Shertenlieb Show? Rich Radio? - mornings on ZLX

NortheasternPJ

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Yikes. I like all those guys (except when TJ was talking about BB which is 50% of the time) but not thrilled with this. I have no urge for a Rich Sports Talk Show.

Wilder was extremely good when she was on T&R. She should be good, if Rich doesn't creep her out like Trenni.
 

thebtskink

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Jul 15, 2005
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As a rotation, I like all of these guys, but like others here I really hope that Rich veers into non-sports topics. I'm not sure Ted Johnson or Mike Giardi can hold my attention in those moments, but I think Hurley and Wilder could.
 

NickEsasky

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Charlotte Wilder is pretty good on Twitter. Don't think I have ever heard her speak though. Giardi is a thin-skinned, douchecanoe. TJ is a meathead with an ax to grind. Hurley was great during DFG, haven't seen as much of him after it.
 

Rusty13

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I have to say that this idea is getting universally panned on social media. I'm not seeing many people speak positively of it at all. And I agree with most of the posters here that it is disappointing to see Rich seemingly lean so heavily into sport content -- instead of offering a more clear alternative.
 

NortheasternPJ

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I have to say that this idea is getting universally panned on social media. I'm not seeing many people speak positively of it at all. And I agree with most of the posters here that it is disappointing to see Rich seemingly lean so heavily into sport content -- instead of offering a more clear alternative.
I really don't get it, but honestly this seems like the issue with Rich. He's not the alpha, he's not the one who drives a show and he's got B level cohosts (with the exception of Wilder IMO).

So we have Beta Rich with a bunch of rotating hosts. It could be great, but we will see. I wouldn't bet on it.

Rich at one point was one of the best producers of content, bits, etc. but hasn't been in years. If he's going to be successful he needs to get back to that. It just doesn't seem the co-hosts are the right fit. It'll be the Rich Morning Zoo with everyone just laughing with Rich, which for the last 3 years is his main thing, laughing at himself and waiving his arms. I really hope I'm wrong. I'd love a good alternative to T&H when they're on vacation, Wallach is hosting or I don't care what they're talking about.
 

8slim

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To be honest RJ would've been a better choice than all of these IMO
I've been saying for quite some time now that the best moments of T&R once Fred started flaking out were during the Rich/Ryan Johnston pairing. He'd be better than any of the co-hosts that were announced today, I suspect.
 

NDame616

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I've been saying for quite some time now that the best moments of T&R once Fred started flaking out were during the Rich/Ryan Johnston pairing. He'd be better than any of the co-hosts that were announced today, I suspect.
He was my first choice to replace Rich if it wasn't Hardy (which I, like everyone, assumed from day 1 he would get)
 

bigq

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I think Ted Johnson is fine on a rotating basis. I like his perspective as a former player and he has a valid reason to dislike Belichick. Now that Bill is no longer the head coach and GM I wonder if Johnson softens a bit on Pats takes.

That being said, I hope this show doesn't focus as much on the Patriots as TSH and WEEI do. I'm tired of hearing about the NFL all the time.
 

Granite Sox

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T&H is leaning into being cranky, sour, and “everything sucks”. Rich, Hurley, and I’m guessing Wilder (admittedly I don’t know a lot about her) aren’t that. Giardi is going to be the smarmy grouch on the show; I hope he lightens up a little because he’s insufferable when he openly competes to have the most dickish take on a subject. I’m not sure what the point is for having Johnson, other than being an ex-player. Is he supposed to be the clueless, unfunny Wiggy substitute?

Honestly, the show might not be great, but it would be hard to be worse than T&H (outside of their interviews) at this point in time.

If they are going hard into sports, it’ll be interesting see who they get for interviews, especially since ZLX has no team broadcast rights unlike the other two stations. May need to scrape around with media types for a bit.
 

JCizzle

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I think Ted Johnson is fine on a rotating basis. I like his perspective as a former player and he has a valid reason to dislike Belichick. Now that Bill is no longer the head coach and GM I wonder if Johnson softens a bit on Pats takes.

