In September of 1999, the Chicago Tribune ran an article about long time ESPN sports anchor Dan Patrick and his move into radio. Patrick spent 10 ½ years behind the “SportsCenter” desk spewing one liners. He felt the need for a change and worked out a deal with ESPN so that he could get his own three hour time slot on ESPN radio.
Patrick, 42, seems to be going backwards in a time where most radio personalities want to get their faces on television. With the incredible success he has received from being on ESPN, Patrick saw the need to try something he had not done since he first got into the business. He started his career running religious tapes for a rock station in Dayton. His career has skyrocketed since then on the world’s biggest sports distributer.
The story behind this article is the fact that ESPN truly owns all sports media markets. They have made incredible strides in cable and the way sports are viewed on television today. In less than 30 years ESPN was able to create the market which no one dared to venture into and make it so successful that it was able to branch off into many different outlets in the sports world. The two subjects dealt with in this week’s blog are radio and television. These are two medians that ESPN has engulfed and taken over on the company’s journey to greatness.
What Dan Patrick was able to do with his companies great success was make a name for himself on television, then move to the radio market and use his fame from television to start his radio career. This is great proof of the power ESPN has generated in such a short amount of time. ESPN has many personalities from the radio chomping at the bit to try and join their staff and break into television. So Dan Patrick does the opposite and puts on the headphones after an illustrious career on screen. As long as ESPN continues their dominance in the sports they will forever be in control of the two most popular means of distributing sports, TV and radio.
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It is no surprise that ESPN is truly the world leader in sports. The sports network has truly turned the world of sports around. The way it has evolved and grown since its beginning is astounding. Imagine what it would be like without ESPN. Where else would sports fans get sports coverage other than the news? Today, it's so easy to turn on the television or the radio in the car and tune into your favorite team playing. You can even turn to the internet now.
As mentioned in Chapter 7 of the handbook, ESPN radio has exclusive national broadcast radio rights to MLB, college football, and even the WNBA. It also has tons of affiliates. I think this is why ESPN has grown to be the world leader in sports. Think about all of the types of sports you can watch and listen to. There's football, baseball, hockey, NASCAR, cheerleading, and even bass fishing among so many others. ESPN has truly taken sports to another level and made it accessable to everyone.
Since ESPN is about 27 years old, I can not remember what it was like to get sports coverage before them but I could imagine it was nothing like it today. The ease of obtaining sport scores and stats and highlights is remarkable because of the way that ESPN devotes themselves to the world of sports.
Being around for more than 25 years, you truly see how well adapted ESPN has become and continues to adapt as years go by. There is no other station that gives ESPN a run for their money because as ESPN claims, they are the "worldwide leader in sports".
In Chapter 7 of the Handbook of Sports and Media, you read how radio can be easily viewed as "ordinary" media but ESPN has grasped onto the idea that even with HD TV's and all the new imagery possibilities that TV allows, people still listen to the radio on the way to work, at work, or just because they enjoy it. They have used this knowledge to allow their listeners to add another way to get their updates, listen to games, and create their own images of what is going on during the game that they are listening to on the radio.
ESPN has taken advantage of every side of the sports industry that you can think of.
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