Bruno's first 2 weeks back. Sounds great to me!

[radiogodzilla]

I wanted to listen to 2 full weeks of shows before writing about the newly expanded "into the Night" show with Tony Bruno. Living in LA, I remember when Bruno came back to 570am in September at nights when they unloaded that dismal Joe McDonnell fiasco. He then disappeared when Clear Channel blew up Fox Sports Radio in January and forced stations to take all of the new"network" shows - thus putting JT on the air in LA despite 570 not choosing to do so for all of the 9 years he's been on the air at Fox. I thought something fishy was up for them to pull Bruno for JT's show, but obviously, they corrected that mistake and inserted Bruno back into that slot.

I think Bruno's style is so much easier to take that the screaming and forced caller takes that make a lot of hosts impossible to listen to. He seems to have a good mix of calls - interviews with the best guests I've ever heard in such a meaningless time slot - and mixes in the entertainment stuff that has made him the most copied guy in radio when it comes to sports hosts trying to appeal to the bigger audience that has a life beyond the boxscore and tiresome play-by-play cuts.

JT certainly has some loyal fans, but from a competitive standpoint, Bruno destroys what-ever 2nd rate programming ESPN or Sporting News or any local markets have on in that time period. I'm sure his large ego has been singed, but while Bruno is delivering top notch radio from 7 to 10 pacific, JT's style and scripted callers yelling is better suited to overnights when he can churn out that noise and keep 3rd shifters awake.

 

[saraswati]

here's another bruno review with a slightly different opinion... bruno is a legend. he's an original endangered professional and a true trailblazer. however, he has reached pete franklin status. his best days are behind him. granted, he's more suited for this time slot than j.t. but its kind of sad to have tony reduced to reading silly web site promos (his site is identical to dan patrick's), playing the same old tired drops and using the worn out "poker? ..." jokes. tony was outstanding back in philly and reached his peaked over 10 years ago on espn. many third/four rate espn hosts should send one paycheck a year to the tony bruno/chuck wilson/peter brown/keith olbermann retirement fund for allowing them to have a job today.

tony is easier to take than most syndicated hosts but much like brett favre, allen iverson, john smoltz or david beckham -- he's past his prime. he needs to dial back the old routines, transition towards a different format (regular or entertainment tmz style talk?), & put his "singed" ego on the back burner. radiogodzilla is right that tony has the best interviews in this meaningless slot but his "life" is now a lame fall back as opposed to providing a solid foundation for his sports opinions.

as earlier posts have mentioned, he needs a better non so cal sidekick.

i loved tony in the 90s but much like everything -- time has taken its toll.

 

[radiogodzilla]

Couldn't disagree with you more. If you base quality radio on guys doing what they've done for over a decade being "past there prime", then you have to put Rome, Ferrell, Chris Russo and Mike and Mike in that category too.

What does Jim Rome do that is "fresh" and much different from the frat boy crap he's been doing his whole career? Mike and Mike are safe and more boring every day, yet they get cleared and do well in am drive. Chris Russo just got millions to do his tired New York act on satellite radio where I'd bet he has driven many subscribers to buy Sirius/XM for yelling?

Guys like JT, Cowherd and anyone else at ESPN, Fox or what's left of sporting news have no traction. Cowherd is full of himself and has ESPN behind him. JT will be lucky to get a local gig once Fox unloads him when this contract is up and most sports radio guys will work for nothing just to be on the air.

From what I've deduced, the reason Bruno and Patrick's web-sites are almost identical is because they work for the same company(Content Factory) and have the same web company. How many of these other hacks have exclusive sites that aren't part of some network?

 

[bordeaux]

Doesn't really matter what we think. Support whoever you want on these boards. But Tony Bruno's big paydays are over. Even he admitted a year or so ago, he was tired of radio. Rome, Patrick, Cowherd, and M and M, have surpassed him. They all earn more, they all have more clearance, they all have over a decade left in their tanks. And none have burned the bridges Tony has. Wish him the best though. He has great pipes, and will also be employable as long as he doesn't trash more people. Opinions are fine, but reality need to set in for the Bruno and J.T. supporters.

