I worked in sports radio for 16 years as talk show host (national and local), play-by-play announcer (minors and majors) and program director (major market). Since sports is still my business, I listen to sports radio all the time - including the three major national sports radio nets: ESPN, Fox and Sporting News.
(Fox Sports Radio weekday, general sports talk show lineup)
If you’ve read SbB over the years, you know I’m not a pc guy. But recently, in canvassing the talent on the three national sports radio outlets, I noticed a pretty remarkable demographic disparity worth noting.
(ESPN Radio weekday, general sports talk show lineup)
Of the 18 weekday, general sports talk shows on those three networks, exactly one show features a black host. And zero feature a Latino or female.
So where can you find that rarest of radio species, the black national talk show host?
On Sporting News Radio, where the 2 Live Stews broadcast out of Atlanta from 1 PM - 4 PM ET.
The hosts, Doug and Ryan Stewart, also appear regularly on ESPN2’s First Take morning show.
If you think that white-male-host demo breakdown is coincidence, you don’t know the radio business. Though sports radio draws a fraction of the audience of other formats, that sliver of listeners, affluent 25-54 white males, is gold to advertisers. So the obvious tendency is to hire white guys in the same demographic as show hosts.
That said, I don’t think radio programmers are hell-bent on only hiring white males to host shows. Once upon a time, I hired on-air hosts at a sports radio station in a major market, and I would’ve loved to have hired blacks, latinos, females, mongolians, any demo out of the ordinary for on-air work. But 95 percent of our applicants were of the central casting, sports radio variety - whitey whitefish. And the minorities who did apply clearly weren’t cut out for the job.
If you are a talented, aspiring sports radio host who happens to be a minority, don’t think that the trend to hire white males is a detriment to you getting a gig in the field. It’s the opposite. Radio programmers are dying to find someone in a different demo who can connect with the audience.
The reality is that the vast majority of sports radio listeners are white males, so you get what we have with the host lineup for national sports radio networks. Same thing for the majority of local markets. But that certainly doesn’t mean a black guy or woman can’t break big in the biz if they can get ratings, or in the case of national hosts, clear live affiliates in major markets.
If I thought there was some sort of sports radio conspiracy to only hire white guys, I hope you know me well enough by now to know I’d be shouting it from the rooftops. While the host demo is pretty damn lopsided, the playing field is more level than most people know.
7:46 am on September 15th, 2009
‘Whitey whitefish’? That’s okay to say, huh? But if you had said ‘Blacky Blackfish’ there would have been hell to pay. Gotta love double standards….
8:03 am on September 15th, 2009
Where did this come from? If you want to see black sports hosts, turn on your television. Pick a network, any network. Even if a black is not the host, his race is certainly well represented on the panel.
8:56 am on September 15th, 2009
What about Freddie Coleman? He’s on all the time. They work that guy ragged. He’s the Lester Holt of ESPN Radio. Oh, wait. Uh, never mind, forget it.
9:46 am on September 15th, 2009
freddie coleman & the guy fprmerly on foxsports morning guy with craig shemon ex-cowboy db.
jason whitlock f***ed himself w/post mcnair commentary.
10:00 am on September 15th, 2009
Maybe it’s because they are still in search of a non-white host that doesn’t completely butcher the english language. Listening to some of the black commentators on T.V. and radio is a joke. Some may want to paint it as the hip-hop culture - I just say it’s a lack of intelligence and education.
10:17 am on September 15th, 2009
Yeah, Rusty — it’s so difficult to find a black commentator with the necessary “intelligence and education,” one who could meet the high grammatical & intellectual standards of SPORTS TALK RADIO. You’re a cretin.
10:23 am on September 15th, 2009
If it makes you feel better, ESPN can give Stephan A. Smith his radio program back.
10:32 am on September 15th, 2009
Steven A. Smith? Sucked.
Two Live Stews? Sucks.
Chris McKendry? Sucked.
Adam J.? Sucks (I know he’s not a show host, he still sucks.)
All three and others who have not been mentioned are loud, overtalk their guests, and make many mistakes throughout the course of a show.
10:37 am on September 15th, 2009
Ouch - A cretin. In retrospect, you’re right. I guess it is too much to expect someone in the media business to speak properly. Let me axe ya’ll somthin, should we bring backs da Majic Jonson Show?
10:37 am on September 15th, 2009
Add to that list above:
James Washington? Sucked.
10:56 am on September 15th, 2009
Bryan Cox was the best ever.
11:00 am on September 15th, 2009
Oh, I see, we should all support a black announcer for racial equality - even if they suck! Previous posts illustrate the point. I have been on this site for years and have noticed rather than a sports information site with interesting and funny references we are now taking a political bent to our stories.This website is trying to be a little bit more than what it is designed for - and a result losing readership.
