Raise your glass to ESPN Radio! The network got it right!
I have respect for Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Max Kellerman. I know they worked hard to get where they did in their media careers, but come on. Their radio show never coalesced into something greater than the some of its parts. Sure, Keyshawn and Max spent time on radio in the past, but they and Jay Williams were TV guys playing radio. The show was never bad, but it was never something I felt like I couldn’t miss either.
Will Chris Canty, Evan Cohen and Michelle Smallmon become that? I don’t know, but I have more faith in them than I would have even if Keyshawn, JWill and Max had another year on air together.
On-demand music streaming has made radio as a whole less relevant. It doesn’t matter who your DJ is on Peppy 102. Fifteen seconds of “hey, there’s a new Panera on Main Street” is not enough to get me to sit through a song I hate when I can just say “Run the Jewels” into my iPhone and my favorite music starts playing.
What remains relevant are real conversations – local conversations in particular. That has put national sports talk in a weird place. As the format thrives on a local level, striking the right tone has become harder for national networks.
Maybe there are some affiliates that want big names on the national shows they carry. Star power can attract listeners to conversations they may otherwise find irrelevant, but I commend ESPN Radio. They have done the star power thing in mornings and what we got was…fine.
The nationally syndicated shows that remain relevant are the ones that are routinely great – hosts that give you real insight or new points of view to consider, bits that are reliably hilarious, and guests that make you want to take the long way to or from work.
Who is doing that right now? This is just my opinion, but I would say Colin Cowherd, Dan Patrick, Damon Amendolara, Chris Carlin, and Adam Schein.
All of them are radio guys, and that is really important. They know the value of their words. They know that you sticking around for another minute is not guaranteed. They do not have the aide of pictures, so it is on them to be compelling every second. That is what ESPN Radio is counting on Canty, Cohen and Smallmon to do.
Television is its own challenge. I don’t want to dismiss the accomplishments of SportsCenter or someone like Charles Barkley just because they can let the pictures do the heavy lifting. It is a completely different skillset than radio and that HAS TO BE acknowledged.
You can point the finger at ESPN all you want. The reality is that the days of getting rich in this business are either over or are ending. Every media company is asking talent in every department to do two or three shows for one paycheck.
The biggest misstep ESPN made with its 2020 overhaul is that the people at the top were operating under the assumption that talent is talent. There was no consideration given to the reality that specialization matters in a world with an overwhelming number of media choices. Radio is not television. Hell, radio isn’t even podcasting. You can’t throw a star from one medium onto another and decide the job is done.
I have written before about the uncertain future facing ESPN Radio. As I sit here today, I am still not sure what to expect for the network going forward. If ESPN is going to trust radio people with the most important day parts on its radio network though, then I feel a lot better about it now than I did 24 hours ago.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
