One of the busiest men in sports media is about to get even busier.
Stephen A. Smith will be embarking on two new shows at SiriusXM, as he announced with Howard Stern Wednesday morning. Smith will return to Mad Dog Radio with a two-hour show on weekdays from 1-3 pm ET starting in September, and will also have a weekly show covering “current events, pop culture and social commentary,” the company said in a release.
Smith previously hosted on Mad Dog Radio from 2013 to 2017, and his relationship with the station’s namesake and anchor host Chris Russo has led to Russo having an entertaining role on Smith’s First Take program on ESPN for the past several years.
The new deal makes SiriusXM the exclusive “audio” home for Smith. He is expected to continue to produce his eponymous show on YouTube, but not distribute it on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, a source told Front Office Sports.
The weekly non-sports show will further embolden Smith’s pivot into the political world, which has picked up in recent months. He has dabbled with the idea of running for president, while also appearing recurrently in spots on NewsNation alongside talking heads like Chris Cuomo, Bill O’Reilly, and James Carville.
Smith recently agreed to a five-year deal worth over $100 million with ESPN, which gave him the freedom to explore opportunities outside the network.
