Revisiting Monster Jam’s Television History

If you tune in to MAVTV this weekend at 8:00 PM ET, you will be immediately transported to the Alamodome in San Antonio as a part of our stadium series coverage on the Monster Jam television broadcast. If you stick around at 9:00 PM ET you will hear from a rising star technician on “Inside Monster Jam Powered by Lucas Oil.” And, if you still have MAVTV rocking at the breakfast table on Sunday morning at 8:30 AM ET we will take you to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville with an all-new “Arena In 30 Powered by Spin Master.” The point is that every weekend you have the opportunity to watch two hours of original Monster Jam content, and of course you can tune in to MAVTV every day to witness some classic Monster Jam events from years past, and you can also fire up our YouTube Channel for even more vintage and original shows highlighting Monster Jam’s illustrious history. We now have more digital and broadcast content available than ever before. But, to go back to where it started, we’d have to hop in our time machine to 1989.

Yes, there were televised events before ’89 but, for this article, that is where we will start our journey. “Tuff Trax” was only available in syndication, but it was where I was first introduced to monster trucks on television, tractor pulling, and the infamous growl of the GOAT, Scott Douglass along with his equally legendary broadcast partner, Army Armstrong. This was also a transitional period in the sport as the United States Hot Rod Association acquired TNT Motorsports ushering in a new era in what would eventually become Monster Jam.

Now we flash forward a few years to the early 90’s for the short lived “USHRA Monster Wars” with Joe Lowe calling the action. I remember watching this on Saturdays and, not only being captivated by the action on the track, but who can forget the cut away scenes with the larger-than-life characters representing the trucks.

While we are in this era, I want to give a shout out to the first incarnation of “Inside Monster Jam” which aired on ESPN2 in the late 90’s and was hosted by Jerry Bernardo. This show featured Scott Douglass calling not only monster truck action, but sand drags, buggy carts, BMX racing, and everything in between and also highlighted the iconic voice of David Lee welcoming us to “Inside Monster Jam Presented By 1-800-Collect.”

Before we get to the 2000’s lets grab our remote and flip it over to TNN Motor Madness for a quick stop. This program showcased the best of the best competing for the 1999 season championship in St. Louis at an event that would be the predecessor for Monster Jam World Finals. You won’t find a better lineup of drivers in 1999 than at the Trans World Dome featuring some young up and comers named Jim Koehler, Tom Meents, Scott Hartsock, Gary Porter, Mark Hall, Paul Shafer, Brian Barthel, and Scott Stephens to name a few.

We have now arrived at an era of Monster Jam television that is remembered fondly by nostalgic fans who have aptly named it the “SPEED YEARS”. Monster Jam began airing on SPEED with two specials in 2003 which would kick off a 10-year run on the network, totaling 258 episodes. Highlighted by the popular broadcast team of Scott Douglass, Ken Stout, and Mark Schroeder, this program featured racing and freestyle action from around the league, World Finals broadcasts, themed shows such as “Greatest Races” and even showcased the end-of-year awards ceremony.

In 2014, Monster Jam moved to FS1, where it would stay for 139 episodes over five seasons. This period of Monster Jam television began with Scott Douglass on the call, joined each week by different Monster Jam drivers including Morgan Kane, Dennis Anderson, and Frank Krmel. In 2017, Ryan LaCosse would take over duties as the play-by-play announcer, joined in the booth by Todd LeDuc for most of that season, however in 2018 he would share duties with Scott Douglass, Morgan Kane, Bryce Kenny, and Camden Murphy. The FS1 era is also known for solidifying Leslie Mears as the best pit reporter in all of motor sports. I’m not biased at all.

That brings us to 2019 when Monster Jam moved to a new home at NBCSN. “The Peacock Years,” as it’s known in the online community, featured a shift in the broadcast with a new announcer, yours truly, taking over play-by-play duties alongside Bryce Kenny, Morgan Kane, and Leslie Mears. This era would us take us through the pandemic, where I would be joined by Bari Musawwir to finish the 2020 season. In 2021, Colt Stephens would join the broadcast booth where he would remain through the 2022 season. That same year the television broadcast moved to CNBC after NBC/Universal shut down their sports network. Overall, Monster Jam lasted 4 years on NBC, NBCSN, and CNBC adding 105 more episodes to our expansive television library.

We have finally reached the current era in our television timeline as it was announced last year that Monster Jam had agreed to a multi-year deal with MAVTV. Based out of Indiana, MAVTV is a part of the Lucas Oil family and as a thriving network, continues to expand its arsenal of motor sports programs as well as its viewership which has grown exponentially since the network debuted in 2004.

There are a plethora of options to watch MAVTV including YouTube TV, Hulu-Live TV, DirectTV, AT&T U-verse, and Spectrum. You can also watch classic content on MAVTV Select which is available on most free platforms such as The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, and Freevee. To find out how you can watch Monster Jam on MAVTV head to MAVTV.com/Watch-Us.

I hope you have enjoyed my stroll down Monster Jam’s television memory lane, and I hope to see you this Saturday night at 8pm EST on MAVTV!