June 29, 2021 • 27 mins
Host Olivia Landis welcomes NBA TV and TNT host and sideline reporter Kristen Ledlow to the New YorkHER podcast to discuss her career in broadcasting. Ledlow talks with Landis about her podcast, current roles on NBA TV's "Game Time" and TNT's "Inside the NBA". Ledlow discusses how her role has grown from hosting "Inside Stuff" with Grant Hill beginning in 2013 into a variety of avenues during eight-year career with Turner Sports. Ledlow also talks about how she got into sports and offers some advice for listeners.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome into another episode of the New York Curb podcast.
I'm your host, Olivia Landis. Each and every week, as
you guys know who have been listening, we bring in
some of the most amazing women from all around sports
to get to know them and their stories and exactly
what some of the things are that they have been
able to accomplish. This week, I am very, very excited
(00:24):
to introduce Kristen Ludlow, who was with NBA TV and
NBA on TNT. Kristen, thank you so much for joining me.
Like we already mentioned, I told you this already, but
I have a big fan, big big fan of your work,
so very excited to have you on. Thank you. That
means more to me than you know. Thank you so
much for having me of course. Well, first and foremost,
(00:46):
congratulations on recently becoming a mother. Thank you. I can't
look less tired for you. For those who are walking
this visually for listening, I sound the same. But for
those who are actually watching us, and honestly, mothers are
amazing for and I'm sure everyone else what would vouch
(01:09):
for that because mothers handle so much. I'm not a
mother yet, so I can't can't speak to that. But yes,
so Christen you have for those of you who do
not know, she works in the NBA, both with NBA
on T n T and NBA TV. And can you
kind of just give our listeners interviewers a little bit
of a background on what exactly you do. Yeah, now, absolutely. Um,
(01:32):
I've been with Turner Sports now for this was my
eighth season. Uh. It started in the fall of when
Grant Hill and I were hired on to bring back
NBA inside stuff and so that was what my job
started as at Turner Sports. And since then they've been
i mean just so incredible to me that anything that
(01:57):
I asked about trying to learn how to do, they
give me the opportunity to try to learn how to
do it. Um. And so I've I've worked into uh
doing silent reporting on on T and T, hosting on
NBA TV as well doing a podcast with Candice Parker,
and so we've had I've had just an opportunity to
grow with team, with the Turner Sports family, and um,
(02:20):
it's been been a gift, I mean for all eight
seasons thus far. Yeah, and you were able to get
get in the NBA and be able to work with
basketball and you actually play basketball a lot growing up
and you were able to that was a big part
of a life. Did you see yourself getting into the NBA?
(02:40):
Did you see yourself following that career path um getting
into It's funny phrase it that way, getting into the NBA,
because I actually used to say I wanted to be
the first girl to ever play in the n b A.
That was before the conception of the w n b A.
If you wanted to map on how old I am.
But I couldn't have pictured it being anything like this,
(03:04):
But I did all. I mean, I started playing basketball
when I was eight years old, and I did always
know I wanted to do something in or around the
game from that point moving forward. And so no, I
couldn't have dreamed it looked anything like it has ended
up looking. But yes, I did always want to work
(03:27):
around basketball in some capacity. Again, if I couldn't have
been a shooting guard in the NBA, which clearly I
couldn't have been up and this was a pretty great,
uh pretty great runner up, I would say, it's a
pretty good, pretty solid back plan, we'll call it. But
you've always been involved in sports when it comes to
your career you. You know you you reported on college football.
(03:50):
You had your own Uh was that blog? I know
you had your own like when you were writing about football,
college football stories that were breaking and stuff like that. Yeah,
sports have always been a big part of your life, correct, totally.
I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, UM during a stretch
of years where I mean, and there were a lot,
a lot of years that Florida State football was the
(04:12):
pinnacle of college football, and so I grew up absolutely
in love with college football there at the stadium every Saturday.
And so yes, I mean I loved college football at
the time, I was very young, and so my career
actually started in my hometown in Tallahassee. I was anchoring
the local news at noon every day. And I don't
mean like not sports, like the actual local news. Like
(04:36):
we had a pet of the week and like our
guests were, you know, just guests from around Tallahassee. And
how do I think of the kind of stuff that
we do? I mean, like like you watched the I
mean you've seen the local news. It was that every
day at noon. So I was looking for ways to
infuse some sports coverage into that. Not that I didn't
(04:57):
love doing the pet of the Week obviously, but I
actually reached out to the local ESPN Real affiliate and asked,
you know, do you have anybody covering practices? And they
were like, no, we don't, and we do not have
actual money to pay you, but we will pay you
an Apple these gift cards. And I was like, you
know what, I'm gonna do it because I've got to
(05:21):
eat and get a margarita anyway, right, Yeah, you know,
so I accept, And uh. That was actually how it started.
I started as a sideline reporter for ESPN Radio in
Tallahassee for the Florida State football team, getting paid an
Apple these gift cards and just go into all the
practices that nobody really wanted to go to, and and
going and and covering the games in a way that
(05:43):
you know, it taught me how to cover games. And
I wasn't on the like broadcast, it wasn't on the
national broadcast, but I did learn how to I mean
even park at a stadium and where you go as
part of the media, and and how do they get
into locker rooms and how to navigate them well and
be part of those media scroans and and want to
speak up and ask your question. And so the Applebees
(06:03):
gift cards are long gone, but the experience is really
what helped prices exactly. That was what helped propel me.
