James Andrew Miller and Jenn Hildreth

Episode 55 of the Sports Media Podcast features two guests. First up is best-selling author James Andrew Miller, the host of the podcast, “Origins with James Andrew Miller.” He is followed by  sports broadcaster Jenn Hildreth, who will be calling the 2019 Women's World Cup for Fox and also works for ESPN and the SEC Network. In this podcast, Miller discusses the many interviews ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro has done on the intersection of sports and politics at ESPN and how Pitaro views that intersection with relation to ESPN’s audience; the research ESPN says it has done on this issue and why it won’t release that data; how a company such as Disney navigates this issue; whether the social media rules should be (and are) different for Disney Chairman Bob Iger versus a front-facing ESPN employee; the growth of ESPN+ and the job ESPN programming execs have done building it up; the ESPN Monday Night Football booth decision; whether Bob Ley will return to ESPN; what the Andy Ruiz Jr.- Anthony Joshua fight means for DAZN; the growing power of Stephen A. Smith at ESPN; what is the likely scenario for Smith’s next contract; whether Smith has Jordan Rules as an employee, and much more. Hildreth discusses calling the 2019 Women's World Cup for Fox/FS1 alongside Minnesota United analyst Kyndra de St. Aubin; her preparation to call WWC tournament; the challenges of calling global soccer, particularly challenging names; how she navigates working for Fox Sports and ESPN and the SEC Network; why she decided to move from sideline reporting to play by play; the importance of her doing play by play for the next generation of women gamecallers; her work as the lead play by play voice for the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL); handicapping the 2019 Women’s World Cup; what she hopes to do heading forward, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Radio.com and more.