Fox Sports Live co-anchors Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, who took turns this past week blasting their own network on TV, social media and on the radio, will return to FS1’s airwaves on February 22nd to debut a new version of the show, sources tell The Big Lead.
Onrait and O’Toole, who arrived from Canada in 2013 for the birth of the new network, starred on the ratings-challenged Fox Sports Live for two years before the show faced dramatic alterations. Initially hatched as a show to rival ESPN’s Sportscenter, the matchup never materialized. The advent of social media and having highlights at your fingertips 24-7, and specialized programming for fans of single sports, have sent the traditional sports highlights show into increasing obsolescence, which is what former ESPN host Keith Olbermann said this week. Olbermann and Dan Patrick made the highlights show cool in the 90s, but in recent years, TV ratings for SportsCenter have been eroding.
ESPN’s flagship program is also in the midst of iterating. Out with highlights, in with strong opinions. ESPN is pushing Stephen A. Smith more and more on SportsCenter (and on its most popular radio show, Mike & Mike); Jay and Dan will be emphasizing more opinion and personality because everybody already knows what happened in the games.
Jay and Dan did not merely leave breadcrumbs about their dissatisfaction with the direction of the network and their own careers, they dropped loaves. Given that this time off was not scheduled prior to a meeting between the pair and FS1 president Jamie Horowitz on Monday, some eyebrows were raised around the network. The Big Lead initially heard that they were off the air due to a suspension; a Fox Sports spokesman says that this is “totally inaccurate.”
Perhaps a “cooling off period” might be the best label, given that the time off is paid and with the intent of enabling Jay and Dan to recharge their creative juices in the Fox offices before rebooting the show?
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Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