Now now I'm curious the Applebee's gift cards in applets
gift cards. That's a new one. That's a new one
for me. I don't think I don't recommit to utilize that.
I don't. First of all, yes, like, but like it
(06:24):
would be gone by the end of the day, so
like I would get the you know, the gift card
and then you know, stop for a half off appetizers
and margarita's, like before I got back to my you know,
back to my place. So yes, I absolutely utilize them.
And I do not recommend working for gift cards any means,
but I do recommend getting experienced by any means possible.
(06:46):
And that's certainly what that experience afforded me. It's so
funny because in the back of my mind, I'm like,
who has that many Applebe's gift cards? You know? Okay, well,
I think you know, that's a fair point for you.
They were a local spawn sir of the radio station,
so we just lunching the like at the radio station,
and they were kind of like, well, you know you can.
(07:07):
You can have as many of these. So it wasn't
just Applebee's. There were several other sponsors that I was
able to I think I got my oil changed a
few times that like the local Jiffy Lube. It was yes,
So anyway, who was like sponsoring the shows as able
to utilize some of their services? That is so funny
(07:32):
money but you weren't making actual money. But you know
you got this. I got spend money on anyway, Yes, top, Yeah,
you have to eat and you have to get your
oil changer. So not too bad as far as goes. Well,
what made you first interested in being on television? Because
(07:54):
it could be interested in sports? Right, you could be
interested in TV. But to put the two together, that
wasn't great question because I really, like I said, I
didn't think one day I want to grow up and
be on TV. I was thinking, really I just wanted
to work in or around sports in some capacity. And
like I said, I I loved college football all of
my life. UM grew up always playing basketball as well.
(08:16):
I thought about getting into coaching, UM, I thought about
getting into refereeing. UM I I thought about early on
in college. UM, I was a general communication major, and
I thought, Okay, well maybe there's marketing, maybe there's And
then I really set my side phone wanting to work
in the front office of an NBA franchise. At the time,
I didn't know of any women who were doing so. Um.
(08:38):
But but that kind of just gives you insight into
what I wanted it to look like. UM. It wasn't
just oh, I want to be on TV. And that
is why you know, some of the things that you've
mentioned that I've done in broadcasting, those those weren't all
on TV either. I I've worked at radio, I've worked
as a writer. Um, I've you know, shot and edited
(09:00):
my own stuff, and and so all of that was
kind of culminated in this job that ultimately I've I've
ended up with at Turner Sports. But but I really
just wanted to work in or around the game in
some capacity. It didn't really matter as much to me
what it looked like. Um. And to that end, I
was actually working on the radio in Atlanta, and one
(09:22):
of my co hosts at the radio station was also
hosting at NBA TV and told me that they were
going to be bringing NBA inside stuff back. I'd grown
up watching the show, loving the show in the nineties,
and he told me that Grant Hill had signed on
to be the host, and so I like begged for
an audition, not thinking like it legitimately did not cross
(09:45):
my mind I would actually get the job, and eight
years later I'd be sitting here talking to you about it.
I really just thought, if I get to get it
there for this one day I get to meet Grant Hill,
maybe I'll hug him, you know, Like that was the
ring with my process behind it. So I was working
on the radio covering Atlanta sports and an ask for
(10:05):
an audition, and I think that I did hug Grant
that day against my better judgment. I'm like, am I
get to beat him this one time? I'm hugging him,
you know. And so they were got a phone call
that they were, um, you know, only considering a couple
of people, and I was one of them. And and
then I believe it was a couple of weeks after
that that it was like, hey, this is your new job.
(10:29):
And so so it worked out the way that it
did not because I was pursuing television or fame in
any capacity, but because I really just loved the game
of basketball. Yeah. Wow, that's so incredible. What an incredible
story too, because oftentimes in this industry, people come into
it knowing, Hey, I want to be on TV. Hey
(10:49):
I want to be doing this and doing that. But
your perspective was slightly different because you said, I just
want to be around the game of basketball. I love sports.
I want to I want When you think about that,
when you think about that that approach, do you still
think about things that way or was it kind of
just absolutely Oh no, no, no, I I still think
(11:12):
that that way even now, like even having worked in
network television now for is that eight year, I can't
it's just along the pority of my adult life. This
is what I'm doing. But I still don't think about
how do I grow on television? I think what do
(11:33):
I want to do next in the game. And so yeah,
I've absolutely considered a lot of different, uh potential um
paths that that I could take, you know, that I
could turn down after doing this um And no, it's
not all necessarily on TV, but it's all around the game.
So yes, that that still is the way that I think.
(11:55):
And earlier you said at first you initially wanted to
be one of the first women in the front off
faces within the in a franchise in the NBA. Could
you still envision yourself doing that? And I'm glad you
brought that up, because yes, absolutely love. I also have
seen in the several women that are now in front
offices way more qualified than I am, so working in
(12:20):
and around the game for several more seasons before I
imagine that I'm qualified enough to step on a door
like that. Well, you know what you You're getting the
experience and the knowledge always comes with more time, So
don't count yourself out. I would love to see you
in the front office of a franchise in the NBA.
