Paul Finebaum biography, salary, net worth, podcast, streaming

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<a href="/biography/paul-finebaum">Paul Alan Finebaum</a> is a well-known American radio and <a href="/biography/paul-finebaum">television personality</a> and sports author. He works out of Charlotte, North Carolina and focuses on sports in the Southeast. His current position is with ESPN’s SEC Network. He has held positions during his career that have included writing and broadcasting.

Early Life

Paul was born on July 26, 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Public sources do not contain any information about his parents or siblings. Paul began his education at the Christian Brothers High School and then he went to White Station High School.

Paul received his higher education at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he was offered a scholarship. Without interrupting his studying, he found work in the campus newspaper called Daily Beacon. The work in this newspaper was just writing sports news, but even then Paul realized that this occupation is what he would like to do in his life.

In 1978 Finebaum graduated from University of Tennessee with a degree in liberal arts. After school, he had worked as a reporter for about one year in Shreveport Louisiana. He then moved to Birmingham, where he was offered a job with the Birmingham Post-Herald. As soon as he started his work, Finebaum was involved in a big scandal because of his reporting where he accused The University of Alabama of making recruiting violations. The University of Alabama served him with a lawsuit, but with the help of Birmingham Post-Herald, they resolved the case. While working at the Birmingham Post-Herald Paul built his reputation by producing resonant articles that readers cared about.

Career

After Paul’s retirement from the Birmingham Post-Herald in 2001, he continued to work in the Mobile Press Register, releasing his weekly column, which was syndicated to other newspapers.

As for his career on radio and television, his first experience was the work as a commentator on the Mark and Brian Radio Show. Radio station WAPI-AM, which had hired Paul Finebaum, quickly realized that Paul was a future <a href="/biography/paul-finebaum">celebrity</a> and allowed him to make his own show. That show soon became the most popular sport-talk show in Birmingham.

In 1993, Paul left WAPI-AM and was hired by WERC, where he now continues streaming his talk show. Paul realized that he can achieve much more by reaching many more people by streaming his podcasts nationwide.

In 2001, Paul along with Pat Smith and Kerry Adams began the show The Paul Finebaum Radio Network. After just 3 years, his show got into the top 12 sports radio shows in the United States. In his show, he made scandalous live interviews, and conducted investigations and reports. His show moved many times over the years. In 2007 the show moved to WJOX and it finally stuck at ESPN in May 2013. His radio show is simulcast every day on the SEC Network and heard on Sirius XM radio.

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Paul is also a regular on ESPN's College Football Live, Sportscenter, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_&_Mike">Mike & Mike</a>, SEC Nation and College GameDay. He is considered one of the medium's finest interviewers. He has been a <a href="/biography/paul-finebaum">guest</a> on television's Larry King Live, CBS' 60 Minutes, <a href="/biography/nancy-grace">Nancy Grace</a>, MSNBC's Morning Joe, HBO, and Trutv. He is a recurring guest on Pardon My Take. He also starred in the documentary Roll Tide / War Eagle.

Paul is also a successful <a href="/biography/paul-finebaum">writer</a>. He released a very successful series of books I Hate ..., where he gathered many of his newspaper columns. The most popular book was I Hate Michigan: 303 Reasons Why You Should, Too, which became the subject of parody of the book I Hate Paul Finebaum: 303 Reasons Why You Should Too by Tommy Charles. Paul has also published two books: The Worst of Paul Finebaum, a 1994 compilation of some of the newspaper columns he has written; and Finebaum Said, a 2001 collection of columns and interviews.

On March 27, 2013, the Birmingham News reported that Finebaum agreed to an advance (later reported to be $650,000) with HarperCollins to write a book about the radio show. HarperCollins Senior <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hirshey">Vice President</a> and Executive Editor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hirshey">David Hirshey</a> said "We expect this book to occupy the same spot on the best-seller list that Alabama occupies in the BCS rankings – number one." In February, Publishers Weekly reported the book would arrive on August 5 with a first run of 150,000 copies. The book, which was excerpted in the Wall Street Journal on August 5, quickly made the New York Times best-seller list, landing at No. 6 among sports books. The book remained on the best-seller list for five months.

Recognition

In 2002, Finebaum was named by The Tennessean in Nashville as one of the Southeastern Conference's Top Power Brokers. In July 2009, The Orlando Sentinel named Finebaum as one of the SEC's 10 most powerful people. On January 11, 2011, CNBC's Emmy-Award-winning <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Rovell">sports reporter</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Rovell">Darren Rovell</a> wrote: "Back 2 back titles by Alabama & Auburn make Finebaum the most powerful small market sports media member in the nation" and called him "the best listener of any sports talk radio host." In December 2012, Sports Illustrated, in its year-end review of sports media, listed gave Finebaum an Honorable Mention along with 10 other names for "Best National Radio Voice".

In 2008, Columbia University named Finebaum's Show as one of the winners of its annual 'Let's Do it Better! Workshop on Journalism, Race and Ethnicity' awards for providing a strong and sometimes controversial view on racial issues in sports.

Reeves Wiedeman profiled the radio host in a 5,000-word article, "King of the South", in the December 10, 2012 edition of the New Yorker. . In May 2015, The Big Lead, part of USA Today's sports online network, ranked Finebaum No. 18 in a piece on The 25 Most Powerful People in Sports Media, On June 23, 2016, Finebaum delivered the keynote at the annual meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors annual convention in Charlotte.

Personal Life

Paul Finebaum and his wife, Dr. Linda Hudson, have been married since 1990. Finebaum is Jewish.

Due to the many different jobs of Paul Finebaum it is difficult to determine his salary exactly, but his net worth is estimated at approximately two million dollars. More about his achievement and biography can be found on Wikipedia.

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