The city of Cleveland and sports community at large was disheartened when Browns radio announcer Jim Donovan revealed his leukemia relapse yesterday, with well wishes pouring in from all corners of the world.

Ken Carman and Anthony Lima reacted to the news Thursday morning on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, reminiscing on memorable moments they have had with Donovan on the show. They look forward to welcoming him back on the program in the future, and wish him nothing but the absolute best in his battle with leukemia.

“Play-by-play voices become best friends to generations of people,” Carman said. “Jim, and I mean this, has become a best friend to Browns fans since 1999. There’s been a lot of down years for the Browns, and Jim’s honesty and Jim’s sense of humor has made some down seasons since 1999 palatable. He made the 2020 season a lot of fun; he made the 2020 season that much better.”

Carman continued by recognizing how the city of Cleveland has been fortunate to have a variety of talented sports broadcasters since the start of sportscasting on KDKA Pittsburgh in 1921 – and radio as a whole in the late 1890s. He conveyed just how strong Donovan is to endure this impediment, and how the entire locale is pulling for him.

“I don’t want to talk about him as if he’s gone,” added Lima. “The great news is that he’s going to be back, and he’s going to continue to be with us [and] he’s going to continue to do Browns games…This is a guy who had a bone marrow transplant 11 years ago, and he fought back and made it to the point where he was doing every game again.”

Both co-hosts acknowledged that Donovan has always been willing to appear on their program to talk about the team and has been forthright with them when he has been unable to attend because of treatment. His ability to be candid with his audience is something they acknowledged could get broadcasters fired today.

“The fans know if Jim says it – if Jim gets excited about something – it’s real. It’s not because he’s been told to say something,” Lima expressed. “He earns that, and that’s what we will always appreciate about having Jim on.”

“I hate starting shows this way,” Carman stated. “I hate it; it sucks, but Jim is a good, good, good friend; a good man; a good friend of the city. We are certainly wishing him well here at the Fan, wishing him well on this show, and obviously wishing him well as sports fans throughout the city.”

Rico Beard doesn’t want to hear your complaints. If you love college football, you need to get used to the new television distribution model. That means you better have Peacock.

Wednesday afternoon on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, Beard reviewed the Big Ten schedule released earlier that day. He zeroed in on games involving both Michigan and Michigan State that would be available only on the streaming service.

Michigan, who has been to the last two College Football Playoffs, only has one Peacock exclusive, but it is their season opener against East Carolina. For Michigan State though, its best non-conference game is not going to be available on linear television.

“This is one right here – Michigan State/Washington, probably the second or third biggest game on their schedule at home this year. You can go to the home game, but if you want to watch it, Peacock Network, plain and simple,” Beard said.

When the Big Ten negotiated its new television deals last year, then-commissioner Kevin Warren seemingly followed a model similar to the NFL. The league spread it’s games out over three broadcast networks and chose not to do deals with streaming services. Still, NBC negotiated some games as Peacock exclusives as part of their package of primetime games.

Many people in The Ticket’s listening audience already have access to Peacock. The Detroit market is served by XFinity, which like Peacock and NBC, is owned by Comcast. Access to Peacock is included with a cable subscription.

Between that kind of access in the market and people’s consumption habits for entertainment that isn’t sports, he doesn’t understand why people complain about finding and watching Peacock.

“You found every way to watch shows on Netflix. You know what that is?” He asked his producer David Hull. “It’s streaming.” 

Mike Valenti had Wednesday off. Rico Beard said he was glad that his partner was not there for this discussion, because they look at streaming sports very differently.

“He would just be hitting the ceiling right now. ’Everything is changed. I don’t like change. The world got me. Oh, I don’t like this,’” he said, impersonating Valenti. “It just it is what it is. I’ve been trying to explain to people when everybody made fun of me. Guys, college football, you’re not going to see it and watch it the same way you always have done it. It’s going to get different.”

Jim Donovan has been fighting leukemia for a long time. Now, he is preparing to ramp up the fight again. He told the WKYC audience that his cancer has relapsed.

“There’s a story to the new look and hairstyle that I’m sporting here tonight,” he said on Channel 3, where he is the sports anchor, on Wednesday. “It was about a year and a half ago that I noticed that something was amiss with my health. And if you’ve known me and if you’ve followed me through the years here at Channel 3 and with the Cleveland Browns, you know that I’ve had a long battle with leukemia to the point where I had a bone marrow transplant about 11 and a half years ago. Well, my concerns were confirmed, and by that I mean it was told to me that I had had a relapse of leukemia, the disease had come back.”

He said that after a number of chemotherapy treatments, it is time for a new treatment plan. This time, things will be more aggressive. Donovan says his plan is to keep working.

“Through all of this, I will be here at Channel 3 and on the radio as much as I can be, but there will be periods of time that I might not be with you, maybe for a day, maybe for longer,” he said.

The Cleveland Browns expressed their support and concerns for Donovan in a Twitter post. The team’s statement says that the broadcaster has already proved “he’s as tough as they come” through his previous battle with the disease.

Other members of the Cleveland sports media took to social media to express their support for Donovan.

Jim Donovan has been the play-by-play voice of the Browns since the team returned to the NFL in the 1999 season. He was initially diagnosed with leukemia in 2000 and had a bone marrow transplant in 2011.

Everyone at BSM joins Donovan’s sports media colleagues in wishing him a speedy recovery.