It's Early, But New ESPN 980 Needs More Local Content

It's a little early to form any sort of definitive opinion on the changes at the radio station formerly known as WTEM and now being called ESPN-980, or, if you prefer, The Daniel M. Snyder All-Redskins-All-the-Time broadcasting network, available at 980 on the AM dial and also simulcast on game days on a gazillion other stations you can barely pick up.

The new lineup of shows made its debut this past Monday and is heavy on ESPN Radio network programming at the start of the day -- specifically the Mike and Mike show for four hours starting at 6 a.m., followed by professional provocateur Colin Cowherd from 10 to noon.

Starting at that hour, you finally get a locally produced show, hosted by former Redskin Rick "Doc" Walker for two hours, followed by two hours of John Thompson/Al Koken/Brian Mitchell and the, from 4 to 7 p.m., the Sports Reporters, hosted by Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban. In the evenings, we'll get Orioles games and other ESPN game action when baseball winds down.

What we will not get is a three-hour John Riggins Show, at least for now. Riggo had his own gig on the old Red Zebra stations in Snyder's stable, but the plan now is to get him on the air as much as possible during the three local shows, as well as pregame and postgame appearances on Redskins game days.

This may well be the first true full-time job Riggins has ever held, but for the money (six figures) they're paying him, apparently he's going to earn every last nickel of it, at least until his latest contract runs out.

So what's missing in the new lineup?

For starters, Czaban's morning drive show on the Fox Radio Network is burnt toast, for obvious reasons. Fox and ESPN are radio competitors, and that show was doomed the day Snyder spent $24.5 million to buy the old WTEM and two other stations from ClearChannel. And say goodnight, Dan Patrick -- the former ESPN star's relatively new syndicated talk show will no longer be available in the Washington market.

Bruce Gilbert, the general manager of Red Zebra and the man who has orchestrated all the changes at flagship 980, insisted that a Patrick presence could have been maintained, despite speculation that ESPN Radio absolutely prohibits affiliated stations from carrying what had become a rather entertaining show.

"I'm a huge fan of Dan Patrick," said Gilbert, a former executive at ESPN Radio. "We just didn't have room for him. But no one at ESPN ever strong-armed us and said 'You can't have him.' That's a great misconception. They even talked about having him on here in the evening, but we have so much play-by-play, it wasn't going to work. But this was definitely not dictated."

In order to maintain its status as an affiliate, the station obviously must broadcast a certain number of hours of ESPN programming. Gilbert declined to say how many hours, but clearly the two morning shows are fulfilling that obligation. Both Mike and Mike and Cowherd have been heard on 980 before, but when they were taken off the air, there did not seem to be much protest. They were on Snyder's initial $33 million weak-signaled Red Zebra network, but who knew?

Personally, I've never been a huge fan of either show. Mike and Mike (former NFL player Mike Golic and sidekick Mike Greenberg) have decent enough chemistry and seem like swell guys. But they, like many others at ESPN, are not afraid to overpraise the athletes, coaches and team executives they invite on their shows, particularly when it comes to the NFL.

They're also unabashed shills for any and all ESPN television programming. The other day, they spent three minutes on the upcoming Arena Bowl, the title game ESPN -- the official cable broadcaster for the league -- is carrying, with none other than Mike and Mike in the broadcast booth.