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Enterprise Radio Network was an all-
sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many ( simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) typ ...
which operated briefly in 1981. It featured sports newscasts twice an hour, and sports talk during the evening and overnight.


Creation and programming

Enterprise Radio was created by
Scott Rasmussen Scott William Rasmussen (born March 30, 1956) is an American public opinion pollster and political analyst. He previously produced the ScottRasmussen.com Daily Tracking Poll, a gauge of American voters' political sentiment. He is editor-at-large ...
, the son of
Bill Rasmussen William F. Rasmussen (born October 15, 1932) is an American sports director, and one of the founders of ESPN, along with Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan. Rasmussen served as the first president and CEO of ESPN. ESPN was founded on July 14, 1978, ...
, who was the founder of
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. The all sports radio network went on the air in January 1981 and lasted until September 21, 1981. The network broadcast sports reports twice an hour and did live phone in sports talk from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
seven days a week. Talk show hosts and update announcers included John Sterling, the current
voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...
of the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
; Don Chevrier, the longtime TV voice of the
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
; network radio veterans John O'Reilly, Dan Davis and
Bob Buck Robert Buck (May 25, 1938–January 22, 1996) was an American sportscaster and sports director. He was the younger brother of St. Louis Cardinals radio broadcaster Jack Buck and was the uncle of national television sportscaster Joe Buck. Early in ...
; Curt Chaplin, the announcer for the iconic TV show, ''
The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. Within the court show genre, it is the first of all arbitration-based reality st ...
''; Jay Howard, the radio voice of the
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...
' first
NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is aw ...
; and Bill Denehy, a former major league pitcher. The network reached approximately 74 stations nationwide at its peak, with most local stations broadcasting the talk shows and the sports reports to supplement their local programming. ER also carried the
1981 Stanley Cup Finals The 1981 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1980–81 season, and the culmination of the 1981 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Minnesota North Stars, making their first Finals appea ...
and did extensive coverage of the National Sports Festival in Syracuse, New York. Network radio veteran John Chanin was the executive producer.


Struggle to keep afloat

While the station had hired over 100 reporters, announcers and producers from across the country, they failed to secure enough advertising to keep the operation afloat. The final six weeks of existence saw the staff go without pay, hoping an investor would save the network. It did not happen and the last broadcast was the overnight show with Greg Gilmartin that ended at 8 a.m. on the 21st.


Aftermath

Two Enterprise Radio interns,
Kevin Harlan Kevin Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer. The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NFL and college basketball games on CBS and the NBA for TNT. 2022 will be his 38th c ...
and
Sean McDonough Sean McDonough (born May 13, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and WEEI Red Sox Radio Network. Early life The son of ''Boston Globe'' sportswriter Will McDonough, McDonough graduated from the S. I. Newhouse School ...
, became network play-by-play announcers. The Rasmussens failed to pay into State of Connecticut unemployment fund and were arrested in late 1981. (''
Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New H ...
'') A settlement where employees received a small percentage of money owed was finalized in 1982 (''Hartford Courant''). In 2010, John Birchard, who served as auto racing reporter for the network, wrote a book about Enterprise titled ''Jock Around the Clock - The Story of History's First All-Sports Radio Network''.


See also

* List of United States radio networks


References

Sports radio in the United States Defunct radio networks in the United States Radio stations established in 1981 Radio stations disestablished in 1981 Mass media companies established in 1981 Mass media companies disestablished in 1981 1981 establishments in Connecticut 1981 disestablishments in Connecticut {{US-bcast-stub Defunct radio stations in the United States