CBS Radio innovates with Sports Radio Roundup: hosted live listen-ins

cbs sports radio roundup 300wCBS Radio has launched CBS Sports Radio Roundup, a 12-hour daily hosted Internet-only program that jockeys live sports-talk feeds from 15 major-market stations.

That description is a mouthful, and possibly unique. At a time when radio is meeting an opportunity to repurpose content for on-demand online distribution, the usual approach is to archive a show into a downloadable podcast. Interestingly, this project re-purposes live content as it’s happening. The live content is not sporting events (where the navigating usage rights would be daunting), but sports-talk chat.

The 12-hour daily schedule is divided into three shifts hosted by DJ Sixsmith, Greg Larnerd, and Bryan Foti. These three DJs (obviously the wrong term, but it feels like they are jockeying) scan schedules of participating schedules, and throw from one feed to another to catch key interviews, press conferences, or other interesting content. The web interface shows an auto-updating log of what has been heard, from which stations.

CBS Radio told RAIN News that there is currently no intent to extend the station into evening hours, when most sports are played. That makes sense to us — this isn’t about live contests; it’s about turning the daily local conversations around sports on the radio, to which millions of fans are addicted, into a national program.

The station is live now, via the Radio.com app, and on the web at www.radioroundup.com.

Brad Hill