Hearne: Chris Stigall Superstar

It’s possible to be so lame at what you do  it catapults you to greatness…

It’s quite common, actually.

For example, fried chicken magnate Col. Sanders, college dropout Steve Jobs, Channel 4 weekend sports anchor Kevin Kietzman.

And such was clearly the case with departing KCMO 710 AM talk show host Chris Stigall.

In 2001/2002 Stigall was the uh, – for lack of a better term – better half  of KCFX’s ‘Chris & Ally Show’ with with convicted money launderer Ally Francis.

Half jokingly – but only half – I asked the pair to pose for a frowny photo when I interviewed them shortly after they’d been hired to do mornings on the Fox. IMy mission was to let readers of my column in the Kansas City Star learn a little bit about who these newcomers were.

But after shooting some photos for the column I thought, might as well take a couple for the inevitable future story about their firing. After all, nothing is forever in radio. And two years later i did indeed run their firing story with the gag photo.

Little did anyone realize at the time – Stigall included – that Francis would end up doing slam time and he would stand eight years later at the precipice of talk radio host greatness.

You heard me right. Talk radio greatness.

"With Chris Stigall we’re seeing a superstar in the making and we couldn’t be more rpoud of him," says KCMO program director Chris Hoffman. "And he’ll be incredibly successful in the next stop on his radio career."

That would be as morning drive host on Philadelphia’s WPHT. For the uninitiated that’s a monumental leap for Stigall from the No. 31 to the No. 4  U.S. media market.

OK, OK, but superstar?

"Oh yeah, oh yeah," Hoffman says. "I’ve obviously listened to a lot of talk show hosts and Chris is in an elite category."

What makes Stigall "so great at what he does is that this is what he truly is passionate about and it comes naturally for him," Hoffman adds.

The $64 million question: Will Stigall be the next Rush Limbaugh?

"I don’t know about that," Hoffman says. "There is no next Rush Limbaugh; that’s like saying the next Beatles. He’ll be the next Chris Stigall."