That being said, I hope this show doesn't focus as much on the Patriots as TSH and WEEI do. I'm tired of hearing about the NFL all the time.
I think this is a good point. I feel like 98.5 made its name by going all-in on the Bruins at a time where EEI wouldn't give them the time of day. Obviously the Pats are the big name in town, but there's wayyyy more room to build an audience on the Sox/C's/B's. Very well might be my personal bias though, I'm probably one of the rare people that would rank the NFL behind the MLB and NBA.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I think this is a good point. I feel like 98.5 made its name by going all-in on the Bruins at a time where EEI wouldn't give them the time of day. Obviously the Pats are the big name in town, but there's wayyyy more room to build an audience on the Sox/C's/B's. Very well might be my personal bias though, I'm probably one of the rare people that would rank the NFL behind the MLB and NBA.
I’m with you. NFL talk bores the shit out of me. I’d much rather hear about MLB, NBA, NHL and soccer. The months after the Super Bowl and prior to the draft were death.

The Cs and Bs were amongst the best teams in the their leagues and it was all Pats all day.

The Pats were bad and boring last year. They’ll probably be bad and boring this year. I’m not sure what there is to talk about other than “Is Drake starting this week? How about next week? What about the week after that?
 

dirtynine

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Sports-wise, Rich is a “big event” guy. He feeds off crowd energy and narratives and the “city coming together”. The Celtics are perfect for this. I truly hope they do some pop culture, though. Movies, music, concerts, TV, comedy… that’s a lane he could crush in. I wish they had an Adam XII type in the rotation - every so often it would be great to hear some geeking out about the bassist for Helmet instead of a practice squad safety or whatever.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Wilder is awesome, I will definitely tune in those days. Her full-time gig right now is the 'Oddball' podcast 4x per week with Amin Elhassan, which I enjoy whenever getting the chance to see/watch. I could see her humor being compatible to Rich's, although Toucher's mean-natured humor was a damn good complement and made me laugh while feeling really guilty. (Talking a few years ago and prior when those guys were more simpatico.)
 

j-man

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Giardi is ok.

Wilder I remember being alright in some appearances on T&R, she's a different voice/demo, and brings something new to the table. Rich I'm sure will get weird but we'll see. I'll reserve judgment there.

Hurley is an awful hot take machine.

Johnson is hot garbage almost 100% of the time.

Rich had better have some good stuff built up over the last few months to roll out.
i dont get why johnson hates bill won 3 rings for him bill loves lbs maybe i missed something
 

NortheasternPJ

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i dont get why johnson hates bill won 3 rings for him bill loves lbs maybe i missed something
There were reportedly some major issues between TJ and BB around Bill basically forcing Ted back into camps, practices and games when he was concussed. Also Bill was trying to go around Ted’s agent and directly negotiate with Ted in bad faith. I forget the exact stories but I don’t put TJ in the wrong.
 

Granite Sox

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Giardi’s schedule on the show, per his BSJ Notebook:

Some of you may have seen that yours truly will be joining The Rich Schertenlieb Show on WZLX 100.7 in Boston beginning next week (the show actually debuts on Monday). I am here to assure you that Greg and I are continuing our relationship here (right, Greg?) and that this is only a part-time post (6 AM to 10 AM) once or twice a week (Tuesdays and some Thursdays).
 

Granite Sox

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You may be right, but I give Rich credit for going for it and not being afraid of Big Bad Fred. As an experienced reporter/interviewer, this is one area where I think Giardi will help.

98.5 has the easy tie-ins being the flagship station for B's, C's, and Pats. If you notice, T&R do virtually no Red Sox, which is the purview of WEEI.

This will be one of the challenges for TRSS... getting media/team connections when ZLX has no broadcast rights. It will be interesting to see if Rich can get guys like Mike Reiss, Jeff Howe (I'm sure he'd be happy to tell Fred to fuck right off), Phil Perry, Andrew Callahan, Doug Kyed, etc. as regular guests. Curran is a regular on 'EEI, so there is some cross-pollination with the media at present. Not sure where they can turn for Celts, B's, and Sox tbh (MassLive guys/gals? I don't think Pete Abe likes either Fred or Rich, but perhaps the Globe embargo won't stretch to ZLX?).

I think carving away certain T&R listeners won't be an issue. Keep current ZLX listeners, scrape some from 'EEI, cannibalize some from T&H, and they'll be in business until they get sorted. T&H have had nearly 5 months and one ratings book to figure their shit out, so it will be interesting to see how quickly TRSS can get up to speed. I'm looking forward to Monday.
 

Rusty13

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You may be right, but I give Rich credit for going for it and not being afraid of Big Bad Fred. As an experienced reporter/interviewer, this is one area where I think Giardi will help.

98.5 has the easy tie-ins being the flagship station for B's, C's, and Pats. If you notice, T&R do virtually no Red Sox, which is the purview of WEEI.

