FEBRUARY 18 • 2021 | 37

BRANDON ROTHENBERG

the theme music for his pod-
cast,” Weil said. “I wanted to 
create music that fit Brandon’s 
show. I think the music has an 
old-school Motown feel. I hope 
it creates a familiarity when 
you hear it, like ESPN’s theme.”
Rothenberg’s podcasting 
work has caught the attention 
of Tyler Chin, Blue Wire’s head 
of operations.
“You can tell Brandon is 
becoming more comfortable 
with each episode,” Chin said.
Blue Wire has a main roster 
of about 140 sports podcasters 
that includes several profes-
sional athletes, and — using 
baseball terminology — a sepa-
rate place for promising minor 
league podcasters to hone their 
craft so they can move up to 
the big leagues.
That separate place is called 
Blue Wire Hustle. Rothenberg 
is among more than 100 
so-called “Hustlers” who have 
come on board since October.
For $15 a month, Blue Wire 
provides Hustlers with what 
Chin calls the “back end” part 
of a podcast, including artwork 
and hosting.
Plus, through group chats 
and question-and-answer 
sessions with main roster pod-
casters, Hustlers can learn pod-
casting skills and how to grow 
a podcast.
“We emphasize community 
in Blue Wire Hustle. Having a 
support system,” Chin said.
That’s a comforting place for 
Rothenberg, who has found 
the journalism job market to 

be tight in the midst of the 
pandemic.
Rothenberg came out of 
Michigan State last May with 
an impressive resume that 
included internships with the 
United Shore Professional 
Baseball League in Utica in the 
summer of 2018 and the NBC 
Golf Channel in Orlando, Fla., 
in the summer of 2019.
During his junior year at 
MSU, he earned one of eight 
spots available for MSU jour-
nalism students to cover a 
Detroit Pistons-Cleveland 
Cavaliers exhibition game at 
MSU’s Breslin Center.
“I was assigned to the 
Cavaliers and wrote a story,” 
he said. “It was a great experi-
ence.”
Also when he was a junior, 
Rothenberg took a play-by-play 
class that was taught by Detroit 
Tigers play-by-play radio 
announcer Dan Dickerson.
Rothenberg and Dickerson 
became friends, and Dickerson 
invited Rothenberg inside the 
Tigers’ broadcasters Comerica 
Park radio booth twice to listen 
to the pre-game show and first 
inning of a game.
On one of his trips to the 
radio booth, on May 18, 2019, 
Rothenberg met former Tigers 
star Al Kaline after Kaline 
walked into the booth, and the 
two had a photo taken.
Sponsorships are avail-
able for Rothenberg’s pod-
cast. He can be reached at 
Brandonrothenberg123@gmail.
com. 

Brandon Rothenberg met 
former Detroit Tigers great 
Al Kaline on May 18, 2019 at 
Comerica Park.

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