Re: Detroit Tigers, 2009, Part III: How long does it take for Leyland to screw this up?
Re: Detroit Tigers, 2009, Part III: How long does it take for Leyland to screw this up?
"There are very few that I did like in Detroit sports radio. I'm told that Sam Webb does a nice job in the mornings on TKA, but driving to work in the morning doesn't allow for enough signal strength for me to listen. As for DFN, the drive time morning shows have been unlistenable for over a decade. I liked Baligian until his jackhole producer started *ing with all the drops and the other bull**** they got into and ruined his mid-morning show. Stoney and Wojo got stale, plain and simple, although within a year I suspect that they'll be back together on XYT in the afternoons."
Webb does a good job specific to Michigan and to recruiting. Since I do most of my work at home these days, I can fire TKA up on the computer.
I was not much of a Baligian fan. Seems to be a fair guy, but too much rah-rah for me.
Stoney and Wojo started to slip when they talked about everything but sports. Too much sizzle and not enough steak. I have met both of them, actually sat with Wojo at a Mich/Purdue football game in W Lafayette, and he was very down to earth. They may team up together some day,I would hope at the expense of the XYT afternoon show. Doesn't seem that Wojo's job security in the print media is very safe.
"When XYT moved to 97.1 and WDFN did not follow suit by simulcasting on 106.7, that spelled doom for DFN. That gave XYT the home team broadcasts plus full time programming, plus a full time signal. DFN did not match, and from there the writing was on the wall. And what angered me was, DFN had XYT dead to rights and didn't finish them off, which is what would have happened had they gone to 106.7 instead of changing formats every 9 months."
Completely agree. And Rona Danziger and her hatchet bosses got blamed for it by many former DFNers.
"My brother in law has done work for Valenti and tells me that he's actually a nice guy in person. I dunno, I'd rather the guy still get hit by a bus. While Terry Foster appears to be a nice guy, he is still clueless, and Matt Dery has always been a whiny little *****. Nothing but a crybaby, a typical Cleveland fan. Drew Sharp is tolerable in small doses only, if ever, and Matt Shepard gets to be too much of the bitter old man act as well. Caputo on XYT does absolutly nothing except to add about 400 pounds to the airwaves. It's my understanding that Karsch knifed everyone in the back on the way out the door when he left TKA and he just seems like a dunce. The only one I really miss is listening to Tom Kowalski, because he kept it light and could laugh at himself and not take himself too seriously, and still got me info I wanted to know about."
I know a lot of MSU people- some are terrific, some are not. Valenti is not as honest as he makes himself out to be and takes every opportunity to propagate crap about Michigan. He is just a homer with a mic, and is as abrasive as sandpaper, but maybe that's his new york shtick.
Foster is also a biased columnist. Nuff said. Dery is as you describe, but I will give him some props for the work he does do outside of the studio. Shepard doesn't fit as a host, but I like his play by play. Caputo is as abrasive as Valenti. Don't know the story at TKA with Karsch, but that radio station is rinky-dink anyway. He probably made the right move since they were going to slash him like they did to Fithian. I heard an unsubstantiated report that he helped get Art Regner released also. he may be a dirty bastage, but I like his radio acumen. I never listened to Killer that much, but I can't disagree with you. I saved Drew Sharp for last, only because, as a journalist he has the credibility of TMZ, and the radio personality to match. After this last hatchet job on RR by the Freep, it is a wonder that they have any readership left.
"The national shows are absolutely self-absorbed and completely full of themselves. Since I dropped the XM radio into my office, the last sports show I listened to was Tirico and Van Pelt, and once Tirico left, so did I. There's just nothing left for me in sports radio that I didn't hear 5-10 years ago."
Oh yeah. Having XM was nice, when I could afford it in my car. Rome is a pompous azz, but he must be pulling in numbers. Dan Patrick left for richer pastures, but is still a dope. Tirico and Van Pelt were easy to listen to and were very cerebral. I still don't mind Van Pelt. Oh, and thank the heavens that Obermann is doing his brand of liberal hack politics instead of sports. He's exposed there, too, but I don't have to turn ESPN off as much now, as compared to never having to watch MSNBC.
