— Pregame Show Host Jim Gray Will Interview the Patriots’ Quarterback Each Week During Westwood One’s Monday Night Football Pregame Shows, Plus Opening Night, Conference Championship Sunday, and Super Bowl XLVI Broadcasts.–
New York, NY – September 6, 2011 – Westwood One announced today that reigning league MVP and three time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady will join the NFL on Westwood One for a weekly interview segment with Jim Gray. The segment with the New England Patriots signal caller will be part of Westwood One’s weekly Monday Night Football pregame broadcasts, as well as Opening Night, Conference Championship Sunday and Super Bowl XLVI pregame broadcasts. This will be the first time Brady will be a weekly guest on the weekly national radio pregame show. In addition, Arizona Cardinals’ wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald will also join Jim Gray for weekly interview segments during Westwood One NFL pregame broadcasts throughout the season. Westwood One’s Monday Night Football pregame show airs each week at 8:00 PM ET on radio stations nationwide and can also be heard on Sirius/XM satellite radio, online at NFL.com and on Verizon mobile devices. Replays of both interviews will be available weekly on westwoodonesports.com.
Tom Brady has played in four Super Bowls, winning three of them, and has also won two Super Bowl MVP awards. He was invited to seven Pro Bowls and holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a single regular season. In 2007, Brady led the Patriots to the first undefeated regular season since the institution of the 16-game schedule and won his first of two MVP awards.
Larry Fitzgerald currently ranks fourth all-time in league history in receiving yards per game for a career. In 2008, he set a single postseason record with 546 receiving yards, 30 receptions and seven touchdowns, and last month signed an 8-year $120 million contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals making him the highest paid wide receiver in NFL history.
“These interviews with two of the most popular players in the League are a tremendous addition to our weekly broadcasts,” said Westwood One President Rod Sherwood.
“We have the best quarterback and the best wide receiver in the NFL joining us now every week,” said Gray. “In fact, they could be the best two players in the league period and we will be the only ones to have them both on a regular basis. I am looking forward to a great season.”
This will be the Westwood One’s 25th consecutive season as the exclusive network radio partner of the NFL primetime package, broadcasting the most games and the best match-ups throughout the entire NFL season. The Westwood One 2011-2012 NFL broadcast schedule features 57 national games, including:
Opening Kickoff game, 17 Monday Night games, including one doubleheader, 17 Sunday Night games (including Christmas Night), 7 Thursday Night games (including Thanksgiving Night), one Saturday Night game, a Thanksgiving Day doubleheader, 12 Postseason games, including the NFL Playoffs, the AFC and NFC Championship Games, the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. Westwood One also delivers specialty programs, including: The NFL Today, NFL Preview, NFL Insider, NFL Sunday, and NFL Fantasy Football Forecast.
In addition to the 57 game primetime package, Westwood One will also present a weekly doubleheader starting on Sunday, September 11, 2011 and continuing each Sunday through January 1, 2012. These games will be chosen as the season progresses to ensure the best possible matchups. All stations airing Westwood One’s NFL Football coverage can be found using the Station Finder located at www.westwoodone.com beginning Wednesday, September 9, 2011.
Westwood One is the leader in play-by-play sports broadcasts on radio. Westwood One’s sports lineup includes regular season NFL football, the Playoffs and the Super Bowl; NCAA Football and Basketball including the Men’s Basketball Tournament and Final Four; College World Series; Frozen Four; the Masters, the Olympics and more.
Jim Gray joined Westwood One in 2001 as host of the network’s Monday Night Football pregame and halftime shows and this marks his eleventh season fulfilling the same role for the network. Gray also serves as courtside reporter for Westwood One’s coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four and as on-course reporter for the Masters. A prominent network television reporter for over two decades, Gray currently covers boxing for Showtime, has been a contributor to the Golf Channel, and also has served as a courtside reporter for the NBA on CBS, NBC, ABC and most recently ESPN. Gray’s numerous credits include: seven Olympic Games, 22 Masters, thirteen Super Bowls, seven World Series and 15 NBA Finals. Gray has won 11 Emmy Awards and also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
About Westwood One
Westwood One (NASDAQ: WWON) is one of the largest providers of network radio programming in the U.S, providing more than 5,000 radio stations with over 150 news, sports, music, talk and entertainment programs, features, live events and digital content.
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Press Contact:
Peter Sessa
Westwood One
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