Jason Page Out at ESPN Radio

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dubymcd
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ESPN Radio’s Jason Page, host of the ‘Back Page’ on Hartford’s ESPN Radio 1410 and New Haven’s ESPN Radio 1300, has learned that his contract has not been renewed. The East Haven native learned of his dismissal after his Thursday show.

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38 COMMENTS

  2. I have no problem with this decision… Jason always seemed to find a way to turn any sports discussion on the radio into a discussion about himself. Nobody cared about his show, and ESPN finally realized this and pulled the plug. He had an arrogant, narcissistic personality…. ESPN can certainly do better.

  8. I didn’t mind Jason, I was a frequent caller into the show, it doesn’t bother me that ESPN decided to replace him. I just wished they replaced him with someone else than the boring guy that took his place on “The Drive,” he is horribly boring and I’ve gone out and bought a mp3 player for work now

  9. Jason Page had a listenable show, but everything was viewed from the negative. He never got over Calhoun’s press conference where Calhoun was sarcastic to him. After the first hour, he extended topics by whining about how CT doesn’t care or how poor attendance was or how he guarantees X player fails. Page was draining to listen to.

    I like Steve Lennox; his excitement level is low but he has a sane perspective with full disclosure where his fandom lies. He makes perfect sense in what he says and has a positive perspective most of the time. ESPN 1410 has definitely upgraded.

  10. I agree on some of Page’s negativity, but I always felt a sense of completion after a long day and listening to the Back Page on my way home. I’d even throw in a few extra errands to hear more from New Haven to Branford. The “Drive” is ear rape. I’d watch grass grow, and listen to it, if they called it sports or sports radio, but I cannot do “The Drive” for more than 10 minutes. Lennox is awful. I’d rather listen to NPR for talk radio.

  11. I’m sorry to see Jason go! I didn’t always agree with him, but I really appreciated his perspective and would look forward to hearing his show on my way home. Like Kevin B. I would sometimes add a little bit extra to my drive so I could hear more. The new guy is a little boring but I don’t hate listening to him. There was a guy who filled in for Jason a few weeks ago who I thought was excellent. I thought if Jason ever left he would be a great replacement! Who knew? They should get that guy! I wish I could remember his name. I just remember thinking that I liked him just as much as Jason! If you are reading this Jason, I wish you the best! You’ve got a pretty good head on your shoulders and I’m sure you’ll land on your feet somewhere! Thanks for bringing CT sports to the forefront on my drive home for the past few years!

  13. Jason -No more self back patting, no more trying to create controversy by putting yourself in the story.. No more fluff, your analyses invariably lacked substance. No to mentioned that you squeky voice was irritating, akin to Jay Leno’s.

  18. I’m so glad ESPN got rid of Jason although the new person isn’t much better. I got so sick of him knocking Jim Calhoun and his stupid personal stories about bowling & his condo which no one cares about. He’d get on a rant & never give it up. Now ESPN needs to find someone like Mike & Mike for the drive home!!!

  19. i think this is a classic case of “be careful what you wish for”…. i assume in not resigning page management thought they could do better… well, after listening to 2 weeks of the most god awful, HORRID, unlistenable sports radio i have EVER heard, i think its safe to say they were WRONG!!!

    listen, i am a sports radio junky, and like others on hear, will pretty much listen to ANYONE talking sports, but both this Chris Mohr and Steve Lennox guys were just abominable and FORCED me to change the station!!! management should be fired for even putting these hacks on for a week!!! and yesterday i noticed there was no local programming in the slot….thank god!!! which leads me to believe they are either rethinking their decision to boot page, or just got too many complaints about the fill in hacks…

    IMO, page was “solid”, especially in a fairly weak sports radio market like CT… he had his weaknesses, namely too much time spent on obscure local CT teams, talking WAY too much baseball, especially in the offseason, and a tendancy to rant on excessively at times…. BUT, overall, he was listenable and even entertaining at times… i say bring Page back!!! because as we know now, the “alternatives” can be a LOT worse!!!

