Behind the Mic: ESPN Names New NFL Studio Hosts; Big Hurt, Charlie Hustle Back in Fox MLB Studio

Behind the Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including deals, departures, and new assignments compiled from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, ESPN names new NFL Studio hosts, Charlie Hustle and The Big Hurt head back to the studio for Fox Sports, Doug Gottlieb heads to Fox Sports Radio as CBS Sports Radio shuffles its lineup, CSN Chicago names David DeJesus as new Cubs studio analyst, Blizzard hire TJ Sanders for Hearthstone eSports team, and Pac-12 Networks adds Ben Francisco for baseball season.

With Chris Berman Transitioning to Lesser Role, ESPN Names New NFL Studio Hosts
With Chris Berman moving into a new role in 2017, a trio of talented ESPN commentators – Suzy Kolber, Samantha Ponder and Trey Wingo – will assume his previous host responsibilities on ESPN’s NFL studio shows.

Kolber, who has co-hosted Monday Night Countdown with Berman since 2015, will now host the entire Monday Night Football pregame show from the site of each week’s game. She will also add the MNF halftime and postgame host role to her responsibilities while continuing to anchor weekday editions of NFL Insiders from ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., studios.

Kolber, who joined ESPN in 1993, was a NFL sideline reporter on both Sunday Night Football (2001-05) and Monday Night Football (2006-11), and she worked the Super Bowl XL telecast on ABC in 2006. She continues to be part of ESPN’s annual Super Bowl, NFL Draft and other year-round coverage of the league.

Ponder, one of ESPN’s top college football reporters and a contributor to College GameDay since 2012, becomes the new host of Sunday NFL Countdown – just the third in the 32-year history of ESPN’s long-running Sunday morning NFL pregame show. Ponder will also contribute NFL interviews and features. She has hosted College Football Live and served as a college football and basketball sideline reporter, most recently on ABC Saturday Night Football and including the College Football Playoff National Championship. She joined ESPN in 2011 as one of the first commentators for The Longhorn Network in Austin, Texas.

Wingo will now host all three days of the annual NFL Draft telecast on ESPN, beginning with the 2017 event April 27-29 in Philadelphia. He will also continue to be the face of ESPN’s daily year-round pro football coverage on NFL Live – the show he has hosted since its inception in 2003, NFL Insiders: Sunday Edition, NFL Primetime, and more. Wingo, who joined ESPN in 1997, hosts coverage from key NFL events throughout the year, including Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and NFL Draft…

Charlie Hustle and The Big Hurt Back in the Studio for Fox Sports
Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader, three-time World Series Champion Pete Rose, and first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Frank Thomas reprise their roles as studio analysts for FOX Sports’ MLB coverage in 2017. “Charlie Hustle” and “The Big Hurt” join World Series Champions Alex Rodriguez, and Nick Swisher on the Fox Sports MLB team. Rose and Thomas light up the studio desk during the regular season on FS1’s MLB WHIPAROUND and FOX’s MLB SATURDAY pregame coverage as well as during the postseason on FOX and FS1.

World Series Champion and National League Rookie of the year (2003) Dontrelle Willis, former major leaguer Mark Sweeney and National League Rookie of the year (1992) Eric Karros, also appear as regular analysts on FS1’s MLB WHIPAROUND and FOX’s MLB SATURDAY pregame coverage.  Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi add reports as FOX Sports MLB insiders while Kevin Burkhardt, Chris Myers and Mike Hill host throughout the season.

Doug Gottlieb Heads to Fox Sports Radio, CBS Sports Radio Shuffles Lineup
FOX Sports Radio (FSR) has added veteran sports media personality Doug Gottlieb to the network’s weekday afternoon lineup. Beginning April 24, The Doug Gottlieb Show will broadcast Monday through Friday from 3 – 6 p.m. ET on more than 150 stations nationwide. Gottlieb will also serve as a basketball analyst for FS1, providing insights and analysis for Skip And Shannon: Undisputed, The Herd with Colin Cowherd and other programs.

Gottlieb currently hosts The Doug Gottlieb Show on CBS Sports Radio and is a featured analyst on CBS Sports, CBS Sports Network and CBSSports.com. Previously, the former basketball standout was a college basketball analyst at ESPN and host of The Doug Gottlieb Show on ESPN Radio. He also co-hosted a midday sports talk show at WWLS-AM in Oklahoma City, Okla. Gottlieb was a college basketball point guard at Notre Dame and Oklahoma State, and graduated with a marketing degree from Oklahoma State in 2000, holding every assists record at OSU and in the Big 12 Conference. He is 11th all-time in assists in NCAA history.

With the departure of Doug Gottlieb to Fox Sports, CBS Sports Radio’s “Tiki and Tierney” and “The DA Show” will move to new weekday timeslots, effective Monday, April 17, as part of new multi-year agreements with their respective hosts, Tiki Barber and Brandon Tierney and Damon Amendolara. Additionally, “Tiki and Tierney” will be simulcast live on CBS Sports Network, a first for the program. The addition of “Tiki and Tierney” on CBS Sports Network adds to the network’s robust lineup of programming which also includes the simulcast of “Boomer & Carton” every weekday morning. “Tiki and Tierney” will move from weekday mornings, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, to afternoon drive, 3:00 – 6:00 PM, replacing “The Doug Gottlieb Show” which will have its final broadcast on Friday, April 14. “The DA Show” will move from its current timeslot of weekday evenings, 6:00 – 10:00 PM, to mornings, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. A new evening show and host will be named soon.

David DeJesus Named New Cubs Analyst for CSN Chicago
CSN Chicago has named former Cubs/MLB standout David DeJesus as the new Cubs studio analyst for CSN’s Cubs Pregame Live presented by Fields Auto Group and Cubs Postgame Live presented by BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois beginning with the 2017 MLB regular season.  DeJesus will be paired with veteran CSN Cubs Pre/Postgame Live host David Kaplan to provide expert analysis for CSN’s slate of 81 scheduled Cubs games beginning in April.  In addition to his Cubs studio analyst duties, DeJesus will also make regular appearances on CSN’s weeknight sports discussion program, SportsTalk Live presented by The Chevy Silverado, along with select appearances on the early edition of In the Loop presented by Comcast Business and on CSNChicago.com’s “Cubs Talk” podcasts. DeJesus, a standout defensive outfielder who played 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, including two for the Cubs in 2012 & 2013, made his Major League debut in September of 2003 with the Kansas City Royals.

Blizzard Hire TJ Sanders for Hearthstone eSports Team
Blizzard has hired Hearthstone caster and personality, TJ Sanders, to join the game’s eSports Broadcasting and Production team. Heathstone has been a regular on the casting desk of multiple Hearthstone tournaments as of late, including the recently concluded ESL Trinity Series. Sanders has also been involved with official Blizzard Hearthstone tournaments in the past, but he now joins the company in a permanent role. The next big event in the Hearthstone calendar is the HCT Winter Championships, which start up later this week on March 23rd in The Bahamas. Sixteen players, including 2016 Blizzcon World Champion, Pavel ‘Pavel’ Beltukov, will compete for a piece of the $250,000 prize pool. (eSports-pro)