Four years ago this week, Clay Travis left FOX Sports Radio. He gave up his spot on the network’s morning show to join Buck Sexton in attempting to fill the huge hole left in Premiere’s news/talk lineup following the death of Rush Limbaugh.
It was the right move for Travis. He was barely talking about games or player performances on his show anymore by that point. The closest he was getting to even touching on sports topics by the end was tying NBA ratings to tired culture war tropes.
But here’s the thing: there was a strategy to it. Clay Travis offered stations that didn’t have the option to carry a local show in morning drive two very important things. One was a distinct identity. Listeners were either going to love or hate Clay, but they knew where he stood. The other was that his show had crossover appeal with an audience that was already listening to talk radio. It’s a good bet that he pulled some of the older white guys that had been previously listening to news/talk over to whatever local station he was on.
At varying points in history, the best options for a nationally syndicated morning show have been Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio, Clay Travis on FOX Sports Radio, and Damon Amendolara on what was then CBS Sports Radio. In 2025, though, none of those shows exist anymore. Amendolara is the only one still doing morning sports talk, but now he’s on SiriusXM, and has nothing to offer local stations.
So, four years after Travis decided he was done with sports radio, let’s look at the state of the national networks in morning drive. It’s hard to define which show is “the best” overall. Instead, we’ll look at it across multiple categories: name recognition, network, sound, outlook, and flamethrower potential.
First, let’s define the contenders. At ESPN Radio, we have UnSportsmanLike with Evan Cohen, Chris Canty, and Michelle Smallmon. On FOX Sports Radio, there’s 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LaVar Arrington, and Jonas Knox. Finally, the Infinity Sports Network starts its broadcast day with Maggie & Perloff, featuring Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff.
Name Recognition
To a certain extent, the name ESPN may do more heavy lifting than the name of any of the eight hosts that occupy the shows we’re highlighting.
Evaluating each show on its own, though, let’s be blunt. Brady Quinn is on Big Noon Kickoff every Saturday during the college football season. It’s been a minute since his playing days, but I am sure most football fans over 40 remember LaVar Arrington. Everyone else? I mean, we know who they are because we all work in this industry. I don’t think any of them excite the average sports fan, though.
So let’s declare FOX Sports Radio’s show a slight favorite over the ESPN brand.
Network
Syndication in sports radio doesn’t work in a vacuum like it does for some news/talk shows. It’s possible for a station called The Patriot or The Answer or Freedom or whatever to carry Clay Travis and then nothing else from Premiere’s lineup.
In sports talk, your network affiliation determines your morning show. So programmers and GMs have to look at more than just which show they like best.
For this category, a station really has to decide how much of the national network it needs. If it is going to be syndicated in the middays, FOX Sports Radio is the no-brainer. It has the two biggest names in national sports talk — Dan Patrick and Colin Cowherd.
If a station is more local, though, maybe the play-by-play properties ESPN can offer carry more weight. Big-time regular and postseason games in the NBA and college football are nice to have in your back pocket when talking to advertisers.
Personally, I am picking FOX, because I see more value in bigger names than in play-by-play. But between the two, I really think the right answer is going to vary from station to station.
Sound
Sound may be all that matters to some listeners and programmers. Many of you may think I am using the word as a stand-in for “quality.” I’m not.
How good or bad a show is cannot truly be quantified. Again, go back to the Clay example. The reason that one person hated him can be the same reason someone else loved him. One thinks he’s the worst, the other thinks he’s the best — and they are both right.
To me, sound is an identity thing. You want something that sounds big and fun and also fits in with the rest of your lineup. For me, UnSportsmanLike is the choice. I like Maggie & Perloff just fine, but the local radio experience of Cohen, Canty, and Smallmon is obvious. It gives their show the attitude of the rock radio morning shows I grew up with in the ’90s. Plus, it sounds big, like it is always a party.
Outlook
Carrying network programming kinda sucks for radio stations. Things change, and the local managers don’t get much of a say. Rarely do they even get consulted, so whether or not a national show is working in a market is irrelevant if it isn’t serving the network’s larger goals.
ESPN’s lineup is on more secure footing these days. I believe that is especially true in morning drive, but I have talked to enough programmers and GMs that were left traumatized by the constant lineup shakeups of not that long ago. I don’t think they are ready to give the network blind trust yet.
With FOX — I’m sorry. I just don’t believe Quinn and Arrington are in this for the long haul. They both have a lot of jobs, and morning radio requires full-time dedication.
That’s why the winner here is Infinity. Maggie & Perloff was given time to grow and percolate before moving into morning drive. Now, with Jim Rome gone from the network lineup, no other show is going to get the attention and resources the morning show does.
Flamethrower
This is a tough category to define. Who on this group of morning shows will most regularly deliver takes that make you react? Whether it is “hell yeah” or “what the hell?”
Travis was a perfect flamethrower. His show worked because he didn’t pay much mind to the people that thought he was an idiot. You were either in the boat with him or you weren’t.
I don’t think there is someone in this group that fits that mold, but I do think Chris Canty and Michelle Smallmon play into trying to prop Evan Cohen up as that guy. UnSportsmanLike isn’t an agreement festival, and Canty especially has no problem telling Cohen that his takes are dumb and wrong.
It doesn’t matter how ESPN gets there — or even if it is all the way there — Cohen is the guy on network sports radio in morning drive that sounds the least like he is faking unpopular opinions. So his network comes out on top.
In There A Clear Winner?
Nope.
So much of “who is the best network morning show” is going to be about what individual stations need. Does that mean there is a hole in the market that could be exploited? Yes. Will it be? Probably not in a way that makes anyone a definitive winner.
If anything, I walked away from this exercise believing local talent is more valuable than ever.
We are so bombarded by content that very little of it ever rises above the level of background noise. In a landscape without a clear, shameless takesmith, the best way to get people to pay attention to you is by constantly focusing on the people and topics they care about most — especially in the morning, when so much of your audience is distracted by still being tired or hating whatever destination awaits them.
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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.
some of us sleep right though these shows since they start at 3am on the West Coast we might catch an hour at 6 to 7 am. I get up at 6 am and Dan Patrick is my morning show so sorry about that.