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Shander Back In Philadelphia

Jason Barrett

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Eytan Shander isn’t a native of Philadelphia.

But he is the voice of the city he considers home.

Shander, who has been on the radio for 10 years, including stints at 94.1 WIP and ESPN Radio, is back with 97.5 The Fanatic doing weekend shows. He’s been back for a few weeks now and he’s happy to be in the town where he came into his own as a sports talk host.

“I’m on the air in six hours and I’m already headed in,” Shander said. “I’ll just go and hang out at the studio and watch Mike (Missanelli’s show).

“I was on last week and before my show, I was getting the butterflies in the stomach. I was getting nervous, I was starting to sweat and my mind was going so fast, thinking about everything I was going to talk about. I love doing sports talk, but doing it here is something I’ve always enjoyed.”

Shander considers himself a Philly guy in some ways because, despite being from New York, he has always been an Eagles fan.

“I grew up in a Mets house,” Shander said. “But my uncle was a huge Eagles fan. He was from South Philly, and I remember him coming to get me on Saturday nights and we’d watch the Eagles.

“When I got older, late middle school or high school, my mom would always try and get me tickets to preseason games. I was a kid, I didn’t know, and you’d see the stars playing a half or a quarter, so I would get excited. And even after they came out, I didn’t know, I was cheering the uniform. I’ve always been an Eagles fan. I have a picture from my Bar Mitzvah wearing an Eagles hat. That’s concrete proof.”

Being an Eagles fan is one thing, but Shander has now had ties to the Philly area, on and off, since 2004, shortly after he graduated from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. He previously earned a philosophy degree from Gettysburg College.

“I think it was either (Missanelli) or Anthony Gargano who told me that I’ll never be a tier 1 guy because I’m not from here, and I’ll never have stories about growing up in King of Prussia or riding the El,” Shander said. “But I’m a tier 2 guy because I am now here, I’ve thrown myself into the city, I love it here and I’m an Eagles fan.”

Shander’s rise in the eyes (and ears) of Philly fans is easy to explain.

But his path to getting behind the microphone wasn’t your typical story.

After getting out of school with a philosophy degree, Shander worked in various jobs, including working on movies for Hallmark’s entertainment brand. Then he wound up in Washington, D.C.

There, he was behind a microphone, but he wasn’t taking callers. He was spitting rhymes.

“I was a rapper,” Shander said. “I released an album, I did some touring. I wasn’t Eminem or anything, but I had fun.

“Where I lived, that wasn’t a great place. I wouldn’t allow my mom or family to come visit me. If I did, she wouldn’t have let me stay there. I’m talking rats. It was disgusting.”

Upon getting out of the rap game, Shander got a job in a warehouse, and he decided to enroll in the Connecticut School of Broadcasting.

He knew exactly what he wanted to do.

“When I was at the warehouse, we all had days where we could pick what we wanted on the radio,” Shander said. “One guy wanted rap, one guy wanted classic rock. When it was my day, we’d listen to sports talk.

“I knew I loved that, so I went to the school and told them I didn’t want to learn anything but what it takes to be a sports talk show host. I didn’t want to learn video editing, although now the two have been combined, but I just wanted to be a talk show host.”

Shander got an internship with a station in Atlantic City. There, he would spend hours at the station, then when his shift would end, he’d head to his home in Philly, but would make a pit stop to take in ballgames.

“My internship would be four or five hours some days,” he said. “So I’d do that, then I’d go to the Phillies game or the Flyers or Sixers. That would give me something to talk about the next day. It gave me credibility.”

Later, he got a job at WIP. There, he started out as a producer. Then he would do some announcing. Finally, he became an on-air personality.

“That was what I wanted, I loved being on the air in Philly,” Shander said. “I learned so much while being there. I was very lucky to have a lot of people take interest and help me.”

There is a long list of people who saw the radio rookie trying to find his way.

Among those who he credits for helping him: Big Daddy Graham, Al Morganti, Glen Macnow, Jason Myrtetus and program directors Ed Palentino and Andy Bloom.

And two of the voices who gave him the best advice are Angelo Cataldi and Michael Smerconish.

“I’ll never forget, twice I was too aggressive with callers and both of them told me to relax,” Shander said. “Once, Michael Smerconish was listening to me while he was driving into work, and I ripped into somebody and he told me to be myself and that I didn’t have to (yell) at every caller.

“Then Angelo was listening to me coming in one day. I was doing a show about worst things and a guy called up and said I was the worst radio host. I buried him back. So Angelo gets in and said, ‘what are you doing? When you get something like that, agree with them. Make fun of yourself. You don’t have to be serious. Tell them the program director is going to take you off during the next break. Have fun!’

“Both of these guys were great for giving me raw feedback. They were great and all of those guys went out of their way to help me.”

For the rest of the article visit the Burlington County Times where it was originally published

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Jason Puckett Launches PuckSports.com

“I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

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Logo for PuckSports.com

Jason Puckett, who decided to walk away from a contract offer from iHeartMedia’s KJR in Seattle after finding out his partner Jim Moore had been laid off, has launched a new venture – PuckSports.com. ‘Puck’ has a baseball opening day show posted on the Puck Sports YouTube page and also posted an introductory message about his new venture and what led to creating it.

“I wanted to talk to you guys, the listeners out there, the viewers out there, sorry for all of this,” an emotional Puckett said. “Sorry for what has happened and what has taken place. Thank you for all of the comments and the well-wishes and what you have said about myself and Jim.

“It has been a whirlwind of a last few days, for sure and I do want to say that I feel for the people that we used to work with. “I know it’s not easy to go through that, I have been on that side of it many, many times in this industry when someone is let go and you have to sit there and answer all the questions about them and for them…It’s unfortunate and it shouldn’t be that way, but the reality of this business is it’s like that.”

