Hello again...as always I struggle mightily with writing on a consistent basis but this time around I heard something on what I have to say is my favorite radio station by virtue of it's topics not its hosts, KNBR (mainly 680, but for Tony Bruno and Into The Night I'll dabble at 1050).
Just so everyone knows what turned me to Tony Bruno, other than his support and defense of Bay Area sports, which I love because he is an East Coast guy and we on the West Coast don't get much love from anything considered East Coast. Is my dislike for Damon Bruce, who until recently aired on KNBR 680 from 7-10 pm. Sports fans who like a host is always negative and thinks he knows everything (see pompous ass) tune into to Damon on KNBR 1050 from 12-4 I believe.
Anyway I digress...we now head out of the potatoes of this post and into the meat...I was driving home on Wednesday night in the middle of the 9 o'clock hour of the Into The Night with Tony Bruno and he was interviewing Jim Lampley on 3/17, which yes happens to be St. patty's Day.
Briefly, Lampley is a ringside boxing commentator for HBO pay-per-view boxing matches.He first appeared on national TV in 1974, winning a talent hunt to inaugurate a new role titled "College Age Reporter" on ABC's college football telecasts. He has been broadcasting for 35 years and like most recognizable people has had run ins with the law. His legal matters are not the topic of this post so I will not go further into them.
Oh, before I forget if you want to download and listen to the segment where Tony Bruno interviews Jim Lampley about the most recent Manny Pacquiao fight go here....
What stuck out to me during this specific interview was something Lampley said in response to a Tony Bruno comment. He said "well, I like you, live behind the mic and sometimes don't have that filter from brain to mouth that people who aren't on the air have."
What irks me about this little, fairly insignificant statement revolves around what people who are "on the air" think of themselves compared to what they really are. Tony Bruno and Jim Lampley don't ever say anything particularly racy or edgy. People, as humans, have filters inherent in their brains...for example Jim Lampley got nailed for cheating on his wife, do you think if there's a boxer who gets caught for the same thing that Lampley is going to go off the deep end and condemn him? I don't think so...that is a filter my friend.
The second filter on-air hosts/personalities have is quite simply the one imposed on them by the guy who signs the checks. Don't for one second think that Bruno, Lampley and every other talk show host doesn't know exactly where his/her boundaries are on certain topics.
I'm tired of listening to these sports talk show hosts acting like their the only ones who ever say anything new or exciting, when in truth none of them ever say anything new or exciting. I like Tony Bruno for his humor, his personality and his honest judgment of sports teams. He doesn't feed the East Coast bias being from Philly and I appreciate that...not to mention he makes Gary Radnich on KNBR 680 from 9-12 tolerable for at least 30 minutes.
Damon Bruce is also a great example of this. He said a few weeks ago ..."since I cornered the market on truth already in the Bay Area you might as well hear it from me first.." I think the topic was woman's sports such as the WNBA and the womens NCAA tournament.
What a load of garbage, the only thing Damon Bruce has cornered in the Bay Area is being negative, which should come easy for a guy who isn't from here and probably, in reality, doesn't care at all about our local teams.
The curse of the microphone has given these guys (Lampley and Bruce) an over inflated picture of the service they provide and the manner in which they do it. Trust me, if either of you ever said anything truly racy or edgy you'd be looking for a new job behind a much smaller microphone.
