It's been an eventful couple of years for Hollis, Queens', own Stephen A. Smith, who has had his TV show axed and no longer writes a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Now this: With his contract up, ESPN and Smith are reassessing his role, and according to a person in the industry with knowledge of his situation, that might well include no longer doing his local and national radio shows.
Smith has had a show on ESPN 1050 for three years. In September, the second hour of the show went national.
It appears unlikely Smith will leave ESPN entirely. Under a new deal, he presumably would focus on his TV work as an NBA analyst.
The timing of all this is unclear. Smith signed off his radio show Wednesday by promising to be back Thursday.
ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz would say only this: "We’re in the process of discussing with Stephen A. a number of things related to his roles on our entities."
(UPDATE: Here.)
Comments (18)
DON LE-GRECCA! (I know I spelt that wrong.)
any chance they rid themselves of that gas bag me max kellerman? what a pompus putz.
As a Mets fan, I am not afraid to say I like Max. He's into sabermetrics, wears his fandom on his sleeve, and is nothing like other radio hosts. He certainly beats Evan and Joe. But I could do without Brian Kenny who really is useless about any other sport that's not baseball or boxing. Though I like Kenny I think he should be hosting Baseball Tonight or something, not a radio show.
Also, ESPN 1050 needs as much local programming as possible to compete with WFAN along with a stronger signal. ESPN radio's Boston affilliate gets completely beat up by WEEI and it's due to the fact that ESPN Radio only has one local show there.
EVERYTHING I SAID WAS IMPORTANT!!!!
Max relates to the NY sports fan under 30-35 better then anyone on the radio. I can understand the old guys out there who have never heard of jay-z and biggie not liking him. Also, I like the addition of Kenny. They have good chemistry. I'd love Max to replace Scott Ferrall (who's god awful) on Sirius if things don't work out at ESPN. Max is the Stern of sports radio.
As for Stephen A... he's TERRIBLE. Too overexposed.
Stephen A. Smith is the Rasho Nesterovic of radio.
You know, I don't always agree with everything Stephen A. says, a lot of times he may not really know what he's talking about, but I think it would be a mistake to remove him from the air... I believe that he brings a perspective that should be heard.
Which perspective is that, Jerry? The "I don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but if I scream it loud enough maybe somebody'll buy it?"
We already have a double-dose of clueless down the dial a bit from 1 to 6.
Screamin' A should not stay.
That will leave Tony Toni Tone Paige as the only black man on sports radio. Yeah Steve Smith is not the greatest but leave him on there at least because he is black. Lagreca is annoying with his hockey talk. Damn ESPN 1050 is a joke.
Screamin A Smith is OK, but overall 1050 ESPN is a pretty hard listen. Most of the time there shows are more about pumping up there own egos then actually talking sports. Between Kellerman and Smith's stupid theme songs, plus all the non sports talk mixed in, like when Smith gives his Dr. Love advice. If Screamin A gets dropped again, talk about a huge blow to an already inflated ego.
I know a lot of people can't stand Scotty Ferrell, I hated the guy at first, especially his voice, but he's honestly grown on me after checking him out on Sirius Stern101 and SNY. The guy holds nothing back, keeps it real and says exactly what's on his mind, even if he's knocking the Mets or the Jets on SNY. Plus he really does know sports. I know a lot of the time he's doing shtick, but that's part of his act and it's funny, you just can't take him that seriously. Last night he had a great interview with Bobby Knight, it was both funny, serious, informative and quite entertaining, you would never hear an interview like that anywhere else.
Comedy--leave him on if he's good not because he's black. If you search hard enough you can find good, black sports guys. Larry Hardesty and Bill Daughtry come to mind today and Art Rust, Jr. back in the day. I'm sure there are others around the country who could make it in NYC. Smith stinks, he can't make it there for one simple reason, he's a loud moron.
Stephen A Smith should have been let go months ago. I guess they keep people on the air that invoke passion, whether it's love or hate. Mike and Mad Dog, Max, Stephen all bring passionate emotions, either you love them or hate them. There isn't much neutrality. All four gentleman have giant egos and believe they know everything, they just present their information differently.
Smith is horrible and if ESPN wants to have any listeners during the afternoon he must go. Mike and the Mad Dog, despite Russo's shifting with the wind opinions, general lack of command of the English language and Francesa's arrogance and pompousness that increases by the day, still are entertaining at certain times when they stick to sports. I shift between them, Sirius NFL radio and Classic Rock on the Vault on Sirius.
Stephen A is useless
The Herd is useless
ESPN forces Mike and Mike on everyone and they just aren't good
Mike and the Maddog are a complete joke. Maddog needs to come out of the closet and Fransceca needs to come off his high horse. He's also a homer. The other day someone called him out on the fact that he has picked the Yankees to win the WS the past 12 seasons and he tried to defend it like the caller was a moron.
Sports radio has just turned into a bunch of morons trying to fill time with overblown stories and useless personalities. It infuriates me. Taking Stephen A is a good start at least.
Stephen A. sucks. He only knows basketball, so he takes the Jerry Springer approach to everything else -- shout the same thing over and over, or cry racism. Or both. Too bad Mike Patrick left; his show with Rob Dibble was great (well, listenable, anyway). Not that it matters; 1050's signal is so weak that you know you're going to lose the station any second.
peace out Mike Missinelli !!!!
EFF THAT!
LOVE THE PERSPECTIVE STEPHAN A..
U GOT BALLS TO SAY WHAT OTHERS DON'T
IF ESPN IS DUMB ENOUGH TO LET YOU GO U WILL DO BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS!
BELEIVE IT....
LIVE FROM DC
The Stephen A Smith Show was informational, smart and entertaining. His basketball acumen is tremendous Mr. Smith will be sorely missed. Don"t worry, Stephen, your future will be brighter than your past.