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Eight years ago, West Hartford’s Jared Kotler saw an open space in the saturated sports content market and he had a passion for what could fill it.
“In August 2018, podcasts really started to become a thing and pick up some momentum,” he said. “And I was like, you know, I really enjoy talking Connecticut sports. I think it’s an underrated sports market here that gets slept on, and I thought maybe there’d be an interest from people to hear about it, hear from the coaches, the athletes, the media personalities in the state, and I figured what the heck, I’ll give it a try, see if anyone tunes in and listens.”
Recently, Kotler celebrated the 500th episode of his “Connecticut Scoreboard Podcast,” on which he has interviewed some of the highest-profile sports figures in the state. What sets his pod apart is that it is not strictly a UConn sports gabfest or lengthy strings of hot takes; those are the crowded spaces of the market. Kotler spreads it around, gives a forum to other state colleges, too, and other sports, officials from the Travelers. If it’s positively Connecticut, this is a place for it, especially in an era when shrinking budgets limit traditional media’s ability to get to as many places.
Kotler has been getting some sponsors, including a partner in Martin Rosol Meats in New Britain, which allows him to make name-image-likeness deals with college athletes, so Alex Karaban was a regular guest for most of his career at UConn; Jackson Mitchell and Joe Fagnano were regulars during football seasons. He’s had Dan Hurley and Jim Calhoun on multiple times, Caron Butler, Jason Candle recently. He had Verne Lundquist to talk about golf and broadcasting. For his milestone episode he had a good get in new Boston College men’s basketball coach and former UConn assistant Luke Murray.
His guest “bucket list” includes Geno Auriemma, George Springer, Ray Allen, Shabazz Napier and Kemba Walker. (They can consider this an open invitation.)
“When I first started this, I never knew if people would actually respond to my request asking them to come on,” Kotler said. “And Anthony Latina (men’s basketball coach) at Sacred Heart was the first coach that gave me the time of day and responded right away, offering me however much time I wanted, whenever I wanted to talk. I really wanted to shine the spotlight on all the good that’s happening in Connecticut.
“You know, Connecticut gets that reputation as a drive-by state, especially when it comes to sports. It’s always New York or Boston with the exception of UConn really being thrown in there, but I’ve always just been interested.”
The show is far more serious and professional than “Wayne’s World,” but not as weighty as “Face The Nation.” It’s whimsical enough for Kotler and Karaban to argue the merits of black raspberry ice cream at the UConn Dairy, but he does not shy away from topical questions. He wears his UConn fandom on his sleeve, but doesn’t thrust it down the listeners’ throats. It’s a balancing act that now draws 12,000 to 15,000 listens per month, his metrics say.
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: For this UConn coach, 800 wins only half the story; a killer slate; more
Kotler, 33, a graduate of Hall High and George Washington University, works in marketing and communications during the day, but having worked an internship on ESPN’s “Pardon The Interruption,” he had a growing curiosity and fascination with sports media and decided to dabble.
His wife, Dana, is patient as he indulges his hobby in a home office. He doesn’t have a set day to drop new episodes, but generally does one per week. People we often hear from only in sound bites from a podium have the time and the wide berth to reveal themselves on Kotler’s podcast.
“I’m really trying to just create a conversation that people are going to find interesting,” he said. “I’m not here to play ‘gotcha’ with any of these guys,. It’s really just to have a conversation and get some insight into them.”
Kotler occasionally asks listeners via social media who they’d like to hear from, and despite popular demand, he has had me on a few times, too. I often use his episodes in my sports journalism classes at Southern Connecticut State when I assign a podcast, because it shows what can be done with a little imagination and ingenuity. You can access the Connecticut Scoreboard podcast in all the usual places like Apple, Spotify, YouTube. His most recent episode is a discussion of UConn merchandising.
“It’s always been cool for me to get to tell those stories and give people the opportunity to hear from those people,” Kotler said, “because there really is so much going on with all the sports teams here that’s exciting and I think people need to hear more about it.”
More for your Sunday Read
Chatted this week with an impressive young man, Micah Soloshatz. A junior at Weston High, he has published a book, “Beyond The Mic: Behind the Scenes Stories from America’s Best and Brightest Baseball Broadcasters.”
