Blaze Media Strikes Content Partnership With Jason Whitlock
Conservative media outlet Blaze Media will expand to Nashville as part of a new content partnership the company has struck with Jason Whitlock, a sports and culture journalist who has gained a following during stints at ESPN, Fox Sports and other venues, Variety reports.
As part of the agreement, Blaze Media will launch an hour-long daily podcast and digital TV show, “Fearless with Jason Whitlock,” from a newly acquired and renovated Nashville studio. Blaze and Whitlock will also team up on a writing vertical, Fearless, that will explore the intersection of sports, culture, faith, and race. Whitlock will serve as founder and editor-in-chief of the vertical that will live on TheBlaze.com. The writing platform is still in development.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with Jason Whitlock on this exciting new project,” Tyler Cardon, CEO of Blaze Media, said in a prepared statement. “Jason is authentic, entertaining, and fearless, all of which make him a perfect fit for the Blaze Media brand. He also has great vision and an extraordinary ability to cut through the noise. We’re also excited to be broadening our programming to include a daily show about sports and culture, and to be able to chart that territory with a singular talent like Jason is an honor.”
Blaze Media was created via a merger between conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze and CRTV LLC in 2018.
“Blaze Media shares my values — love of God and country, laughter, and a belief that nothing is more liberating than a fearless pursuit of truth,” Whitlock said in a prepared statement. “Blaze is the perfect launching pad for what I want to accomplish in the media space.” Whitlock was most recently at Outkick, the conservative sports and culture site founded by Clay Travis, one of the personalities who is slated to start a program that will fill the time slot previously occupied by Rush Limbaugh’s radio program. Whitlock left Outkick before it was bought by Fox Corporation in May.
James Dodds, Whitlock’s longtime radio and TV sidekick and best friend, will reprise his role as “Uncle Jimmy” on “Fearless with Jason Whitlock” and on a second 30-minute podcast built around their friendship. Dodds worked with Whitlock throughout his radio career in Kansas City and during Whitlock’s stint hosting the television show “Speak for Yourself” on Fox Sports 1.
Shannon Ferbrache, a former executive at Adidas and Under Armour, has been hired as general manager of the Nashville studio facility. Ferbrache will oversee management of the 4,000-square-foot facility and production of the shows created in the building. He will also work with Whitlock on the Fearless project. In 2020, when Ferbrache served as vice president of football at Adidas, he and Whitlock collaborated on a 30-minute Super Bowl TV special, “Speak for Yourself Loves Football,” that examined rapper Luther Campbell’s influential youth football program in Liberty City, Florida.
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