Is It Possible a Series Of Prank Phone Calls Really Got ESPN Radio's Morning Show Canceled Before It Even Started?
You might remember that blog, where it looked like the Redskins front office got a morning show canceled before it even started. You might also remember it because they were non-ironically going to call the show “The Man Cave”, which is just so fucking ridiculous but I digress. Flash forward to yesterday, where now reports are coming out the show was canceled after a guy pretending to be the President of ESPN made a couple phone calls to ESPN 980:
Washington Post - And in a bizarre and unexplained subplot, someone made prank calls to WTEM this month claiming to be the president of ESPN — one of the most powerful sports media figures in the country — and demanding the show’s cancellation, and nearly succeeded. While the calls were a hoax, the person making them mimicked ESPN President John Skipper’s Southern drawl and knew enough about ESPN 980’s inner workings to initially convince station executives that they were from Skipper, according to three people with knowledge of the events.
Months of preparation and promotion in advance of the show’s scheduled debut appeared in vain just two weeks ago, when a confusing series of events, including the prank phone calls and the unexplained resignation of longtime WTEM program director Chuck Sapienza, left the show in limbo. The oddest of these events were two phone calls received by the station in the days leading up to “The Man Cave’s” planned debut by a man representing himself as Skipper. In one of the calls, the imposter threatened legal trouble for the station and possible financial penalties if it bumped “Mike and Mike” for “The Man Cave,” according to three people with knowledge of the calls. While it seemed odd that someone as high-profile as Skipper would meddle with programming at a local affiliate, the imposter was apparently convincing to Carmean, who took the calls. In addition to mimicking Skipper’s accent (Skipper is a native of North Carolina), the caller also knew details about the station’s inner workings and called from a number with an 860 area code — in Connecticut, where ESPN is headquartered.
The ruse was uncovered, however, when Redskins President Bruce Allen, after hearing that Skipper was upset about something at WTEM, called the ESPN president to assure him that Allen would look into Skipper’s concerns. According to three people with knowledge of the conversation, a confused Skipper thanked Allen, then called his deputies at ESPN and asked them to figure out what Allen had been talking about.
After a flurry of phone calls between ESPN management and WTEM management, it became clear that Carmean had been duped. Skipper telephoned Allen to say the calls had been a hoax. When told that Skipper had not called him — and that he had no problem with “The Man Cave” — Carmean expressed relief, sources said.
Everyone seems to be buying this story. That a prank phone call from someone pretending to be the president of ESPN got a local morning show canceled before it even started. I don’t know man. It just doesn’t add up for me. Just seems something really fishy is going on. You’re telling me that’s how business is conducted? No face-to-face meetings, no conference calls, no papers being signed…just a couple prank phone calls and an entire morning show can be canceled? It just doesn’t seem to make sense. But at the same time, why would anyone make something so ridiculous up? They look like retards no matter if it’s actually true or not. On one hand, if that’s really how easy it is to get a morning show canceled, I have some phone calls to make. On the other hand, if they drew up this lie to cover their asses because all the backlash the Redskins got for canceling the show, they are legit even bigger psychopaths than originally thought. But I guess it all worked out in the end, and at the end of the day, thank the good lord we finally, finally, finallyyyyyyy will have a morning drive sports show FOR MEN.