Episode 22: Rachel Nichols, ESPN

 

Note: there’s a brief rant about week 1 NFL ratings at the beginning of this podcast. If you want to go straight to Rachel Nichols, skip to the 3 minute mark.

The NBA season is around the corner and I had a lot of fun talking to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols about the NBA and her daily show,The Jump (Monday-Friday at 3 PM ET on ESPN).

Topics discussed:

— Why I’m crediting Rachel with being a prescient genius

— NBA’s Rising popularity (did she see it coming? causes? can other leagues mirror what the NBA has done? What does it mean/how much fun is it to be doing “The Jump” now)

— some ratings for “The Jump” (they’re good)

— Does Rachel pay attention to ratings and does it bug her that in the Twitter circles I toil in, significantly lesser-rated shows garner more attention?

— Plans for “The Jump” around the new NBA season

— Discussion about the show being taped live. I wasn’t aware that as a result of “SportsNation” being produced by the same team they have the leeway to look at the 3-4:30pm window as a 90 minute block of time they can be flexible with if necessary

— Sports media story Rachel’s most interested in. Spoiler: it’s the changing TV landscape, but I really liked her answer and attitude here where she talks about navigating “The Great Unknown”

— Listening to podcasts at 2X. SHAME ON ME! Somehow I didn’t know that Rachel was a fellow 2X crusader which probably works out for the best because if I had known, it really might have been the only thing we talked about

Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) on Twitter

The Jump podcast:

On ESPN

Apple Podcasts

 

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