Sports are as much a part of the fabric of Detroit, Michigan, as is the automobile. From its professional teams such as the Red Wings, Lions, Pistons, and Tigers, to its local collegiate programs, the Motor City takes its sports seriously. Television and radio stations blanket the area with coverage of the games, players, and off-the-field goings-on affecting these teams. Men and women behind the microphones provide the link between Detroit teams and Detroit fans, offering play-by-play, analysis, interviews, and candid comments. Detroit's Sports Broadcasters: On the Air takes the reader behind the scenes, tracing nearly 80 years of electronic reporting-from broadcast pioneer Ty Tyson to the talk show hosts and anchors of today. Recall Detroit's great sports moments through the eyes and words of the legendary Ernie Harwell, Van Patrick, Budd Lynch, Bruce Martyn, Bob Reynolds, Dave Diles, Al Ackerman, Ray Lane, Frank Beckmann, and George Blaha.

Sports are as much a part of the fabric of Detroit, Michigan, as is the automobile. From its professional teams such as the Red Wings, Lions, Pistons, and Tigers, to its local collegiate programs, the Motor City takes its sports seriously. Television and radio stations blanket the area with coverage of the games, players, and off-the-field goings-on affecting these teams. Men and women behind the microphones provide the link between Detroit teams and Detroit fans, offering play-by-play, analysis, interviews, and candid comments. Detroit's Sports Broadcasters: On the Air takes the reader behind the scenes, tracing nearly 80 years of electronic reporting-from broadcast pioneer Ty Tyson to the talk show hosts and anchors of today. Recall Detroit's great sports moments through the eyes and words of the legendary Ernie Harwell, Van Patrick, Budd Lynch, Bruce Martyn, Bob Reynolds, Dave Diles, Al Ackerman, Ray Lane, Frank Beckmann, and George Blaha.

Sports talk in America has evolved from small-time barroom banter into a major media smorgasbord that runs 24/7 on TV and radio. With hundreds of billions of dollars generated annually by pro and college teams in major markets nationwide, sports fans across the country are more dedicated than ever to their teams. And when it comes to sports talk -- especially all-sports radio -- it's all about entertainment, information, prognostication, analysis, rankings, and endless discussion. Prominent sports-media figures in each of the three target cities -- Cleveland, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. -- engage in this phenomenon with a compilation of sports lists sure to delight as well as stir up debate within these already-buzzing sports communities. List topics include: What were the most lopsided trades in local sports history? Who were the most overrated athletes to play in our town? What local athlete had the best appearance in TV or film? What was the most heartbreaking loss in local sports history? What was the greatest single play in local sports history? Who are our team's most hated rivals? Plus dozens of "guest" lists contributed by famous local sports and entertainment celebrities. Not only does Detroit host major pro sports teams -- the Lions (NFL), the Red Wings (NHL), the Tigers (MLB), and the Pistons (NBA) -- the area also includes prominent college sports programs such as the University of Michigan. Detroit's fans are some of the most educated and fanatical in the country, thanks to the work of long-time commentators Mike Stone and Art Regner.

The Detroit Tigers Old English “D” is one of the most recognized symbols in sports. Now fans of this indomitable franchise can relive the passion and excitement that has come to define the Tigers in this newly updated edition of Tales from the Detroit Tigers Dugout. Veteran sportswriter Jack Ebling brings to life four World Championships, five other World Series appearances, and so much more.

As the chief source of information for many people and a key revenue stream for the country's broadcast conglomerates, local television news has grown from a curiosity into a powerful journalistic and cultural force. In A Newscast for the Masses, Tim Kiska examines the evolution of television news in Detroit, from its beginnings in the late 1940s, when television was considered a "wild young medium," to the early 1980s, when cable television permanently altered the broadcast landscape. Kiska shows how the local news, which was initially considered a poor substitute for respectable print journalism, became the cornerstone of television programming and the public's preferred news source. Kiska begins his study in 1947 with the first Detroit television broadcast, made by WWJ-TV. Owned by the Evening News Association, the same company that owned the Detroit News, WWJ developed a credible broadcast news operation as a cross-promotional vehicle for the newspaper. Yet by the late 1960s WWJ was unseated by newcomers WXYZ-TV and WJBK-TV, whose superior coverage of the 1967 Detroit riots lured viewers away from WWJ. WXYZ-TV would eventually become the most powerful news outlet in Detroit with the help of its cash-rich parent company, the American Broadcasting Corporation, and its use of sophisticated survey research and advertising techniques to grow its news audience. Though critics tend to deride the sensationalism and showmanship of local television news, Kiska demonstrates that over the last several decades newscasts have effectively tailored their content to the demands of the viewing public and, as a result, have become the most trusted source of information for the average American and the most lucrative source of profit for television networks. A Newscast for the Masses is based on extensive interviews with journalists who participated in the development of television in Detroit and careful research into the files of the McHugh & Hoffman consulting firm, which used social science techniques to discern the television viewing preferences of metro Detroiters. Anyone interested in television history or journalism will appreciate this detailed and informative study.

The changing fortunes of Detroit, told through the lens of the city's major sporting events, by the bestselling author of Soccernomics, and a prizewinning cultural critic From Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg to the Bad Boys, from Joe Louis and Gordie Howe to the Malice at the Palace, City of Champions explores the history of Detroit through the stories of its most gifted athletes and most celebrated teams, linking iconic events in the history of Motown sports to the city's shifting fortunes. In an era when many teams have left rustbelt cities to relocate elsewhere, Detroit has held on to its franchises, and there is currently great hope in the revival of the city focused on its downtown sports complexes—but to whose benefit? Szymanski and Weineck show how the fate of the teams in Detroit's stadiums, gyms, and fields is echoed in the rise and fall of the car industry, political upheavals ushered in by the depression, World War II, the 1967 uprising, and its recent bankruptcy and renewal. Driven by the conviction that sports not only mirror society but also have a special power to create both community and enduring narratives that help define a city's sense of self, City of Champions is a unique history of the most American of cities.