No One Has Ever Heard Of A Single Name In ESPN's New Radio Lineup

ESPN Radio was long known for its all-star lineups. At one point, the radio lineup consisted of "Mike & Mike," "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," and the "SVP and Russillo Show" back-to-back-to-back. 

Other successful programs under the ESPN Radio umbrella included "The Tony Kornheiser Show," "The Will Cain Show," and "The Dan Patrick Show."

Yet names of that caliber can no longer be heard across ESPN Radio affiliates. And that's an understatement. The network announced its latest lineup change Tuesday, and we sincerely wonder if a single one of our readers has heard of a single name on the list.

Here is the new ESPN Radio lineup, beginning on Feb. 10:

Who?

"Q" Meyers?  Michelle Smallmon? Amber Wilson? 

Huh?

One might wonder how ESPN Radio went from employing some of the biggest names in sports media to a cast of characters even the hardest of hardcore sports fans wouldn't know from Adam.

To answer that question, let us take you back one decade ago.

In 2015, Colin Cowherd departed ESPN for FS1 and Fox Sports Radio (iHeart). ESPN replaced Cowherd with Dan Le Batard from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m, and filled Le Batard's afternoon drive slot (4 to 7) with Bomani Jones. Both moves were disastrous.

Almost immediately, Le Batard lost ESPN's most prized national affiliate at the time, ESPN LA 710 in Los Angeles. Affiliates dwindled from there. Bomani had even less success in the afternoon, losing over 90 national affiliates.

ESPN's Senior VP of Audio, Traug Keller, later admitted that the network failed to replace Cowherd. "I do regret letting Colin Cowherd get away," Keller said in 2020.

You don't say?

Two years later, ESPN moved Mike Greenberg from "Mike & Mike" to head a new morning television show called "Get Up." Despite what critics