This will be one of the challenges for TRSS... getting media/team connections when ZLX has no broadcast rights. It will be interesting to see if Rich can get guys like Mike Reiss, Jeff Howe (I'm sure he'd be happy to tell Fred to fuck right off), Phil Perry, Andrew Callahan, Doug Kyed, etc. as regular guests. Curran is a regular on 'EEI, so there is some cross-pollination with the media at present. Not sure where they can turn for Celts, B's, and Sox tbh (MassLive guys/gals? I don't think Pete Abe likes either Fred or Rich, but perhaps the Globe embargo won't stretch to ZLX?).

I think carving away certain T&R listeners won't be an issue. Keep current ZLX listeners, scrape some from 'EEI, cannibalize some from T&H, and they'll be in business until they get sorted. T&H have had nearly 5 months and one ratings book to figure their shit out, so it will be interesting to see how quickly TRSS can get up to speed. I'm looking forward to Monday.
Thank you for this great reply and post. I look forward to the show on Monday as well. I just added the IHeart app to stream the radio feed, but will there be a video stream option as well??
 

j-man

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There were reportedly some major issues between TJ and BB around Bill basically forcing Ted back into camps, practices and games when he was concussed. Also Bill was trying to go around Ted’s agent and directly negotiate with Ted in bad faith. I forget the exact stories but I don’t put TJ in the wrong.
thanks for the info
 

MaybeNickGemelli

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Feb 15, 2024
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You may be right, but I give Rich credit for going for it and not being afraid of Big Bad Fred. As an experienced reporter/interviewer, this is one area where I think Giardi will help.

98.5 has the easy tie-ins being the flagship station for B's, C's, and Pats. If you notice, T&R do virtually no Red Sox, which is the purview of WEEI.

This will be one of the challenges for TRSS... getting media/team connections when ZLX has no broadcast rights. It will be interesting to see if Rich can get guys like Mike Reiss, Jeff Howe (I'm sure he'd be happy to tell Fred to fuck right off), Phil Perry, Andrew Callahan, Doug Kyed, etc. as regular guests. Curran is a regular on 'EEI, so there is some cross-pollination with the media at present. Not sure where they can turn for Celts, B's, and Sox tbh (MassLive guys/gals? I don't think Pete Abe likes either Fred or Rich, but perhaps the Globe embargo won't stretch to ZLX?).

I think carving away certain T&R listeners won't be an issue. Keep current ZLX listeners, scrape some from 'EEI, cannibalize some from T&H, and they'll be in business until they get sorted. T&H have had nearly 5 months and one ratings book to figure their shit out, so it will be interesting to see how quickly TRSS can get up to speed. I'm looking forward to Monday.
How will the show retain ZLX listeners without playing any music?
 

Granite Sox

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@MaybeNickGemelli By retaining those who currently listen to the station from 6-10am. Perhaps they’d like to hear something different besides Hillman and T&H and will stick around. The article indicates 60-70% sports now because of the playoff situation. Even you guys give listeners a break from all sports talk (Hour 1, the Stack/emails) during the morning commute; it’s just that you haven’t (yet) really replaced the bits (Brookline 911, FC, Armpits, Hey Paul, etc.) that Rich was known for, other than the ”Racehorse or WWE wrestler” bit with J-Stew which is hilarious but a little limiting once you run 2-3 versions. You’ll never run out of racehorses, but you will run out of wrestlers…
 
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MaybeNickGemelli

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By retaining those who currently listen to the station from 6-10am. Perhaps they’d like to hear something different besides Hillman and T&H and will stick around.
Yeah, but retaining those existing listeners who tune in for music during their commute will be tough since there won’t be any music. they might get their classic rock elsewhere.
 

Granite Sox

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See my above edited post. Same issue you guys faced; T&R wasn’t a sports show at first, but switched over to an all sports station and provided a “not sports 100% of the time” alternative.
 

NortheasternPJ

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See my above edited post. Same issue you guys faced; T&R wasn’t a sports show at first, but switched over to an all sports station and provided a “not sports 100% of the time” alternative.
It is but the equivalent here is if T&R never talked sports upon flipping stations, like the Rich & Friends if they don’t play music.

A lot of people want to zone out and not listen to any sort of talk radio, they’ll lose them. No idea how many.
 

