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Chris Canty Addresses Mike Golic Jr.’s Departure: ‘He’s the Ultimate Teammate’

I wanna wish him well because he’s somebody that’s super-talented. And more so than that, he’s just a really good person.”

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ESPN Radio

Mike Golic Jr.’s departure from ESPN was the big sports media news Tuesday.

According to the New York Post, Golic Jr.’s contract had expired and he turned down a new offer from the network. That ended a seven-year run at ESPN Radio, where he hosted the morning show with his father and Trey Wingo, then moved to afternoons with Chiney Ogwumike, and finally Chris Canty.

As an internal memo explained to affiliates, the plan for now is for Canty to work with a rotating series of co-hosts. On Tuesday, Canty worked with Shea Cornette. And at the beginning of the show, he addressed Golic Jr. leaving ESPN Radio.

“There’s only one place where we have to start today’s show,” said Canty. “As some of you may have heard, Mike Golic Jr. has left ESPN Radio. He is now moving on to other ventures. And we wish him the best in all of his endeavors and everything that’s to come.”

Canty went on to compliment Golic Jr., with whom he worked for six months on ESPN Radio’s afternoon drive-time program.

“He’s super-talented and from a personal standpoint, having worked with him for the past six months, I gotta say he’s the consummate professional and he’s the ultimate teammate,” Canty added. “He will be missed. I wanna wish him well, Shea, because he’s somebody that’s super-talented. And more so than that, he’s just a really good person.”

As we wait to see what’s next for Golic Jr. (Meadowlark Media? The Trey Wingo Presents podcast network?), the question for ESPN Radio becomes who joins Canty on the afternoon show. Will the show stick with rotating hosts, hoping to find the one that works best? Or is this buying time until a new co-host can be found?

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Former KFAN and ESPN 1500 Host Jeff Dubay Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor DWI

Dubay told the Star Tribune in a brief phone call that “the police report is full of misinformation and horrible assumptions.”

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Credit: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Former KFAN and ESPN 1500 sports radio personality Jeff Dubay has pleaded guilty after a recent drug-related arrest in Todd County, Minnesota. Dubay has a long string of previous convictions for drug possession, as well as other convictions for assault, domestic assault, and driving offenses.

Dubay, 56, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving while under the influence of an illicit drug after being pulled over on March 8. In exchange for the guilty plea, Dubay will have a felony-level 3rd-degree drug possession and an additional driving under the influence charge dismissed.

According to the charges, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

On the evening of March 8, a state trooper saw an SUV traveling erratically before stopping in the West Union Catholic Church parking lot. The SUV then left the parking lot, prompting the trooper to pull the driver over.

Dubay explained he was heading to Fargo and got off the freeway in order to get the Minnesota Gophers hockey game on his cellphone. Dubay, beneath a blanket and naked, said he had been sleeping at a rest stop near Avon earlier.

The trooper saw that Dubay was restless, sweaty and speaking rapidly. He explained that he stopped taking his medication. He acknowledged using methamphetamine about a week earlier.

As Dubay got out of his SUV to perform sobriety testing, he was covered in vegetable oil that came from a bottle he had with him. Drug smugglers have been known to use various cooking oils to conceal meth as it is shipped.

Dubay failed numerous aspects of the sobriety testing. A law enforcement search of his vehicle turned up methamphetamine and two small bottles of adhesive remover. “It was suspected that Dubay may have been huffing from those bottles,” the charges read. While at the jail, Dubay acknowledged using meth that morning.

Dubay told the Star Tribune in a brief phone call that “the police report is full of misinformation and horrible assumptions.”

Dubay was a longtime sports talker on KFAN as a co-host with Paul Allen. He was fired after his arrest in 2008 for cocaine possession. Dubay later returned to sports radio in 2013 with 1500 ESPN, however, he was laid off in 2014.

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Gregg Giannotti: New WFAN Program Director Could be “Bombshell”

Giannotti was then asked, “Is it a slam dunk he is going to accept it?” and he replied, “No.”

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Boomer & Gio
Courtesy: Audacy

There was scuttlebutt this morning on Boomer & Gio on WFAN. Hosts Gregg Giannotti and Boomer Esiason talked about who the next Program Director might be at the Audacy-owned station in New York. It sounds like we may soon know who the replacement will be for Spike Eskin, the current PD who will be headed back to Philadelphia.

Gregg Giannotti said, “I was told that end of the week was something that could be a possibility. Not for an announcement…I was told by a candidate. They would not announce it today, this was just like, ‘I think the decision will be made…”

Boomer Esiason interjected, “Sounds to me like someone has been offered the job and they’ll accept the job today.” To which ‘Gio’ replied, “Or won’t…like this is it, are you doing it or are you not doing it?…If that person says yes, then it’s over and it’s his job. But if that person says no, which would be a crazy wild rollercoaster to end up with ‘no,’ because this person was campaigning for the job at one point. And then now to turn around and say ‘no,’ I don’t know how that could happen.”

Giannotti was then asked, “Is it a slam dunk he is going to accept it?” and he replied, “No.”

Boomer Esiason asked a few questions and found out that he knows who the person is but has not worked with the person. He told ‘Gio’ he wants to hear the name when they go to break.

Giannotti said he has spoken to multiple candidates for the position and that he is aware of a “Choice A and a Choice B,” and later clarified that the second list is multiple people who he described as “interchangeable.”

About the individual who he says is “Choice A,” Giannotti said, “Choice A, by the way, I will say…bombshell spot.”

In further conversation listeners and viewers of the show learned Spike Eskin has been “giddy” lately, which has also led to speculation that things are moving forward. Additionally, the pair mentioned two names who would not be taking the position – former WFAN program director Marc Chernoff and SiriusXM Vice President of Sports Programming Eric Spitz.

Earlier in the discussion, Giannotti said he believes Spike Eskin’s contract expires with WFAN on June 20th.

In mid-December it was announced Eskin would return to SportsRadio 94WIP in Philadelphia as afternoon drive co-host. Eskin will leave his current position, which he has held since July, 2021. At the time of that announcement, it was said Eskin would return to the WIP airwaves, on a full-time basis, once his successor at WFAN and CBS Sports Radio has been found.

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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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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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