The Press Box - The Super Bowl of Sports Radio With Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Mike Felger

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

Bryan is joined on Radio Row by Chris “Mad Dog” Russo of Sirius XM to talk about his career as a radio host, from the biggest media transitions throughout the year to his favorite thing about radio, and about his recent reunion with Mike Francesa on ‘First Take’ (1:45). Later, Bryan is joined by Sports Hub radio host Mike Felger to dive into his career covering Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, finding his niche on air, and radio’s competitive edge compared to other mediums (21:12). Host: Bryan Curtis Guests: Chris Russo and Mike Felger Associate Producer: Erika Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Listen now. Hello, media consumers. Welcome to the press box. Brian Curtis of the ringer here, along with producer Erica Servantes. When I'm on Radio Row with the Super Bowl, I like to dive into what's arguably my favorite medium, sports radio. And for today's pod, I snagged interviews with two of Radio Rose statesman. First up, my annual visit with Chris Mad Dog Russo of Sirius XM,

who talks about sparring with Stephen A on first take, his Christmas card list and how he could host an hour of any sports radio show in America. Then I bring on Mike Felger of the Sports Hub in Boston. After churning through four hours of radio, Felger talked about how he overtook

the biggest station in Boston to become number one in the afternoons, his days covering Tom Brady, and you won't want to miss this, why podcasts aren't nearly as good as sports radio. I've got to say his criticism is tough but fair. But first, on this podcast, here's the mad dog. Chris Rousseau.

All right, Chris, you had an interesting week last week. What was it like to not only reunite with Mike Francesa, but to do it on first take? Yeah, very strange. Now, we got overwhelmed, Brian, by the fact that Brady it decides at 8 o'clock in the morning to announce his retirement on Instagram, and we didn't know that when we had our meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday morning at 730.

We had planned to show Wednesday at 730 where we thought we were going to do this part of Mike and a Mare Dog, this port of Mike and a Marendorke and a Mardog. And then a half hour later, 15 minutes after the meeting was up, Brady, you know, puts it out that he's retiring. So that kind of changed it a little bit. You know, you can argue that it was good because it gave us really a center point and something to really talk about. And, you know, quarterback history and Montana and all those things. And then on the other side, you got a little away from the Mike and a Mard Dog crew because you had to do Brady, you know, at the top of the hour, 10 and 11. So either way you want to go, you can make an argument from a Mike and a mad dog standpoint. It kind of hurt the flow a little bit, but it was good for the show because it gave it a major topic and you had me and Mike to comment on it.

But very interesting, you know, very, very interesting spot. You know, I thought Mike was very sharp. It was something different. You know, and I made sure I tried to make sure that I'd sit back a little bit and make sure that Mike had a chance to shine. You know, I had been on there a lot. This was Mike, you know, something different. We haven't heard from Mike in a while. No need to hear me go crazy, especially in a big topic.

So I made sure I was aware to make sure that Mike could go out there and do his thing. You guys were talking about the best quarterbacks of all time. And I think you may have been the first person in the history of that show to mention the name Autogram. Mike mentioned it too, though, I think, didn't he? Yeah, I did. None of them know who Otto Graham is. That's the one thing about that show that's fascinating, the history aspect of it. These guys don't know who half these guys are.

Coosies another one, as you know. but I did mention Graham. And Mike made a good comparison with Montana too, no interceptions in the Super Bowl compared to Brady, which I thought was interesting as well. When you've worked with partners in your career, you've had to find a way to talk to them, to vibe with them.

Right. How did you do that with Stephen A? Well, I think he gets the credit for that, Brian, to be honest with you, because he allows me to be me. And a great thing about him, first of all, he treats me like I'm a bigger brother, like I'm a mentor.

So he doesn't feel challenging. Not that he would feel a challenge with anybody. And he really wants to have everybody make a good contribution to the show. He's not looking to be the star of it. But with me, for whatever the reason, he allows me to do my thing. And he doesn't get upset or anything if, in fact, I go a little longer, a little louder, pick on him, you know, that what I'm mad about segment, those kinds of things. You know, and when the involved his shooting happened there back in May, you know, he basically laid low

and let me say what I had to say. So, you know, he just, you know, I've known him for a long time. So it's not like it was a cold relationship. We knew each other. But I give him more the credit. He's allowed me to go on there. And last time you and I talked, I hadn't even quite started yet. But he allowed me to go on there and just be me.

So, I mean, I have to give him the credit. He doesn't care who gets the credit for the success of the show. How is debating on television different than debating on the radio? Television, you got a little quicker. You know, you don't want to take, you know, you got a lot of guys on that TV. you want to get there, you know, they want to talk too. Because, you know, you got three or four people there. You got Molly there, you got Steve there, you get me there.

You usually got another person there, too, Swagoo, or any of the guys they bring in. And you don't want to dominate their time in the radio, it's just me with the caller or with Tori or in the old days with Mike. It's only the two of us, and they have five hours. TV, you know, each topic's only about 10, 12 minutes. And you don't want to overwhelm everybody else by screaming and yelling and spending eight minutes on it. So I try to keep that in mind. Chris, there's other guys who want to talk here to get to your point and get it out quickly. It's not the quantity.

It's the quality of what you say. So the brevity of it, sometimes saying less is better. The brevity of it is what I'm more conscious of. On radio, you got to fill more time than you do on the TV. Do you personally get something out of those appearances that you don't get out of doing a radio show? Yeah, notoriety. I'll give you a good example. I went to winter meetings in San Diego,

and I took a run on that pier out there of where the water is to the airport every day from the hotel. And I had a lot of people say, hey, love you on Stephen A, watch on Stephen A. Hey, by the way, what are you doing in San Diego? Well, I'm here for the winning meetings. Didn't even know that the baseball winner meetings were in San Diego. And then, you know, and they don't listen to serious.

