Media Musings: An ESPN Version of The View? It Nearly Happened
By Jason McIntyre
Jamie Horowitz is ESPN’s new hit maker. With successful shows* like First Take and Sports Nation under his belt, he’s put himself in position to get a Green Light for anything he approaches the suits with. Someone at ESPN told me this week Horowitz is “like the 3rd most influential guy” at the network right now. Another source told me that over the summer, Horowtiz – official title: “Vice President, Original Programming and Production” – was putting together an idea for ESPN’s version of “The View.” His dream scenario was to pair longtime friends Bill Simmons and Jason Whitlock with two others. Unfortunately, the source said Simmons was not interested and Whitlock was lukewarm, and the idea has been shelved (for now).
RADIO CHANGE: Max Kellerman and former NFL player Marcellus Wiley, who host a radio show on 710LA from 10-3, are moving to drive time (3-7) to accommodate Wiley’s new job: He’s going to be taking over for Colin Cowherd on Sports Nation starting Dec. 31st when the show moves from Bristol to LA. (The show will tape from 2-3 PST and then Wiley will switch chairs and do his radio show, which is at the same location.) Cowherd didn’t want to do the show without Michelle Beadle, and when she left for NBC, he apparently tried to get ESPN to shrink the show from an hour to 30 minutes. ESPN didn’t want to shorten it, so Cowherd decided to leave the program when his deal was up, and he’s in the midst of putting together his own 30-minute show. So ESPN has paired Wiley with Charissa Thompson, a move that will be officially announced later this year.
BREAKING NEWS: ESPN took heat last week when former employee Bruce Feldman (now at CBS Sports) reported FSU’s Brandon Jenkins was lost for the season with a foot injury. ESPN immediately pulled the “sources say” move on TV and reported the Jenkins news, but didn’t acknowledge the original source of the story. The internet did what it normally does – freak out.
This week, ESPN had a conference call celebrating the 50,000th Sportscenter episode (which happens next week). I asked Van Pelt how Sportscenter makes the decision whom to credit when news breaks: “It’s much more of a news editor decision. If you’re on the air and news is breaking, you’re handed copy and you’re not necessarily aware of where it came from. As an anchor, you’re not in a position to source where it came from if you’re live on the air.”
Mark Gross, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of Sportscenter, added, “we have to confirm a story somebody else has broken. The main reason we confirm a story somebody else may have broken is to double check that it is true. If we’re putting it on our air, we’re accountable for the story. We go through great pains to make sure what we’re reporting is indeed accurate.”
* By ESPN’s standard, they are successful. I’m sure you disagree.