Putting out Jim Rome

In the next time slot on ESPN’s afternoon sports programming is called Jim Rome is Burning. This show set at 4:30 is a sports opinion show closely related to Pardon the Interruption (See Earlier Blog) but Jim Rome has a much more macho-man style than other sports opinion shows. Rome first started out on Fox Sports Net on the show The Last Word but moved to ESPN with a show named after himself. Jim Rome also hosts a sports talk radio show in California and is rated one of the most influential men in sports radio. The show itself has been around since 2003 and has produced over 600 episodes. The segments, based off of Rome’s personality, are consistent and well named.

The show begins with a segment called “Rome is Burning” where Jim Rome talks about four or five different topics that is headlining the sports world news. He starts the segment off by saying “Here is what I am burning on” and is usually based off of his sports talk show from earlier in the day. After the commercial break the next a segment is called “Alone with Rome” where Jim Rome interviews a person from the sports world, usually relevant to the current sports world status. The interview can take place both in the studio or it can be through a T.V. via satellite. Another segment that he has in that slot sometimes is called “Correspondents” where an athlete or coach, anyone in the sports industry, takes the audience on a trip through their teams training facilities, a day in the life of, or anything related. The people who appear on that segment are said to get “Jim Rome is Burning ‘Karma’” and have good luck afterwards. He ends the show with a segment called “Forum” where he invites two people, be athletes, former athletes, talk show hosts, columnists, etc. as they discuss and usually argue some of the top sports stories in sports.

The first of many sports talk shows, Jim Rome is Burning, in a grouping of shows referred to ESPN Original Entertainment the show is played Monday through Friday in the time slot it was introduced in 2003 called “Rome is Burning” in the 7 o’clock timeslot, but was canceled for a short amount of time until it was re-introduced as Jim Rome is Burning in the time slot it sits at today. People enjoy his style of “Talking Smack” and overall mocking demeanor.