John Frieders, Sports Editor
@john_frieders
On November 26 Chris “Mad Dog” Russo was featured as a special guest on NCTV’s original podcast series Beyond the Whistle. Afterwards he addressed the broadcasting class speaking about his experiences in both the TV and Radio side of the industry.
Russo is the former co-host of the Mike and the Mad Dog sports radio program with Mike Francesa. Russo is now the host of Mad Dog Sports Radio. He currently hosts an afternoon radio show, Mad Dog Unleashed. In addition he appears on MLB Network and hosts his own show, High Heat. He also regularly appears on ESPN’s show First Take on tuesday and thursday mornings which includes a segment titled “What are you MAD about? ”.
Senior Henry Lapin, host of Beyond the Whistle and one of the key students who helped resurrect the podcast this year, expressed his excitement and satisfaction for the weekly podcast. “Beyond the whistle’s been brought back this year with me and Rob [Frangione] taking control of it, and it’s something we’re really proud of. Having Chris Russo on it made us really happy to see something that we pretty much brought back from the dead this year”.
Henry talked about working with a personality such as Russo and learning from the extensive wealth of knowledge in both history and sports “He’s everywhere in ESPN, on his radio show, on High Heat on MLB network, and it was just fun to have a new personality on Beyond the Whistle. It was an exciting experience and we’re so happy that it worked out well.”
Senior Rob Frangione, Co-Host of Beyond the Whistle, highlighted the preparation in the weeks leading up to the episode, not just the preparation that the students do for the on air side of the podcast, but also every graphic and camera angle. “When you have a guest who’s been on ESPN you’re going to start preparing weeks in advance. You’re setting the date a month beforehand as well as scheduling a day to film.”
Junior Ryan Bell, who has been on every episode this year, highlighted the professionalism that goes into a successful podcast. He stressed the importance of speaking knowledgeably and crafting debates with evidence and facts. “It was a lot of fun because pretty much everyone knows him and he’s with the big stars. You want to make a good impression on people that you don’t know well because you never know down the line if you might you know, see them again.”
Beyond the Whistle has become consistent this year with strong leadership from Henry and Rob and both are excited for what is to come. “Its been fun getting Beyond the Whistle episodes out consistently this year and we look forward to the new year.”
Last episode featured sports fanatic, Health and Physical Education Teacher, Michael Tiscia as a special guest. All episodes of Beyond the Whistle can be found on Youtube at NCTV78.
Link to Chris “Mad Dog” Russo podcast: https://youtu.be/XYrXl_YyfrM?si=burSbGW6RzGKjAYy
