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Sports Junkies Rejoice: The Birth of ESPN
Sports Junkies Rejoice is the fast-paced account of an incredible 14 month journey that led to the September 7, 1979 launch of ESPN. Bill Rasmussen introduces you to all the players that made it possible and shares with you the frustrations, tensions, emotions and excitement from concept to launch! When ESPN debuted on September 7th at 7:00 PM, there were no 24 hour networks. The "Big Three" ABC, CBS, NBC did not broadcast from 1:00 - 7:00 AM. HBO was live only five hours nightly. CNN and FNC hadn't yet begun to blanket us with news 24/7. As for MTV, The Weather Channel, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel and many others - they all came later. Over 90% of all cable systems in America had only 12 channels available and with over 50 new channels proposed ESPN led the way and became America's first 24 / 7 cable network. In 1979, Sports Illustrated opined, "ESPN may become the biggest thing in TV Sports since Monday Night Football and nighttime World Series Games." How prophetic!
262 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2010
16 people want to read
About the author
Bill Rasmussen
17 booksESPN went on the air on Sept. 7, 1979. Entrepreneurial daring and irrepressible enthusiasm gave the world the first 24-hour television network. Once unleashed upon sports fans, ESPN's impact forever changed the way we watch television. The man who had the dream, the founder of ESPN, is Bill Rasmussen.
Rasmussen's innovations in sports and broadcasting include "Sports Center," wall-to-wall coverage of NCAA regular season and "March Madness" college basketball, and coverage of the NFL Draft."
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July 30, 2011
Great read on the early days of ESPN. It's a fascinating look into not only how ESPN started but how the cable phenomenon got started. ESPN and the cable industry both exploded at the same time and you could argue that ESPN is a big reason why cable thrived so early. We Americans love our sports.
Another aspect I liked about Rasmussen's book was that it was personable, honest, introspective, and humble. Most of the time when a guy of Rasmussen's stature writes a book about himself it comes across as being self-aggrandizing and revisionist. Not so here. I like that he writes honestly about the people that ran him out of the company (within a year after it launched!) and he is full of criticism toward them but he gives them credit where credit is due. I finished the book really liking Rasmussen and feeling sorry for him for how big oil (it would take to long to explain) basically mugged him for his idea, ran him out of town, and then basically started printing money when ESPN took off.
Yet for all of that, Rasmussen doesn't come across as a man with an axe to grind. I'd recommend it for anyone who wondered how ESPN got started and how the cable and tv industry work (or at least worked circa 1979).
Another aspect I liked about Rasmussen's book was that it was personable, honest, introspective, and humble. Most of the time when a guy of Rasmussen's stature writes a book about himself it comes across as being self-aggrandizing and revisionist. Not so here. I like that he writes honestly about the people that ran him out of the company (within a year after it launched!) and he is full of criticism toward them but he gives them credit where credit is due. I finished the book really liking Rasmussen and feeling sorry for him for how big oil (it would take to long to explain) basically mugged him for his idea, ran him out of town, and then basically started printing money when ESPN took off.
Yet for all of that, Rasmussen doesn't come across as a man with an axe to grind. I'd recommend it for anyone who wondered how ESPN got started and how the cable and tv industry work (or at least worked circa 1979).
Displaying 1 of 1 review