So this has enabled me to get to a different kind of audience, It's a younger audience who didn't know me at all from whether it's the radio or whether it's the M-O-B network. So as a result of that, it's added a little different part of my portfolio. It's kind of made fun. Something different. It's going to feel good. I've absolutely. At 63 years of age, I'm still talking with three jobs.

I mean, that's a godsend. Absolutely makes you feel pretty good. No question. Let's talk about radio. I love talking radio with you. What is the hardest month to do a sports radio show? It's coming up. You know, I think February will be hard after.

this game is over. The transition between the end of football and the next big event, which is now a little lesson. It's not the six weeks. It used to be. It's only four. But the transition between early next week, you know, let's say you get two games, two days out of the game. Let's say the game is good. You get two days out of it. The transition between that and, you know, let's say March 8th or 10th selection Sunday is very tricky. So that's a very, very hard. component to have to come back. That's the first thing. Second thing that's hard is once the NCAA tournament is over, where you get a little life out of that, you know, the NBA playoffs and the opening rounds do not generate a lot of calls

on radio. It's very predictable. Nobody's going to call up about the, you know, the wizards against the nets, you know, so it's, you know, there's not a lot of drama because the better team always wins and hockey's hockey. So although it gives you some content and baseball is a long season, so in April, nobody's really after the, you know, the, you know, the, you. the fun of opening, the pageantry of the opening day, people who sort of get off baseball for a while. So that's a tough time period, too. I would say from April 15th until maybe Memorial Day.

Now, you have a lot of content because you've got a lot of events. You got a major in golf with the Masters. You've got NBA playoffs. You have NHL playoffs. You can always do a little baseball. You got a golf. You got PGA in the, you know, you got the French. You got a little tennis.

I mean, there's content. But getting people engaged. is tricky. And then July's hard. There's no other way around that July's hard. Football is not part of the equation. Remember in April you got the draft and you got the free agency, which helps. But in July you got no football, baseball's in the dojums of midsummer, the NBA is over and the NHL is over. So, I mean, you got you got the Wimbledon, which is good for me, but the average fan's not going to scream and yell about that. And you got maybe the British Open. So July is a very tough time to do sports talk too. There are certain pockets of the year, which it can be hard,

and it's going to get tricky, let's say next Wednesday, which would be the, what, the day, next Wednesday, the 10th? No, sorry. Super Bowl's the 12th, 13th, 14, 15th. The February 15th until selection Sunday will be a hard month for the radio guy. That's why I take a week off. That will help, but that will be a hard month for the radio guy. This is spoken like a true veteran of the profession. You got to take my week off when there's nothing to talk about. Well, boy, you've got to take it then. You can't take it. You know, you take it right around the president's weekend anyway. I usually work President's Day and I've done some tough shows there too. February is hard. I mean, let's face it. Nobody cares about the NBA All-Star game. Nobody cares about early two weeks of spring training.

The draft is years away. So is NFL free agency. They're just decompressing from a long NFL season. There's no college football. What do you have? So, and the transition to get people away from football to think about other sports is hard for a host beginning middle of next week. You've been doing a daily sports radio show since 1989? 83, but yeah. 83, 89 on the fan. Yeah, 89 in the fan. Was there ever a day you woke up and said, I don't want to have to take calls and have

takes today? Yeah, well, pandemic, a couple days there says, what the hell am I going to talk about? Yeah, definitely. You definitely have some moments in the show or during the course of the year that you say, how am I going to get through three or five or four hours here today? Or in the old days with Mike, boy, Mike doesn't like me right now. I'm not in love with him. How am I going to get through five hours with Mike?

There are certain days you definitely go through that. And I'm going to approach a few of them coming up. But yes, you definitely have some moments there where it can be hard. It can be your labor of love. And, you know, 40 years is doing a long time doing this, you know. But I like to perform. I like talking in front of an audience. so I will figure it out.

And my audience is selective and they are interested in what I have to say for whatever the reason. So I'll get through these patches. But there are certain days I say to myself, holy goodness, it's 259. What the hell am I going to lead with today? Yeah, there's many a day.

And I won't have any problem the next five or six days. Football guests, Monday, Tuesday, okay. But beginning next Wednesday, there's going to be some issues, 100%. I ask this to Angelo Kutaldi, who's retiring from his radio show. Philadelphia after years and years.

What's the best thing about the fame you get from being a radio host? What's your favorite part? I think the radio host has a very tight relationship with his fan. I don't think the TV guy does necessarily. I think the radio person does. I think the people who listen to radio, they develop a bond with their favorite host. So from that perspective, I think that goes a long way. I think the radio fan out there has a bond with his favorite radio.

He feels part of the family. He feels that the radio host and him have a connection. And you don't get that in other mediums. You know, you don't even get that in the TV that much. You get that with radio. And because of that, I think that is what you miss. I mean, I have a fan base that, you know, I took him out to dinner last year in L.A., six fans from Southern California.

I mean, they love that. And, you know, the connection that you have with your callers and your listeners on radio is not matched in any other media form. It's not matched with the people email the columnists. And the TV thing is, you know, it moves, it fluctuates. Each shows a new show.

