• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • EEO PUBLIC FILE REPORT
  • FCC Public File
  • FCC Applications
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Friday, May 20, 2022
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
      • Second Screen
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Flagship Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Money Talk with Dave Spano
      • Travel Wisconsin
  • Podcasts
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • WTMJ Extra
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • First Pitch
    • Bucks Flagship Podcast
  • Features
    • WaterStone Bank – Salute to Service
    • Annex Wealth Management – WEBINAR – Understand Your WRS Pension Potential
    • WTMJ Cares – WI Humane Society
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • Every Day Health
    • Gene Mueller Come Along Trip to Paris and Normandy
    • Discover Greece and Its Islands with John Mercure and Collette
    • Spotlight on San Antonio Holiday with John Mercure and Collette
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
      • Second Screen
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Flagship Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Money Talk with Dave Spano
      • Travel Wisconsin
  • Podcasts
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • WTMJ Extra
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • First Pitch
    • Bucks Flagship Podcast
  • Features
    • WaterStone Bank – Salute to Service
    • Annex Wealth Management – WEBINAR – Understand Your WRS Pension Potential
    • WTMJ Cares – WI Humane Society
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • Every Day Health
    • Gene Mueller Come Along Trip to Paris and Normandy
    • Discover Greece and Its Islands with John Mercure and Collette
    • Spotlight on San Antonio Holiday with John Mercure and Collette
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
No Result
View All Result

WTMJ Conversations: Lisa Byington

Rachel Frye by Rachel Frye
March 20, 2022
in Featured Stories, Milwaukee Bucks, WTMJ Conversations
Milwaukee Bucks name Lisa Byington as new television play-by-play announcer
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail

Lisa Byington is midway through her first season with the Bucks.

The play-by-play broadcaster is the first female to hold that role full-time in the NBA.

Byington recently sat down with WTMJ’s Greg Matzek to talk about her journey to Milwaukee.

Listen to the full interview in the player above.

A portion of the conversation was transcribed below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters, Inc.

GREG MATZEK: I’m always curious about people’s past to get where they are, I want to accelerate yours a little bit, although I do have some very interesting questions about the Big Ten Network, because you stated there at time when it was becoming a thing, but your opportunity with the Bucks, when was this on your radar as like, okay, this is a legit idea? I know sometimes it starts with like an agent conversation, but somebody brings an idea to you and you kind of have to take it and run with it from there, when did that opportunity present itself?

LISA BYINGTON: Just to go back just a little bit, you know, I was on my phone, and I was looking on Twitter and the interview exchange between Giannis and Jim Paschke popped up, and I just thought it was such a genuine and awesome interview where Giannis was introducing the fact, I think for the first time to Bucks’ fans, that this was going to be Jim’s last year. And that was, like, in January or February, it was something that — really early in the beginning of 2021. And I thought to myself, wow, you know, Jim has been there for so many years, 35 years, you know, I can’t believe that job is going to be open. And I hadn’t — because I’m so busy, you know, with everything else that I was doing at that point, I didn’t really translate, like, that could be something that I could apply for at that time. Things started to slow down after the NCAA tournament, right. In the spring and the summer, I think are my slowest months, and that’s when I had actually hired an agent. We started talking about goals and where I wanted to be and new challenges. And I think the conversations maybe started in the spring, and it got a little bit more serious, obviously, after the NBA finals, because the Bucks I don’t think were making — and they shouldn’t have made it a priority to find their new voice when they’re trying to win a championship, and so then things really kind of picked up steam right after that, kind of end of July into August, that’s when I think the Bucks really sort of focused on filling that position. So, that’s a little bit of the timeline of the year that was.

GREG MATZEK: Pretty crazy, right. I mean, do you look — now you’re getting on team planes, you’re traveling around, and I know you’ve been associated with networks, but this is your first real opportunity with a specific team, is that right?

LISA BYINGTON: I did some Chicago Bulls stuff, and so I worked as a fill in for Neil Funk, so I’ve experienced kind of the team broadcasts and the travel and stuff, but to do it consistently, to your point, is a little bit different. And I joke with people that it’s kind of ruined me for life, like, now when I travel for fun or for maybe another assignment or something, I’m going to — I’m going to think, wait, I have to actually check myself into the hotel, I have to wait in line. Because, you know, media, when you get to the hotel, there’s always someone there handing a room key off to everyone. And really, the only thing you’re responsible for is making sure that you make the charter bus on time that’s going to the arena. And that’s the only real responsibility you have. We stay at great hotels, obviously, and you mentioned the charter flights. So, definitely, the NBA makes travel very, very easy.

