Behind the Mic: A-Rod Joins Fox Sports Full-Time; Brent Musburger To Receive Lifetime Achievement Sports Emmy
Story Highlights
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, A-Rod goes full-time at Fox Sports, Brent Musburger will receive the Sports Emmy Life Achievement Award, Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole return home to Canada on TSN, Tennis Channel inks James Blake to a two-year extension, and ESPN unveils its slate of on-air talent for softball.
After working as a guest studio analyst during FOX Sports’ coverage of the 2016 MLB Postseason, World Series Champion and three-time American League Most Valuable Player, Alex Rodriguez has joined FOX Sports as a full-time analyst. In addition to reprising his role as FOX MLB studio analyst, Rodriguez expands his broadcasting responsibilities to serve as a game analyst for select FOX MLB SATURDAY telecasts as well as feature reporter for FOX’s MLB pregame coverage and FS1 studio show MLB WHIPAROUND. Rodriguez made his broadcasting debut during the 2015 World Series as a guest studio analyst for FOX Sports…
…The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) will present Brent Musburger, one of the most recognizable and accomplished voices in sports broadcasting, with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports this year at the Sports Emmy Awards.
Musburger began his career in local television in 1968 and has been on the national stage since 1975. He joined ABC in May 1990 after 15 years as CBS Sports’ primary host and play-by-play commentator. During his career at ABC and ESPN, he has hosted and/or called play-by-play for college football (including seven BCS Championship Games) and basketball, golf, NBA, NASCAR and IRL races and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He called the Little League World Series from 2000-11. He also hosted Super Bowl XXV’s pre-game and half-time shows as well as the 1991 Pan Am Games from Cuba. For CBS, he was host or play-by-play on NFL games and the ground-breaking The NFL Today, the NCAA Final Four, tennis’ US Open, the NBA, the Masters, the Belmont Stakes and the College World Series. Musburger’s incredible career resume also includes play-by-play or hosting responsibilities (TV or radio) for Super Bowl, College Football Championship, Final Four, Masters, Rose Bowl, Little League World Series, FIFA World Cup, Indianapolis 500, NBA Finals, MLB Playoffs, U.S. Open tennis, Belmont Stakes and much more…
…After FS1 cancelled Fox Sports Live last month, sports anchor team of Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole will return to Canadian television on TSN this fall. The pair will bring their trademark charisma to SC WITH JAY AND DAN, airing weeknights at 12 midnight ET and looping the following morning, as they deliver a new and decidedly humorous approach. With content created for multi-platform consumption to reach fans across the country and millennial audiences in particular, Onrait and O’Toole will also contribute original content throughout the day across TSN’s digital and social media platforms, providing Canadian fans a refreshing look at the world of sports.
Their incarnation of SPORTSCENTRE, SC WITH JAY AND DAN will be driven by the duo’s strong personalities, and will include highlights, trending stories, the return of fan-favourite segments like “Ya Blew It!!!”, as well as other new surprises from this unpredictable team. The pair’s unique brand of hijinks will also permeate across Bell Media’s various programs and platforms…
..Tennis Channel and on-air analyst James Blake agreed to a two-year broadcast extension in advance of the BNP Paribas Open, which began on March 8. Blake, who first appeared on the network in 2013 during Davis Cup and the US Open, will widen his analyst’s role to include more events on Tennis Channel’s 2017 and 2018 lineups. This includes time spent on the network’s Los Angeles set and in the field: he will be part of the network’s French Open team in Paris for the first time this year. One of the most popular American players during his career, Blake ranked as high as No. 4 in singles and was part of the 2007 United States team that won the Davis Cup. This is Blake’s second year as part of Tennis Channel’s team in Indian Wells, where he was a singles finalist in 2006.
New Analysts This Season include Rainey Gaffin – a two-time All-American (2015, 2016) and two-time SEC All-Defensive Team (2015, 2016) at Tennessee – and Erin Miller – a co-Big 12 Player of the Year (2016); Top 10 Finalists for 2016 Senior Class Award (2016) at Oklahoma. Returning analysts include Kayla Braud, Carol Bruggeman, Jenny Dalton-Hill, Cheri Kempf, Danielle Lawrie, Jennie Ritter, and Leigh Dakich. Adam Amin, Trey Bender, Erin Collins, Trey Denning, Jenn Hildreth, Melissa Lee, Courtney Lyle, Beth Mowins, Mark Neely and Pam Ward will call the majority of play-by-play throughout the season.
