Breaking In with Kevin Fishbain: A Sports Media Podcast
Kevin Fishbain, senior writer at The Athletic, interviews sports media personalities about their origin stories. Each week, reporters, columnists, play-by-play announcers, sports radio hosts, television anchors, producers and more will tell Kevin about their first jobs in the industry, and how they broke in.
Episodes
80 episodes
Wayne Larrivee, play-by-play broadcaster Green Bay Packers
In episode 79, Kevin chats with Wayne Larrivee, radio voice of the Green Bay Packers, in his 29th season with the Green and Gold. Larrivee, the NSMA's 1997 Illinois Sportscaster of the Year, previously was the radio voice of the Chicago Bears w...
Dave Eanet, play-by-play broadcaster Northwestern Wildcats
In episode 78, Kevin chats with Dave Eanet, the voice of the Northwestern Wildcats football and men's basketball teams. Last summer, Eanet retired after 30 years with WGN Radio in Chicago. This origin story includes how Eanet made his way to No...
Brandon Gaudin, play-by-play broadcaster Atlanta Braves
In episode 77, Kevin chats with Brandon Gaudin, lead play-by-play broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves on BravesVision. Gaudin also does play-by-play for Fox Sports and Big Ten Network and has called national MLB games along with NFL, college foo...
Robert Mays, host "The Athletic Football Show"
In episode 76, Kevin chats with Robert Mays, his colleague at The Athletic and host of the company's flagship NFL podcast, "The Athletic Football Show." Prior to joining The Athletic, Mays covered the NFL for Grantland, The Ringer and The MMQB....
Michael Wilbon, co-host "Pardon the Interruption" on ESPN
In episode 75, Kevin chats with Michael Wilbon, co-host of "Pardon the Interruption" on ESPN and contributor to NBA coverage on ABC and ESPN. October will mark 25 years for Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser on PTI, an Emmy-award winning show that has ...
Spencer Hall, college football at Channel 6 and the "Shutdown Fullcast"
In episode 74, Kevin chats with Spencer Hall, who founded the popular college football blog "Every Day Should Be Saturday" in 2005 and is now the writer at Channel 6 and a podcaster on the Shutdown Fullcast. Hall's social media handle, EDSBS, i...
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin, ESPN SportsCenter commentator and sports betting analyst
In episode 73, Kevin chats with Steve Coughlin, more widely known as "Stanford Steve," who provides betting analysis on ESPN's College GameDay and is a regular guest on the midnight SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt. Coughlin got his start at ES...
Jourdan Rodrigue, senior NFL writer at The Athletic
In episode 72, Kevin chats with Jourdan Rodrigue, senior NFL writer at The Athletic and co-host of "NFL Daily" with Gregg Rosenthal. Rodrigue recently joined the Los Angeles Rams preseason broadcast booth. The 2021 winner of the PFWA's Terez A....
Mike Hall, Big Ten Network studio host
In episode 71, Kevin chats with Mike Hall, studio host at Big Ten Network. Hall has been at BTN since it launched in August 2007. Hall is the first guest on this show whose experience of "breaking in" was broadcast to a nationally-televised aud...
Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman, hosts of "Waddle and Silvy" on ESPN 1000 Chicago
In episode 70, Kevin chats with Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman, hosts of "Waddle and Silvy" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. It's a triple-origin-story episode, as you'll hear how Waddle went from an NFL career as a wide receiver into broadcasting, and ...
Adam Schein, host of "Schein on Sports" on SiriusXM
In episode 69, Kevin chats with Adam Schein, host of "Schein on Sports" on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio. He also hosts "Schein Time" on YouTube on weekday afternoons and provides in-game updates for the NFL on CBS. Schein is in the WAER Hall of Fame,...
Christine Brennan, USA Today columnist and author of "On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports"
In episode 68, Kevin chats with Christine Brennan, national sports columnist at USA Today and author of the New York Times bestseller "On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports." A pioneer in sports writing, Brennan's orig...
