I Should Be On Talk Radio

First, Bob Edwards is leaving "Morning Edition" and now Tony Kornheiser is leaving talk radio. This is a black day in my media world. I don't usually admire the work in the local fishwrap's LARGEST department: Sports. However, the writer—Mike Lee—offers a balanced appreciation of the Tony Kornheiser Show on ESPN Radio. If this is (fair & balanced) regret, so be it.

[x Amarillo Globe-News]
On the radio, Kornheiser was a cut above
By MIKE LEE

A colleague once philosophized: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach end up on talk radio."

Sports talk radio, in particular, can dumb down the American public. Callers spend hours hurling verbal insults at each other, and hosts spend hours interviewing self-serving professional athletes who care only about promoting themselves and dancing around legitimate questions.

Amid the airways of mindless chatter, "The Tony Kornheiser Show" on ESPN radio rose above the rest. Kornheiser's show - at least in its present form - is signing off for good today. Locally, that means no more of the balding East Coast snob from 9 to 11 a.m. on KPUR 1440-AM.

Amid the good ol' boy gibberish of most shows, Kornheiser's stood out as the thinking person's sports talk show. He rarely took calls. He didn't interview athletes.

Instead, Kornheiser interviewed those who covered the teams and athletes - sportswriters and TV beat writers. They told listeners what really was going on with the Yankees, Cowboys or Lakers.

National journalists such as Jim O'Connell on college basketball, David Dupree and David Aldridge on the NBA, or Len Pasquarelli on the NFL shared unique insight. Kornheiser listeners were treated to the veteran savvy of the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith, the unbridled passion of the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan and the folksy delivery of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Randy Galloway.

There were off-the-wall regulars headed by John Riggins, the former NFL bad boy whose now-mellowed insights offer a matured perspective.

Kornheiser's best guest was during the Major League Baseball season, when Joe Morgan was a Friday regular. Morgan is a rare gem - a former athlete who offers his honest opinions on tough issues without worrying about what players might think.

Kornheiser often ventured outside the sports arena, including weekly chats with Washington Post movie critic Stephen Hunter. Kornheiser's opening segment often focused on the story of the day - sports-related or not.

He has a knack for capturing the historical relevance of an event. When an important person died - like Bob Hope, for example - Kornheiser could educate his younger listeners on why this person was important to the world they live in today.

Listeners felt they knew Kornheiser personally from his stories about walking his dog at 5:30 every morning, moving his daughter to college or attending one of his son's prep golf tournaments.

Unlike some talk show hosts who pretend to be an expert on every subject, Kornheiser admitted he didn't know much about the NHL or a particular sports event that ran past his strict 9:30 bedtime. When Kornheiser planned a segment on the NHL playoffs, his guest would be a hockey expert. When he needed insight on that late game, he woke up a journalist who covered it.

Because he's sharply opinionated, Kornheiser was either loved or hated by listeners. Neutrality wasn't an option with Mr. Tony, Kornheiser's name for himself when he told stories of the privileges of being a Washington Post sports columnist and ESPN personality.

He refers to ESPN SportsCenter anchors and news types as "Heads," a derogatory term for those he didn't feel were real journalists. But while serving on the panel for "Dream Job," a reality TV show in which ESPN is selecting its next SportsCenter anchor from more than 10,000 candidates, Kornheiser admitted he couldn't do what the "Heads" do.

Kornheiser doesn't care much for women's sports - unless the UConn basketball team is going for its 69th straight NCAA championship. Such opinions may alienate some of his potential audience, but that's Tony.

For all his strong opinions, though, Kornheiser doesn't take himself too seriously. He poked fun at himself, keeping alive ESPN viewers of him as being fat, bald and having an orange skin tone. When he was having a bad show, he readily admitted it on the air. The show's e-mail address was thisshowstinks@espnradio.com.

Kornheiser turned off some listeners from the South, Midwest and West because he's a classic East Coast snob. But that's part of his appeal, his charm. When he makes a comment suggesting that nothing important happened west of the Hudson River, listeners could either get mad or laugh. Those who allowed themselves to laugh were better entertained for it.

It was a similar situation with Kornheiser's constant interruptions of Dan "The Duke" Davis during SportsCenter news breaks every 20 minutes. You can either let yourself be entertained by Kornheiser's insightful or humorous interruptions or allow yourself to become irritated.

Kornheiser still will co-host "Pardon the Interruption" on ESPN television with Michael Wilbon and write a sports column for the Washington Post. But in Amarillo, his unique approach to sports talk radio will be missed.

Mike Lee, assistant sports editor of the Globe-News, can be reached at (806) 345-3313 or at michael.lee@amarillo.com.

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