ESPN loses a...well, a terrible one.

[DanOregon]

If someone is starting a new sports talk radio network don't you have to call Tony Bruno who has been with just about all of them at some point?
I do find it interesting that CBS and NBC are both launching sports radio networks this year. ESPN and Fox had the market pretty much cornered. CBS has a deal with Cumulus stations, Fox is Clear Channel.. so who does that leave for NBC, ESPN and Yahoo Sports?

 

[Flying Headbutt]

CBS is launching a 24-hour sports radio network?

Gottlieb will contribute on a variety of fronts:

- CBS Sports Radio - He'll host afternoons (3-6 p.m. ET) on the newly created 24-hour, seven-day-a-week network. He'll debut on the day the network launches -- Jan. 2, 2013.

That's sort of interesting. I wonder if they'll be able to get decent affiliates.

Of course they will. WFAN is a CBS station. You have CBS sports talkers in DC and Baltimore. Dallas and Chicago as well. When the announcement came out, there were lots of stations and future affiliates already listed. How much of the syndicated content they share will vary, but CBS can absolutely do this. Expect more play on the weekends and overnights I'm sure (which will render some of the Fox Sports and ESPN contracts adios), but some stations will carry the drive time programming, too. You can do that when you own the stations in question.

 

[YankeeFan]

Of course they will. WFAN is a CBS station. You have CBS sports talkers in DC and Baltimore. Dallas and Chicago as well. When the announcement came out, there were lots of stations and future affiliates already listed. How much of the syndicated content they share will vary, but CBS can absolutely do this. Expect more play on the weekends and overnights I'm sure (which will render some of the Fox Sports and ESPN contracts adios), but some stations will carry the drive time programming, too. You can do that when you own the stations in question.

But, as you point out, there's no way WFAN is going to turn over prime time programming to a national network. Sure, maybe they'll take overnight programming, but how many stations are going to take their morning and afternoon drive time shows?

The bigger the market, the harder they will be to clear.

In small markets, it will be cheap programming. In big markets, they won't make as much money as they do with their local programming.

 

[Colton]

CBS is launching a 24-hour sports radio network?

Gottlieb will contribute on a variety of fronts:

- CBS Sports Radio - He'll host afternoons (3-6 p.m. ET) on the newly created 24-hour, seven-day-a-week network. He'll debut on the day the network launches -- Jan. 2, 2013.

That's sort of interesting. I wonder if they'll be able to get decent affiliates.

Of course they will. WFAN is a CBS station. You have CBS sports talkers in DC and Baltimore. Dallas and Chicago as well. When the announcement came out, there were lots of stations and future affiliates already listed. How much of the syndicated content they share will vary, but CBS can absolutely do this. Expect more play on the weekends and overnights I'm sure (which will render some of the Fox Sports and ESPN contracts adios), but some stations will carry the drive time programming, too. You can do that when you own the stations in question.

CBS owns the sports station in Cleveland. It uses Fox after midnight (J.T. the Brick and Looney) during the week and Saturday and after 7 on Sunday. I believe it will make the transition to the new CBS network in January.

 

[Chef2]

CBS is launching a 24-hour sports radio network?

Gottlieb will contribute on a variety of fronts:

- CBS Sports Radio - He'll host afternoons (3-6 p.m. ET) on the newly created 24-hour, seven-day-a-week network. He'll debut on the day the network launches -- Jan. 2, 2013.

That's sort of interesting. I wonder if they'll be able to get decent affiliates.

Of course they will. WFAN is a CBS station. You have CBS sports talkers in DC and Baltimore. Dallas and Chicago as well. When the announcement came out, there were lots of stations and future affiliates already listed. How much of the syndicated content they share will vary, but CBS can absolutely do this. Expect more play on the weekends and overnights I'm sure (which will render some of the Fox Sports and ESPN contracts adios), but some stations will carry the drive time programming, too. You can do that when you own the stations in question.

ESPN is probably getting very nervous about their radio empire.

Our flagship station was told by ESPN that if they were going to keep ESPN, then they had to carry Mike and Mike LIVE. We told them thanks, but no thanks, and switched over to FOX that afternoon.

Their afternoon programming (after VanPelt.....who I have heard may be going away, as he is supposedly operating without a contract) is rubbish. Mike and Mike are unlistenable.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Van Pelt re-signed not that long ago. He's sticking around. But yeah, one of the conditions for being an ESPN affiliate is that you have to carry M&M in the morning. I'm not sure that's a winning formula anywhere. I also don't know how many stations ESPN actually owns. ABC has been working harder and harder to get out of the radio business, though I was surprised when Cumulus signed on to the CBS venture considering that company owns what used to be the ABC stations. All of these syndicates will probably have an easy job keeping the small markets, since you just have to barter out some ad time. But losing ground in the bigger markets will hurt. Almost no one goes live and local overnight, and losing that presence there has to be disconcerting. And if the Cumulus stations are in play, that'll give CBS a presence in a lot of mid and smaller markets, too. Most of the Cumulus stations are in that mold, which is evident by the way that company is run. (ie; shirtty)

 

[MileHigh]

The new ESPN affiliate out here airs M&M on a one-hour delay, last time I checked. Same with the Turd.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I've always liked him on ESPN. He knows his college basketball and doesn't shy away from voicing his informed opinion.

I get that people are always going to make credit card jokes, but that was many years ago, when he was a much younger man. I'd like to think that he's more than redeemed himself. The man on your radio bears no resemblance to the kid who made a mistake.

 

[Bruce Leroy]

Yep, he's my No. 1. And not just because of his open, seething hatred of everything Mizzou.

He's just terrible at what he does, in a professional broadcaster sense, and he really grates on my nerves.

I don't know if I've ever agreed more with a statement on this site. Gottlieb might be on my list of top 5 people I'd like to kick in the face.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Nobody touches Berman in the ESPN douchebag hall of fame...

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

Where is that video of him cussing out the camera people, or whoever it was, when you need it?

 

[Bubbler]

I've always liked him on ESPN. He knows his college basketball and doesn't shy away from voicing his informed opinion.

He's not that informed. He's just loud enough and drops enough names to appear to be informed.

I stopped caring a long time ago. I haven't listened to ESPN radio in years.