The MLB Central crew reacts to an earthquake. The MLB Central crew reacts to an earthquake. (The Recount on Twitter/X.)
By Andrew Bucholtz on

There have been many cases of earthquakes being captured on-air on sports broadcasts. But the one centered in New Jersey Friday morning had some unique dimensions. While that earthquake only measured 4.8 on the Richter scale and didn’t immediately appear to cause much major damage, its proximity to sports shows being produced in New Jersey and New York meant it was captured on-air on a lot of sports studio shows. Here’s ESPN’s First Take, filmed at the Seaport studios in New York City, with a particularly notable reaction from host Molly Qerim:

Qerim tweeted about that herself later:

Over in Secaucus, New Jersey, and closer to the quake’s epicenter, here’s MLB Network’s MLB Central. That included host Robert Flores calling his shot about this getting them featured here. (We do cover them from time to time, but yes, an earthquake can help get you on a particular day’s radar for sure.)

Here’s how this played out on New York City radio station WFAN, with Andrew Bogusch narrating it:

And this affected FanDuel TV’s Run It Back, or at least co-host Michelle Beadle:

Again, this is a long way from larger earthquakes with more impacts on infrastructure (and sports). And CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was unimpressed:

Also, some of the many earthquakes seen on broadcasts have produced more significant reactions and worries. (But some have not). But it was interesting to see this happen around New York and New Jersey in the middle of a lot of live sports studio shows.

[Image via The Recount on Twitter/X]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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