Diminishing sports talk radio talent

PMS is occasionally listenable, if you can ever get used to Petros's nails-on-a-chalkboard voice. I find it to be a bit different from the usual in sports talk ... except for when Adam Carolla is on doing his tired schtick that was tired 10 years ago. Then, I find something else to listen to.

Myers and Hartman? Absolutely brutal.

 

The funniest part of Myers and Hartman is when Myers' connections get them real interviews (as opposed to the "We're talking to Natrone Means' UNCLE!!!" garbage prevalent when his partner was Bill Werndl), Myers is talking, and Hartman jumps in with his loud mouth and his stupid questions, confusing the subject.

Unlistenable radio.

 

Glad to see ESPN is bringing back Chuck Wilson, who was The Man in Providence before the biz got crazy. He and Tony Bruno were a great team - Chuck was the tether that kept Bruno attached to earth.
On the old 790 The Score, Scott Cordischi and Andy Gresh had the same kind of relationship - Gresh's frat boy act got completely out of control after they were split up.

 

The only guy I still try to listen to, and I usually catch the replays on their website, is the Common Man Dan Cole out of KFAN in the Twin Cities. He's hard to describe, certainly not the typical sports guy. The Sports Sports Sports Meldtown, available on his page, is always amusing.

http://kfan.com/pages/psn_dancole.html

 

I directly credit 680 The Fan and 790 The Zone in Atlanta with my acquiring satellite radio.

 

While I'm not a big fan of recruiting news, I do like to listen to the Bill King show on Rivals radio. It airs on Sirius/XM in the mornings. Only national show I can know of that is strictly college sports. 98 percent is hoops & football but they will mix in some baseball & a few other things from time to time.

 

Pickings are pretty slim here in the Carolinas, too. 610 the Fan in Charlotte has two local shows and one regional show, and that's it. The regional guy isn't bad, but the local guys seem pretty bush league for a town of Charlotte's size.

 

What does satellite radio go for these days?

 

Ugh. My only option in the car is ESPN syndication.

Cowherd is fucking horrific.

Van Pelt and otherguy are either awesome or very dull.

I generally like Gotlieb.

Everything after him (4 p.m. central time, I think) is terrible.

But it all beats the small-time local station where, a few weeks ago one of the hosts refused to continue talking about what university was the nation's best quarterback factory after he threw out Michigan. "Tom Brady. End of discussion." This after a detailed discussion on the Packers drafting Brett Favre.

 

Does WNDE even count any more? Did they replace JMV with another local show? As I recall, he was the only local programming they had during the day .... FSR for the rest of the day, except for Rome from 12-3....

And Eddie flying solo? Fail.

 

One of the big problems with sports talk radio right now is that there's little emphasis on developing talent. Most decent sized market stations had program directors that focused on making the shows sound better, but now those guys are likely to have been let go in cost cutting and their position combined with someone else's. The PD at my station's a great guy, but he's doing a morning show on a music station and is responsible for operating four stations with different formats. When's he going to have time to focus on coaching hosts to tighten up areas where they've gotten sloppy?

The other thing that's killing sports radio is the "put a name on the air" mindset epitomized by ESPN. Brian Kenny's a talented TV guy, but tonight I heard him doing his fantasy baseball draft live on national radio - absolutely awful, but that's what you get when you have a guy with three other things on his plate also being asked to do a radio show. Most people aren't radio naturals, and guys who don't have the time and/or passion to develop their skills and find their right style are going to be very bad at it. Despite that, station after station features guys treating radio as a second or third gig who don't wake up thinking "how can I have a good show today" - and because of that, they don't.

 

Still off the air. Last I heard he was working on a deal to get on a station in Wichita Falls, but that fell through.