ESPN Radio Review

ESPN Radio is an official ESPN app designed for listening to a variety of ESPN Radio content and stations. It provides access to dozens of ESPN Radio affiliates nationwide, playing ESPN talk radio content, local sports talk, and live sports broadcasts both local and national; I found a minor league baseball broadcast on one station while browsing.

The app provides for access to a ton of ESPN content; to my surprise, even MLB games were available through the app, though local blackouts do apply. There is also a wide variety of prerecorded content available, from the latest broadcasts of both national radio shows, but also some local shows on ESPN Radio stations. As well, there's the ability to stream podcasts from ESPN, from Bill Simmons' BS Report to audio-only versions of shows Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn. The app also supports iOS multitasking and headset controls, so leaving the app while still listening to a station or podcast is easy.

The challenge is finding stations; the only displays are by a list of favorites or by location, which shows the closest stations. However, this tends to make the lists of stations that appear quite random. For example, finding the MLB on ESPN station took 3 presses of the "Find More Stations" button despite a game going on at the time of searching for it. The currently playing description on each station is occasionally inaccurate, or not exactly descriptive; yes, I presume that this ESPN Radio station is playing "ESPN Radio content" when I see it in the list of stations! While this is a paid app, ads still display, although they can be easily closed out.

ESPN Radio provides a treasure trove of ESPN and sports content for only $2.99, although the interface makes discovering this content more difficult than it should be. For sports fans and especially fans of ESPN content, this app provides great mobile access to a wide variety of content.