.jpg)
The strangest part of 610 Sports Nick Wright’s interview with Jason Whitlock?
Near the very end of their talk – and yes, Jason had been on with Nick since his infamous TV/radio meltdown about leaving the Star – Nick asked him a question that went something like this:
"Hey man, guess we aren’t really friends. I mean, you took me off your Twitter friends. I’m blocked. Why?" And Jason answered, "Well, OK, no we are not friends Nick. And that’s because you aren’t honest."
Nick then pushed it, and Whitlock confessed: "Look, you tried to be me, not as well, but you kinda did what I did to make it in the media. You copied me."
Nick denied it. There was a brief argument over the issue. Then the show was over. Or was it?
I have to take Nick Wright’s side here.
Whitlock was a big time writer/journalist, not a media star on radio or TV. So how can Nick copy Whitlock when two completely different medias are involved? To be honest, Nick is now in the catbird seat.
Wright without argument has joined Kevin Kitzman and Soren Petro as the big name in Sports Talk in Kansas City. Period.
Let me go further, Nick will surpass those two.
Why? Wright is younger, has his own younger posse, a-la Johnny Dare. And by the way, it’s working.
Whitlock had none of that.
Jason ruled the Star sports page, that’s true. He did that for quite some time. He was a big name in this town. Whitlock was always – and I mean always – kind to me. He had me on his show often. Jason even helped open my Johnny Dare’s bar with a special on-air show. He liked the place.
I’ve worked with pretty much everyone in sports radio and TV here over the past 20 plus years;, Don Fortune, Soren, Keitzman, Dave Stewart, Bill Maas,Tim Grunhard and Wright. I also did a ton of shows with guys who came and went on sports talk. Nobody was any nicer to me than Jason Whitlock. I pull for him I really do.
One more odd thing talked about. Nick brought up that Jason put it out there that he’d eaten a $260 dollar steak in Las Vegas. Nick said he could never afford something like that. Nick then asked Jason, "Since you now spend most of your time in LA, how does that compare with KC?"
Whilock said while he loved KC, he enjoyed going out in LA because he was left alone, just a regular guy. Nobody knew him there.
You can read that a couple of ways. Jason was a star in Kansas City. It’s tough being known in LA with so many stars living there. At some point you want some attention though. I get the feeling Jason enjoyed that when he lived here.
It seemed Nick was implying that things were not so great for Jason right now.
Clearly Whitlock’s not making anywhere the big bucks rumored early on by doing a sports blog for Fox with no other duties.
No TV, no radio and so on. Believe me if Jim Rome goes out to eat in LA people know who he is and come over for an autograph now and then. Celebrities want to be just that. I hung out with Damon Wayons for about a week on his first trip to KC in 1999. The first couple nights he wanted to go somewhere nobody would bug him. Like a quiet restaurant. The weekend nights he said, "Craig let’s get a limo and go to clubs where people will go nuts over me – you know meet some hot chicks."
A star can only take being left alone for a short time. They always want to remind themselves that they are important at some point.
Back to Nick’s interview with Jason….
It was great radio. Nick is getting better and better all the time. He has his own style, likeable but on point. Being in the media limelight, not everyone is going to love you (Bottomline Communications, for example). Sometimes people watch or listen because they don’t like you or even hate you. Howard Stern is a good example of that theory. So is Rush Limbaugh. Hey, it works.
I miss Jason, he was a world beater here.
He attacked Chiefs head Carl Peterson and then star sports talker Don Fortune. Now its Nick Wright’s turn. We all have our time in the spotlight. Sometimes it comes around again, sometimes not.
I hope you make it to Round Two, Jason. Good luck and thanks for having me on so much back in the day. You’ll land on your feet before too long.
Seriously? Nick “Floundering Ratings” Wright will overtake Petro and Keitzman? Man you have seriously fallen off the rocker. The guy is a wanna be and your very own Colleague Greg Hall has referred to him as a jock sniffer who acts like a 13 year old on numerous occasions. I bet Nick does not make it through 2011.
Please …
Take that photo off of the site. That is painful to look at and quite frankly in poor taste.
Wright vs Kietzman
I only used to listen to Kietzman in his time slot. However, over the last year, there have been way too many infomercials on his show. He’s at some retail establishment and he just keeps pimping it for the first 15-20 minutes of his show. I understand the nedcessity of commercials but have your commercial time and then get on to sports. I don’t want to hear about diet cookies, football helmets, barbq equipment, or any of the other crap he yaks on about nonstop for 15 minutes.
I have started turning on Nick Wright at 3 p.m. and he’s not bad. I like Petro more but at least it’s not nonstop commercials. I also like Wright’s program beginning while Kietzman is still in commercials or espn updates for several minutes.
I;d like to see some Arbitron ratings not only on overall station ratings but on Kietzman vs Wright, Petro vs Rome etc.
Thanks
Glazer you’re in a hitting slump
You were on fire there for a stretch with the coke and Hollywood stories but you’re not seeing the ball very well these days. We can all look forward to your predictable “Chiefs are for real” column if they win on Sunday or a rambling, directionless column about nothing in particular if they lose.
KK has 9 lives
As long as there are a bunch of 40 something white male KSU and KU fans living in places like Lenexa… KK will have a market. He knows what is pertinent to that market… and outside of his Nebraska fit… he has improved his product. I have flipped over to 610 and Wright is pretty good… but 810 is more dependable for consistent coverage on the most important topics… meaning…. KK knows what not to cover…. I will admit that the infomercials drive me to Shanin and Parks faster than you can say Smoke and Fire.
