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Two women are bringing down the last old boys club with the help of ESPN

Courtesy ESPN

Courtesy ESPN

In the loud and busy world of sports radio, Sarah Spain and Prim Siripipat are hoping to bring a slightly different perspective: From women.

The duo is teaming up to host ‘Spain and Prim’, a radio show that ESPN believes is one of the first national sports radio shows to be hosted and produced by women as part of the network’s new lineup this season.

The show will debut Saturday at noon EST.

‘Spain and Prim’ comes two months after CBS Sports Network’s debut of ‘We Need To Talk’, the sports show hosted by female sports journalists and athletes. Spain said she wasn’t sure how much ESPN’s moves were affected by their competitor but noted the industry received a wake-up call during the Ray Rice scandal when media seemed more and more like a giant echo chamber.

“It is more interesting to hear people with diverse backgrounds instead of a panel of middle-aged white men that are usually — though not always — in agreement on everything,” she said.

Spain said what often troubles her about radio is that it seems to be a place where hosts can still say pretty terrible things about women or athletes in general and get away with it with a glib apology and little consequence. She pointed to the Boston radio host who called Erin Andrews a “gutless (expletive)” among other examples.

“It’s the last bastion of the old boys club,” she said.

The two said they bonded over their similar backgrounds as former Division I college athletes and hope that their on-air chemistry helps bring not only a female perspective, but one that’s just different than other radio shows out there.

“The wonderful thing about sports is it relates so much to life in general whether it has to do with business or school or relationships or life,” said Siripipat. “So I think being able to draw those analogies, it’s going to be a very fun dynamic energy.”

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