Planning, Location Key for ESPN Radio

The more than 55 hours of Super Bowl programming on ESPN Radio, set to originate from South Florida this week, sounds like a lot of work -- but that's only part of the story.

Planning for the numerous shows that will originate from Lummus Park on Miami Beach started months ago, when ESPN's operations team began working with the NFL regarding set location. That location makes ESPN different from most other national sports talk programming throughout Super Bowl week because those other shows typically originate from "Radio Row," table after table of sports stations from across that nation and world that often get set up in the same room of an a nearby convention center.

Even with the planning, live, on-location radio provides challenges.

It means less technology on hand and fewer staff personnel just a few steps away to solve problems. It also means potential distractions with weather (rain the early part of this week) and people watching the live radio shows.

Still, that atmosphere helps -- especially shows like "Mike and Mike in the Morning," with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic working their 11th Super Bowl week together, and "The Herd with Colin Cowherd." Both shows have talent who can play well off an audience.

"You get a real sense of atmosphere," explained ESPN producer Amanda Gifford about on-site shows. "Colin is usually on his game with an audience. You can feed off the energy of the crowd."

For behind-the-scenes folks such as Gifford (who coordinated planning but did not make the trip to Miami for this week's Super Bowl shows), getting guests to the set on time provides a daily challenge during remote shows, and she prefers to leave nothing to chance.

"Everything is pretty calculated," she said. "I'd rather have everything planned, but I've learned that sometimes you get some great things on the fly and you have to be able to adjust."

Determining which guests are used on a program provides a show's biggest challenge during the week. With all of the activity and media attention, many former players (with guiding publicists) show up at the Super Bowl site to pitch their cause, charity or product.

While smaller shows on Radio Row might take any and all such guests, ESPN Radio shows can be a bit more selective. They have major markets to serve and less time to waste on borderline guests.

"We get a lot of A-listers through Super Bowl week, and we get pitches for a lot of people who aren't considered A-listers," Gifford said. "We make determinations by when they're available, if we're on the air at that time, and if they make sense for our biggest affiliates." For Cowherd, those affiliates are in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Dallas.

Typically, ESPN's name and the talent and reputation of the hosts produce a potent combination -- with good guests wanting to appear on the shows and the on-air talent making the visits entertaining. The combination produces one of the best weeks of sports talk radio of the year.