A new, innovative form of sports talk radio is coming with the launch of The Call Sports Talk New York.
The Call Sports Talk New York, launched on Sept. 19, is the first commercial-free, digital sports service in New York. It’s billing itself as the go-to option for serious sports talk and analysis without distractions and interruptions.
The Call is co-founded by seven-time sports Emmy winner Wayne Fidelman, COO of AMC Networks Ed Carroll, and former Head of Innovation at AMC Mac McKean.
The idea was born out of Carroll’s own frustration with the sports talk radio offerings that were available to him on his commute into the city for work.
“When I was commuting to the city, I would drive to the train station, and I had 20-25 minutes to get my sports,” he explained. “I quickly realized I was never hearing about [last night’s game]. I was hearing a ton of commercials or traffic reports, so I thought is this just me or do other people feel that way?”
He linked up with his former colleague Mac McKean and they fielded two surveys to see if “people would pay the equivalent of half a beer for a month-long, uninterrupted more serious conversation about sports.” The responses, according to Carroll, were overwhelmingly positive.
From those surveys and subsequent conversations with people in each of their immediate networks, The Call was born as a live and interactive home for sports talk 18 hours a day. As of this article’s publishing, sports fans can go to thecallsports.com for a free trial subscription. The monthly price will then be $3.99.
“It’s a bold experiment,” admitted Caroll. “We’re definitely David against the Goliaths; we know that. But when you tune in, you’ll be hearing conversations about sports and not arguments over who ate the last bagel. We have hosts who have been sports journalists for a long time, and that’s what they want to talk about, so we’re going to have in-depth conversations on The Call.”
Co-founder Wayne Fidelman also assures listeners that the people making decisions at The Call are “More like the fans. We have a good mix of people who have worked in the industry for a long time, but we also have people who always wanted to do this, who have a lot to say.”
But the big boon, as the founders see it, is the lack of commercials.
“We are not mandated to take 15 minutes and break for a promo or a commercial if the conversation gets good or gets heated,” explains Fidelman.
“That format works for [the big commercial stations] and will keep working for them,” ” continued Carroll “but we’re doing something different. We want the serious sports fan who really wants to get at the core of the game and really analyze the game.
While at AMC, Carroll greenlit such shows as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Killing Eve, Portlandia, and Better Call Saul. He sees a lot of similarities between the way AMC was able to establish a foothold in the television market and the way The Call is trying to break into sports talk radio.
“When AMC first went into original series’ there were a lot of other networks doing it, and certainly networks with bigger budgets, and so we said, ‘Let’s not worry about broad commercial ratings, let’s just do quality.’ Let’s just a show that we would be interested in watching, and if the show is good enough and distinctive enough, people will come. So we put on Mad Men.”
The Call’s version of Mad Men may be the new show hosted by former New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who co-hosts his own show each Tuesday and Friday morning from 7-10 a.m. with Fidelman.
“I kind of wanted to broaden my horizons a little bit,” said Girardi about the opportunity. “I’m a huge fan of sports, not just baseball, and I just felt like it was a great opportunity to do something different. I’ve always listened to a lot of talk radio sports, and I enjoyed it, so I wanted to be a part of it.”
Girardi admits his show will “have a slant towards baseball,” but he is confident that he’ll be able to “give a different perspective in a lot of ways on baseball because I’ve played, I’ve managed, I’ve done a lot of things in the game of baseball, so it’s getting a coach’s perspective rather than somebody who’s followed teams.”
That insider experience will allow fans to get information they may not otherwise have had or a unique take on a trending moment, like Joe Musgrove’s ear controversy from the Mets’ playoff loss. Girardi knows that “There are so many numbers in the game today that we get as a manager that people don’t know we get. Like Buck was talking about how [Musgrove’s] spin rates went up. I don’t think it was something that [Buck] wanted to do, but something he felt like he had to do as the leader of the club. Sometimes your duty as the leader of the club is not the easiest thing to do, but you’ve got to take on those challenges.”
Girardi’s co-host, Fidelman, brings an impressive resume of his own, working as an Editorial Consultant for CBS’s NFL Today and field producer for Fox Sports MLB coverage. He has collaborated with sports talent including Jim Nantz, Joe Buck, John Madden, and Charles Barkley.
But even with all his experience, he’s excited to work with Girardi because he has “a lot of questions, and fans have a lot of questions too, and that’s what’s so great about this is they have an opportunity to ask them to somebody who’s sat in a dugout, who caught a perfect game, who won World Championships. It’s fun to hear his perspective on things as somebody who has run a team, and that carries over into other sports.”
That desire for insider information and serious analysis without the fluff is what The Call is banking on New Yorkers wanting. Perhaps it’s time that the old format of sports talk radio gets a remodeling
“New York is one of the biggest sports markets in the world, if not the biggest,” said Carroll, “and we think it’s time for some competition.”
