Steve Czaban is very good locally and nationally. He does tend to once in a while lift terms and phrases coined by a popular talk show in the D.C. area, "The Sports Junkies"... who used to be nationally syndicated but have had to make two time slot jumps since for various reasons unrelated to ratings. I think the Junks and Daily Czabe & Scotty Linn are on pretty decent terms.

I have to say that I disagree with the Jim Rome comment. Never once has he said anything thought provoking or funny. He is a horrible interviewer, usually kissing the guests butt until they say something else, which he picks up on to kiss more butt.

Kornheiser's the bomb for me! I found his show on ESPN 980 in Washington, where you can listen from 9-1 local time each day. It's only a two hour show, the other two hours are repeats.

And you know, they do take emails and I have gone on there are corrected King Tony's pop-culture references (yeah, big shock, eh?) Besides, he's totally self-depracating about his knowledge anyway.

I think Rome's ego is in his way and his disdain for certain sports I find to be tiresome and at times jingoistic and sexist.

Generally agree with your opinions on all of these guys except Patrick. His "on the one hand, on the other hand" style of analysis gets really tiring. His ability to get some decent guests is the only thing that makss him tolerable. Kind of hard to believe that he misses Dibble.

Anyway, as someone who has wasted way to much of his life listening to sports (and talk) radio, I have my three rules of sports radio:

1. No screaming! I can deal with "guy radio" in a sports show, but anybody ranting at the top of his lungs probably has very little to say (yes, that means you Mark Madden, and you Arnie Spanier, and you, JT the brick)

2. Multiple hosts are almost always better than guys working alone. For guys working alone, good guests are crucial. (Anybody heard Charley Steiner on XM? He interviews about 6 beat writers a day -- great questions, witty repartee. Even though there is an "old school" bias in the guests, you will learn something about the Padres, Tigers or whomever they're talking about.)

3. Minimal reliance on callers. Closely related to point 2, but it's amazing how idiotic most callers are, whether it's a local or national show.

Now, if only Brian Kenny could get Patrick's ESPN gig.

Scott: Good post. It's funny you bring up Herd because I've been thinking over the last two/three weeks that his show has gone downhill - precipitously. My theory on this, and why I liked him so much in the beginning, is that the groupthink at Bristol is finally starting to get to him. His show, albeit somewhat different, is starting to sound just like M/M and DP. The constant harp over the last week or so on the "hot story" like M/M have basically turned their show into, just makes me sick. He really is pandering too much to his big affiliates, now NY, and HOU. He is at his best when talking about personal stuff (naming the new cat) and college/pro football. You're completely right about his baseball knowledge - - it's pretty non-existsent.

DP to me is almost as bad as M/M at this point. Like one of the commenters above noted, his 'on-the-one-hand-and-the-other-hand' is really maddening. Plus you're right about the callers, there are way too many of them. For whatever reason Pete Genesenee must think this brings better ratings.

Here, here to the comment on Brian Kenny.

Czaban is good - love the 80's rewind and Where are you/What ya haulin'. His only issue is that the show sounds too DC most of the time.

The morning extravaganza is ABSOLUTELY UNLISTENABLE. God is VEW and that hot babe terrible. Andrew's talent is completely wasted on this. If they weren't the only alternative to the equally as bad M/M, I'd probably never listen to them.

Never listened to JT the Brick.

You know I've always like Rome. There are obviously big faults with the program, namely reading those "oh you're great!", "great interview Rome" emails. I actually like the good callers, such as those on last week's smack-off. The thing I really like about Rome is his anti-modernist attitude. Everything really is spin and about someone's self-interest. He gets that and is basically the only one that really comes close to telling it like it is in today's sports culture. The bad thing here is that he is now on ESPN so he can't punk Bristol anymore. (Markie, Mark...are you reading?!) Also, if you've noticed, he takes more calls now 'cus he has to save some of his takes for the TV show. If the show would ever take-off, which it hasn't, he'd drop radio in a heartbeat.

Just a note: Best local radio show in the country - Boers & Bernstein, WSCR in Chicago. Incredibly smart, well-read, funny, elitist sports guys. Who could ask for anything more?

Just heard on The Herd when discussing Roger Clemens:

"I'm not sure how important strikeouts are" (in the evaluation of pitchers).

"Who's a better all-time pitcher, Nolan Ryan or Roger Clemens?"

- my parenthesis added as context -

Egads.

