Mo Davenport Named Senior VP and General Manager of ESPN Radio

Network Creates New "Regional GM" Positions

Twenty-two year ESPN veteran Mo Davenport has been named senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Radio, it was announced today by Traug Keller, ESPN senior vice president, production, business divisions. Davenport will be based at ESPN Radio studios in Bristol, Conn. and oversee all aspects of ESPN Radio content, including talk programming, event play-by-play coverage, podcasts and other online content, commentators and production, as well as distribution, ad sales and marketing initiatives for ESPN Radio’s 700 affiliated stations and five owned stations.

Additionally, Keller named Tim McCarthy and Jim Pastor to the newly created regional general manager positions designed to better coordinate ESPN Radio’s five owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Pittsburgh. McCarthy, who has been president and general manager of 1050 ESPN Radio in New York, will additionally oversee WEAE-AM 1250 in Pittsburgh, while Pastor, who has been general manager of WMVP-AM/ESPN 1000 in Chicago, will also oversee ESPN Radio 710 in Los Angeles and KESN-FM/ESPN 103.3FM in Dallas/Ft. Worth.

“As we seek to fulfill our mission of serving sports fans via an increasing number of platforms, we need leaders who demonstrate vision and passion for what they do, and Mo’s leadership experiences at ESPN make him exceptionally qualified to lead not only a very talented Radio network team, but also interact with all the moving parts of ESPN to maximize Radio as a business for our company,” Keller said.  “In Jim Pastor and Tim McCarthy we have two industry leaders who will help our station group, which recently came under our stewardship from ABC Radio, grow to new heights in both audience and revenue.”

Davenport, who joined ESPN in 1985 as an associate producer, most recently was the network’s vice president, remote production, in charge of the day-to-day administration of non-professional sports on ABC and ESPN since March 2006.

 “I’ve been fortunate to have worked on many great sporting events with the best production team in the business since 1985,” Davenport said. “When an opportunity to work in an area as exciting and vibrant as ESPN Radio arose, I felt now was the right time for change.  I wish continued success to all my teammates in event production, and now look forward to joining the leadership of ESPN Radio.”

Davenport, who played a role in the launch of ESPN HD and was #95 on Sports Illustrated’s 2003 list of most powerful minorities in sports, is a two-time Emmy winner for his work on animation (ESPN’s first Emmy) and technology (on football’s “1st and 10” line), and was named the Outstanding TV Sports Executive in 1999 by the All-American Football Foundation. He was a key force behind ESPN’s critically acclaimed NCAA men’s basketball tournament coverage and the company’s extensive women’s NCAA basketball tournament coverage, and began to work extensively on ESPN's college football coverage when he was promoted to producer in January 1986.

McCarthy, president & GM of 1050 ESPN Radio since its September 2002 launch, joined the Disney Group of radio stations in 1990 as an account executive with WPLJ-FM, becoming general manager for legendary News/Talk station 77WABC in 1999 and presided over the acquisition and start up of 1560 AM Radio Disney. He was named Radio & Records’ 2006 News/Talk GM of the Year, and was named one of the 10 best managers by Radio Ink in 2005. 

Pastor joined ABC Radio in 1993 and was named director of sales for Radio Disney network in 1997. He became vice president, sales & marketing for Radio Disney network in 2000, and was named president, general manager of WMVP-AM and WZZN-FM in June 2004.

ESPN Radio is the nation’s largest sports radio network, providing more than 9,000 hours of talk and event content to nearly 750 non-duplicative stations reaching more than 20 million listeners* each week. ESPN Radio’s nearly 350 full-time affiliates, offering round the clock programming, include owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Pittsburgh. Additionally, ESPN Radio is the exclusive national radio network for the NBA, Major League Baseball and the Bowl Championship Series, and also broadcasts 17 regular-season college football games.

* Knowledge Networks/SRI

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