But competition is good… I still do not know how they are paying the bills on cookie diets and Zepi’s pizza.. maybe it is the car dealership ads and the ticket brokers… KK seems to be preparing for his monologues again… much better listening.
Wright is Wrong
Prediction: Wright will be off the air in less than a year. Sorry, he’s horrible. I can tell you what his opinion is going to be on EVERYTHING because it’s just going to be 180 degrees from everyone else. Saying something outrageous to generate discussion doesn’t make you cutting edge or intelligent. It just makes you one more idiot on the radio.
The expert speaks…………..
To set the record straight again and for a complete analysis I have to explain to you people some facts.
1. Despite all your rants…KK remains the #1 sports talk host. Without a doubt he commands the largest
audience and the biggest following. Why? He entertains. Just like glazer here, he’s wrong many times in
his show but because noone’s therre to correct him he can get away with it. and if you listen to his
presentation you know he rarely uses actual stats to back up his words (much like glazer).
2. Nick Wright will continue to do okay in this market. He’s cheap to the station…he’s got a following of
younger listeners but could never compete with the lineup of sports experts that whb has.
So a solid second place is okay for 610…but they are dong well financially…having hit budgets
for 6 straight months and will continue to do so as the economy picks up ( thanks to the programs
brought in by our presdient for the next 6 years).
3. WHB has tremendous debt load. Buyin out the former owners family costt them heavy. so the
are burdened with a large locked in expense. But they have done well financially and are like every
other media property starting the fell the increased revenue as the economy improves.
The mangement at WHB is top notch. Locally owned means they can do many things their
competitiors can’t. And because of that strong signal they allow advertisers a huge geographical
area to promote from. And their linesup is a whos who of sports in this town.
4. 610 will never be given the resources to grow. They ony sell time before and after the royals…nothing
inside the game…so that limits revenue. But the Royals are still a good vehicle and aadvertisers will always
love the assocation with a major sports team.
5. I expect most stations to keep their on air staffs at least for the next year. Wright, while being
sometime immature still is stealing a younger listener away from whb. but that still won’t make a
dent because most 18-34 year olds are no longer listening to the radio. Listen to the callers of each
station and you’ll see the differnece. 610 tends to have younger/more energentic and less sports
savy listeners and 610 caters to that with simple inoformation. WHB tends to have the more “intelligent”
sports fan….knows more stats about the game and they usually are better and more informed callers.
610 will have more minorities. They like the simple easy flow of the shows.
The program director of 610 has done an incredible job wqithout the money to expand. Whb just ran
a large tv campaign which you never would have seen years ago.
Problem whb has is that they can’t get many national buys (i can explain that but takes too long) and so
they rely on local dollars which means they have to do those infomercials and long drawn out
bar b q segments….thats their bread and butter. 610 can get those national buys and their overheadv is
cut to bare bones.
both stations are enjoying the fact that talk formatted stations are doing great. Most music stations are
finding it hard to keep listeners from moving to other enetertainment devices as they only play
music.
The outlook for both sports stations looks very good. However…they will have to continue to find new
talent to inc orporate into their stations. I fell whb has become vdry stale and stodgy with the same
old talent eveyr day. But in a town like KC they like that becuase they know exactyl what to tune in for
every day.
Nick Wright should hire the homeless voice over guy….
….to speak for him. At least the homeless dude has a voice for radio. Even Nick’s Mom can’t stand his voice. You will also never be what you aspire if you can’t stop taking pot shots at the competition. Do it better and the proof is in the ratings and if you are still on air in a year.
I would listen to Nick if he had something to say but even if he did his delivery is so irritating it begs you to turn off the radio.
Wright will never make it…
Harley pointed out the main reason Wright will never make it, he really only appeals to the younger set, which isn’t as valuable in radio marketing as it is in other markets. That age isn’t as tuned in to radio and that’s while he’ll always be a distant #2 in the rankings. I’m 35 years old and I can’t stand listening to him. He spends too much time saying things like “Hey, you guys know me”, and “You know I’m right”, and has to try and convince himself he’s right on too many occasions. Just let your words do the talking and we’ll be convinced. Personally, both of these stations fall far behind sports talk in other metros, but it’s what we’re stuck with. Tune in to stations like the Ticket in Dallas, The Fan in Chicago, or any of the New York sports stations online and see what we are missing. I flip over to ESPN radion any time I get the chance.
Wright & KK
The problem with Nick is he has a face for radio and a voice for newspaper. Sadly he’s still better then listening to KK shill and slobber over his sponsors for a half hour segment at a time.
Wright
I have to say I enjoy listening to Wright over KK. KK seems like he says alot of stuff for shock and awe. He reminds me of Jack Harry. Just annoying.
Also what is this stuff about WHB having a larger listening area? I listen to Fesco in the morning because I can get it in my driveway when I leave for work and have to drive several miles before I can get St. John and Bukaty.
BACK WHEN
the chiefs were CHIEFS, KMBC TV 9’s ‘Torey Time’ featured a KC helmet on display the set… even considering its mute repose and the manipulation inherent an little puppet with mustache Ol’ Gus & former radio turned kiddie show host format Southwick, was more said vis a vis relevant info’s dispense thence than today, nigh on half a century later.
The ‘progress to decline’ modernity media vehicles radio & television continues, unabated…