Soloshatz, who was born in Westport and moved with his family to Cincinnati and back to Connecticut, became fascinated with baseball broadcasting after attending some Reds games and began securing interviews with some of the best in the business.
“We had this class at middle school (in Ohio) where the premise was to pick out a subject we were passionate about and learn more about it,” he said. “And I chose to learn more about baseball broadcasting.”
For “Beyond The Mic,” Soloshatz interviewed Marty Brennaman, Bob Costas, Joe Davis, Suzyn Waldman, Dave Sims, Chip Carey, Jeff Dooley among 21 interviews in all. The book, 335 pages, is available on Amazon and other places where books are sold, in various formats, paperback, Kindle, etc.
Did we mention that this kid is a junior in high school?
“The biggest thing I hope people take away is how much baseball broadcasters shape the way we experience baseball,” Soloshatz said. “They are what people carry with them. I always ask them at the end what advice they would give the next generation of baseball broadcasters, or anyone aspiring to get into the profession.”
In a year, Micah will be choosing a college and he hopes to study journalism and sports broadcasting. If you’re looking for an easy winner, bet on Micah Soloshatz making his dreams come true. He is already far ahead of the game. … He got himself in “The Sunday Read,” didn’t he?
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: UConn golfer and grandma Babs, the influencer, both thriving; More on Mora
*UConn golfer Matt Costello shot a 4-under par 68 in the U.S. Open local qualifier at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln, R.I., this week, best in the field and good enough for him to advance to the final qualifying events, to be held in various sites May 18 and June 8. If Costello keeps this up, he could be playing in the U.S. Open at historic Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island in June.
*The NCAA made a radical change in the men’s soccer schedule this week. Starting in 2027, if the proposal gets final approval, the Division I season will now be split between fall and spring semesters, with the championships in April. Teams will play 18 matches between late August and Thanksgiving, then resume in February. This is designed to ease the athletic/academic load on the players and build excitement … but I must say I am hard-pressed to understand how.
*A reminder that SCSU is staging two major events in the coming weeks. Football alum Kevin Gilbride, who crowned a long coaching career with two Super Bowl titles as Giants offensive coordinator, will be honored June 4 at 5 p.m. Then there is a distinguished panel honoring trailblazers of women’s sports on June 18, both events will be at Aria in Prospect. See alumni-friends.southernct.edu or email Ray Reid at [email protected]. These events raise resources for Southern athletic programs.
*Former Giants coach Brian Daboll, now offensive coordinator with the Titans, inherits Madison’s Will Levis, the former Xavier High star, among his quarterbacks. Levis, drafted in the second round in 2023, missed all last season with a shoulder injury. “Will has been really good for us,” Daboll told reporters during recent voluntary workouts. “He has picked up the system well. He is a big, strong, athletic guy who has played some in the league. He kind of gets a fresh start here with us.”
*Former UConn and Amity Regional-Woodbridge catcher Pat Winkel, released by the Twins earlier this season, has hooked on with the Blue Jays’ Eastern League affiliate in New Hampshire. He’s hitting .333 with a homer through his first nine games.
*With the PWHL, the women’s pro hockey league, growing, could the league one day find a viable location in Connecticut, now that the state has been abandoned by the Sun and minor-league hockey’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers? The New York Sirens play at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the Boston Fleet are playing at UMass Lowell. Connecticut could offer right-sized arenas.
With Connecticut Sun relocation to Houston finalized, franchise can begin transition process
Now that the deal is done, approved by WNBA/NBA owners, the new owners in Houston will start to take control of the Connecticut Sun’s personnel moves. The obvious question is the “T” word. Will the Sun, off to a rough start, tank this season to give the new Comets a high draft pick? This, we shall see. Speaking of tanking, the WNBA’s decision means Houston was able to leapfrog the cities that won expansion teams, getting its team next year. The new ownership group avoids paying the expansion fee, pay $25 million less than offers from Boston and Hartford, and unlike other suitors, have not committed to build a stand-alone practice facility. These processes aren’t guaranteed to be fair, and this wasn’t, but the business sense of this deal still sounds dicey to me.