Puckett then told his fans that PuckSports.com and YouTube are where you will be finding his content along with Moore. “I am going to take what I have learned over the years and apply it to a new age of media,” he said and noted this was a direction he had been thinking about for a while.

As for what took place that led to his decision to not sign his contract and talk away, he said, “I just want to take you briefly back to last week. I don’t want to get too much in the weeds, I’m not here to lay any blame or point any fingers at anybody…there’s too many good people that I have worked with that I don’t want to drag into this. It was a process that was at times handled fine, handled perfectly, and at other times it got to a point where it just went on too long. But that’s corporate media and that’s what happens.”

Continuing on Puckett said, “…I had been without a contract since about January…when I was away from the station that was something that we and the station agreed upon…to see if we could get something done and we were all hopeful that we would…I was only supposed to be gone a couple of days…unfortunately as these things sometimes happen, it just went a little bit longer…We received the deal and it was what we wanted, but unfortunately with that news a few hours later came the news from corporate that Jim had lost his job. Obviously there was a mix of emotions with that from me.

“I wrestled with that and the decision and what I would do. It was hard for me to move forward…I couldn’t fight the perception more than anything that I had received a new deal while at the same time, my partner and good friend, guy I love to death, who I grew up reading…it was a hard reality…The loyalty I have, I couldn’t live with myself even though Jim knew what the truth was.”

Puckett said he was aware Moore was planning to step away from the radio show at the end of the year and was looking forward to the nine months they would have left to work with one another. Then, when iHeartMedia made the decision to make Moore a casualty of their latest round of layoffs, Puckett knew he needed to revisit the idea of starting his own venture.

He said, “It has kind of changed my timeline as far as what I wanted to do and where I felt I was at…I am super motivated right now and I can’t wait. I have probably been busier now than I’ve ever been in the last 48 hours.”

Puckett said several of the show’s regular guests would stay with the show and he thanked several sponsors who he said would remain supporters of the show with the new venture. ‘Puck’ noted that starting next week, “…We get underway in full force…I’m going to continue to try and make people laugh and entertain you and talk about sports…and all of the other things you have become accustomed to with this show.”

As he started to wrap up, Puckett said, “I’m jumping into the deep end of the pool and I am going to see if I can swim or sink.”

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Kirk Minihane: WEEI is “Going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in Afternoons”

“It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful.”

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Photos of Kirk Minihane and Rich Shertenlieb

As the speculation continues on where Boston sports talker Rich Shertenlieb will end up, one former WEEI host said he has the scoop on what is going to happen. Kirk Minihane, now with Barstool Sports, said, “What I heard was, initially, was they were moving Rich Keefe from nights to middays, moving Adam Jones from afternoons to middays and keeping Fauria there, and moving Andy Gresh to afternoons…But now it appears Rich Shertenlieb is going to do afternoons with Andy Gresh.”

On Wednesday, Boston Globe sports and sports media columnist Chad Finn put out a post on X, saying, “Didn’t think Rich Shertenlieb would end up at WEEI after leaving Sports Hub. I do now, most likely in afternoon drive. Audacy management has been telling people to expect changes.”

Minihane continued commenting on the matter, saying, “It’s going to be Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb in the afternoons, which is going to be so awful. Maybe the two most sensitive c***s in the history of radio. That’s a show we are going to ruin…we haven’t done that in a while, we are going to take that show down…Once that show starts, we are just going to blitz them with phone calls because Gresh can’t handle that.

“What they don’t understand, because they are so dumb, is that…Rich Shertenlieb has no fan base…no fan of [Toucher and Hardy] in the morning is going to be like ‘I’m not going to listen to Felger in the afternoons, I’ll now listen to Andy Gresh and Rich Shertenlieb.’ It’s going to be dreadful.”

Recapping what he has heard the rest of the WEEI lineup will be, Minihane said, “…And then in middays you have Adam Jones, failed afternoons. Rich Keefe who has now failed middays, drivetime, nights and is now going to fail again in middays… and Christian Fauria who has never drawn a rating in his life.”

WEEI has not commented on any of the speculation. BSM will have more as the story unfolds.

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Former 670 The Score Host Tommy Williams Has Died

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Photo of Tommy Williams
Courtesy: Lakeshore Public Media

Tommy Williams, who was heard for a decade on 670 The Score, died on Wednesday at the age of 66.

Williams began his broadcasting career in his hometown of Gary, Indiana in 1982 at WLTH before moving on to The Score. In 2003, Williams became the PA Announcer for the Gary Southshore RailCats of the American Association where he had his signature call to get the attention of the fans, “People, People, People.”

A story in The Times of Northwest Indiana said, “The longtime RailCats public address announcer and Lakeshore Public Media sports journalist was known for broadcasting countless games, interviewing countless athletes and covering Region sports at all levels. The Gary native and co-host of “Prep Sports Report,” “Prep Football Report,” and “Lakeshore PBS Scoreboard” often signed off shows saying, “Gary, Indiana, you know I love you.”

“The cadence he had in his voice echoed across the Region in a way we may never see again. He was widely known and widely loved,” Tom Maloney, vice president of radio operations at Lakeshore Public Media told the paper.

“He’d want to be remembered as the voice of Lakeshore sports,” his Regionally Speaking co-host and producer Dee Dotson told The Times. “Most people will remember him for covering prep sports all the way up to semi-pros. He’ll be remembered for treating each of his subjects like they were world champions. His depth of knowledge of sports at all levels is commendable. He was a walking encyclopedia of stats.” 

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