Radio, they are willing to be with you through thick or thin, no matter what the topic. And I think that connection with the fan, when you miss, that's the thing. the most if I, when I leave, is the connection with my fans. The fact that they know what I think and I know what they think. And this is partly because when I flip on the radio, I think you're talking directly to me. That's it. It's a one-on-one medium. Yeah, I always try to tell myself, I'm talking to one person, not 100,000 or whatever it might be, 50,000 or I always think of me,

I think about the one person. I'm trying to reach the one person. I'm not going to reach everybody all the time, but I want to make sure that what I'm saying or what I'm doing or guest-wise or whatever, I'm reaching not one person this time. And after a while, that one person builds and builds and builds. And not every show is for each person. You know, not everybody's going to love, you know, the contest that we do, or not everybody's going to love me talking tennis, or, but there's enough things that we give that or an author or there's enough things that we give the audience that they will find

something that they enjoy. So some people like the call, some people don't. Some people like Ira Kaufman, some people don't. Some people like the picks with Lombardi. Some people don't. Some people like the 60-minute interviews on the authors. Some people don't. I did Jim Herman today, the golfer, who's an ordinary golfer, at the PGA, at the Phoenix

Hope, the waste management. Some people love it. Some people, who cares? I know he's not for him, Macquarie. I'm interested. So you try to give the audience something, somebody in that audience, you make sure that they can attach themselves to every day. And so if I think that I might be turning this segment off, I feel like I might be

turning that segment off. on. And the segment that's turned off that day, I know they're going to come back to me. There'd be something for them down the road. For the people who don't go all the way back to the Mike and the Mad Dog days, what was the original conception of the Super Bowl trivia contest? Yeah, it's a good question. You know, I think the original conception was let's do something to fill up the air time during the by week. You know, that's a tough time if you don't do a contest during the by week because you got five full days of radio and you got four or five

hours at FAN. You've got three or four hours here at Sirius. And, you know, there's only that you can do one day in the conference championship games. And the rest of the week, it's a quiet week. You can't, Kyrie, you know, once in a while, you know, he had the Kobe thing and, you know, Kyrie Irving. Once in a while, you have something. But for the most part, it's a very quiet week. It's a low before the storm. And so that, the contest fills in perfectly with that. Plus, the tickets, usually that's a good, that's a good price. It's a good prize and sometimes stations can get tickets from the NFL and they have a lot of ways to get the tickets and instead of giving money out they get the tickets out maybe they can get the tickets for free

in the old days maybe they could sort of as an arrangement where we're promoted you give us the tickets so it works for everybody involved and you know a lot of people who doesn't want to talk NFL football in a month now not everybody likes the contest but who doesn't like hearing football questions the week before the super bowl in the by week and i was reading about this last thursday there was something of a scandal? Well, you've had an issue with the contest because there are specific rules that you're only supposed to, you know, be a one-person subscriber. You can't pass the phone around. You can't get help if you're asking, answering the questions. And we have a group I call the Connecticut mob that are professional contestants. And they have a group of people who are all related to the same person

who, you know, brothers-in-law, son-in-laws, daughters, wives, whatever. or girlfriends, and they all gang up to try to win. And there's a couple of masterminds who help them get the answers. And this year, and you're only supposed to win once every five years and anything else. But if the son-in-law wins and he's a subscriber, it is getting help from the guy who won last year, what are you going to do about it? So that causes some trouble. So that caused a scandal this past week, which is tripped.

So we only gave away two contests, not five. Two winners, not four. It's amazing that there are professional people who are trying to win this content. Unbelievable. Matter of fact, a good friend of ours is Michael Binkow. Michael Binkow works for the networks out in California, and he was the executive producer for a long time of everybody loves a millionaire. And he is not a listener per se to what we do every day, absolutely loves the contest. Because that's what he does. So he loves the way we do the radio contest. And he's from Detroit lives in Thousand Oaks, California. And that is how he became a listener hearing me do the

contest and we've developed a relationship with them over the last, say, four or five years, which is hard to believe. So there's an example of somebody who wouldn't normally want to hear, you know, Garrett Wilson wants to hear the contest. Give everybody something that they can latch on to. They're not going to love everything, but they find it unique. You know, that's what I try to do. Two more questions for you. Somebody in the industry told me that a few years back they got a Christmas card from you and it was personally signed. Do you have a huge Christmas card list? Yeah, I give, there's about 30. of them that help, you know, that help the show over the course of the year. Some of them are PR

people who make sure they go out there and they help us get guests. Some of them are folks who come on weekly, you know, like a Peter King, like a Danielson. And so, you know, they don't get paid. So at the end of the Christmas, you want to send me a Christmas card. So there's about 25 to 30. And, you know, there are some staples on it. But, you know, again, sometimes, you know, one year, somebody, for instance, I sent the Giants one this year because they helped me get Mara. They got Mara on for me when they did

the tribute show about the Hall of Fame. So I made sure the Giants, the person who took care of that. Pat, I made sure he got himself, I sent him a card because he made a big effort. And you know, people, that means something to people. So when I call him in three years, I need something, he says, you know what, Russell? He helps us.

Let me see what I can do. Guys, send me a Christmas car. That's how you do it. So a lot of it is because I want to thank him. And a lot of it, you know, I'm a salesman. I realize that if I, you know, I send a brewers one every year because they always get his Craig counsel at the winter meetings. You know, that 20 minutes is important to the show.

And the brewers don't have to help Chris Rousseau out. And they always do. So always like clockwork, Chris, when you need Craig, we come and do it for you. And he sits there for 25 minutes and gives me an interview at the winter meetings and baseball for the radio. That's why I do it. And I get about 30 of them who will help me there. Last one for you.

We are surrounded by sports radio stations from all over America. If the program director from, let's say the Dallas station, walked into this room right now and said, Chris, my host is sick. I need you to walk out there right now and do an hour of sports radio in Dallas. Could you do it? Oh, absolutely. No problem. No problem.

I can do. Now, if it was a hockey town, I'd have a little trouble with it. Like if it was a Vancouver or, you know, maybe. Toronto, but I could do any market there, now I got to know what the theme is, you know, Austin, Texas, do they care about, you know, they want to talk about Texas Longhorn football and the recruiting class, I'd have a little trouble.