Continue reading...
“In August 2018, podcasts really started to become a thing and pick up some momentum,” he said. “And I was like, you know, I really enjoy talking Connecticut sports. I think it’s an underrated sports market here that gets slept on, and I thought maybe there’d be an interest from people to hear about it, hear from the coaches, the athletes, the media personalities in the state, and I figured what the heck, I’ll give it a try, see if anyone tunes in and listens.”
Recently, Kotler celebrated the 500th episode of his “Connecticut Scoreboard Podcast,” on which he has interviewed some of the highest-profile sports figures in the state. What sets his pod apart is that it is not strictly a UConn sports gabfest or lengthy strings of hot takes; those are the crowded spaces of the market. Kotler spreads it around, gives a forum to other state colleges, too, and other sports, officials from the Travelers. If it’s positively Connecticut, this is a place for it, especially in an era when shrinking budgets limit traditional media’s ability to get to as many places.
Kotler has been getting some sponsors, including a partner in Martin Rosol Meats in New Britain, which allows him to make name-image-likeness deals with college athletes, so Alex Karaban was a regular guest for most of his career at UConn; Jackson Mitchell and Joe Fagnano were regulars during football seasons. He’s had Dan Hurley and Jim Calhoun on multiple times, Caron Butler, Jason Candle recently. He had Verne Lundquist to talk about golf and broadcasting. For his milestone episode he had a good get in new Boston College men’s basketball coach and former UConn assistant Luke Murray.
His guest “bucket list” includes Geno Auriemma, George Springer, Ray Allen, Shabazz Napier and Kemba Walker. (They can consider this an open invitation.)
“When I first started this, I never knew if people would actually respond to my request asking them to come on,” Kotler said. “And Anthony Latina (men’s basketball coach) at Sacred Heart was the first coach that gave me the time of day and responded right away, offering me however much time I wanted, whenever I wanted to talk. I really wanted to shine the spotlight on all the good that’s happening in Connecticut.
“You know, Connecticut gets that reputation as a drive-by state, especially when it comes to sports. It’s always New York or Boston with the exception of UConn really being thrown in there, but I’ve always just been interested.”
The show is far more serious and professional than “Wayne’s World,” but not as weighty as “Face The Nation.” It’s whimsical enough for Kotler and Karaban to argue the merits of black raspberry ice cream at the UConn Dairy, but he does not shy away from topical questions. He wears his UConn fandom on his sleeve, but doesn’t thrust it down the listeners’ throats. It’s a balancing act that now draws 12,000 to 15,000 listens per month, his metrics say.
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: For this UConn coach, 800 wins only half the story; a killer slate; more
Kotler, 33, a graduate of Hall High and George Washington University, works in marketing and communications during the day, but having worked an internship on ESPN’s “Pardon The Interruption,” he had a growing curiosity and fascination with sports media and decided to dabble.
His wife, Dana, is patient as he indulges his hobby in a home office. He doesn’t have a set day to drop new episodes, but generally does one per week. People we often hear from only in sound bites from a podium have the time and the wide berth to reveal themselves on Kotler’s podcast.
“I’m really trying to just create a conversation that people are going to find interesting,” he said. “I’m not here to play ‘gotcha’ with any of these guys,. It’s really just to have a conversation and get some insight into them.”
Kotler occasionally asks listeners via social media who they’d like to hear from, and despite popular demand, he has had me on a few times, too. I often use his episodes in my sports journalism classes at Southern Connecticut State when I assign a podcast, because it shows what can be done with a little imagination and ingenuity. You can access the Connecticut Scoreboard podcast in all the usual places like Apple, Spotify, YouTube. His most recent episode is a discussion of UConn merchandising.
“It’s always been cool for me to get to tell those stories and give people the opportunity to hear from those people,” Kotler said, “because there really is so much going on with all the sports teams here that’s exciting and I think people need to hear more about it.”
More for your Sunday Read
Micah’s ‘Beyond the mic’
Chatted this week with an impressive young man, Micah Soloshatz. A junior at Weston High, he has published a book, “Beyond The Mic: Behind the Scenes Stories from America’s Best and Brightest Baseball Broadcasters.”
