Watch the Media with John Shrader

Fifth and final chapter of a conversation with Phillies broadcaster Kevin Frandsen. 

Joshua Planos Is a free-lance writer, based in Nebraska. He has written hundreds of articles for publications around the United States. Much of his work appears these days at Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com . He has a couple of tenets, ‘try never to say no and always please your editor.’

A compilation of the work of our students here at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications. They did this work in their Sports Broadcasting class. 

MIKE SCHAEFER He has been the Recruiting Analyst for Husker247 for nine years. His beat is recruiting, but he also covers the Huskers team on a regular basis; he hosts a radio show weekdays on 93.7 The Ticket in Lincoln, and is a regular guest analyst on other radio stations in Nebraska. We have a frank conversation about covering sports in Nebraska and sports journalism.

CHRIS LAMB He is the chair of the Journalism and Public Relations Department at Indiana University, Indianapolis. He is the co-author, with Patrick Washburn, of the new book, Sports Journalism: A History of Glory, Fame, and Technology. [University of Nebraska Press] The conversation includes race in sport and media, and the state of sports journalism.

DAMON HACK  Is the co-host of "Morning Drive" on The Golf Channel. He is the rare African American reporter and host in golf in a game that is mostly white.  He talks about that in context, and talks about race in sport and the media. He is a UCLA grad who got his master's in journalism at Berkeley. He wrote for Sports Illustrated and the New York Times before he moved on to The Golf Cha...

MICHAEL BRUNTZ Is the Senior Writer for the CBS-owned local sports outlet Husker247, which is a recruiting and reporting site covering the Huskers. He talks about the reporting of recruiting, the incredible interest in the Huskers and how those factors impact his work and the work of the web site.

MARK ONWILER is the Operations Manager of the sports radio station KNTK, branded "93.7 The Ticket," an independently owned station in Lincoln, Nebraska. They do about eight hours a day of live radio. Often, the conversation centers around the Huskers, but during the pandemic the hosts broadened the topics.  Onwiler talks about all that, as well as access to the Huskers newsmakers and the chal...

PEDRO GOMEZ ESPN reporter covering mostly baseball, since 2003. He was a newspaper reporter at the San Jose Mercury News, Sacramento Bee and Arizona Republic. He spent time with John and his students at the University of Nebraska. He talks about the process of reporting, working at ESPN, working during the pandemic, and how bilingualism has aided his career.

GARY WASHBURN Is the national NBA writer for the Boston Globe and has been for the last 11 years. He’s been in the business for more than 20 years, including the early days in the Bay Area. He talks about among other things: working in the ‘NBA Bubble,’ diversity in the journalism business, and the social activism of the NBA and its players.

LON MC EACHERN has been the voice of the WSOP on ESPN since about 2003. He worked events for ESPN over the years from billiards to the X Games. He hit it big when he got a phone call out of the blue to host the new poker series on the worldwide leader in sports.  He’s been riding the hot hand ever since.

JOSH PETERSON is the co-host of Unsportsmanlike Conduct weekday afternoons on 1620 the Zone in Omaha. He talks about working in the pandemic, Husker football, the process of doing four hours of radio five days a week.

CHRIS HEADY Heady spent three years as a sports reporter at the Omaha World Herald, the largest newspaper in Nebraska. He is a graduate of the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications. He says great journalism is still being made, though he is concerned about the loss of outlets and jobs. He speaks fondly of the newspaper, his time in Nebraska and he’s excited about his future in his home...

IRVIN RAMIREZ-BENAVIDES Is a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He’s a major in Community Health and Wellness. He has an emerging media career, under the brand Feel Good Digital Media. He produces a number of weekly videos and a podcast, including a video series in Spanish, Café Con Pan . He’s on You Tube, Instagram and Twitter. He says he wants to produce media as a career, and especia...

Play by Play voice of the Isotopes (Pacific Coast League AAA) since 2013; also the voice of Women's basketball at the University of New Mexico. He has been furloughed by the baseball club. We talk in the week the 2020 minor league season was officially canceled. We also discuss the pandemic in the bigger picture, the dwindling number of African American players in baseball, and the conversations a...

Chris Schmidt I Host of KFOR Morning News and Hail Varsity Radio:  Six days a week he hosts news and sports programs in Lincoln, Nebraska, which total 27 hours of live radio.  

Chris Schmidt II In 2018 Lincoln radio host added morning news show on KFOR to his afternoon sports show, Hail Varsity Radio on ESPN Lincoln. He does radio six day a week, 27 hours of live radio per week. 

Chris Schmidt III Since 2008 he has hosted a sports radio show on ESPN Lincoln, Hail Varsity Radio, which he does for two hours a day, six days a week. He’s also a morning host on KFOR Radio. The third of three episodes. 

GARY SHARP Host of the 10 am -2 pm program, The Gary Sharp Show, on 1620 The Zone sports radio station in Omaha. He talks about the challenges of doing a one-man show, and doing so in the time of pandemic, learning so much from the listeners and his colleagues about race and sport; he talks about his career and those people whose work he most admires.

Soccer analyst for Fox Sports, and host of Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union podcast. He’s been working from home during this pandemic. He talks a bout the state of soccer broadcasting; the Bundesliga back on TV and other leagues are coming back soon. He thinks the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada will a seminal event for the American soccer business.

Damon Hack has been at the Golf Channel since 2012; he is one of the hosts of the Morning Drive. A sports journalist who worked for Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, Newsday and the Sacramento Bee, Damon has a clear view of where golf sits in the big picture of sports and its return. He talks about the Woods/Manning/Mickelson/Brady golf match; six majors coming up in the next year; the oppor...

In the second of two episodes, we focus on the questions: What if there is no college football or NFL football in 2020? I put these questions to journalists, broadcasters and academics over the last few weeks. The responses focus on things such as economics, cultural values, responsibility of colleges, the market power of the NFL and much more.  

I posed the question in the last few weeks to academics, reporters and broadcasters.  It's really two questions, one for college and one for the NFL. This is the first of two installments in a search to get answers to these questions. We know colleges, universities and the NFL are meeting regularly trying to answer these questions.   PART II- next week.

RICK BARRY - Former NBA and ABA great is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first person ever to lead all three of these entities in scoring – NCAA, NBA and ABA, and did that in a five-year span. After his long professional career, he was a broadcaster. His life and career have been marked by an outspokenness that he says cost him in numerous ways. He shares with us his high point...

PAT HUGHES is in his 25th year as the radio voice of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, and his 38th consecutive year in Major League Baseball. [That is when the season gets underway] He is the only Cubs radio announcer ever to utter the words, “Cubs win the World Series.” He worked with the legendary Bob Uecker in Milwaukee and Cubs all-time great Ron Santo in Chicago. He battles dysplasia, for whic...