But I could do a show easily for an hour, because I would find, especially here, because you could do the Super Bowl easy? If it was just a normal day, could I do it? Be a little trickier because each market's got as intricacies what they want to talk about, but I could definitely do it. I mean, if I can do it here, I can do it out there. And part of that's knowing a lot about sports. Part of it is knowing what they, you know, and I know and I know something about the Mavericks and the Cowboys and the Trailblazers and anything else. I would need a little, I mean, if you didn't give me any heads up, I could get you through

the hour. If you gave me a little heads up, it would be no problem whatsoever. I feel part of its knowledge and part of its radio skill. I think it's three things. I think it's knowledge, personality, um, and knowing how to. run a radio program. You know, I can run a radio program. So that's not a problem. I have personality. That is not a problem.

And, you know, knowing their local team could be a little trickier. That's the hardest one. But, you know, I certainly know about their football and baseball teams. You know, do I know everything about the trailblazers? Maybe not now, but I know everything about, you know, if you want to talk about the Dodgers, I can go out there and do it, you know. So I could do most markets. If you can do here, you can do there.

You can do serious. You can do outside. Chris Rousseau, I love that this has become a, Super Bowl tradition. You have to do a great job, Brian. Thank you very much. Thanks for Kevin on the press box. You got it. Always a pleasure. Mike Felger from the Sports Hub in Boston is here. What do you get at us spending a week on Radio Row? So for us, it's a chance to get out of the studio, do something different, and talk to a few people. We're kind of a rare sports talk show where we don't do a lot of guests. I don't like having guests on.

I don't like phoneers. I think it interrupts the momentum of a show, the flow of the show, the flow of the show. let's face it, most guests don't say anything anyway. So we don't really do guests. I mean, we will go weeks at a time without a single phone guest or someone from outside the show. So this sort of forces us to sit down and talk to some other people. It's also just a change of scenery. We're also simulcast. So it's a chance to have a different backdrop.

We're out of the studio. And so that's why we do it. It's really not, it's just, let's say we're not reinventing the wheel there. it's just a little something different for us. And the idea of having no guests is that people who are fans of yours want to hear you talking, not a guest talking on your air. That's correct. Our previous program director said it's like going to a rock concert and having, you know,

having Mick Jagger have the crowd sing or have bring on a guest, bring on someone else, which the son's do all the time, by the way, like bring on a guest singer. It's like, I ain't come here to listen to the crowd. saying, I didn't come here to listen to some guest singer. I didn't come here. No, we came here to hear you. So that's right. That's sort of the thought. Now, you were a print guy before you went to sports radio. Correct. Does the print part of your soul die a little when you have to ask a guest here? What are you doing with vitamin water? No, I don't mind the little promo thing. A man's got to eat. You know, everyone's got a little something to sell. I don't have a problem

with that whatsoever. All right. Speaking of print, you started covering sports for the Boston Herald at a college with Bill Simmons. with Bill Simmons. I was just telling you this off the air. I started in 1989 on the high school sports desk at the Boston Herald alongside Tony Maz, my current radio partner, some other guys who are Boston sports, guys who are still in the business in Boston, Paul Perillo, Steve Conroy, and Bill Simmons. So we were all on that test together.

What was Bill Simmons like as an intern? He was a phenomenal writer. And for some reason, though, the sports. editor at the time, picked Mazz for a job first, picked me for a job second, and didn't give Bill a job. And so, Bill, I think at the time, said, fuck it. I'm not going to stand in line for this. I'm going to go 10 bar, and then he started writing on the internet. And the rest is history. But Bill was always the best writer. Oh, Jim Barrasso was another one. Tony, not Tony Barrasso, Tom Brasso. You remember Tom Barrasso? He was a goalie for the Buffalo Sabres, among others.

Jim Brasso was Tom Barrasso's brother. He was also on the desk. He was also a phenomenal writer. So Barrasso and Simmons were easily the best writers, but they didn't get the jobs Tony and I did. Late 80s, early 90s, what kind of reporter did you want to be? I wanted to be a shitster and a storybreaker and that sort of thing. Harold was a tabloid, is a tabloid, and had a tabloid sensibility. If your listeners are in New York, it was the Boston version of the New York Post. You know, the Times was the Globe and the New York Times were sort of of a like mind and covered things a certain way, very high brow, higher calling, you know, where the Post and the Herald were sort of gritty and more bombastic and more sensational. And I liked that.

I wanted to do that. So they're full of themselves and very self-satisfied. Correct. And the way the tabloid gets back and it must be more pointed. Correct. And go straight at things. Say what they won't. go where they won't take more chances than they would along the lines.

You know, you end up getting things wrong because you take more chances or more willing to put yourself out there. But it's more fun. You know, so we're not the quote unquote paper of record, but a lot of times I would like to think we were a more compelling product. You were covering the paths. I start off covering the Bruins. So here's an example.

I covered the Bruins in the late 90s. And in one of my columns one day, I called. called Jeremy Jacobs a thief. He's the owner. He's the Bruins could be something if they didn't have a thief for an owner. These were back in the days the Bruins didn't spend a lot of money and the owner was tight-fisted with money. So I called him a thief.

I got suspended. I got suspended by the league wouldn't let me into the locker room for the playoffs, the Stanley Cup playoffs of the finals. They revoked my credential. My paper suspended me. The owner of the paper, I think, had to fly up to Buffalo and personally apologize to Jeremy Jacobs. This was

in 1999. And when they came back, the owner came back, he said, I mean, my editor came back, he said, Felga, why don't you go cover the Patriots? Which at the time in 1999 was not a glamour beat. They were, you know, not a premier franchise in the league or in town.

They were maybe the fourth team in town at that stage. Even after Parcells was there, in 1999, they had hit another lull with Pete Carroll. So maybe fourth is exaggerating it. It wasn't a prominent beat. So they sent me to the Patriots, and then the next year they signed Bill Belichick

and drafted Tom Brady and sort of took off from there. Since we're sitting here after Brady retired again, what was he like to cover when he was starting out his career? Starting out was great. He was just a kid. He had a good relationship with him. I actually took him golfing once in his rookie year. I had a good rapport with him.

