Dan Le Batard pre-recorded a message before going on vacation, fearing that his ESPN listeners would rebel when the inevitable news broke.
The news, announced Monday by Andrew Marchand of the Post, was that as part of sweeping changes to ESPN Radio, the Batard’s broadcast was cut from three hours to two hours. Marchand indicated that there had been internal discussions on the complete removal of the radio program.
“I saw it and said to the people above us,” hey, it’s a demotion, “” said Le Batard in a Mystery Crate message with executive producer Mike Ryan.
“And the answer I get is,” No, it isn’t. We are making concerted efforts to enter the digital space due to the changing needs of listeners. »»
The Batard show will now be broadcast from 10 a.m. to noon – it previously ended at 1 p.m. – with an hour-long podcast posted before that. Mike Greenberg’s new radio show will begin broadcasting at noon. Le Batard said that ESPN bosses had promised him that more resources would be spent on the show, despite less time on terrestrial radio.
The moment is doubtful, however, given the strong political positions of Le Batard and this reduction leading to disturbances of social justice throughout the country. Le Batard previously disagreed with ESPN to use its platform to talk about political and cultural issues as the network tried to move more towards exclusively sporting subjects – a goal that becomes increasingly difficult during ‘a global pandemic of coronavirus and racial tension. following the death of George Floyd, linked to the police, in Minneapolis.
Le Batard, however, said he hoped that the online time only would allow his show more freedom to discuss these topics.
“ESPN knows that we are the biggest digital thing they have by leaps and bounds. They know this and want to invest in it, “said Le Batard.
.
