If there was ever a time to pop in and listen to Carlin vs. Joe on ESPN Radio, this week would be a pretty good time to pick. After all, the Joe part of the name is for Joe Fortenbaugh who is an ESPN Sports Betting Analyst and there happen to be two major sports stories involving gambling happening right now. The Carlin part of the name is for Chris Carlin, a former Mike and the Mad Dog producer at WFAN who has excelled in sports radio for a long time and is also the 20-year play-by-play voice of Rutgers football.
When tuning in, the first thing you notice is the high energy level of the show. There is not much down time in the program, everything happens fast and furious. Coming out of the breaks you know Carlin has a plan for the direction of where they want to go.
Something else you realize fairly quickly is that the two are very well prepared for what they are going to talk about and usually have some sound bites to back up their points or to add to their discussions. They will also do this with guests they bring on the show. In one case, after plenty of discussion on what has happened at the NFL owner meetings, they brought on ESPN NFL reporter Dan Graziano, live from Orlando, to add to the discussion.
Whether it was breaking down where J.J. McCarthy may fall in the NFL Draft, the Shohei Ohtani press conference or even what the meaning of the word “zaddy” refers to in a discussion about Jets head coach Robert Saleh’s offseason beard, it is clear Carlin and Fortenbaugh are having fun doing their show. Sometimes this is half the battle with your listeners – keeping them engaged by hearing how much fun the hosts are having doing their jobs.
I enjoyed their “The Said What?!” segment where the hosts play audio clips and respond to what the person has said, sometimes on the topics of the day and sometimes just fun content to react to. Something else I noticed was Carlin using social media to enhance conversation. In the case of the Saleh beard discussion, Carlin posted a picture of what he was seeing and gave listeners an easy place to find it so they could follow along with the conversation.
Listening to Carlin vs. Joe made me think and it made me laugh and I think those are two things all hosts are striving for. While both hosts bring a lot of information to the table, they can also be self-deprecating, at times, which can lead to some very funny chatter.
On this show, it was a reference to an old-school radio term from one of the producers which led Fortenbaugh to say, “Shockingly, if anyone can believe this, I know almost nothing about this industry. I have no formal training. I was not brought up on the side where I learned how to cut audio or produce or do anything like that. Somebody heard me doing radio hits and gave me a job on a morning show in San Francisco, that’s how it worked for me. When I’m in the TV department, same thing. I have no idea what any of the terminology is. Everyone looks at me like I’m an idiot, but nobody has ever tried to teach me even though I’ve asked. So, I have given up. I don’t know how to speak any of the language of anything that I do for a living.”
Carlin vs. Joe is a fun listen where you get the news of the day, really strong opinions from two very well-prepared hosts as well as conversation back and forth between guys who know their sports but also have a way about their delivery that keeps you engaged, feeding off their high energy. They do not stray off topic very often, but when they do, it is generally brief, and they come right back to the topic at hand.
This show was part of the sweeping changes at ESPN Radio which happened six months ago. From what I heard, Chris Carlin and Joe Fortenbaugh have developed nice chemistry in that time and don’t try and overdo anything. They just have fun and talk sports.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