And so he was great. He was great to cover at that time. He's always been good to the people that cover the team. I stopped covering the team as a writer in 2007. So, you know, I don't have, he barely probably even remembers me. But back in those days, very early on, he was a really good guy to cover. And when he started getting bigger and bigger and bigger, you know, obviously he had less and less time for the media, any media.

But he's always been, he was always good to the guys that still remained in the room and showed up in the locker room every day. And he was always good on that level. How could you tell if you wrote something that annoyed him? I never did. I could tell when I wrote something that annoyed Bill Belich. check easily. I mean, I had a good relationship with Bill early on and that spiraled downward to the point where we had no relationship by the time I was done. Again, I stopped covering the team as a

writer in 07, 08. By that point, he wouldn't piss on me if I were on fire. And that remains to this day, which doesn't make me special. He's like that with most media people. But like that was obvious, you know, everything annoyed Bill. So, like, that wasn't hard to do. As a print guy, what interested you about sports radio. Well, that was fun too because that was, that's pure bombast. It's also easier. I mean, writing is hard. Reporting is hard. Even on the level of the herald where you would take more chances and not be as well sourced, you still, you still had to have some sources. You still had to have people trust you enough to tell you something that they didn't want to say on the record or tell you before they would tell someone else. So you still had to develop

relationships, go in there every day, talk to people, have them want to talk to you, have them want to tell you things. That's fucking hard. It's so much easier to go behind a mic and just start ripping people or start talking shit. Like that's, that's easy and fun. So once I started doing the radio, it was an easy transition for me to get out of writing and do this.

This is much easier and much better paid. Which is not a small matter. Not even close. Like not a small matter at all. So like that really wasn't much of a choice transitioning to radio versus writing. In radio, you can call an owner a thief and it's not as big a deal. It is if as long as they're not a rights holder, you know, so we have, we carry games for the Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics. Okay.

And if I haul off and start calling those owners thieves, I'm going to get a knock on the door from the program director saying, what the fuck are you doing? And I'm sorry, I don't know if I've, should I not swear, you have to beep this out? Okay. You know, what the hell are you doing? We're in business with these guys, you know, go easy on the owners. So you can't, even now, no matter whether it's writing or on the radio, you don't want to be calling the owner, Steve's, because you get a knock on the door. I read this quote from you in the Nantucket Current.

Uh-oh. My dad was a crusty old sports fan who was always bitching at the TV. Dot, dot, dot, dot. So complaining about the local teams comes naturally to me. Correct. And you could unlock that on sports radio. Easy, easy, easy, easy. And, you know, I think sports radio, ideally is a, it tends to be negative.

I mean, I don't know. People don't call up to tell you what's right. They call up to complain about something. And so I think the best sports radio is inherently, I like to say critical versus negative. There's a nuance to that being critical versus being negative. I like to think we're critical more than negative. Maybe the listeners of the fans would disagree. But either way, how that comes naturally to me is that I agree.

up in the 70s in Wisconsin, big Packer fans, and my entire life, my entire childhood, I should say, was sitting around watching the Packers lose and having all the adults around me saying, because they grew up in the 60s with Lombardi. So the adults came out of the Lombardi years saying Lombardi wouldn't have done that. Lombardi wouldn't have done this. What are they doing? Lombardi would have done this. Lombardi would have done that, just bitching about the team, nonstop bishing about the team,

because they came out of the 60s where all they did was win. there was a lot of bitching about the Packers in my house. And I think a lot of houses in Wisconsin in that era. And it was just sort of an inherently negative sort of world, sports world I was brought into. And so we were, my family was always bitching about the teams. So you start the show on the sports hub in 2009 with Tony Maserati. That's right.

And it turns out the people of Boston want what you call critical coverage over less critical sports radio. Yeah. I think so. I think that was an advantage we had. We came from EEI, which I think went, way over the top with their Patriots, they're boboes.

I mean, it was just, you know, it was just too fawning the coverage was. And look, the team deserved it. I mean, they were excellent.

Although by the time you got to 09, they had been five years since they had won a championship. I know that sounds silly to say, but it was just, you know, just too much. Belichick can do no wrong.

Brady can do no wrong. Why would you criticize them after all that they've done? And sort of, I sort of felt it's sort of hard to a talk show that way. You know, again, I think the best sports radio is showing up the next day and complaining about what you didn't like the day before.

So you have to be able to do that. And even if the team's good, you have to be able to do that. And I thought EEI just didn't do it. I thought they had two, they, they, they, I thought, caves too much to their relationships, whether it was broadcast partners or just who they interviewed their morning show, interviewed the quarterback, the afternoon. show interviews the coach, so you would find that the afternoon show never criticize the coach or the morning show would never criticize the quarterback. It's like, you know, I think for it to be good,

you have to be able to criticize everybody at all times, even in victory. I just, I think that that's what makes good talk radio is being critical. Again, critical, not negative. I know that's, I'm parsing words, but I thought that EI fell into that at that time. Like that's a million years ago now. That's 13, 14 years ago. So that's a long time ago. And when we started, I think it was easy to be an alternative to that. It's all changed. You know, I think it's different now.

But at that time, I think that was a chance for us. And for the un-initiated, W.E.I was the big Boston Sports Radio Station in 2009 when you started. And you were at the insurgent FM station, trying to take down the big dog. Yes. How quickly did you take them down? Well, taking down is, you know, that's being strong. beating them inside of two years. Sports radio?

Am I being too strong? Take him down is like, you know, we buried them. We didn't bury them. We just, we started beating them within a couple of years and have been pretty much, you know, at least in the afternoon for over a decade. So, you know, knock on wood. It happened much quicker than we thought. But I just think, you know, there was, the FM obviously helped.

