An entire post dedicated to Sports Hub vs WEEI? Yes. Yes indeed. I hate WEEI THAT much. I am obsessed with sports and for the last 3 and a half years, I’ve had a commute that is anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half every day each way(sometimes longer). I’ve had way way way too much time in the car listening to whatever the hell is on the radio and those times have been much much better since The Sports Hub came around.
You know why? Because of these numbers courtesy of Boston Sports Media Watch
MEN 25-54
6:00 to 10:00 AM
TOUCHER & RICH – 11.6 (1st)
DENNIS & CALLAHAN – 6.0 (3rd)
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
GRESH & ZO – 9.4 (2nd)
MUTT & MERLONI – 4.1 (10th)
2:00 to 6:00 PM
FELGER & MAZZ – 9.5 (1st)
THE BIG SHOW – 5.4 (6th)
MEN 18-49
6:00 to 10:00 AM
TOUCHER & RICH – 14.8 (1st)
DENNIS & CALLAHAN – 5.1 (4th)
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
GRESH & ZO – 11.9 (1st)
MUTT & MERLONI – 2.8 (11th)
2:00 to 6:00 PM
FELGER & MAZZ – 10.5 (1st)
THE BIG SHOW – 4.4 (7th)
MEN 18-34
6:00 to 10:00 AM
TOUCHER & RICH – 22.3 (1st)
DENNIS & CALLAHAN – 2.8 (11th)
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
GRESH & ZO – 14.1 (1st)
MUTT & MERLONI – 1.2 (17th)
2:00 to 6:00 PM
FELGER & MAZZ – 12.1 (1st)
THE BIG SHOW – 1.7 (16th)
If this were a UFC fight, the ref would’ve just stopped the fight after reading those numbers because Sports Hub gives WEEI one of those crazy knockout kicks, and pummeled him in the face a couple times when he was down for good measure. Sports Hub leads in literally every time slot in literally every demographic.
This is beautiful for many reasons, but mainly because WEEI is filled with lazy douchebags. For YEARS, WEEI had a monopoly on the Boston Sports Radio scene. There was no legit competition. Sure, there was 1510 The Zone (which might still exist actually) but it has a terrible signal and no one listens, which is the same thing that doomed the ESPN Radio affiliate. WEEI was the only show in town. The only show in a town filled with absolute sports crazed nut jobs. So, naturally, did they put out a great product, with smart/funny sports talk and likable hosts? Nope. They actually did the exact opposite. Lets break down what the WEEI lineup was (until the recent shakeup caused by the fact that Sports Hub was murdering them):
Mornings: Dennis and Callahan
Two of my least favorite people on the planet. Not even joking. Just a couple of the most miserable, crotchety, racist, homophobic douchebags walking the planet earth. Little to no sports talk occurs on Dennis and Callahan (at least it didn’t…i havent listen to thesmoron in years). If you want extreme, absurd, crazy conservative politcal views all morning than D&C is the place to be. Its not even so much their political thoughts, its the way that they spew it all morning and if anyone dares call to disagree they get screamed at and it usually just ends with Callahan screaming something like “Liberals love paying taxes!!!!!” and hanging up on them. The Eddie Munster lookalike on the far right of the picture above is Jon Meterparel (their sports update guy). Guess what? He sucks too. I was so desperate for sports talk that I actually listened to these guys for awhile on the way to work every day before The Sports Hub came along before I stopped tortuting myself. You know what I listened to instead? RAMIRO AND PEBBLES! D&C are so awful, that I chose RAMIRO AND PEBBLES over them. True story: I became a dumber human being for having listened to Pebbles and Melissa speak for an hour every morning. Anyway, the moral of the story is that Dennis and Callahan are hands down the worst sports radio hosts in the history of modern civilization. (I’ve never heard sports radio in previous civilizations, so I can’t say for sure, but D&C are probably worse than them too).
Midday: Dale and Holley
You want proof that WEEI is run by morons? Dale and Holley is the one show on their station that isn’t filled with dumbasses. The one show with two likeable people on it. So what did they do? They blew it up! They moved Holley to the Big Show and took Dale off the air. The Bruins were in the midst of one of their best seasons in years, Dale was the only guy on the station who legitimately cared about the Bruins AND THEY TOOK HIM OFF THE AIR. That actually happened. They now have Mut and Merloni on midday. I have no remote idea whether its any good or not because I’m not in the car then and if I ever am, I’m sure as shit not listening to EEI.
