Enterprise Radio Network was an all-

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

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, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...

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 is the president of RMG Research, founder of the Napolitan Institute, and an editor-at-large for Ballotpedia. In the 1970s, Rasmu ...

, the son of

Bill Rasmussen William F. Rasmussen (born October 15, 1932) is an American sports director, and the founder of ESPN, along with Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan. Rasmussen was the first president and CEO of ESPN. ESPN was founded on July 14, 1978, and was launched ...

, who was the founder of

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. 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, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

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 produ ...

of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

;

Don Chevrier Don Chevrier (December 29, 1937December 17, 2007) was a Canadian sports announcer. He worked in television and radio, and was born in Toronto, Ontario. Biography Early life and career He began his broadcasting career at CJCA in Edmonton, Alb ...

, 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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

; network radio veterans John O'Reilly, Dan Davis and Bob Buck; Curt Chaplin, the announcer for the iconic TV show, ''

The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show, arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims court, small claims disputes in a simulation, simulated courtroom set. W ...

'';

Jay Howard Jay Howard (born 16 February 1981) is a British professional race car driver who competed in the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. Howard was the 2005 US Formula Ford Zetec champion (now known as the U ...

, 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 Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

' first

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

; 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 appe ...

and did extensive coverage of the National Sports Festival in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

. 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 Robert Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer, and a 3 time National Sportscaster of Year as voted by his peers. The son of former Green Bay Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NF ...

and

Sean McDonough Sean McDonough (born May 13, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and the WEEI Boston Red Sox Radio Network. McDonough has play-by-play experience for all four major professional sports leagues in the United States an ...

, 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 advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...

'') 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''.

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 Defunct radio stations in the United States {{US-radio-stub

Creation and programming

Struggle to keep afloat

Aftermath

See also

References