The fact we had the Patriots and the Bruins as play-by-play partners obviously helped. the fact the Bruins two years after we started won the Stanley Cup obviously helped like all we had a lot of things going for us that obviously helped that were beyond uh the quality of the shows which were high quality and they're all pretty much intact today toucher and rich is intact today feldgren maz it's pretty intact today the afternoon has had some different uh co-host but zolak's been on since day one so the shows were good the signal was great the team success was great and i think there were some advantages just

by the way that we did things over EEI that just all came together. So the moment's perfect for you because this is a dream time of Boston sports. The teams are really good, but then you can come in as you say the next day and complain about something. Yeah. And just bring everybody a little bit down to earth. Remind them that not everything is great at every moment. Or just do that, just do talk radio the way I think sports talk radio the way it should be done, which is again is it's critical. You know, and that's a hard trick.

You sound like kind of an asshole criticizing a team that, wins a championship or a Super Bowl. And you have to work hard at it. It's hard to, you know, you got to find things to criticize. But it just sort of has to be like, and the callers, you know, we open it up the phones and the phones call us up and say, you guys are full of crap and you guys are just making it up. And you guys are just doing this to get people to call.

And like, so the callers would put it back in our face. But I don't know, just that title. And it, as it turns out, as it turns out, since Brady has left, the Patriots have been exposed on a lot of things we were criticized. him for. It turns out, you know, Tom Brady was a big reason for the success that it wasn't Belichick and it wasn't how they spent money, which is, you know, tight-fisted, or it wasn't how they drafted. They suck at drafting a lot of years, you know, these are things we criticize them for while they were winning. We criticize them for, you know, should be spending more money.

And you know what, your drafts aren't all that good. When they're winning Super Bowls and we say those things, it's like, oh, you're making it up. You know, why you criticize them? They just won the Super Bowl. It's like, I know they just won the Super Bowl, but their draft sucked. You know, both things can be true. And now since Brady has left, I think people are sort of realizing that, you know, some of those criticisms may have been more valid than they thought at the time. It was so interesting today because you were talking about how Patriots fans get really, really worked up when they hear the Chiefs are having a run that is somewhat comparable to the Patriots run. Yeah. And you're saying, no, no, no, no.

It's okay to say that. Well, it's okay. Like, I think Mahomes especially. It's like, well, he's, you know, he's one only one Super Bowl. Yeah. And he was even good in that Super Bowl. And it's like, God, it's okay that there's other good quarterbacks other than Tom Brady. Like, he's not, he's going to have to do this for 20 years to really be compared to Tom Brady.

So he's, he's not close. It's okay that he's had a few good years and has put together. It's been five good years. and he's an exceptional player. Like that doesn't mean Brady's not Brady and he's still not the greatest of all time. It's okay to say that Patrick Mahomes is really, really, really good.

So I think fans are sensitive to that. Patriots fans are sensitive to that. They're protective of the dynasty and the legacy and all of that. And I get it. I get it. It's just, you know, the denying,

the denying of how good Patrick Mahomes is is a little silly. Like, he's really, really good. It's, you know, it's okay. You just call it for what it is. It's like you were saying earlier. Two things can be true. Pat's can have had an awesome run. And Patrick Mahomes can also be a great quarterback. Patrick Mahomes doesn't suck. And the Chiefs don't suck. And Andy Reed doesn't suck. They're really, really good. It's okay. If they start racking up three, four, five Super Bowls and they really start challenging you, then we can start to pick him up, you know,

like at that point it becomes a debate. It's not really a debate yet. Don't be so. I just think Pat's fans get overprotective of the whole thing. When you're writing for The Herald, there are various ways to measure your success. But then you come to sports radio and there's a number that comes out that measures how you're doing versus how the other guy in the same time slots do it. Was that weird? No, it's great. It's addicting.

You know, it's like you just, and I do TV as well where we get overnight ratings, which is like really drive yourself nuts. So every morning you're checking the numbers. No, it's great. It's scoreboard. And it's great, you know, again, knock on wood that we've been doing well. So the ratings are fun to look at because we're doing well. I'm sure if we weren't doing well, they wouldn't be as fun to look at.

But no, that measurement's great. I read this in the stuffy old globe. Last spring, among men, 25 to 54, your show got a 24.6 share for the uninitiated. What does that mean? Stupid good. And TNR, our morning show is doing numbers like that now. So, I mean, the station has been pulling numbers in the last couple of years. that are, you know, above and beyond.

Usually anything over a 10 is kind of like, whoa, that's, you know, that's legit. And, you know, we've been in and around 20 for, you know, I would say year, two years now, which is, again, knock on wood, that's just, we're blessed to have those kind of numbers. I ask this as a mere podcaster. How do you do four hours of sports talk a day? It's the quickest four hours of my day. It's the easiest four hours. I would say if it's easy, but I actually think it is.

it flies. It flies. We try and keep it moving. We put a lot into it. And so I think one of the things, one of the reasons it goes quickly for us. And for me, I can only speak for myself. Maybe it doesn't go quickly for the other guys. It goes quickly for me because we're pretty much working the whole time. Like we don't, we sort of map out the whole show before. All 16 segments are sort of, they're not scripted, but we'll talk about this here. We'll talk about that here. We'll talk about this here. We'll talk about that here. And we sort of map out all 16 segments. And we put something into all 16 segments. Like, mostly, if there's a game the night before, we will either have watched the game or portions of the game. We will have either watched or read the post-game press conferences. We will have read some of the coverage. And the trick there is to find something there that bugs you, even if they won. What did you see in the game that you didn't like?

What did someone write that you thought was inappropriate? Not inappropriate, but like stupid or off the mark. Or what did you, did someone say something, you know, something that bothered you in the postgame? Whatever. So we put effort into, you know, actually the sports part of it. And then we grind it out the next day, which is all a long way of saying it goes quickly because we put a lot into it. And I find no matter what your job is when you're working, the day goes by fast.

