NBC Sports' Mike Tirico will be on site at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next weekend to host the NASCAR/IndyCar doubleheader for NBC Sports, a move that always underscores that the network is giving importance to an event. Tirico will host festivities from the 6th floor of the pagoda alongside NASCAR analyst Dale Jarrett. NBC’s IndyCar team and producers will call the race on site from Indianapolis, while NBC’s NASCAR talent and producers will call the race from Charlotte Motor Speedway. This is to reduce at-track personnel given the coronavirus pandemic (Adam Stern, THE DAILY).
SCHEDULE SHAKEUP: In N.Y., Andrew Marchand notes Keyshawn Johnson is "headed to mornings on ESPN Radio as part of a shake-up that could leave Mike Golic without a chair." Sources said that Johnson's contract with ESPN "will directly impact the current morning team" of Trey Wingo and Golic's ESPN futures. Sources added that both Wingo and Golic "have contracts that end at the conclusion of this year." Johnson has hosted a show on ESPN L.A., but "will move east for the new national program." As for Johnson's "partner(s), that is still up in the air" (N.Y. POST, 6/26).
A NEW VOICE: In Chicago, Scot Gregor cited a source as saying that WGN's Andy Masur is "the choice to fill the sizable shoes" left by late White Sox radio play-by-play announcer Ed Farmer. Masur has been "filling in for Farmer" and Farmer's radio partner, Darrin Jackson, the "past two years on WGN 720-AM and has been at the station since 2014." Masur also spent '07-14 as the TV and radio voice of the Padres (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 6/25).
