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Tony Kornheiser Says Goodbye To ESPN 980

Jason Barrett

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The Tony Kornheiser era on terrestrial radio in Washington D.C has come to an end. The popular sports personality broadcast his final show Wednesday on ESPN 980. Kornheiser revealed last month that he was leaving the local radio station to launch his own digital venture. He now has a new website and will begin delivering a daily podcast in the next 60 days.

“The opportunity to do this, I walked away from two years left on a contract,” explained Kornheiser. “I don’t know what is being written or what is being said, but the truth of the matter is, I walked away with two years left on a contract, which at my age is so stupid and an indefensible position. Why did I do it? Because I thought it might be nice to see if I could get [not] people to pay for it on a daily basis, but advertisers who I could bring a certain amount of listeners: smart, funny, affluent people all around the country.”

“Not only did I leave money on the table, like a moron; I’m not gonna make any money, and I’m gonna pay people money,” Kornheiser continued. “So if it fails, it can’t fail soon enough, and I’ll come back. But I can’t emphasize this enough: You know, Torie (Clarke), Liz (Clarke), Jeanne (McManus), Chris (Cillizza), and David (Aldridge). It’s the show it is. It’s a radio show.”

Moving away from terrestrial radio is a risky proposition but if anyone can make it work it’s Kornheiser. That’s because his brand and show have national appeal, making the local focus a little less important. He also has a daily profile on ‘Pardon The Interruption’ on ESPN and if he wants to gain promotion for his new project, media outlets won’t hesitate to book time with him and give him an opportunity to promote it.

That said, building awareness, and getting listeners to jump through a few extra hoops to hear a show isn’t always easy. It’s not the same as Howard Stern moving from terrestrial radio to satellite radio but certain similarities do come to mind. When an audience has to do extra work to hear a program they like, they sometimes lose patience and find new ways to be entertained. That will be Tony’s biggest challenge to overcome.

In recent times, Kornheiser’s show wasn’t a huge ratings winner for ESPN 980. Local competitor 106.7 The Fan regularly beat the show head to head. Using that logic, one could make the case that ESPN 980 stands to benefit by replacing his time slot.

However, the Tony Kornheiser brand had broad appeal and was attractive to advertisers for different reasons. In addition, his digital performance on 980’s website was massive. Sustaining those digital numbers and keeping business on the books will be 980’s main challenges especially in the short term until people become familiar with their new programming.

Sports Radio News

Evan Roberts: NFL Would Never Let Roger Goodell Talk To Craig Carton

“It’s because you aren’t going to climb in his derriere and make sure you don’t push him on anything.”

Jordan Bondurant

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Craig Carton would love to interview NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, but the problem is that Carton isn’t going to play by the league’s rules for shaping the conversation.

On Monday’s edition of Carton & Roberts, Carton mentioned the fact that Goodell hadn’t appeared on WFAN airwaves in over a decade. Co-host Evan Roberts pointed out that the league usually limits what media appearances the commissioner makes.

“He doesn’t do a lot of interviews unless it’s NFL related, where you can kind of control what you’re being pushed on,” Roberts said.

Carton figured that Goodell typically will do a sit-down interview with each of the league’s media partners, but Roberts said the commissioner’s office wants to make sure Goodell is not caught off guard.

“There’s always gonna be restrictions on him. There just always is,” he said. “The league is partners with those networks. So they’re not gonna put Roger Goodell in a spot in which he’s getting pummeled with tough questions. He doesn’t put himself in that spot.”

Carton mentioned doing a commissioner’s summit with Gary Bettman, Adam Silver and Rob Manfred. He said he requested Goodell, and he was turned down because the preseason had already started and generally the NFL doesn’t want the commissioner in the spotlight when the focus should be on the games and the players.

Roberts responded that the league was just being protective of Goodell knowing full well that Carton would likely ask him some tough questions.

“It’s because you aren’t going to climb in his derriere and make sure you don’t push him on anything,” he said. “I’ve never seen Goodell pushed on anything. So when he does do these interviews, it’s usually like NFL Network’s putting him on.”

“Maybe if I start a podcast he’ll come on that,” Carton said.

Craig added that he wouldn’t agree to tipping his questions for the commissioner ahead of time or only sticking to certain topics. Evan said the unpredictability of a free-flowing interview wouldn’t be a good thing optically for Goodell.

“You also don’t know what it’s gonna lead to,” he said. “You don’t know what he says that’s gonna lead to a topic you never even thought that you’d talk about.”

Carton responded saying that’s why so many people are terrible at interviewing others, because they generate their list of questions and don’t actually listen to the conversation.

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Sports Radio News

Cameron Maybin Adds Radio to Tigers Broadcast Role

“Maybin will be behind the microphone for around 30 Tigers games on 97.1 The Ticket in 2023.”

Jordan Bondurant

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The Detroit Tigers have added another voice for their radio broadcasts this season in Cameron Maybin.

Maybin will be behind the microphone for around 30 Tigers games on 97.1 The Ticket in 2023.

Maybin is a former Tiger himself and will also do some TV work on team broadcasts on Bally Sports Detroit. Cameron has also contributed to Yankees broadcasts on YES Network and MLB Network.

Dan Dickerson will be on play-by-play for games on the radio this season.

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Sports Radio News

Phoenix Suns Radio Voice Al McCoy Retiring At Season’s End

“Well I don’t think it’s any big thing because I think everybody knew this was probably going to wrap it up for me obviously.”

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Longtime Phoenix Suns radio play-by-play announcer Al McCoy has announced that he will retire at the conclusion of the current NBA season.

The 89-year-old McCoy has been the voice of the Suns for the past 51 years.

After joining the team in 1972, McCoy called games on both television and radio for the franchise until the NBA outlawed the practice in the early 2000s.

He scaled back his schedule in 2010, and called road games from a remote studio in Phoenix during the 2020-2021 season. The club’s road contests are currently broadcast by Jon Bloom.

“Well I don’t think it’s any big thing because I think everybody knew this was probably going to wrap it up for me obviously,” McCoy told KTAR News’ Gaydos & Chad on Friday.

McCoy was honored with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Media Award in 2007.

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