By Erik Hall

These are people who were “On the Move” during December 2020. They have made professional moves in sports media.

If there was a move in your department or you made a move during December that is not included, you can contact Erik Hall at hallerik7@gmail.com.

  • Zach Abolverdi took the Florida Gators sports reporter role at the Gainesville (Florida) Sun. 
  • Joe Andrews accepted the sports editor role at the Warrensburg (Missouri) Star-Journal.
  • Ron Balaskovitz became sports editor at The Sand Mountain Reporter in Albertville, Alabama. 
  • Sammy Batten left his role covering college football at the Fayetteville (North Carolina) Observer. 
  • Thom Brennaman became play-by-play broadcaster for the Puerto Rican Winter League broadcasts. 
  • Mark Bullock said his contract was not renewed at The Athletic, where he covered the Washington Football Team and the NFL. 
  • Kirkland Crawford became sports editor at The Detroit Free Press. 
  • Mirin Fader joined The Ringer to do long-form features and podcasts. She was previously with Bleacher Report. 
  • Joe Fisher resigned as Vanderbilt play-by-play broadcaster on radio. 
  • David Ginsburg retired from The Associated Press as a sports reporter. 
  • Jim Jenks retired from MLB Advanced Media and MLB Network. 
  • Len Kasper joined ESPN 1000 as the Chicago White Sox radio play-by-play broadcaster. He was previously the Chicago Cubs play-by-play broadcaster on Marquee Sports Network. 
  • Josh Kirshenbaum joined The Daily News in Longview, Washington, as a high school sports reporter. 
  • Manish Mehta and the New York Daily News parted ways. Mehta previously covered the New York Jets. 
  • Mike Moran took a buyout and left as sports editor at The Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts. 
  • Brian Sanderford retired as sports editor at the Southwest Times Herald in Fort Smith, Arkansas. 
  • Travis Sawchik was laid off as a baseball reporter at FiveThirtyEight. 
  • Kevin Schnepf retired as sports editor at Inforum in Fargo, North Dakota. 
  • Henry Schulman announced his retirement as San Francisco Giants beat reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. 
  • Zach Schwartz left Yahoo sports to join Wave.tv. 
  • Chris Thomas became the sports director for the USA Today Network South region. He was previously sports editor at the Detroit Free Press. 
  • Leah Vann joined The Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette to cover the Iowa Hawkeyes.
  • Joey Wagner joined Illini Inquirer as a reporter. He previously covered Illinois sports for the Decatur (Illinois) Herald and Review. 
  • Kelly Ward became assistant sports editor at The Seattle Times. She had been deputy sports editor at The Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. 
  • Tom Westerholm joined Boston.com as a sports reporter. He was previously with Mass Live. 
  • Stephan Wiebe was laid off as sports editor at the Moscow (Idaho) Pullman (Washington) Daily News.  
  • Tim Wilkin retired as a sports reporter at the Times Union in Albany, New York. 
  • Mike Wilson joined The New York Times as deputy sports editor for enterprise. 
  • ESPN moved Sage Steele to anchor the SportsCenter at noon ET and Elle Duncan to the 6 p.m. ET SportsCenter. Wayne Drehs, Sam Miller and Ian O’Connor were laid off as ESPN reporters. Mark Teixeira left ESPN as a baseball analyst. Dan Le Batard announced his departure from ESPN as a radio host and host of “Highly Questionable.” Gonzalo Le Batard announced plans to leave “Highly Questionable.” 
  • FOX hired Tom Rinaldi as a reporter from ESPN. Chris Spielman left FOX for a job with the Detroit Lions. 
  • The Los Angeles Times moved Dan Woike to the Los Angeles Lakers beat. Tania Ganguli left her role covering the Los Angeles Lakers to go to grad school. 
  • The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel moved Jim Owczarski from the Green Bay Packers beat to the Milwaukee Bucks beat. Owczarski replaces Matt Velazquez, who left the Journal Sentinel for family reasons.
  • MLB.com saw the retirements of Joe Frisario as Miami Marlins beat reporter and Ken Gurnick as Los Angeles Dodgers beat reporter. Christina De Nicola took over the Marlins beat. 
  • The Palatka (Florida) Daily News promoted Mark Blumenthal to sports editor. He takes over for Andy Hall, who retired. 
  • Sports Illustrated added Chris Almeida as an editor and Joseph Salvador as a trending reporter.

Photo: Jim Jenks

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