I'm gonna put I'm gonna put my money on it now.
(12:42):
Maybe maybe one day. So you are a part of
a lot of pieces of content they're at Turner Sports.
You mentioned some of the things you do with Grant Hill.
You mentioned Candice Parker. You guys do have Parker and Ludlow,
you guys do have your own podcast. Would have been
some of the projects over the last eight or so
years that you mentioned that you've been extremely proud to
(13:04):
be a part of. Yeah, those two that you just mentioned, Uh,
hosting Inside Stuff with Grant was better than I could have.
It really is hard to describe somebody like Grant because
you see him on TV and you think, yeah, what
a what a classy guy. But he is as kind
(13:29):
and as classy and as hard working a player and
a person as you could. I mean it it really, honestly,
all these years later, it's still hard for me to
describe the kind of not the kind of broadcaster, but
the kind of person that Grant actually is. And so
for my first experience on national television to be alongside
(13:53):
Grant Hill, it was way less about what it did
for me career wise, and way more about the ways
in which it changed my life and and and shaped
my way of thinking about life outside of work. Um.
And it's funny timing in which we are recording this
(14:14):
because the last I had seen Grant was he was
our last in person guest on Ludlow and Parker in
the studio on March whatever day. That was the Tuesday
or Wednesday before everything stopped on that Thursday or Friday,
and that was the last I'd seen him until today.
(14:36):
I had lunch with him today and we were talking
about all that the last year has held and when
I met him, I was a year old girl just
really excited to hug him. And now I am not
twenty five and I have a baby boy, and just
to have walked alongside a person a partner like that
(15:02):
for not just so many basketball seasons, but for this
many seasons of life. It's just such a special thing.
So I'm really proud of inside stuff for that reason.
And I feel the same way about Leadlo and Parker
that you just mentioned um one, because again, I love
Candice like I but like before I met her, like
in an uncool way. The first time I met her,
(15:25):
it's like, oh, that's like they're in front of me,
and he's like as stunning as I thought she was
probably gonna be um And to find out that she
was like totally psychical doing a project with me was
just too much for my little heart to handle. But No,
that project I'm really proud of also because it wasn't
(15:47):
pitched to us in any way that was, hey, here's
what we want you to to do. It was are
you too interested in doing a project together? If so,
let us know what it should look like. And so
we got to really create the concept of it from
the very beginning, and one of the very first phone
calls that Candice and I had with our production team,
(16:08):
UM was kind of a It wasn't like all right,
let's try and plan out what the show looks like,
or like put together a rundown or whatever. It was
more like, let's decide what we want this project to
be about, Like let's let's confirm the culture first. And
(16:28):
so we were like, all right, so we're gonna have
a guest on this show, what do we want that
person to be? Like if we're if we want this
project to be bigger than basketball, to be not just
about the headlines in and around the NBA and the
w n b A for week to week, but if
we wanted to be about the people behind the players
(16:49):
and in life beyond just playing this game, like what
is it? Who is it? And I mean it was
within seconds of each other that we both said, oh, oh,
it's gotta be it's gotta be Kobe, Like he's got
to be our first guest. So we that October, I
mean it was like a Friday, and we were starting
(17:12):
on like that Tuesday. We had no backup plan. We
had reached out to Kobe, and we were like, here's
this thing we're doing, and you're the actual perfect picture
of what we want this project to be about. And
then Candis and I were in New York and we
were shooting all the promotional stuff for lad Low and
Parker and we were um part of the broadcast team
(17:36):
for a nixt preseason game on t N T. Well,
so she and I are in the back of the
car on the way back to the hotel. And again,
I mean, this is like days before we shoot the
first episode, and we had actually decided if he says no,
or if we don't hear back, we're just not gonna
have a guest, Like it's just gonna be us, you know,
because we want from the beginning to let our audience
know this is what this thing is going to be about.
(17:59):
And we're in the car, are on the way back
to the hotel, and she gets a message. She goes
and she turns her phone around and it's Kobe and
he says, you know, you guys were great on the
broadcast and I'm looking forward to the podcast on Tuesday.
And I mean, we were stupidly excited about that for
all the obvious reasons, which is that he was one
(18:20):
of the best to ever play the game of basketball,
and he had accomplished so much in the few days
since playing the game. So that was our very first episode.
And then you fast forward just I mean and just
a few months later, and one of the last episodes
(18:40):
we did in the studio before basketball and everything else
was put on pause, was just remembering who was and
what he gave to the game and what he gave
to us. And when I think about that, that we
(19:03):
were charged with creating this project and thought, who is
it that we want to kind of define what this
thing is going to be about that has our names
on it, and we thought of him first, and for
just a few short months later to realize like time
(19:24):
was his most limited resource. We wouldn't have known that
that October, but in January, just a few months later,
to recognize that it was, and to recognize that even
with the limited amount of time that he had, he
gave us so much of it. It again summed up
(19:49):
so well why he was as successful as he was
on the floor, but also why he was no owned
for and remembered for what he became remembered for later on.
