John Madden, Pat Summerall, and the Rise of The NFL
Original Airdates: Oct. 17-20, 2025
TVC 710.1: Ed welcomes back Rich Podolsky, longtime journalist, onetime beat writer for the Miami Dolphins, onetime staff writer for CBS Sports and ABC Television, and the author of several books, including You Are Looking Live: How The NFL Today Revolutionized Sports Broadcasting. Rich’s latest book, Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting, takes a deep dive in the twenty-one-year broadcast partnership of John Madden and Pat Summerall—two stalwarts of the NFL who each, separately, left their own mark on the game, but, once they were paired together in October 1981, revolutionized how NFL games were broadcast on television while also becoming the greatest broadcast team ever. Topics this segment include how the rise of Madden and Summerall also marked the rise of the NFL as America’s TV spectacle; how each man understood instinctively the other’s love and understanding of the NFL; how Madden prepared for each television broadcast in much the same way as he approached every game that he coached; Madden’s insatiable curiosity about people; and how Madden’s dual career in radio (and, particularly, his early partnership with KSFO radio personality Gene Nelson) helped him hone his timing for his work in television. Madden & Summerall is available wherever books are sold through Lyons Press.
John Madden, Pat Summerall, and Vin Scully
Original Airdates: Oct. 17-20, 2025
TVC 710.2: Rich Podolsky, author of Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting, talks to Ed about the so-called “contest” between Pat Summerall and Vin Scully in the early weeks of the 1981 NFL season over who would welcome John Madden’s permanent on-air partner on CBS; how the commercials Madden did for Lite Beer from Miller helped sell then-CBS president Van Gordon Sauter on Madden’s appeal to audiences; how the introduction of the Telestrator (aka the CBS Chalkboard) allowed Madden to become “America’s nutty football professor”; and how Rich’s personal connection with Madden—which began in the early 1970s, when Rich was a beat writer for the Miami Dolphins, and which developed further when Rich worked for ABC and CBS—gives Madden & Summerall tremendous depth and insight. Madden & Summerall is available wherever books are sold through Lyons Press.
