." The broadcast team "performed well, especially during the rules controversy with eventual champion Dustin Johnson." The biggest improvement "came with main analyst Paul Azinger in the tower alongside Joe Buck and Brad Faxon." Azinger "shined with his wit and candor" (GOLFDIGEST.com, 6/20).
TALKING HEADS: In Chicago, Shannon Ryan writes under the header "Why Aren't More Women Working In Sports Radio?" TV nets "have hired more women to report on sports and newspaper sports departments have made incremental improvement in hiring women." However, sports talk radio "appears static as an almost entirely male domain -- from on-air talent to behind-the-scenes workers to listeners." Consulting firm Barrett Sports Media President Jason Barrett said that out of "about 200 regular hosts in the top 20 markets nationally, only seven women are part of a station's weekday lineup" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/21).
