Monday, May 28, 2007

Big Changes to Triangle Sports-Talk

The local fallout from Don Imus’ fall from grace concludes Tuesday morning, as the biggest change to Triangle Sports Radio since WRBZ began its all-sports format kicks off on 850 the Buzz and 620 the Bull. After 10 years of afternoon drive-time, Adam Gold moves to the morning drive-time slot on the Buzz. From the sound of things, the yet to be named show will include more than sports. I think this is going to turn into an Imus type show with more of a sports angle. I just hope the show does not turn into another morning zoo. Many long-time Buzz listeners will remember that Gold’s afternoon show was not always a sports show. When he first got to the Buzz, Gold was paired with the guy that replaced the outrageous Mike Church. At the time, it was obvious that Gold was there to take over the spot as 850 transitioned to an all-sports format. A.G. will be joined by former WFXC/WFXK morning co-host Terry Tuff. Joining Gold and Tuff will be former Morning Mo-Jo co-host Joe Ovies. Tony Riggsbee, who was doing sports-talk on WPTF before the rest of the morning crew was out of high school, will fill out the morning show.

While I haven’t always liked listening to Gold’s show, I appreciate what he has done during his ten-years in the afternoon slot. When he is not being a total jerk, he can be very insightful. Over the years, I have enjoyed the ongoing interviews he has done, but his rants when it appears he is desperately trying to fill time have been off-putting.

Replacing the Morning Mo-Jo on 620 the Bull will be ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning. I have been able to listen to these guys on and off for about 6 years and really enjoy their work. They have a good on-air chemistry, and being part of the world-wide leader in hype, they have an unlimited supply of regulars in weekly time-slots. If you are a baseball fan, Peter Gammons is a must-listen at 7:30 on Friday mornings. Conversely, if you can’t stand to listen to Dick Vital, don’t listen at 7:30 on Monday mornings.

The Sports Pig, Morgan Patrick, gets to sleep later by moving to the 10 am – 1 pm slot on 620 the Bull. If memory serves me correctly, Patrick was the first sports guy on 850 when he started the Sports Pig from 6 – 8 pm during the mid-90’s. The new time slot could prove to be an interesting challenge since it has fewer potential listeners than any other slot Patrick has done. However, unlike the Mo-Jo, I’m sure this show will actually take calls from listeners. In the past, Patrick has done well in call-in shows. His knowledge of NASCAR will also be helpful… at least Joe Ovies won’t be around to pick on racing fans.

ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd moves from 620 the Bull to fill the 10 am – noon slot on 850 the Buzz. Cowherd freely admits that as a sports talk show host, he is in the entertainment business. He approaches sports from the “hey guys, it’s a business” perspective. Frighteningly, although I am a traditionalist, I find that I agree with Cowherd’s opinion more often than not.

The Jim Rome show continues in the noon – 3 pm slot on 850. There is not much I can say about Rome, either you love him or you hate him…

ESPN Radio's Dan Patrick Show will continue in the 1 – 3 pm slot on 620 the Bull. Patrick is one of the few sports radio hosts who has the influence to go toe-to-toe with the biggest names in sports and continue to get them to return to his show. Recently, he got into an argument with NBA Commissioner David Stern regarding the suspensions in the Spurs – Suns series. His interviews with MLB Commissioner Bud Selig are also quite entertaining. However, the biggest highlight of the show comes from 2 – 3 when Keith Overman joins for the Big Show. Overman and Patrick still have the chemistry and irreverence that had during their Sports Center days.

The Bull leaves the Dan Patrick Show an hour early to pick up WFNZ’s "Prime Time with the Packman" from 3 – 7 pm. Mark Packer’s syndicated show can be outstanding… at other times, it’s hard to take. Remember the format on 620’s the Bullpen? Packer does this 5 days a week for 4 hours, and takes calls. In my opinion, Packer’s show is better during the non-drive-time hours when it seems like they take more calls and have more serious conversation. Once drive-time starts, they do too much of the zoo format.

