The Bridge Ep. 76: Jeff Rickard, sports broadcaster for SiriusXM and ESPN Radio, joins the show to discuss his broadcasting career and many more anecdotes from working in sports radio

Jeff Rickard

Summer vacation continues to roll along and we couldn’t be happier to get to relax, at least figuratively. Sometimes, it’s a lot more fun to talk about what it’s like covering sports than it is actually covering sports.

Before we get into Episode 76, as a reminder, The Bridge is broadcast as a one-hour radio show every Wednesday night at 7 ET on Sports Radio America. Once the dust settles from that live broadcast, the show is released as a podcast on iTunes and on this website on Friday. You can listen to the live show every Wednesday on Sports Radio America here or through the TuneIn app.

  • “Sports News Read Like Real News” told the tale of an unlucky case of mistaken identity for former Dallas Cowboys player Lucky Whitehead (2:15).
  • The Bridge Question of the Week is: Who do you listen to on sports radio and why? Call in or text in your answer to 929-BRIDGE7, that’s 929-274-3437, and you’ll make it on the next show.
  • This week afforded us another sports broadcaster as a guest in Jeff Rickard, who has more than 30 years of broadcasting experience under his belt and now does most of his work for SiriusXM and ESPN Radio. Jeff was lucky enough to land a gig at a local sports radio and television station while still in college before working his way to stations in Denver and Utah to cover the major sports teams in those areas before moving to a national audience. He was very kind with his time, actually almost having to cut our chat short to fill in on a show because of an emergency, which shows the chaotic nature that the sports world can be. We’ll chat about how he got started in sports media, working in local and national radio, some of the different things that go into hosting a show and much more.
  • You can follow Jeff on Twitter @RickardOnSports. The interview starts at the 12:03 mark.

– In the interview, we discuss:

If he knew that broadcasting was his path at a young age (12:30), how important it was to get hands-on experience in the business at a younger age (13:13), his favorite John Elway stories (15:23), covering a team as a radio “journalist” (18:45), the difference in doing a radio show and TV show (20:41), how long it took to find his voice on radio (23:10), if local shows helped prepare him for national show (24:50), if he ever had doubts about broadcasting (26:23), if getting a show on Sporting News Radio was an “I made it” moment and moving to ESPN (27:51), if he’s ever been nervous (33:29), if he changes his approach filling in for different shows (35:49), having more freedom on satellite radio (37:21), how being surrounded by athletes and broadcasters has helped him grow (39:42), if doing play-by-play would be the next “dream job” (41:40), what advice he would give for younger broadcasters (43:53), working in his sports broadcasting “man cave” and continued love for the Denver Broncos (46:45) and where listeners can find him on-air (49:45).

 

Call in or text the show 24/7 at 929-BRIDGE7, that’s (929) 274-3437. Contact the show with your questions, comments, stories or hot takes and you might be featured in the next installment of The Bridge.

Subscribe to The Bridge Sports Podcast on iTunes (please leave a positive rating and review if you enjoy the show) so you’ll immediately be notified when new episodes are posted each week. You can also find The Bridge Sports Podcast on Google PlaySoundcloudStitcher and TuneIn.

You can listen to the show live on Wednesday nights at 7 ET via Sports Radio America or the TuneIn app.

Visit www.lundinbridge.com/email to subscribe to The Bridge Sports Podcast newsletter, which will provide weekly updates and behind-the-scenes information about the next show and who the featured guest(s) might be.

Email the show at media [at] lundinbridge [dot] com and follow the host on Twitter @lundinbridge.

Show music: ‘Actionable’ and ‘Epic,’ courtesy of www.bensound.com.

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