By Dave Hughes

Channel 11/WBAL, an NBC affiliate carrying the London Olympics, did not verbally report during Saturday's 6 p.m. newscast that Maryland swimmer Michael Phelps didn't win a medal in the 400 indiviual medley. The race had already taken place, but had not yet shown via NBC's time-delayed coverage.

The station did air a graphic image during the newscast that informed viewers of the race results.

WBAL general manager Dan Joerres told The Baltimore Sun that sportscaster Gerry Sandusky chose to rely on the graphic, and not verbalize the results, for viewers that wanted to wait until the race aired to know what had happened.

"This was just Gerry trying to have some fun with it, while respecting that some people don't want to know," Joerres told The Sun. "Our new media guys did the same kind of thing, putting out a message that Phelps had competed and telling people to 'click here' if they wanted to see the results."

***

Rebecca O'Sullivan-Schulte has been promoted to president of Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. She'd been senior vice president and general manager since joining the Bethesda-based regional sports network in March 2007.

During O'Sullivan-Schulte's tenure, CSN has expanded its relationships with the Washington Redskins, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

A native of Los Angeles, O'Sullivan-Schulte joined CSN after serving as general manager of Fox Sports Net Arizona.

***

Comcast SportsNet is bringing back "Training Camp Daily," the Bethesda-based network's month-long look at the Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens training camps. The show's sixth season started July 25.

The 21-episode series airs live at 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, with multiple daily encores, through Aug. 24. It features Chick Hernandez, Brent Harris, Trevor Matich and Brad Jackson.

***

Dave Ross will fill in for the vacationing Tony Kornheiser on Red Zebra sports talker WTEM, ESPN 980, throughout the month of August.

Ross, who is the acting sports director at Fox-owned Channel 5/WTTG in Washington, D.C., will host "NFL This Morning" from 10 a.m. to noon on weekdays for five weeks. The show will originate from Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va.

Kornheiser returns to the slot after Labor Day.
***

The blood pressure of on-air personalities at CBS sports talker WJFK, 106.7 The Fan, skyrocketed last week when the Redskins staged a live Q&A with star player Robert Griffin III and would not let the station cover the event live on its airwaves.

The press conference was carried on WJFK's sports talk radio rival, Redskins owner Dan Snyder's WTEM, ESPN 980, which carries the team's games.

"We were there, as we are at every press conference, ready to send the audio back live to our studio," a WJFK executive said. "Three minutes before the press conference, the Redskins' PR director threatened to pull our season credentials if we broadcast the audio live, like Channels 4, 5, 7, 9 and Comcast SportsNet, plus WTEM, were doing. Again, this was a press conference, which all media was covering live."

***

We reported in early June that Keith Russell would be heading to D.C. from Philadelphia's Channel 6/WPVI.

Now we hear Channel 4/WRC has hired him to co-anchor the NBC-owned station's midday newscast with Barbara Harrison and report for WRC's evening newscasts.

He'd been a sports anchor at WPVI since 2005, and an anchor at ESPN for the five years before that.

There had been rumblings that Russell might be joining Fox's Channel 5/WTTG to replace lead sports anchor Dave Feldman, who recently resigned after 12 years at the station.

Posted July 30, 2012