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November 20, 2007

General Joe To Be On WFAN

From Neil Best -

It's always baseball season on WFAN, so it's no surprise that when it made two announcements in recent days, both involved the New York pastime.

Friday, the station revealed it had hired Jon Heyman away from ESPN 1050, for whom he had spent the past five years offering insights and information.

Yesterday, it added Yankees manager Joe Girardi for the weekly in-season guest spot his predecessor filled for 12 seasons, ending speculation that he might land at 1050 with former YES partner Michael Kay.

Girardi also will appear on the pregame show at sister station WCBS, as Torre did.

[WFAN Operations Manager Mark] Chernoff would not discuss Girardi's pay. But it is believed to be more than Torre received, a total in the neighborhood of $350,000.

Not a bad side paycheck there for Girardi.

Maybe if ESPN 1050 Radio (in NYC) had a transmitter that actually carried a decent signal, they may have had a chance to get these two?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at November 20, 2007 12:59 PM

Comments

I couldn't believe what I just read - $350K?!!

I knew it had to be a sizable amount, but I was thinking maybe one less zero on the end of the check... yeesh!

ESPN basically banned all of their employees (Gammons, Simmons, etc) from appearing on any non-ESPN affiliated stations a while back, so I don't feel too bad for them when they lose out on guys like Girardi.

Kay is great for the 'insider' Yankees stuff, but I usually find myself tuning to 660 more often than 1050. But back to 1050 I go when the blowhards start talking about tennis and/or TV ratings numbers. (barf)

Posted by: Pete [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 03:09 PM

That's a very nice salary for being a featured guest once a week. Man, I'm in the wrong business.

Steve, I agree with you. It's amazing that ESPN Radio has such a poor signal. I can pick up WFAN as far down as Washington DC but I can't get ESPN once I'm south of Rutgers on the NJ turnpike.

And Pete, I agree with you. I don't need to listen to Ann Ligouri talking about tennis. Also, when Mike & the Dog start talking about horse-racing...snooze.

Posted by: MJ [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 03:25 PM

New York is an insatiable sports town. When are they going to create a third sports-talk radio station? I don't know anyone who listens to 1050. When it comes to TV, ESPN is king. But their radio shows suck -- I can't stand any of their personalities (except Jim Rome, whose show runs tape-delayed at night).

The FAN dominates basically by default. I used to like Joe Benigno in the morning before M&MD, but now he's stuck with the incredibly annoying and illogical (and way too dramatic) Evan Roberts. M&MD, despite their arrogance, put on a good show. After that -- nothing. (Okay, Tony Paige is great, but he does overnights.)

Anyway, with ESPN 1050 seriously wasting time, I think a third station could easily challenge WFAN's dominance in this market. It would actually be nice to have an alternative to the FAN, since 1050 really doesn't give you one. YES wanted to start a radio station -- and they should.

Posted by: baileywalk [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 03:29 PM

I wonder why they didn't launch a YES station back in 2002 when the Yanks, Nets, and Devils were all under one roof of commingled interests. Starting an all-sports radio station with 3 valuable sports properties would've been a good building block. I don't know that YES could sustain a station now but it would certainly draw all the Yankee fans away from WFAN.

There's nothing more annoying than listening to Schmooze Somers digging the knife into the Yanks every chance he gets.

Posted by: MJ [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 04:03 PM

It'll be a few years before YES starts that radio station since their current 5 year/$14 million per deal with WCBS-AM runs through 2011. And it's ironic that WFAN has become identified with the Mets as their flagship station for 20 years -- their first choice was the Yankees (WABC out-bid them). Honestly, as a New Yorker, I can say that I like very little of what passes for sports talk radio in this town. A 3rd station would just exacerbate matters further. And, by the way, I can't believe a human being would actually speak like Jim Rome without a microphone in front of them. At least I hope not.

Posted by: JohnnyC [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 04:07 PM

Steve Somers is the devil, MJ...but ya gotta love that hair.

Posted by: JohnnyC [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 04:09 PM

I had to look online to see his hair. I don't think I'd ever seen what Schmooze looked like before. Pretty darn funny.

Posted by: MJ [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 04:20 PM

I prefer 1050 'coz like Best said mates they are a feisty bunch.Mike and Mike are tolerable while Boomer and Cartoon are annoying(not Boomer but Sid Rosenberg Jr).Kellerman and Kenny present an erudite dicussion while Joe and Evan whine about things in the same old fashion.Screaming A Smith is electric and MMD are both know it alls(I like the Dog though).MMD made a flub about who sings "Don't Stop Believing" today,which shows that they don't know it all and should bloody well stick to sports!Michael Kay is fun because of the Yankee spin and Don's anti-Yankee spin.Schmoozer vs BT?Sorry BT's enthusiasm and fire make for exciting sports talk,Schmoozer's Yiddish Borscht Belt Comedy routine got old 10 years ago!I love Tony Paige's show,but now that Gordon Damer(YES network's own) is on I flip between both.ESPN 1050 is positioning itself as more of a pro-Yankee station and it is a smart counter programming move.Kellerman acts as if the Mets don't exist!

Posted by: butchie22 [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 04:40 PM

A 3rd station would just exacerbate matters further. And, by the way, I can't believe a human being would actually speak like Jim Rome without a microphone in front of them. At least I hope not.
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Isn't it possible if they started a third station that someone might actually hire reasonably intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable hosts?

Everything Rome says seems to be scripted -- and he's the ultimate bandwagon-jumping flip-flopper -- but I have to admit that he is very witty and funny.

Posted by: baileywalk [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 06:16 PM

Wow, Girardi will get paid for being on the radio? Isn't this something the manager should have to do as part of his job, sort of handling the press/radio appearances? i can't believe he gets paid...or that the yankees like him having other jobs during the season.

that's some nice coin...

Posted by: Razor [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 20, 2007 11:06 PM

Uhh, Joe Torre used to get paid for his post-game sessions with Suzyn and Kim...until he "quit" because of alleged insulting questions being planted by the front office (again allegedly Randy Levine...allegedly). It came to a good six figures. And it's estimated Torre netted over $50 million in endorsement deals during his 12 year tenure. This is nice coin but it's not unusual. College football and basketball coaches make even more from "outside" jobs.

Posted by: JohnnyC [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 21, 2007 11:01 AM