ESPN Continues To Piss Off The Local Radio Little Guys

An email came in from a frustrated ESPN radio employee who's angry at the WWL's latest ad campaign, ones that are presumably making fun of local sports radio hosts.

From an ESPN radio affiliate employee:

Doesn't ESPN Radio know where its bread is buttered? Sure they have their owned/operated stations in major markets and their satellite radio and dot-com connections, but now they're taking to the airwaves bashing the local stations that carry them as well as those that do not. The majority of the country hears ESPN Radio on stations that air them solely as filler between revenue-producing local shows, and now they're being blindsided by Bristol... Below is the e-mail sent to ESPN Radio affiliate stations today, along with the link to the TV and radio spots which ridicule local radio...

A new take on ESPN Radio's "You know us. We know sports." marketing campaign developed by ESPN and Wieden + Kennedy, New York encourages sports talk radio listeners to find their radio host matches. Giving a nod to the popular dating site Match.com, three TV and two radio spots running on ESPN networks and ESPN Radio stations poke fun at the difficult relationships many listeners have with their local sports radio stations, and how it might be time to find their true matches at ESPN Radio. National ESPN Radio hosts Scott Van Pelt (Tirico and Van Pelt), Colin Cowherd (The Herd) and Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg (Mike and Mike in the Morning) appear in the spots. In addition, Jimmy Rollins of the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies makes a cameo.

To complement the spots, listeners can go to a dedicated micro site to evaluate their potential radio host match. Many national ESPN Radio personalities provide a personal introduction explaining why listeners should choose them as their match.

And here's one of the spots:

Remember that ESPN infuriated its affiliate stations just a few weeks ago when the company asked for $100,000 from local stations to air their programming. I guess these spots are dedicated to the ones who didn't pay up.

Oh, also of note: From Colin Cowherd's Radio Match page:

5 Things I Can't Live Without

Cell phone Lip balm Gym My kids Footed PJs

Oops.