Jim Rome to start Monday 2/4 on 98.7 The Fan

[Tampa Sports Fan]

I think Krasniqi is very good. As are Fenton and JP. All three of those guys are better than anything that's been on 98.7 since they've launched. It's why I've laughed at the thought of 98.7 doing anything against 620 from the jump. If they were serious about launching a great FM sports talk station they would have launched with programming better than that. Justin is the only person on Monday-Friday who is any good and they paired him with a guy who's voice makes you immediately want to change the station. Otherwise they filled the week with a rock jock who clearly doesn't know sports, especially Tampa sports, a hockey guy who seems like a nice guy, but probably shouldn't be talking more than hockey, a dumb blonde who knows less than the previous dumb blonde, a football guy who seems like a nice guy, but probably shouldn't be talking more than football, The Sports Broad and Rich Herrera. If you know Rich, or you know anyone who's worked with him, than you know his character is worse than his lisp. The fill in and weekend guys at 98.7, Ledge, Rock, Dave Weekley, even that Pants guy are better than the steaming pile of garbage they air all week.

Makes sense.

 

[ct2012]

Does this mean they are going to put on whatever CBS Sports Network offers to fill the overnight hours?

Yep. Switched the station on my smartphone the other day after 11. It was Ferrell. Couldn't switch it back off fast enough.

 

[KSA]

The hits just keep coming. Todd Wright is apparently gone from the station, and the Fabulous Sports Babe is now on 7-11P.

Wright's tweet about it: "Thanks to @987TheFan for allowing me to launch the station. Good people like @CommishOnline , @Monika987thefan & @RBIrich take it from here."

Noticed an article at South Florida Sport from February 2 that Todd Wright was out at 98.7 The Fan.

 

[exboardop]

So you think he's weekend level talent, but DAE should have put him in AM drive?

I was referring to Todd Wright, I guess that wasnt entirely clear

 

[Mike_Hennessy]

A source at the station tells me that Todd wasn't a good fit from the get-go. (No surprise, I'm sure plenty of people here picked up on that early) But it wasn't just on the air, apparently there were some problems behind the scenes as well. Growing pains are only to be expected with any talk-driven format, but this is more than I would think is healthy. I have other thoughts, but since I do post under my own name, I'll keep them to myself...

 

[WojoForRadio]

Ya know, they could just put on my old crew and they'd turn more than a snake-eyes every week, or at least make a full fraction of a point, when the ratings roll out - but that's just my opinion.

 

[CC4Life]

A source at the station tells me that Todd wasn't a good fit from the get-go. (No surprise, I'm sure plenty of people here picked up on that)

Like the fact that he actually had to take callers.

Back when he was on Sporting News Radio and I was on the other side of the glass running the 1010 board overnights, I'd get about six calls a week from locals who wanted to know why Todd never took callers. We just about had a phone meltdown the night Todd spent three hours talking about going to see Don Rickles perform in Lakeland instead of talking about anything sports related.

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, it was Todd who was the instigator of the "problems" between him and Booger McFarland. It was killing Todd that he couldn't do a national-oriented show thanks to Booger keeping things focused on Bucs, Rays, Magic every day (and there were other problems relating to Booger's inflated ego that Todd couldn't handle).

Todd's "I'm going to tell you a story, you're going to sit back and listen" style of radio just does not work here in the Tampa market where pretty much every other show is very caller-oriented and that is what most listeners expect. There has NEVER been room for an alternative in this market, no matter what anyone else tells you.

 

[Parttimer]

Paring him with an athlete with zero experience was a mistake, but it's the formula CBS has been using on all of their sports FMs. They have had a couple of other instances where they tried to bring in national hosts to do local shows and it didn't work out in those cases either.

 

[WojoForRadio]

Sports radio here in Tampa isn't rocket science; again, my crew and I DID IT!!

Local guys, talking with the people of Tampa about sports, and LIVE remotes, getting people involved. You're in Tampa, yes, you have to talk Bucs, 'phins, Rays, etc but when 1/2 the population isn't from the area, you need to be able to talk on the national level as well. I'm not talking about how the Raiders are the retirement home of the NFL as is the Twins in the MLB, but there is ALWAYS something going on that LOCALLY, the listeners can get behind. Talk NASCAR; talk golf; make it interesting!! Hell we'd being in a porn star if we had to - and a lot of the time they were - and the phones were lit-the-eff-up; give away tickets; you can't do that on a syndicated show; and for Gods' sake, quit the goddamn game broadcasting; how in the hell are you going to establish talent if there is a different show every day being taken over by a game in BFE that people here in the market could give two shits about??

Give me a contract and 6 months - I'd almost bet that we'd bring the listenership back with us. If not, well then I guess I was wrong.

 

[CC4Life]

Sports radio here in Tampa isn't rocket science; again, my crew and I DID IT!!


Give me a contract and 6 months - I'd almost bet that we'd bring the listenership back with us. If not, well then I guess I was wrong.

Who are you again? That "Hungover with Patrick Shatner" guy?

If you were so good, you would still be on the air locally.

 

[WojoForRadio]

No, deff not me. I got blacked-balled by a PD at CC after we made a bet on Lex and Terry, and it's been killing me ever since.

 

[exboardop]

Todd's "I'm going to tell you a story, you're going to sit back and listen" style of radio just does not work here in the Tampa market where pretty much every other show is very caller-oriented and that is what most listeners expect. There has NEVER been room for an alternative in this market, no matter what anyone else tells you.

I disagree with you 100%.

See: Chris Thomas

Chris took calls, but a good hunk of his shows were what amounted to long monologues.

Tampa sports talk radio is "caller driven" because most of the hosts are lazy and cant hack it any other way. Duemig is an exception to this. He could do it if he wanted to, but he realizes one of his strengths is playing good cop back cop with the callers

 

[WojoForRadio]

They're caller-driven because it engages the listener to interact and thus help your bottom line. What world do you live in where you have to be lazy to use call-ins? I mean seriously?? If you like listening to someone speak and give their views all day and give a shit about argument from a listener, listen to Schnitt or Limbaugh.

 

[Parttimer]

The great majority of callers are lousy radio, especially since no one at the local level knows how to screen them (not just, "what's your name, what do you want to talk about, where are you calling from, turn your radio down").