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TV/MEDIA INSIDER
Brant leaves sports job, moves to sales
Friday, May 16, 2008
WKEF/Fox 45 mainstay Ryan Brant moved to the sales side following his final sports broadcast Sunday, May 11.
Brant has been with the stations since 1999 and became sports director two years ago. Recently, though, he was moved back to weekends, and he didn't want to do that.
Extras
"I had been thinking about it," Brant said. "I was tired of the hours (not only the length, but where they were, at the opposite end of the day from most people), and I wanted to spend more time with my family (wife and three girls, who range in age from 3 to 11). I'm looking forward to having a grown-up job. On my first day in sales, I only had to hit the snooze button once."
As a sports anchor, Brant was used to getting to work about 3 p.m. Now he's at work between 8 and 8:30 a.m.
Brant, a Fremont native and graduate of the University of Toledo, has been working in broadcasting 19 years, including stops in Johnstown, Altoona and State College in Pennsylvania, and Zanesville.
Of course, Brant couldn't leave sports broadcasting cold turkey. He'll be doing some play-by-play of Troy and Milton-Union football games this fall on WPTW.
Meanwhile, Nathan Baker has been doing the weekday sports show as the station looks for Brant's replacement. If they need him for fill-in work, they'll know where to look. WKEF's sales office is next door to the broadcast building.
No more blackouts
That pesky ESPN blackout reared its ugly head again May 7, when the Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees game was blacked out in Dayton.
"It was a technical error, which has since been corrected," an ESPN spokesperson said. "You'll no longer be blacked out when the Indians and Tigers play."
Well, hopefully.
It's getting annoying.
More 'SportsCenter'
The best part of a new morning "SportsCenter" beginning in August is not that Hannah Storm will be anchoring. It's that overnight sports will be refreshed and we won't have to watch the 11 p.m. show over and over and over. Storm has worked 19 years for CNN, NBC and CBS, so she's touching all the bases.
Walsh on HBO
Matt Walsh makes an appearance on HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" today from 8 to 9 p.m. (and several replay dates). Walsh is the central figure in Spygate, the New England Patriots' videotaping scandal.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157
or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