If you work in a restaurant and it's slammed, I bet that shift is quicker than if it's dead. And you're sitting there with your thumb up your ass. So we try not to have our thumb up our ass. We try and actually put something into the segments and then do them. And I think that makes the day go by faster. And that carries listeners all the way through the show as opposed to dropping out here and there. Well, no. I mean, I think people, I think when we also reset a lot.

So if you've got, you know, see, to me, you have to reset because the audience changed every 20 minutes. We're mostly people driving home from work. And they've done the research, the average drive home from work. from work is 20, 30 minutes. Okay. So the audience is swapping out just because they get out of their car. The guy gets, you know, the trade worker's done at 3 o'clock, gets in his truck, pops on the radio, drives home 20, 30 minutes later.

He's home. He pops off the radio. So the audience flips over pretty much naturally. And then the ones that do listen to us longer than that are going to flip out, flip off because we flip out as well. Oh, flip out too, because we reset. So if there's a big story, like today, Stephen A. Smith said that the nets are taking calls on Kevin Durant, Celtics are making calls,

and Jalen Brown's name is involved. That's like a big, like that's a big, meaty story. We ran that sound three times and reset that story four different times. You did it, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock, and five o'clock because the audience changes every 20, 30 minutes. And I want the way we do it is we want that guy who's in the car for 30, minutes to get that story at least once when he's in his car. So it's repetitive for us, and that is work, to do that segment over and over and over again. But for the bulk of the audience, they're only getting it once anyway. So they don't know we're doing it three or four times. They just get us that 30, 40 minutes they're in the car. So we assume the audience is turning

over every hour. And so we reset those, you know, best segments. What percentage of the show is Patriots talk versus everything else? I'd say it is 75% Patriots. You know, when you get into the spring, when it's April, May, June, and the Celtics, or if the Bruins, if those two teams are going on, you know, in the playoffs, then I, then it becomes more 50-50 or 70-30, whatever that is. I mean, it depends on the day. The day after the Celtics lose game six of the NBA finals, all Celtics, 100%. you know uh like late april the day after the nba draft celtics bruin's are in the playoffs it's like 33% for each uh so it depends on the day but the celtics and bruin's only really get

days devoted to them or most of the days devoted to them in the playoffs in april may and june otherwise it's almost all patrons you still like callers yes some sports radio shows don't do calls anymore. Why do you like callers? Because I like the way we do them. It's 30 seconds. You get 30 seconds at most. If it's good, we'll let you go to 45. It's rare that a caller's on for a minute. It's usually 30 seconds. And if you suck, I will just hit you. We'll drop it at 12 seconds. I can feel your hand on the trigger. Yeah. So that's, I think, is what important because that's about tempo and pace of the show. So I think calls are good if you go from one to the next to the next to the next to the next.

And they have to be good. So if they suck, you're out, and if listeners can't hear you, you know, if you're on a bad cell phone, like, can't do it. It's got to be easy. You got to, we got to hear you. And you got to have a point. And if you don't have either of those things, I'm sorry, I love you, I mean it, but you're gone.

So it's not, I think calls are valuable for how they pace the show. They bring tempo to the show if you do it quickly and pointedly. Am I right that you're not on social media? I'm not on social media. And why aren't you on social media? Because why? You know, four hours. So we talk to the people.

I talk to the people four hours a day on the radio. I don't need to talk to them anymore. So save it for the show. Don't blow it on social media. Save it for the show for sure. And I just, you know, I don't know. It's just I hate technology and I just don't want to dick around. on my phone. I don't want to finish four hours of radio talking to people. And now what? I got

a dick around on the phone too. Like, no. I just, I just did it for four hours. I don't, I don't want to keep doing it. And, you know, I can get bitchy and sensitive like anybody else. And so what? I'm going to get on there and someone's going to trigger me. And I'm going to get bitchy and sensitive. And now, what, I'm going to get myself in trouble. Like, that's obvious. You're going to just, in the heat of the moment, tweet the wrong thing, say the wrong thing. So why don't I just save myself the whole thing and just ignore it and just go ahead. It's like, you know, and you know, I can feel it, you know, you hear what they're saying about you on Twitter. No, I'm not, I don't fucking know. Don't, and I'm, don't even tell me. It's like, don't even tell me. I don't want to know. If I wanted to

know, I'd be on. I'm not on. Just, so it's like if a tree falls in the forest. So it's like, it's great. If you're not on, it's like, say whatever you want. I don't do it. If I don't hear it, it doesn't exist. I sleep well at night. If I'm on there, I'll hear it. So it's like, people around me know well enough. It's like, you know what they're saying on Twitter.

No, I don't. Don't even bother. I'm fine. Go ahead. Say it. I'm always amazed about how many media people in Boston are also from Boston. You're not. You've been there 30 years, but you're from Wisconsin originally.

That's right. Do you ever get shit from college or being from Wisconsin? I've been there now 34 years. but that's pretty much gone. I don't get that much anymore. Go back to Wisconsin. I don't get that as much as I used to. So like, and honestly,

I'm not from Boston, but I've been there longer than maybe most of our listeners. I mean, a 25-year-old kid, go back to Wisconsin. I like, dude, you know, I've been here longer than you have. So I know I'm not from here, but I've been here long enough where my kids are from here.

My kids have been raised. here paid more taxes here than you so i want to hear your shit about you know go back to wisconsin you worked in newspapers when they started getting gnawed at by the internet radio now is in a time of change there are podcasts there are people listening on a stream oh yeah rather than in the car how do you feel the changes in the industry i fear them i shudder i mean poor newspapers are just you know i value newspapers so much even though i don't work for them anymore i just i want them to I think that newspapers do work that no one else does in media like that story by the Herald last week about the coaching and what it was like with Patricia and Judge.

