Mike Golic's time on ESPN Radio is over, and Dan Le Batard's is running out
NEW YORK — ESPN is shaking up its syndicated national radio lineup, although only one of the changes will come through to listeners in New York. “Golic and Wingo,” which airs from 6 to 10 a.m. nationally and on 98.7 in New York, is being replaced by “Keyshawn, Jay and Zubin.”
Mike Golic Sr. and Trey Wingo have been ESPN fixtures for decades; both have contracts that are up at the end of the year. Their show ends this month.
Golic, a former NFL lineman, was one of the titular “Mike & Mikes” from 2002-17 before the other Mike, Greenberg, decamped for TV. As part of the radio changes, Greenberg is returning to midday radio. The full lineup changes:
— From 6-10, “Golic and Wingo” is being replaced by “Keyshawn, Jay and Zubin” with former Jets receiver Keyshawn Johnson, former NBA guard Jay Williams and SportsCenter host Zubin Mehenti.
— “The Dan Le Batard Show” is being trimmed from three hours to two. It will now air from 10 a.m. to noon.
— Three new afternoon programs will replace “First Take, Your Take,” whose host, Jason Fitz, will join Sarah Spain in the evenings. “The Mike Greenberg Show,” “The Max Kellerman Show,” and “Chiney and Golic Jr.” will air from noon to 7 p.m.
Chiney Ogwumike, a forward for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, recently said that she was opting out of the 2020 basketball season because of the coronavirus. She’ll join Mike Golic Jr., a former lineman like his father.
If you live in New York, you’ll have to find the programming after “Keyshawn, Jay and Zubin” on the internet or on cable TV, where ESPN sometimes simulcasts parts of its radio shows. ESPN 98.7 has local shows filling the hours after 10 a.m.
Outside of the departures of Golic and Wingo, the biggest news is the vise squeezing on Le Batard, who is under contract through the end of next year. Published reports had speculated that Le Batard could leave ESPN entirely, like Will Cain ultimately did.
“This is the worst crisis in ESPN’s history,” Le Batard said about the coronavirus and widespread sports cancellations in a podcast released Wednesday. “ESPN has informed us that they’re cutting an hour from the radio show … I myself have viewed it and said to people above us, ‘This feels like a demotion.’ And the answer I’m getting is ‘Hey, no it’s not.’ ” Le Batard then explained that ESPN executives have told him that they’re basically shifting more resources towards podcasts.
“It sounds like a demotion to me, but OK, if you guys are afraid of hurting my toddler feelings and you wanna say that it’s part of a digital push, I will agree with you once the resources come with the digital push that we’ve been promised. So we’ll see what ends up happening there.”
But it sounds like Le Batard isn’t buying it. “I’ve said to two people involved, this sounds like a demotion to me, and both of them came back very strongly with, this is not a demotion. But I understand how the audience might arrive in a place where that looks like that would be a publicly embarrassing thing — after these riots, the most diverse show, the race war in America — is being cut by an hour as the system gets back into place after a month after screaming about things in the street.”
Le Batard also took potshots at the new ESPN schedule. “In a pandemic, as everyone at ESPN is being asked to take pay cuts, as they’re making even their high-paid guys like Max Kellerman and Mike Greenberg — two totally random names — they’re just trying to get everyone to do more work. It’s the ESPN ethos.”
“Except for us,” producer Mike Ruiz said. “It’s kind of concerning.”
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