About this episode

This episode explores the origins of ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, featuring insights from its early employees and authors of a new audiobook.

If you are driving in Bristol, Connecticut-maybe you're going to Lake Compounce Amusement Park - and suddenly you spy a cluster of huge satellite dishes, you might wonder if space aliens had really landed. But what you've discovered is the home base of ESPN - originally entitled the Entertainment & Sports Programming Network - shortened to ESPN in 1985. Every year tens of millions of fans watch ESPN but 47 years ago, a 24-hour sports television cable network was considered a wild and impossible idea. Our guests on this episode are the authors of the new audiobook SPORTS HEAVEN: The Birth of ESPN published by Hachette Audio on April 7, 2026. Historian Mike Soltys was hired in the summer of 1980 as a college intern by ESPN's founder, Bill Rasmussen, and served 43 years in ESPN's corporate communications department, the last 20 as a vice president. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time Historian. Mike is serving as producer of a documentary Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN and co-author of the accompanying book. Garrett Sutton is an attorney and best-selling author of business and entrepreneurial books. He is co-author with Mike of Sports Heaven and is also the Executive…

People in this episode

Guests: Mike Soltys, Garrett Sutton

Topics covered

• ESPN history
• sports television
• Bristol Connecticut
• media development
• cultural impact of sports

Keywords

• ESPN
• Bristol
• sports television
• Mike Soltys
• Garrett Sutton
• history
• documentary

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ESPN, Hachette Audio

Books & works: SPORTS HEAVEN: The Birth of ESPN

Places: Bristol, Connecticut, Lake Compounce Amusement Park

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