ESPN New York Radio moves Rick DiPietro, Chris Canty & Dave Rothenberg to 5-8 a.m.
Former Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro rehearses for his show on ESPN Radio on Sept. 3, 2014 Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
ESPN New York Radio will move its late-morning show featuring Rick DiPietro, Chris Canty and Dave Rothenberg to 5 to 8 a.m. in January, at last giving the channel a local presence to compete against WFAN in that time slot.
For the first hour, it will be up against WFAN’s "Warmup Show," featuring Al Dukes and Jerry Recco, and for the other two hours it will face Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti, ESPN confirmed on Saturday. The change first was reported by the New York Post.
From 8 to 10 a.m., ESPN will continue to pit its national show with Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Zuben Mehenti against Esiason and Giannotti. It is an unusual arrangement, but it at least gives ESPN a more realistic shot of competing against WFAN, which long has dominated that time slot thanks in part to its local focus going against ESPN’s national fare.
ESPN New York had been expected to alter its local schedule in the wake of the Dan Le Batard’s impending departure, which already had shaken up the national ESPN lineup. As part of those changes, Bart Scott and Alan Hahn will have their New York show go national from noon to 2 p.m. starting in January.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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