Watch the Media with John Shrader

CARRIE PITZER started a digital-only news and events enterprise in Neligh, Nebraska in 2014, then she bought her hometown paper the Orchard News three years later.  And, in 2019 she bought the Neligh News and Leader. She says their subs have grown because they made a commitment to old-fashioned journalism, youth and sports.  They’ve merged five local papers into the two they are now publ...

SCOTT POESE Owner and GM, KBRX Radio, O’Neill, Nebraska. He refers to his operation as “small town radio.” They have made some personnel adjustments during this health crisis, and have made some adjustments to their sponsorship arrangements. We talk about the 70+ years of his family’s ownership of the AM/FM combination in a town of about 3,700 people. 

KEVIN KUGLER is play by play announcer on the Big Ten Network, Fox Sports and Westwood One. He is one of most versatile sports announcers in the country. He deeply understands how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted American sports, and the broadcast industry. We have a frank conversation about the situation and where we go from here, and a bit about what’s going on in his career.

STEVE BITKER Has been for nearly 30 years the morning sports anchor at KCBS Radio in San Francisco. He is now, like many others around the country and the world, doing his work at home. He talks about covering sports when games are not being played; how he tries to keep it fresh; the relationships on the radio and how they play for the audience.

KATE SCOTT is a play by play announcer based in the Bay Area. She was part of the historic all-woman broadcast of the March 8th NHL game between the Blackhawks/Blue on NBC Sports Network.. She calls games for the Pac-12 Networks and does a podcast for The Athletic . She is not only a woman surviving and thriving in what has traditionally men a business exclusive to men, Kate is openly gay sports b...

STEVE SCOTT Is a news anchor at WCBS News Radio 880. He is one of a few people holding down the fort inside the studios in New York, reporting on the COVID 19 outbreak. He says the work has never been more important. It’s the same hours - though some of the schedules have been turned upside down - but the intensity is much higher as New York becomes the epicenter of the virus outbreak. Recorded Ma...

JACK MITCHELL is host of LNK Today with Jack and Friends on KLIN Radio, 1400 AM in Lincoln, Nebraska. He does the three hours a day in the mornings, 6-9 am. He then started hosting a show at 5pm weekdays looking at the developments of COVID-19, the coronavirus. He does that show with the members of the KLIN news staff. He has hosted the radio show for 14 years, and says this is why local radio exi...

MIKEL LAUBER has spent the better part of the last week transforming his news effort into a mobile, and in some cases, a solitary presentation. Their producers and reporters are in the field and/or at home. It’s the way it will be for a while. He talks about how to approach a big news story that changes hourly and taxes the resources and creative juices of the news team.

Andrew Bucholtz , Media Reporter for Awful Announcing Covid-19 is at the top of the sports world conversation these days. No games, what happens to TV, its content and its reporters and on-air personalities.  Among the other conversation points: The NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, Tom Brady’s announcement, and TV Sports and streaming services. (Don’t count on them giving it away for free...

In the series of conversations about COVID-19, the corona virus, Steve adds insights on how we approach sports in America, and helps to put into perspective the current crisis.  He says sports in where can unite, and being united is a really important thing right now. 

Thad Livingston is he Sports Editor of the Omaha World Herald, the largest and most influential journalism outlet in the state of Nebraska.  We talk about the impact COVID-19 has had on local sports journalism, and how this break in games being covered might change the way we look at, and report on, sports in the future. 

MIKE WOITALLA  We wanted to talk with Mike in our series of conversations about COVID-19, the coronavirus. He lives and works in the Bay Area and covers soccer on a local, national and international level. 

DANNY BURKE Hosts “Betting Across America” on VSIN. He is one of thousands of radio and TV people who are dealing with the current landscape, which includes no games played and no games on TV. And for Burke and VSIN, no talk of games to bet on. We talked in the hours after all the major sports leagues in America suspended play. [Note – he is a former student of mine at the University of Nebraska]

MITCH SHERMAN and MAX OLSON are sports reporters at The Athletic , a subscription-based sports journalism web site and app. Sherman covers the Huskers and Olson is a national college football writer. They both worked at ESPN before departing for the sports journalism startup.  Sherman and Olson are Nebraska natives and UNL alums. They do a weekly podcast, The Sellouts. In this conversation we...