  20. I am guessing that at lease one or two of the people who are writing negative things about replacements are somehow connected to Jason. If you look at the resumes of the fill-ins they are at the very least impressive.

  21. Jason took some time to get used t,o but he did the job, though he could not move on from the whole Jim Calhoun incident and always talked about certain players in a bad light, which is fine, but he kept talking about them again and again and again.

  25. I disagree with Geoff on a couple things. I think the best thing about the Back Page was that it was a good mix of local stuff and national stuff. And as much as I love football, and I do, I can’t stand it being the only sport covered on ESPN and Mike and Mike and such, with a sprinkling of other sports. It’s nice to hear about other sports, too. Still I wonder how much the Calhoun rants cost him his job. All in all, I’d be ecstatic to turn on 1300 and hear Page again.

  28. Page got better or easier to digest as time went along- he seemed to be carving niche in the CT sports scene. Whether you like him or not he knows his stuff(yes he’s arrogant) but he did a good job hosting the show. Everybody they have tried have been awful and”The drive” is the worst of the bunch. Hello WFAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  29. While Page could have been viewed as negative towards many topics, he atleast made valid points in being negative. Colin Cowherd makes his living by disagreeing with 90% of the callers, being agreeable and likeable doesn’t make for a good show. Page’s rants about people not supporting anything in this state are fully justified. He atleast tried to make an awareness of things like CCSU, Quinnipiac, WhalePack, UHartford, and the Colonials to try and boost attendance outside of Storrs. Its pathetic to attend any event in this state, everything good leaves and does great elsewhere. CCSU is a regular visitor to the NCAA Tournament in basketball, and yet no one attends a game. They have a stand-up coach, and players whom actually attend class unlike what we have in Storrs. The same goes for Quinnipiac, they are up and coming, have a great arena, brought in decent A-10 teams this year and still no one goes out to support them. Meanwhile the Celtics play a preseason game here or UConn playes Stoneybrook, and the idiots flock. Hopefully Page catches on elsewhere, otherwise it’s that arrogant bastard on WFAN, and then my personal favorite Steve Sommers for the last leg of the drive home. Page must not have kissed ESPN’s ass enough to stick around, so hopefully he sticks something up it in the long run.

  30. I didn’t notice the change for weeks because I’ve stopped listening to the Back page for months. Jason Page desperately wanted to be Colin Cowherd(which isn’t something to aspire to in my opinion). I don’t know how anyone could listen to him rant irrationally for hours at a time. I’m not crazy about the guy they have on now but it’s better than listening to Jason Page give you 100 reasons why the Yankees are so great every single day. And his personal vendetta against Jim Calhoun was embarrassing. I don’t miss Jason Page, I hope they get rid of Cowherd some day too.

  33. Page was the worst, how can someone so lame think so highly of himself? Page would talk about his personal life like people were interested…well I guess he figured out we weren’t. I agree this new Nanos guy is boring and he sounds like the “underground garage” guy, but atleast he doesn’t speak so highly of himself.

  34. I’m glad he’s off the air. I had stopped listening to the show because I was sick of hearing him bash Tiger Woods, and bash Michael Vick, and bash those of us who could care less that the UCONN women won 90 games.

    While the new guy isn’t great, at least I don’t have to hear holier-than-though-Page.

  36. Jason Page was alright. I could only handle his squeaky voice by the doses. I don’t mind not having Jason around and I agreed with a previous post -geoff – about CT being a weak market for sports radio. I personally think CT is a non-supportive state for local sporting events and such. People complain that the Whalers left but when they were here no one attended games. Thats why this state will never ever ever have a professional sports franchise again. Blue laws still exist, are you kidding me??? Package store not open on sunday really, ok lets go to MA or NY and give them the revenue and while were out there lets do a little shopping for other items such as clothing or groceries. CT = OLD STATE = AFRAID OF CHANGES