And so when I think about the couple of things
that I'm just like, really proud of in my career
(20:11):
thus far. It's funny because I I don't even really
think that much about the the shows themselves. It's it's
it's the people, you know. It's it's the people that
have made it so special. Um. So yeah, for that reason,
those are a couple of the things that I'm most
(20:33):
proud to have had my name on. Wow. Wow, you
really gave me chills listening to that. Um And it's
it's amazing too, because what you took out of everything
was and everything I'm hearing you say, it wasn't about
the product. It wasn't about the project. It was about
(20:55):
the people. It was about the people who gave their time,
the people who maybe impacted you in a certain ways,
you know, which is very obvious. He had a positive
impact on you, and I'm sure many others did as well.
That's it's an important thing. It's a really important thing
to recognize people over projects. I mean, if we don't
(21:17):
take anything else from the last year that was that,
I mean, that's all that it boils down to. When
the bottom inevitably falls out, what's going to hold It's
it's your investment in people. It's not the products that
you created or the production that you might be proud of.
It's your investment in people. And that's it. And how
(21:38):
listening to you talk about both Grants, who you said
is an amazing person both on the core off the core,
and then you're talking about Kobe and Candice, you talked
a lot about people and you said you've learned so
much and it shapes the way you look at life.
What is that? What is that? Outlook? It's pro did
(22:00):
you Yeah, you know, I don't know that prior to
getting to know some of those that you just mentioned
and many others that I don't even have time to mention,
that I would have ever thought it were possible to
do this job at the highest level. And two you
(22:21):
might even hear him in the background have a newborn
baby boy as well. Um until working alongside someone like
Candice Parker and and watching the ways in which motherhood
is prioritized far and above the game of basketball, and
(22:42):
yet she is still one of, if not the greatest,
to play in the w n B. A like, I
don't know that had I not seen it, I would
have thought it was possible I think my idea of
maybe the way life would shake itself about this side
of ten or so years ago would have been, Okay,
(23:03):
well I can do this first, and then maybe I'll
get to do something like that. Then maybe I'll get
to have life outside of work. But but work has
to happen first, and then life will come later. But
one of the most important things that I've learned from
walking alongside the people I've been surrounded by in these
last times seven eight, nine, ten years now, um, is
(23:30):
that you know when you think balance, like you imagine
two entities of somewhat equal weight, and yet work and
life that those things are not of equal weight. So
it's not about this like work life balance. It's that
here's this thing that I am doing that is so
significantly important, which is investing in the life of my
(23:53):
husband and in my newborn son. And from that place,
from the confidence that stems there, I can go and
also be great at this other thing that I've been
given the opportunity to do. And so again, I don't
know that I would have thought any of that possible
had I not seen it. And so because I got
(24:13):
the chance to see it, now I get the chance
to do it, And I don't even know that I
would have attempted to it in the first place had
I not seen it were possible. Wow. Literally, I'm I'm
chills listening to you because you don't often hear people
talk like that. You know. I want to wrap things
up because I I know, I know you gotta take
(24:35):
care of your baby boy. It's clock. I'll tell you
that it never ends. If you could leave one piece
of advice for it, honestly, anyone and everyone who may
be struggling with that work life balance or an outlook
on that, what would it be? Yeah? Um, one of
(24:56):
the most important pieces of advice. Well, you know what,
I'm not actually gonna share two things because they come
from two of not only the best in broadcasting, um,
but those who have invested in me. Um. One is
from Rachel Nichols several years ago. She didn't know more
(25:16):
than said. Lots of years ago, she said to me
the most important piece of advice she could give me
as I navigated life and work, and at the time,
my work was my life and it didn't matter as much.
And now I'm holding onto it like, Okay, that was
more important than I realized. It's that no is a
complete sentence. We often feel the need to further explain
(25:39):
or to try and have some reason as to why
we've got to create these boundaries and work so that
we can have life outside of it. No, No is
a complete sentence. And the other is from Ernie Johnson,
and he said several years ago when we were on
the road for the conference finals, I believe in the
Bay Area, UM and he was one of the first
(26:03):
to get downstairs ten or fifteen minutes earlier than everybody else.
And I try to be among the first because I
decided really early on what was not going to happen
here was they're always waiting on the girl to get downstairs.
So I'm always ready ahead of time and always downstairs
and waiting on the guys, you know. And one of
(26:24):
the things that Ernie said about his being not just
on time but early, is that we must ruthlessly eliminate
hurry in our lives, like ruthlessly eliminitally, like whatever it takes,
we've got to eliminate hurry. And that has been a
game changer, not just in my work but in my
life as well. It's changed the way that I planned
(26:46):
my days and because of what Rachel said, It's changed
the way that I planned the weeks ahead and my
schedule many months out. So those would be the things
that I would pass on solely because those have been
the things that have been most important to me. Absolutely incredible.
I have to say it was my biggest honor to
have you on my podcast, christ and Leflow with Turner Sports.
(27:07):
I just I can't thank you enough. I have been
a big fan of your work for so long, and
you are an even more incredible person and I could
have imagined so thank you, thank you, and you were
doing excellent work and it's been such a cool thing
to get to know you, even via email for these
last I appreciate your patience with me as I was
figuring out again that whole work life not so balanced thing. Um.
