That Was Now, This Is Then
Back in October 2004, I linked to some comments about Tony Bruno's replacement on Fox Sports Radio's Morning Extravaganza, Van Earl Wright.
My post itself elicited additional comments from two anonymous people back in December 2004:
Quite simply stated, as "RICH IN OAKLAND" said, "The show has no meaning anymore; no content, no direction". In short, it stinks! VEW is an absolute disgrace. Andrew and Krystal and "Mo" are totally LOST. Tony Bruno's departure is a major blow to a radio show that caught alot of people's imagination for its humor, its ingenutity, and barrage of clever banter. Now, its simply a lousy radio show. I listen to Local News radio. FOX blew it bigtime.
I, among many of us, were hoping...even PRAYING...for Andrew & Chris Meyers to be the new team. They had a great mesh, and would have been a great team for years to come.
I have been listening to VEW, and giving him a chance...but I am truly disapointed with him...it seems FSR is trying to make the show about him, which is so what Tony was not doing. VEW is a good guy, but not made for this venue. TB was secure enough about himself to let others shine around him, which made him that much more endearing to the audience....
Of course, a lot has happened since then. From my perspective, the most notable thing has been the removal of Van Earl, Andrew, and Krystal from the Southern California airwaves (except in Lancaster). But the posters at radio-info.com continue to discuss the situation. While there are the knee jerk reactions, there are those (including the two anonymous people who posted at my blog) who have voiced thoughtful criticisms and suggestions for improvement.
For example, here's an excerpt from a post from sportsland:
If Sporting News Radio goes ahead with their plans, Fox is probably done....
With Bruno and Kiley and Booms, SNR could be poised for a major comeback....Look for all new clocks, imaging, and a revised line-up to coincide with the new Bruno show.
Ashwood was banking that no one would deal with Bruno on a national level again and SNR was basically dead a year ago. Clear Channel doesn't want any of their talent to have too much power. Their philosophy is to protect the brand, even if that means you cut bait with your best talent in favor of weak, vanilla talent and bland programming....
You know sports radio is getting bad when sports stations start playing non-sports shows. We've got Tom Leykis in the morning!
woody1394 replied, in part:
...The one thing I wonder most about though is why putting vanilla-type programming makes any sense to ANY network. Lets be simple about this, if the programming is good, people will listen. If it sucks (like Van Hurl), people will not....
SportsTalkJunkie believes that the references to Fox's death at the hands of Sporting News have been exaggerated:
...FSR just added WEOL-AM 930 in Elyria, OH. FSR has been adding stations every week, including bouncing Sporting News off of Lancaster (PA), Knoxville, Madison, Pocatello, and Sacramento. Where has Sporting News bounced Fox in the last two years? You cannot name one station. When is the last time Sporting News signed a major affiliate?...
But there's another opinion, posted by someone with the handle vanearlwrong:
Fox Sports Radio only survives because Cheap Channel has too many crappy little am's and no programming. In the bigger markets, they only get spotty clearance late at night and claim those as "affiliations"....
And there's also a comment from Pratte4Life about how Fox Sports Radio markets their female anchors:
...[T]he one thing about a FOX Sports TV female anchor is that they tend to be models (Lisa Guerrero, Lisa Dergen, etc.)....
But unless you're going to have a show where Jenna Jameson talks love and sports, you can't be a sex symbol on the radio. And that's how FSR tries to portray their female personalities- such as Krystal Fernandez.
One of the early staples of the network was interviewing porn stars. It was catering to the lowest level of "guy talk" and while I'm not totally against it (Tony Bruno really did it well, but he does just about everything well) it seems FSR can't get out of that rut....
It should also be noted that this is a staple of Howard Stern's radio show, which seems to be doing fairly well from all I've heard.
Speaking of Lisa:
Lisa is currrently in a stage production in aid of the charity SFWAR....
Actually, that should be in the past tense, according to this:
"Extremities," an intense play around the struggles of dealing with sexual assault. All proceeds from the play are being donated to SFWAR. Starring Lisa Guerrero and Jon Gale. Tickets are on sale now at the SFWAR website - Show dates are November 18 [2004] - December 19th [2004]. Please show your support.
SFWAR is "San Francisco Women Against Rape." Their website contains the following:
Extremities is every woman’s worst nightmare come true… with a twist. Farrah Fawcett starred in the famous movie version, but the stage play is even more powerful, yet mercifully lightened by much-needed moments of comic relief. In the play, during an attempted rape, a woman captures her attacker and proceeds to torture him. Her roommates return home and struggle to determine who is guilty of a crime, the woman or her would-be rapist....
“A long time ago, my sister had been assaulted,” [producer] Gale stated, “And I wanted to do something for her. She kicked the s*** out of the guy and managed to get away with some scrapes. But she was a mess emotionally.” At this time in Indiana, there was little-to-nothing in place for emotional support. Gale added, “My sister filed a police report, and they essentially told her to get over it. Anybody who’s been sexually assaulted should have more than that. She turned to her family… there was nothing else available at the time.”...
Television star Lisa Guerrero has appeared in over 200 commercials as well as dozens of television shows including a starring role in Aaron Spelling’s Sunset Beach, and guest appearances on In the Heat of the Night, Cybil, Matlock, Line’s, Frasier, and the George Lopez Show. She was the former Monday Night Football sideline reporter and has worked as the update anchor for “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” for Fox Sports. Soon, she will be the host for “ESPN Hollywood” debuting in January 2005.
Ah, ESPN Hollywood...
Guerrero comes to Extremities through Jon Gale. “I worked with Lisa on the musical Grease a few years ago in Los Angeles at the Westminster Playhouse. She was fun to work with, and we’ve been close friends ever since.” Gale adds, “Just for this project, she’s moved to the Bay Area. After the show, she’ll return to Los Angeles with her new husband Scott Erickson, a major league baseball player, a pitcher. Actually they celebrated their honeymoon right before launching into the final rehearsals for Extremities. It’s been an amazing reunion. I never thought with her busy schedule that she could do it. But I was lucky to catch her between projects.”
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