ESPN Announces 2009 NASCAR On-Air Line-Up

The news from ESPN for 2009 is a mixture of positive changes and some lack of change that may surprise fans.

Topping the news is the fact that Mike Massaro will replace Ryan Burr as one of the three co-hosts of NASCAR Now. Nicole Manske will return and both Manske and Massaro will travel to the racing weekends and report from the field. Ryan Burr was a solid interviewer and news anchor, but Massaro is a much more experienced NASCAR journalist.

Allen Bestwick will continue to host the Monday NASCAR Now roundtable that has become the flagship for ESPN2's coverage of the sport. Bestwick will apparently continue to have a constantly rotating panel of reporters, analysts and NASCAR personalities.

With Massaro moving to NASCAR Now, it will be Vince Welch who steps-up and joins the NASCAR on ESPN crew of pit reporters. Returning will be Dave Burns, Shannon Spake and Jamie Little. Welch filled-in last season and with the reduced IRL schedule on ESPN in 2009 was available. Welch will continue to work the IRL events as well.

Bestwick will also continue to host the NASCAR Countdown pre-race shows and have his trusty sidekicks with him. Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty will return as regulars and will be joined by Ray Evernham on selected races. Evernham is ESPN's utility player and will appear on NASCAR Now, selected races as an analyst and also on other ESPN programs like First Take and the ESPNEWS Network.

Several weeks ago, TDP hinted that Marty Reid was going to be actively involved in ESPN's 2009 NASCAR coverage and we were correct. Jerry Punch will handle the play-by-play for the Nationwide Series races until the ESPN Sprint Cup coverage begins. At that time, Reid will step-in and handle the Nationwide events.

That will free Punch to focus his efforts on the final 17 Sprint Cup Series race for ESPN and ABC. Reid is an ESPN veteran who had been a fill-in for Punch in the past. Just like Welch, Reid will continue his IRL duties including the Indy 500.

Punch will once again be joined by Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the announce booth. The NASCAR on ESPN team will be rounded-out by Tim Brewer.

This information answers a lot of questions about ESPN's 2009 NASCAR coverage. The Tech Center will be back on the road for the entire season with Brewer and his auto parts showcase. ESPN has also returned the Infield Pit Studio with Bestwick and company. This muti-purpose facility served to host a wide variety of programs for ESPN in 2008.

This new line-up gives Punch a breather when the Sprint Cup Series come around to ESPN and frees him from "double duty." While it does not address some of the play-by-play issues Punch struggled with over the last two years, perhaps it will be the break he needs to really bring home the Sprint Cup season with a strong finish.

Thanks to ESPN for all the information and the snazzy new picture of Mike Massaro. Good luck to the entire on-air and production crew during the 2009 season.

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TLC Brings A New NASCAR Wives Show To TV

As they say in reality TV land, this could be interesting. Below is the story from Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter about a new NASCAR TV show on TLC:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - TLC is gearing up a new reality show tracking the spouses of NASCAR drivers.

The cable network has ordered a docusoap series titled "NASCAR Wives," starring women with surnames familiar to racing fans.

TLC will air an hour of the series as a stand-alone special January 24 with a lead-in from the network's most-watched annual event, the Miss America pageant. A full season, including an undisclosed number of episodes, will follow in the spring.

The concept mixes racing with the "wives genre" peppering cable primetime, from Lifetime's drama "Army Wives" to Bravo's reality show "The Real Housewives of Orange County."

Lest it seem too male-skewing for a female-skewing genre, TLC president Eileen O'Neill said 40% of NASCAR fans are women.

Participants include Delana Harvick (wife of Kevin, who has 11 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins), Shana Mayfield (wife of Jeremy, a 15-year Sprint Cup veteran), Kelley Earnhardt (sister of Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver) and Angie Skinner (wife of Mike, who competes in NASCAR's top three national series).

Well, of all the years to create a series like this, 2009 is a curious choice. Also interesting is the "docusoap" label put on the project by TLC. The series will be produced by The NASCAR Media Group.

"Throughout a 10-month season, the drivers' wives are the glue holding together each racing family," NASCAR Media Group COO Jay Abraham said. "This show provides an honest and emotional peek into their experience with our sport."

Several features and TV series over the years have tried to go behind the scenes in terms of both racing families and the wives of the NASCAR drivers. Most of them were short-lived.

