Editing Talk radio (section)

===Sports===
[[Sports radio|Sports talk radio]] can be found locally and nationally in the US; as of 2013, five national full-time sports talk networks exist. The oldest existing network, dating to 1991, is [[SportsMap]] (although it has only been branded as such since 2020 and has rebranded frequently over the years). Market leader [[ESPN Radio]] followed shortly thereafter in 1992, followed by [[Fox Sports Radio]] c. 2000 and the near-concurrent entries of CBS Sports Radio (now [[Infinity Sports Network]]) and [[NBC Sports Radio]] in late 2012 and early 2013. Most of these, however, air on weak, low-budget AM stations; the most successful sports talk stations operate primarily with local programs and supplement their programming with the [[broadcasting of sports events]], usually involving the local teams in the [[Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada|major professional sports leagues]]. This adds significant expenses to the station's operations, and must be balanced carefully with the regular talk schedule, as an incendiary view about the team by a host can lead to that team pulling their broadcasts from the station.

Local stations may also hire personalities with [[hot take|polarizing opinions about sports topics and athletes]] to make some kind of national impact that might turn off listeners, and in large markets, sports talk stations may be made up of personalities [[brokered programming|who pay stations for their show time and their advertising]], disallowing any natural flow between each program, along with in-station competitions about whose show has the most impact.