(27:29):
But keep up the great work. It's so exciting to
me to get to see what you're gonna get to
do next. Well that's a wrap on another episode of
the New York Her podcast. Please listen, subscribe, and share
as much as possible. We'd love to get feedback and
to hear from you guys on what you want to
hear and what you enjoyed and maybe what you can
enjoy listening to you, but we hope you enjoyed this
episode with Kristen Ludlow. Let's see you guys next time.
Welcome into another episode of the New York Curb podcast.
I'm your host, Olivia Landis. Each and every week, as
you guys know who have been listening, we bring in
some of the most amazing women from all around sports
to get to know them and their stories and exactly
what some of the things are that they have been
able to accomplish. This week, I am very, very excited
(00:24):
to introduce Kristen Ludlow, who was with NBA TV and
NBA on TNT. Kristen, thank you so much for joining me.
Like we already mentioned, I told you this already, but
I have a big fan, big big fan of your work,
so very excited to have you on. Thank you. That
means more to me than you know. Thank you so
much for having me of course. Well, first and foremost,
(00:46):
congratulations on recently becoming a mother. Thank you. I can't
look less tired for you. For those who are walking
this visually for listening, I sound the same. But for
those who are actually watching us, and honestly, mothers are
amazing for and I'm sure everyone else what would vouch
(01:09):
for that because mothers handle so much. I'm not a
mother yet, so I can't can't speak to that. But yes,
so Christen you have for those of you who do
not know, she works in the NBA, both with NBA
on T n T and NBA TV. And can you
kind of just give our listeners interviewers a little bit
of a background on what exactly you do. Yeah, now, absolutely. Um,
(01:32):
I've been with Turner Sports now for this was my
eighth season. Uh. It started in the fall of when
Grant Hill and I were hired on to bring back
NBA inside stuff and so that was what my job
started as at Turner Sports. And since then they've been
i mean just so incredible to me that anything that
(01:57):
I asked about trying to learn how to do, they
give me the opportunity to try to learn how to
do it. Um. And so I've I've worked into uh
doing silent reporting on on T and T, hosting on
NBA TV as well doing a podcast with Candice Parker,
and so we've had I've had just an opportunity to
grow with team, with the Turner Sports family, and um,
(02:20):
it's been been a gift, I mean for all eight
seasons thus far. Yeah, and you were able to get
get in the NBA and be able to work with
basketball and you actually play basketball a lot growing up
and you were able to that was a big part
of a life. Did you see yourself getting into the NBA?
(02:40):
Did you see yourself following that career path um getting
into It's funny phrase it that way, getting into the NBA,
because I actually used to say I wanted to be
the first girl to ever play in the n b A.
That was before the conception of the w n b A.
If you wanted to map on how old I am.
But I couldn't have pictured it being anything like this,
(03:04):
But I did all. I mean, I started playing basketball
when I was eight years old, and I did always
know I wanted to do something in or around the
game from that point moving forward. And so no, I
couldn't have dreamed it looked anything like it has ended
up looking. But yes, I did always want to work
(03:27):
around basketball in some capacity. Again, if I couldn't have
been a shooting guard in the NBA, which clearly I
couldn't have been up and this was a pretty great,
uh pretty great runner up, I would say, it's a
pretty good, pretty solid back plan, we'll call it. But
you've always been involved in sports when it comes to
your career you. You know you you reported on college football.
(03:50):
You had your own Uh was that blog? I know
you had your own like when you were writing about football,
college football stories that were breaking and stuff like that. Yeah,
sports have always been a big part of your life, correct, totally.
I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, UM during a stretch
of years where I mean, and there were a lot,
a lot of years that Florida State football was the
(04:12):
pinnacle of college football, and so I grew up absolutely
in love with college football there at the stadium every Saturday.
And so yes, I mean I loved college football at
the time, I was very young, and so my career
actually started in my hometown in Tallahassee. I was anchoring
the local news at noon every day. And I don't
mean like not sports, like the actual local news. Like
(04:36):
we had a pet of the week and like our
guests were, you know, just guests from around Tallahassee. And
how do I think of the kind of stuff that
we do? I mean, like like you watched the I
mean you've seen the local news. It was that every
day at noon. So I was looking for ways to
infuse some sports coverage into that. Not that I didn't
(04:57):
love doing the pet of the Week obviously, but I
actually reached out to the local ESPN Real affiliate and asked,
you know, do you have anybody covering practices? And they
were like, no, we don't, and we do not have
actual money to pay you, but we will pay you
an Apple these gift cards. And I was like, you
know what, I'm gonna do it because I've got to
(05:21):
eat and get a margarita anyway, right, Yeah, you know,
so I accept, And uh. That was actually how it started.
I started as a sideline reporter for ESPN Radio in
Tallahassee for the Florida State football team, getting paid an
Apple these gift cards and just go into all the
practices that nobody really wanted to go to, and and
going and and covering the games in a way that
(05:43):
you know, it taught me how to cover games. And
I wasn't on the like broadcast, it wasn't on the
national broadcast, but I did learn how to I mean
even park at a stadium and where you go as
part of the media, and and how do they get
into locker rooms and how to navigate them well and
be part of those media scroans and and want to
speak up and ask your question. And so the Applebees
(06:03):
gift cards are long gone, but the experience is really
what helped prices exactly. That was what helped propel me.
