Summary: Episode 26 of the Sports Media Podcast features Turner Sports and Fox Sports soccer host Kate Abdo; a media discussion with Boston Globe media writer Chad Finn on Monday Night Football’s broadcast crew and declining World Series viewership; and best-selling author and Detroit Free Press sports columnist Mitch Albom. In this podcast, Abdo discusses her role as the studio host for Turner and Bleacher Report’s UEFA Champions League coverage; how she ended up in soccer broadcasting after leaving home at 16; the differences between working in sports media in the U.K., Germany and the United States; the sexualized coverage of women broadcasters in the U.K.; being fluent in four languages and how that has shaped her soccer work; her biggest takeaway from Fox’s coverage of the 2018 World Cup; her Muslim faith and whether she has experienced discrimination or repression in her job; how she navigated Ramadan and calling the World Cup; future assignments and much more. Deitsch and Finn discuss the declining World Series viewership from last year; whether there is Boston fatigue; the call of Joe Buck and John Smoltz; and an analysis of the Monday Night Football booth. Albom discusses his current book, “The Next Person You Meet In Heaven," the sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven”; the challenges of bouncing from sports writing to non-sports writing; how much a sporting event still interests him as a writer; what sports figure in Michigan he finds the most compelling and why; whether he misses being on ESPN regularly and the fate of the newspaper sports section. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher and more.
