Courtesy the Chicago Sun Times

(October 15, 2010) Adam Delevitt was named the new program director at ESPN Radio sports talk WMVP-AM (1000) on Thursday. He had been the radio station's assistant program director since 2006. Delevitt replaces Justin Craig, who moved last month to New York to become program director at ESPN Radio's flagship station there, WEPN-AM (1050).

Since Craig announced his departure from WMVP late last month, Delevitt had made no secret of his desire to get the top programming job.

"I was already doing the job on an interim basis for the past several weeks," said Delevitt, a Chicago native. Because of his long-standing love for his hometown, Delevitt, 34, said he plans to make the station as Chicago-focused as possible without ignoring its national ESPN Radio brand affiliation. "I think the ESPN connection is actually a good thing for us," Delevitt added.

Delevitt's promotion at WMVP now pits him against Mitch Rosen, program director at CBS Radio Chicago's sports talk WSCR-AM (670) and an ace radio executive that Delevitt credits with teaching him much of what he knows about the sports radio business. In 1998, when Rosen was working at WMVP, he hired Delevitt as a part-time producer. Delevitt went on to become producer of WMVP's afternoon drive show and then assistant program director.

"Mitch was a big mentor of mine, and it's exciting now to be able to compete against him," Delevitt explained.

"I'm proud of Adam and his success, but at the end of the day the Score is still Chicago's No. 1 sports radio station," Rosen said Thursday.

While WSCR still readily beats WMVP overall in the Arbitron ratings in the core 25- to 54-year-old male demo, WMVP's morning drive show "The Mike & Mike Show" and WSCR's "The Mully & Hanley Show" are in a tight fight for ratings dominance.

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