MediaMaven

MJ McDermott, ex-Fox 13 meteorologist, says her sons are going to be playing on Netflix: "I got to be interviewed on KIRO Radio yesterday about the fun circumstance of both of my twin sons playing George Washington in the Netflix documentary "The American Experiment" - which debuts tomorrow!  Angela Poe Russell read my earlier Facebook post about this (below) and asked me to come in a chat about it on air.  What fun!  I got to meet Ursula Reutin, whom I've heard many times on KIRO.  And Angela interviewed me too.  What a hoot!  They were both warm and gracious.  And the conversation became a little about our kids - being moms of 20-somethings.  Let me know if you watch "The American Experiment" on Netflix.  Let me know what you think.  And if you catch Patrick and/or Kirby as GW!" Tune in!

We hear that an official announcement is coming this week that Fox13 will now be the brand new partner of SEAFAIR, the city's major, traditional and famous summer event. More details to come probably Thursday on the morning news, but it's been 'pirated' away from KIRO, which airs the annual Torchlight Parade.  Also hearing Fox 13 will televise the Lake Union fireworks on July 4, taking it from King.   No info on the Hydros telecast which has been on King/Kong.    Aggressive move! PS.. KOMO would never bid for this. Sinclair's agenda is to tear down cities, not promote them.  Cut and dried.  KING crippled by Nexstar litigation when this was likely up for grabs.

Tony Castricone, the play-by-play man for UW sports and successor to the legendary Bob Rondeau, has a new microphone spot per this post from the Tampa Bay Bucs of the NFL: "We're excited to introduce Tony Castricone as the organization’s new radio play-by-play announcer 📻 With more than two decades of experience, @Castricone was selected to succeed Buccaneer legend Gene Deckerhoff and lead Buccaneers Radio Network coverage."  Tony was Director of Broadcast Operations at UW, coming to the university nine years ago, following his work at sportscasting work at Clemson.   He is a graduate of Ohio University.

Linda Cohn, longtime ESPN SportsCenter anchor, is retiring from the network.  She is a long-ago KIRO sports alum, so might she return to help revive the station's dead sports image by freelancing during the Seahawks/Husky season and start of the Kraken????  Remember, she did a short-term deal to co-host Kraken pregame show the season before last on KING.  Interesting idea.  But what the ROI?   From Awful Announcing: Linda Cohn will soon be departing ESPN. Awful Announcing has learned Cohn’s contract expires at the end of the month, and the two sides could not agree on a suitable role for her moving forward. After beginning her tenure at ESPN in Bristol, Cohn relocated to the Los Angeles area, where much of her family lives, and enjoyed the work-life balance of her role hosting the 1 a.m. ET SportCenter. Last year, ESPN opted to move the 1 a.m. SportsCenter back to its headquarters in Connecticut. Since then, Cohn’s role shifted to hosting SportsCenter from ...

Tyrah Majors, KOMO morning traffic anchor and ARC Seattle co-host is entering the transfer portal, joining the KIRO morning news team on July 5 per her post on Instagram. Her last day at KOMO is June 26.   It's the first big anchor move by 7's new news boss.  Plus previously adding Nia Bliss (Wong-ex Fox 13) and Heather Bosch freelance (ex-Kiro radio).  Interesting to see exactly what her role there will be.  KIRO has a morning traffic anchor and an established news team in Dee Dee and Linzi plus Nick Allard on weather.    Waiting to hear more.    Majors also said she will continue teaching at Seattle U.     I have not been impressed by her work on ARC. Steve McCarron has carried her along. She's a strong brand builder, however.   You can search my previous posts about her on the site.   Could this also signal the end of ARC? I posted last week that a major move was going to happen in the market.  KING ...

Spokane's KREM 2 has named STEPHANIE RUIZ GIBILISCO as the new news director.  Per rickgevers.com, she's been working out of TV for the last three years, but earlier had been both Assistant ND and EP there at KREM.   She's also worked in Omaha, Tucson and Lincoln, NE.  She  replaces Jessie Kane who has decided to step away from TV news after six-year run there.    Kane also worked for KING in Seattle and met her husband here, who was a producer for me at NWCN.