ESPN Friday announced that John McEnroe will serve as the lead analyst during its coverage of Wimbledon (ESPN). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand reports McEnroe, who will continue on U.S. Open coverage with CBS and ESPN, “hopes his Wimbledon role will include working with his brother, Patrick.” McEnroe said that he is “open to ESPN on-air roles beyond tennis” (USA TODAY, 4/20). McEnroe had called Wimbledon for both the BBC and NBC, but NBC lost the rights to the tournament last summer (THE DAILY).
BROADCASTING FROM A NEW BOOTH: AWFULANNOUNCING.com's Matt Yoder cited a tweet from MLS Dir of Corporate Communications Sean Dennison as indicating that Fox' Gus Johnson is "calling away games this month on the radio for the San Jose Earthquakes." It is "quite the arrangement for Gus to be calling away games for a team, but it makes sense given the location of games" in N.Y. and Philadelphia on the East Coast. If there is anyone that "could rival the most excited soccer commentators around the world in this country, it's Gus Johnson." And his "interest in soccer has been hinted at before." The arrangement to "call select games on radio could be the perfect way to begin announcing soccer" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 4/18).
OUT AT HOME: In DC, Dan Steinberg noted ESPN's Tim Kurkjian appeared on WNEW-FM's "Sports Junkies" Wednesday morning, but by Wednesday night, Kurkjian had "told the Junkies that he could no longer appear on their program." ESPN Radio 980 DC Dir of Programming Chuck Sapienza said that "someone at the ESPN mothership in Bristol saw" a blog item by Steinberg on Wednesday afternoon and "asked Sapienza if he minded Kurkjian appearing on the competition’s airwaves." Sapienza: "I said I’m not gonna tell him he can’t, but of course I’d prefer him not to. I have no authority. Tim Kurkjian’s not my employee. I can’t make him not do it. They asked me my opinion, and I said I’d prefer him not to." ESPN Radio 980 has "also been told it can no longer have" CBS' Charley Casserly as a guest. WNEW is owned by CBS Radio (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 4/19).
GETTING COMFORTABLE: In Detroit, Tony Paul noted former MLBer Craig Monroe was hired by FS Detroit prior to the MLB season to "serve as an in-studio analyst during pregame and postgame segments" for Tigers broadcasts, and being on TV full-time is "still a challenge" for Monroe. He "concedes that when push comes to shove, he probably will tend to be more 'pro player,'" when discussing baseball on the air (DETROIT NEWS, 4/19). Meanwhile, former MLBer Dan Petry worked with Dan Dickerson on three Tigers radio broadcasts in K.C. this week while Jim Price was out with an illness. Petry: "I was in the pinch-hitter's role." Petry has served as an analyst for the Tigers "in a variety of ways, including TV game coverage with Frank Beckmann, and is a guest on special Fox 2 coverage." He also has "co-hosted a Tigers-themed radio show with Dickerson, but until this week, hadn't called a game on radio" (DETROIT NEWS, 4/19).
CONFIDENTIALITY BREACH? In Boston, Chad Finn notes MLB Network's Peter Gammons' "affiliation with or affinity for the Red Sox led him in an irresponsible direction" last week, as he "asserted that Globe reporter Bob Hohler should reveal the anonymous sources from his bombshell story last October on the factors contributing to the Red Sox' historic collapse." Finn writes it was an "absurd suggestion," betraying the "trust of a confidential source would be journalistic suicide." During his appearance on WBZ-FM's "Felger and Massarotti" Wednesday, Gammons was asked whether he "really believed what he had said the week before, that Hohler should reveal his sources." Gammons responded, "No, he can’t. I thoroughly understand that. I just think it would be better for everybody if he did, but he can’t do that. And I understand that" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/20).
