We’re a little more than a week away from the launch of the new 98.5 FM The SportsHub, and more details of the programming are coming together.
This post is composed of information cobbled together from various rumblings, and from sources which have already given good information on the goings-on at the new station.
Apparently the midday and afternoon drive shows, hosted by Gary Tanguay and Michael Felger respectively, will not have rotating co-hosts, but will each have a permanent co-host. There will be some in-studio guests mixed in, along with call-in guests.
Separate sources have said that Scott Zolak will be Tanguay’s partner on the midday show. The former Patriots backup QB is already heavily involved in WBZ’s Patriots coverage, and on the pre and post game radio broadcasts. Zolak did the Bill Belichick interview on last week’s edition of Patriots All Access, and brings a good base of football to the station. He’s already worked extensively with Tanguay, so the two shouldn’t have a problem finding chemistry.
Felger’s co-host isn’t set in stone just yet, but it appears Boston.com’s Tony Massarotti is the favorite to land the role beside his former Boston Herald colleague.
Massarotti could be very good in this role, as for the most part, his on-air personality is more reasonable and less bombastic than a lot of the things he writes. He’s expressed some frustration at the style of radio employed by the Big Show in the past, so it’s possible that he and Felger – two former beat reporters – could simply stick to sports, and tone down the daily “Soap Opera” style of radio that is the Ordway stylebook of radio.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Did you really just say “Felger” and “tone down drama” in the same paragraph?
“Felger and Mazz” is a definite winner, and it will capture a significant slice of the PM drive market. No question about it. Felger and Massarotti are writers/reporters at heart, which is why they are always armed with facts when they make a point.
Their candor, and willingness to challenge the local teams when necessary, will be a very refreshing change.
I would also make Mazz the anchor of a weekly baseball show on Saturday mornings from April through October.
The one that airs on the other station is becoming increasingly unlistenable, as Felger is no longer there to keep the conversation balanced and objective.
I would likewise provide Felger with his own weekend football program in the fall/winter. I would rather listen to Felger talk football than anybody else in town.
Great choice of talent by the new station, in my judgment. I’m looking forward to tuning in.
no way Mitch
the baseball show is better now that Felger is gone. all he does is insert himself into every argument at the expense of the callers and the experts.
i’m really glad dickerson is back
I agree, Fleger stinks! How could you possibly think he’s good? Are you related to him, do you have a financial stake in his success? He’s the worst “sports personality” in Boston.
I agree. Mickey Mouse and the D0uche are getting their own show. Good thing I have an MP3 player.
I wonder if Tony Mazz will have as much contempt for the listeners as he does for the readers of the Herald and now the Globe. Can someone explain how WBZ is going to be an alternative? It just seems to be WEEI’s recycled garbage and I’m a little tired of that. Felger was the guy on WEEI just a few months back talking about cougars and “bromances”…he’s just Ordway on a diet.
tony mazz may have contempt for his readers but he doesn’t so much contempt that he wouldn’t ask them to fork over their cash for writing a fraudulent book about david ortiz.
hey bruce, since we all know sports radio sucks no matter what form it takes why not a rundown of sports related podcasts that you enjoy?
Has anyone else noticed how much better ‘EEI is when the regular blowhard hosts are away???
Neumy this AM (even Meter couldn’t drag him down) was great, Fredo in the midday brings energy, and even Shep last week is less egocentric than the Oddman. Guests actually get to speak, if he could only wean himself away from the Oddman’s regulars (LJ, DeAwful, etc.)
Speaking of egos, they’ve got to be out of control if they think shoving D-level talent at us is going to keep them up in the ratings when the new dog comes to town. If the lose McAdam, they are dead. Look for Tom E. to have more of a presence on ‘BZ if indeed it turns out to be a bullsh*t free zone.
What show were you listening to last week?
Shepard as a host shouts at and drowns out any caller that doesn’t agree with the party line, even when presenting valid points.
That looks like a nice roster right there. I did find Tony Mas’s column follwing the Herald apology insulting, but he’s knowledgeable and I think will play well off of Felger, reeling him in from some of his more outrageous opinions.
With WEEI’s dominance, it would be hard for WBZ to pick up people who hadn’t done their turn at EEI. I prefer too look at this as a WWZN recycle, as I think Mas and Zolak were two of the least “EEI-y” co-hosts on EEI.
UGH…Tony Mazz?…more of the same old crap….listened to WEEI this morning more than I have in about a year….Neumy was great, it was good to hear him again. He even made Meter tolerable…The Sportshub should have made a big play for Neumy……UGH!..Tony Freeking Mazz…that SUCKS
I am still curious about evenings, overnights, and weekends. Anyone hear anything?
I’m going to make sure that I’m wearing my Tedy Bruschi game jersey whenever I listen to Mazz and Felger.
Damn, my dream drivetime show of Lenny Megs and Candi the update girl have been shattered.
Hhahaha do you remember the Mikey Adams and Candi show on WWZN? That thing lasted all of a month!
