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ESPN Radio

Type	Sports radio network
Country	US
First air date	January 1, 1992
Availability	national
Founded	1991
Headquarters	Bristol, Connecticut
Broadcast area	National, through regional affiliates and satellite radio
Owner	ESPN Inc. (Disney 80%/Hearst 20%)
Callsigns	ESPN
Webcast	SiriusXM
Official website	ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. The network airs a regular schedule of daily and weekly programming as well as live coverage of sports events including Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, National Basketball Association, Army Black Knights football, College Football Playoff, Championship Week, and UEFA Champions League games.

ESPN Radio is broadcast to hundreds of affiliate stations as well as to subscribers of Sirius XM Radio in the United States and Canada. The network's content is also streamed online and via mobile applications and other media devices via TuneIn, and several affiliates and owned stations are also available through the service.^[1] In 2014, ESPN partnered with TuneIn to create 24/7 streams of its most popular programming including Mike & Mike and SVP & Russillo.^[2] Select iHeartMedia-owned ESPN Radio affiliates are available through iHeartRadio.

ESPN Radio currently has four company-owned stations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas, and operates an additional New York City station under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with its owner. Each station (including the second New York City station) is partnered with an ESPN local website named for the city and featuring a completely separate staff of sportswriters and reporters for each market who give their local viewpoints of local sports (for example, espnnewyork.com for New York). Most other markets have ESPN Radio affiliates, whether they be part-time or have their entire format dedicated to ESPN Radio. The Walt Disney Company did not include the ESPN Radio network or the Radio Disney network in the 2007 sale of ABC Radio to Citadel Broadcasting.^[3]

History

Logo (1992–2008)

ESPN Radio Network was formed in September 1991 by both ESPN Inc. and Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.'s ABC Radio Networks. Twenty-five stations had already signed on as affiliates as of its announcement on September 5, 1991, with an expected total of 200 at the January launch. Shelby Whitfield, executive producer of ABC Radio Sports, and John A. Walsh, executive editor of ESPN, were placed in charge of the venture.^[4] The network launched as Sports Radio ESPN on January 1, 1992.^[5] At first, ESPN Radio broadcast only on weekends.^[6] The network debut with 16 hours running on 147 affiliates in 43 states. Its initial programming consisted of news shows, update segments, and occasional features.^[7]

By 1996, ESPN Radio had expanded to weekdays^[6] with a show hosted by The Fabulous Sports Babe, Nancy Donnellan. One hour of that show was simulcast on ESPN2 (1-2 p.m. Eastern time). Two years later, Tony Bruno and Mike Golic were brought together for a new morning show, the Bruno & Golic Morning Show which aired until Bruno left the network in 2000. Mike Greenberg was named as Bruno's replacement, and the morning show became Mike & Mike, which aired until 2017^[8] (and was also simulcast on ESPN2). In January, 2010, Mike & Mike celebrated their 10-year anniversary on ESPN Radio. Dan Patrick was a mainstay in the afternoons until his departure from ESPN in 2007.

Gradually, ESPN added more dayparts and became a 24-hour service. In 1995, ESPN Radio gained national radio rights to the NBA. In 1997, it gained the national radio rights to MLB.^{[citation needed]} Disney purchased WEVD from the Forward Association in September 2002 to become WEPN, ESPN Radio's flagship station.^[9] Disney spun off and merged on June 12, 2007, its ABC Radio Networks with Citadel Broadcasting into Citadel Communications while retaining its ESPN Radio and Radio Disney networks and stations.^[10][11]

Current programming

Weekday programming^[12]

Saturday programming

MLB on ESPN Radio often airs on Saturday afternoon with varied times week to week, those times are usually in-tune with the FOX Saturday Baseball Telecast which airs its games at 4 or 7 p.m. ET, with the start time being one hour prior to first pitch.

Sunday programming

Seasonal shows

• 
  ESPN Radio College GameDay (Sat, September–December)


• 
  NFL on ESPN Radio (Sun, September–February, regular season also simulcast on television on ESPN2 as Football Sunday)


• 
  Fantasy Focus (Sun, September–December, regular season)


• 
  Baseball Tonight (March–October)


• The Mort Report with Chris Mortensen


• NBA Lockdown


• 
  NBA Lockdown: insiders (Sun, 7-10 p.m.)

Game broadcasts

• 
  NBA on ESPN Radio (1996–present)


• 
  MLB on ESPN Radio (1998–present)


• 
  Caribbean Series on ESPN Radio (2015–present)


• 
  World Baseball Classic on ESPN Radio (2013, 2017)


• 
  BCS on ESPN Radio (2000–2014)


• 
  College Football on ESPN Radio (2007–present)


• 
  Championship Week on ESPN Radio (2009–present)


• 
  NIT on ESPN Radio (2002–2011)


• 
  FIFA World Cup on ESPN Radio (2010, 2014)


• 
  FIFA Women's World Cup on ESPN Radio (2011 championship)


• 
  ESPN FC Presents: UEFA Euro on ESPN Radio (2012, 2016, 2020)


• 
  U.S. Open on ESPN Radio (2010–present)


• 
  The Open on ESPN Radio (2010–present)


• 
  Live @ Wimbledon on ESPN Radio (2012–2013)^[13]


• 
  MLS Soccer Sunday on ESPN Radio (2015–present)


• 
  MLS Cup on ESPN Radio (2007-2014)


• 
  NFL on ESPN Radio (2013–present)


• 
  Army Football on ESPN Radio (2016–present)


• 
  College Football Playoff on ESPN Radio (2014–present)


• 
  ESPN FC Presents: La Liga on ESPN Radio (2016–present)


• 
  ESPN FC Presents: EFL Championship on ESPN Radio (2016–present)


• 
  ESPN FC Presents: UEFA Champions League on ESPN Radio (2015–present)


• 
  ESPN FC Presents: UEFA Europa League on ESPN Radio (2015–present)


• 
  ESPN FC Presents: UEFA Super Cup on ESPN Radio (2015–present)

In 2013, ESPN Radio also broadcast their first non-sporting event, a radio simulcast of the Miss America 2013 beauty pageant.

Daily segments

• ESPN Radio SportsCenter


• SportsBeat


• Extra Point

ESPN Radio Stations

Owned and operated

^[14]

• Note *: WEPN 98.7 FM is currently owned by Emmis Communications, but is operated by ESPN under a local marketing agreement.


• Note **: KESN 103.3 FM is currently operated by Cumulus Media under local marketing agreement.

Affiliated

See also

• CBS Sports Radio


• Fox Sports Radio


• NBC Sports Radio


• Sports Byline USA


• TSN Radio


• SB Nation Radio

References

External links

• ESPN Radio


• SiriusXM | ESPN Radio