On this week’s edition of the Awful Announcing podcast, host Ben Heisler was joined by Sarah Spain of ESPN to talk about her broadcasting career, her athletics and comedy background, and much more.
Here’s the breakdown of what Heisler and Spain chatted about.
- 4:34 – Her co-host Jason Fitz’s inability to pay up on bets
- 5:40 – The origin of how she became “The Commish”
- 9:10 – Has there been a scenario where she hasn’t been able to solve someone’s dilemma?
- 11:20 – Her time growing with the Le Batard Show
- 14:03 – What kind of kid was Sarah Spain?
- 15:56 – Learning to balance so many things all in one day and how it translates to her current career
- 18:05 – Was being a star HS/College athlete a part of her career path / what her ultimate goal ended up being
- 21:30 – Her time in Second City learning comedy and improv
- 24:38 – Does she feel like she was one of the first sportscasters that had to learn how to do everything to break in?
- 27:30 – The one fear she still has after all these years as an on-air personality and how to combat it
- 30:40 – Impact of power through association & improvement of women representation in sports media
- 33:40 – Early and current influences in the industry
- 36:12 – How Jemele Hill made a huge difference in her life
- 38:45 – How do we get the hiring practices to change?
- 42:44 – First working with Jason Fitz and how to get into rhythm with a show where nobody is in the same place
- 48:00 – The More Than Mean video – Balancing the joy of winning a Peabody vs the difficulty of replaying awful things said to them
- 51:03 – Her charitable work and how it turned into everyone on Twitter sending in awkward teenage pictures of themselves
Thanks for listening, and if you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave us a positive review.
