As half of “The Mason and Ireland Show” on ESPN's 710 AM, Mason, 44, covers everything going on in the sports world, especially if it involves the Los Angeles Lakers or USC football.

But what his listeners probably don't realize is that he's just as passionate about Quentin Tarantino as he is Kobe Bryant. As the president and CEO of Flagship Theatres, Mason decides which films screen at Cinemas Palme d'Or in Palm Desert, where he is a co-owner.

“There were a lot of people who didn't think we'd make it,” Mason said. “But we're doing all right.”

Juggling two diverse and demanding careers can be tricky, as we found out while spending a day with Mason in Los Angeles.

A Day At The Office

On a recent Tuesday, Mason and longtime radio partner John Ireland are prepping for a short day in the studio at the downtown L.A. Live complex. The Lakers are playing for the first time since the all-star break and the pair is due at the Staples Center for their 6:30 p.m. pregame show.

Fueled by a Starbucks venti iced Americano, the next 3 1/2 hours are a buzz of trade talk, opinionated callers and an interview with former Laker Doug Christie.

“Lakers and Trojans fans are insane, really intense,” Mason says.

In between the on-air chatter, he and Ireland record lightning-fast promos for upcoming shows, read e-mails and send out Tweets and text messages.

It's a typical day for Mason, who describes himself as “a typical first-born overachiever.”

“My mother says if my eyes are open, I'm working,” he says. “I am a bit compulsive.”

Mason has been on radio in one form or another since he was a kid living in Toledo, Ohio. Being on ESPN was part of his dream.

“My family could talk sports all day,” he said. “If you wanted to talk (at the dinner table), you had to know everything about every sport there was, and I wanted to talk.”

At 15, Mason talked a local radio station into putting him on the air “for five minutes a day doing a sports recap,” he says.

Around the same time, he became the personal assistant to the manager of the minor league Toledo Mud Hens. “That consisted of traveling with the team and calling in the scores to the (Toledo) stations,” Mason says.

The experience turned out to be good preparation for his future career.

In 1992, Mason got a job at a Los Angeles radio station.

The move put him in the position to realize his full potential in broadcasting. “It opened up a whole new network of people I never would have met,” he says.

It was during that first stint on the West Coast that Mason began branching out into the entertainment world by working with Tom Snyder on “The Late, Late Radio Show with Tom Snyder and Steve Mason” (1996-1998).

He interviewed guests like Oscar winner Ben Kingsley (“I was a little nervous introducing him and he leaned over and said, ‘Oh, Steve, just call me Ben,' which really put me at ease”) and James Cromwell: (“He always has these great sayings, like, ‘Just ride the horse in the direction it's going'”).

He also did a pilot for a late-night talk show with Cromwell — “There was no money in it for Jamie,” Mason says. “He did it for because we're friends.”

Mason seemingly makes friends easily. Like Ireland. They've worked together on and off since 1994.

“We just hit it off,” Ireland says. “It was Steve's idea that we work together, and we work well together.”

“He gets me,” Mason says. “When he's being insufferable, I tolerate him and when I'm being insufferable, he tolerates me.”

Another friend is Brian Tabor, who along with film producer Alise Mauritzson (“Ray”), opened Cinemas Palme d'Or with Mason in October 2003. Actor Bryan Cranston, the star of AMC's “Breaking Bad,” came on board 18 months later.

“When we opened (the theater) it was hard to get the films we wanted,” Mason says. “Now (the distributors) are knocking on our door.”

'Little Devil'

Owning a movie theater is one thing, but making movies is another matter entirely.

Mason recently wrote, produced and starred in “Little Devil,” a short film about conservative strategist Lee Atwater.

Making the movie gave Mason a new perspective on the process.

“I will never again complain about any movie being ‘a waste of time' or say ‘it's flat-out awful' because I now have a deep appreciation for how many people it takes to make a movie and how hard it is to do,” Mason says.

“Little Devil” has played film festivals (it's entered for consideration in the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival in June) and has gotten “phenomenal response,” he says.

Mason's found his first filmmaking experience so exhilarating, he's working on a feature-length film.

“I'm ruminating on the next script,” he says with a smile.

With a first-hand understanding of the challenges of movie making and his experience running a theater, Mason recently joined the board of directors of The Collaborative, “(a nonprofit) organization dedicated to helping all filmmakers successfully distribute their product across all platforms.”

“The Collaborative is probably another real focus of my career moving forward,” Mason says. “Making movies is difficult. Getting them distributed — theatrically, on pay cable, on demand, on DVD and digitally — is even tougher.”

As for his future in broadcasting, “(ESPN) has been very good to (Mason and Ireland), and our ratings have never been better,” he says.

“I don't imagine a day when I won't have radio as part of what I do. My ‘second act' will almost certainly have radio as a component.”