That's a newspaper story. No one else does that kind of thing. Places like the ringer, you know, I don't know how much investigative work, you know, the ringer does, but, you know, I guess a lot of it has gone online. I don't know. There's just something about the newspaper that I still think is really, really valuable. So I hope they exist, but they're dying. Radio's next.

You know, I mean, TV is dying. Broadcast TV is dying. There's local newscasts that don't even do sports reports anymore. They don't have a sports. They don't employ a sports anchor. They don't do the sports. That's dying. Radio's next.

It's coming. Just how long, how long can we hold on? I'm just thinking selfishly, you know, can we hold on through the end of my career, whatever that is 10, 20 years? Can we hold on? But I'll say this, in defense of radio, that podcasts and the Internet, can't give you. This podcast is taped that we're doing right here. The podcast you put on the ringer, they're mostly taped, right? They're not live. Right. That's right. So when Bill Simmons does a podcast,

you're listening to it on tape. It's not live and it's not local. There's only one place to get it, folks, you podcast listeners, when you wake up or you get in your car the day after a Patriots game and you want live, local audio reaction to what happened the day before, We're it. We're the only place you get it. You can't go get that on a podcast. It's taped. It's not live.

You can't get it on satellite. It's not local. There's one place. It's your local FM talk show. And that's valuable. I think that is valuable. And there is a place for that. And the guy that gets in his truck,

let me tell you, the guy who just got off, you know, the electrician, the plumber, the guy who just got off at 3 o'clock and gets in his truck and wants to drive home and talk about why the Bruins fucked up the night before. He doesn't want to get online. He doesn't want to log in, download, subscribe. He wants to turn on the radio that comes on immediately. And he wants 20, 30 minutes on why fucking Claude Julian wouldn't play the second power

play last night or whatever it is or why Bill Wentford on fourth and two. And he wants to know what's Boston saying about that? What are people saying about that? and there's only one place to get that. And that's your local radio talk show, not a podcast, not the internet, not satellite. So that's my defense of terrestrial talk radio. Okay, there's the time delay.

But do you also think radio has more immediacy to it just in the performance of radio, the feel of radio than a podcast does? Oh, God, yes. I don't listen to podcasts because I feel the pacing. I need my shows to move. as a listener. And so when there's a commercial break,

you have a seven-minute segment. You've got to move. You've got to get it out in seven minutes. You've got to get your calls in and out because you have to go to commercial. And I think that that brings, if you're doing it well or the way I like it done, there's a pace to that.

You have to, there's a clock. There's a shock clock. When I listen to podcasts, what I hear is two guys, now I'm leaning back in my chair because you can't see this. And I'm putting my,

feet up on the desk. So now I have my feet up on my desk and I'm leaning back in my chair. And we have all the time in the world. And because we have all the time in the world, I don't need to be quick with my take. I don't need to have any pace. I don't need to have any urgency. We can sit here and chit chat, in fact, we can actually take a diversion and say, oh yeah, what show did you watch last night? And now we're going to spend five fucking minutes talking about some Netflix show that we're talking about. Oh, wait a minute. What was that? Durant to awesome what were we talking about and you take your time and you don't have to really project because you're in a nice soundproof studio or in your office with your podcast gear and now you're

yeah you're just sort of sort of taking your time and so like for the podcast thing for me it's like get to the point move you know and it's okay to raise your voice it's okay to shout you know I've got more on this if you want I could keep going I like like I said it's like like is Some program directors will tell you that, or, you know, like, we get criticized for, well, that's not the way you talk at home. Like, you're, you know, like, if we sat at your kitchen table, that's not the way you sound, Felger, you sound different. No shit. I'm doing a show. It's called a show.

It's a show. What, the last thing I want is to sit and listen to you at your kitchen fucking table. You're doing a show. I would like to think that you've put some research into it or some thought into it or thinking differently. And you're trying to entertain me. So you're talking a little loudly or you're talking in a fashion that you wouldn't talk at the kitchen table. That's the whole point. We're doing a show.

And that's what I want as a listener. I don't want to listen to you at your kitchen table. Or like another program director thing is we want to replicate a show that it's just like two guys talking at the bar. You know, that's what we want. Again, the last thing I fucking want is to listen to two guys talking at the bar about Brady. Or sports. I don't, no, no. When I'm listening to the radio, I mean, if I'm at the bar, I'll listen to that.

But when I'm in my car, I want to know that someone has put some thought into what they're saying or has researched what they're saying or is thought of a different angle to what they're saying. And it's no, no, no. When you're doing a show, I want to hear a show. I don't want to hear two guys at the bar or you at your kitchen table. Sorry. So that's a long diatribe. But I feel passionately about what good sports radio is and the advantages it has over podcasting or other things. Because I think there is still an advantage.

For the folks at home, I just want to let them know you did have your feet up on this table when you were doing that. It feels how big guys, when guys are in a podcast feels like it's just, we're just chilling. Just relax and chat. Just want to give everybody the full effect at home. Yeah. Be a good host here. Yeah. Thank you for making an exception and coming on this podcast.

Mike Felger. Thanks for coming on the press box. Okay. Thanks for having me. That's the press box. I'm Brian Curtis, production magic, as always, by Erica Servantes. Now, I hope I sound like a sports radio host and not some lame podcaster when I command you to return to this spot on your radio dial right after the Super Bowl ends on Sunday.

David Shoemaker and I are going to be doing a live Super Bowl reaction pod about the announcers, the commercials, the game, the whole media event quality of the Super Bowl on Spotify, live. I'm going to tweet out a link. We'd love to have you. We'd love to hear from you if you're a long-time listener, first-time caller. And then the show, of course, will be available in podform shortly after. So join us Sunday night. And until then, as one denizen of Radio Row famously said, have a take and don't suck. See you Sunday night.