Connect with us
Jim Cutler Demos

Sports Radio News

Josh Klingler: Marcus Spears is ‘Not Here for the Nonsense’

If you were to go, ‘Hey, Marcus Spears, give me an honest assessment,’ he’d give it to you.”

Published

on

Marcus Spears
Courtesy: ESPN Images

The Kansas City Chiefs have continued a dominant stretch of play, winning their last six games and leading the AFC. The roster has changed and features a bevy of new players. However, there are some on-air commentators and personalities that have doubted the Chiefs’ ability to compete for a Super Bowl championship over the years, a group that ESPN analyst Marcus Spears is not part of.

On the Thursday edition of Fescoe in the Morning on 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City, co-host Josh Klingler expressed how he has been fair with his assessments and always provided candid thoughts on the team.

“I feel like Marcus Spears is one of those guys you can count on,” Klingler said. “You can count on him to tell it to you like it is. If you were to go, ‘Hey, Marcus Spears, give me an honest assessment,’ he’d give it to you. He’d be a guy you want because, once again, he’s not here for the nonsense.”

Spears, who is a frequent contributor to First Take, NFL Live, and a member of the recently revamped Monday Night Countdown cast, has expanded his role over the years at ESPN. The former defensive end played nine seasons in the NFL and joined the company as a member of the SEC Network in 2014, just after his retirement from the league.

“He just doesn’t have time for people trying to make a producer’s life easy by having fake topics about other teams in the NFL,” Fescoe said. “He’s just not here for your shenanigans.”

In a recent ESPN segment, Spears argued that he is not going to argue about the Chiefs, calling them the “surest thing that you can pick in order to win a Super Bowl or to be in a Super Bowl.”

Jeff Saturday, who served as interim coach of the Indianapolis Colts in the latter half of the season, then joined the discussion by asking Spears who the Chiefs beat and arguing that the Jaguars are the best opponent the team has played. He then argued that Mahomes is the only reason the team is succeeding this year as Spears tried to continue with his take.

“Didn’t we have a guy on the text line say that to us a couple of weeks ago say that to us and then got really mad when I called him a moron,” Fescoe said. “I guess Jeff Saturday was texting the show – ‘Well, they’re only good because they have Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.’ Oh, so now we’re penalizing teams for (a) drafting well and (b) hiring the right head coach, right?”

Sign up for the BSM 8@8

The Top 8 Sports Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox, every morning at 8am ET.

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Sports Radio News

Jonathan ‘T-Bone’ Smith: I Want to Be the First Radio Show on OnlyFans

The conversation occurred two days after co-host Mike Ricordati wanted to skip commercial breaks following Ohio State’s loss to Michigan.

Published

on

Jonathan Smith
Courtesy: Joseph Scheller, Columbus Dispatch

Earlier in the week, Mike Ricordati of 97.1 The Fan wanted the afternoon program to skip all of its commercial breaks for the remainder of the show to discuss the Ohio State Buckeyes’ third consecutive loss to the Michigan Wolverines. After addressing the incident at the start of the program on Tuesday, the show took the air and outlined how fans can interact with the hosts during the midst of the show. That then led to a suggestion from Jonathan “T-Bone” Smith about a new distribution medium for the afternoon program.

“I’m hopeful that we become the first radio show to cross over to OnlyFans, but not because we’re like, ‘Check out what’s going on. Click on my OnlyFans,’” Smith said on Wednesday’s edition of Common Man & T-Bone. “It’s not that; it’s more of we’re on there doing an uncensored show, but we’re not visually. We can have a picture of us.”

Upon being told by Ricordati that he was essentially describing a podcast, Smith described how it would be a delivery device where subscribers would have to pay to consume the content. Ricordati expounded on the idea and divulged his vision about what such a program would entail and how it would differ from the current iteration of the show.

“We do a straight show just like this, except people tune in to the webcam and we’re just sitting there in S&M outfits,” Ricordati said. “We make no mention of it; we do nothing with it, but we’re sitting there in studded leather clothing with a dog collar and whips and chains and a meathook hanging from the ceiling, and we just do a regular show just like that.”

“I am 100% in on this,” replied Jonathan “T-Bone” Smith.

Ricordati continued by stating that the money for the program would be donated to charity, specifically citing the United Sex Workers of America, and continued the segment for several more minutes. The debauched conversation continued by pondering if any of the coaches at Ohio State had ever heard of the OnlyFans platform, something Smith surmised they had because of their proximity towards upperclassman football players.

“We have a show login for pretty much every single website that exists in the sports world – like ESPN+ and [The] Athletic and whatever,” Ricordati said. “….Corporate’s paying for it. We have a show login. I wonder if over at the Woody [Hayes Athletic Center], they have a generic login for OnlyFans just to see what’s going on.”

