ESPN's Beth Mowins will call the Sept. 11 Chargers-Broncos "MNF" game, and in DC, Sally Jenkins writes play-by-play is the "last barrier for women in sports broadcasting." It is a role at which women have "faced a weird resistance." The "assumption at networks has been that the role had to be filled by a mansplainer, because a predominately male audience simply wouldn’t accept a voice in the higher registers talking first, and more than others." It will "take some getting used to Mowins, and during that time, she’ll be judged more critically by some men for what she says, does, and wears, because she’s the exception in a supposedly enlightened profession." But the "normalization will come, and the female voice will sound usual rather than unusual" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/18).
MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY: FS1’s Cris Carter talked about his new morning show “First Things First,” which is set to debut Sept. 5, and he said, "I’ve been doing a lot of studio shows, but the ability to do my own show, especially in the morning, is great." Carter: "I’ve always wanted to do that at one juncture in my career. Now I’m getting the opportunity." Nick Wright, who will co-host the show with Carter, said, "I couldn't be more excited to work with Cris. It’s kind of a good dichotomy, like the guy who didn’t play anything but thinks he knows all of it and the guy who actually played it and has the learned experience" (“Speak for Yourself,” FS1, 5/17).
LOCAL SOUND: In Houston, David Barron noted the Astros are "now a determining factor in the daily chase for sports radio listeners" in the city. KBME-AM, the Astros' flagship station, "doubled its audience share from a month ago," tying KILT-AM for first place "among the four all-sports stations in men 25-54" (CHRON.com, 5/17).
