The Tournament Review Podcast, Episode 1

The Tournament Review Podcast, Episode 1

The Tournament Review Podcast highlighted the 2025 Hoophall Classic at Springfield’s Blake Arena, featuring the best high school basketball players in the nation. The five-episode series was produced daily by Birthplace Studios and WSCB 89.9, Springfield College’s radio and podcast club, to keep those interested in the annual event up-to-date throughout the games whether they were unable to attend in-person or were in attendance and wanted to learn more about the teams they watched in action. One episode was produced for each day of the event, released at 10:00 a.m. the following morning on Birthplace Studios’ streaming platforms, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts, and aired on the WSCB radio station. This episode in particular features many interviews, recorded both in-studio and out-of-studio, and in Blake Arena with Springfield student media members Kaitlyn Kupiec, Kyle Valentine, River Mitchell, Sam MacGilpin, and Braedan Shea. Episode 1 includes an opening recap of the previous day's results, a roundtable discussion with other members of Springfield's student media, plus interviews highlighting key players and coaches. It concludes with a preview of that day's top games. The episode includes exclusive interviews with Notre Dame High School small forward Abdou Toure and Andover High School head coach Dave Fazio. Host, producer, and editor Reese Merritt’s responsibility was to write the episode’s script, organize and coordinate relevant interviews, follow the inverted pyramid scheme to prioritize the most important information first, ensure accuracy, implement effective natural sound, and create a proper flow to the show. The entirety of the episode was crafted by Reese Merritt in less than 24 hours.