When ESPN Radio announced another lineup shuffle in the summer of 2023, it was considered by many to be a shift in approach by the network — moving away from television faces and moving forward with seasoned sports radio voices. The announcement carried with it the launch of a new morning show for the network, Unsportsmanlike. The program featured Super Bowl champion Chris Canty, ESPN Radio producer/host Michelle Smallmon, and twenty-year radio veteran Evan Cohen.
“We entered at three individuals, and after two years we’re teammates. That sounds cliché, but when you dive into what that means. When I hear we’re teammates on the same team. It doesn’t mean when we’re doing the show, it means when we’re not doing the show too,” explained Cohen.
A journey has many stops along the way; that’s no different for Cohen’s career path. Growing up a fan of Mike & The Mad Dog on WFAN, Cohen pursued a dream of radio by attending the University of Wisconsin. He found his way to radio through an internship at MSG Network. Kickstarting a path to stops in New York, West Palm Beach, and national outlets with SiriusXM and his current home at ESPN Radio.
When recalling what helped prepare him for the role on Unsportsmanlike. Cohen noted that his 20 years in the Sunshine State were the best formula to prepare him for success.
“Unbeknownst to me while I was doing it. Twenty years in West Palm Beach was the greatest training ground ever to do national radio,” said Cohen. “We had no teams in the market, but what we had was a myriad of sports fans that cared about a lot of different teams… I am so lucky to have the experience I had.”
Building The Foundation
Cohen explained that his approach while in West Palm was practicing doing a national radio show without talking to a national radio audience. He reasons that his career path is one of luck. With every stop he experienced made sense for the next one.
He left West Palm Beach to make the leap to SiriusXM. Hosting mornings on Mad Dog Sports Radio with former MLB executive Steve Phillips and lead producer Mike Babchik. Cohen continued to host programming in West Palm Beach while at SiriusXM, meanwhile serving in a managerial role with Good Karma Brands, which he took a role with years earlier.
Eventually, Cohen would find his way to co-host Morning Men alongside Babchik until ESPN Radio made an offer to host morning drive.
“After 12 years at SiriusXM, now the focus changes from the previous show where I was help lifting one person to now how do I help lift two people. Not that they need much lifting, they don’t need much lifting. That’s my job playing point guard, how do I let them score,” explained Cohen about how Unsportsmanlike developed their chemistry. “We always joke about that first month [of Unsportsmanlike] because it’s a small amount of time. When you look at the big picture. For it to only take a month to get on the same page about how to get on the same page. That’s a pretty big win.”
Building Up Your Partnerships
The announced made in 2023 launched Unsportsmanlike on ESPN Radio. Considered by many a return to the roots of what made the network unique. Following the departure of Mike & Mike in 2017, the network went through a number of changes in the daypart. Mike Golic remained in the daypart alongside Trey Wingo and Mike Golic Jr. until 2020. The network attempted other programs that included notable television talent such as Max Kellerman, Jay Williams, and Keyshawn Johnson.
Cohen reflected on the timeline of the daypart and its importance to hold a standard set by those before him, striving for more every day.
“Mike & Mike built and own the real estate that we live on. It is our job to build up a house as big and welcoming as can be. They set the foundation for morning drive on ESPN Radio. Without Greeny and Golic there is no us,” said Cohen. “I’m appreciative if anyone carries our show for a single minute. However long they carry our show for, it’s not on them to carry our show longer. It’s on us.”
Unsportsmanlike is heard on more than 250 partner stations across the country. The program is also heard on Channel 80 on SiriusXM and seen on ESPN2, ESPNU, and the ESPN direct-to-consumer app. While many of the partner stations carry the full program, others only carry select hours instead. For this reason, Cohen considers it vital that not only Unsportsmanlike continue to perform better on air. But also that it connects with as many partner stations as possible.
“I take a lot of pride and work hard to connect with our affiliates. But it will never be enough,” explained Cohen. “The easy thing is to go on the station as a guest. The harder thing is to live up to the word and be in the sales meeting. Every ESPN Radio affiliate across the country is my advertising partner, and I’m the salesperson. I need to have as many relationships as possible because those people are the ones who will buy in to what we’re doing.”
Cohen considers the partnership with every affiliate a two-way street. Unsportsmanlike regularly pushes audio from the program to every affiliate, with a request from those affiliates to do the same in return. Cohen embraces local market content on Unsportsmanlike because its partners work together to enhance stories for a national audience.
“We’re on your air longer, at times, than some local hosts are. Why not work together and embrace each other,” said Cohen. “The relationship with all of our stations is vital.”
Building Along Your Teammates
Fans, teammates, and partners — that’s the north star that guides Cohen every day to ensure those three pillars of success are met to the highest standard. While some may question if the network itself is meeting that model with its investment in its radio product in recent years, Cohen dismisses the notion.
“If you look at the overall question does ESPN care about ESPN Radio. I would make the argument they care more than ever,” said Cohen.
His reasoning lies with ESPN Radio renewing a deal with Good Karma Brands in 2023, with the radio company taking over sales responsibilities within the company’s radio and podcast networks. It also revolves around the decision by ESPN Radio to add The Rich Eisen Show to its weekday radio lineup earlier this fall.
“All of us are trying to reach that level that Rich [Eisen] is on. It is now our job to learn from him. We’re all trying to have that kind of platform that Rich has and that level of success. He doesn’t need ESPN Radio. He’s choosing to have it,” explained Cohen. “If Rich [Eisen] does what we think he’s going to do, which is add an amazing amount of advertising partners and fans to our lineup. I think we’ll have more flexibility to grow [ESPN Radio] than we currently do.”
As Unsportsmanlike enters its third year as the flagship morning show on ESPN Radio, Cohen continues to be excited about the growth and reach of the program. He still considers radio an amazing place for future generations of media to get their start — a vessel for connection with people based on what interests they share and stories they want to hear, no matter how it’s consumed or where it’s consumed.
“Radio is many ways is evolving to the style of show more than the platform it’s on. Of course you’re going to tune into the audio experience, but we’re doing a style of show that is distributed across many platforms,” noted Cohen. “The style of show we’re doing [Unsportsmanlike] is a radio style… When I hear a radio show, I’m thinking about the approach it operates under instead of the frequency it’s on. I still love that part of it, and I think that everyone that wants to be in this industry should absolutely still consider that an amazing place to be.”
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
