It's fun to hear Andy Furman back on the air today, chatting with sports celebs, but the real test will be tomorrow... and the day after that... and the day after that.
Given Furman's contacts – he sends newspaper clippings and notes to so many athletes, coaches, former players, etc. – it was relatively easy for him to put together today's show with guests Marvin Lewis, Tom Browning, Oscar Robertson, Ron Oester, Pete Rose, Sean Miller, Mike Martin, Marty Brennaman and others.
His interviews were great. He effortlessly moved from talking Reds with Browning, to Bengals with Marvin Lewis, back to baseball with Pete Rose, and then basketball with the Big O and Wayne Embry, and then high school football with Mike Martin, college basketball with Miller, and then more Reds with Marty Brennaman.
But how will he do without his big name friends? Will sports talk listeners remember to flip over to the FM dial to 96.5 after years of getting their sports fixes by switching between WLW, WCKY-AM, WDBZ-AM or maybe even WMOH-AM, Hamilton’s ESPN station. His success in part will be determined by how many people change habits. We'll see how he does. (Pete Rose will be in studio next Monday with Furman.)
I don't know what Lance McAlister did today on Homer WCKY, or what Tom Gamble did on Furman’s old WLW "SportsTalk."
Did any of you listen to McAlister or Gamble? What did we miss?
Did you listen to Furman? What did you think?
John:
ReplyDeleteAndy was great today...he will give Lance a run for his money...it is great to see some competition in radio in this town for the first time in ages.
WLW is not finished making changes. There is instability and uncertainty in the decision to replace Furman. 700 is facing trouble in this time period.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear Andy back in action today. Radio is all about content, so changing the dial is easy when the destination offers what I want to hear.
ReplyDeleteI do not always agree with Andy, but I always find him to be informed and entertaining. Glad he is on two hours earlier now.
I will listen to the furball but please please get rid of those commercials and billboards showing the furballs back ill be in therapy for years because of seeing those
ReplyDeleteHere's what you missed...
ReplyDeleteSome guy called in to Gamble on WLW and started talking about how he was listening to ANDY FURMAN ON 96.5 FM...and how he had an all-star cast etc.
Gamble quickly hung up on him and had some choice words to follow admitting that he was fully expecting that to happen.
My guess is other guys will call in and do the same thing.
It was a hoot!
It's great to have Andy back!! I'll be listening daily. John- please keep us posted on the ratings in the weeks to come!
ReplyDeletezzzzzzzz
ReplyDeleteCure for insomnia..
I hope Randy Furman will also be a guest.
Andy's SuperSports show could not have come at a better time for us talk-radio junkies. Cincinnati afternoon drive radio has gotten flabby. Burbank is doing his same schtick since 1986, Hannity has some serious anger issues, and here's Andy with his intelligent, well-researched show. Like him or not, A.Furman has filled a huge void in Cincinnati Radio. Keep it up, Andrew!
ReplyDeleteIs Burbank actually in the studio for his program? I think he lives in Florida.
ReplyDeleteTom Gamble whines too much, and his plug for Kerry Coombs to be the head coach at UC, well, it makes me glad AF is back on the air.
ReplyDeleteWhat did we miss yesterday?
ReplyDeleteOn McAlister's show, better known as "Stats Talk", you missed the lowdown on what show he and his wife TiVo-ed, numerous meaningless quotations of obscure statistics, a number references to "hot women" and a few commercials from a local strip club. Little or no actual sports discussion.
On Gamble's show, you missed his constant rants about local weather forecasts and him calling a handful of callers "dumbass".
Quality stuff........
Hey, I saw Liz Bonis at a party the other night and no one recognized her. Does that mean she is off of the air now? Whats the story on her?
ReplyDeleteliz bonis is still on the air at local 12. she does health reports on the 4pm news and i think the 5pm news
ReplyDeletehey kiese i know its off topic, but what happened to will it work wednesday and news 5 nation and famous fridays.
