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A Look At Portland Sports Radio

Jason Barrett

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With two new shows debuting this week, the landscape of Portland sports talk radio got fuller and more local.

On Monday, KPOJ (also known as Rip City Radio) rolled out “Rip City Mornings with Bunker and Danforth,” a 6-9 a.m. show that is the Portland market’s first morning local sports talk show since KXTG shut down “Morning Sports Page” in 2012.

Also Monday, KFXX (1080 The Fan)announced its altered lineup that will debut Tuesday and include three local programs that will fill the station’s schedule from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

With KXTG (750 The Game) also with a newer host in its 3-7 p.m. slot, there has been significant makeover in Portland sports radio in the last year.

The market’s two longest-running shows remain rock steady: KFXX’s “Primetime with Isaac and Suke,” and KXTG’s “The Bald Faced Truth.” KPOJ also has a big name in Blazers’ play-by-play man Brian Wheeler.

Here’s how each weekday’s local sports talk shapes up:

6-9 a.m.

“Rip City Mornings with Bunker and Danforth,” KPOJ (620 AM): Hosted by Andy Bunker, who moved from Seattle’s KIRO, and Taylor Danforth, who left KFXX last month, this is the only local show in this time slot. The station hired Icky Rosborough as producer. Rosborough’s father, Mike Rosborough, was a longtime TV sports photographer for KATU.

This show’s competition is syndicated fare, with KFXX airing “The Herd with Collin Cowherd,” the ESPN show that started in Portland, and KXTG airing “The Dan Patrick Show.”

10 a.m.-noon

“Hard Count with Dirt and Sprague,” KFXX (1080 AM): The show is hosted by Andy “Dirt” Johnson and Brandon Sprague, who had a three-man show with Danforth in the noon-3 p.m. spot before Danforth departed last month. Both hosts are young, Portland-raised guys who have a lot of institutional knowledge. They’ll have a local lock on the time slot, going against the “Rich Eisen Show,” which runs 9 a.m.-noon on KPOJ, and “The Jim Rome Show,” which airs 9 a.m.-noon on KXTG.

Noon-3 p.m.

“The Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano,” KXTG (750 AM/102.9 FM):Canzano, a columnist for The Oregonian, has hosted the station’s anchor show since it debuted in 2008, originally as a 3-6 p.m. show, then moving to this time slot in 2012. In recent years, the show has benefited from the steady producing of Noah “Chop” Homsley, who also has become an entertaining on-air sidekick.

“Dusty and Cam in the Afternoon,” KFXX: The station’s newest show has Dusty Harrah, a longtime KFXX jack-of-all-trades who has recently widened his profile as co-host of “Trail Blazers Pulse,” a TV show that is part of Comcast SportsNet Northwest’s post-game Blazers block. Harrah is joined by Cam Cleeland, a former NFL tight end whose own on-air profile has been growing steadily in the market.

KPOJ runs the syndicated “Jay Mohr Show” in this spot.

3-5 p.m.

“Wheels at Work,” KPOJ: Hosted by Brian Wheeler, who is in his 17th season as the Blazers’ radio play-by-play voice. Because of his duties with the team, the show often has a guest host, typically either Ron Callan or Jay Allen, both of whom are Portland radio veterans. Each show has Wheeler on for at least one segment, even if he’s on the road.

3-7 p.m.

“Primetime with Isaac and Big Suke,” KFXX: The longest-running show in the market, with hosts Isaac Ropp and Jason Scukanec having been together since 2006. The show also is televised on CSNNW. Ropp and Scukanec have built a loyal listenership with a familiar format that, as their show’s description says, includes “topics ranging from the Blazers to bark dust and from bacon to movies to hot chicks.”

“In the Huddle with Ragz,” KXTG: The show is hosted by Mike Ragz, who also is the station’s program director. He replaced long-time Portland radio personality Chad Doing in this spot in September. Although he has no Portland history, Ragz came in at a ripe time, during the ascendancy of Marcus Mariota and the Oregon Ducks, as KXTG is Oregon’s flagship station.

Credit to OregonLive.com who originally published this article

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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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