After nearly two decades hosting a national radio show, it only took three years for the platform to lure Mike Greenberg back. But as he noted in the latest BSM podcast, timing had to be right for a radio return and his TV show had to be operating efficiently.
Greenberg said for at least the first 18 months of the show, Get Up required all of his time to figure out what they wanted it to be and how to execute, but now he has time to invest in other projects.
“That’s in no way to suggest I’ve checked out in any way mentally,” Greeny told Jason Barrett. “But Get Up is something that is now rolling along and doesn’t require my being involved in every meeting and every conversation and being on top of it every second, so at that point I started thinking about what else could I start putting my time and energy into.”
Earlier this year, Greenberg said he received an unexpected phone call gauging his interest in returning to ESPN Radio. It was part of ESPN Radio’s plan to formulate their lineup into shorter shows.
The anchor of ESPN Radio’s new lineup is their morning show featuring Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Zubin Mehenti. The morning trio will undoubtedly face skepticism and criticism from an audience that might be used to something different, but according to Greenberg, their focus needs to be on “getting the show right.”
“If you do a good show, the advantage of being on ESPN is unimaginable, it’s overwhelming. As I always said about Get Up, we’re on a channel people watch. when we figure this out, they’re still going to be there to see,” Greeny said. “Just focus on making the show great and once it is, people will listen to it and people will like it.”
As Keyshawn, Williams and Mehenti launch their morning show, Greenberg joins a midday timeslot that’s new to him, but also presents the exciting opportunity to cover news as it happens. Radio provides an immediacy and intimacy that is inherently special for breaking news.
“I’ve been doing mornings for the last 21 years,” Greeny noted. “And what very seldom happens in the morning in sports is anyone getting hired, fired or traded…the things that constitute big breaking sports stories almost never happen on my watch.”
One variable that certainly influences the immediate success of launching a new sports radio show in 2020 is the ability of leagues to play games during a pandemic. While he’s justifiably skeptical college football will take place, Greeny remains confident that we’ll see the 2020 NFL season.
Sports will support the show, but important social issues won’t be ignored. According to Greenberg, the most important aspect of correctly handling those conversations is taking the appropriate amount of time to do so. Offer multiple sides, speak from the heart and give every opinion a fair amount of time to be expressed.
The latest episode of the BSM podcast includes professional advice from Greenberg on a talk show host’s responsibility to delivering effective teases, why they matter, and how Mike handles executing them during live shows. Greeny also shares his approach to hosting a national program and trying to serve everyone everywhere, as well as memories of former 97.1 The Ticket morning host Jamie Samuelsen, and how he learned of the Detroit sports radio host’s passing.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