Sign up for the BSM 8@8

The Top 8 Sports Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox, every morning at 8am ET.

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Continue Reading

Sports Radio News

Fred Toucher: Everyone in Boston is Talking About Who Will Replace Rich Shertenlieb

Toucher’s comments came after 98.5 The Sports Hub played suggestions from listeners on who should replace Shertenlieb.

Jordan Bondurant

Published

on

Fred Toucher
Courtesy: Beasley Media Group

Since the departure of Rich Shertenlieb, the co-host vacancy alongside Fred Toucher on Boston’s 98.5 The Sports Hub has become a popular topic of discussion and speculation.

On Wednesday, Fred Toucher utilized a “Man-on-the-Street” segment headed up by producer Nick Gemelli to point out the fact that the question of who will replace Rich on the show is something on a lot of people’s minds.

“This is simply just Nicholas asking people who should take Rich’s place, which is a topic of conversation,” Toucher said. “Our own Nick Gemelli, only son of Mark Gemelli, went out to talk to people. I can’t speak to this I haven’t heard any of these, just about who will fill this coveted chair that people are texting me about that have no experience in radio and think they have a legitimate shot at it.”

But the segment seemed to get some criticism from longtime listeners of the show, as initially Toucher was unsure of whether to call the segment drunken recaps or not. But Fred said it didn’t make sense to call it a drunken recap because Boston Celtics fans tend to be more well-behaved.

Fred added later that the goal of the segment wasn’t to try and dunk on Rich, since drunken recaps is a bit from Toucher and Rich. It was just simply a chance to try and get a sense of the pulse of station listeners about who should be the next co-host.

“The point I was trying to make is that I’m not trying to do a drunken recap here,” he said. “All anyone is talking about in the region at all, the only thing anyone’s talking about, is who’s taking the Rich chair.”

Sign up for the BSM 8@8

The Top 8 Sports Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox, every morning at 8am ET.

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Continue Reading

Sports Radio News

KNBR Cuts Staff, Including Hosts Paul McCaffrey and F.P. Santangelo

Adam Copeland, who was tabbed as Program Director of KNBR earlier this month, revealed the cuts at the end of his program co-hosted by Tom Tolbert Wednesday afternoon.

Published

on

A photo of F.P. Santangelo, Paul McCaffrey, and the KNBR logo
(Photo: KNBR)

KNBR has undergone a series of cuts, which have eliminated the positions of a pair of on-air hosts.

Morning co-host Paul McCaffrey was one of the hosts affected by the reductions. He had hosted Murph and Mac alongside Brian Murphy since 2005. He joined the station after previously working at 1050 KTCT as a weekend host at classic rock station 107.7 The Bone. The morning show’s producer — Erik Engle — also confirmed on X that he was let go as part of the station’s cuts.

Additionally, former MLB outfielder F.P. Santangelo was let go. He was hosting KNBR Tonight in the 6-10 PM timeslot.

“I was informed today that due to budget cuts there will no longer be a 6-10pm show,” Santangelo wrote on X. “That said I’m super grateful for the time spent bonding with all the amazing Bay.”

According to SFGate.com, the live nighttime call-in show hosted by Santangelo had been heard on the station for more than 50 years. The station aired nationally syndicated programming from CBS Sports Radio on Wednesday night during the timeslot previously helmed by the MLB veteran.

In addition to the departures of McCaffrey and Santangelo, former programmer Lee Hammer also exited. Hammer had been with the station since 1998. He programmed 1050 KTCT from 1998 to 2016, and KNBR from 2005 to 2017. He also spent time programming talk stations 560 KSFO and 810 KGO.

Adam Copeland, who was tabbed as Program Director of KNBR earlier this month, revealed the cuts at the end of his program co-hosted by Tom Tolbert Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s been a really difficult day. I love this building, I love this station, I love working with you, Tom, and I’ve listened to you for years. I love a lot of people, and I love the guys we let go of today,” Copeland said, according to RadioInsight. “I’m looking forward to the future, but I really think we need to tip our cap and applaud the work that those guys have done.”

During the summer ratings period, KNBR finished with its best book of the year. However, the station remained behind competitor 95.7 The Game in every daypart except mornings, which will now undergo a change with the departure of McCaffrey. In the overall prime ratings in the men 25-54 demographic, KNBR finished 15th with a 2.6 share behind The Game’s 11th-place 3.2 share.

Sign up for the BSM 8@8

The Top 8 Sports Media Stories of the Day, sent directly to your inbox, every morning at 8am ET.

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Advertisement

Barrett Media Writers

Copyright © 2023 Barrett Media.