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The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and Highly Questionable Continue;
Le Batard will Conduct Multiple Longform Interviews Per Year Under New Agreement
Dan Le Batard and Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, hosts of the popular daytime ESPN Radio program The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz have signed multiyear agreements to remain with ESPN. The duo will continue to host their Miami-based program, from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET, on ESPN Radio (and simulcast on ESPNEWS). Le Batard will also continue to co-host Highly Questionable alongside his father Gonzalo “Papi” Le Batard and another of a rotating crop of guest hosts. Le Batard will also conduct six longform interviews each year that will live across multiple ESPN platforms including TV and digital. Weiner will make appearances on SportsCenter and continue hosting and guesting on other ESPN Radio shows.
“ESPN has given us ridiculous freedom to have fun, and made us more popular than we deserve,” said Le Batard. “A whole lot of people have supported our nonsense in a way that isn’t always easy to support but easy to grow. As an added bonus – and we’re especially thankful for this – they also pay us.”
Added Weiner: “I was hoping for the lifetime contract, to be honest. I’m a little disappointed. Maybe next time.”
Known for its offbeat take on sports and culture – and often welcoming guests as diverse as saxophonist Kenny G, the late actor Alan Thicke, writer Malcolm Gladwell, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers – The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz is one of ESPN Radio’s top-rated programs. The show is heard by 2.2 million people a week in 258 stations in 151 markets, and its podcast, a daily digital offering of the original radio program, is the network’s No. 1-downloaded show-to-podcast product, with more than 53 million downloads in 2017.
ESPN Senior Vice President, Audio and Talent, Traug Keller said: “Dan and Stugotz have a chemistry and a viewpoint that is among the most unique in the business. They take what they do seriously, but not themselves, which bonds them with a growing group of loyal listeners. Dan’s sensibilities and intelligence combined with Stugotz’s incredible lack of either quality is a winning combination. I look forward to the stress of having to listen to the show in the years to come!”
The Cuban-American Le Batard, who viewers may know as a frequent guest host on PTI, is known for being a witty contrarian with a distinctive voice among sports media personalities. He also hosts ESPN’s Highly Questionable, a half-hour weekday program formatted to showcase Le Batard’s “questionable” approach to sports commentary highlighting his thoughtful, humorous, and sometimes thoroughly misguided perspective on the world of professional sports. Highly Questionable features the relationship between Le Batard and his father “Papi,” as they comment on the day’s sports and pop culture headlines with a third, rotating co-host.
Weiner has served as the co-host of Le Batard since 2004. A sports broadcasting veteran of nearly 20 years, Stugotz counters host LeBatard’s thoughtful insights with self-deprecating humor and passionate takes on the latest sports headlines.
About ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, the country’s largest sports radio network, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNRadio.com, and ESPN Podcasts comprise ESPN Audio.
ESPN Radio, which launched January 1, 1992, provides more than 9,000 hours of talk and event content annually, reaching 20 million listeners a week on 500 nationwide stations, including more than 375 full-time affiliates and clearance in the top 25 markets. ESPN owns and/or operates stations in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. ESPN Radio programming is also available on SiriusXM and via digital distributors Apple Music, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.
ESPN Audio launched its first podcast in 2005, and in 2017 recorded more than 288 million downloads. In December 2017, ESPN podcasts reached five million people, ranking ESPN fourth among podcast producers in America (per Podtrac). The most popular titles include Fantasy Focus Football, The Lowe Post and podcast versions of Golic and Wingo, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, First Take, Pardon the Interruption and more are also available. Listeners spend nearly 3.5 hours per week listening to ESPN Podcasts. The critically acclaimed 30 for 30 series expanded into podcasting in 2017.
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