D-C Radio: WTEM's 'Man Cave' Cancelled, PD Fired

UPDATE 10/2915: WTEM takes The Man Cave off air for final time and replaces it with Mike&Mike from ESPN.  Click Here for Update.

Original Posting from March 16, 2015...

“The Man Cave” — a new morning drive program co-hosted by Chris Paul and former Washington Post columnist Jason Reid — will not make its planned debut on ESPN 980 Monday morning.

It remained unclear when or if the show would air, according to The Washington Post.

The station had announced the creation of the new show Feb. 20, (Click Here for original post) with plans for Reid and Paul to be integrated into WTEM 980 AM, WWXT 92.7 FM and WWXX 94.3 FM /ESPN 980′s programming and to contribute to a variety of the station’s shows.

The station started running promos for Monday’s show debut, and a show Twitter account wrote on Thursday “It’s. About. To. Go. Down!” while mentioning Monday’s planned debut.

But by then, there were already whispers that something was amiss. One person at Redskins Park said the widespread perception was that top Redskins officials were miffed by the hiring of Reid, a sometimes harsh critic of the team in recent years, although it’s unclear if that contributed to the show’s status.

Jason Reid

Owner Daniel Snyder also owns ESPN 980, which has a studio at Redskins Park and broadcasts the team’s games. Many of the station’s current hosts have been widely critical of how the team has been run, seemingly without any public repercussions.

Meanwhile, a reliable source tells DCRTV that there is "serious drama" involving the new "Man Cave" show.

Not only will the show not debut Monday,,it never will and that WTEM Program Director Chuck Sapienza has been fired.

ESPN's Mike & Mike Show will air instead.

A station insider tells DCRTV that the last-minute demise of the "Man Cave" is "a total disaster. Last week, Jason and Chris attended a sales meeting and talked about how this move was a game changer for the radio station and the company. Here we are one week later and we have no morning show and no program director."