This report comes from a non-traditional sports media source. Nellie Andreeva of the TV industry website Deadline is reporting that Jim Rome will take his radio show from his long time home of the Premiere Radio Networks to the new CBS Sports Radio that will be launching on January 2, 2013.
Rome’s show has been with Premiere since 1996. The move to CBS Radio would be a natural fit since Rome’s nightly TV show is on CBS Sports Network and his contract allows him to contribute to CBS’ major sports properties such as the U.S. Open, the NCAA Tournament and the NFL.
In addition, Rome is expected to have a sports and entertainment show on Showtime so bringing his radio show to the new CBS Sports Radio is just a natural progression.
In my Wednesday sports media thoughts, I wrote CBS Sports Radio was hoping for a big name for its lineup to join Doug Gottlieb who had been previously lured from ESPN Radio. Well, Jim Rome certainly gives the new network a nice one-two punch with him and Gottlieb back-to-back.
Now the morning drive period has to be filled and perhaps that will come from CBS Radio’s WFAN in New York with the already established Boomer & Carton, Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton. Esiason has already been signed to be a regular contributor on CBS Sports Radio so maybe his show will be the next big announcement.
In the meantime, we’ll find out later when Rome’s last show for Premiere will air. I would expect Rome to begin with CBS Sports Radio when the network launches on January 2, 2013. We’ll get a formal announcement soon.