Now now I'm curious the Applebee's gift cards in applets
gift cards. That's a new one. That's a new one
for me. I don't think I don't recommit to utilize that.
I don't. First of all, yes, like, but like it
(06:24):
would be gone by the end of the day, so
like I would get the you know, the gift card
and then you know, stop for a half off appetizers
and margarita's, like before I got back to my you know,
back to my place. So yes, I absolutely utilize them.
And I do not recommend working for gift cards any means,
but I do recommend getting experienced by any means possible.
(06:46):
And that's certainly what that experience afforded me. It's so
funny because in the back of my mind, I'm like,
who has that many Applebe's gift cards? You know? Okay, well,
I think you know, that's a fair point for you.
They were a local spawn sir of the radio station,
so we just lunching the like at the radio station,
and they were kind of like, well, you know you can.
(07:07):
You can have as many of these. So it wasn't
just Applebee's. There were several other sponsors that I was
able to I think I got my oil changed a
few times that like the local Jiffy Lube. It was yes,
So anyway, who was like sponsoring the shows as able
to utilize some of their services? That is so funny
(07:32):
money but you weren't making actual money. But you know
you got this. I got spend money on anyway, Yes, top, Yeah,
you have to eat and you have to get your
oil changer. So not too bad as far as goes. Well,
what made you first interested in being on television? Because
(07:54):
it could be interested in sports? Right, you could be
interested in TV. But to put the two together, that
wasn't great question because I really, like I said, I
didn't think one day I want to grow up and
be on TV. I was thinking, really I just wanted
to work in or around sports in some capacity. And
like I said, I I loved college football all of
my life. UM grew up always playing basketball as well.
(08:16):
I thought about getting into coaching, UM, I thought about
getting into refereeing. UM I I thought about early on
in college. UM, I was a general communication major, and
I thought, Okay, well maybe there's marketing, maybe there's And
then I really set my side phone wanting to work
in the front office of an NBA franchise. At the time,
I didn't know of any women who were doing so. Um.
(08:38):
But but that kind of just gives you insight into
what I wanted it to look like. UM. It wasn't
just oh, I want to be on TV. And that
is why you know, some of the things that you've
mentioned that I've done in broadcasting, those those weren't all
on TV either. I I've worked at radio, I've worked
as a writer. Um, I've you know, shot and edited
(09:00):
my own stuff, and and so all of that was
kind of culminated in this job that ultimately I've I've
ended up with at Turner Sports. But but I really
just wanted to work in or around the game in
some capacity. It didn't really matter as much to me
what it looked like. Um. And to that end, I
was actually working on the radio in Atlanta, and one
(09:22):
of my co hosts at the radio station was also
hosting at NBA TV and told me that they were
going to be bringing NBA inside stuff back. I'd grown
up watching the show, loving the show in the nineties,
and he told me that Grant Hill had signed on
to be the host, and so I like begged for
an audition, not thinking like it legitimately did not cross
(09:45):
my mind I would actually get the job, and eight
years later I'd be sitting here talking to you about it.
I really just thought, if I get to get it
there for this one day I get to meet Grant Hill,
maybe I'll hug him, you know, Like that was the
ring with my process behind it. So I was working
on the radio covering Atlanta sports and an ask for
(10:05):
an audition, and I think that I did hug Grant
that day against my better judgment. I'm like, am I
get to beat him this one time? I'm hugging him,
you know. And so they were got a phone call
that they were, um, you know, only considering a couple
of people, and I was one of them. And and
then I believe it was a couple of weeks after
that that it was like, hey, this is your new job.
(10:29):
And so so it worked out the way that it
did not because I was pursuing television or fame in
any capacity, but because I really just loved the game
of basketball. Yeah. Wow, that's so incredible. What an incredible
story too, because oftentimes in this industry, people come into
it knowing, Hey, I want to be on TV. Hey
(10:49):
I want to be doing this and doing that. But
your perspective was slightly different because you said, I just
want to be around the game of basketball. I love sports.
I want to I want When you think about that,
when you think about that that approach, do you still
think about things that way or was it kind of
just absolutely Oh no, no, no, I I still think
(11:12):
that that way even now, like even having worked in
network television now for is that eight year, I can't
it's just along the pority of my adult life. This
is what I'm doing. But I still don't think about
how do I grow on television? I think what do
(11:33):
I want to do next in the game. And so yeah,
I've absolutely considered a lot of different, uh potential um
paths that that I could take, you know, that I
could turn down after doing this um And no, it's
not all necessarily on TV, but it's all around the game.
So yes, that that still is the way that I think.
(11:55):
And earlier you said at first you initially wanted to
be one of the first women in the front off
faces within the in a franchise in the NBA. Could
you still envision yourself doing that? And I'm glad you
brought that up, because yes, absolutely love. I also have
seen in the several women that are now in front
offices way more qualified than I am, so working in
(12:20):
and around the game for several more seasons before I
imagine that I'm qualified enough to step on a door
like that. Well, you know what you You're getting the
experience and the knowledge always comes with more time, So
don't count yourself out. I would love to see you
in the front office of a franchise in the NBA.
I'm gonna put I'm gonna put my money on it now.
(12:42):
Maybe maybe one day. So you are a part of
a lot of pieces of content they're at Turner Sports.
You mentioned some of the things you do with Grant Hill.
