The Mike Tirico Show to Debut Sept. 20 on ESPN Radio at 1 p.m. ET

Stephen A. Smith to Host 3-4 p.m. Weekdays

September 17, 2007 -- Versatile sportscaster Mike Tirico, the Monday Night Football commentator who has hosted or served as play-by-play voice for many of ABC and ESPN’s marquee events, will host ESPN Radio’s weekday 1-3 p.m. ET program slot beginning Thursday, Sept. 20. Additionally, Stephen A. Smith of 1050 ESPN Radio in New York, will host the network’s 3-4 p.m. hour. Both shows can be heard live, daily on ESPNRadio.com.

"With Monday Night Football, the NBA Finals and now a daily radio platform, Mike Tirico has arrived at the pinnacle of sports broadcasting with premier assignments in television and radio," said Norby WIlliamson, executive vice president, studio and remote production.

Added Traug Keller, senior vice president, production, business divisions: “Having a daily radio show hosted by Mike Tirico will cement our position as the sports listen of record in mid-day talk radio. And, Stephen A. Smith’s strong voice will be a welcome addition for our national radio audience.”

Tirico’s ties to ESPN Radio date to its January 1992 debut when he served as an original host. He most recently has handled the network’s play-by-play responsibilities for the Conference Finals and NBA Finals, assignments that will continue. He has also anchored The NFL on ESPN Radio (1993-96), was the first host of The NBA on ESPN Radio (1995, 1996), and was the voice of ESPN Radio’s weekday afternoon drivetime “SportsBeat” segments (2004).

“It is a thrill to return to my roots in two different ways as radio is the medium where I started my career during my college days at WAER in Syracuse, and I remember being part of the team the first weekend ESPN Radio hit the air in January of 1992,” Tirico said. “I am really looking forward to returning to the day-to-day sports conversation that is talk radio.”

Tirico will be joined on a regular basis by other ESPN commentators to be announced at a later date.

Click here for downloadable photos of Tirico and Smith.

The Stephen A. Smith Show
Smith, who previously hosted 1050 ESPN Radio’s Stephen A. Smith Show noon-2 p.m. weekdays, will now host New York’s 2-4 p.m. slot, with the final hour going national on ESPN Radio. Smith is an ESPN NBA analyst, appearing on many of its platforms, as well as a regular Sunday morning SportsCenter contributor. He is a former reporter and columnist for the New York Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I’m elated for this tremendous opportunity and I appreciate the faith ESPN has shown in me,” Smith said. “New York listeners and NBA fans have gotten a taste of my no-holds-barred mentality, and now the rest of the country is about to find out as well.”

Smith will continue to be joined by Mike Missanelli, a former Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter. Prior to joining 1050 ESPN Radio, he was talk host at all-sports 610 WIP-AM in Philadelphia where he also served as nightly sports anchor at WPHL-TV, winning a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award.

ESPN RADIO WEEKDAY PROGRAMMING All Times ET

6-10 a.m. - Mike & Mike in the Morning
10 a.m.-1 p.m. - The Herd with Colin Cowherd
1-3 p.m. - The Mike Tirico Show
3-4 p.m. - The Stephen A. Smith Show
4-6:30 p.m. - SportsBash with John Seibel
6:30-7 p.m. - Best of Pardon the Interruption
7-9 p.m. - The Pulse with Doug Gottlieb
9 p.m.-2 a.m. - Game Night
2-6 a.m. - AllNight with Jason Smith

ESPN Radio is the nation’s largest sports radio network, providing more than 9,000 hours of talk and event content to nearly 750 non-duplicative stations reaching more than 20 million listeners* each week. ESPN Radio’s nearly 350 full-time affiliates, offering round the clock programming, include owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Pittsburgh. Additionally, ESPN Radio is the exclusive national radio network for the NBA, Major League Baseball and the Bowl Championship Series, and also broadcasts 17 regular-season college football games.

Additionally, ESPNRadio.com is the most listened to sports radio destination online, with more than 250,000** monthly listeners, and fans can get all of ESPN Radio's daily content on demand through ESPN Radio Insider (a part of ESPN.com's premium content section, ESPN Insider). ESPN Radio content is also available via ESPN's 35 original free podcasts on iTunes and ESPN's PodCenter, which are downloaded more than 1 million times per week.

* Knowledge Networks/SRI
** AndoMedia WebMetrics

Source: ESPN

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