Spike This
With the Chiefs embarrassing us week after week and regional college sports stuck in strange winter doldrums, the hottest topic in Kansas City sports talk radio is Kansas City sports talk radio. But you haven’t heard it discussed much on the air, and you won’t read about it in The Kansas City Star. That’s because all the mainstream sports media are part of the story, and they’re avoiding it with the wariness they would accord a hand-addressed letter from New Jersey.
Off the air, though, media big mouths are gossiping and wailing about Star columnist Jason Whitlock’s attempt to move from WHB 810’s morning slot to KMBZ 980’s afternoon schedule.
Soren Petro, 980’s afternoon sports-talk host, was ten minutes from airtime inside 980’s Entercom studios November 14 when a coworker showed him that week’s Pitch. After reading about Whitlock’s effort to take over Petro’s time slot (Kansas City Strip, November 15), Petro reportedly screamed across the newsroom, “WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?” Then he stormed into program director Brian Wilson’s office and unleashed a profanity-rich screed.
Regarding a potential move, Whitlock’s cohost, Steven St. John, says, “I don’t know nothing about nothing.” But it’s a good bet St. John will follow Whitlock, who has long depended on others for his sports expertise. St. John is a walking encyclopedia of trivia, and he has been more public than Whitlock has in his disdain for 810 co-owner and afternoon host Kevin Kietzman. At 810’s Turkey Bowl, St. John called the boss a whiner and a baby over the public-address system and during 810’s live broadcast. There will be little room at 810 for St. John if Whitlock bolts.
But there seems little reason for Magnificent Megan, the female voice on Whitlock’s morning show, to tag along to 980. She has never warmed to playing the stooge, although it is the role to which her limited broadcasting skills are best suited.
What Whitlock needs in order to compete with Kietzman is someone like Todd Leabo, Kietzman’s right-hand man and 810’s best newshound. One reason Kietzman crushed Don Fortune’s afternoon empire is Leabo’s ability to break big stories. It was Leabo who stuck a cell phone in Ethan Lock’s face and broadcast every expletive regarding Lock’s negotiations with Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson. Leabo also did the legwork in breaking the Tamarick Vanover/Bam Morris drug story. KMBZ has no one to compare with Leabo.
“[WHB president] Chad Boeger asked Jason point-blank if he had met with 980, and he told him ‘no,'” Kietzman said to a caller who asked on the air about Whitlock’s future. “If Jason Whitlock tells me that he hasn’t met with 980, I’m going to believe him. I’m not going to believe what Greg Hall writes.”
Losing Whitlock to 980 would be an early Christmas present for Kietzman, who has never gotten along with his morning-show host. “Jason believes Kietzman is insanely jealous of his appearances on ESPN and Fox Sports,” says a source close to the situation. “According to Jason, Kietzman can’t understand why he isn’t as famous as Whitlock.”
If Bob Zuroweste and his Entercom suits are serious about catching Kietzman’s afternoon audience, they should bypass the dead worms and bait the hook with something more appealing: 810’s Bill Maas and Tim Grunhard. With Frank Boal, the two ex-Chiefs host the most entertaining sports-talk show this town has ever heard.
Maas, Grunhard and Boal genuinely seem to like each other. They also pull in the best big-name guests of any local show. Opposite Kietzman’s afternoon show, the trio would be serious competition.
If 980 grabs Whitlock, 810 could promote Maas, Grunhard and Boal to the columnist’s morning-drive slot. But if Entercom is smart enough (and rich enough) to lure away Maas, Grunhard and Boal, Kietzman will be left with a huge headache in the morning and another migraine in the afternoon.