Jimmy Myers and Sadiki would be an awesome drivetime show. It would be like Malcom X and Louis Farrakan on sports. Chris Collins cute be the cute little Gary Coleman-type flash guy. I think edgy, urban sports talk is just what Boston needs.
Mike Adams w/Candi 1510 T-Shirts are going for about $2500 on eBay. Anthony Pepe has a whole case of them in his basement that he’s banking on using to pay for his illegitimate son’s education.
Geez, are there any other failed sportsradio hosts in the area they haven’t hired? I know Tony tried his hand at hosting a radio show a few years ago that didn’t last too long (1510AM?). Zolak had his Rhode Island gig at 790AM, and that died. And we all know about Felger’s fail at 850AM. What the heck makes people think that a bunch of rejects will succeed where they have all failed before? (sarcasm) Oh, that’s right…it’s all about the signal strength. Hmm…maybe it’s because they aren’t that good? Naah, that can’t be it. (/sarcasm)
BTW, it’s “possible” that Felger and Mazz could tone down the soap opera…but it’s also possible that the sun could explode tommorrow. I give both events equal odds.
After all, on the one hand you have Michael “Guys-I-Would-Do” Felger salivitating over Larry Fitzgerald’s hindquarters, and on the other you have Anthony “Evil Tony” Massarotti who once threatened to ignore ballplayer charities if the players posted blogs online. This is “toning down the daily soap opera”?
Mitch,
They are “armed with facts”? Really? Hey, has Ted Washington signed with the Pats yet? Felger told us that it was a done deal. Don’t forget Randy “He’s-A-Dog” Moss going to Green Bay, and that you can’t win a World Series with players like Manny. And how can we not mention the fan hatin’ Tony Mazz who actually had the balls to write an attack piece on fans after Tomase-Gate? Balanced and objective? These guys? Seriously?
Tony Mazz? This is very bad news and a terrible choice by the new station. First of all, Ol’ Squeaky has the worst voice imaginable for radio. Secondly, he’s a fraud and the worst kind of attention whore (see: “LOOK AT ME!” columns insulting Boston fans).
Unbelievable to me that these guys can’t come up with something fresher than EEI castoffs and lazy Herald trolls.
Agree. Mazz’s voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Re-doing the same thing isn’t going to entice those of us who left EEI a long time ago to start listening again. Tired “personalities” pervade this area.
neumy was great this am, sportshub needs to make a push for him. i will listen to felger as long as he stops that sh*t from last week on csn, acting like the big idiot yelling about ortiz’s steroid use.
neumy & mcdonough…that would be must listen radio.
Amen. Bob & Sean would provide insight based upon stats and facts rather than bloviating all over the airwaves like Ordway, and the Taco House guys.
Tony Mazz and Felgie are too interested in drawing attention to themselves, rather than offering a coherent argument.
This sucks. I was really happy to hear about an alternative to eei, and now I couldn’t be more disapointed. They have a comedy morning show with two guys who aren’t funny, on a local sports channel rooting for other teams. That makes sense. Followed by Gary “I’m just sayin’” Tanguay with Zolak, please, this would be the only show I’d consider, except they put it up against the only good show on eei. That’s smart. And Felger and Massarotti, I don’t care what those two jerks have to say and I wouldn’t tune into listen to them if you paid me. Great job of programing, I give it a year.
I can’t stand Felger, but Tony Mazz is OK. If the Big Show keeps having Larry Johnson on, they might have a chance. As much as I hate Felger, he’s better than the catfish.
Id rather take a cheesegrater to my ball sak then listen to trace-fish …..thats right ..Trace-Fish
Did anyone see Felger last night try to say Tony Gwynn was on the juice? I thought Bob Ryan was going to walk off the set. Felger has lost all credibility with trying to be the most negative personality in Boston.
For weeks he is saying dont trade Clay Bucholz and now…he’s a bum. Felger stop flip flopping and host a good radio show instead of being Ron Borges.
Felger’s argument about Gwynn was ludicrous, if only because he was trying to indict Gwynn for hitting 17 homers (a “career high”) at the age of 38, or whatever it was. Yeah…that’s JUST LIKE Brady Anderson hitting 50 homers in 1996, and not hitting more than 20 or 25 in a season over the rest of his career.
Funny how Felger didn’t mention Paul Molitor–a Wisconsin hero of his from his youth–as the possible HOF “juicer” that Canseco hinted about. After all, Molitor’s most productive seasons came after he hit the age of 34, and he never appeared in fewer than 126 games at any time in the final 8 seasons of his career; compare that to his first 13 seasons, where he had 7 such years of playing in 125 games or fewer due to injuries.
Hmmm….he got healthier AND more productive after the age of 34. What say you Felger?
Dude relax. If we’re going to speculate than Gwynn isn’t at all ludicrous, but Molitor is definitely much less so.
I don’t know how many times it can be said here. There are several of us (and I would include myself) that would enjoy listening to a show hosted by Neumeier, McDonough, or both. But both of them are working for major TV networks and probably get paid pretty good coin to work a fairly part-time schedule of events (Neumy said this morning he works about 20-25 events annually for NBC). So why would either of them want to get paid less to host a talk show for 20 hours a week? Face it, as much as some of us would like to hear them, it ain’t gonna happen.
