So Cleveland Scene posted a pretty cool article about merging all of the Cleveland sports talk radio stations together and creating the best daily lineup possible. It’s definitely worth a read if you haven’t already. We here at Bottlegate decided we should try and make our own list and I’m pretty happy with the lineup we came up with.
I’m an avid listener of local sports talk radio, basically listening everyday from 7-4 and also trying to listen to Ken Carman at night as much as I can. Plus I used to work for (intern) for the AM sports station in town. Obviously some shows in Cleveland are better than others, but I tried to pick people who would complement each other well.
Disclaimer: I’m 26. You won’t find any old guys on the list. As a listener it’s hard to have a connection with people twice your age talking about players that are younger than you in their early 20s. Can’t do it. Won’t do it. Guys like Fox, Lima, Carman, and Burge all get the nod over the white haired, seasoned guys.
Here’s my daily lineup:
6-10: Adam The Bull & Chuck Booms
Fuck coffee, you’ll get worked up hearing these 2 fight about inane topics such as the strength of Colt McCoy’s arm or their favorite member of The Beatles. Pretty sure if there’s something to argue, it would be argued. I’m a sucker for radio arguments so I’d 100% be tuning in every day. Quite the jolt to start your morning. We’ll have Adam the Bull ranting and screaming about everything and Chuckie bitching about everything. What could go wrong?! (Note: I know I’m probably in the minority but I like Booms)
10-2: Rizzo & ??
We’ll keep Rizzo in his normal mid-morning spot because why fix what isn’t broken. He’s good at what he does and let’s be honest the show would only be 3 hours with a full hour of the show being taken up by live reads anyway.
I don’t know who his partner would be. Even though he’s a huge troll I think Hammer is pretty good and I’d probably throw him in just because of the success the two have had. I’m not in love with it, but I just don’t know who could complement Rizzo well.
2-5: Ken Carman & Emmett Golden
Obviously Ken can carry a show by himself but I think the addition of Emmett would create a great dynamic. You’ve got Emmett (a black guy) and Ken (a huge redneck) to contrast each other. Plus Emmett laughs at literally everything and that alone could make up a whole show.
5-7: Anthony Lima, Andre Knott & Zac Jackson
Not quite sure how I feel about a 3 man show but I think this would be good. In the Scene article they mentioned the A to Z podcast that Knott & Jackson do, which is really solid. Go listen if you haven’t.
Really confused as to why Lima doesn’t have his own show yet. There’s currently a 10 am-2 pm slot on The Fan that needs some life injected into it… Plus he has a Duck Season shirt.
7-11: Will Burge & Dustin Fox
Frat boy radio! 2 of the better young on air talents in the city. The biggest mistake 850 ever made was letting Burge go (seriously they’ve had like 20 format changes since then). Fox brings a validity to his insight with his playing experience and him winning a national championship with the Buckeyes. We’ll put these 2 at night because they’ll be able to get away with more. Burge and Lima are interchangeable, I think both would thrive in each role.
Beat reporters
Browns- Daryl Ruiter. I’m admittedly not the biggest Ruiter fan but he takes good Instagram pictures and I’d rather headbutt a knife than pick Grossi.
Cavs- Joe Lull. Kind of has “smartest guy in the room” syndrome but he’s usually right and he’s pretty good at what he does.
Indians- TJ Zuppe. Extremely underrated
And that’s that. I’d love to hear some suggestions either in the comment section or tweet them to us @Bottlegate