In Boston, Chad Finn reports Fox' Joe Buck has "enjoyed the challenge" of calling MLB games this season with Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci despite his "general skepticism" about a three-man booth. Buck, during a conference call previewing Tuesday's All-Star Game, said, "They see the game differently. I've said before, three guys are (often) too many in the booth. ... But in this case, for whatever reason, it works." He added, "Harold is kind of a wild card. He’s liable to throw out something that makes no sense or throw out something that makes more sense than you’ve ever heard, and Verducci is about as straight-laced and numbers-driven and factually correct as anyone I’ve ever worked with, and those two kind of bouncing off each other has made it a blast.” Finn writes Reynolds has "done little to counter the perception that he was an uninspired choice" to join Fox' broadcast team, though Verducci has "thrived as the info guy" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/11).
NETWORK NEWS: NBC Sports announced Wednesday that NHL Network host Kathryn Tappen has joined NBC to work on "NHL Live," "Football Night In America," Notre Dame football telecasts and additional studio programming. She also will be part of NBC's Super Bowl XLIX coverage next February, the '16 Rio Games and the '18 Pyeongchang Games. Tappen, the host of NHL Network's "NHL Tonight" since '11, will continue to appear on the net (NBC).
GO WEST, YOUNG MAN: In DC, Dan Steinberg reported WJFK-FM host and former NFLer LaVar Arrington will move to L.A. and "become a full-time contributor to NFL Network’s 'NFL AM' program." A source said that Arrington is remaining with WJFK and "will have 'a prominent role' on the station’s new afternoon drive show, although he will be contributing from southern California." NFL Network Producer Jeremy Louwerse said that Arrington will start working there "in early August." He will "join former players Eric Davis, Terrell Davis and a part-time [Jordan] Babineaux on the program." Meanwhile, Arrington’s final appearance on The Washington Post’s “Post Sports Live” program "will be next Tuesday" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 7/10).
L.A. STORY: In L.A., Steve Dilbeck wrote Kevin Kennedy is becoming the Dodgers' "No. 1 radio color voice" when regular play-by-play man Vin Scully is at home during road games outside of California and Arizona. Kennedy is the co-host of the Dodgers' radio postgame show, but for the last few weeks has been "doing color alongside Rick Monday on the radio." In that time, Nomar Garciaparra has "moved into the TV booth" with play-play-play man Charley Steiner and Orel Hershiser. A source said that this is the "plan for the rest of the season" for Dodgers' broadcasts (L.A. TIMES, 7/10).
LEARNING THE TRADE: In Detroit, Mark Snyder reports former NFLer Marcus Ray, who made several appearances on BTN during the '13 football season, participated "in the four-day NFL Sports Journalism and Communications Boot Camp" at Bowling Green Univ. in May in order to "make himself a full-time professional analyst." Ray said, "That was a great experience, a lot of former players, about 20 of them, got together at Bowling Green and learned a lot about journalism, how to write blogs, how to write for the radio, how to do podcasts, how to use social media to build your brand." Snyder notes Ray is still "trying to define what his BTN role will be this fall" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 7/11).
