ESPN Punts On Radio With New Lineup Of D-Listers: Burack
Historically, ESPN produced the best lineup in sports-talk radio.
Previous hosts included Sports Talk Mount Rushmore candidates Dan Patrick, Tony Kornheiser, Mike Greenberg, and Mike Golic.
Other lineups included Colin Cowherd, Scott Van Pelt, Will Cain, Ryen Russillo, and Mike Tirico, who trumped the competition in ratings and quality.
But ESPN's lead in radio has slowly waned.
Since 2015, Cowherd departed for Fox Sports Radio. ESPN broke up its flagship program, Mike & Mike. Russillio left radio for The Ringer. Cain departed ESPN for Fox News. Van Pelt moved from radio to midnight SportsCenter.
In their place, ESPN Radio trotted out names like Bomani Jones, Chiney Ogwumike, Keyshawn Johnson, Max Kellerman, Dan Le Batard (a podcast star who struggled on radio), and Zubin Mehent.
Not one of those hosts proved adequate, hence why so many affiliates turned to local programming in lieu of national broadcasts.
Mike & Mike aired for 17 years from 6-10 am. The show ended in 2017. And ESPN has tried out four different morning shows since. Afternoon drive has featured just as many overhauls. As has midday.
On Monday, ESPN announced it would again overhaul the lineup for the fall with the following schedule:
6-10 am: Evan Cohen, Michelle Smallmon, and Chris Canty.
10 am-12 pm: Mike Greenberg.
12-3: Chris Carlin and Joe Fortenbaugh.
3-7 pm: Freddie Coleman and Harry Douglas.
7-10 pm: Amber Wilson and Ian Fitzsimmons.
10 pm to 1 am: DJ Q Myers.
The morning show is particularly questionable. Cohen and Smallmon have a combined 50k followers on X.
Canty isn't a good broadcaster. He stumbles over his words and is responsible for several off-putting segments in which he mocks Cooper Kupp for being white.
Anyway, Cohen, Smallmon, and Canty are now hosts of morning drive.
Carlin is a former producer for Mike & and the Mad Dog. He understands radio. And he's good at it. However, few listeners outside of the Northeast are familiar with his work.
His partner, Joe Fortenbaugh, is a gambling host. He's not exactly Dan Patrick or Jim Rome.
Coleman and Douglas, and Wilson and Fitzsimmons run into the same problem: the number of sports fans who've heard of them is not large enough to justify a national radio show.
Q Meyers is a DJ.
Put simply, the obscure cast of characters suggests ESPN is punting on radio.
Perhaps the only justification for a lineup of unknowns and novices is that it won't cost the company much to produce.
Other than Greenberg, who is paid mostly for his television show, not a single radio host will make over $1 million a year.
By comparison, ESPN amassed around $10 million worth of radio salaries between Greenberg, Golic, Cowherd, and Van Pelt in 2015.
Moreover, ESPN recently opted to cease association with radio advertisers by signing a deal with Good Karma Brands to handle the sales for the audio division.
The lineup raises more questions about the division's future than stabilizes it.
Clearly, radio is not a priority. If it were, ESPN would have turned to the outside to improve the lineup -- as it did with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman for Monday Night Football.
Instead, the network promoted Freddie Coleman.
At this point, ESPN would be better off airing its television show on radio. Get Up, First Take, and the Pat McAfee Show (from 8 am to 3 pm) are better audio options than this new radio lineup.
Ultimately, sports-talk radio is not the cash cow it was during the days of Mike & Mike -- thanks to podcasts, streaming, and remote working. Yet radio remains a go-to forum of media for Americans across the country.
According to a Pew Research project, nearly half of U.S. adults say they sometimes or often get news from radio. And about eight-in-ten Americans ages 12 and older listen to terrestrial radio in a given week.
So, while ESPN Radio might not be able to justify a cast of A-listers, it most certainly could support a lineup better than one with Michelle Smallmon, Harry Douglas, Chris Canty, and a DJ.