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The conversation started four years ago between Jon Newman and Danny Breslauer about the need for a podcast that centered on Rutgers athletics. Fast forward to this fall and ‘The Scarlet Spotlight’ has just reached 100,000 downloads and has become a must-listen for hardcore fans of Rutgers athletics.
Newman and Breslauer, not surprisingly, share a deep passion for all things Rutgers sports. In the 1980s, Newman served as the sports director for WRSU, the student-run radio station on campus. Breslauer held the same post 25 years later.
They originally got to connect on what is now known as ‘RVision,’ helping to turn the athletic department’s online channel for sports content into an app (Breslauer served as one of the voices of the channel as a play-by-play broadcaster). They stayed in touch after their ‘RVision’ project and began to discuss the void in the podcast space regarding Rutgers sports.
It was a bit of a dark time for Rutgers athletics, with the expected bumps and bruises of the athletic department’s transition to the Big Ten.
“At that time there were one or two others doing a Rutgers-centric podcast but none focused on guest interviews. We wanted our listeners to get to know and hear from the Rutgers athletes, coaches and administrators past, present and future,” Newman said.
“Over the years we think we have captured not only the growing success of the department and its twists and turns during that growth but also reminded folks of some of the Rutgers history they either have forgotten or might not have been reported.
Of course, this is a labor of love, although they have landed a sponsorship deal with the New Brunswick Development Corporation. By day, Newman runs The Hodges Partnership, a public relations firm based in Richmond, VA (and is named after a former baseball player, the late Gil Hodges). Breslauer maintains his work in the media with a role in content partnerships for iNDEMAND, a distributor of content to cable companies.
Not surprisingly, the top downloads for ‘The Scarlet Spotlight’ have included episodes with head football coach Greg Schiano as well as former athletic director Bob Mulcahy. Each has gone past the 2,000 download mark.
Episode 93: Terry Shea@RFootball #Rutgers
Listen: https://t.co/x7Ht0MiQ0X pic.twitter.com/gKpWWa0dz2
— The Scarlet Spotlight sponsored by DEVCO (@ScarletSpotRU) October 15, 2021
By design, the bi-weekly show is more than just the high-profile sports and guests. Newman and Breslauer mine into Rutgers athletics and talk a heavy dose of the Olympic sports. This fall, there is a lot to be excited about for the Scarlet Knights with No. 3 field hockey being among the top teams in the country and women’s soccer just capturing the athletic department’s first-ever Big Ten title.
“We definitely want to educate and entertain with the main focus being on the guest. In some cases, we’ve broken news and in others, guests have told stories about games or events that they’ve never shared before,” Newman said.
“Listeners have told us they really appreciate hearing directly from key figures in the history of Rutgers Athletics and we plan on continuing to do that.”