Soloshatz, who was born in Westport and moved with his family to Cincinnati and back to Connecticut, became fascinated with baseball broadcasting after attending some Reds games and began securing interviews with some of the best in the business.
“We had this class at middle school (in Ohio) where the premise was to pick out a subject we were passionate about and learn more about it,” he said. “And I chose to learn more about baseball broadcasting.”
For “Beyond The Mic,” Soloshatz interviewed Marty Brennaman, Bob Costas, Joe Davis, Suzyn Waldman, Dave Sims, Chip Carey, Jeff Dooley among 21 interviews in all. The book, 335 pages, is available on Amazon and other places where books are sold, in various formats, paperback, Kindle, etc.
Did we mention that this kid is a junior in high school?
“The biggest thing I hope people take away is how much baseball broadcasters shape the way we experience baseball,” Soloshatz said. “They are what people carry with them. I always ask them at the end what advice they would give the next generation of baseball broadcasters, or anyone aspiring to get into the profession.”
In a year, Micah will be choosing a college and he hopes to study journalism and sports broadcasting. If you’re looking for an easy winner, bet on Micah Soloshatz making his dreams come true. He is already far ahead of the game. … He got himself in “The Sunday Read,” didn’t he?
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: UConn golfer and grandma Babs, the influencer, both thriving; More on Mora
Sunday short takes
*UConn golfer Matt Costello shot a 4-under par 68 in the U.S. Open local qualifier at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln, R.I., this week, best in the field and good enough for him to advance to the final qualifying events, to be held in various sites May 18 and June 8. If Costello keeps this up, he could be playing in the U.S. Open at historic Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island in June.
*The NCAA made a radical change in the men’s soccer schedule this week. Starting in 2027, if the proposal gets final approval, the Division I season will now be split between fall and spring semesters, with the championships in April. Teams will play 18 matches between late August and Thanksgiving, then resume in February. This is designed to ease the athletic/academic load on the players and build excitement … but I must say I am hard-pressed to understand how.
*A reminder that SCSU is staging two major events in the coming weeks. Football alum Kevin Gilbride, who crowned a long coaching career with two Super Bowl titles as Giants offensive coordinator, will be honored June 4 at 5 p.m. Then there is a distinguished panel honoring trailblazers of women’s sports on June 18, both events will be at Aria in Prospect. See alumni-friends.southernct.edu or email Ray Reid at [email protected]. These events raise resources for Southern athletic programs.
*Former Giants coach Brian Daboll, now offensive coordinator with the Titans, inherits Madison’s Will Levis, the former Xavier High star, among his quarterbacks. Levis, drafted in the second round in 2023, missed all last season with a shoulder injury. “Will has been really good for us,” Daboll told reporters during recent voluntary workouts. “He has picked up the system well. He is a big, strong, athletic guy who has played some in the league. He kind of gets a fresh start here with us.”
*Former UConn and Amity Regional-Woodbridge catcher Pat Winkel, released by the Twins earlier this season, has hooked on with the Blue Jays’ Eastern League affiliate in New Hampshire. He’s hitting .333 with a homer through his first nine games.
*With the PWHL, the women’s pro hockey league, growing, could the league one day find a viable location in Connecticut, now that the state has been abandoned by the Sun and minor-league hockey’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers? The New York Sirens play at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the Boston Fleet are playing at UMass Lowell. Connecticut could offer right-sized arenas.
With Connecticut Sun relocation to Houston finalized, franchise can begin transition process
Last word
Now that the deal is done, approved by WNBA/NBA owners, the new owners in Houston will start to take control of the Connecticut Sun’s personnel moves. The obvious question is the “T” word. Will the Sun, off to a rough start, tank this season to give the new Comets a high draft pick? This, we shall see. Speaking of tanking, the WNBA’s decision means Houston was able to leapfrog the cities that won expansion teams, getting its team next year. The new ownership group avoids paying the expansion fee, pay $25 million less than offers from Boston and Hartford, and unlike other suitors, have not committed to build a stand-alone practice facility. These processes aren’t guaranteed to be fair, and this wasn’t, but the business sense of this deal still sounds dicey to me.
Continue reading...
