Kill the radio

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Bulldog, on radio:

As ridiculous as it often is, at least you can say local TV news is entertaining. That is, if you like technical glitches, wierd characters, out-sized egos and an ever-changing cast that never sticks around long enough to have their mail forwarded. And weather readers – oh my god, I meant to say Meteorologists even though they probably can’t spell the title – that think they’re auditioning for Broadway (Simon-Cuevas).

But what’s really annoying is local, small-market radio. I mean, sometimes you wish they would JUST SHUT UP. For the past two days, Ken and Tammy have had Cameron Maybin, the soon-to-be-millionaire Roberson High baseball player, and ex-Roberson and ex-Braves pitcher Darren Holmes on their morning show to be interviewed. Unfortunately, neither gets much opportunity to speak because Ken and Tammy, amid endless chuckles and giggles, JUST WON’T SHUT UP.

The same thing has happened to sports talk radio, where Bill McClement and Pat Ryan co-host a local show on WISE called “The Wise Guys.” What a misnomer. They’re neither wise in the sense of being intelligent, nor wise in the sense of being clever. They ocassionally have an interesting interview opportunity (Example: Brevard College is starting a football program) and they JUST WON’T SHUT UP long enough for the Brevard athletic director to describe it.

It doesn’t help that he’s on a cell phone somewhere between Brevard and Franklin, where even Cingular Wireless can’t find you.

Here’s some unsolicited advice, radio guys (and girls):
1. When doing an interview, ask a direct question and JUST SHUT UP so the guest can answer.
2. Don’t preface your question with irrelevant anecdotes about yourself, JUST SHUT UP and ask the question.
3. Every comment at every moment is not a joke, so JUST SHUT UP and tell the story.
4. Don’t pretend to be jokingly at odds with your co-host about your age, weight, former athletic skills, ex-wives, drinking ability etc. It’s been done. It’s not funny anymore. JUST SHUT UP and do the show.

We’ll all thank you very much.