Stephen A. Smith is best known for his popular sports commentary on ESPN. In weeks to come, however, he hopes people will start talking about new projects that could have him test out different genres and projects as well as back efforts by other talent.
Smith has enlisted one of his closest friends, longtime “Entertainment Tonight” co-host Kevin Frazier, to help expand Smith’s production company, Straight Shooter Media. Under a new deal Smith recently struck with ESPN’s corporate owner, Walt Disney Co., Smith is free to pursue projects that are not related to sports, and to identify potential concepts and content ideas, with Disney getting a first-look window of around 30 days.
“We are looking at this shifting landscape,” says Frazier, during a joint interview with Smith. “We are going to raise a few eyebrows. People are going to say, ‘They are not messing around.’”
Straight Shooter Media produced the ESPN docuseries “Up For Debate,” and currently produces “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on YouTube. The company is launching two new original shows on SiriusXM next month: a sports show on Mad Dog Radio Channel 82 and a political show on POTUS Channel 124. Smith will host both. Smith says he has “freedom on my YouTube channel to do as many shows or anything that I want to do that is not sports-related. Sports is tied to SiriusXM Radio and ESPN, but my non-sports content can be on my YouTube channel and on podcasts as often as I want it. Plus, the door is open to do a weekly show” that could be something akin to Bill Maher’s “Real Time” or John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” on HBO.
Smith’s journey as a producer and personality is likely to be heavily scrutinized in an era when popular figures have more opportunities to test concepts beyond the job for which they are best known. Many traditional TV anchors are trying their hand at video podcasts that let them be more freewheeling, or digital newsletters that give them free rein to vent or rant. Because Smith is one of the most popular personae at one of the nation’s most-watched media outlets, he can wield significant leverage in emerging digital platforms where his fame and strong brand give him an edge over lesser-known figures.
Frazier is instrumental to the new effort, says Smith, because the duo have a strong bond. They first met while working for Fox Sports, where, Frazier says he quickly recognized that Smith “was different than the rest of us” and destined for bigger things. The two have kept in regular touch over the years. “We are very, very close, and so we talk to one another. We fight for one another. We support one another,” says Smith. And yet, Smith adds, Frazier “never wanted anything from me” as his fame grew. Smith says he’s long wanted to do something for his friend, and that included working with him as part of the new production company, in which Smith says Frazier will have an undisclosed ownership stake.
Casual fans of either may not be aware of how their spheres of influence overlap. Frazier is “the one that got me hired” at ESPN in 2005, Smith says of Frazier. As Smith tells the story, Frazier asked Mark Shapiro, then the senior programming executive of ESPN, to bring Smith aboard. Many executives told Shapiro not to hire Smith, with the exception of Norby Williamson, an influential presence at ESPN for years who had a strong hand in the makeup of the network’s studio shows.
“They said, ‘He’s not our cup of tea. He’s not our kind of guy.’” Smith recalls. But since he spurred such strong opinions in senior staff, Shapiro decided he needed to get a better look at what Smith could do. Frazier played a role in Smith’s first audition for executives at the Disney sports-media giant. Smith did a 20 minute audition with Frazier, and within half an hour of leaving ESPN, he got an offer for a new three-year contract. “Mark Shapiro called it the greatest audition he had ever seen,” he recalled. Today, Shapiro, now an executive officer at WME as well as TKO Sports, represents Smith’s interests in many areas, along with Jon Rosen who operates the boutique talent firm Envisionary.
Frazier has experience beyond TV, having founded HipHollywood.com, a site for urban entertainment news.
Smith has been eager to show what he can do as a producer and programmer, and now, he says, “we have so many possibilities and so many avenues” to explore.