GREG MATZEK: Well, that’s good. It’s well deserved and earned as you’ve grown here in the industry.

Let’s get back to the Big Ten Network, because you come out of — you went to Northwestern, you mentioned you’re a two-sport athlete, and I want to get to that later, too, because that’s a challenge in and of itself, but you graduate, you’re done with Northwestern, great school, are you thinking, yeah, I kind of want to stay in the Chicago area, this Big Ten Network is — it seems like it’s developing, it’s sort of a thing, and now it’s just a monstrosity. Like, what’s going through your mind at that time? Did it feel like you were able to be on the ground floor of something that was developing?

LISA BYINGTON: Yeah, so, well I mean, I graduated and Big Ten Network didn’t come about until almost like ten years after I graduated, and so I had been in the business, I had been in local news for, you know, almost ten years. So, Big Ten Network started around maybe 2007, and I was in the right place at the right time, I was in a Big Ten city. I was working in local news at a CBS affiliate in Lansing, Michigan, at the time. And in year number one, in 2007, Big Ten Network was really just kind of looking for people, you know. And let’s remember, it’s — I don’t want people to forget, Big Ten Network started conference networks, and they were the first. And I don’t want people to forget that. So, this was — in 2007, this was such a weird and new concept, like, how do we get it on our cable package, and we’re just going to talk about the Big Ten for 24 hours, like, really, like, how do we do — you know, there were so many different questions because it was so different and so unique. And then the Pac-12 Network follows suit, SCC Network follows suit, ACC Network follows suit. So, they really — and Jim Delany, had the foresight to get that done, but really in year one, like I was saying, in 2007, they didn’t know what they were doing because there was no model to follow it. You know, all these other conference networks had the Big Ten Network as a model to follow. They were creating the path, and so it was — I literally — I was a sideline reporter for a Northwestern football game, I had never done sideline before, and they were — I think they had like seven or eight different football games going on that day, so they were really, really short on equipment, so I was actually wired to a wall. My microphone was wired to a wall, and my earpiece was wired to a wall. So, I was — I was literally — I couldn’t even move to do my job. And this was the first time I had ever done sideline reporting, so I’m thinking, oh, this is what sideline reporters do, which is not anywhere close to the ideal situation for a sideline reporter. But we were just kind of feeling things out, you know, and — and I took the opportunity just because it was a new challenge, you know, and I didn’t know where it was going to lead, but ultimately it was one of the best decisions I made.

Previous Post

‘The Batman,’ still No. 1, crosses $300 million

Next Post

Leclerc wins Bahrain GP as Verstappen retires near the end

Rachel Frye

Rachel Frye

Stay Connected

  • 22.3k Followers
  • 1k Follower
  • 590 Subscribers

Most Popular

10 dead in Buffalo supermarket attack police call hate crime

REPORT: Waukesha Christmas Parade attack connection to deadly Buffalo shooting

May 17, 2022
17 people shot on Water Street Friday night

Milwaukee Friday night shooting update; at least 21 people injured and ten people in custody

May 14, 2022
GALLERY: Packers season ends in stunning upset at Lambeau Field

Milwaukee violence continues with two homicides early Sunday morning

May 15, 2022
17 people shot on Water Street Friday night

17 people shot on Water Street Friday night

May 14, 2022
European Union to tariff Harley-Davidson bikes

Harley Davidson suspends work at Menomonee Falls plant for two weeks

May 19, 2022
WTMJ

For more than 90 years, WTMJ-AM has been "Wisconsin's Radio Station".

Follow Us

Home

News

Weather

Traffic

Sports

Shows

Podcasts

Features

Careers

Contests

Recent News

AP Top Sports News at 4:38 p.m. EDT

May 20, 2022

Smart, gritty Celtics hope to maintain intensity vs Heat

May 20, 2022
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • EEO PUBLIC FILE REPORT
  • FCC Public File
  • FCC Applications
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

© 2022 Good Karma Brands Milwaukee, LLC.

  • LISTEN LIVE
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Local News
    • Coronavirus
    • Decision Wisconsin
  • Weather
    • Weather
    • Watches and Warnings
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
  • Traffic
  • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
    • Milwaukee Brewers
    • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Shows
    • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
    • WTMJ Nights
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Featured Shows
  • Podcasts
  • Features
    • Features
    • Good Karma Give Back
    • WTMJ Roundtable
  • Contests
  • Alexa
No Result
View All Result

© 2022 Good Karma Brands Milwaukee, LLC.