ESPN Radio’s Joe Fortenbaugh ‘not happy’ with Stephen A. Smith’s competing SiriusXM show

Thanks to Michelle Beadle, Cody Decker and now ESPN’s Joe Fortenbaugh, Stephen A. Smith officially has at least three people who won’t be listening to his SiriusXM Radio show.

With it already seeming like Smith holds enough airtime through his various media platforms, Smith surprised everyone this week, when he announced a multi-year deal with SiriusXM. The partnership will see Smith bring two new shows to the platform, including a daily spot from 1 – 3pm ET on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio.

No one expected Smith to think about Beadle and Decker, the hosts he will be replacing on the channel, but what about the hosts he’s now going up against at ESPN?

“Not happy,” Fortenbaugh said this week on First Take. “What’s with this new radio show? You realize you’re going up against me and my timeslot, aren’t ya? What are you doing?”

Fortenbaugh co-hosts with Q Myers on ESPN Radio every weekday from noon – 3pm ET. Smith might be the face of ESPN every weekday from 10am – noon ET. But beginning Sept. 2, from 1 – 3pm, he will be the competition.

Smith pleaded ignorance, claiming he hadn’t considered competing against Fortenbaugh. Even if he had thought about his colleagues becoming competitors, the prospect wasn’t going to change Smith’s mind.

“Opportunities arose,” Smith said. “Not just for me and myself, but for my production company. And I couldn’t turn it down. I’m sure you could appreciate that.”

Now it’s on Fortenbaugh to sell sports fans on why they should listen to his radio show instead of Smith’s beginning this September. And he started with Molly Qerim, who was standing next to him on First Take’s set.

“You listen to so much of this all day, do you want more of this?” Fortenbaugh asked Qerim.

And when Qerim agreed, saying, “I’m not listening to SiriusXM Radio,” Smith basically responding by taking his ball and going home, noting, “That’s not my target audience.”

Smith is undoubtedly an incredible draw, especially as his fame and notoriety grows into calls for him to consider running for president of the United States. But Fortenbaugh is right, when does it become too much?

Clearly, Smith isn’t concerned about overextending or overexposing himself. We get Smith on First Take, we get him on his podcast, on Fox News, NewsNation, NBA Countdown, General Hospital and through cameos or interview on countless other shows. No one is starved of Stephen A. Smith content. Yet he’s about to give us more.