TDP applauds The NASCAR Media Group for getting NASCAR-related programming outside of the SPEED and ESPN box. Both of those networks have essentially stopped ordering any original series and Wednesday will see the only new NMG series debut on SPEED...at noon. It does not re-air.

TLC was originally The Learning Channel, but has long since left those days and become a solid destination for all kinds of family programming. This may be the best destination for a series like this.

As the press release mentions, there will be a special stand-alone episode on January 24th and the regular series will begin airing later in the spring. TDP will keep you posted on the dates and times of the series this season.

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Sirius XM Plummeting To Earth

One reason TDP has been pushing hard for increased TV news coverage of NASCAR-related issues is because the economy has been forcibly restructuring the sport during these last three months.

ESPN.com's Ed Hinton (click here) just called the economic impact of this recession his top NASCAR story of 2008.

Aside from the obvious news about drivers and sponsorships, there are a myriad of NASCAR issues that seem to be escaping the mainstream media. One of them is the struggle of NASCAR's satellite radio partner Sirius XM.

Sirius and XM started individually with a lot of promise and exclusive sports programming, including NASCAR. Sirius XM currently has the satellite radio contract to carry the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races live.

Unfortunately, the recently merged company also has about one billion dollars of debt and Sirius XM stock has plummeted (click here) to less than fifteen cents a share.

Recently, (click here) the New York Times painted a less than optimistic picture of the struggles of the Sirius XM corporation. Here is an excerpt:

Its balance sheet is larded with nearly $1 billion of debt that matures in 2009 and must be refinanced, but try finding a sympathetic banker in our current hard-luck environment.

Sirius XM has nearly 20 million paying customers, many of them evangelists for the service, but what does that matter if you can’t pay your debts?The company has never turned a profit and cannot predict when it ever will.

These are not good words for NASCAR fans who are used to enjoying the Sirius 24-hour line-up of NASCAR content that includes both original shows and live races.

Since the final 2008 racing weekend in Homestead, it has been Sirius that has carried the load in terms of providing updated news, interviews and conversation as the sport goes through this painful off-season experience. Both SPEED and ESPN have failed miserably on the TV side.

While syndicated MRN and PRN shows are helpful and the NASCAR news on the Internet is regularly updated, there has been no comparison to the parade of NASCAR personalities and journalists who have appeared live on Sirius since the 2008 season ended. For hardcore fans, Sirius is a valuable tool for keeping up with the sport.

It was 2005 when NASCAR announced (click here) that it was switching satellite radio partners from XM to Sirius beginning with the 2007 season. The price tag for the entire deal was $107.5 million.

NASCAR likes to slice the pie into many pieces to generate as much revenue as possible. Among other things, Sirius is the satellite radio alternative to the commentary from the three NASCAR Sprint Cup TV broadcasters.

It allows fans to either listen to the races strictly on Sirius or use the audio from the Sirius broadcast while watching the video from the TV partners. The TV mute button is very popular with NASCAR on Sirius listeners.

DirecTV recently announced (click here) that Hot Pass is cancelled for 2009 because of the rotten economy and the fact that the service relied directly on subscribers to foot the entire bill. It was not very clear if 250 thousand of DirecTV's 13 million subscribers would add Hot Pass for next season.

That move eliminated the only other TV option for fans who wanted to watch the races but avoid the Fox, TNT or ESPN announcers. Now, Sirius and the MRN and PRN radio broadcasts are the last resort. Unfortunately, the terrestrial radio is not carried in some areas while Sirius is available directly by satellite nationwide.

As fans know, the newly merged Sirius XM NASCAR group (click here) is still sorting things out. Gone are shows from several drivers and in limbo are pros like Claire B. Lang (click here) and other content formerly carried by XM. January should truly be a month of transition for the Sirius team.

The word bankruptcy is being tossed around (click here) should Sirius XM be unable to refinance the billion dollar debt. Financial experts have lots of opinions, but one big problem is the lack (click here) of new car sales. Sirius was originally an automotive-based service and still relies on that slice of the pie as the foundation of the business.

One popular opinion is for Sirius to drop the monthly fees and allow anyone to buy a portable receiver and enjoy the service. This would bring more advertising to the channels, but it is clear the alternative is not working. With HD radio and Internet audio streaming in full swing, one thing is for sure. Sirius XM must act now to avoid the end of satellite radio as we know it.

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