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ESPN and SiriusXM Team Up on ESPNU Radio

Jason Barrett

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SiriusXM and ESPN are extending their relationship by joining forces to offer an exclusive 24/7 college sports channel, programmed by SiriusXM, that will give fans in-depth college sports coverage. ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM (channel 84) will debut on Thursday, August 31st, and be available exclusively to SiriusXM subscribers via satellite radios, the SiriusXM app and on connected devices including smart TVs, Amazon Alexa devices and Sony PlayStation.

The weekday lineup on ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM will consist of a simulcast of SiriusXM’s College Sports Nation shows, including The First Team (weekdays, 7-10 am ET), Full Ride (weekdays, 10am-1pm ET), Playbook(weekdays, 1-4pm ET) and Off Campus (weekdays, 4-7pm ET), as well as the weekend shows, College Sports Sunday and College Football Sunday.

ESPN’s college sports talent will appear on the channel providing analysis and opinion on the topics of the day. ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit and college basketball analyst Jay Bilas will appear weekly on ESPNU Radio. Other high profile ESPN commentators and analysts will be heard regularly on the channel as well.

ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM will also feature a simulcast of ESPN shows including the popular College Gameday live each Saturday morning during the college football season, the College Football Top 25 Show, College Football Live Daily, College Basketball Gameday and others. Additionally, the channel will carry some of the year’s biggest college sporting events live, including the College Football Playoff Semifinal and National Championship games, which will also air on ESPN Radio, Channel 80.

Several ESPN college sports podcasts will also be offered on the channel including programs hosted by Kirk Herbstreit and Ian Fitzsimmons, Jay Bilas, Dan Dakich and Seth Greenberg.

The two companies will also partner on joint live broadcasts from select College Gameday destinations, and special events including the College Football Playoff Semifinals and National Championship.

“SiriusXM has been a strong partner with us for 16 years now,” said Traug Keller, senior vice president, ESPN Audio and Talent. “With this new extension, we look forward to continuing to bring our unique and diverse content to SiriusXM. The addition of ESPNU Radio to SiriusXM’s lineup will bring ESPNU’s signature perspective and the sounds of the game to a broader swath of fans.”

“With fans in all corners of the country eagerly anticipating the start of college football season, we are very excited to collaborate with ESPN to deliver those fans the country’s most comprehensive college sports audio channel,” said Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM’s President and Chief Content Officer. “ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM showcases an extraordinary team of hosts and analysts from both SiriusXM and ESPN and fans can get it virtually anywhere – in the car, at home, or on the go. This is an exciting expansion of our longstanding broadcast agreement, which continues to give our subscribers access to ESPN’s top notch array of programming and platforms on ESPN Radio, ESPN Xtra and now ESPNU Radio.”

ESPN and SiriusXM have confirmed a five-year extension of their comprehensive content distribution agreement. SiriusXM subscribers will continue to hear the ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes Radio channels, as well as the exclusive ESPN Xtra channel, which simulcasts several shows including First Take, the forthcoming show hosted by Mike Greenberg, The Paul Finebaum Show, the soon-to-debut program hosted by Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre, audio broadcasts of ESPN Films’ acclaimed 30 for 30 documentaries, 30 for 30 podcasts, SC Featured, and more. The agreement also extends SiriusXM’s rights to broadcast a host of live sports events including the College Football Playoff and other college football bowl games, the NBA regular season and NBA Finals, and more.

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KNBR’s Brian Murphy Speaks for First Time After Paul McCaffrey Laid Off

“Paulie Mac is my guy, will forever be my guy. The best thing I could ever wish anyone is that you get to work with someone as loyal, energetic, funny, consistent as the guy his Jersey buddies call ‘Smack’.”

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A photo of Paul McCaffrey and Brian Murphy
(Photo: KNBR)

Earlier this week, KNBR underwent a round of layoffs, affecting a pair of programs on the Bay Area sports station, including the departure of longtime morning host Paul McCaffrey. His longtime partner — Brian Murphy — has taken to X to share his thoughts.

In a thread to X, Murphy shared his admiration for McCaffrey, whom he hosted Murph and Mac with for 18 years.

