Fox Sports Radio's CLAY TRAVIS has become one of the "most listened-to sports personalities in America," having made his name "tying the business woes of ESPN to its coverage of politically progressive athletes," according to a profile piece by Ben Strauss of POLITICO magazine. Since PRESIDENT TRUMP's election, Travis has "evolved into something much bigger than just a sports bro with an unlimited supply of attitude." He has gone from "opining and blogging on SEC football" to a "darling in Republican media circles, a reliable source of ammunition in an increasingly bitter and polarizing national culture war." He is an "oft-cited source on websites like the Daily Caller, Breitbart and Lifezette." Travis broke the story that ESPN pulled announcer ROBERT LEE "off a scheduled telecast" at the Univ. of Virginia in the aftermath of the Charlottesville protest, which "landed him not one but three appearances on TUCKER CARLSON's show on Fox." When ESPN's JEMELE HILL last month called Trump a "white supremacist," Travis was "summoned to CNN as the designated conservative voice." He has "fashioned a powerfully appealing identity from the playbooks of an array of media stars on the right." He has the "in-your-face masculinity of MIKE CERNOVICH; RUSH LIMBAUGH's national radio show; and the independent media company model of InfoWars’ ALEX JONES." Travis told a friend and ESPN employee earlier this year, "I'm going to be the HOWARD STERN of sports." Travis' Twitter following is "exploding -- he added 50,000 followers after his recent performance on CNN -- and he has more viewers on Periscope than ever." His radio show will be "downloaded more than a million times this month." Odds Shark, the sponsor of his Periscope show, "pays him a fee in the six figures to slap its logo on a screen behind him during the videos" (POLITICO magazine, 9/29 issue).
