92.9/The Game morning show gets a familiar face in Ali Mac

Tiffany Blackmon, a former ESPN sideline reporter, left last month after two years to pursue other opportunities, creating the opening for Mac, Conti said.

Mac has a long history on Atlanta radio. She began as an intern with Q100 two decades ago and has worked in various on-air capacities at Star 94.1, Kicks 101.5 (now New Country) and B98.5. She briefly worked on Kicks with Cadillac Jack, who died April 17 of a heart attack.

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

For the past four years, Mac worked at Impact Partnership, a Marietta-based marketing firm for financial advisers packed with former Atlanta radio personalities like Doug Turnbull (WSB traffic), Kevin McAlpin (Braves broadcasting), Heather Branch (Star 94) and Randy Cook (Fox 97.1).

Financial advisers who sign up with Impact disseminate podcasts and radio shows with help from these professional radio hosts.

“I learned a lot about retirement planning,” Mac said. “I was hosting those shows so I feel like my skills got stronger while I was there.”

Her cohosts on The Game are Morgan, an Atlanta native, Kennesaw State University graduate and former producer of The Game’s afternoon show “Dukes & Bell” and Johnson, an Atlanta Falcon from 2010 to 2014. She knew Morgan years ago while at Star when Morgan was interning at the sister sports talk station 790/The Zone (now defunct).

Mac said she filled in on The Game last August for a few days and felt “instant chemistry” between the guys.

“It reminded me how much I love radio and how much fun it is to do morning radio and get to wake up Atlanta,” she said. “When the opportunity came up, this was a no brainer.”

Sports talk is new for her but sports is not.

“I’m from Duluth,” she said. “I grew up there. Braves. Falcons. Hawks. It’s been part of my world since I was a little girl. I was there at the 1995 World Series. I was at the 2021 World Series, which was very exciting and very expensive.”

She said she’ll have to get used to not having music breaks.

“Mike and Beau are all about creativity and things I can bring to the table,” she said. “Through osmosis, I will be boning up on sports.”

A good morning show, in Mac’s mind, is one “that loves to be there. It’s not a have to, it’s a want to. We’re the escape in the morning. You have to bring the positivity and the energy. The guys are perfect for me. It’s a great scenario that kind of fell together in the best way possible.”

Given the relative youth of the show, she hopes to help place her imprint on it.

“When I was there in August, I felt the potential,” she said. “I’m going to create some games, bits. That’s my wheelhouse. I love it and I feel like I’m going home.”

It also helps that she’s an early riser by nature: “I’m up running at 5 a.m., anyway.”

The Game changed morning shows in 2023 after Hugh Douglas left for a Philadelphia sports station. He and John Fricke, who is now doing weekends, helmed mornings for seven years.

Braves stay at The Fan

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Rival sports talk 93.7/680 The Fan, which has aired Atlanta Braves games for the past 16 years, has signed a 12-year extension that takes their partnership into 2037.

“We are incredibly proud to extend our relationship with the Atlanta Braves,” said David Dickey, president of Dickey Broadcasting, which runs The Fan.

Derek Schiller, Braves president and chief executive officer, called the partnership with Dickey Broadcasting “instrumental in connecting our fans with the team” and lauded the station’s “exceptional coverage and commitment to excellence align perfectly with our goals. We are excited to continue this journey together.”