Heat’s Jackson will try to be 2 places at once. And local radio move, NFL, NBA media news
Miami Heat radio voice Jason Jackson will be doing the ultimate juggling act this season: calling the games on radio (WAXY-790) and hosting pregame and postgame Heat programming on television (Bally Sports Sun).
Which leads to two questions: How is he going to pull it off? And how can he be in two places at once?
“We’re still working it out,” Jackson said of the logistics. “Ruth [Riley Hunter] already does it [going from radio to TV during the same game]. I’m no world-class athlete — like Ruth was and remains — and there will be some maneuvering and unique television tricks. The only concern is the start of the game and returning postgame.”
The Heat plans to place the radio booth very close to the TV studio, allowing Jackson to rush from the TV pregame set to the radio booth before tipoff and then race from the radio booth to the TV set for the postgame. He said he doesn’t envision having time to use the restroom during games and generally doesn’t anyway.
To make Jackson’s life earlier, the Heat and Bally Sports Sun have decided that Will Manso and Kristen Hewitt will replace Jackson as the halftime host on TV and also assume his sideline reporter duties.
If Jackson should be late for any reason, WAXY host Jonathan Zaslow and Riley Hunter can cover for him briefly.
Jackson, 49, has called Heat games before as a fill-in for TV voice Eric Reid and now-retired radio announcer Mike Inglis.
He also previously announced college football for ESPN. But this is his first full-time play-by-play gig for a team. He said the Heat approached him about doing both jobs after Inglis retired.
Doing play-by-play for a professional team is a typical dream for a young sportscaster, and Jackson was no different.
“You find out early in your career you better find a niche, and for me it was hosting,” he said, days before his Monday night radio play-by-play debut of a Heat-Hawks game.
Jackson — who grew up in Ohio — said he has listened closely during the years to two of the best regional play-by-play voices in modern history: former Cavaliers announcer Joe Tait and ex-Reds announcer Marty Brennaman. He hopes studying both will be beneficial in his adjustment to the demanding nature of radio play-by-play.
Besides making sure he gives a detailed call, “we are going to try to create an experience,” Jackson said. “I’ve been jotting down [ideas]. We’ll try some things in preseason.”
Jackson’s dynamic personality suggests this won’t be the typical cookie-cutter radio call. But he also knows he must paint a descriptive picture for listeners who aren’t watching, which comprises the vast majority of the radio audience.
The preseason games won’t require Jackson fire drills, because Bally Sports Sun won’t have pregame or postgame shows for those telecasts.
Bally Sports Sun will carry four Heat preseason games; ESPN2 will carry the other two, on Thursday at Houston (an unusual 10 p.m. start) and Oct. 15 against Boston. The 10 p.m. start is a result of ESPN2 needing to carry a U.S.-Jamaica World Cup qualifying game at 7:30 p.m.
This week’s Heat-Rockets game will be called by Houston-based lead analyst Jeff Van Gundy and new ESPN play-by-player Brian Custer, who previously worked for Fox.
AROUND THE DIAL
Jeff DeForrest, South Florida’s longest-tenured non-retired sports-talk host, lost his job recently when WINZ-940 dropped its local programming aside from Marlins games.
DeForrest, 70, has worked at eight South Florida stations through 40 years, including the past 11 hosting a morning show at WINZ-940.
With a clever sense of humor and a pleasant, nonconfrontational style, DeForrest has been one of the distinct, unique voices in the history of sports-talk radio in our market.
“WINZ rebranded the station to be Fox Sports Radio,” DeForrest said. “It was a great run, and I enjoyed the platform. I had autonomy on the show. I thank them for the opportunity and look forward to the next one. The show was never more successful and more fun to do.”
WINZ paid him a “marginal wage” and DeForrest kept all the revenue. He hopes to strike a similar deal with a new station.
“I have a ton of loyal, dedicated sponsors all ready to go,” he said. “The program had never been at a greater height.”
▪ For the first time, there will be an in-season version of HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” The series will have unique in-season access to the Colts, with episodes running Nov. 17 through the end of the season.
▪ CBS’ lead NFL announcing team (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo) will call Dolphins-Tampa Bay on Sunday... A greater percentage of Miami-Fort Lauderdale homes with TV sets watched Tampa Bay-New England on Sunday night on NBC (11.7 percent) than Dolphins-Colts on Sunday afternoon on CBS (11.0).
▪ After removing Rachels Nichols from its airwaves and canceling her program, “The Jump,” ESPN has created a new program, “NBA Today,” to air at 3 p.m. weekdays, with Malika Andrews anchoring. Kendrick Perkins, Chiney Ogwumike, Vince Carter and Zach Lowe will regularly appear on the show, which launches Oct. 18.
“The Jump” has been airing — and will air another two weeks — without Nichols.
▪ Personable Joy Taylor — sister of Jason Taylor and former South Florida radio personality — got her own Saturday show on Fox Sports Radio, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Taylor co-hosts Colin Cowherd’s FS-1 show at noon weekdays. She previously moderated the Skip Bayless/Shannon Sharpe show on FS-1.
▪ Dan Le Batard’s Meadowlark Media is launching five new podcasts, including one with Le Batard and former Dolphins running back Ricky Williams and a soccer show with Landon Donovan, former WQAM host Chris Wittyngham and longtime soccer writer Grant Wahl.
▪ Paul Pierce — dropped by ESPN last year after he posted a video of himself partying with strippers — told SI.com’s Chris Mannix that working at ESPN “wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron [James] all the time.”
▪ Former Marlins pitcher Al Leiter and former Braves pitcher John Smoltz were barred from appearing in MLB Network’s studio because they refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine. But Fox hasn’t prohibited Smoltz from working on its lead MLB announcing team with Joe Buck.
▪ Lisa Byington, who has called college basketball for the Big Ten Network and NCAA Tournament games for CBS, recently was named the Milwaukee Bucks’ play-by-play announcer. She’s the first woman to be hired as TV play-by-play voice for a team in one of the major four pro sports.
Days later, the Philadelphia 76ers named Kate Scott their new TV voice, making her the second woman hired to be the primary announcer for an NBA team.
In some ways, this was essentially the final frontier for women in the booth. Women have done play-by-play of NFL and college football games on network TV for years. Doris Burke is one of ESPN’s top NBA game analysts. And Suzyn Waldman has been a longtime radio voice (alongside John Sterling) on New York Yankees radiocasts.
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 3:04 PM.