CHRIS MYERS Fox Sports Announcer - including football, baseball, NASCAR He will be on the sidelines for the broadcast of the Super Bowl, working the sidelines with Erin Andrews on the crew led by Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Myers has been with Fox Sports for 20 years, after 10 years at ESPN. He’s also now on the broadcast team of Marquee Sports Network in Chicago. Myers talks about preparing for the...

SPORTS ETHICIST, AUTHOR, COMMENTATOR, SPEAKER  A convicted felon (embezzlement) who spent 18 months in prison and three years on probation. Among the topics: how he go into the business; sports media opportunists; youth sports and the win-at-all-costs mentality; race and sport (including NFL players who protest by kneeling.) Sports Ethics.com and ChuckGallagher.com

JOHN GASKINS is in his second stint as the co-host of Craig and John on KWSN Radio in Sioux Falls, SD. He is the producer of the show and hosts with Craig Mattick. Gaskins is a Nebraska native and UNL grad who helped launch a radio station in Lincoln, 93.7 FM The Ticket. He talks about the process of doing daily sports talk radio, the audience in South Dakota, his Husker fandom, and being an openi...

DIRK CHATELAIN is a sports reporter for the Omaha World Herald. He is the author of “24th and Glory: The Intersection of Civil Rights and Omaha’s Greatest Generation of Athletes.” He talks about the content of the book, which was a newspaper serial in the summer of 2019, and the process reporting, editing and writing the book.  It’s a project he started more than a decade ago, focusing on suc...

BEN STRAUSS is the sports media reporter for the Washington Post.   We talk about the state of sports journalism, the growing Washington Post, ESPN's continued position as the leader in American sports media, and his interest in writing about the Nebraska softball team. He wrote a book with Joe Nocera about the NCAA, "Indentured."

 Carson Vaughan has written a book about a zoo in Royal, Nebraska, a town with a population of under 100 people. Vaughan vividly describes the scene that leads to the end of the zoo in Royal; he vividly shares the stories of the characters who make this story interesting.  It's his first book, and he shares with us the process of reporting and writing it and getting it published, all ove...

PACO LLORET  Director, CV Radio, Valencia, Spain He’s the general manager of a station that carries the major sports teams in Valencia, in the local Valencian language as well as Spanish. He is a long-time sportscaster in Valenica, who also hosts a two-hour radio show daily on the station. We talked about what he does, the sports landscape in Valencia and the nature of sports media in Spain.&...

MIKE WOITALLA Is the executive editor of Soccer America.com – the leading magazine covering soccer in the US. We talk about the recent Women’s World Cup title by the US; gender equity, Fox Sports TV coverage, Major League Soccer’s emergence as a major American sports league, media coverage of soccer generally, and much more.

 Watch the Media  THREE UNL STUDENTS JOIN US FOR A CHAT ABOUT THE STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM IN VALENCIA, SPAIN.  GRACE HARMON, JAMES ROWLAND, AND ADRIENNE MC DOWELL. [MIA AZIZA WAS ALSO WITH US IN SPAIN, BUT SHE WAS NOT ABLE TO JOIN US.] WE TALK ABOUT THE PROGRAM, COVERING SPORTS AND OTHER STORIES IN VALENCIA. WE TALK ABOUT THE CULTURE OF VALENCIA, THE CITY, AND THE VALUES OF STUDYING AB...

Thomas McIlroy is the International Content Manager for La Liga club Villarreal. He talks about what he does, how a Londoner ended up in Spain, Villarreal's values, La Liga's international marketing interests, and academy club Villarreal Nebraska.

SAM MC KEWON Covers the Huskers for the Omaha World Herald. He is the lead beat reporter on Husker football and women’s basketball.  He talks about the Huskers and the university’s role in Nebraska life; the state of the journalism business, the process of covering sports in the new media world. He is frank about the process and the people.