Brittany Ghiroli, senior MLB writer at The Athletic
In episode 67, Kevin chats with Brittany Ghiroli, The Athletic’s senior writer covering Major League Baseball. She’s been covering the MLB for nearly two decades, and got her start with an MLB.com internship. You’ll hear how she grew up a die-h...
Ross Dellenger, Yahoo senior college football reporter
In episode 66, Kevin chats with Ross Dellenger, senior college football reporter at Yahoo and the National Media Association's national sportswriter of the year. Dellenger has been with Yahoo since 2023 after five years covering college footbal...
Sean McDonough, ESPN play-by-play broadcaster
In episode 65, Kevin chats with Sean McDonough, broadcaster for ESPN and the Boston Red Sox Radio Network. McDonough has been at ESPN since 1989. He's currently the voice of the Stanley Cup Finals and he can be heard on one of college football'...
Ryan Glasspiegel, reporter at Front Office Sports
In episode 64, Kevin chats with Ryan Glasspiegel, media and entertainment reporter at Front Office sports. Prior to his time at FOS, Ryan wrote for the New York Post. One of the top sports media reporters in the country, Ryan explains why the s...
Joe Healy, writer and podcaster at D1Baseball
In episode 63, Kevin chats with Joe Healy, writer at D1Baseball, co-editor of SEC Extra, D1Baseball's premium SEC subsite, and co-host of Highway to Hoover, D1Baseball's SEC-focused podcast. Healy has been writing about college baseball since n...
Chris Herring, author of "Blood in the Garden" on 90's Knicks; senior lecturer at Northwestern
In episode 62, Kevin chats with Chris Herring, senior lecturer at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and author of "Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks." Prior to his job at Northwestern, Herring cover...
Paul Tenorio, The Athletic’s senior soccer writer
In episode 61, Kevin chats with Paul Tenorio, senior writer at The Athletic covering soccer and author of “The Messi Effect,” available now. Before becoming one of the country’s authorities on soccer, Tenorio studied journalism at Northwestern,...
Jon “Boog” Sciambi, Chicago Cubs and ESPN broadcaster
In episode 60, Kevin chats with Jon “Boog” Sciambi, television voice of the Chicago Cubs on Marquee and national radio voice of “Sunday Night Baseball” on ESPN Radio. Sciambi is also a play-by-play broadcaster for ESPN’s college basketball. His...
Danny Parkins, host on Fox Sports 1
In episode 59, Kevin chats with Danny Parkins, co-host on FS!'s "First Things First". He can also be seen on "The Herd". Parkins has been at Fox Sports since 2024 after he spent nearly a decade hosting afternoon drive in Chicago on 670 The Scor...
Cory Provus, TV play-by-play for the Minnesota Twins
In episode 58, Kevin chats with Cory Provus, lead television voice of the Minnesota Twins. It's his third year in the Twins' TV booth after spending 12 seasons as their lead radio play-by-play broadcaster. Provus also broadcasts college footbal...
Nick Friedell, senior writer at The Athletic
In episode 57, Kevin chats with Nick Friedell, senior writer at The Athletic covering the Golden State Warriors and the NBA. Prior to joining The Athletic, Friedell spent 14 years at ESPN covering the NBA, including his time on the Chicago Bull...
Hannah Storm, ESPN studio host and Sportscenter anchor
In episode 56, Kevin chats with Hannah Storm, legendary sports broadcaster. Storm has been at ESPN since 2008, where she's served as an anchor across SportsCenter, NFL Live, NBA Today, and WNBA and NBA Countdown. She's hosted everything from th...
Dane Brugler, NFL Draft analyst at The Athletic
In episode 55, Kevin chats with Dane Brugler, national NFL writer at The Athletic who produces "The Beast," an annual draft guide. This year's version includes 402 scouting reports and almost 300,000 words. How did Brugler become everyone's mai...