Behind the Mic: ESPN Set for Network's First All-Women Baseball Broadcast; Sportsnet's Jim Hughson Retires After 42-Year Career By SVG Staff
Friday, September 24, 2021 - 7:05 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Behind the Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, ESPN gets set for all-women MLB broadcast, Sportsnet's Jim Hughson retires from broadcasting after 42 Years, and ESPN shakes up their NBA studio programming.
ESPN To Debut First All-Women Baseball Broadcast Melanie Newman and Jessica Mendoza will be ESPN's first all-woman broadcast team for a nationally televised Major League Baseball game on September 29. The game will mark the first time ESPN has had an all-woman broadcast team for a MLB, NBA, NFL regular season or playoff game.
Newman was a part of MLB's first-ever all-female broadcast in July, while Mendoza became the first female analyst to call a nationally televised MLB playoff game in 2015. Mendoza, ESPN's first regular female MLB analyst, has been with the network since 2007.
Honestly, each earmark is just another page, says Newman. I feel fortunate to be the one handed this chance, it's our responsibility until there are no more firsts and its just an even playing field of all-qualified professionals who happen to look different.
Mendoza is a two-time Olympic medal winner and was a four-time All-American on Stanford University's softball team.
For young girls, women, and Latinas, to hear a voice that represents them is so impactful for not only the sport to grow its audience, but to continue to broaden the opportunities for more young girls, women and Latinas to do the same, says Mendoza.
Newman, who also made history as the first woman in Orioles history to call a regular-season game in 2020, will provide play-by-play commentary for two ESPN baseball telecasts as the network puts together its pennant race stretch of 11 games in 11 days. She also believes that representation is important in growing America's first professional sport.
Representation absolutely matters, Newman said. The number of younger girls who have felt they couldn't be a fan of sports in general solely out of not seeing women in front still amazes me. (CNN Business)
Sportsnet's Jim Hughson Retires from Broadcasting after 42 Years Jim Hughson is stepping away from the mic. The Hall of Fame play-by-play commentator has announced his retirement from sports broadcasting, closing out a remarkable 42-year career as one of the iconic voices of hockey in Canada.
It's been a fantastic run and I'd like to thank Sportsnet, Hockey Night in Canada, and all my friends and colleagues over the years for the tremendous support and countless memories, says Hughson. This is a decision I made in consultation with my family and I'm very much at peace with it. My only goal in this industry was to work at the highest level and on the last day of the season. I've had that opportunity a number of times and will always be grateful for it.
Calling his first game on radio in 1979, Hughson has done hockey play-by-play spanning the course of six different decades, becoming one of Canada's most notable voices. Hughson has covered countless NHL, OHL and CHL games and has been the voice of the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs and national hockey broadcasts on Hockey Night in Canada. He's also called a dozen Stanley Cup Finals and the men's hockey tournament at both the 2006 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Jim is one of the best this business has ever seen, says Rob Corte, VP of Sportsnet and NHL Production. Whether on TV, radio or in video games, for many he has been their soundtrack of hockey. He's set the gold standard for broadcasting in this country and has accomplished pretty much everything any broadcaster would set out to do in their career. On top of that, he's a tremendous teammate and an even better person. I respect his decision to step back and spend more time with family but he is going to be missed by us at Sportsnet, the entire broadcasting industry, his colleagues and his many fans.
While best known for hockey, Hughson also made a name for himself calling Major League Baseball at times throughout his career notably being part of the Blue Jays broadcast crew during their championship runs in 1992 and 1993.
Jim ranks amongst the greatest play-by-play announcers of all-time, says Bart Yabsley, President of Sportsnet. His contributions to the sport of hockey in this country have been immense. He has brought tremendous passion, knowledge, grace and care to every single game he's called, which is a testament to his longevity in this business. He is leaving behind incredibly big shoes to fill after a legendary career.
In 2019, the Hockey Hall of Fame awarded Hughson the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award to honor his outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. He is also a four-time Canadian Screen Awards winner for Best Sports Play-by-Play Announcer.
It's been an honor, privilege, and pleasure to join Canadian hockey fans in watching so many fantastic games over the years, adds Hughson. I look forward to continuing watching together, but from the same side of the television. (Sportsnet)
ESPN Launches New Show, NBA Today, on October 18 ESPN is launching a new studio show NBA Today, beginning on Monday, October 18, just prior to the October 19 tipoff of the 2021-22 NBA regular season. ESPN NBA journalist Malika Andrews will host NBA Today as part of a new, multi-year contract extension. Andrews will be joined by ESPN NBA analysts Kendrick Perkins, Chiney Ogwumike, Vince Carter, and ESPN Senior Writer Zach Low
North America Stories
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
11/06/2026
Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...
11/06/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...
11/06/2026
Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...
11/06/2026
FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...
11/06/2026
ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...
11/06/2026
The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering
In...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...
Behind the Mic: ESPN Set for Network's First All-Women Baseball Broadcast; Sportsnet's Jim Hughson Retires After 42-Year Career By SVG Staff 