“Paulie Mac is my guy, will forever be my guy. The best thing I could ever wish anyone is that you get to work with someone as loyal, energetic, funny, consistent as the guy his Jersey buddies call ‘Smack’,” wrote Murphy. “So much love.”

He then shared that everything listeners and fans of the program have shared on social media has been read by the duo, and thanked them for the outpouring of love and support.

Finally, Murphy addressed his future. Fill-in host Dieter Kurtenbach shared on Thursday he did not have a definitive answer about Murphy’s future with the Cumulus-owned station.

However, Brian Murphy has shared he will return to the airwaves on Monday morning.

“I’ll be back Monday morning on KNBR with our guy Markus (Waterboy) Boucher,” Murphy wrote. “Come on. It’s Niners-Eagles. Wouldn’t miss it. As Paulie Mac’s board itself would say: The show goes on.”

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Mike Mulligan: Sports Radio is More Difficult Than Other Formats Think

He shared that he has worked with people on morning shows that he has seen come to a station fully hungover who play music and proceed to sit on the couch.

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Mike Mulligan
Courtesy: Illinois Entertainer

On Friday morning’s edition of Mully & Haugh on 670 The Score in Chicago, co-host Mike Mulligan outlined the difference with music radio that hosts are not continuously talking to the audience, instead taking mic breaks and then interspersing commentary with different songs.

Filling in for David Haugh on Friday’s edition of the program was Gabe Ramirez, who used to work in the format with B96 as the host of its morning show. Mulligan’s assertion about the differences between the two formats resulted in a conversation about the differences between the grenres, with Ramirez explaining the difficulties that music radio hosts face on the air.

“The music station’s still creating content,” Ramirez said. “You get to have a guest – since I am going to defend my music stations – you get to have a guest and toss them a softball question and listen to them rant for five minutes.”

Mulligan disagreed with this perspective, conveying that he does not feel their program provides guests with easy questions. Additionally, he shared that he has worked with people on morning shows that he has seen come to a station fully hungover who play music and proceed to sit on the couch.

“As a former sportswriter, we sit around and we talk about sports,” Mulligan said. “We talk about the sports we cover and we talk about other sports.”

“You have to talk about Justin Fields seven days in a row,” Ramirez replied. “As a morning show for music, you have to come up with new content every day.”

Rather than taking umbrage towards the response, Mike Mulligan explained that the key to effectively performing his job is being able to discuss important stories of the day even when they are not the headlines. Furthermore, he expounded on the commitment that it takes to watch the amount of sporting events and to be properly informed on the action so he is able to take the air.

“That I will agree with,” Ramirez said. “I’ve told people this – they ask me, ‘What’s the biggest difference?’ The prep, without question, is way more difficult in sports radio because everyone that’s listening to you already knows the answers and you have to be equally if not more informed in all of those things.”

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Minnesota Twins Set to Tab Cory Provus as New TV Voice, Kris Atteberry as Lead Radio Announcer

Provus has been the radio voice of the Minnesota Twins since 2012.

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Minnesota Twins

After Dick Bremer exited the Minnesota Twins TV booth in October, the search began for his replacement. The MLB franchise didn’t have to look far, though.

Twins radio voice Cory Provus is reportedly set to become the new TV play-by-play broadcaster for the club, according to a report from Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

Provus has been the radio voice of the Minnesota Twins since 2012. Many immediately tabbed him as the club’s replacement for Bremer, who retired after 40 seasons as the lead television voice of the American League club. Before joining the team in 2012, Provus worked for the Milwaukee Brewers as the number two broadcaster after spending two seasons as the radio pregame host for the Chicago Cubs.

Meanwhile, Kris Atteberry has been signaled as the person set to replace Provus inside the franchise’s radio booth. He has served as the pregame and postgame host for the Minnesota Twins Radio Network since 2007. Atteberry joined the club after spending five years calling games for the then-Independent St. Paul Saints from 2002-2006.

While the television and radio broadcast crews appear set, questions remain about where the team will televise its games in 2024. The club’s contract with Bally Sports North has reportedly expired, and it has yet to sign an agreement with the bankruptcy-laden RSN, or with a local over-the-air television station.

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