Ben Maller

Benjamin "Big Ben" Maller (born April 29, 1975)[1] is an American sports radio host who hosts a weekday radio show on Fox Sports Radio, that airs 11pm-3am PT/2am-6am ET. Prior to his broadcasting career, Maller was considered one of the first influential sports bloggers after he broke several stories on his now defunct website. Maller made his first foray into broadcasting when he joined the NBC Sports Network as a regular contributor to NBC SportsTalk in late 2011 until the spring of 2012. He gained some media attention during this time for losing 200 pounds in only 62 weeks by changing his diet and exercise regimen.[2][3]

Ben Maller
BornApril 29, 1975
Irvine, CA
Career
ShowThe Ben Maller Show
The Blitz
Station(s)Fox Sports Radio
CountryUnited States
Previous show(s)The Third Shift

His show attracts somewhat of a cult following because of his unserious look on sports news and the listener friendly style with a lot of texts, calls and tweets being answered and read out on the air.

Early life

Maller grew up in Irvine, California[4] and attended Irvine High School.[5] Maller began to fall behind in school and consequently was placed in S.E.L.F. (Secondary Education Learning Facility, now known as Creekside High School), the city's alternative education program.[5] Nonetheless he managed to play high school football for the town's University High School while enrolled at S.E.L.F.[5] Aside from playing football, Maller also had an interest in sports journalism and broadcasting.[5] After finishing high school, Maller enrolled in Saddleback College in the nearby city of Mission Viejo.[6] He continued his interest in sports broadcasting doing Saddleback College Gauchos men's basketball and football games on KSBR before landing a job as an AM sports radio journalist.

Fox Sports Radio career
  • 2000-2001: Weekend update sportsreader
  • 2001-2009: Weekends ? a.m. - ? a.m.
  • 2009-1/2015: Saturday/Sunday 1 a.m. - 6 a.m. (2012-2014: 1 a.m. - 7 a.m.)
  • 2013-9/2014: Sunday 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.
  • 9/2014-1/2015: Sunday 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.
  • 1/2015: Weekdays 2 a.m. - 6 a.m.

Notable Events

During the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Maller was able to get live reports from nearby the disaster, through a caller named Donald. Donald had attempted to call into the weeknight broadcaster, JT The Brick. Ultimately, JT The Brick decided not to put Donald on the airwaves. The next night, Donald called The Ben Maller Show and, thanks to producer Miranda Moreno, was put on the air right away and was able to provide live updates about the events in Fukushima.

In May 2010, Maller led a march at Staples Center with fellow Los Angeles Clippers fan Clipper Darrell in an unsuccessful attempt to help lead the push for free agent LeBron James to join the Clippers via free agency. In the end, LeBron James ended up signing with the Miami Heat as part of a historic team headlined by "The Big Three.' [7]

In 2011, Ben Maller exposed an NBA slam dunk contest conspiracy. The league had sent out a press release referencing Clippers Blake Griffin as the winner, BEFORE the contest had been completed.

Over the course of his career, Maller has had multiple menu items named after him in various restaurants around the United States. Former items include the "Malzone," in Syracuse, New York "Ben Maller Chicken Fingers in Kansas City, Missouri and the "Maller Pizza," in Grand Rapids, Michigan

As of February 2017, the only existing menu items left are the "Maller Chicken Tender Sandwich" at the Sportsbook Bar and Grill in Denver, Colorado, "Ben Maller's Chicken Finger Basket"[8] at The Landing Eatery & Pub in Liberty, Missouri and the "Maller Fowler" sandwich at The Famous Flamingo Club in Lawrence, Kansas.

In June 2016, one Cleveland fan celebrated the Cavs NBA championship by parading around the championship parade with a sign that included Ben Maller's photo[9] with Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith and others as a "hater".

Broadcasting career

Some of his career highlights include being a reporter for XTRA Sports 690am in San Diego in the mid-1990s and co-hosting the Ben & Dave Show on XTRA Sports 1150 in LA (late-1990s) and the host of Dodger Talk from 1996 to 2000. Maller joined Fox Sports Radio for the launch of the network in August 2001 as an update anchor weekend morning co-host.

Maller also hosted UCLA Bruins post-game football talk show after they lost a ten-point fourth quarter lead against Miami, FL on December 5, 1998 losing 49-45 as Edgerrin James ran for 299 yards and UCLA missed out on the BCS title game.

In 2003, Maller signed a contract to be the "sports gossip guy," for Fox Sports, providing daily sports rumors and notes. Maller was credited with helping the website overtake ESPN.com in unique visitors for the first time in February 2007.[10]

On January 20, 2009, Maller and the rest of the Third Shift staff was fired as part of Clear Channel Communications' layoff of 1850 employees. He was re-hired on August 11, 2009. Maller claims to be the first person to report his firing as it was happening on Twitter.[11]

Maller became the first Southern California broadcaster to host a show on Boston's WEEI, when he filled in for Mike Adams on "Planet Mikey," in June 2009.[12] On loan from Fox Sports Radio, Maller returned to Boston to audition for the third seat on the Kirk & Callahan morning show[13] on WEEI in September 2016.

Maller joined NBC Sports Network in November 2011 as a regular contributor to the daily "NBC SportsTalk" program. Maller traveled from Los Angeles, California to Stamford, Connecticut each month to broadcast from NBC's studios until the Spring of 2012.[14]

gollark: Hahahahanope.
gollark: I don't think they could ever really be depleted anyway.
gollark: I predict that the "boredom point" when people mostly leave and/or stop consuming large amounts of metals will occur before the ore depletion point.
gollark: Er, it's not bound to happen.
gollark: Assuming 100 ores a chunk, we have >50 million.

References
  1. "California Births, 1905 - 1995". Familytreelegends.com. 1975-04-29. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  2. "Sports Radio Host Ben Maller Drops 200 Pounds
  3. ""Did you get the memo? Fox Sports Radio lineup change is minus O'Brien, Hartman, Dibble, Van Dyken"". Archived from the original on 2014-10-26. Retrieved 2014-10-25.
  4. Maller, Ben (2002-03-08). "Friday Thoughts, Opinions and Notes". BenMaller.com. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  5. Dauber, Bill (1993-05-06). "Site offers place to be themselves - EDUCATION: Irvine athletes find S.E.L.F. provides an alternative setting where they can make up credits and set goals". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  6. Maller, Ben. "BenMaller.com: About Ben Maller". Archived from the original on 2008-04-04. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  7. Miami Heat Re-Sign Wade and Acquire James & Bosh
  8. "Food - The Landing Eatery and Pub". landingeateryandpub.com. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  9. "Ben Maller on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  10. "First Mobile, Now the Web... ESPN.com Takes a Tumble | TechnologyTell". E-gear.com. 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  11. "Twitter / benmaller: I just got fired from Fox Sports Radio". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  12. Rohrbach, Ben (2009-06-01). "Big Ben Maller". Audio.weei.com. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  13. "K&C - The Sox lose but win the A.L. East, Ben Maller on Dino's Casting Couch 9-29-16". WEEI. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  14. https://twitter.com/NBCSportsTalk/statuses/188058020972990467
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.