Browns Looking to Hardesty to Help While Others Heal
August 29, 2011Cavalier Rookies Spurn Overseas Play to Continue Education
August 29, 2011Kiley and Booms started the day off, they handed it to Andy Baskin and Reggie Rucker. Adam the Bull and Dustin Fox are coming up later in the day. It is a day of excitement and chock full of guests as 92.3 WFAN looks to stack the deck for their first day on the air in Cleveland. The story isn’t even close to being told until a couple months from now when they fill the ad inventory and the overload of guests wears off. When these hosts get into the grind of hosting a show for multiple hours every day and the newness wears off, what will the Cleveland sports talk landscape look like?
You can’t tell this story without looking squarely at WKNR. Earlier this year, they made the decision to go more local at the expense of the first hour of the Jim Rome show. By extending Rizzo’s show an hour, WKNR gave themselves a significant revenue opportunity. To say that the decision went smoothly would be a lie. Jim Rome himself has complained vocally about it, not to mention his fans.
Rizzo’s show has been under the microscope on Twitter lately as Rizzo has wondered aloud if he should do the show by himself without Aaron Goldhammer and Chris Fedor. Are there any two more controversial personalities than those two in Cleveland sports media right now? Some people love them, and their haters are vocal and fervent. Is that a good thing for the show because it will keep people tuned in for the controversy, or is it something that will drive listeners to the new game at 92.3 WFAN?
I know a lot of people don’t care about sports media. As we’ve been talking about this stuff over the last few weeks, there are plenty of people who are bemoaning the thought of more “banal” sports talk in the world, let alone in place of the last bastion for alternative rock on the Cleveland airwaves. I can’t help but looking forward to see how it shakes out.
It could be a referendum on local vs. national programming as WKNR does battle with Mike & Mike along with Jim Rome. At the same time, WFAN has gone outside the market to bring in Adam the Bull for their most precious time slot to compete with Reghi and Roda in afternoon drive. Granted they paired Adam the Bull with former Buckeye Dustin Fox, but still, it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out after the initial excitement and newness wears off.
In all honesty it will probably be difficult to find a “winner.” People will probably pick and choose their favorite shows and jump back and forth. I still have a tough time believing there won’t be at least a few “casualties” as the competition heats up and these two stations work to get and keep listeners.
Who will be the first to fall, if anyone?
60 Comments
After 7 yrs in Cleveland and 2 as a WKNR listener, I have to say that I like The Really BIg Show, but the weakest member from an analysis perspective is Rizz. It’s like he’s primarily concerned with cheerleading and protecting the teams from any negative discussion, instead of actually informing the debate. I get that he loves his hometown teams and that is fine, but he consistently fails to support it. I’ve begun rooting for the local squads, but blind faith is blinding, and legitimate analysis is clearly not what Tony does. Fedor’s objective detachment is intelligent, and it’s not his fault that Cleveland teams haven’t won the big games recently. Plus it’s clear that he works at developing his opinions, instead of parroting some boilerplate positive spin. Hammer, to a fault, seems to revel in the fact that he’s polarizing for listeners, but let’s face it, the listeners appear to only have interest in hearing how great their teams are, and that’s not really been the case. Finally, maybe WFAN will win over listeners by taking more calls, but sportstalk I like is not about guys calling and ranting, it’s about passionate debate from informed hosts, and right now the fact of the matter is that Rizzo doesn’t sound informed or interested in being informed and Hammer’s take can’t seem to survive the listeners’ ridiculous demand for unconditional Cleveland support.
First off, it is VERY refreshing to have ANY sportstalk radio on FM. Why in the hell did it take this long?
Secondly, the morons in the morning on 92.3 couldn’t be any worse. These guys said the Browns preseason game began at 7:30 today…..it’s 8:00 EST. They also talked about Jordan Cameron and kept confusing him with Cameron Jordan (easy slip up, but NOT if you’re a SPORTS TALK HOST). These guys will NEVER take on Mike and Mike.
The rest of the cast on 92.3 is great, in my opinion. It’s nice ot have an alternative to “Uncle Creepo” on WKNR, or that idiot Aaron Goldhammer. Goldhammer imitates Rizzo so much it’s annoying. Fedor—I could take or leave.
Lastly, I think “Xs and Os” is an awesome show. I wish they would switch to 92.3 when their contract it up.
Just my take—Go Cleveland Sports!!
Sam must be an intern at WKNR…
Super pumped for 92.3, WKNR radio is utterly horrible. I can tolerate The Big Show as I think Rizzo is a respectable radio host but the afternoon guys are the reason I had Sirius radio. Reghi and Roda do NOT belong on the radio. Also, the biggest knock on WKNR is the fact that they employ all NON Cleveland sports fans, I mean c’mon Roda is a STEELERS fan!! give me a break.
Elizabeth, give me some “creditability.” As I said, Rizz needs to stop phoning it in and fanning the flames of listener resentment for the other guys. Not sure that makes me an intern, but if it does, i should be fired. With all their recent self-aggrandizing “is this show actually worth doing” talk I’m starting to wonder if the RBS guys have some sort of professional suicide pact. Regardless, WFAN has been terminally boring. The hosts seems like they knownthey’re about to get canned, not the opposite. The best event sportstalk of late has been Hooley, Hammer, and Fedor. Hooley laid waste to Rizz last week post-Tressel interview too. It was embarrassing.
92.3 is refreshing! I love the format, Kiley and Booms are hilarious. I find Talking Heads a good alternative to the RBS. THe Bull and the Fox show is quite good too. In my opinion, the three weak links to WKNR are the Three Stooges of Hammer, Ned, and Roda. I have turned them off and tuned into 92.3 the Fan. Even though I live in Central Ohio and cannot get 92.3 on the radio, I do listen via the I Phone. The most annoying thing is that the stream drops from time to time. But I like what I hear. KNR would be much better without the Three Stooges
Thanks for taking music off the air in Cleveland. What a disappointment this radio station is now. It looks like the only way to hear good music in my car now is to listen to my ipod or subscribe to satellite radio, but I definitely will not be listening to sports talk radio.
What am I waiting for? I am waiting for people to get sick of sports talk on 92.3 so they can put some music back on!
Ever since I discovered 92.3, I haven’t gone back to KNR. That little boy-baby-daddy’s boy-hack~~~ Aaron is annoying.
KNR has gone down hill with the addition of these young kids. They are way too young and think they know everything based on statistics. Aaron plays teenage bumper music because he claims “it’s the number one downloaded song on iTunes Rizzo.”
I think that quote says it all about the new young staff over there. Also, if you have the opportunity to catch a couple other national shows, all that hack does is grabs topics, stats and story lines from other national shows.
Greg, you are going to be missed. But that’s it! The rest of you can pound salt.
Bye bye KNR! Have fun with your baby staff members.
Hammer by himself is a young, uniformed putz. I would love to
hear the real story from Thomas, Sabo et al on why they are no
longer at KNR. Seems like a sneaky narc. I can listen when Rizz
is on only because he keeps him in line with classic abuse !!
Disagree about Rome. His takes are somewhat funny but his
long irrelevent interviews (too many) are followed by 20 minutes
of interview gloss. What the heck do I want to hear from a backup
pointguard from the Raptors for or AJ Pierzynsky 20 times a year ?!
His shtick is played. Glad there are ways to avoid him now !