Granite Sox

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Agree with your presumption; I was more postulating what it might take to get off to a strong start given the intended formula. Best shot is if they can retain current ZLXers, but there’s no doubt some will go elsewhere. I’m sure the hope is that the people who always tune in to 100.7 reflexively at 6am stick and stay. I’m just not sure Gen Xers wanna listen to farts. :D
 

Lose Remerswaal

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The old morning show was fun, but wasn't even 1/3 music. Mostly chat and ads, with a few songs thrown in.

When Rich goes on vacation it will be interesting to see what they put on. Kenny Young used to fill in for the old team and I expect will do so again, but he was always more music oriented. Going from 0 tunes to over half will be a big change
 

HarvardSqr

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Again this feels like a big mistake to me.
Yeah. I could totally envision Rich having success with a show that covered all sorts of topics, something of a morning zoo, which still played some music so they could potentially retain the ZLX listeners, and so Rich wouldn't have to fill four full hours. They could talk about all sorts of topics and have fun bits and segments between songs. Then he might not sound so frantic and aimless like he did when Fred was out on T&R. He didn't run the show well at all IMO when he was in chair 1. If Beasley had gone with him over Fred, I was expecting him to name "six-one-seven-seven-seven-nine-zero-ninety-eight-five" as his cohost, with how often he'd ask for pointless calls, basically as a (not funny) joke, just because he didn't have anything to say.

I know other people have different opinions, but of the pool of T&R guests, he literally couldn't have chosen a worse main co-host for my taste than Michael Hurley. Maybe he can poach the best call-in guests from TSH and EEI, but that seems unlikely.

I don't see how he builds an audience as the third sports show in the time slot, on a non-sports station that doesn't have broadcast rights to any teams, while leaning on (mostly) unimpressive co-hosts. I knew what niche The Sports Hub was trying to fill when it launched. What niche is this show trying to fill?
 

Rusty13

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Yeah. I could totally envision Rich having success with a show that covered all sorts of topics, something of a morning zoo, which still played some music so they could potentially retain the ZLX listeners, and so Rich wouldn't have to fill four full hours. They could talk about all sorts of topics and have fun bits and segments between songs. Then he might not sound so frantic and aimless like he did when Fred was out on T&R. He didn't run the show well at all IMO when he was in chair 1. If Beasley had gone with him over Fred, I was expecting him to name "six-one-seven-seven-seven-nine-zero-ninety-eight-five" as his cohost, with how often he'd ask for pointless calls, basically as a (not funny) joke, just because he didn't have anything to say.

I know other people have different opinions, but of the pool of T&R guests, he literally couldn't have chosen a worse main co-host for my taste than Michael Hurley. Maybe he can poach the best call-in guests from TSH and EEI, but that seems unlikely.

I don't see how he builds an audience as the third sports show in the time slot, on a non-sports station that doesn't have broadcast rights to any teams, while leaning on (mostly) unimpressive co-hosts. I knew what niche The Sports Hub was trying to fill when it launched. What niche is this show trying to fill?
What is your problem with Hurley? I always liked his spots on T&R — especially during Deflategate — but admittedly I’m not sure how he will be on a full 4 hour, daily basis.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Beasley had gone with him over Fred, I was expecting him to name "six-one-seven-seven-seven-nine-zero-ninety-eight-five" as his cohost, with how often he'd ask for pointless calls, basically as a (not funny) joke, just because he didn't have anything to say.
Holy shit that’s funny because it’s true. The Rich Phoner fall back was horrible. Followed by him laughing at himself for the segment.
 

HarvardSqr

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What is your problem with Hurley? I always liked his spots on T&R — especially during Deflategate — but admittedly I’m not sure how he will be on a full 4 hour, daily basis.
Beyond a certain point with deflategate, he just didn't sound like a pro journalist(like the other T&R guests) to me. He sounded like a fan whose hero was being wronged by the league. But it's years ago now, so I can't really think of details. I just prefer journalists and broadcasters who seem to be more interested in covering/analyzing the sport than defending people they root for. So, I just stopped listening to his segments when he'd come on.
I do remember hearing a more recent appearance where he and Rich were discussing some non-sports topic, and it was fine. But, he didn't strike me as funny, or anything.

I just want to say too that I think Ryan Johnston was great, and often hilarious, as the third chair on T&R, and it's too bad that with all the shakeup with the shows that he didn't end up with a daily role.
 

