Chris Berman is a name that is synonymous with ESPN. There isn’t a reader of this that hasn’t mimicked his touchdown celebration or home run derby calls. He is a rarity and he joined Kenny Mayne on a recent episode of 2400Sports’ Hey Mayne Podcast.
Mayne is embarking on a new weekly flagship conversation podcast. Mayne talked to Berman about the earliest of days for the fledgling network and how his time came to be with ESPN and how the literal birthing of that network was the reason he got to be a part so early.
“We were Lewis and Clark,” Berman said. “ESPN went on the air September, 7th, 1979. I was 24, in the area, on TV, in Hartford. Right before they went on, I had an interview, then they hired me. My first day was October 1st, 1979. They said we need a junior member — I had been on TV all of three months — which was a pretty good experience at the time. Had they been on the air for a year or two, they never would’ve hired me off that…They said we’ll pay you $16,000 to do sports every night…How about $16,500?”
Berman said the newness of everything meant he was thrown to the fire very early.
“I came in to observe October 1st. I come in on October 2nd, and I go, ‘where’s Wayne?’ And they were like, ‘oh no, he just did one show so you can see how it’s done, you’re on tonight.’ I was on October 2nd, 1979.”
ESPN’s early days are a wonderful topic because for the few people there were at the network since the beginning are essentially historians of the industry. Berman went on.
“…but here we are in 2022, and they haven’t been smart enough to get rid of me yet.” Berman signed a multiyear extension ton continue hosting NFL Primetime with Mark Jackson on ESPN+.
“That’s how it was, I was in there the first month. There were about 40 to 50 of us — in all jobs — not only to get on the air, but whatever it was,” said Berman.
“Anyone that was with us in the 80s, 90s, [and] early 2000s, there will be a bond forever in that we built something pretty good. I just happened to be there on the ground floor, I was lucky, and I guess I didn’t screw it up.”