You mentioned Candice Parker. You guys do have Parker and Ludlow,
you guys do have your own podcast. Would have been
some of the projects over the last eight or so
years that you mentioned that you've been extremely proud to
(13:04):
be a part of. Yeah, those two that you just mentioned, Uh,
hosting Inside Stuff with Grant was better than I could have.
It really is hard to describe somebody like Grant because
you see him on TV and you think, yeah, what
a what a classy guy. But he is as kind
(13:29):
and as classy and as hard working a player and
a person as you could. I mean it it really, honestly,
all these years later, it's still hard for me to
describe the kind of not the kind of broadcaster, but
the kind of person that Grant actually is. And so
for my first experience on national television to be alongside
(13:53):
Grant Hill, it was way less about what it did
for me career wise, and way more about the ways
in which it changed my life and and and shaped
my way of thinking about life outside of work. Um.
And it's funny timing in which we are recording this
(14:14):
because the last I had seen Grant was he was
our last in person guest on Ludlow and Parker in
the studio on March whatever day. That was the Tuesday
or Wednesday before everything stopped on that Thursday or Friday,
and that was the last I'd seen him until today.
(14:36):
I had lunch with him today and we were talking
about all that the last year has held and when
I met him, I was a year old girl just
really excited to hug him. And now I am not
twenty five and I have a baby boy, and just
to have walked alongside a person a partner like that
(15:02):
for not just so many basketball seasons, but for this
many seasons of life. It's just such a special thing.
So I'm really proud of inside stuff for that reason.
And I feel the same way about Leadlo and Parker
that you just mentioned um one, because again, I love
Candice like I but like before I met her, like
in an uncool way. The first time I met her,
(15:25):
it's like, oh, that's like they're in front of me,
and he's like as stunning as I thought she was
probably gonna be um And to find out that she
was like totally psychical doing a project with me was
just too much for my little heart to handle. But No,
that project I'm really proud of also because it wasn't
(15:47):
pitched to us in any way that was, hey, here's
what we want you to to do. It was are
you too interested in doing a project together? If so,
let us know what it should look like. And so
we got to really create the concept of it from
the very beginning, and one of the very first phone
calls that Candice and I had with our production team,
(16:08):
UM was kind of a It wasn't like all right,
let's try and plan out what the show looks like,
or like put together a rundown or whatever. It was
more like, let's decide what we want this project to
be about, Like let's let's confirm the culture first. And
(16:28):
so we were like, all right, so we're gonna have
a guest on this show, what do we want that
person to be? Like if we're if we want this
project to be bigger than basketball, to be not just
about the headlines in and around the NBA and the
w n b A for week to week, but if
we wanted to be about the people behind the players
(16:49):
and in life beyond just playing this game, like what
is it? Who is it? And I mean it was
within seconds of each other that we both said, oh, oh,
it's gotta be it's gotta be Kobe, Like he's got
to be our first guest. So we that October, I
mean it was like a Friday, and we were starting
(17:12):
on like that Tuesday. We had no backup plan. We
had reached out to Kobe, and we were like, here's
this thing we're doing, and you're the actual perfect picture
of what we want this project to be about. And
then Candis and I were in New York and we
were shooting all the promotional stuff for lad Low and
Parker and we were um part of the broadcast team
(17:36):
for a nixt preseason game on t N T. Well,
so she and I are in the back of the
car on the way back to the hotel. And again,
I mean, this is like days before we shoot the
first episode, and we had actually decided if he says no,
or if we don't hear back, we're just not gonna
have a guest, Like it's just gonna be us, you know,
because we want from the beginning to let our audience
know this is what this thing is going to be about.
(17:59):
And we're in the car, are on the way back
to the hotel, and she gets a message. She goes
and she turns her phone around and it's Kobe and
he says, you know, you guys were great on the
broadcast and I'm looking forward to the podcast on Tuesday.
And I mean, we were stupidly excited about that for
all the obvious reasons, which is that he was one
(18:20):
of the best to ever play the game of basketball,
and he had accomplished so much in the few days
since playing the game. So that was our very first episode.
And then you fast forward just I mean and just
a few months later, and one of the last episodes
(18:40):
we did in the studio before basketball and everything else
was put on pause, was just remembering who was and
what he gave to the game and what he gave
to us. And when I think about that, that we
(19:03):
were charged with creating this project and thought, who is
it that we want to kind of define what this
thing is going to be about that has our names
on it, and we thought of him first, and for
just a few short months later to realize like time
(19:24):
was his most limited resource. We wouldn't have known that
that October, but in January, just a few months later,
to recognize that it was, and to recognize that even
with the limited amount of time that he had, he
gave us so much of it. It again summed up
(19:49):
so well why he was as successful as he was
on the floor, but also why he was no owned
for and remembered for what he became remembered for later on.
And so when I think about the couple of things
that I'm just like, really proud of in my career
(20:11):
thus far. It's funny because I I don't even really
think that much about the the shows themselves. It's it's
it's the people, you know. It's it's the people that
have made it so special. Um. So yeah, for that reason,
those are a couple of the things that I'm most
(20:33):
proud to have had my name on. Wow. Wow, you
really gave me chills listening to that. Um And it's
it's amazing too, because what you took out of everything
was and everything I'm hearing you say, it wasn't about
the product. It wasn't about the project. It was about
(20:55):
the people. It was about the people who gave their time,
the people who maybe impacted you in a certain ways,
you know, which is very obvious. He had a positive
impact on you, and I'm sure many others did as well.