Now for the reality of a ‘Felger and Mazz’ show: before Felger suffered from media overexposure and before Tony decided to defend his then-Herald brethren Tomase (and rip Pats fans in the process), a pairing with these two could have generated some decent ratings. Now? Not so sure. While they are a better alternative than those who constantly shout over one another, they’ve become unpopular enough with those searching for an EEI alternative that it won’t be enough to satisfy.
I will probably give it a listen early on, as the two should have enough differences to make for somewhat entertaining radio. Maybe they ought to use the late great George Carlin’s ‘Baseball vs. Football’ monologue as the open for their new show.
Anyone else want to see Felger and Mazz kill one another? I look forward to this…
Still not liking BCN’s immolation. This is a bad idea. I hope they kill WEEI, but it ain’t happening.
Also, anyone who thinks D and C is funnier than Toucher and Rich is dumber than Adolfo.
It’ll be like when Kirk had to fight Spock on Star Trek!
The Felger and Mazz pairing is great news! Now it will be easy to avoid them both at the same time.
There will be some in-studio guests mixed in, along with call-in guests.
That is key. The single worst thing about the Big Show is idiot and celebrity callers. At best, callers on the Big Show have the discussion veering all over the place. Most of the time callers are idiots, either with some tired schtick or nonsense trade proposals.
Sports talk should have people who know something, not a bunch of losers who have the time to spend 45 minutes on hold. Take emails or IM’s and you can choose the people who have something intelligent to say.
GIVE ME A SHOW!!
-Teddy Ballgame
Tony Mazz is awful. This is not going to be a good development. I’d rather listen to cats screw than listen to him and Felger.
So 98.5 will be strangled in the crib. Who’s doing the programming over there, Jason Wolfe? Zolak is the football version of Lou Merloni on the radio. Bland, forgettable; a sidekick’s sidekick.
Tangman is alright I guess, but not an original thinker. Does Rusillo have a ‘Notre Dame Clause’ in his ESPN contract that would let him out if offered his own gig on a Boston major?
Felger, at his best, is excellent. His sessions with Bob Ryan on 890 were must-listen. Mazz, I’m afraid, is a squeaky-voiced retread with a Napoleon complex who has no business anchoring the ‘Chris Russo Slot’ on a major metro drive time station. Has he made his bones in any meaningful way on radio?
Neumie said this morning that, hey he’d listen if someone threw $ at him, but I have to think he’d want Big O money to do local radio. I say give it to him.
Maybe Neumy took the WEEI morning show a couple of days this week because he is interviewing for the other station. He did work many years for WBZ . . .
Boston sports radio needs more ex-athletes. It’s just a tired parade of media hacks who bounce between radio and print, trying to convince each other that they’re really ’smahhht.’ In the end, these media hacks often lack any athletic experience or even college degrees. It’s as though they all exited high school looking for the path of least resistance and decided ’sports media’ was it. Universally they all share that sloth-like trait.
Here’s a list of all the ex-athletes currently working in the Boston media, which includes guys who work the game broadcasts. Which ones would you like to hear co-hosting a 4-hour talk show?
Lou Merloni
Jerry Remy
Dennis Eckersley
Jim Rice
Dave Roberts
Ken Ryan
Fred Smerlas
Steve DeOssie
Scott Zolak
Troy Brown
Christian Fauria
Gino Cappelletti
Steve Nelson
Pete Brock
Max Lane
Steve Grogan
Russ Francis
Cedric Maxwell
Tom Heinsohn
Donny Marshall
Bob Beers
Andy Brickley
Gord Kluzak
Rick Middleton
Barry Pederson
Did I miss anyone? Other guys who still live in the area but currently not working local or nationally include Doug Flutie and Ted Johnson.
Brickley is outstanding on Bruins broadcasts and Eck is good too, but their time constaints would preclude them from taking a full time radio gig. Steve Nelson is alright, and I think Troy Brown would be pretty good also. At least he’d be a different voice from the Smerlases and DeOssies of the world.
How about Hickman and Gilroy? Those two are vastly underrated in this market
Might be an interesting idea for the SportsHub to bring them in and give them a pre or postgame show, giving the station a much-needed C’s presence, seeing as they won’t be broadcasting the games.
It’s been so long since Mazz was on the Big Show I can’t remember how I felt about him, but I’ll be listening anyway.
it’s 2009 and AGAIN Boston is going to put forth a station with NO PEOPLE OF COLOR. Everyone says AWW you’re just complaining, but IT IS TRUE. Unless someone there utters a racial faux pas, it will be all caucasian radio. This is ridiculousd in 2009
I don’t think WEEI’s new format (more frequent commercial breaks) is going to work for D&C. You can tell that Dennis is trying to go to a break, but Callahan won’t shut his yap, and thinks he is entitled to blabber on, no matter what management tells him.