Rusty13

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Beyond a certain point with deflategate, he just didn't sound like a pro journalist(like the other T&R guests) to me. He sounded like a fan whose hero was being wronged by the league. But it's years ago now, so I can't really think of details. I just prefer journalists and broadcasters who seem to be more interested in covering/analyzing the sport than defending people they root for. So, I just stopped listening to his segments when he'd come on.
I do remember hearing a more recent appearance where he and Rich were discussing some non-sports topic, and it was fine. But, he didn't strike me as funny, or anything.

I just want to say too that I think Ryan Johnston was great, and often hilarious, as the third chair on T&R, and it's too bad that with all the shakeup with the shows that he didn't end up with a daily role.
Yeah I definitely and strongly disagree with you on this. I loved his perspective, and he always brought receipts for his arguments. And he was a great contrast to Fred, who always looked at things from a more negative perspective when it came to the Pats and that time period. (Even more so now.) Now if that becomes his ENTIRE gimmick on Rich’s show, I agree it will wear thin very quickly. He will need to be far more dynamic for this to work.
 

Granite Sox

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I think a lot of the opinions here have focused (deservedly) on the local radio competition. I’m wondering if being a part of iHeart Radio offers any potential differentiating advantages in terms of picking up out-of-market listeners that could also help build a listener base.
 

NewInTown

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I think a lot of the opinions here have focused (deservedly) on the local radio competition. I’m wondering if being a part of iHeart Radio offers any potential differentiating advantages in terms of picking up out-of-market listeners that could also help build a listener base.
Does that seem realistic? Like how often do you tune into the q104.3 morning show or rock95.5?

I have a hard time believing that someone from NY or Chicago would tune into a Boston rock morning show
 

ramfan

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I think a lot of the opinions here have focused (deservedly) on the local radio competition. I’m wondering if being a part of iHeart Radio offers any potential differentiating advantages in terms of picking up out-of-market listeners that could also help build a listener base.
Why would a Boston centric sports radio show with a host that doesn’t know anything about sports have national appeal?
 

ramfan

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Agree with your presumption; I was more postulating what it might take to get off to a strong start given the intended formula. Best shot is if they can retain current ZLXers, but there’s no doubt some will go elsewhere. I’m sure the hope is that the people who always tune in to 100.7 reflexively at 6am stick and stay. I’m just not sure Gen Xers wanna listen to farts. :D
Why do you think people who are older and like to listen to classic rock every morning for years now will stop and listen to another format?
 

Granite Sox

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Does that seem realistic? Like how often do you tune into the q104.3 morning show or rock95.5?

I have a hard time believing that someone from NY or Chicago would tune into a Boston rock morning show
I understand that part of it, but I’m wondering if replay/podcast downloads would help. Going to the iHeart classic rock category list would pull up ZLX, and that would lead to TRSS. iHeart has several local shows that get picked up in a faux syndication-like package from elsewhere in the country. Lots to choose from. Just spitballing on aspects of TRSS that are unique relative to seemingly similar options on local radio (TSH and EEI)
 

Granite Sox

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Why do you think people who are older and like to listen to classic rock every morning for years now will stop and listen to another format?
They might not. But, as Lose said a few posts back, the most recent ZLX morning show didn’t play a ton of music, so people used to having 100.7 on in the morning might stick and stay. I guess we’ll find out starting Monday.
 

8slim

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This seems like a strategic mistake. From a ratings perspective, Boston hasn’t strongly supported two sports morning shows in a long time. Now we’re getting a third?

But who knows, maybe the show will be brilliant, take some share from both T&H and Hill, and do well enough.

I’ll give it a shot. And I’ll also take the same give-em-months-to-find-their-rhythm approach that I’ve done with T&H. I still don’t think the latter has hit its stride yet, so Rich deserves some time.
 

ramfan

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i'm setting my alarm, i think he'll come out strong with his prepared bits.between how hard he works finding material and the time off to prepare i'd be shocked if that part bombed. i'm expecting a brookline 911. the other stuff i'm afraid of. i'm not rooting for bad radio, i'm afraid it might happen
 

NDame616

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Rich as a lead in a sports show will be an absolute mess. He was terrible as the lead both when Fred was gone for 6 months and on a random Tuesday.

This isn't "square peg round hole" it's "f350 peg, coffee mug hole"
 

JCizzle

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Rich as a lead in a sports show will be an absolute mess. He was terrible as the lead both when Fred was gone for 6 months and on a random Tuesday.

This isn't "square peg round hole" it's "f350 peg, coffee mug hole"
The unfortunate thing is, I don't think the T&H show has been nearly as good as I thought it would be. Two hosts with the same voice/humor and it kinda drags. Hopefully Rich surprises.