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The Insiders Returns To WDAE Ahead Of NFL Draft

“The Insiders is hosted by WDAE mid-dayer Pat Donovan and features Bucs experts from three different outlets.”

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hold the fifth pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. With the team having needs just about everywhere on the defensive side of the football, it makes sense that the rookie class is dominating the conversation in the market.

Enter WDAE and The Insiders, the pre-game show the station launched last season. The show will return every Thursday in the month of April, broadcasting live for an hour starting at noon from Oak & Stone in St. Petersburg.

“We launched this show last football season on as the kickoff to our NFL/Buccaneers Sunday programming,” said WDAE PD John Mamola. We had HUGE success with the program that we’ve expanded it into four NFL Draft special broadcasts on site at one of the hottest lunch spots in Downtown St. Petersburg.”

The Insiders is hosted by WDAE mid-dayer Pat Donovan and features Bucs experts from three different outlets. They include Jenna Lane of ESPN.com, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, and PewterReport.com’s Trevor Sikkema, who is also an analyst for TheDraftNetwork.com.

The show will make its spring debut on April 4.

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CBS Sports Producer Defends Army/Navy Halftime Show

“They’re doing their pre, halftime and postgame jobs just like we would.”

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CBS Sports College Football
Courtesy: CBS Sports

On Saturday afternoon, the Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen faced off for their annual matchup – the 124th such occurrence of the signature contest – and broadcast by CBS Sports. Army extended its win streak to two games over Navy, but the day was about much more than the game on the gridiron.

Outside of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., ESPN College GameDay was situated and featured guest picker and New England Patriots general manager and head coach Bill Belichick. Additionally, there were the traditional ceremonies that took place inside the stadium featuring the Army cannon that has become synonymous with the game itself, fired at kickoff and during other momentous occurrences during the matchup.

The matchup was televised on CBS Sports featuring play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler, analyst Gary Danielson, and sideline reporter Jenny Dell on the call. On Monday morning’s edition of Boomer & Gio on WFAN and simulcast on CBS Sports Network, a caller expressed their opinions of the broadcast – not during play itself, but rather pertaining to halftime.

“Now halftime is all about pomp,” the caller said. “…Why did CBS Sports bring the counterfeiters, those three jabronis; why did they have them talk and not let us show the viewers the actual halftime?”

Appearing on the halftime program Saturday included host Adam Zucker with analysts Rick Neuheisel and Brian Jones. The presentation that was televised on CBS Sports seemed to perturb this caller though, as he would have rather seen what was taking place inside of the stadium. Instead, the panel discussed the game at hand and performed the task that was assigned to them by the company, and in so doing was subject to the vitriol of viewers missing out on the on-site festivities.

Luckily for Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti, the program had CBS Sports producer Stephen Waldron on the line, who was asked by Giannotti to answer the question from the caller.

“I would say they’re definitely not jabronis,” Waldron explained, “and I didn’t watch the game, so I can’t comment on it.”

Esiason is a member of The NFL Today and will be on the road for the AFC Championship game in January to determine one of the two teams playing in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Nev. He compared the jobs of members of College Football Today to what they are doing on the NFL broadcast, simply fulfilling the roles and parameters thereof assigned to them.

“They’re doing their pre, halftime, and postgame jobs just like we would,” Esiason said.

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Mike Felger: Being 2nd Chair in Sports Radio ‘Sneaky Hard’

“I’m just used to running my mouth and setting the pace, and that sort of thing.”

Jordan Bondurant

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Mike Felger
Courtesy: Nantucket Current

Morning drive on Boston’s 98.5 The Sports Hub will have a new co-host alongside Fred Toucher starting in January, and speculation continues to swirl about who will replace longtime co-host Rich Shertenlieb.

The Boston Herald last week reported the latest in the station’s search for a new morning co-host. Kendra Middleton, a familiar voice in the mornings, has interviewed, and other current station talent like Jim Murray and Rob “Hardy” Poole are believed to be getting consideration.

Mike Felger, co-host of Felger & Mazz on The Sports Hub, has been jokingly suggested as the next co-host. But Felger said in a digital video reported on by the Herald that it would certainly be a challenge, and that he and Toucher would have success.

“I think it would go well,” he said. “What is a sneaky hard spot is to be in the second chair, to be in the Mazz chair, the B chair, because listening is harder than talking… that would be the only discomfort.”

Felger added that it would be an adjustment.

“I’m just used to running my mouth and setting the pace, and that sort of thing,” he said.

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Former Tennessee Titans Tight End and 104.5 The Zone Host Frank Wycheck Dies

The Tennessee Titans announced Wycheck’s death Sunday. He was 52.

Jordan Bondurant

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A photo of Frank Wycheck
(Photo: WZTV)

Tennessee Titans fans were saddened to learn over the weekend that beloved tight end Frank Wycheck died. He was 52 years old.

Wycheck passed away after falling and hitting his head at his Chattanooga home on Saturday, according to a statement from the family.

“We are all devastated to hear the news of Frank’s passing,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement. “He was loved by so many, and his memory will always be cherished. Frank’s name was synonymous with Titans football. He was such a huge part of our team’s success both on and off the field. He embraced this community and fan base immediately, and everyone loved him right back.”

In 11 seasons with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, Wycheck recorded 505 receptions for 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns. He was a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Frank is in both the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and the team’s Ring of Honor.

Wycheck was part of one of the most memorable plays in NFL history when his cross-field pass to Kevin Dyson in a 2000 playoff game set up what’s now known as the “Music City Miracle.” Wycheck’s only Super Bowl appearance came that season.

Post-retirement in 2003, Wycheck went into sports radio, hosting a morning drive talk show with Mark Howard and Kevin Ingram on 104.5 The Zone. Wycheck was also the color analyst for Tennessee Titans radio broadcasts, leaving both roles in 2017.

Howard passed away last year, but Ingram on Sunday offered his condolences on X.

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