Great post TFD. The topic of the day on these shows is as easier way of having some continuity, but it also makes for a lot of stagnant radio. Patrick and Rome have other jobs that they have to prepare for, which I do think takes a little away from the show, despite their talents. Cowherd is best when sports is just an adjunct to his show.

As I've written before here, Brian Kennyis the best. He's made the Hot List a talk radio/sports news show on TV.

Overall, I like the post, but this is completely untrue: "Jim Rome is the most talented person in sports radio." Jim Rome sucks. Everything about him sucks and the reason he's popular is because he appeals to lowest common-denominator of idiots and let's face it, there are tons of them out there. Remember when Jim Everett was gonna tear him a new one and he ran away like a little bitch? That was funny.

I always thought TK was the best and now I really want XM so I can start listening to him again. I agree with your view on Cowherd where I hated him right off, but now I've warmed up to him. Still hate when he says "colin-email."

I've also got to disagree with your 'take' on Rome, strongly. He has no relevant opions, and never says anything the least bit original, saying your 'takes' in an agressive tone doesn't make them edgy. He's a terrible intervier, and has far to many inside jokes.

Here's some further explanation. As someone who has co-hosted a few different radio shows, there is nothing in my life that I thought would be easier that turned out harder than my expectations than doing a radio show. To do a show by yourself is even more difficult, which Rome does in almost a seamless fashion. (Ask Will sometime on how hard it is to do a radio show by yourself, something he has gotten good at over time, but I'm sure he would admit it took some experience to get there.) I don't listen much to Rome's show, because I can't stand the callers and I'm not a fan of the player interviews, but it doesn't take away from his ability to have quality takes on almost every subject he tackles.

A lot of people like to rip sports talk show hosts and my answer to them is "then name me who you think is good, becuase if all of them suck to your ears then you don't like the medium or you are expecting way too much."

Nice post, Scott. Your Rome take is spot-on -- I want to dislike the guy, but on a long drive I often find myself getting sucked in to listening for a prolonged period of time. The callers are easily the worst part of the show -- don't these people realize how lame they sound reading pre-written statements infused with lame jokes and tired catchphrases?

I can't even rationally discuss the ruination of the Fox Morning Extravaganza; while Bruno and Siciliano had fantastic chemistry, Wright sounds about as comfortable as a grandfather conversing with his teenage grandson. Mercifully, Bruno has returned to the airwaves on another station here in LA, and quickly eaten away at the FME's ratings -- so much so that the local Fox station is dumping the FME in favor of "shock jock" Mancow next week.

You can listen to TK here : http://www.sportstalk980.com/main.html

You do need to register, but they don't spam you.

Having done my share of radio, it's not easy, but that doesn't mean you have to be an idiot.

You know, I'd love to have an NPR type sports talk show with intelligent, reasoned discussions in soothing, soft tones. Dreaming is free, I guess.

Hey Vic: Great news about Bruno. Where is he at? streaming?

Never mind Vic, found via Google. (Surprise!)

Smed: I'm up for your last recommendation. That'd be great. Hey who would have thought liberal talk-radio could work a year or so ago? NPR-sports might just work. Got a mil or so to start it?

Smed, TFD ... what the heck is BPR? :) The dulcet tones of my voice on a Saturday morning aren't enough?

And Scott's right. It's insanely hard to make radio sound easy. I'm still scared of dead space and tend to talk too fast. For me, the trick is finding a rhythm of the conversation. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't. Rome's good because he always seems nonplussed. A lot of that credit goes to experience and to his producers.

And I hate callers. I like hanging up on them when they're bad.

Oh, Will....BPR would be perfect to have on NPR. It's just that some many talk radio hosts have to have that 'radio voice'.

Besides, you haven't followed through on having me on as a guest. I have hot info on the 19th century that's just waiting for airtime :)

If I had a multi-millions, I'd try to wedge a sports talk show on NPR, but I would have other priorites first - like re-doing the pressbox at Hollett Little Giant Stadium.

I do radio myself, which is why I feel at least somewhat justified in slamming Rome on his utter suckiness. Yes, doing a solo show is difficult, but shorten the show if you don't have enough material, don't sit around for 20-30 seconds at a time crumpling paper several times per show. Player interviews suck, clones suck, 30 second pauses suck, his voice sucks, the emails are tired.... there really is nothing good about him or his show. WC, not quite sure how or why sounding nonplussed is a good thing, care to explain? I hate callers too, they offer little to nothing unless they suck and you can make fun of them for the final 6 minutes of a segment! :D