 

[tomficker]

I think he sounds great in by far his most dominant (in % percentage of talk time) role we have ever heard him. I'm sure it's been difficult in the past to constantly bring the A game especially if there's ongoing battles with management. It's easy to jump on Tony or label him difficult but like so many of us unemployed or partially employed radio stars, we know the level of incompetence most radio executives seem to possess. It seems like his cureent bosses are taking a hands off approach and the listener is ultimately the big winner. Some of his former overly ambitious sidekicks were a bit much to take but I commend his current crew for keeping themselves in check a bit and creating an overall better show.

As for the JT/Tony arrangement..who knows whether this was truly a promotion/demotion or just more of an agreement tied into Dan Patrick's clearance and advertisers or whatever. Either way, JT has a job and Tony has what was probably inevitable the moment he moved to nights. I'm surprised this wasn't launched last year.

 

[radiogodzilla]

Mr Bordeaux apparantly doesn't know much about behind the scenes radio. Dan Patrick exploded his bridge at ESPN - and so much so - that NO ESPN branded station is allowed to carry his new independent show. Bruno is on many ESPN branded stations - so where's that logic going? Would Fox bring him back to their line-up if he was this bad guy? They made the mistake is not renewing him and thinking Van Earl Wright was a good option to replace him, now they put him back into a line-up that blows ESPN's small potatoes shows away. Ever listen to what ESPN is putting on from 7pm pacific to 2am? Even JT is 1-thousand times better than Jason Smith and Todd Wright on Sporting News sounds bored and pre-recorded most nights.
Cowherd isn't on as many stations and does nothing to move the dials except in smaller markets where college football matters. LA is the only major market where he has some traction, but that's because it's a college football town and he caters to USC and the college crowd. Mike and Mike are forced on stations - so they don't count.

Do you know how much these guys all make? Bet you Bruno is probably pulling down more than you would think since he's on over 250 stations, many in major markets.

 

[Mainedude2007]

What ESPN stations is Bruno on? DP isn't on any ESPN station because its carried on Fox Sports Radio, so most of the time it's already cleared by another station in the market.

Also, one thing to remember is ESPN requires ALOT of clearance on stations (somewhere in the neighborhood of 16-18 hours a day and at least an hour of the morning show and an hour of the afternoon show for full time stations)

 

[Leebo65]

Bruno's Show sounds great. Entertaining, funny, he does the perfect mix of sports and pop culture. Perfect show for the American Male. BTW, Peter Brown on the weekends on SNR is don't miss radio also.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Mr Bordeaux apparantly doesn't know much about behind the scenes radio. Dan Patrick exploded his bridge at ESPN - and so much so - that NO ESPN branded station is allowed to carry his new independent show.

That's flat-out not true. First of all, DP is on several "ESPN branded" stations. WBBW/Youngstown for one. KALL/Salt Lake City - which just switched to ESPN from FSR - for another. And "KNBR 1050" KTCT/San Francisco, one of two "KNBRs" - BOTH of them ESPN affiliates! Plus, there's WWGK/Cleveland, which is a predominant FSR daytimer but carries The Herd and Scott Van Pelt to satisfy the ESPN Radio clearance of it's much bigger sister station, WKNR. I do not have the complete DP affiliate listing, and there's a few others I probably didn't mention.

It's misleading to say that the Bristol Mafia mandated that NO ESPN affiliates - period - can carry the show. ESPN O&Os, on the other hand, obviously didn't... and they would have either The Herd or Scott Van Pelt to clear.

Bruno is on many ESPN branded stations - so where's that logic going? Would Fox bring him back to their line-up if he was this bad guy?

Bruno was taken on "ESPN branded" stations when the show was originally distributed by WW1 and the Content Factory. (In fact, the show is apparently still produced at WW1's LA facility, owing to Bruno encountering a guest on Loveline, produced down the hall, a few weeks back.) Those stations must've had the option to retain Bruno even as it became a FSR/Premiere-distributed product. And again, there's both KNBRs... Bruno has been a part of their live midday talk show on KNBR/680 for practically ages, and the network show airs nightly on "KNBR 1050."