That's it's an important thing. It's a really important thing
to recognize people over projects. I mean, if we don't
(21:17):
take anything else from the last year that was that,
I mean, that's all that it boils down to. When
the bottom inevitably falls out, what's going to hold It's
it's your investment in people. It's not the products that
you created or the production that you might be proud of.
It's your investment in people. And that's it. And how
(21:38):
listening to you talk about both Grants, who you said
is an amazing person both on the core off the core,
and then you're talking about Kobe and Candice, you talked
a lot about people and you said you've learned so
much and it shapes the way you look at life.
What is that? What is that? Outlook? It's pro did
(22:00):
you Yeah, you know, I don't know that prior to
getting to know some of those that you just mentioned
and many others that I don't even have time to mention,
that I would have ever thought it were possible to
do this job at the highest level. And two you
(22:21):
might even hear him in the background have a newborn
baby boy as well. Um until working alongside someone like
Candice Parker and and watching the ways in which motherhood
is prioritized far and above the game of basketball, and
(22:42):
yet she is still one of, if not the greatest,
to play in the w n B. A like, I
don't know that had I not seen it, I would
have thought it was possible I think my idea of
maybe the way life would shake itself about this side
of ten or so years ago would have been, Okay,
(23:03):
well I can do this first, and then maybe I'll
get to do something like that. Then maybe I'll get
to have life outside of work. But but work has
to happen first, and then life will come later. But
one of the most important things that I've learned from
walking alongside the people I've been surrounded by in these
last times seven eight, nine, ten years now, um, is
(23:30):
that you know when you think balance, like you imagine
two entities of somewhat equal weight, and yet work and
life that those things are not of equal weight. So
it's not about this like work life balance. It's that
here's this thing that I am doing that is so
significantly important, which is investing in the life of my
(23:53):
husband and in my newborn son. And from that place,
from the confidence that stems there, I can go and
also be great at this other thing that I've been
given the opportunity to do. And so again, I don't
know that I would have thought any of that possible
had I not seen it. And so because I got
(24:13):
the chance to see it, now I get the chance
to do it, And I don't even know that I
would have attempted to it in the first place had
I not seen it were possible. Wow. Literally, I'm I'm
chills listening to you because you don't often hear people
talk like that. You know. I want to wrap things
up because I I know, I know you gotta take
(24:35):
care of your baby boy. It's clock. I'll tell you
that it never ends. If you could leave one piece
of advice for it, honestly, anyone and everyone who may
be struggling with that work life balance or an outlook
on that, what would it be? Yeah? Um, one of
(24:56):
the most important pieces of advice. Well, you know what,
I'm not actually gonna share two things because they come
from two of not only the best in broadcasting, um,
but those who have invested in me. Um. One is
from Rachel Nichols several years ago. She didn't know more
(25:16):
than said. Lots of years ago, she said to me
the most important piece of advice she could give me
as I navigated life and work, and at the time,
my work was my life and it didn't matter as much.
And now I'm holding onto it like, Okay, that was
more important than I realized. It's that no is a
complete sentence. We often feel the need to further explain
(25:39):
or to try and have some reason as to why
we've got to create these boundaries and work so that
we can have life outside of it. No, No is
a complete sentence. And the other is from Ernie Johnson,
and he said several years ago when we were on
the road for the conference finals, I believe in the
Bay Area, UM and he was one of the first
(26:03):
to get downstairs ten or fifteen minutes earlier than everybody else.
And I try to be among the first because I
decided really early on what was not going to happen
here was they're always waiting on the girl to get downstairs.
So I'm always ready ahead of time and always downstairs
and waiting on the guys, you know. And one of
(26:24):
the things that Ernie said about his being not just
on time but early, is that we must ruthlessly eliminate
hurry in our lives, like ruthlessly eliminitally, like whatever it takes,
we've got to eliminate hurry. And that has been a
game changer, not just in my work but in my
life as well. It's changed the way that I planned
(26:46):
my days and because of what Rachel said, It's changed
the way that I planned the weeks ahead and my
schedule many months out. So those would be the things
that I would pass on solely because those have been
the things that have been most important to me. Absolutely incredible.
I have to say it was my biggest honor to
have you on my podcast, christ and Leflow with Turner Sports.
(27:07):
I just I can't thank you enough. I have been
a big fan of your work for so long, and
you are an even more incredible person and I could
have imagined so thank you, thank you, and you were
doing excellent work and it's been such a cool thing
to get to know you, even via email for these
last I appreciate your patience with me as I was
figuring out again that whole work life not so balanced thing. Um.
(27:29):
But keep up the great work. It's so exciting to
me to get to see what you're gonna get to
do next. Well that's a wrap on another episode of
the New York Her podcast. Please listen, subscribe, and share
as much as possible. We'd love to get feedback and
to hear from you guys on what you want to
hear and what you enjoyed and maybe what you can
enjoy listening to you, but we hope you enjoyed this
episode with Kristen Ludlow. Let's see you guys next time.
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