ReplyDeletenews5nation will be back for february sweeps
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/Detail?contentId=1960605&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=5.2.1
ReplyDeleteyour top 5 at 11 is also coming back for feb sweeps
ReplyDeleteI actually thought Furman should have gotten fired for the Houshmanzadeh situation. He was outta control the night he went off on Houshmanzadeh.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, Furman is simply the most entertaining and best Sports broadcaster in the city.
I've listened to Mcallister more this past year, but now that Furman is on the same time slot I think I won't be listening much to Mcallister.
I can't stand Furman at times, but he is just better then the other guys on.
I actually thought Furman should have gotten fired for the Houshmanzadeh situation. He was outta control the night he went off on Houshmanzadeh.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, Furman is simply the most entertaining and best Sports broadcaster in the city.
I've listened to Mcallister more this past year, but now that Furman is on the same time slot I think I won't be listening much to Mcallister.
I can't stand Furman at times, but he is just better then the other guys on.
I had on furman yesterday and today and i will keep listening its great to have furman back on.
ReplyDeleteis jeff davis the program director for furman's show the same one that works for warm 98
ReplyDeleteIf 5 goes HD News, what will they do with Ken Broo's rutty complexion.
ReplyDeleteYears ago at 12, we had what was referred to as "The Ken Broo Lights" installed on the cameras.
These floor level lights cut down the shadows from the overheads and made his complexion look clearer.
If you're working at 12, you shouldn't be concerned with anyone at 5. You oughta be busy worrying about Kit Andrews...if you afford to buy anything after CC sells you to Sinclair.
ReplyDeleteNow that Clear Channel is courting a buyer and trying to avoid law suits, spurned by provocative comments by their talk show personalities, it seemed like Mike McConnell and Bill Cunningham were walking on eggs and avoiding their typical racially polarizing rants about crime in some of the minority communities in Greater Cincinnati.
ReplyDeleteBut on Monday Bill Conningham was in full form, criticizing black leaders responses to the a local Wallgreens' response to ramped crime and then commenting about more recent radio personality firings by WLW. It's almost like Bill wants to be fired like Andy Furman was.
the little one 700 would never fire cunningham. he brings in all the money for that station.
ReplyDeleteif they were to fire him i could see him joining furball on supertalk 96.5
CLEARED OUT...
ReplyDeleteWord has it Clear Channel fired a number of WKRC employees...anyone here this?
TV or Radio ?
ReplyDeleteEither way, it wouldn't surprise me.
If it's TV there's a lot of fat to cut.
Do we need four meteorologists.
Dayna should have been axed years ago, she could go work for a wig store and take that phoney giggle with her.
The sports girl is a beginner, doing a lousy job of READING the teleprompter using her hands to talk.
And in true Clear Channel tradition, they could get rid of a few photographers and make the others pick up the slack.
Where's the FCC when one powerful company can single-handedly destroy the media industry and ruin the lives of so many who wanted to make the media business a career.
Clear Channel should be stripped of all its stations and those frequencies put up for auction.
Just a view ... anyone find it odd that this is a television blog yet evertyhing seems to be about radio?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it should be a "entertainment" blog?
For almost 20 years AM 700 had a weekday line-up that was unstoppable in retaining a substantial listening audience using . . .
ReplyDeleteJim Scott,
Mike McConnel,
Bill Cunningham,
Gary Burbank,
and
Andy Furman.
I hope someday this former radio talk show personality monopoly can all work at the same station once again -- maybe under new WLW ownership, or something.
Having worked at another station in town I can tell you, 12 is the place to be. You're treated like a human.
ReplyDeleteTalking about radio is OK. There's a lot to talk about.
ReplyDeletei can't believe the above poster suggests a station get rid of any photographers. what station has ENOUGH photogs???
ReplyDeleteJohn - do you really, really want this to be an online version of talk radio? do you really want anonymous mudslinging John? WHY DON'T YOU CONTROL THIS SO IT CAN BE A REAL DISCUSSION BOARD????? Be brave enough to answer John.
ReplyDeleteJohn-A quick question.
ReplyDeleteWay back in the fall you mentioned Tim Lewis was back in town. Has he found an on-air job yet?
So what happened at channel 12 yesterday? Was it a black Wednesday?
ReplyDelete