Originally posted Wednesday, February 6, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Brandon London -a host with the syndicated show "Daily Blast Live" - grew up in Virginia but after his parents divorced, he spent his summers as a kid with his mom Beverly in Atlanta.
The 34 year old returned back to Atlanta last week to cover the Super Bowl for the show - which airs locally on 11Alive at 2 p.m. weekdays. I spent some time with him outside the Center for Civil and Human Rights last Friday.
He said he had warm memories of Atlanta. “My mom would take me to the Sweet Auburn Festival, the King Center, Underground Atlanta, the Coke museum,” he said. “We would climb Stone Mountain and I’d learn about civil rights history.”
Football is in his blood. His father Mike London is a football coach who was head coach at the University of Virginia and currently helms the team at William & Mary. London broke records as a receiver at the University of Massachusetts.
As a wide receiver, London got close to playing regular season games with three NFL teams but was cut each time before he had the opportunity. He spent several years with the Canadian Football League before retiring in 2015. “I didn’t want to put my body through that anymore,” he said.
His long-term goal: TV hosting. In 2016, he snagged a gig working with New York Giants TV doing locker room and fan interviews and learning production. Those clips helped him snag the “Daily Blast Live” gig six months ago.
The pop culture-based news show- based out of Denver - is unusual because it’s live in every time zone so he has to shoot multiple times a day. The challenge is to hear the news and express opinions as if it were the first time he had said them.
“I learn something new every day,” he said. “I’m new to this entertainment business. I have to learn not just about the Kardashians but politics, about space exploration.”
His mom Beverly, who lives in Atlanta, said her son never wants to be perceived as a “dumb jock.”
“He’s very effervescent,” she said. “He’s never met a stranger. He’s really fun. He’s been like that since he was young.”
And she said when he’s been knocked down, he’s picked himself back up. “That’s perseverance,” she said.
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