Sunday, December 31, 2000
Sports on TV-Radio
Broo gets back on radio
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ken Broo had always been a radio/TV guy— until he returned to Cincinnati as WLWT-TV Channel 5's sports director a year ago.
“With Clear Channel owning Channel 12,” he said, “there really weren't any opportunities on radio.”
One opened up when Terry Dean, the general manager of ESPN radio WBOB-AM (1160), decided to shake things up a bit.
Dean and Broo knew each other from Broo's last stint in Cincinnati. Broo will begin a 10a.m. to noon sports talk shift on ESPN 1160 Jan.8.
“I'm fired up about it,” Broo said. “In TV, we're only on air 3 or 31/2 minutes a day. This will be another outlet for me.”
Broo hasn't done pure sports talk since he worked for a station in New Castle, Pa., 20 years ago. But he has done play-by-play (Bengals, Maryland) and did a daily spot on an FM station in Washington D.C. during the 61/2 years he spent at WUSA-TV there.
Dean is hoping to create some buzz for ESPN 1160. It has been quiet since it went from local programming to an ESPN affiliate this summer. (The station was running a local show hosted by Greg Waddell and Doug Kidd from 4-7 p.m. That's been replaced by ESPN programming).
Broo's show will be followed by a one-hour show hosted by Andy Hemmer, a sports business columnist for the Cincinnati Business Courier.
“Our style will be kinder and gentler (than BOB's),” Dean said. “Hopefully, it will be successful and we can build on it.”
Broo was put in the 10 a.m.-noon slot because it works with his schedule, and: “We think midday is prime time for us,” Dean said. “A lot of people are out and about listening in their cars during that time.”
Broo's show will go head-to-head with Wildman Walker on HOMER-AM (1360).
MEANWHILE AT HOMER: 1360, The Sports Animal, used some familiar people to substitute for vacationing hosts last week. WBOB alums Tim Lewis and Paul Sturgeon both did shifts on the air.
“Right now, we're using them as fill-ins,” said Clear Channel AM operations chief Darryl Parks. “We also wanted to hear what they sounded like on the air.”
Could the fill-in gigs lead to more work?
“Possibly,” Parks said.
How Broo does against Walker could affect that decision.
MORE HOMER: HOMER will begin carrying Cyclones games Saturday. WNOP-AM (740), which had been carrying Clones games, goes off the air for good today.
HOMER will also run a daily two-minute Cyclones update at 6 p.m.
CRIQUI CRITIQUE: We know how hard it is to pay attention to Bengals games, but when you're the play-by-play man it's your job.
So how is it that Don Criqui got the Bengals score wrong three times late in the loss to Philadelphia. Criqui continued to talk about the Eagles shutting out the Bengals after Peter Warrick caught a touchdown pass to make the score 16-7.
Criqui signed off by saying, “The Eagles have beaten the Bengals 16-0” even as the graphic on the screen said, “Philadelphia 16, Cincinnati 7.”
FOX'S ANSWER: Fox Sports Net will debut Beyond The Glory,a series of one-hour profiles of contemporary sports figures. The first one is on Deion Sanders.
Beyond The Glory sounds like Fox's version of SportsCentury, the signature on ESPN Classic.
BTG will run for 26 weeks. The Sanders' piece is followed by profiles of Isiah Thomas, Lawrence Taylor, Roberto Duran, Warren Moon and Karl Malone.
John Fay covers radio/TV sports for The Enquirer. He can be reached at (513) 768-8445.
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