 

[facetheslayer]

Has anyone else noticed that Bruno engages in a short "cross-talk" segment with Petros and Money before going on the air, but does not intermingle with JT at all?

I would have to presume that JT harbors a fair amount of resentment over getting bumped by Bruno, and he balked at any type of cross-talk...."FSR synergy" be damned. To add insult to injury, it looks like Tony was just hired to co-host a postgame Raiders TV show for Comcast, so you know that has to ruffle JT's feathers even more.

It's really no wonder that JT's on-air enthusiasm has waned quite a bit since the demotion. Many nights, it sounds like he's just going through the motions.

 

[the golden boy]

I'm confused as to when Bruno's show is supposed to be on. The promos I've heard say 1am Eastern, 10 Pacific, which would be JT's time slot. But I thought he's supposed be on after Petros and Money. It doesn't really matter to me because Bruno is not on in my market.

 

[stod]

Bruno's show starts at 7:05 PM PT.

 

[JPT]

Used to enjoy listening to Bruno in the morning back in the day...he's okay now, but has definitely lost a step. Last week, for example, he was discussing the Lions quarterback situation and kept calling Dante Culpepper "Randall Cunningham" - not once, but a couple of times while I was listening.

Kind of embarrassing.

 

[radiogodzilla]

you must be on crack. Ive listened every night and he never mistakenly said Randall Cunningham instead of Daunte Culpepper. Bruno is still sharper, quicker, funnier and better than any lame sports talk hack on the air. I watch the web-cab and he uses no scripts, is great with callers and guests and sadly is on this lousy time slot.

 

[JPT]

you must be on crack. Ive listened every night and he never mistakenly said Randall Cunningham instead of Daunte Culpepper. Bruno is still sharper, quicker, funnier and better than any lame sports talk hack on the air. I watch the web-cab and he uses no scripts, is great with callers and guests and sadly is on this lousy time slot.

Yeah, I made the whole thing up...and thanks for the crack comment!

If you read my post, I've got nothing against Bruno...just reporting what I heard, dude. You obviously missed it.

 

[Leebo65]

Been listening to Bruno. He is on top of his game. Production is the best you'll hear.

 

[the golden boy]

The FSR affiliate here just started playing Bruno's show last week. To be honest, I don't really care for it much, just like I didn't when he was on in the mornings several years ago. I will admit, though, that the production is quite good.

 

[bumandwimp]

Has anyone else noticed that Bruno engages in a short "cross-talk" segment with Petros and Money before going on the air, but does not intermingle with JT at all?

I would have to presume that JT harbors a fair amount of resentment over getting bumped by Bruno, and he balked at any type of cross-talk...."FSR synergy" be damned. To add insult to injury, it looks like Tony was just hired to co-host a postgame Raiders TV show for Comcast, so you know that has to ruffle JT's feathers even more.

It's really no wonder that JT's on-air enthusiasm has waned quite a bit since the demotion. Many nights, it sounds like he's just going through the motions.

Bruno and PMS are in the same studio (KLAC studios) and i think JT is in another fox radio studio....if that makes a difference.

 

[facetheslayer]

The separate studio thing shouldn't make a difference at all. PMS used to do a cross-talk segment with JT before the demotion, and they still do a full hour of cross-talk with Myers/Hartman, who are also in the Sherman Oaks Premiere studios.

 

[sportsGM]

I read the message board and it asks about BRUNO
and turns in hate this and hate that ... lol

not how BRUNO is doing???
I am also kind of surprised people hating on his girlfriend?

I do think BRUNO gets paid .. he is not going to do this for free?
I do not think stations are tying to DUMP BRUNO
I do not think Don Martain is having second thought about BRUNO
I do not think Ben Maller is trying to get BRUNO'S job or girlfriend