Steve Somers has been on-air with WFAN since the station’s inception in 1987. Spending most of his WFAN career as an overnight host, Somers has been the lead-in to a number of morning shows on the station. Thursday night, the popular WFAN host didn’t hold back when talking about one of his least favorite morning shows the New York sports radio station experienced.
Shared by Funhouse (@backaftathis), the Twitter handle known for highlighting Mike Francesa’s on-air miscues, the social media account posted audio of Somers’ opinion of former WFAN host and longtime CBS sportscaster, Greg Gumbel.
“All he did was read wire copy. It was the worst version of a morning show you could ever have heard anywhere let alone New York City,” Somers said of Gumbel, noting he was hired by WFAN because of his name. Somers made sure to add he has no issue with Greg’s brother Bryant Gumbel, “the intelligent one in the family.”
Gumbel viewed WFAN as a “pit stop,” according to Somers, as the former morning host had his sights set on a TV gig with CBS. Somers took issue with Greg for calling into his overnight show to take subtle shots at the radio station after he was fired.
After giving him the platform to take those shots, Somers wanted to get Greg back on the show once he was finally hired by CBS. Hoping for insight on an NCAA tournament game the CBS sportscaster was going to call, instead of getting an interview opportunity, Somers was told by Greg to contact the PR department. “Greg Gumbel, nice guy,” Somers said.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.