Sports Radio News
WFNZ Adds Former Panthers for NFL Coverage
Published
6 years agoon
WFNZ The Fan 610 AM and 102.5 FM in Charlotte is bolstering their lineup for the start of the NFL season by adding two former Panther wide-receivers in weekly spots.
“Monday’s with Moose” will feature Muhsin Muhammad joining Frank Garcia and Kyle Bailey every Monday during the NFL season beginning September 3rd. The former Panthers All-Pro receiver will be in studio for the entire show, from 2-6pm.
In addition to Muhammad on Mondays, WFNZ will add Steve Smith as a weekly spot on Garcia and Bailey from 5-6pm every Wednesday. If not a future Hall-of-Famer in Canton, OH, Smith will certainly be added to the Panthers Hall-of-Honor in the not too distant future, although the two-time All-Pro receiver’s tenure in Carolina didn’t end well.
Smith has a long-running relationship with WFNZ, even learning of his 2014 release from the Panthers, a team he played with for more than a decade, by listening to the Charlotte radio station. During the 2014 season, Smith called the afternoon show with Garcia and co-host at the time, Mark Yarbro, to offer his negative feelings about the way his release was handled. Panther’s ownership and management has since been overturned.
During Smith’s career in Carolina he spent multiple seasons with weekly spots on-air, dating back to his rookie season in 2001 when operations manager D.J. Stout hired the wide-receiver to join WFNZ’s afternoon drive show every Monday. Later in his career with the Panthers, Smith also made on-air appearances with Taylor Zarzour and Marc James. Smith is currently in the middle of a multi-year contract with the NFL Network where he appears as an analyst on a variety of shows.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at [email protected].
Sports Radio News
AJ Hoffman Headed to Mornings on San Antonio’s Sports Star
“Excited for my next chapter post-Vegas and stoked to start building an audience in San Antonio!”
Published
1 hour agoon
April 19, 2024By
BSM Staff
AJ Hoffman announced via his X account he will be back on local radio in Texas doing mornings at San Antonio’s Sports Star. “Life announcement,” Hoffman wrote. “I’m moving back to Texas. Starting May 6, you can find me back on local radio, doing mornings on San Antonio’s Sports Star. Excited for my next chapter post-Vegas and stoked to start building an audience in San Antonio!”
Hoffman had worked for several years at ESPN 97.5 in Houston and was most recently in Las Vegas serving as the executive vice president and director of digital content for Pregame, an information site for sports wagering.
Hoffman had hosted the popular show, The Blitz, with Fred Faour for more than 10 years and then became the station Program Director in 2019. He exited the station in the summer of 2021 to take the position with Pregame.
San Antonio’s Sports Star made a change earlier this year in mornings when Rudy Jay left the station in mid-January. RJ Ochoa, Managing Editor of the ‘Blogging the Boys’ website, took over for Jay, doing the show with station Program Director Rob Thompson.
Life announcement.
— AJ Hoffman (@AJIsTheReal) April 19, 2024
I’m moving back to Texas. Starting May 6 you can find me back on local radio, doing mornings on @SASportsStar
Excited for my next chapter post-Vegas, and stoked to start building an audience in San Antonio!
Sports Radio News
Steak Shapiro About Pat McAfee: “Dude, Relax”
“That is the definition of cringe. You have to be authentic.”
Published
3 hours agoon
April 19, 2024By
BSM Staff
Sports radio has spent a lot of time during this football offseason talking about Bill Belichick. From his ending in New England to the search for a new head coaching position to being a free agent in the sports media world, his name has come up often. Steak Shapiro and Sandra Golden hit on the topic this week during The Steakhouse on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta.
A lengthy story from ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler this week reported Belichick may not have landed the Atlanta Falcons head coaching position because of a conversation Falcons owner Arthur Blank had with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Another part of the story says the executives around Arthur Blank didn’t have Belichick in their top 3 of candidates which had interviewed for the position.
The same report also divulged that Belichick is expected to sign a deal with Omaha Productions to provide analysis and is interested in potentially coaching either the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles or New York Giants after taking this year off.
The same day, The Pat McAfee Show had Belichick on as a guest and announced the coach would join McAfee and team for their annual Draft Spectacular.
Shapiro and Golden talked about the article as it related to Atlanta, but also about Belichick’s appearance on McAfee’s show. “[Belichick] on McAfee trying to be this lighthearted guy that loves The Pat McAfee Show, it’s a stretch dude, that is a stretch.”
“That is the definition of cringe,” Golden replied. “You have to be authentic.”
Shapiro does an impersonation of McAfee talking excitedly about hanging out with Belichick and said, “Dude, relax, relax…the whole thing…I wish we hadn’t gotten started on this…”
Back in late January, McAfee had said on his show about Belichick, “I would like to let everybody know…I will make this promise that if Bill Belichick is going to do TV, ol’ Pat McAfee will be in the running to try to get Bill Belichick to join our progrum [sic],” McAfee said. “Belichick… knows everything about the NFL. Every game that’s ever been played…every player that’s ever been great — that’s why he was so great on [NFL 100 All-Time Team]. And after what we saw on College GameDay, he’s got moxie too. He’s great on TV, I think we’ll all be incredibly lucky if that’s the case.”
Sports Radio News
Howard Simon to be Inducted into Buffalo Broadcasting Association Hall of Fame
“I was at a loss for words when I got the call.”
Published
7 hours agoon
April 19, 2024By
BSM Staff
The 2024 Hall of Fame class for the Buffalo Broadcasting Association Hall of Fame has been announced and it includes longtime WGR 550 Sports Radio morning host Howard Simon. Simon hosted radio in Buffalo for 33 years, with the last 18 being at WGR with partner Jeremy White.
“I was at a loss for words when I got the call,” Simon said.
Simon ended his run with WGR in March 2023, however, he remains a contributor and also appears on WBEN in addition to fill-in hosting duties for the Buffalo Sabres and numerous local colleges and universities.
During his career, Simon covered four straight Super Bowl appearances for the Bills, the Buffalo Sabres in the Stanley Cup Finals, several NCAA tournaments and more.
The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on Thursday, Sept. 19. Actor, comedian and writer Nick Bakay, who has appeared many times on ESPN and used to write for NFL.com is also a part of the class.