850 the Buzz scored an absolute coup in the afternoon drive time slot by replacing Adam Gold with the ACC Area Sports Journal’s Dave Glenn who leaves his popular Sports Saturday show. Glenn, who has spent 20 years writing about the ACC, is arguably the most popular sports talk show host in the Triangle. I absolutely love his current show, but Glenn will face some serious challenges has he transitions to his new slot starting August 1. Can ACC discussion carry this show for three hours a day, five days a week? It depends; during hoops season, maybe; during the middle of summer, no way. In the past, Glenn has even commented that full-time ACC discussion would be difficult. Another challenge will be what I consider his biggest strength as a talk show host. Glenn is known for letting callers talk for a while… I think I’ve even had a ten minute call on his Saturday show. While this may work on Saturday morning, afternoon drive time is a different story. Chris Clark, who was Glenn’s predecessor on Sports Saturday, will host the show until August 1. The Buzz’s promos indicate that Clark will hold down the 6-7 pm slot once Dave Glenn starts, but I suspect Clark will be around from 3-6 to help Glenn transition to full-time radio.

11 comments:

Ken White said...

Wow, big changes. I love Dave Glenn, but almost hate to water down his value by putting him on so much. I also worry about what this does to his career. I'm sure he's thought about this stuff too. His true value is people talk to him. He does a lot of real reporting, people trust him to not be a nut, and to have reasonable opinions and do accurate reporting. Because his Saturday timeslot and other random appearances were primarily fact based reporting, he maintains that image. But to fill this huge amount of time, does he have to start being more opinionated, more controversial, more like Adam Gold? If so, does that hurt his ability to do the fact finding, because people become less open with him?

Sure wish Jim Rome was getting the boot in this shake-up.

Is this a demotion for Chris Clark?

Anonymous said...

You can't go wrong w/ESPN Radio.

Anonymous said...

I agree about Rome...

Dave Glenn had indicated that he wants to find a way to still be involved with the ACC Area Sports Journal, so hopefully he will still be doing real reporting...

I think this is an opportuntiy for Chris Clark. For the first time he will get some serious exposure during drive-time. If he does well, I think he'll have a bigger part in Glenn's show. I remember years ago when he was AG's producer he filled in one Saturday for Drew Smith on Sports Saturday. I e-mailed AG and told him that Clark was much better than that idiot from WTVD. In his response, AG indicated that he thought Clark would have more and more opportunitites on the air... From producer and fill-in on sports Saturday to a shot at the drive time slot in less than 10 years ain't bad.

Ken White said...

Drew Smith, god I hated listening to him.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what happened to him. He supposedly had the 6-8 pm slot on the Buzz when Morgan Patrick left to do the Mo-Jo, but I never heard him. I think he was even off of the Buzz's web site within a couple of months of starting.

Ken White said...

The internet is a wonderful thing.

His Resume is at
http://resumes.tvjobs.com/cgi-bin/employers/search.cgi?action=display&who=20430&username=guest&password=guest

Looks like he is evening news anchor on a cable news station similar to New14 Carolina in Florida.

Anonymous said...

Notice that he didn't include any of his work at the Buzz. At least he's not attempting to do sports... He did play by play once for a Carolina Women's game that Musten produced for WTVD. Drew wanted to add his 2 cents worth after every player was introduced during the starting line ups. Since I was at the scorers table for the media timeouts, I had to give the PA announcer the stop sign after she called a players name and then cue her when Drew quit running his mouth... Talk about awkward... those were perhaps the longest player introductions in the history of ACC Women's hoops.

Ken White said...

He was absolutely brutal to Herb during the 1st 5 years.

Anonymous said...

Boo Hiss. I miss the morning mojo.

M & M are annoying and the BUZZ morning show is just lame.

Ken White said...

Mostly because of the season (I generally take the summer off from sports - except golf of course) I haven't listened at all to the new lineups yet.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that the ACC refs will not the boys play ball? In the game with the Tarheels against the Demon Deacons there was 77 free throws taken. Pitt vs. St. John 41 free throws taken, UCLA vs. USC 34 free throws taken, Louisville vs. Notre Dame only 19 free throws taken. The ACC refs will not let them play, and this will hurt them in the tournment, because they will not be used to the physical play like it is in the other conferences.