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ESPN Radio is about to get blitzed.
After dominating for two decades, ESPN will take a big hit come January, when Cumulus Media will drop its programming from 47 stations and pick up rival CBS Sports Radio.
In addition, Cumulus will syndicate CBS to other independent stations and work to woo Madison Avenue.
The moves are part of the partnership Cumulus struck with CBS over the summer to help get the fledgling sports radio network off the ground.
CBS also boasts a sizable radio presence with its own stations in big markets, including New York, Boston and Dallas. It owns WFAN-AM, one of New York’s most popular sports stations.
As a result, CBS Sports Radio will air on around 100 stations, reaching about 10 million households, when it officially launches on Jan. 2. It also claims it will be the “most listened to sports radio network in the top 50 markets.”
ESPN, however, will continue to beat in total audience by a long shot.
The long-time leader boasts 350 full-time station affiliates and reaches an estimated 30 million households. It has 700 affiliates overall.
Sports radio networks, while attracting just $150 million in advertising, are fiercely competitive as they draw an attractive demographic.
Thus, ESPN and CBS execs are already trash talking.
“ESPN affiliates are in small markets. Maybe you find that adds up to a lot of audience,” CBS Radio President Dan Mason told The Post. “Don’t forget that CBS Radio owns most of the top 10 sports stations in the US, and with Cumulus that’s formidable.
“ESPN has had the market much to themselves, we’re the new entry and we think we put together formidable talent,” Mason added.
ESPN’s Traug Keller, senior vice president of production and business, isn’t worried. “This has no material effect on us,” he said. “There’s only three or four [Cumulus] stations in the top 50.”
What’s more, Keller said ESPN Radio has already found new affiliates in Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala.
Keller also emphasized that ESPN Radio’s reach goes beyond traditional radio to include podcasts and online streaming.
CBS Sports Radio has some resources to draw on as well.
It will likely get some promotional help from CBS 2 New York and CBS’s nascent cable outlet, CBS Sports Network. A mobile digital strategy is still being formulated, according to Mason.
CBS’s playbook calls for less live game coverage and more big personalities.
CBS has already signed a slew of high-profile sports pundits, including Jim Rome, poached from ESPN in January, along with Doug Gottlieb and Scott Ferrall.
CBS is also talking to the pro leagues about creating new specialty programming that doesn’t focus on play-by-play coverage
Of course, ESPN isn’t standing still. In April it acquired and moved ESPN Radio to the Kiss FM slot in New York and converted its AM slot to a Spanish language channel, ESPN Deportes.
ESPN Radio and CBS Sports Radio won’t be alone on the playing field as NBC also launched its own sports radio network in September with NFL rights.