Afternoon: The Big Show with Glenn Ordway
Glenn Ordway is everything that is wrong with society today.
Ok that was a bit strong, but he is the epitome of everything that is wrong with WEEI. A loud, obnoxious blowhard who tries to get his opinion across by simply yelling louder than everyone else, thus making everyone else worse too. Not like the group of rotating guests on The Big Show needed help being worse because they were plenty bad on their own. Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie would be on all the time during football season. In a related story, Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie are quite possibly the stupidest human beings on the face of the earth. If they AREN’T the stupidiest human beings on the face of the earth, than its only because other co-host Butch Stearns took the title for himself. Sure, there were some good co-hosts too (Buckley, McAdam, Cedric Maxwell), but the Ordway factor made them shitty too. Earlier this year, WEEI decided to shake things up and get rid of the rotating guests (good idea) and replace them with Michael Holley (bad idea because they broke up their only good show and put Holley with Ordway who everyone hates).
That was the lineup for YEARS, despite the fact that the programming sucked, everythingstayed the same because the shows got outstanding ratings. So fans in possibly the most sports crazed market in the country were stuck with complete and utter shit because there were no other options and WEEI wasn’t going to change because they were lazy clowns and didn’t have to. Then the Sports Hub came around and they STILL didn’t change because they assumed their ratings would stay the same, because they had for years, so why not?
Because they suck. That’s why. While EEI is stuck paying Ordway A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR and Dennis and Callahan some absurd amount of money to do their old, boring shit that no one likes, The Sports Hub has showed up and in less than 2 years has completely taken over. I like Felger and Mazz (mostly because of Felger) and don’t really listen to Gresh and Zo because I’m not in the car then, but I think the main reason for The Sports Hub’s success is the morning show, Toucher and Rich.
I am a miserable bastard at 6 o’clock in the morning. I want nothing to do with anyone. But yet, Toucher and Rich consistently make me laugh for the entire ride to work. In all honesty its everything you’d want in a sports talk show in the morning with a perfect mix of sports talk and humor, whereas if you listen to EEI you get 2 grumpy bitches whining about Obama.
Ask A Pink Hat is fantastic…
So is New Jack Edwards…
And the Antonio Cromartie Song…
The Brandon Meriweather “Big Bang Clock” song is the alarm that wakes me up everyday…
I’ll stop now, but you get the picture. These guys are hilarious and they legitimately care about the listeners and it’s why The Sports Hub is murdering WEEI in the ratings and why it’s not gonna change anytime soon. There is no politics talk and there is no yelling at every single caller who dares disagree with them. Its a testament to how good they are that when I get in the car and turn on the radio and hear that one or both of them is out that day it actually upsets me and pretty much ruins my commute. If you’re reading this and like sports, but don’t listen to sports radio because EEI turned you off to it (which it did to me for years), you should at least give Toucher and Rich a chance. Its clear by the ratings that pretty much everyone else has. WEEI no longer holds Boston sports fans who want a radio station that isn’t filled with miserable, lazy loudmouth douchebags hostage anymore. Long live The Sports Hub.
Wily Mo Moonshot 
You just wrote EVERYTHING I felt about that shitty station for the past 3 years! good show!
Excellent post I totally agree with everything you said. I solved my T&R fix by downloading the podcast and listening the next day.
Thanks guys!
What’s a Ramiro and Pebbles? saying you didn’t want to listen to D&C is no reason to listen to Ramiro and pebbles. Toucher and Rich were on WBCN then. Other than that I agree with everything that you said and having been listening to Sports Hub since day 1.
P.S. I would rather listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cVlTeIATBs&feature=related on a continous loop than listen to WEEI.
You are absolutely right man…I totally should have been listening to Toucher and Rich on BCN before they were on the Sports Hub…no idea why i didn’t
Also its funny you used that clip because I think Smerlas and DeOssie’s nicknames are Dumb and Dumber
I don’t know who you are, nor do I wish to. But if you feel the need to devote this much time and effort to a radio station that you could simply turn off, I think you may have a problem. What’s amazing is that you never mentioned Mustard and Johnson, which is probably the worst show in the history of radio.
Haha sir if did know me you would know there is something wrong with me when it comes to these things and I get way too worked up
If hating on EEI is wrong than I don’t want to be right