Sports Radio Gold

"Let me tell ya, Dog, it was nice wetha on Saturday, and that's going to hurt the numbuh. Just like I thought it would, Dog.''
"Way to go Mikey. Good call on that one.''

 

another brilliant piece by Mushnick

he really nails down exactly how Russo and Francessa go about their business

but don't pretend Russo and Francessa are idiots and have no appeal. their sports knowledge is astounding, they have great chemistry together, they bring on terrific guests, and they ask very good questions.

which is why they can get away with everything Phil wrote about.

 

Stone, I would venture to guess that Fatty and Angry get away with things because of their ratings. Their ratings are derived from being the first sports talk show in NYC and from the fact that their station’s wattage reaches from NYC down nearly to Washington DC and out west to Pittsburgh. On top of this, they have the base of being their longer than others and having absolutely no competition for years on end. They have accumulated a monopoly of sorts.

Their sports knowledge is nowhere near the “astounding” description you provide. In fact, if they aren’t talking about football, baseball or tennis, they know astoundingly little. Just yesterday they were on the air openly stating that they didn’t know what EPL stood for or what the best soccer league in the world was. They almost never talk hockey and have often said they know very little about the sport.

So, you can boil it down to tennis, which only Russo watches and gives a shit about, baseball, which both are passably knowledgeable, and football, which they are able to fake it well enough.

They really are a joke.

 

Trust me, you can't get WFAN in Pittsburgh. Not unless it's post-sunset.

During the day, their signal makes it to Harrisburg. Maybe.

Either way, that would not affect their New York ratings, since those are separate markets.

 

Astounding, my ass.

Clueless, outside of baseball and football -- and not that slick, at either of those ports of call, of teams situated outside the Northeast.

 

It affects the ratings in that they are able to cover the entire state of NJ and NY with a fairly clean signal as opposed to, say, ESPN's 1050. As to picking up in Pittsburgh, I did. That is why I mention it. Maybe it was at night. I can't say for certain as it was a long time ago.

 

They also had a 15-year head start on 1050. Lots of other factors at play.