Dan Le Batard already has a fairly large presence across multiple ESPN networks. He hosts The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz daily on ESPN Radio (and ESPNEWS), while Highly Questionable airs daily on ESPN2.
But apparently hosting two separate national daily shows isn’t enough for Dan, as Greg Cote reported today for the Miami Herald. Le Batard and ESPN confirmed that they’re launching a new podcast network, Le Batard and Friends, with a weekly South Beach Sessions podcast from Le Batard anchoring the lineup.
We won’t have to wait long for the show’s launch, either. It goes live next Tuesday with a preview episode featuring former ESPN personality Jemele Hill. The show will launch officially in 2019, after the holidays, on a weekly schedule.
We’re creating our own digital audio network! We’re launching with #SouthBeachSessions. “Episode 0” on the ESPN app now. It’ll be up on other platforms as the day progresses. Please subscribe, rate & review when it pops up on your preferred platform -Mike https://t.co/28AZMxv0kI
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) December 13, 2018
From ESPN’s release:
[South Beach Sessions] will feature a one-on-one interview each week and is the first original podcast from the newly created Le Batard and Friends Podcast Network. The guest for the December 18 preview is former ESPNer Jemele Hill who has worked extensively with Le Batard over the years on TV and radio. Future guests will come from sports, entertainment or music.
Cote reported a few of the likely guests to follow, as well:
The full weekly schedule is to launch on Jan. 8, but there will be a preview episode debuting Tuesday, Dec. 18, in which Le Batard interviews former ESPN personality Jemele Hill. Guests on subsequent episodes of South Beach Sessions are expected to include Chappelle Show co-creator Neal Brennan, broadcaster Joe Buck and iconic Miami producer and activist Luther Campbell.
That’s certainly a wide array of guests, but Le Batard has never limited himself to sports. One of the most reliably entertaining segments of his radio show features callers asking ridiculous wildlife-related questions to the endlessly patient animal expert Ron Magill. Podcasting affords a bit more room in time and topic than either of his current roles, and it will be interesting to see where Le Batard takes things going forward on his own pod, much less across the rest of the network.
