The on-going soap opera surrounding the will they or won’t they air “The Man Cave” takes another turn as Red Zebra’s “ESPN 980” WTEM Washington, DC/92.7 WWXT Prince Frederick, MD/94.3 WWXX Buckland, VA will debut their new local morning show on Monday, March 30.
While not indicating what led to the delay surrounding the show’s launch and the exit of Program Director Chuck Sapienza, The Washington Post reports another twist in the saga. Apparently someone called WTEM management impersonating ESPN President John Skipper and threatened legal and financial ramifications if the new show replaced ESPN’s Mike & Mike as WTEM’s morning show.
Original Report 3/15: The new “Man Cave” morning show on Red Zebra’s “ESPN 980” WTEM Washington/92.7 WWXT Prince Frederick, MD/94.3 WWXX Buckland, VA will not debut on Monday, March 16 and likely never at all.
DCRTV.com reports that someone high up in the Washington Redskins organization holds a grudge against Jason Reid from his time at the Washington Post being critical of the organization with the Washington Post adding “the widespread perception was that top Redskins officials were miffed by the hiring of Reid, a sometimes harsh critic of the team in recent years, although it’s unclear if that contributed to the show’s status.”
The Redskins and Red Zebra are both controlled by Daniel Snyder. DCRTV also states that the hiring of Reid and Chris Paul has led to the termination of WTEM Program Director Chuck Sapienza. We expect that more details regarding the situation at WTEM will come out during the course of the week.
Original Report 2/20: Red Zebra Broadcasting Sports “ESPN 980” WTEM Washington/92.7 WWXT Prince Frederick, MD/94.3 WWXX Buckland, VA will debut a local morning show on Monday, March 16.
“The Man Cave” hosted by Chris Paul and Jason Reid will replace ESPN’s Mike & Mike in the morning timeslot as WTEM expands its local programming to 6am to 7pm weekdays. Chris Paul joins the station from the Tom Joyner Morning Show and previously spent sixteen years as part of the Donnie Simpson Show on 95.5 WPGC-FM. Reid has worked at the Washington Post since 2010, but will exit the newspaper to join the station as well as become a columnist for ESPN.com. The Mike & Mike show will move over to Red Zebra’s “Sportstalk 570” WSPZ Bethesda, MD.
WTEM/WWXT/WWXX is in a neck & neck battle with CBS’ “106.7 The Fan” WJFK-FM for the Sports leadership in the Washington D.C. market. In the January 2015 Nielsen Audio PPM ratings WJFK rose above WTEM with a 2.2 share, while the Red Zebra trimulcast registered a 1.9. WTEM is the flagship station for the co-owned Washington Redskins football team and also carries Baltimore Orioles baseball.
Red Zebra Broadcasting announces today that long time morning drive personality Chris Paul and national sports columnist Jason Reid will team up and form a new morning drive program on ESPN980 (WTEM 980AM; 92.7FM and 94.3FM). VP/Programming Chuck Sapienza said of the new show “THE MAN CAVE WITH CHRIS PAUL AND JASON REID” will be a blend of sports, comedy and entertainment and we are thrilled to welcome these two talented men to ESPN980.”
Chris Paul is a veteran of local broadcast radio, co-hosting the Donnie Simpson Show on WPGC-FM, Washington D.C. for 16 years and for the last 6 years on the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show. Chris has performed the popular daily segment The Morning Minute, having fun with the biggest news stories of the day to the delight of 8 million listeners nationwide. Chris said of the new show “I am so excited to be a part of the ESPN 980 family. This show will be about our love of sports and our love for the people in the DMV”!
Jason Reid began his professional journalism career at the Los Angeles Times where he covered the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Clippers and provided college basketball analysis. He moved to Washington DC is 2010 to become the beat writer for the Washington Redskins for the Washington Post and was promoted to a sports columnist position in January 2011. Reid will continue writing as a NFL columnist for ESPN.com. Jason said of the new show “I’m very excited to be part of this new venture. I look forward to bringing a dynamic and entertaining program to our listeners.“
“We’re looking forward to adding Jason’s perspective and professionalism to ESPN.com’s editorial offerings,” said Patrick Stiegman, Vice President and Editorial Director of Digital and Print Media, ESPN. “He is a proven journalist with a distinct voice and years of expertise covering the NFL and professional sports.”
“THE MAN CAVE WITH CHRIS PAUL AND JASON REID” will air weekdays from 6am – 10am and both men will contribute to the Washington Redskins Radio Network. Rick Carmean, CEO, Red Zebra Broadcasting said of the show “We have been interested in creating a LOCAL Morning Drive show on ESPN980 for a while. Chris and Jason give us and the Washington DC sports fan the perfect combination of sports knowledge, humor and personality. We are thrilled to have these gentlemen on board.”
elcartero
Chris Paul and the Redskins go WAY back. He created the “End Zone Boys” song parodies that appeared on WPGC following each weekend’s game, starting back during the 1991-92 championship season. First “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” was used, then they branched out to other hit songs. Joyner used to get played at my workplace, and “The Morning Minute” was the best part of the show. Damn shame his show got shot down like that; Little Danny doesn’t deserve him anyway.