11:58 am on September 15th, 2009
Hiring based on color never works. Ever.
Hire based on the person that moves the most product, and has the most talent.
They tried this race based formula in Chicago in the Post Office, and it was an utter nightmare.
Hire the best people.
2:28 pm on September 15th, 2009
The two live stews where voted the best sports radio show about five years back by ESPN mag as I remember.
Also remember radio is the second most racist entertainment profession and it comes in at a very close second to the porn industry.
a large number of white people get bothered by black radio voices, because they’re black and ( as some would say talk too black).
BUT!!!! when tony bruno quotes Jay Z and says fo-shizzle 8 times per hour or petros sings bob marley or Andrew sciciliano gives his critque of the Pharcydes debut album and calling it the greatest album in hip hop history next to ice cubes amerrrikkas most wanted for 15 minutes on air or when Matt Smith repeats and old school ll cool j lyric, it makes them cool and in tune with the streets,
but in alot of white listeners eyes these same actions done by a black host makes him ghetto and unlistenable.
thats the way it is thats the way it will be.
I know, im black and was in radio and i was told by a program director to NEVER speak slang on air, but give the white host all the newest slang terms and cool hip hop music to play as bumpers, so he can come off cool to the audience, but if I spoke it I was going to be fired on site….true story.
2:33 pm on September 15th, 2009
“Let me axe ya’ll somthin, should we bring backs da Majic Jonson Show?”
EBONIX… THIS GUY’S HILARIOUS! Great to see you’re keeping minstrel humor alive hidden behind your sad little desk somewhere. Yeah, Tirico & Wilbon - they sound just like that!
For every sucky black host y’all named, I could throw back just as many horrible white ones, doing their worthless thing in Dallas, DC, Atlanta, wherever. I mean, most sports-talk hosts are obnoxious, and aren’t immensely talented or well-spoken.
But way to take a pretty even-handed post & turn it into affirmative action rants.
2:36 pm on September 15th, 2009
Freddie Coleman (ESPN) and Lincoln Kennedy (Fox) work weekends. Coleman also hosts ESPN’s Football Tonight on weekdays.
3:38 pm on September 15th, 2009
An Emmitt Smith-Leon Spinx National radio show would rule! After all, it’s Emmitt’s “Rice of Patches”!
8:46 pm on September 15th, 2009
WEEI out of Boston is one of the biggest sports talk radio stations in the country and they have Michael Holly co-hosting their midday show.
While the “big 3″ may seem to only hire white hosts (and that very well may be your only point here) it isn’t a totally fair view at the world of sports talk radio hosts.
10:37 pm on September 15th, 2009
You’ve got to be kidding me. Brooks, write what you want my friend and I’ll read it but I’m entirely unclear on what the motivation is behind this piece. Just to be incendiary? Really?
Keep living the dream.
11:03 pm on September 15th, 2009
“Maybe it’s because they are still in search of a non-white host that doesn’t completely butcher the english language. Listening to some of the black commentators on T.V. and radio is a joke. Some may want to paint it as the hip-hop culture - I just say it’s a lack of intelligence and education.”
This is the kind of blind ignorance that keeps this country in the 50’s mindset of race! ! This (i’m assuming white) person has stereotyped just like i’m sure many program directors do through lack of diligence in looking for a good fit!!
12:03 am on September 16th, 2009
Of course, no one knows more about racial pairity [sic] better than a white man.
Frankly, what a bunch of drivel our man Brooks wrote. I listen locally to Andrew Siciliano (white) and Mykel Thompson (black), currently on AM 710 KSPN, and they’re pretty good. Mykel Thompson was great with Steve “Hater” Hartman and Vic “the Brick” Jacobs when he co-hosted the Loose Cannons on AM 570 KLAC here in L.A.
What has to be pointed out is it doesn’t matter the color of one’s skin, it’s about the game they bring. Let’s keep it at that instead of trying to put a racial twist on it.
10:28 am on September 23rd, 2009
I know, I’m black and was in radio and i was told by a program director to NEVER speak slang on air, but give the white host all the newest slang terms and cool hip hop music to play as bumpers, so he can come off cool to the audience, but if I spoke it I was going to be fired on site….true story.
Matt, I’m in Chicago. 670 the score, does this sorta thing all the time. It’s to late in the day for that kind of madness. They say it’s not about skin color, it’s about what you bring to the table. I disagree, cause who said they set the standards in radio. No one, but them. If your not doing it the way they want it, it’s not good.